Drink Tea and Do Some Knitting

Very good advice if you ask me. I have been enjoying many a cup of tea this last little while and I have been enjoying knitting my aran woolly. Is it my imagination but does one seem to drink more tea when knitting?? I have been hellbent on finishing my jumper. Since I last 'chatted' with you, when a menial chore demanded some of my attention I have repeatedly said, "just a moment; let me finish this row". I always remember my darling mum saying to me "Kimmy (no-one but my mother ever addressed me so)...always finish the row you're working on before you put your knitting down." Wise woman, was my mother. So.....because I would never in a million years think of disregarding her wisdom, I always finish the row. =)

My single-minded determination of knitting till I reached the woolly finishing line, with both knitting pins raised high in the air, whilst rather exultantly shouting hip-hip-hooray; has reaped wonderful rewards. The constant clickety clack of the needles has resulted in the completion of my aran woolly. A huge sigh of relief at this juncture. This jumper really took an age to knit, and I might add I am not in the least bit sorry that it is done.

It is a jumper which oozes cabled texture and is a long one.....it covers my derriere. It is a bulky knit, perfect for those early, wintry morning walks where the landscape is shrouded in a veil of mist. 

These last couple of days the mornings have been unbelievably beautiful. These mornings when the sun's rays send beams of light through the maze of mist is truly a most splendid sight. These misty mornings delight me. They declare God's loving kindness to me. Each morning is a gift from Him to me. It is these mist-filled mornings that God's awesome handiwork brings a tear to my eyes......they humble me. I will never tire of seeing the majesty of the sun rising each morning, kissing me on the cheek.

So.......me thinks whilst roaming around this little patch of paradise that I call home, on those early, misty morning meetings with my Heavenly Father, my aran woolly will keep me toasty warm.

The garden is still being a bit of a showoff; not that I mind of course. The Cosmos are still 'cosmos-ing', a few of the roses have decided to still astonish with their beauty and the Easter Daisies are in bloom delighting many a bumble bee. The longer the garden gifts me with beautiful blooms is just fine with me, thank you very much.

Little pink, orchid-like impatiens cover the ground everywhere, like a carpet. They too seed like weeds every Summer. These pretty flowers though, will soon disappear.

I cannot tell you how much I am beside myself with great joy with the completion of this woolly. My poor ol' pea brain no longer has to perform cranial gymnastics. My muddly brain pan no longer has to think about RT, LT, MB, C3, BC, FC, C4B, C4F etc etc., or indeed which row I am up to. Thank goodness for that! Though, would you believe another aran pattern has caught my eye. I know, I know.....what am I thinking!! But.......for now the most taxing thought in my muddly brain pan is in which pretty teacup will I drink my tea?? =)

Until the next time.......

Summer is fading

Each day tells me Summer is slowly fading. The sunlight bathing the countryside is softer, less vibrant. On my early morning walks Old Man Sun is showing his face a little later. As he is resting lower in the sky, throughout the day beams of sunshine ever so slowly creep across the rooms of my humble abode like tentacles, touching here and there, casting a warm glow everywhere. One thing I do love about Winter is the sunshine that fills each room. There is a crispness to the air......aah yes, Summer is fading.

I love early morning walks. Each morning I am a witness to nature slowly arising and greeting the new day. It is a beautiful time of the morning. It is a time where it is just me, Maisie and my Heavenly Father. It is a time when I pray to Him and silently chat about so, so many things. Each morning is different. Each day's sky is different. Some days are filled with lovely blue skies suffused with light casting a milky glow, some days filled with amazing cloud formations................LOVE clouds; or some mornings the landscape is veiled in the lightest of mists. Those misty mornings add a luminosity and ethereal quality to the countryside.  No morning is the same. Each morning is a perfect beginning to a new day.

The garden too, tells me that perhaps Summer is beginning to think about leaving my little corner of the world, to visit all you lovelies way up there and stay for a season. Yes indeedy, Summer is making way for Autumn. The flowers are showing signs that it is time to rest awhile. That is okay because each and every flower has performed the most lyrical of colourful dances for  me to enjoy. They warrant a long slumber. The leaves of trees will soon don their autumnal, crisp, taffeta-like frocks in the most glorious of shades and after a while, will slowly and delicately float to the ground. In a month or two the trees will be bare of their verdant canopy.

The Hydrangeas are changing into softer, autumnal hues, the roses are all but gone and other Summer flowers have finished. Though I must say, the Cosmos are still awash in an exuberant palette of pinks. They will continue to smile and sashay in rhythm until that cranky old fellow, Jack Frost arrives. Wish oh wish he wouldn't visit me; he is not welcome.

We haven't planted Cosmos seeds for years now. At the end of their flowering season the Cosmos drop seeds and gift us with gazillion of flowers the next season. They are truly like weeds, but oh-so-beautiful weeds. Though Hydrangeas are my favourite flowers, Cosmos are way up there on my list. I cannot but smile when I see their pretty faces and besides, they do not need any care or looking after, they just bloom where they fall and contribute to our rather disobedient garden. Though manicured gardens are beautiful, I rather love wild, disobedient gardens. I rather love  flowers invading the garden and popping up wherever they will.

The Dahlias are in their last flush and though they are still gifting me with beautiful flowers, it won't be long till the cooler weather will burn the leaves and flowers, precipitating them to scurry deep into the ground away from you know who's, icy fingers.

Isn't this wall hanging cool?? I acquired it from a friend who asked if I wanted it. It belonged to my friend's mother-in-law who had recently passed away. As my friend was clearing the house out in readiness for selling, she asked me if there was anything I would like. I said "you know the wall hanging on the hall wall........I wouldn't mind that.....it would make for an excellent prop for photo shoots". My friend looked at me quizzically and said, "what wall hanging??????" My friend had never noticed it!!!!! This wall hanging is about one and a half metres in length and one metre in height and was the only object on the rather drab, hall walls. It was rather like a beacon of colour and pictorial interest. My friend had never noticed it in all the time she had visited her mother-in-law. Incredible! My beady little eyes spotted it the very first time I entered the home. 'Tis funny, isn't it, what we do and do not see. When I enter a room my eyes ricochet from wall to floor taking in all that is to see. 'Tis a visual kinda gal, that I am.

It was probably fashioned in Italy and is a beautiful, tactile velvet. I have a few rugs of the same ilk.....they always come in handy when I need a prop to gussy up a photo or two.

Love the peacock strutting in all his glory. He's totally aware what a pretty fellow he is, posing proudly in front of the gorgeous backdrop of trees, the swans gliding on a pond, the flowers and an Indian building in the aesthetics of the Taj Mahal. It really is a most striking hanging. I won't labour the point.....but truly....how did my friend not notice this pretty!!

With the cooler days I have picked up my aqua, woolly pretty once again. It is my intention to finish this woolly this year, sooner rather than later.

With the back and sleeves finished, all I have to knit now is the front. If all goes well and my needles clickety clack faster than fast, perhaps I will be stepping out in this warm woolly this winter. Though, I have to confess, since picking this woolly up yet again I have had the most bothersome of times. The saga of knitting this woolly,  began way back in January 2016, which if you want to read my frustrations with the pattern, you can so do here. What can I say, I am not the world's fastest knitter. =) I think I have unravelled the bask of the front about ten times this week. Each time I have made a teeny tiny mistake, continued knitting without noticing the glitch and when an inch or two has been knitted the snafu (love that word) has hit me smack in the face!! I don't know why I have made so many boo boos with the bask as it isn't difficult. If I didn't love this jumper so much, I think I would throw the whole blasted thing out the window!! BUT.......I will persevere....and I know I have said it before.....I will not fall on my sword  knitting needle and end it all......well at least......not yet!!

Love all that cable loveliness. As you can see, I have finally completed the bask and am well on the way to knitting the aran pattern. Amazingly, I have fallen  into a groove and it is knitting up rather quickly. Not far to go now, only....I do hope I have not spoken a little too soon. I do hope I have not "put the mocker " on finishing my woolly, before Jack Frost arrives.

A little hand quilting has also been in progress as well. I have picked up my Spring Blossoms quilt top and am happily quilting away. I am loving quilting this quilt. The hexie flowers and all the bright and happy, scrappy fabrics make me smile. A lot of things in life make me smile, don't they. =)

I toed and froed about how to quilt. I deliberated long and hard over perhaps quilting in a rainbow of bright and happy colours but decided against this thought. I want the flowers to be the star of this quilt so I am only outlining around the flowers and leaves and then quilting around the border of each fabric.

One of these days I will throw caution to the wind and quilt in brightly coloured thread but that day is not today. Besides, if I quilted in bright colours my persnickety, beady li'l eyes would seek out each of those imperfect stitches and it would bother me endlessly. 'Tis funny how my eyes always go straight to the less than perfect stitches.

The backing I chose is an all over pattern of pink and blue chrysanthemums linen. Originally I was going to have a scrappy backing but I changed my mind. This fabric is a wider width, which meant I needed less fabric, therefore being less expensive. Besides I love the sumptuousness of the print; love the big blousy chrysanthemums.

Summer may soon depart this far rural outpost for those shores further north, but with Old Man Sun beaming his rays of warmth and sunniness into my home and indeed, casting a happy glow on my flower-filled, boudoir wall each day, the colour, brightness and ambience will always give a feeling of summery cheeriness.

This weekend, there may just be time for a little knitting, a little quilting and a cup of tea.....or two.

There's my gardener photo bombing my photo shoot.....again!

Until the next time..........

Colours of Summer

Hello lovelies; welcome to my sunny part of the world. Thank you all so much for the lovely comments you gifted me last post. Yes, the lavender field is truly breathtaking, but alas, the day after my little photo shoot, my neighbour farmer harvested the lavender; so all the gorgeous lavender hues have disappeared. BUT......all that glorious colour will return later on in the year. Perhaps my Japanese pretty will be quilted and finished by then.....perhaps. =)

These last weeks have been filled with sun-drenched days. Each day the countryside has been bathed in glorious sunny hues with wide blue skies that stretch forever. The landscape is dotted with breathtaking, dancing summer colour. The sights and sounds and fragrances of Summer are always a delight. I have been enjoying all those happy and warm sunbeams bursting upon my li'l humble abode and its environs. The garden is flushed with glorious colour.

The Dahlias are yet again abloom in bright, happy colour.

The Cosmos are sashaying in shades of pretty pinks.

The roses are still smiling in pretty pastel hues.

AND.....of course the Hydrangeas.....well....they are doing their beautiful Hydrangea thing. =)

AND...of course, the pond is ever a restful retreat, casting it's magic upon all whom sit awhile.

It really is tough living in this paradise. =)

January found me socialising a little more than I usually would, as I celebrated a BIG birthday. Yes indeedy, this gal from down under turned 60!! Such a happy, wonderful and sunshiny, kinda number. So much more happier than the number 59......not that I ever was 59. You see, for the past year I have been 58 and 13 months, 58 and 14 months, 58 and 15 months etc etc.........until the wonderful numerals 60 appeared on my horizon. I can't really articulate why I dislike the number 59 so.....I just do.

So....this little while I have been enjoying the company of dear family and friends; birthday dinners with lovely friends, hanging out with my daughter and son-in-law who flew over land and sea to help me celebrate; to the grand finale......a surprise birthday dinner in a rather lovely restaurant, where beautiful family and special friends waited for me to say.....SURPRISE!! I didn't suspect a thing; I truly didn't. My dear husband and all those sweet friends of mine, have been plotting and scheming the last few months. They have all been involved in all manner of chicanery and subterfuge to organise my celebratory dinner. My sweet friends are all terribly adept at lying; as is my husband. Who would've thought my husband, who just happens to be a school chaplain could utter so many falsehoods. I wonder, will I ever be able to believe anything that is spoken from his mouth again. =) I do believe that if the day jobs, of all those whom were involved don't work out, there will always be a spot for each one of them in the secret service of their country. ALL would make the most excellent of double agents!

Me and my beautiful friends........oh, and my wonderful husband.

I received many beautiful gifts, from books, pretty doilies, beautiful jewellery, an ever-so-chic clutch, bouquets of flowers, a beautiful writing pen and ink set with various inks and nibs, pretty fabric, to a gorgeous crochet hexagon throw. My family and friends know me so very well.....'tis an utterly spoilt gal that I am.

My friend, Michelle, with whom I have been friends for over 40 years had been crocheting this hexie pretty for a little while. Isn't it gorgeous.

The garden is so welcoming of my crochet hexie woolly. No matter where it is placed the pop of bright and happy colour is perfect. Oh look.....there's my gardener......and a clever one he is at that. =)

My pretty looks amazing on both sides!

Love the reflections in the pond.

It's not at all obvious I am in love with my gorgeous, hexie crochet pretty, is it!!

Beautiful flowers were gifted to me.

A birthday cake is the perfect finish to a birthday celebration, is it not??  I was surprised with a most amazing birthday concoction, whipped up by a cake baker/decorator extraordinaire. It was truly an amazing cake and so very delicious. It was a rich, chocolate mud cake with icing of a patched hexagon quilt covering it, complete with buttons, needle and thread, scissors, thimble, flowers. I of course cried when I saw it. I could not help but stare at it for a very long time. I did not want to cut into this work of art. When eventually I guided the knife through it, I cut along the hexie pattern much to the merriment of all those who were watching. I quite simply could not hack into it.......it had to be cut with precision and care.

Isn't it a vision of pastel loveliness??

At my friend's home (another birthday celebration) ......little Eli (of  "One-Eye Eli fame) was most impatient with my cutting of the cake.

Though I was gifted with many beautiful gifts, it struck me that the collection of many beautiful moments were far more precious. Many moments filled with smiles and laughter. Many moments filled with love and hugs and joy......and a few tears. Many precious memories, skipping down the yellow brick road of friendship, with each gorgeous friend, at various stages of my life. These past few weeks my fine bone china, tea cup has runneth over with beautiful moments of love and friendship. Old friendships.....new friendships......all have added  beauty to my life. Indeed I cannot imagine my life without these dear friends, and of course my wonderful husband.

Sitting here reflecting upon the friends whom bless my days, I am reminded that each one brings beauty to my life. Each beautiful friend, at different times has shared the "best of times, the worst of times". Each one has laughed with me, cried with me, encouraged me, and at times carried me. I once read that "friends are God's way of taking care of us"; how very true! Indeed, when I count my blessings, I count my dear friends, twice. My beautiful friends remind me that it is a blessed gal that I am.

Until the next time........