BLESSED SPEEDY

At thats 2023 done! A super sad finish to the year with mum passing but I did manage to also finish an awful lot of things at the last minute, mainly cos I wasnt sleeping very much Firstly I finished the Adventuresome wrap - the yarns were gifted to me as an advent calendar so wrapped individually and it was great fun! Dont the colours look great - and all leftovers from my friends projects - thanks B! I also finished a mandala stitchery I had been working on for some time - it was to be a gift for mum :( And the Little Things BOM quilt which came as a bonus with the other BOM quilt I did - Ive even used green which I never use - and I like it! On the reading front I finished two books - firstly the amazing Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - it was even better than I thought it would be and its a 5 star plus read! Dragons, fantasy, romance, and a wonderful fantasy kingdom - doesnt get much better in my opinion and secondly on audio - the ruins box set by T.W. Piperbrook Again a grea...

This week has been so very hard. My beautiful Mum went to be with Jesus on Thursday 21st December. I am so very grateful that I was able to sit with her for countless hours in her last days - boy did I talk some rubbish to her as she slept and I embroidered and I wouldnt pass it up for the world. Now we are in the midst of making "arrangements" and I am so very aware that Mum would want me to get it "right". She was definate on that when organising my stepfather Austens funeral and Id like to be able to do the same. Because of Christmas and New Year and holidays etc her funeral will be on Tuesday 2nd January at 11am at AG Adams Funerals in Kerang and then she will be joining Austen at Kerang Cemetry. I miss her so - all the phone calls, visiting her, spending time with her (and also the other residents and staff at Cohuna village) A large part of my life and days is now gone and Ill need to work out what the new routine is. I do plan on going back to the villa...

What a week! The below is self explanatory and Im just going to copy/paste it from my facebook post Hopefully regular programming will resume next week! I’ve been reminded that a picture tells a 1000 words - this is me and my beautiful mum on Thursday For my friends that pray please pray for her - she’s not going to be with us for much longer and soon in heaven Just peace love and joy for her #lovemymum

Not many weeks now left in the year! Here on the farm we are almost finishing the Ai (artificial insemination) season - we will finish this next Tuesday and then pop the bulls in with the girls for an early Christmas present for them all! Hopefully lots of baby calves growing inside mums to be born starting next August! Ive been using the program that comes with the collars that our cows wear and it shows when they are on heat - so hopefully weve got a few right! Ive managed to finish a couple of project this week and one Im super glad to finish was this test crochet blanket for a friend on Ravelry - its a fish! Lots of yardage and hours in this I can tell you! I also got the news that Sylvia the sewing machine was faulty and that I could upgrade to the newer model for a small cost - so I did and now I have Blanche the sewing machine to play with - named after my gorgeous Nanna who was a dressmaker extroidairie So ive dug out the project a month kits for 2023 from Chandlers Cottage ...

Well what a week! After mine and Aimee's short but sweet trip to QUeensland, I arrived home late Sunday night and was exhausted. Back home and ready to hit the ground running with farm stuff and a few other things, when everything got thrown upside down. My lovely Mum had a fall eaerly Monday and hit her head (and pride) badly. I quickly went into the Cohuna Village where she now lives and it was decided to send her via ambulance to Echuca for a CT scan and further investigations and care. What ensued was a very long day sitting in emergency with Mum and keeping her company. She had a small bleed which isnt usually concerning however she was on blood thinners so that changes things. These were stopped and she was admitted for observation. She obvioulsy had a concussion has she had a bad headache and was really not herself. Thankfully she was transferred back to the village on Tuesday and Ive spent every day since spending time with her. Thankfully she is starting to feel bet...

I will resume regular programming next week, but for this week I wanted to devote the whole update to my daughter Sarah's baby shower Aimee and I flew to Airlie Beach for the weekend (yep friday til sunday - crazy) and had the very best time. Several of Sarahs gorgeous friends helped us organise things with flowers and balloons and the venue etc and it was just the best afternoon. Everyone that attended got on so well, it was relaxed and fun and Ill say again just the best time!

And just like that another week is done and (WOW) another week closer to Christmas and the end of the year! I had a little off farm expedition this week - a two day board meeting in Torquay - which was a very long drive by myself but enjoyable and I did manage to find a quilt shop along the way so that was a nice way to stretch my legs. Must admit I do like driving our lovely Ford Everest - its a very comfy and easy and safe car to drive - and did I mention the seat warmers? In other (annoying ) news Syliva the sewing machine has been naughty - the bobbin case has had lots of issues which Ive replaced several times and its still being problematic - so its off to the sewing shop for her and to see whether shes repaired or replaced with the same or an upgraded model BUT........... Ive managed to finish two really big projects which I so very pleased about - firstly the Linen Half Hexi quilt which I bought from as a kit from my lovely friend Nicky Tepper when she had her Honeysuckle Patch...

Times are starting to busy up again on the farm. Weve been cutting paddocks for hay and silage and making plans for crop for summer. Have also been watering paddocks too. Our heifers to calve next Spring were AI'd (artificial insemination) on Monday and we started the cows on Wednesday. I do the bull selections so lots of time looking at data and choosing (what I hope) is the best bull for each cow - fingers crossed we get a few red and white polled (no horns) friesians! On the finishing front in the craft room - Ive finished this crochet blanket that seemed to take ages! It used quite a lot of wool and its quite heavy as its pure wool from Morris and Sons Im really happy with it.Its a simply three treble cluster granny type pattern but very effective From the leftovers from the blanket I made a hat which is a test knit for a US designer Lisa Ross aka Paperdaisy designs. I think the colors play well together in this. On the quilting front Im still quilting a huge quilt - hop...

Im alive! Although I must admit covid is very nasty and Gary and I both seem to have got a really good dose of it. Also when I cough it contracts my ab muscles which contracts my spine and therefore my pinched syiatic nerve so thats no fun at all. Went to the chemist on friday and got some cough medicine - hopefully that helps as Im not getting a lot of sleep as I can only sleep sitting up - if I lay down I just coughing and its hard to stop. On the positive as Ive not been sleeping much I have completed a few things! Firstly the second sock in this pair - this was a test knit for Lisa Ross aka paperdaisy and the pattern is called return of the lion and I used plucky yarn - really happy with how these turned out! I also finished this cute draw string bag - which is the March project from the Chandlers Cottage year of projects kit On the reading front I finished the third book in the Bridge Kingdom series by Danielle Jensen. Again another 5 star read. This one is the story of two ...

Well regularly programming is being interuppted - I have covid and feel very unwell We came home from our weekend away in melbourne and one of our co workers had tested postiive to covid. All well and good and we worked out a work around with that. I said to Gary we best test just in case - and he tested positive and I was ok You have to laugh dont you as our coworkers were heading on holidays to New Zealand on Thursday for 6 days I did my best to isolate from Gary - sleeping in the spare room etc but Friday started to feel very ordinary but still testing negative. Saturday morning tested positive and to be honest it was a bit of a relief as I was feeling so very unwell and couldnt put it all down to hay fever! So with our coworkers away we are doing the best we can and yes Ive been reading and doing a bit of crafting but dont really have the brain capacity to do a proper post about it all this week Look out next week thought - it will be huge (I hope!!!) Til next week stay safe and ...

Well its been birthday week! And for once nothing nasty happened to me - this time last year (when I should have been having an awesome 60th birthay party) we were flooded so everything was cancelled. And the year before Aimee and Matt took Gary and I canoeing on the Pyramid Creek and I managed to fall out and knock out some of my front teeth. We had planned to have a 60 plus 1 party this year but Garys sister Diane planned a 60th birthday for herself in Melbourne so we had to cancel mine. Maybe a party next year as Ill be 62 and born in 62????? I spent a nice day in Bendigo with my family which was lovely! And brought KFC home for tea so super fancy HA HA As for the finishes this week theres only the one craft wise and thats a cute outfit for Baby Sterling from lovely cotton yarn and I made a bigger size (3 months) so hopefully he will get some wear out of it I finished one book and it was book two of The Bridge Kingdom series - The Traitor Queen by Danielle Jensen. Im loving th...

Well what a busy week Ive had. Due to not being able to do much around the farm Ive been indoors a lot. Ive got lots of farm paperwork and computer stuff done which is a good and Ive been doing half a day on that and half a day on Syvlia the sewing machine. I firstly finished this quilt (only the quilting and binding needed to be done) its a Jinny Beyer pattern using all her fabrics. Im going to take it into mum for her to have on her bed in the Village for a while. Secondly I finished a quilt made all from my scrap basket. Also left over binding pieces, half used up bobbins and threads too so a real leftover buster! I think it turned out really well and in effect its a "free" quilt and amazingly my scrap basket is considerably smaller (which never happens!)From this - To this! And thirdly I finished a crochet blanket for the Sterling baby due in February - this one I started years ago so it was good to get another UFO (unfinished object) finished! Pretty successful we...

Exciting news! A miracle happened and I got a cancellation appointment to have nerve root injection in my sciatic nerve. I was booked to have it done on the 26th of October which at the time of booking was an 8 week wait - thankfully its now done after waiting 4 weeks. And boy did it hurt! My recover time apparently will be slow - and its been difficult finding places to sit without pain but its starting to improve a bit finally. I have to "take it easy" for 3 week and then will start rehab to build up the supporting muscles which will hopefully help withe issues I have - although I do have arthritis in my spine so I suppose thats not going away any time soon but Ill do the best I can! So Ive been busy this week relaxing LOL Ive decided to challenge myself I want to see what I can make up from my quilting fabic scrap bucket - theres a fair bit in it thats for sure. I started by taking out the pieces that are quite large and "filed" them in the drawers of fabri...

Cant believe its the end of September already! Three more months and it will be the end of the year! Crazy!!!!! Here on the farm we are almost finished calving and have been making silage - that the green marshmellow things you often see in padocks. Its not hot enought to make hay at this stage as it needs to be down on the ground for at least a week to 10 days so silage it is - and the cows really enjoy eating it. My leg is still giving me a lot of pain and is so frustrating but Im trying to focus on what I can do as opposed to what I cant do. On the can do front Ive finsihed a sock which is a test knit for a knitting friend in the US and I used some beautiful purple coloured yarn from Plucky Ive also really been enjoying getting back to doing quilting things - and have been trying really hard to keep my area clean and tidy so its easy to work on things. Firstly I finished a cot quilt for the yet to be named new grandson that will be born in queensland next February. My lovely f...

So after a few gorgeous sunny days (and a couple over 30 degrees!) its been back to cold mornings of 2-4 degrees but lovely days. SO the wood heater has been lit again and Im glad I didnt clean it out thinking it was the end of the heating season. This often happens and thankfully we do have a split system as a back up but the wood heater does such a much better job. I have very exciting news on the crafting front - Ive finally been able to produce some spun yarn! Its been a journey but I was talking (ok I was whinging) to an online spinnng friend from the UK and she suggested that I try and spin a little bit each day to build up the muscle memory. I also changed what I was trying to sping and - yipppee!!! - I managed it. I also managed to ply it as well, which is where you spin (in the other direction) two bobbins of the yarn you have produced which spins them together. Gary has asked what Im going to do with it and I dont have a clue - just gaze at it and be impressed. And ye...