How is your knitting going?

In the midst of lots of other activities, I am still finding time to knit.  My floor lamp lets me knit more while watching tv, and I am now taking my knitting when we go out in the car (I'm the passenger - I don't knit at the lights or while crawling in school time travel yet!)

So what have I knitted over the last 2 months?

Little Mister W has a jumper and 2 hats

and a hooded jacket in 14ply - I think I'll stick to 200g balls from Bendigo Woollen Mills after all the joins while using 50g balls to make this.

Miss H (thanks for the photo Wendy) has a new jumper using wool from my stash - I think I have had this for about 7 years.  I used the same pattern as the blue jumper above, but added a favourite border pattern, from some jumpers she and her sister had as babies, instead of the rib and used the same stitch for the collar - do you 'play' with the patterns you use?

There was a bit left over, so she has a hat to match.

Now I am starting another 2 Kina cardigans for Miss A and Miss M, using  'Classic' wool from BWM.  

....And to make the order big enough for free postage, I have 2 balls of 'Bloom' for scarves for me (they will be fun to do on our travels next year) and 1 ball of cotton for a summer vest for Mister W.

If I need a change or something quick to do, I have scrubbies underway (cotton and nylon squares for cleaning your saucepans) and dolls for my shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

So I guess my hands will stay occupied and warm for the next few weeks while I finish these knits.

My Canadian animal quilt is finished......YAY!!!

Wow, after buying this fabric on a cruise nearly 9 years ago, I have finally made the quilt that has been in my mind.  And I'm very happy with the result....

I have topstitched by machine around each picture and subsequent borders, and even machined the edge binding.  This has made it much quicker to complete and saw me finished in time for my brother-in-law's birthday.  

Happy 60th birthday Chris.  I hope you enjoy using your quilt as much as I have enjoyed planning and making it.

One Pot Winter Warmer

Do you like washing up?  

I love the nights when I can get the washing up done quickly or, even better, when there is so little it can wait for the next night.

This meal for the whole family only uses one pot, only cuts one onion (cutting board and knife) and needs one spoon to stir.  Can't get much simpler in my books!

Mince with the lot (or mince, vegetables and macaroni)

Ingredients

1 Onion - diced

1 Tabsp oil

1 kg mince (the most lean you can afford)

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables - corn, carrot, peas

1 tin tomato soup (420g)

3 Tabsp tomato paste

1 beef stock cube

1/2 packet dry macaroni shells (adjust this to suit your family)

Method

1.  Dice onion.

2.  Heat oil in large pan.  Add onion and stir until soft.

3.  Add mince in 250g lots and stir until browned.

4.  Add frozen vegetables, tomato soup, tomato paste and stock cube.  Stir well.

5.  Add 3 soup tins water and then macaroni shells.  Stir well.

6.  Bring to the boil, stirring.

7.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent macaroni sticking to pan.  Add more water if it becomes too dry before macaroni is soft. 

This is something that your whole family will enjoy - if you want more vegetables, add them.

If you want less macaroni,  use less and reduce the water a little. 

It can be served with grated cheese on top, or if you have leftovers, it can be frozen.

I hope you try this recipe soon.  Enjoy!!

What type of soup are you making?

Tonight I made a Bacon and Vegetable Soup.  It is one of my favourite soups, as it varies each time I make it, according to what is in the refrigerator and pantry.

Ingredients

1 packet soup vegetables (carrot, onion, swede, turnip, celery, potatoes) from supermarket or a mixture of similar vegetables.

1 sweet potato

1 Tabsp oil

1 425g tin chopped tomatoes

2 beef stock cubes

1 Packet short cut bacon

6 cups water

Tomato sauce

1 Tabsp worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper

Method

1.  Peel and dice all vegetables into pieces of a similar size.

2.  Dice bacon.

3.  Heat oil in a large saucepan.

4.  Add bacon and diced vegetables.  Stir until bacon has crisped a little and vegetables have started to colour.

5.  Add tomatoes and their juice, stock cubes and water. Season with a little salt and pepper.

6.  Add a squirt of tomato sauce - this reduces any acidity from the tomatoes.  Alternatively, add 1 teas sugar.  Add worcestershire sauce.

7.  Stir well and bring to the boil.

8.  Lower heat and simmer, with lid on, for 30-40 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft.

9.  Serve with buttered toast.

This soup keeps well in the refrigerator for several days.  Try to reheat only the portion size you are going to eat.   Always bring it back to the boil and simmer for several minutes.  

It can also be frozen in meal-sized portions.

If you've got some vegetables and stock cubes, you can have soup.  So go on, make some this weekend and enjoy the warmth it creates during this chilly Sydney weather.

Quilt Progress

Don't you love a productive day.  I know I do!

After cutting out the picture panels on Friday night and getting the first borders around each block, I got stuck.

How was I going to make these individual blocks into a quilt top?  I had a variety of fabrics to use - that I had been collecting over a couple of years.  But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to make sure the fabrics I used didn't take away from the pictures.

What do you do at this stage?  I look for people to ask, or if I can, show.  Several people suggested 2" squares joined together into blocks to fill the spaces, so I cut 2 1/2" strips ready to join, but I couldn't find a sequence I thought was right.  More time thinking.....

When my daughter came around, she was put in front of the quilt pieces, with the fabric choices that I had.  Her preference was to keep all the borders darker, so that the pictures stood out more.  Now all I had to do was hope that I had enough of the fabric to finish the job....  That's the problem with buying the fabric over the years and not today.

The next thing to organise was the backing and batting.

I found some fabric that would be suitable for the backing.

In my stash there is plenty of cotton batting, but maybe I should try the iron-on batting, in the hope that I can machine quilt.

So we went for a quick (who was I kidding - me quick in Craft Depot) trip to get the iron-on batting.

When we got back, we had new backing fabric, 6 other lots of fabric (1 metre or 1/2 metres) that perfectly suited other projects in my mind and a reel of cotton.  Where is the batting - I decided that I would use what I had at home (does this sound familiar or am I the only one that does this?) 

So today, I have had a very productive day and have now made the top of my quilt ......

The small bears were a border to one of the picture fabrics.  I have used them to break up the big blank sections at the top and bottom.

Yay!!!! 

Next week I'll add the batting and backing.  Wish me luck... I always find this stressful.

Friday Night with Friends

Tonight I was a bit sidetracked, finishing my clerical duties for the mainly music group I coordinate.

But I'm pleased to report that this procrastination didn't stop me from starting a new quilt for a June birthday.  I purchased the fabric in 2007 on our first cruise and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it.

So this is where I'm up to:

I've cut the 10 pictures and bordered them with 1 1/2" strips of cream with tan dots.  (I may narrow this border a bit.)

They are laid out as I will include them in the quilt.  Now I have to fill in the gaps..... to make it fit the top of this queen bed.

Any ideas for doing this?  I'm open to suggestions as I want to finish the top this week.

Thanks for encouraging us to work on our projects through FNwF Cheryll.