I am an expert at mis-under-estimating my time. I had plans to sit down for a morning and get up to date with the star quilt along. I had three stars, 7 setting blocks and some sashing to get done. My plans went mysteriously awry.

My dearest was looking after little e for the morning so I had some clear time. I usually take about an hour to do one star. That includes getting every thing out, cutting stitching and putting away. I figure there should be some economy of scale in getting 3 done and besides, half of the setting blocks were already cut out. I set out at 9.

Two hours later, that star blocks were cut out. Note: cut out, no stitching yet.

An hour later, one block was sewn and half of Martha's star was spinning backwards. All spinning backwards would have been fine, but half meant more cutting out. While I didn't take photos of the gaff, believe me it is possible.

By this stage, 12, I was beginning to get liberal in my definition of a morning.

At 12:30 it was onto the setting blocks.

As 2 drew closer I had to admit defeat. I gave up on cutting more setting blocks. The sashing strips were a distant glimmer.

The last star goes block goes up in a number of hours. The quilt has been a learning curve for both the techniques and my time management. I usually shy away from samplers. Looking at the finished quilt, I am guessing we are looking a the the lemoyne star for the last one. I usually avoid these too, figuring life is too short for partial seems.

I might be able to catch up this weekend, just one star a few setting blocks and some sashing. Then again, I might be miss-under-estimating again.

When I first returned to work, I thought I should pick up some knitting. I thought about it a bit, every night when I realised that yet again I hadn't found a project for in my bag the next morning. There are projects that are ideal for on a train. This one isn't one of those.

This hat is loving modelled by the bunny as little e just doesn't sit still. I thought it would be a good project as it was small and used up wool I already had. However, carrying 5 balls of wool and having to mentally line up each colour and code letter can be a bit taxing.

Now I'm keeping it simple. So simple in fact, this jersey is knitted all on one piece. I like it.

I'm sure there is a wealth of train knitting tips out there. I'm not the flashest or fastest knitter so my tips extend to the following:

One ball only
Nothing with serious counting involved
Try to find a seat where your right elbow stocks out (I knit like a wounded chicken)
Try and sit next to a knitter (they don't seem to mind the flapping)

This time last year a friend of mine had some Sri Lankan boarders. There was an intense discussion about buying powdered milk. My friend explained that while it is sometimes cheaper, no one in NZ buys powdered milk because the fresh stuff is so cheap.

When I was growing up, powdered milk was a strange concept too. It was the abandoned packet at the back of the cupboard for emergencies.

I have had a rethink. In the last few years the price of milk has shot through the roof, doubling even. It's cheaper to buy coke. I now have to admit that powdered milk has its place and that place is in hot chocolates (courtesy of the Destitute Gourmet)

You will need:

2 cups Milk Powder
1 ½ -2 cups icing sugar
½ cup cocoa
¼ teaspoon salt

Sift it all together. This will make enough to fill a large preserving jar.

Mix boiling water with ¼ cup of mixture to make up to a cup of hot chocolate. Recipe should make around 16 hot chocolates.