My “natural” environment

To say I am not the athletic type is an understatement.  I walk (sometimes) for exercise, but that’s about the limit of my interest in sports.

Part of the leisure and recreation unit that I had to complete this week (my last subject! an elective!) were two activities I was dreading:  Lawn Bowls and Bush “Walking”.  The lawn bowls was not too bad, but really, it just seems so pointless to me.  Trying to hit a little white ball at the other end.  With a big wobbly ball that doesn’t roll straight.  I know lots of people enjoy it, but it’s not for me.  I think the real attraction is the cheap alcohol that is served in the bowls clubs myself.  There are always people in there.

When I read the unit outline, there was mention of a “wilderness experience”.  Which made me a little anxious about how much “wilderness” I would have to experience.  Could it be a trip to the botanical gardens?  The local wetlands that are not far from the campus? No.  It was announced that we would be going to Mt Mitchell.  Never heard of it.

We were going on a bus trip to walk on a mountain.  Doesn’t sound too bad.  The lecturer looked around the (all much younger and fitter than me) students and claimed that it was an easy walk of about 3.5 km, so we would walk up, eat our lunch and enjoy the view, then walk back down.  Alarm bells started ringing.

3.5 km – is that the distance one way, or both?  A friend told me that there would be leeches.  I am not very fit, my exercise walking consists of 30 minute sessions on a lovely, flat, concreted walking track in the park at the end of my street.  (and I haven’t done that for a while, either).  Plus I get motion sickness on busses and trains.  Not good.  Despite my misgivings, off I went to try and enjoy the “wilderness” experience.

The weather didn’t look too promising in the morning – thick fog everywhere.  This was the view at the campus (on a clear day you can see the Brisbane airport and Moreton Bay from here, it’s on a big hill. That I drive up).  At least it wasn’t raining, I consoled myself.  I took a travel sickness tablet, got on the bus and hoped for the best.  2 hours bus riding later, I was still feeling OK.  Time to start walking.

The thing about walking on mountains is, it’s all uphill.  I knew I was in trouble when everyone went past me – which was fine, because I would rather they went in front of me anyway.  The plan was to walk until a certain time, and then turn around and walk back down, so everyone would be back at the bus at the same time.  I kept walking. Slowly.  After about 15 minutes, I’d had enough.  No view could be worth this amount of pain.  The assistant lecturer was walking at the end of the group, and I told her to go on ahead of me.  She advised me to take it slow and have breaks when I needed them.  Not what I wanted to hear, but I continued on, against my better judgement.  Another hour of agonising walking later, and it was time to turn around.  Hooray!  I had to sit down because I was light headed and hadn’t eaten all morning.  I gulped down a quick snack, sat for a minute and started back down the track.

 

It was much easier going down hill – gravity is my friend!  I started to enjoy the scenery and the bits of view that I could see through the trees:

 

 

Fungus on a fallen log – they look like shells, so pretty.

The bus trip back was not so pleasant – bus sick despite medication.  Migraine despite medication. It was a long trip.

By the time I got home I was ill – migraine, dehydrated, nauseated, sore feet.  Blech.  Took more medication and lay down with my eyes covered, which usually helps.  Not this time.  The nausea led to vomiting of the projectile kind.  After which I immediately felt much better, so I guess it was all for the best.   According to my pedometer, I walked 8 kms.  After reading the Mt Mitchell link today I am cranky – it’s a 10 K  return walk that should take about 4 hours.  

Back in my “natural” environment (my lounge room, with full amenities included) I am working on this:

about to add rows 3 and 4, trying to work out if I have enough white background fabric left (I don’t think so, unless there is a big piece of it hiding somewhere) and wondering why that is when I bought what the directions said I would need.  Hmmmm.  I suppose white quilters muslin will be the same if I go back and buy some more.  I think I want to add a border to this anyway.

Bargains galore

Second hand shopping is always a bit of a hit and miss affair.  There is no guarantee that you will find what you are looking for, you just have to be lucky on the day.  I looked for a couple of years for a heavy duty stand mixer.  I priced the new ones, and decided I didn’t need one that badly.  Fast forward to the day I found a Sunbeam MixMaster at the Salvo’s.  Two bowls, and three beaters plus the instruction booklet.  For $20.00.  I couldn’t get my hands on it quick enough!  According to the instruction book, mine was made in 1968, so we are both the same age.  I’ve managed to buy extra bowls, and I would like to have some extra beaters and the dough hooks so I’m keeping my eyes open for them. 

On Saturday, I saw a juicer attachment at Lifeline.  I didn’t buy it because I wasn’t sure if my mixer had the fitting for it.  I checked it when I got home and I can attach the juicer, so I am kicking myself for not buying it.  I am going to go back tomorrow and see if it is still there (how many people would want to buy it?)  I think it will only fit the older Sunbeams, so maybe luck will be on my side.  My son wanted to know exactly how much juice I was planning on drinking.  My answer was none – but I still want the juicer.  It goes with the MixMaster. 

 

My other score for the day was this:

A cantilevered sewing box.  It is not very big – 15 inches long and 7 inches wide – but I spotted it the second I walked into the shop.  Some of it is a bit wobbly, but nothing that a bit of TLC won’t fix.  The price they were asking put me off though - $55.00.  I decided to look around the rest of the shop and see what else was there and decide at the end whether or not to buy it.  I’ve wanted one of these for a very long time, and this is the only one I’ve ever found.  My Grandma had a bigger version that sat next to her armchair and it was packed with heaps of interesting bits and pieces.  I decided to bite the bullet and just buy it.  While I was standing in line to pay, a lady came up to me to say how lucky I was to have found it.  Other people jealous = decision confirmed.  What I didn’t realise was that this particular Salvo’s was having a sale, and everything was half price.  Double score. 

Off work for the week, but I have to go to uni everyday.  I am doing my last subject (!!) in intensive mode.  There is an exam (open book, but still) first thing on the first day.  I guess it’s a good way to make students do the reading before they show up.

Flat out…..

There has been a renewed interest in quilting amongst the craft group that I meet with every week, so we have been having lots of fun swapping fabric and making our own version of my Confetti quilt.  I’ve finished mine and entered it into the RNA Quilts Across Queensland, and there are 3 other versions in various stages of completion that I have also assisted with.

I made a stack of these little pinwheel blocks at the same time, with no real plan in mind.  I pulled them out to see what I could do with them, and started grouping colours into sets of 9 and put them together.  Pressing seams open is the secret with these fiddly blocks, which goes against all the quilt “rules” that I learnt.  The result is a lovely flat top and really accurate points.

And more of these – my third batch, and I think I’ve got it down to a fine art now.  Reactions from people are really interesting – lots of them try to peel the bottom bit off, not realising that they are all chocolate.  They’ve been a bit hit.  Tried some different cake flavours this time – red velvet cake and lime and pistachio. 

Finished!

 

I wasn’t planning to finish this quilt off this weekend, especially with the thread “issues”.  But I really wanted to get this one out of the way, so I can start something new.  Or finish some other stuff. 

I’ve been thinking that red binding would be a good contrast for this one, and the I found this piece of  red polka dot when I was fishing through the red box.  I really like how it looks next to the white quilting.

Labels, loose thread removal and a light steam press, and it will be ready to go to the show.

Deadlines…..

Still quilting this – I’m on a deadline.  I’m entering it into the RNA Quilts Across Queensland show.  The entry forms are due next week, but I still have a bit of time after that before I have to drop the actual quilts off.

I will be very glad when this is finished – the quilting has not been an enjoyable experience for me.  It’s usually the part of making a quilt that I like the most, but not this time.  The thread keeps breaking and it’s making me crazy.  I think it’s a combination of the thread type (white polycotton) and the quilt itself.  The joins between the hourglass blocks are quite bulky, with maybe 8 layers in a tiny corner of the blocks.  The thread doesn’t seem to be able to cope with any kind of stress and shreds.  I’ve changed needles, cleaned and re-threaded everything but nothing helps.  Next time (ha! not likely) I make these, I think I’ll press the seams open which will reduce the bulk.  And go back to my normal shiny rayon thread that I never have a problem with.

There are 200 hourglass blocks, which means 400 white triangles that I am stippling over.  With an average of 1 thread break per triangle, I am completely over it.  I just want to do sewing without rethreading every 5 seconds.

See that lump under the quilt at the bottom of the photo?  My quilting assistant, Coco, decided that it was the perfect place for a mid morning nap.  I kept forgetting she was under there, and every now and then I would hear a little chirrup to remind me.  Especially then I put the Foxtel remote of top of her.

I saw this great building facade in the Valley today – plants growing out of huge spheres and loopy metal bits.  Loved it.

Knit fail

We were off to such a good start……

 

Until someone started drinking Tequila while knitting. 

More than 30 stitches?  No problem, just keep knitting.  Holes?  Bumpy bits?  Just keep knitting.

Shanon tells me she had 90 “loops” (not stitches) by the last row, before she decided to call it quits and “cast off”.  By pulling the needle out and not knitting anymore. 

Not a complete loss – I’m going to felt this bit of knitting and I’ll make something out of it.  Not sure exactly what as yet, but something. 

Remedial knitting plan:

• Use wool that doesn’t split easily until the knitter gets the hang of how a stitch should look
• Try stocking stitch so the stitches can be seen more easily
• Ban use of Tequila while knitting

Considering the “lessons” we’ve had consist of two 15 minute afternoon tea breaks and not much more, I think she’s doing pretty well. 

Fifi likes it.  She’s very discerning.

cupcake bites

I’ve been a fan of Bakerella for a while. So cute and clever.

American recipes always make me a bit wary – sometimes the ingredients aren’t available here so substitutions are necessary, plus the measurements are not metric which can make things a bit more difficult. 

The cake pops are made with cake mix and pre made frosting.  Cake mix is no problem – now I want red velvet cake mix , but a can of cream cheese frosting?  No can get.  I can make it, but how much do you need?  How much is 16oz in (proper, metric) grams?  These are the questions that take a while to work around.

 

The solution – I used a chocolate cake mix and made cream cheese icing, and decided to guesstimate the amounts.  I put the cake through the food processor to make the crumbs and started adding the icing to it.

The first go was too wet and goopy.  More cake required, so I was lucky that I had another chocolate cake mix in the pantry.  Baked, cooled and crumbed, I was ready to try again.  This time I just added the too goopy mix to the dry crumbs until it could be rolled into a ball.  Kind of like making rum balls (not that I’ve ever made them, but I imagine it’s the same sort of thing).  Once the balls are done, I left them in the fridge overnight – I’d had enough of cake for one day.  It made Heaps.

Next step – chocolate moulds.  Half filled with melted chocolate, then pop the cake ball in so it looks like a cup cake.  Into the freezer to set a bit, then in the fridge while I do the next set.  I think if I do these again, I’ll buy more moulds so I can make more than 8 at a time. 

 

 

Then the fun part – decorating!  For some reason I have very little in the way of sprinkles – I kept looking at them in the supermarket, but didn’t buy any because I always have heaps on hand.  Usually.  Well, I’m not going to the shops so what I have will have to do. 

 

I was very excited to find Wiltons Candy Melts were available here – they’re expensive, but I thought it would be worth it to save me trying to mix colours.  But they’re not that great – they stayed fairly solid even when they were melted, so you can’t dip things easily.  I ended up using a palette knife to ice the pink ones – fiddly and not great looking.  I made the blue and yellow from white chocolate with powdered colours.  I could dip these ones, so it was a bit quicker and easier to finish them.  I tried to make lilac, but ended up with grey-ish purple-ish instead.  They’ll still taste OK (and probably no one else will notice anyway). 

 

Some are a bit wonky, but that’s why I like to make a practice batch before I am committed to an actual event.  (lesson learnt the hard way).  Plus I need more types of sprinkles. I ended up with about 6 dozen – I will take some to a dinner/quilting sweatshop on Thursday night, but some are going to be taken to work as well.  And my sons work.  They like cake.  And I have Heaps of it that I’m not going to eat.