October 4th, Blogtoberfest

The list I made for today:

1. Cleaning Windows
George did the lounge and conservatory and Ian did the dining room.  That's just the inside, but now they're mildew free which is nice.   The outside will mean a visit to the storage unit to get the gear to do the cleaning; might do that on Saturday as it's close to spinning.

2. Making bread
Despite me using the old jar of yeast and then having to add some fresh and whoops on one of the kneading bits it seems to have worked and didn't take a lot of time either!  I'll be cleaning the breadmaker and putting it on Trademe, if I'm going to make bread I'm just as likely to do it using the Kitchenaide as I am using the breadmaker.  It's a really good breadmaker and deserves a home where it will get used rather more often.

It was delicious, I'll be making more, lots more!

3. Maybe make some real pasta now that I have a drying rack for it.
Didn't get around to this, maybe on the weekend.

4. More gardening
We vacuumed instead, lounge/dining/kitchen now all sorted, but we did water the lettuces and seedlings.  Only things not showing any sign of movement yet are the celery, tomatoes and zucchini.

5. I want to start sewing George's quilt so he and I can decide on a layout
I did get started, 2/3rds of the way through the 2.5" strip piecing.

About halfway through the piecing.

6. Play another game with the boys
No, didn't do this

7. Work
done

8. Knitting - probably CPH as the shawl is a bit too involved to do when there is the potential for interruptions, as proved by today's little debacle.
Dyed 200g of sock yarn, I think it needs another dip in a tomato red as the crimson has come out a little too pink.   Might do that tonight.  The yarn was from the Milton Mill, 200g worth.  I've run out of time for knitting now, but tomorrow's a new day.

A bit too pink, that lighter bit is the mink yarn which has taken the colour differently.

I think I've also worked out what's causing my dry hands, it is likely the pump soap in the kitchen and I've just put bar soap there instead.

Tomorrow is going to be devoted to knitting, I'll drop the boys off at their day activity and then sit down and knit (please no tink).  A wee bike ride to Barrington to get some printer ink will be the only other thing aside from possibly some Xbox time.

Forever Young Socks

I knuckled down today (despite having youngest home with a nasty cough) and finished the second sock that I was test-knitting for Val.   I whoopsied slightly on my kitchener stitch; still not sure how but aside from that the socks look great and fit perfectly.  I do want to try the pattern again sometime with them longer and maybe try to extend the pattern into the toe if I can work that one out.   
The yarn is Wandering Cat Yarns Top Cat in the colourway Peter Pan which is why I called them Forever Young.  

I need bigger sock blockers if knitting for Thomas

I need more light to get an in focus shot, but you get the idea.

This just leaves me with 3 knitting WIP's.   My Central Park Hoodie (longtime WIP, next to get worked on), my Frangipani Shawl in pink which I really want to get finished; should be beautiful.   Final item is my basic socks which are really just to fill in and be easy to knit when out and about.  They're in Zauberball plied sock yarn and should look great once done, just a little boring to knit unless in a waiting room or similar.


Tomorrow I'll have to do some work instead of knitting, hopefully Ian will be well enough to be at school.  He was pretty bouncy today despite the cough and I've told school he won't be at the school production on Wednesday and Thursday night as his cough gets worse at night and would be pretty disruptive.  That and it's pretty cold in the evening and often wet at the moment too.

I might sneak in a little knitting tomorrow if I can manage it though, CPH needs to be worked on in the day as it's navy blue and hard to see during the day.   I'd love to get the back finished as it's the most complex cable-wise.

Just one more week

Of school holidays that is.   Busy week coming up, probably much like the last week.  I know I have a meeting with another member of the Weavers and Spinners guild on Monday morning as well as dropping the boys to their holiday programme, dropping off some work and tidying at bit.   The afternoon I'm visiting a friend and I'll have to get things ready for the next morning as well.  Dropping George off at Grandma's after the holiday programme so we don't have to worry about him while Ian's having his dental surgery in the hospital.  Might see if Grandma can drop George back home after I get Ian back as I'm not sure if he'll be up to toddling across town to get his brother after that.  2 teeth to come out and a filling as well; hoping they also seal the rest of his teeth.

Friday night I got confirmation we have a hedgehog on the premises as the cats alerted me to something outside and I looked out the bedroom window to see Hedgie toddling into the garage.    I decided to rescue him as he wouldn't find much edible out there and could get hurt; my rose pruning gloves were pulled on and out I toddled.  I found him in the back corner attempting to get under an old office chair; he'd got himself stuck!   So after a bit of shifting around of stuff I managed to pick him up and took him outside near our deck so he could hide under it.   No photo's I'm afraid, I figured he was already stressed sufficiently by me picking him up.    He seemed very healthy though, no sign of fleas or mites and a good turn of speed too.
He should be happy in our garden, lots of slugs and snails.

Yesterday I went to the guild to a gap filling event.  As it was cold and windy outside several of us headed into The Colombo (Sydenham Mall) and spun there after getting permission from the business next to us.

My wheel is the one on the left; I didn't bring my camera so had to use the one on my phone.   I'm spinning very fine Merino/Silk as I was in a previous post.   I'm almost halfway through the first bobbin; then got 2 more bobbins to go after this one is complete.   I found some more of the fibre in the stash which means I can make a 3-ply yarn; more work, but I love the way a 3-ply looks.

Today I let Thomas sleep in, but had to sneak back to get the camera when George spotted this wee guy on the window.

Isn't he gorgeous?  You don't normally get to see these guys from the underside.  I had to use the flash as otherwise there was no real detail, downside of that is we can now see just how many scratches are on the glass.

In knitting news I've finally actually done some!   My first Mermaidia sock is complete.  I made it much shorter as I wasn't sure how much yarn I had left; turns out I could have done at least a couple more pattern repeats, but I'm actually really pleased with the look of the sock at bobby-sock length.   The only thing I'm not sure about is that they seem slightly longer in the foot than my original pair despite being the same needle size; it may just be that this yarn knits up differently, it has bamboo instead of nylon in it.  The yarn is Wandering Cats Yarn Jungle Cat in the Vampire colourway; it's more pink than red, but I figure that's due to the bamboo component.

It really isn't easy to take good pictures of your own feet.  These will be lovely summer socks.  I've cast on for the second one and will be taking it with me to the hospital on Tuesday; it's a fairly easy pattern to knit.

Christmas Eve

We went to have an early Christmas with my family today; we've done both families in the past and we find it's just too much.  The boys get overdone and by the second Christmas meal we've all had too much and things tend to get broken.
Today we all went to Spencer Park, I forgot all the cameras except the one in my phone so while I took a few shots and some turned out well, most are no good due to the limitations of said phone camera.  We all had a great time and a lovely picnic lunch.   The boys played in the playground and no-one got sunburned due to lavish amounts of spray on sunscreen.   Here's some of the photo's I took; enjoy.

The seat with a face, looks like a sleepy Manga character

George on top of the climbing frame

Ian on top of the climbing frame

One of the wonderful sculptures in the playground area

A very important rooster, he kept his hens nice and close

The peacock who kept away from my boys and refused to sand his tail up for them

A honey coloured Kunekune pig.

RAOK

This afternoon after I'd got the boys home and was about to make lunch for me I saw someone drive up to our place; now, we're on a back section so most people who drive up are either known or else looking for the people in front of us.   This elderly lady gets out and hobbles up to the door with a plate of cake, turns out she lives across the road and had met George when he visited his mate across the road yesterday.  She wanted to say hi and give us baking!   I thought it was really sweet and thanked her very much after giving her back her plate.

A completely different beast to the chocolate cake I make, but I'm sure it will be very nice.   We're going to try it at afternoon teatime.
There was a small problem when it came time for her to go back home though; as it was pouring with rain she came over in her car, while attempting to get it out of our driveway she got it stuck against the main fence post and dented the back door.   She had to come back to ask me to get it out for her, I don't know how she'd managed it, but it took me a good 5 minutes of manouvering to get it out and the door although not losing any paint was definitely dented.  The worst part was she kept putting her hands on the car to stop it from getting further damaged which had me hoping that I wasn't going to damage her!   In the end I got the car out without shifting her drivers seat position (and I thought I had short legs) and off she went.   Hope she does talk to her insurance company and I'm glad it wasn't my fault, my neighbour helped as well, she kept an eye on where the car was in relation to the fence and let me know how we were going; thanks Paula.

In other news school is out and once again this afternoon I'm down to one child.  After ages of George wanting to go to Mekhye's house he's been invited over the last 3 afternoons; I've never seen him get off the computer faster than he did yesterday, he was halfway down the drive before I'd even got my slippers on.    Mekhye and his brother seem to enjoy having George over and it's good to do before the Christmas rush next week.   Also Ian's been invited to yet another birthday party in the new year; both boys are getting really social which is lovely to see.

Knitting news is a bit slow, my BSJ is getting closer to completion.   I've got 4 short rows to do and then onto the button bands which I'm hoping to finish tonight.   I've wound the yarn for my next shawl and once BSJ is finished I'll also do an Aviatrix bonnet in the same yarn as BSJ.   Then I can knit for me, I need more socks as my worsted weight ones disintegrated, and I've got to repair Thomas' socks from last Christmas too, I'm pretty sure I'll have some leather that's big enough to put a sole onto them for him.   I've got to purchase a pattern for my next cardigan too; it'll be colourwork, but not all over the jersey, just in a band above the bust.   I'm not getting quite as much knitting in as I wanted though, work has just got busy and I've been asked to do extra next week instead of winding down as I had planned.

Of small boys painting

This morning we insisted the boys spend some time outside and when Thomas asked Ian what he wanted to paint he said he wanted to paint their hut.   Thomas found some paint and then the boys had to brush down the hut before starting.

While they were doing that I took some more test shots with the camera; tried out sports mode on Star kitty

I was surprised just how quickly the next shot was taken, though she had her eyes closed so I'm not posting it here.   I also took some photo's of our Peony's as they're likely to be going, the area they're in is infested with kikuyu grass and I'm figuring that the best way to deal with that is simply to mow it down on a regular basis.  I'll try to move the Peony's as I do love them, but most don't like being moved and of course I'll have to make sure there's none of the kikuyu in there too.

Aren't they glorious?   They do well in Christchurch because we get the hard frosts, this was one of the first honey bees I've seen so far this season which is a worry, though it could be due to the clover in the lawn not yet being in flower.   Love the photo's this camera is taking, that bee was really clear!

The painting didn't last all that long unfortunately, Ian started painting his brother and he was just globbing the paint everywhere so Thomas stepped in; this is what Ian looked like at the end

it's too bright to really see, but there's paint on his face, legs and all over his clothes.  He then tried to take my camera to take a photo, but for some strange reason I wouldn't let him.   No way he's getting this camera to play with, I might let him use the point and shoot, but not the good one.

Spent the afternoon working and then got some plying done.   I've plied off some leftovers at the end:

This is 66m of Alpaca/Merino/Mohair plied with Merino/Silk.  Yummy!

The 2 I actually planned were the 3-ply Wisteria BFL Superwash

211.5m in this one, I don't know what weight yet, will know after it's washed and whacked later in the week.

and finally:

This is Alpaca/Mohair/Merino and is plied, but still needs skeining up.  Loving the colours in this, reminds me of oil on the water.    Hopefully I'll get it plied tomorrow.

In knitting news, Thomas' final sock is now past the heel turn, yay!    So just 35 rows of stocking stitch then an interminable amount of 2x2 ribbing to go.   I'm hoping to get it finished this week so I can cast on for the Baby Surprise Jacket.

School again tomorrow, not sure about soccer for Ian at least as he's got a nasty cough, it's not too bad during the day but tends to kick in during the evening and I suspect that vigorous exercise is not ideal.   Got Ian's student led conference after school too, that'll be interesting.

Of old fashioned goings on

Sunday was a day that could easily have shown up in someone's diary from 100 years ago for some parts.   Sure there was the usual computer time for me and Ian (George lost privileges; more on that later), lunch was out of a can and cooked on an electric stove and we went to boot camp, but aside from that...

The day started with a sleep in, which was lovely.  However when I got up George wasn't anywhere to be seen and Thomas had no idea where he was!    He went out to find him, and a wee bit later came back towing a small boy who had 4 plastic bags full of clothing and a sleeping bag.   He'd run away cos we are "bad parents", especially Mummy (me) as the previous night both boys had been trolls and I'd taken away all electronic entertainment privileges.   The only thing missing from the picture here was the stick over his shoulder to tie the bags to.   So, there went any chance of him earning back computer/xbox privileges for the day and instead he embarked on stage 2 of old-fashioned things.  He's been reading his dad's old cub book a lot recently and he decided he wanted a sling-shot.   Luckily we had a downed branch from the peach tree so some trimming and he had the right shaped piece of wood; he then whittled the bark off it and helped his dad attach some elastic and a leather offcut to it using the hot glue gun (this bit's not authentic, but hey, he's 8).
A wee while later and he had something to practice with and Thomas set up a target for him.

I think he's done a fantastic job and he's really proud of himself.   He knows the rules, no aiming at people (there's no ammo in the photo facing me) and no aiming at windows; check what's behind what you're aiming at too.

The afternoon was spent with him practicing and me working while Ian got some computer time after he earned it back.   Once I'd finished work I got the second half of Wisteria spun; now there's just the white to spin up and the plying to go.

It's so pretty, I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished object, well the skein anyway as it'll be a while before it gets knit up.

Today is wet and nasty, got to spend some of it out dropping off work and I'm going to get a new camera; I've decided on the Canon EOS550D.   I was looking at the 1100 in the range, but I can see me outgrowing that fairly quickly so the 550 it is.   Thomas has agreed to me getting it on HP and then I'll pay it off with my spending money.

WIP:  Thomas' sock is 16 rows off the gusset shaping.    Ian's jersey hasn't moved at all, so it's still about 1" into the back and Central Park Hoodie also hasn't moved.   I desperately want to cast on 2 new projects but I'm resisting.  

Full on!

Very busy today.  Started by going to the guild for a lovely mornings spinning.  I took Sheepie who was much admired; apparently I'm the first to finish using my challenge fibre.
Today I should have been spinning my cotton but instead I decided to leave the swearing at home and took in some of Pat Bradshaw's batts to spin.  This particular lot is not really a batt; it's more of a roving and is a blend of Alpaca/Kid Mohair and Merino.   Not quite as fine as what I normally get from her, but lovely in its own way.
Roving:

The blue bits are the mohair and they're working out really nicely.  Here's the first lot of singles, not finished as I still have some fibre in this bag; and another bag yet to go.

You can see my full circle skirt there; I've got some photo's of that, not very good ones unfortunately as my camera doesn't do action shots very well and there was a lot of wind that day!

I was twirling too, as you do with a full circle skirt; lol.  Another shot gives you an idea of what it really looks like, but in this one the light was bad, sigh.

This afternoon was very busy indeed.  Ian had his two birthday parties and Thomas had to go to his nephew's 21st.   I got Ian to his first party which was a Harry Potter themed party; he came back with a dragon egg which he gets to hatch in a few days; and he has a potion too; no idea what that does.   His second party he was late to, but he and they didn't mind.   He had a BBQ tea there and got to watch fireworks; boy was he bouncing when I arrived to pick him up!    Right now both boys are watching next door's fireworks through their window; only downside is we don't know where the cats are.   Really hoping they're ok!
Thomas went to the 21st after dinner and got back before I picked Ian up, so that worked out well.

In other news I'm attempting to set up the new computer; Firefox is up and running, Thunderbird is being a stubborn so and so and refusing to accept the original profile from this computer.   Might have to delete the whole thing and start again I think.

And last, but not least, I'm no longer using toothpaste.   Now, before you go "ick" let me explain.   I've made some tooth powder and I think it's working just as well and it's cheaper.   It's not mint flavoured, this is cinnamon and once you get used to the flavour it's rather nice.    I got the recipe from Wendyl Nissen's "A Year of Living Like my Grandmother".

Of fabric, noses and baking

I got home from the school run just in time, my phone was delivered!   It's all charged now and waiting on Telecom to switch it over so I can download some apps and get the rest of it set up; so far it seems fairly intuitive which is good as the manual isn't the best I've ever seen.

1st thing I did today aside from the usual getting kids to school and going to work was to pay a visit to Stitch in Colombo St to see their sale.   I didn't spend much, but I did get 2.5m of fabric plus a free fat quarter.
My favourite is the colourful owls on their navy background.  The tan will be going with the owls even though I'm not sure what I'll be making; the salmon will join the stash and the more subtle owls will go with the main owls somehow.   I think I might be envisioning a cushion cover even though we don't normally use cushions.

I might have spent a bit more today too; a grab bag of Timberland clothes for the boys off the NZ sale website and some probiotic products for the boys and me.   Going to try them on Ian as there's been some research on ASD children and probiotics with positive results.   Hadn't been planning either purchase, but it's worth it I think.   The fabric came out of my remaining cash reserves.
I've finished my circle skirt too, no photos till Thomas gets home I'm afraid.

I picked up Ian from school as normal and the plan was to go to the gym from there; unfortunately the gym was not to be.   Apparently he tripped earlier in the day and went nose-first into a metal bar; ow!   There's swelling and apparently a little blood at the time, I don't know if he's broken it or not, but I figure gym is not a good idea less than 2 hours after that sort of thing.   Instead we just came home and he's getting some computer time while I make pikelets.  I don't make standard pikelets, these are golden syrup pikelets from a recipe my family has used for years.   At the request of Nicole (Casper on Twitter); I'm posting the recipe for you.

Golden Syrup Pikelets:

1 cup plain flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 dessertspoon butter
1 tab golden syrup (I often use more than this)

Sift flour and cream of tartar, add sugar.  Add beaten egg and milk in which soda has been dissolving and mix.  Melt butter and syrup together and add.  Mix well, but do not stir after commencing to cook pikelets.

My lovely kitcheaide is doing the hard work as you can see.  Your batter should be smooth; no lumps.

Start to put tablespoons of batter in your preheated frypan.   I'm using my stainless steel electric frypan for this as it has plenty of room.   I used to butter it up first, but find that's not necessary and can cause burning.

after they've been in a wee bit they'll start to bubble a bit; once a fair number of the bubbles have burst through the top it's time to turn them; this one's almost there:

A few minutes later and they're half done; at this point you can't rely on bubbles to see if they're ready.   I have a feel for it now, but you could put the fish slice under them and check.

And finally, all done!

This is halfway through the baking, at the end of it there's actually less as the boys keep taking them to eat, lol.  I might have had a few too.

Oh, and Ray wanted to help; it seems the best way to help if you're a cat is to ask for pats

It is so hard to get a decent photograph of a black cat!   I didn't give her pats though as then I would have had to wash my hands again.   Now I'll reuse the frypan for dinner; we're having homemade burgers.   Using multigrain buns from Bakers Delight, mince from the butcher mixed with egg and honey and maybe a little salt; homegrown lettuce, bought tomato, cheese and ham.   Thomas can cook his when he gets home since he'll be late.

Taking the good with the bad

I've got good news and bad. Good is I got an email this morning from EQC and they're paying out our contents! It's not in the account yet, but I'm hoping it'll be there tomorrow.  Still have some bills to send them for emergency repairs too; really should get that done.  In fact I'll do it today and post it tomorrow morning.

Also good is George is now discharged from the eneurisis clinic as he now wets once a month or less often at night!  Bad is Ian has gone backwards and now wets 2-4 nights a week, so have now asked them to put him on their wait list; going to take him to Dr Sharon our chiropractor next week to see if that helps as nothing has changed at home or at school as far as I know.  Other bad, Ian has a really nasty cavity in a back tooth that I'd not spotted; half the tooth is gone so I suspect it'll have to get pulled on Monday when he goes into the dental service. I'm feeling like a bad mummy for not having spotted it and also for letting him brush his own teeth . Also his front teeth are starting to move forward due to the thumbsucking. I've just ordered a thumbguard to stop him from sucking his thumb as he has no great desire to stop; hope it works and doesn't cause behavioural problems

Last night I cast on Ian's next jersey; this is something I'll do a bit on from time to time as I'm finding the yarn quite hard to work with; hopefully it'll get better when I go to the 4.5mm needles which are a little smoother than the only pair of 4mm needles I have.  The yarn is basically a softly spun wool with 2 binding threads holding it in place; looks a bit like a boucle; but isn't a true one.   Ian loves the colours though so I will keep at it.

I'm thinking I might change the pocket to a kangaroo style pouch; just have to work out the maths for that one.

Oh, and while I was writing this there was a call from the front door; my friendly local courier was there with this:

I wasn't expecting this till tomorrow, but it means I can get it set up tonight all going well and hopefully then remove a lot of stuff from this pc for the boys.   Don't tell them yet though; till it's all done they won't know

A very busy day

EQC this morning, we're more than likely going to be a managed claim.  Most of that is due to the garage damage.  They couldn't see if the back wall is damaged (too much stuff) so whether it can be repaired or rebuilt depends on that; which Fletchers will have to decide.
No knitting today, what with EQC and work there wasn't any time.  So much for our anniversary, lol.  19 years if I calculate correctly; no mean feat in today's world, especially considering we still love eachother despite health issues and ASD children.
Speaking of ASD children today was their first day of soccer; George really enjoyed it, well he did up till Ian tackled him (wrong game Ian) and then bounced up and down on George.   It was a hot day so that combined with Ian's bounce and a lack of afternoon tea resulted in George being unwell.  He's fine now luckily.  Ian stopped playing near the beginning, but was persuaded to try again by a very pretty teenage girl (he likes girls) and had a great time!

Oh, and before I forget, we have a laptop coming to replace this computer so this one can replace the boys computer which is dying.  It's not brand new, it's a reconditioned one that 1-day.co.nz had up today.   Thomas has always wanted a laptop and this is a quad core one which should well and truly do what we need.  It has a slightly slower CPU than this, but the quad core should be better than a dual for what we do.  Gaming is not something we do at all on the PC anymore now that we have the Xbox.

Another section cleaned

This is the area I cleaned.  This corner has the stereo up to the left (not showing in the picture), the left corner is the printer and the desk is now much cleaner.  The whole area is dusted, tidied and I shifted the tower for the computer under the desk.     It was on top where it attracted a lot of dust and took up a lot of space.   I had to get a longer cable to run to the stereo first.   I also changed to the new mouse and keyboard; the keyboard is taking a bit of getting used to; feels completely different to the original ones.  The whole area feels a lot more open now.  Unfortunately this is the only area I got done today; the rest of the lounge is still not done; but I should get that and the dining room sorted tomorrow.

Groceries are done for the fortnight which is nice and the boys seem to be a bit better behaved tonight; last night they were temporarily replaced by a pair of trolls.

Tomorrow, more cleaning, gym for the boys where I'll get an hour of knitting. and Thomas will be home working on the stuff for his wargaming.   I'll be glad when that's over and we can do stuff together again.   I'll have to go out and get something for a present for a birthday party Ian's going to on Saturday week, he's really looking forward to it.    He's been doing really well back at school this week, apparently he's a lot more independent in how he's working, which is great!  Hopefully they'll be able to reduce his support so the school isn't having to fund it themselves.  His social skills seem to be improving as well, one wee girl in his class in particular spends a lot of time with him and loves him to bits.  I have to say he is a charming wee chap, the ASD certainly doesn't affect that.

Day 10 Blogtoberfest - not according to plan

I had planned some tidying, a tutorial and some removal of clothes I no longer wear.  Instead I ended up working a fair bit of the day and I'm finally succumbing to the cold that George has been sharing with us so lovingly.   I have had it sitting there for over a week now, but today it sat down properly and I'm coughing and sneezing.   I could say exercise caused it as I started the C25K today, but I'm pretty sure it's not that.
Never mind, I got the boys to try on shin pads this morning and we have one pair.  Waiting on a phone call to say the second pair is in store to pick up.
Thomas is booked in for the chiropracter tomorrow morning, I've been working on him for ages to try and get things aligned better so I don't have to keep working on his back; it's really, really tight!
The boys had a great day today, this afternoon they got Xbox time and both of them stayed really well behaved all day!  If I keep feeling like this there may well be more Xbox time tomorrow too; not what I'd intended, but illness is a good reason, right?

Day 6 Blogtoberfest

Been fairly busy today.  Got a new cord so I can shift my computer tower down to the bottom of the computer desk which will give me more space on the desk to make a mess.  Then I dropped into Riccarton Mall to hand in George's competition entry; hope he wins something it would make his day.   Seeing as I was there I dropped into Borders which was still open, they had some good specials on DVD's and kids books; $40 later I had a bunch of books to try out on George, a movie for Thomas (Gamer) and one for me (Secondhand Wedding).   I also picked up Jane Eyre for me, I've never read it and it was only $10 so worth looking at.

After I got home I finished cleaning my sewing machine and overlocker

all lint now removed and all oiled as well.  Then back to the quilting.
Here's the quilted item with the bindings applied

Now, my binding corners leave something to be desired; normally I'd make a continuous binding, but I didn't think of that till it was too late.  As a result the corners are a bodge job; but it works all the same.
And, for those of you still working out what it'll be, here's a clue:

Tomorrow I'll hopefully get the final bits on, including the sleeve at the back to hang it up with.

I'm also hoping to hear from the trampoline place tomorrow, please?  Ian's getting antsy and I think he needs some bouncing.   He turned back into a troll tonight, so hopefully some exercise will help get that out of him; he tried to throw George out of the top bunk tonight, literally!  He knows I'm not at all happy about that; and that I'm thinking of taking the bunks down; have to discuss that with Thomas first though.

Day 5 Blogtoberfest

Fairly quiet today in some ways; I didn't go out aside from the school run, and I got a reasonable amount of sewing done.

1st up I finished my trousers and they fit perfectly!   Hopefully they'll get too loose soon and I can take the side seams in.

Ignore the tummy, that's a combination of the IBS and a little extra padding.  My personal trainer says my tummy muscles are really strong though, so at least that's one good thing.   I think the IBS thing might be improving too, so have hopes the inflamation will improve too.

Once I finished the trousers I did my first ever free-motion quilting on my mystery item; here's a peek.  The photo is part of my tutorial shots so the pins are what I used to hold the layers together; not a hint as to the use it'll be put to.  

My free-motion quilting leaves a bit to be desired, my tension went AWOL on me; but after doing some reading on The Freemotion Quilting Project I've got a few new things to try, including not dropping the feed dogs, but instead placing the stitch length at 0.  I also spent the rest of my spending money at her quilting shop getting some quilting gloves and a teflon glider thing for the machine bed.  Unfortunately I can't afford the nifty wee table she uses, but this should help; and considering I have a king sized quilt that I'll be quilting once it's all pieced I'll need all the help I can get!  Even if I could afford the nifty table it's probably not worth it, much as I'd like to think my machine will last forever I have to keep in mind it's as old as I am, and if Mum wants it back I really do have to give it to her seeing as it's still hers.
One day I'll get a quilters machine with a bigger harp, and hopefully some alphabet fonts too....

Tomorrow I have to go out for a bit, I need to get a stereo to PC cable so I can shift our tower down to the section it belongs in on the computer desk.   I've also got to drop off a colouring competition entry form for George at the mall; he'd like to come, but I hate Riccarton Mall and if he's going it has to be either the weekend which is too busy or school holidays which is just as bad!   Not to mention that for either of them it would be just me with both boys as Thomas is busy each weekend till after the comp closes and working in the week.

School holidays start next week, you might have worked that out from the last comment I made.   There are some plans in place; the boys have 4 sessions with the Autism Society's holiday scheme going to places like Orana Park, swimming, ten-pin bowling, a llama park, horse riding and an adventure playground.   We also have to go out and get them both shin guards in the first week as they start soccer next term with a special needs group.  In the second week their grandmother is taking them for up to 3 days; it may be less, depends on how they behave, lol.  Ian's being a bit defiant of late, so it may not be the full 3 days; we'll see.