Sunday 31 October 2010

How can I win ?

I fancied crumpets , pikelets , call them what you will for my breakfast so off I go to the shop . They were priced 88p . buy one get one free . All well and good but it means my freezer is always full of these bargains !!!and living alone I will not eat 12 pikelets , 2 today , 2 tomorrow perhaps , the other 2 will stare at me making me feel wasteful if I don,t eat them . How can a one person household get round this problem , I seem to waste more than I should .

Friday 29 October 2010

A day in the life of a sewing Junkie ,and embroidering the truth a little

We had a wonderful day from meeting at my home to arriving back at my home . From 8 o,clock in the morning when we met , to 6 in the evening arriving back , I,m referring to our day at the Malvern quilt show .

I will just speak for myself on purchases . I did not buy fat quarters or yardage .
I did buy bag patterns
I did buy 2 small wall quilt kits (pattern and fabric included)
A pattern with a dvd included and something that is better than heat and bond . The pattern and dvd were a combined price of £4.50 so no great spend there
Some 50p packets of wool roving for a special project
Several packs of lace ,
2 fabrication magazines

I hope to have several days creating next week .

I will say no more except in my shopping next week I will only need to purchase rice , I have plenty of store cupboard food and my 2 freezers are full . Potatoes and veg,. and salad stuff ,well enough .

Thursday 28 October 2010

Day Out

Tomorrow is a big day in the year for three friends , bluebell , Elaine and myself . This big day occurs twice a year . We're off to the Malvern quilt show .

We have vowed no more fabric !! umm, um .

We are quietly ashamed of our huge stash , the money we have invested in our hobby , the untidy mess on the shelves . Fabric we have bought in a weak moment with no thought of what we shall use it for . Well thats not quite true . We had ideas at the time of purchase how that piece of orange would give a wonderful zing to a quilt , the red and silver that would make a beautiful scarf for the fire mantle at christmas and the green and gold for a fresh tree skirt , well thats three pieces accounted for .

Apart from the guilty conscience of the fabric stash we shall have a wonderful day . On the journey we shall laugh and giggle our cares away , suck sweeties ,recall happy times past and on the way home soberly discuss the quilts at the show.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Gilding the lampshade


This very plain lamp shade has been tarted up .
I had some vintage lace and pearl beads so I decidedto put thgem to good use , you can see the results below.
Another good renovation . A pearl here and a button there !!

Sunday 24 October 2010

Is Anybody There?


The blocks I am showing are from the blog of Bunny Hill , she has been posting the patterns since the beginning of the year . These were the 1st 4 blocks , I completed these this week . It will be my christmas quilt for this year . The patterns are very pretty and are free to be printed off. Thankyou Bunny .
Earlier today my son rang, "Are you alright he ask, Alison says you have not put anything on your blog for a few days " " Well not just at the moment " I replied . I was putting together these bookshelves that I bought from Ikea ,it was really a 2 person job ,but determination won the day .
The dresses hanging on the door , are sundresses made from pillowcases , They will be posted to America and from there posted on to South Africa for little girls , they also need shorts for boys.

Friday 15 October 2010

Flag cushions


On the blog of , Jenny of Elefantz , is a tutorial of how to make a flag cushion . I have made quite a few of these cushions for friends . Here are 2 of them . To see Jenny,s tutorial

Some People!!!


A deli, shop opened in the village where I live . Eager anticipation by people who wanted to purchase lovely food that is different to the usual .
Two weeks ago I ask for cheesecake ,reply , Oh no we might not be able to sell it then it would be wasted .
Today , I ask for Pate, no we haven,t any . To say I was surprised would be puttng it mildly . They just had about 6 different sorts of cheese . and some ham.
These people !! do they think they are going to have a business in 6 months time .?. I would say christmas is coming , people will be looking for luxuries .How can a business with this attitude survive . Would I be wrong to say it needs Quiche , flans , cheesecakes, Pate,s , Gateau,s Pasta salads etc,. I will not be shopping there .
NOW FOR SOMETHING ELSE
Does anyone know where I can purchase the fabric that you sew on and then steam to shrink . It is something new,no one seems to know it,s proper name Shrinking fabric????

Sunday 10 October 2010

using every minute ,filling every day


On Friday bluebell and I went to the fabric guild , I purchased just a few neccesary bits and then on arriving home found I hadn,t bought the very fabric I went for . I want to do the quilt Snowbound , it has been a block of the month . I needed a pale blue pinspot for the background sqs , I phoned the fabric guild this morning , it,s coming in the post .If you love fabric it is a veritable aladdins cave . www.fabricguild.co.uk
we also called at the garden centre , I bought 2 climbing roses a tray of violas and 2 white cyclaman , and 2 hanging baskets with violas in , the baskets £2.50 each ! wonderful . I put the plants in when I arrived home , it was very damp and murky ,perfect for planting . After putting in the roses I swept the gravel around them to keep the moisture in , Oh ! thought , I have swept a big piece of grey rock on to the rose , I bent down and picked it up , it was a rather large dead mouse , eeek .
Yesterday I thought I,ll just look at one blog only , I settled for Exhuberent colour because she had just posted , I won,t tell how long I stayed on that blog . I looked at so much , it really is so good and very interesting .
Today bluebell and I went for a browse at an antique centre . I did intend to sew this afternoon but a basket of stuff waiting to be ironed took longer than anticipated so sadly no sewing .

Friday 8 October 2010

Help with a capital H

I have had a lovely day , came home , decided to do a bit of blog hopping only to find nothing is coming up on my dashboard .. I read a few days ago about someone else having this problem and that they had lost their friends also .

What to do now ,mmmm .

Thursday 7 October 2010

Down with the knitting pins , outwith the sewing needles


I have been knitting as a change from sewing . I knitted 4 cardigans for 2 two year olds in my family , I forgot to photograph the first cardigans . It made a change from quilting .
A red one for River and a pink one for Ellie .
Now , off to the post office with my parcel .
I have a problem with my eyesight . On Monday bluebell took me to the low vision clinic . They were such helpful and kind people .
I came home with 3 magnifiers , asmall pocket sized one for reading tags and packets in shops, a hand held one and one to place round my neck for sewing . I was also shown how to magnify the sreen on my laptop . I also came away with 8 large print books to read .
That wasn,t the end of the afternoon . To get to the Vista clinic we travelled through a part of the city I have lived in for most of my life , but have not been in those parts for many years . What a revelation !!! I thought I was in another country , I was looking all around me in amazement ,
We passed 3 mosques , people were being called to prayers It is obviosly a highly residential muslim community . Perhaps instead of foriegn climes I should explore my own home town .

Monday 4 October 2010

Monday morning blues NO!!!


Yesterday was very ,very wet , cold,and windy.
Today , the first time for ages the birds are about . The robin was checking out the patio . a blackbird was making a real din . Time to fill the seed containers?
The sun is also shining, what more could one want ? I,m happy .I,ll feel even happier when I have finished my knitting , I,m almost there but isn,t the front bands and collars and sewing up where the enthusiasm starts to wane .
Embroidery the next project with crochet for alternative finger excercises .