Did the earth Move for you?

 This was a nice quick knit.

Knit from some yarn I spun up, details HERE

 Fern is now at high school.

Hard to believe how fast they grow up.

I love how this knit hugs her shape.

I loosly followed Shannon's Versa pattern.

Using 8mm knitting needles.

Last night at about 10pm I felt the earth move!

We had a tremor here.

The details are on Geoscience Australia Website

It was a magnitude 2.4 quake, situated at a depth of 7 kms here in Jamestown.

It was enough to rumble through the floorboards and wake the kids in the top bunks.

The kids were a little scared, I think due to the other serious quakes recently.

The last of the mug rugs for now.

 I think I'm over my Rug Mug phase for now.

This was a little left over patchwork from another project which I added a butterfly too.

I played with my machine and put in some fancy stitches.

We all spent the afternoon walking around town looking for geocaches. 

Managed to find one. The other eluded us.

Will have to have another try later.

I have been trying to spin but Heather is determined to stop me by pulling off my drive band.

She's also taken to climbing up onto the kitchen table, via the chairs.

Yes, it's another Mug Rug!

 When I get into a project I can get a little obsessive.

Pete want's this one for his computer desk.

I finished the binding by machine, would of looked nicer if I'd used a fancy stitch.

I think I have an addictive personality.

Lucky ( or is that unluckily) I tend to get tired of things pretty quickly.

So most addictions wane of their own accord.

My BIG project is progressing well and I'm well into the zone with it.

Yet Another Mug Rug

 A very Aussie Mug Rug this time.

I lived 16 years in the Territory.

I moved to the Territory straight after University to take up my very first teaching job.

I only intended to go for a year or two.

 I worked In Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and on an Aboriginal Community.

I found my life partner and birthed 5 of my 7 children in the Territory. 

Made some wonderful life long friendships

And I started my quilting journey too.
(I've even eaten a Honey Ant!)

The Territory will always be a special place to me.

After seeing the Todd River flow, more than 3 times, I'm sure I'll return one day.

Pete still works in the Territory.

He travels up on a semi- regular basis and works at home in between trips.

And some times he pops into Polka Dot Fabrics in Alice Springs and brings me back a treat!

Another day, Another Mug Rug

 Another Mug Rug.

I'm joining Erin on her Mug Rug Madness.

Go check out Erin's Blog, she has giveaways and tutorials!

 I tried something new and scalloped the edge.

Some raw edge applique and a fussy cut flower.

The perfect little project to try out a few new to you techniques.

Mug Rug Madness

 

 Erin over at two more seconds is hosting

Mug Rug Madness

This is my effort.

I haven't done much quilting for awhile.

Thought I'd have a go at making some of these tiny quilts.

May inspire me to get back into some quilt making.

I'm still working on my BIG project, it's coming along slowly.

I'm hopeful I'll finish in time for Christmas this year.

Family fun, Geocaching!

Geocaching!

Why have I never come acoss this before?

It's been going for 10 Years and I've been missing out on all that fun!

 I remember seeing Geocaching mentioned on a blog awhile ago

but I really had no idea what it was.

Last night I heard all about it while listening to a Podcast Fat2Fit Radio.

 I was so excited after visiting the Geocaching website 

and finding lots of caches were hidden in our little town!

We decided we'd go treasure hunting Sunday morning, 

only to wake to rain. rain and more rain.

In the end we decided to brave the weather and do it anyway.

 

 On our first search we weren't luck enough to find the cache.

So off we walked to the second site.

I used my iphone and the Geocaching App

I don't think it was working, we mostly relied on the google maps and hints to find three caches!

 It was great to be active with the kids to be all working together to solve the problems and find the treasure.

Liam found the first Cache which had a Travel Bug in it!

We have to put this little bug in another cache to help him in his journey.

 I found the second cache!

And we learned a lot about RW Williams along the way.

 Peter found the third cache.

After we solved the puzzle to get a hint.

After a wonderful afternoon of walking in the rain, 

playing in puddles and finding treasure 

we headed home for afternoon tea.

We're already planning out next Geocaching adventures.

I now want to get a hand held GPS so we can find the harder caches.

 

KOGO Time

I'm once again knitting for KOGO

This is a scoodie.
A scarf with a hood attached.

First time I've made one of these.

The pattern is free on the KOGO website.

I used two strands of Heath 8ply and 6.5mm needles to make this a fast knit.

I'm planning on knitting a few scarves to send too.

I had to come back and do another edit as I'm brain dead right now and the spelling was awful.
If you notice anything else keep it to yourself my ego may not survive being told what else I have got wrong.
 And while I am back here I'll share Heather's latest trick..

Yes, she can now press the button on the ipad to make it come on.
Frustration then happens as she hasn't worked out the slide bit to keep it on!

More handspun, a spindle and a new use for my project bags

 

I spun a thick single from some Earth Palette dyed White Finn , 

which came from Kath Lomman from Mount Bryan SA.

I plied the thick single with a fine single I spun from English Leicester I bought from Moseley Park.

The dye, the Finn and the EL are all from South Australia! 

 I spun and plied on my Ashford Joy.

I'm loving my new wheel, I pack her in her bag and take her to the park with the kids.

For more portable spinning, nothing beats a drop spindle.

I've been practicing with some Romney Ball that I got from Kathy (SA again!)

And I found a new use for my project bag.

It makes the PERFECT drop spindle bag.

I have a few of these little bags. I made them to sell and they never sold.

Now I'm pretty happy they didn't, at the time it was a bit depressing.

I have now given up on the idea of making any sort of money from my craft.

 I'm happier to just craft for my own brood now.

I feel a lot freer to craft whatever takes my fancy and not thinking will it sell.

I really admire people who can make money out of craft it takes a lot of time and dedication.

For me time is something that is too precious, to spend crafting for others.

You can use the project bag to hold your fiber as you spin!

As well as storing your spindle when not in use.

The bags handle makes it perfect for hanging out the way on your arm as you draft and spin.

MY FREE PROJECT BAG  DROP SPINDLE BAG

TUTORIAL IS HERE

Reno Update

The kitchen floor is now tiled.

After years of horrible lino, cork tiles and concrete.

The professionals did a fabulous job of working around us and I was only without a kitchen for two days. 

The floor was very uneven and the professionals had to even everything out with the glue as they laid the tiles.

The professionals have finished in the kitchen/dining and 

Pete is going to do the painting.

And I have a shower!!

We decided on a shower bath setup. 

We don't have a lot of space in the bathroom.

We could of had a bigger bath but with 4 girls to go through teenage years

the water bill would be huge!

There are a few things still to do in the bathroom.

A shower screen needs to go in.

The electrics need to be fitted.

A little more grouting and sealing.

The partition between the vanity and bath needs to be ordered and installed.

The partition needs to be made to measure.

The partition is made with a privacy door.

It will be on feet and not the full height of the room, allowing light and air into the bath area.

Putting a partition in will separate the vanity and toilet from the bath.

Allowing someone to use the bath while another person uses the vanity or toilet.

The boys will no longer have to wait for Fern to get out the bathroom so they can brush their teeth in the morning.

 The laundry just needs painting.

I can't wait to get in here and sort it all out.

There is still a door that needs to be fitted between the dining and laundry.

The opening between the laundry and bathroom has no door.

Mother, Daughter bonding

The heart in the burnt tree made us smile

I think it's important to make special memories with each of my children.

Finding one on one time with so many kids can be difficult.

Today I took off and escaped with Rose to Melrose.

I've talked about doing the walking trails, since we move to SA.

Today was the day to go and look, scout out the location for a family walk.

Rose was fabulous.

We walked the nature trail, 3kms up and down the side of a mountain.

Steep climbs we had to huff and puff up and coming down on the sides of our feet with our hands out to steady us.

Rock hopping over the dry creek beds.

It's not a suitable walk for the little ones, as at stages you are walking along steep slopes.

I can see Michael deciding to tumble down the slopes for fun!

look close, Can you see?

 And towards the end of the walk we heard a noise and looked up to see....

He really was enormous. 

I'd say at least 2 meters from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail.

Rose was a little worried as we had to walk under his tree!

The trails at Melrose are also for Mountain Bikes!

I can tell you, you will never see me on a mountain bike on those trails!

There was a shop we walked passed, Over The Edge, that rented Bikes.

I didn't bother to go in.

Now I'm thinking I should of ..they had wool and chocolate too!!

And another little shop had the most beautiful handmade tiles.

Pete should be relieved I saw these after we had finished tiling the bathroom.

I hope Rose remembers her special day out.

Mmmmm yummy yarn

 

 Spun from last months Fibre Club from Moseley Park.

This one is EL X Merino and EL lamb.

I plied with EL too.

 

And this one is Merino, baby camel, tussah silk with a little glitz and Angelina to make it sparkle.

 I also plied this with EL.

Now I just have to wait for this months installment.

Reno Update

 The tiling has started in the kitchen now.

The girls and I shifted furniture using skateboards.

The builders had to angle grind the floor down in sections.

You could write your name and draw pictures in the dust this created.

Putting tarps over stuff was pretty useless, I found the dust still got in,

I ended up washing everything anyway.

When they tile the left hand side, I'll be without a kitchen.

One day to lay the tiles, one to grout them and maybe one to put the kitchen back together.

Lots of BBQ chook and salad from the Foodland coming up I think.

 Yes, I'm still without a shower.

Once the old tiles came off a problem was found with water leaking.

That meant building up the wall to smooth it out and sealing the wall with some plastic that is painted on in two layers, each layer needed to dry. 

The old floor drain had also been leaking so had to be replaced.

Turns out all the mold issues I had in the old bathroom were not just my slack housekeeping skills.

We also ran out of the floor tiles, as I decided to tile up the steps with the floor tiles and  we no longer had enough. That means an extra couple of days. One for finishing the tiling and another for grouting.

We couldn't use the existing plumbing either as it was too old for the new fittings.

All new plumbing needed to go in.

It's been a long slow process.

Renovating old houses is,  due to everything not being stock standard and having to be cut to size.

Walls and floors aren't straight, nor square.
There is a lot of fiddling and maths to get everything to fit together.

I know many builders don't like to work this way, they like to knock it down and start again.

If we had gone that way it would of cost us more and we would of had to move out for 3 months.

Who would like to rent to a family with 7 kids?

Especially my mob who love drawing on walls and spilling food at every opportunity.

The builders are saying the end is near.

 I won't get my hopes up yet.

 I don't believe Pete until he has booked a ticket home.

"ll wait until the builders are packing up before I get too excited!

Ninja

 A cute little Ninja for James.

Another FREE pattern!

I love how generous people are to share their talents on the web.

 The net has made it easy to share and learn.

I find so much inspiration from reading blogs and participating in forums.

I wonder if the net has taken over too much in my life.

I spend a lot of time on the computer at the expense of making 'real life' friends.

With the kids still so little I find it hard to get out of the house.

I have made a support network for myself here on the net.

Maybe I also need to be more active in making a 'real life' support network too?

'Real life' friendships take time and energy both of which are in short supply right now.

Never Not Knitting Theme Song

This is for TAS :D

This is the theme for the Never Not Knitting Podcast it's worth a listen. It's one of many I listen to. I'm a podcast junkie. Once upon a time I made my own podcast... there is always the hope I may resurrect it. Finding inspiration and free time together tends to be the main hurdle.

I have an addiction..

....... to fluff.

 

The above two batts are this months installment of the Moseley Park Fiber Club.

I was so excited I had to show it off to the builders.

I'm sure they weren't as excited as me.

 And this is the yarn I spun from the Xmas Fiber Club.

Tussah silk and camel, plied with Romney.

The Romney I spun from a Romney Ball I bought from Kathy's Fibers

 The feel of this is amazing. 

Soft and squishy and the colour is so vibrant.

This was the original sliver from the Xmas club.

I have something very exciting happening right now,
it's a long term project so I can't show you yet.

(and no mum and Sue, I'm not pregnant!)