Jumping right in...

It's hard to know where to start after such a long absence here in blogland. An unexpected break brought on by too many calving cows.
There hasn't been a lot of time in my sewing room but I have kept up with my hand stitching in the evenings.

In my last blogpost I showed the start I'd made on block four of Foxley Village.
A week ago I took these progress shots for a blogpost that didn't happen —

At that stage, here were the first four applique blocks. (There's still piecing to do which goes between and around these blocks.)

And last night I put the final hand stitches in it -

Now I just need to sew some more squares to the bottom plus a row of hourglass blocks below that and this block will be totally complete.

Don't look too closely, there's still a bit of the wash away stabiliser under the
Foxley Village stitching - it's what I traced on to so I could get the design
on the front. (Too many layers to see through for tracing.)

In spite of the unpredictable weather I've got a few mobs of calves out on the grass for a bit of exercise and a nibble. They still have access to the sheds but spend most of the day and some nights out in the paddock. I love seeing them out there - growing and happy!

A bit of excitement down on the farm was the 'Reserve People' and a helicopter using one of our paddocks to lift bags of trees into the reserve next door for spring planting. The area is still recovering after *this* event. The kiddies and I got a ringside seat.

Attaching the bags of trees to the rope

Up, up and away

The kids had a quick visit to the calf shed - 

And got slobbered all over :-)

I can't believe another weekend is upon us - I have plans for some quiet time and a date with my machine. And hopefully a catch up in blogland, which I am missing dreadfully!!

'til next time,

happy stitches, 

Weekend knitting and stitching

By the time Friday night came around I was more than happy to collapse into my chair to take part in Friday Night With Friends, hosted by the lovely Cheryll over at stitching cubbyhole.
I decided it was high time I finished Lily's cardigan, I didn't have much left to do, just the front bands and the finishing. By the end of the evening I had a competed cardigan so I was very pleased :-)

I used the Carousel pattern by Lisa Chemery again - this is the fourth time I've used this design. It is made on circular needles, starting at the neck, and all in one piece and I find it a quick and easy knit.
Thank you, as always, Cheryll for hosting us on Friday night. It's always nice to stitch along in the company of cyber buddies from near and far :-)

My daughter in law sent through some photos of my latest toddler slippers - I'd given them away without taking a photo, so here they are.

I love the jaunty photos she took!

I've decided I've done more than enough knitting for a while. Last night after dinner I 'fidgeted and fiddled' while we were watching TV, tidying the sideboard next to my stitching chair and putting my knitting and yarn things away for now. Needles paired up and into their packets, patterns in a folder, stitch markers, row markers, darning needles, crochet hooks and so on all away. Dusted and polished.

Satisfied, I gave the MOML a bit of peace and quiet and settled into some applique.
I'd started another Foxley Village block before my latest knitting project and it was nice to get back to it again.

One bird stitched down, two tacked and ready to stitch tonight.

You can visit Cheryll and see what other Friday Night Friends got up to *here*.
I'm hoping for a bit of machine sewing time after lunch today - just wondering which project to tackle first - the choices are endless!

'til next time,

happy stitches,