Preparing for Lockdown

From tomorrow New Zealand goes into lockdown to prevent community spread of Covid-19.  Already confined to quarters as being in the "at risk" age group, the DBEM has been busy with her knitting and then tells me she has no stock pile of yarn. What??!!   In this situation we need yarn....
A quick trip today to the yarn store and we are prepared - I hope.  Anyway the DBEM is happy.

My preparations are already in place gardening, sewing, stitching, knitting and reading.   Photo evidence to follow as the dreary days of lockdown progress.

Completed and preparing

The pincushion and the lavender bag are now complete -  proof in the snapshots below.

Our temperatures have suddenly dropped along with our spirits - at least the DBEM is fairly dismal.  Yesterday I had to put blue into my temperature chart but today is back in yellow.   The nights are much cooler and the days growing shorter so Autumn is in the air here.

Because of the fine day the landscaper was able to finish building my raised garden bed in the back yard (the photo below is part way through the construction).  This is one part of my preparation for social distancing due to Covid-19   If I am not going to be allowed out and about socially I will need something to do at home so vegetable gardening it is.   I plan to go to the garden centre tomorrow (maintaining the recommended distance from others who may be there) and get the necessary to plant up for my winter veges.   Do you think this garden bed (18 metres long and 0.6metres wide) will be large enough to produce vegetables for two old ladies??

The flower garden in the front is still doing its thing and I am fighting a winning battle with the aphids on the roses.   It seems they do not like to be sprayed with a mixture of soapy water, oil and baking soda!   So I am able to enjoy the last of the flowers and continue to contend with the inevitable weeds.
Another more satisfying preparation has been this.

I purchased this Lanarte cross stitch kit around 25 years ago and it has languished in the stash cupboard ever since.   However it would look good framed and on the wall of my bathroom. So I decided that if I am confined to quarters I should improve the shining hour and I have got everything ready and made a small start (a whole 24 crosses!!) on this.   Along the way I will lose interest I know, but if I can stitch a bird at a time I should be able to continue to completion.
I have promised the DBEM to get her some more knitting wool tomorrow when I go to stock up on Library books.   So far there are no cases of Coronavirus in our city so I am using these next few days to make preparations worthy of a military strategist :-)

Life is full

Life is full and I don't know how I ever found time to work!   I find I am having to be very disciplined and timetable my days in order to get through all the home jobs as well as my new found activities.   But a full life is a good one :-)
This week I have helped the DBEM a lot with her knitting -  we have reversed out of problems; I have knitted up yarn that is too dark for her to see the stitches clearly; between us we have finished two garments (and bought yarn for another) and tonight we decided that having "donated" so much time to her knitting, this coming week I can stitch.   However, this coming week is full to the brim with planned activities so there may not be a lot of stitching either.
Still, I have made a biscornu pincushion to sit by my sewing machine
Also a small lavender bag to place among my blankets to discourage any bugs.  (Photos of these next post)
A teeny tiny gift which was quite a struggle as my fingertips are sore from pricks by rose thorns (no photo of that as it is a gift)
And I finally found a cheap frame for my blue Sajou M and it has found a home on my wall (bottom left).

My raised bed vege garden is to be built this coming week and as I didn't want to be embarrassed in front of the landscaper I have been outdoors a lot these past few days.   Most of the garden is very tidy now, the lawns are mowed and the one aphid laden rose bush has been dowsed in buckets of soapy water.   I am tempted to get rid of that rose bush -  the vicious thorns bite me badly and I am punctured all over yet still the aphids cling on.   Far away from the aphids, the silver beet I planted is growing well and seems to like its position between the red rose and the purple lavender.  The DBEM loves silver beet and each day on her return from her walk checks the growth on these plants.  But there's still some days/weeks to go before she will be eating home grown.

Hopefully next post I will have more stitching news...

What I have been up to.

The days fly by and I look back wondering what I have accomplished.   Sometimes not much:-)
Mowing the lawn and tidying the garden seems to occupy many hours and I have yet to develop a true love for that part of my responsibilities.   Presently it is a needs must situation and after rain yesterday the lawn is telling me it needs another haircut.   I tell myself that this must surely be increasing my Vitamin D levels which for many years have been so low that my doctor has issued dire warnings.   She would be pleased to see me "enjoying" more time outdoors.   I am enjoying the flowers though and the DBEM wanders through each morning and then tells me where I need to weed and what needs cutting back!   She is technically Vision Impaired but can still manage to nag me into working in my garden (ha ha).

I have been sewing as I am determined to use up the pieces of fabric in my stash. 

This navy wool gaberdine was purchased about 20 years ago and has been kept safely to make a jacket and skirt for work.  Well I don't need that now and I wanted to try out a new pattern for a warm jacket.   As the New City is cooler in winter than Auckland I interlined this with a flannel and also added a thick lining so it has become a Heavy Warm Jacket.   Taking time over this to ensure that it is well made and fits properly has been satisfying and now I face the task of hand sewing in all the lining.   With temperatures still in the high 20's I don't need to rush as I won't be able to wear it for many weeks yet.   Having proved the pattern to be a success I will go ahead (after a short break) to make up the black quilted woolen fabric I have for the real deal.

On the stitching front I am finishing off the hardanger piece which will make the front panel of a bag.  This piece of linen is woven with off white thread one direction and brown thread the other and although it has been in my stash for some time it has never sparked joy.   However I think it will make an excellent durable tote bag and so will this week go to the store to choose a coordinating fabric and interfacing to complete that.  The chart had this as a cushion design but I don't have such things in my house so came up with the bag as an alternative.   There is still a piece of linen left but I have ideas to use that so watch this space.

At a Craft Morning at church we made needlecases.   This is on the fringe of my comfort zone - I don't have much artistic sense and was flummoxed as to how to decorate the shape.   However the end result is passable.

Tomorrow night is Embroiderers Guild and we have Book Club.  Each member has been asked to take a book and a piece of embroidery inspired by that book.   I'm not sure if this means an embroidery book or a "real" book so have one of each and will then be able to participate.

Meet Ruby

Do you ever fall for projects in a magazine and disappear down an unexpected route?   I did that with my rag doll.
My cousin had made a rag doll for her granddaughter, complete with a whole wardrobe of clothes.  What a good idea, I thought.  Then just as I heard about Christine's creation, I saw a pattern in the English Womens Weekly magazine.  Eventually I got the enlargement done and cut out the pieces.   And only then did I realise that I couldn't stitch this on the sewing machine and everything would need to be hand made.  

Slowly the pieces came together and she began to look like a doll.  The DBEM said she needed a name so I christened her Ruby.

Creating Ruby's head of hair - and what a boring process that is - took most of one afternoon.
Conclusions from this foray....

• Ruby will have only this one set of clothes; a dress, knickers and shoes.  The pattern called for pajamas and slippers and I did have notions of a raincoat and boots (ha ha)
• Ruby will never have a sibling.   I am sworn off making rag dolls!!!

February already!!

January seems to have slipped by very quickly and although I have a lot to show for it there truly hasn't been much in the stitching front.
The new house has a lot of garden and I have been diligent in working on that.   The back has been cleared ready for raised vege beds to be built this month in time for autumn planting.   In the front I have dispensed with several plants I don't like, cleared away the "undergrowth", made friends with two Songbird Thrush who keep me company and eat the snails and I am feeling much happier that I will be able to manage what my cousin described as a "pretty garden". Hopefully it will remain so:)
Besides that I have been pounding the pavements walking all over this delightfully flat city exploring various places.   It took several thousand steps and some degree of frustration until I finally found an Asian Food Store which sold fresh tofu.   Yay!   The general supermarket is much closer and the greengrocer is closer still so I am well supplied.   The DBEM and I have been enjoying our meatless days. Her appetite is small and ailments preclude many foods which coupled with blunted dentures means that meatless meals have increased in number and provide me with welcome opportunity to scan my cookery books.
Last night I went to the Embroiderers Guild for the first time.   It is held in the chapel of a funeral directors facilities so I sidled past the hearse and hoped I didn't go in the wrong door!   All the women were really friendly and were wearing name tags.   It is funny how many Margaret's I am meeting in The New City.   At church there are five others and at Guild I have a namesake also .   Perhaps this is because I have moved into a different age demographic socially??
Currently I am working on a couple of pieces of hardanger - a lacy border for an apron.   This will be a gift for a special birthday in 12 months time so yes, I am planning ahead!

The other is a cushion cover pattern from my Japanese Hardanger book but I am thinking I might make this into a bag.  Still some way to go to completion so plenty of time to decide.

Today has been very hot - almost too much for the DBEM.   We reached 32 degrees celsius and both of us wilted.   It did mean that my temperature cross stitch changed from orange to red.   If the weather man is to be believed tomorrow it will go to yellow.   I do hope he is correct!

At Guild I was told this year's Presidents Challenge is ' a piece of embroidery that illustrates the name of a book'.   I had instant inspiration so may attempt this even though I know it will be out of my comfort zone.  Over the next week or so I will gather the ingredients and see how I get on.   I am thinking a box with a clue on the lid and various scenes from the book on the sides.   I will need to devise some way of making this in counted embroidery as I am not good at satin stitch etc to attempt freestyle embroidery for a project like this.   I have until the end of November to complete it shuld be possible - after all I now have all the time in the world!
And on that note....adieu.

On the way to completion

This week I decided that the basket of projects needed some attention and so
1) the embroidered Japan Box was put in a tin and put in a cupboard.   I am not good at free embroidery and prefer the constraints of counting on linen.   So the box is put away until inspiration strikes again.  It is not yet at the point where I can see completion ahead so...
2) The hardanger tassels were cut out and stitched up and.....oh no!  I have no DMC 712 to make the tassels and no time to go to the store.  So this finish is half done :(

3) The Betsy Morgan Etui had been stitched and prepared for completion before the big shift and I am well on the way now.   Home base is in sight and I'll have this done by the end of the week - Filial Duties and Family Visits not withstanding. 

I am rather pleased with how this is turning out. 

But have discovered that I really miss my needlework store The Ribbon Rose for the "extras"   This needs a couple of suitable beads to finish the closures and some wool felt for the needlebook pages.  Here in The New City we have a Spotlight (big box store of Australian origins) and they can supply DMC thread and basic white and antique white Cashel and Belfast Linen but anything else will be mail order now.   I hadn't really listed a needlework stork in the necessities when we chose Palmerston North!!
Today I tackled some of the garden kept company by a Songbird Thrush who was delighted to scoff the snails I uncovered.  He and I will become closer friends in the days ahead -  there is a lot of garden at this place.   I have cut back, pulled out, dead headed and cleaned up about a quarter and have already had two trips to the Green Waste Dept at the Resource Recovery Centre.   The back garden will go into vegetables but the front is supposed to be pretty flowers - we shall see.