Early welcome o 2013

This brave little rosebud that will never fully open is New Dawn . I hope it will bring good tidings . Reforms and hope for the things that need change to make a safer and better world .

 

Today and tomorrow I shall be emptying my files that contain last years receipts and statements so I can start with a new file for the coming year .
Last week I disposed of old patchwork patterns that I had hoarded  . I'm trying hard for a clean sweep . I love a new year .
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

It was a lovely christmas day

See the top shelf of my kitchen dresser , a row of sweets and chocolate I received with my presents . My own little sweetie shop .

I made this cushion at least 20 yrs,. ago . It still comes out every christmas . It depicts the lovely christmas cacti . This must be my first year without one of these plants . I had one for many years , it was always loaded with flowers . Last year I put it out in the rain to give the bracts a good wash , it didn't like it and showed it's disdain by rotting and dying . Ah ! well . another will come along .

 

It has been a glorious morning , sunny and blue sky . It is now clouding over . I sat in my conservatory enjoying the sunshine but I will now prepare my lunch . Chicken , roast potatoes ,broccoli . Just found I have no parsnips , . I shall follow with christmas pudding that bluebell made for me .Then I shall get the fabric out .

At last

I wonder if Santa will have time to linger awhile ?

The tree in my sitting room . I stayed with blue again this year

The latest christmas wall hanging . Hard work , It was snaffled by a family member now I have to start all over again . I want the same one for myself . When I was making it I remarked to bluebell " I shall never make another one of these" now I have to eat my words and start again .

I made this one about three years ago but it is very nice . I'm very possessive of this one .

Welcome . Happy christmas .

Not Today

Sunday ! the day of rest ! not today .  It took most of today putting up 2 christmas trees and clearing the packaging they were stored in . I still have the tree to put up in the conservatory . That will most likely have to wait until Wednesday .

 

It has been a good day weatherwise but has started to rain in the last few minutes .

 

These 2 christmas quilts could be used but they need more quilting . They will have to be done some other time . I'm all pooped out .

Best laid plans and all that

Today I planned to go shopping . No go .  It's pouring of rain so no point in that . By the time I had reached the bus stop I would be rather wet and bedraggled . I'm no good with an umbrella if shopping . There is always tomorrow . Perhaps .

 

Although the frost has gone it is still cold .This wallhanging I made a very long time ago but I still enjoy looking at it .

Little Stuff

Now all the big stuff for christmas is out of the way I can get on with the little bits that I love doing .. I belong to a postcard swap . This white one with the house is for my own personal collection . I like making things witout a pattern , just picking bits of fabric out of my scraps to make a picture . It has to be edged yet before it's finished.

It's a dreadfully cold day , minus 1 so I plan to play with my scrap box this afternon .

This crazy patchwork postcard is for the swap . It will be going to Malaga , Spain when I pluck up courage to venture out in the frost and fog .

These are 2 mug rugs from bits , nothing special beause in two weeks time they will go into the rag bag .

 

Where I live there doesn't seem to be any christmas spirit yet . I have not seen lights outside the houses .  I'll keep looking . Perhaps it the double dip recession biting .

I'm in the good position where my christmas projects are complete . It's lovely to think I can sit and read at night .

I feel a need to slow down on the patchwork . I bought a felting kit at Malvern , I want to play with that . I want to machine my pictures using tiny scraps that really are only fit or small enough to throw in the bin . I know I shall always return to patchwork but I need a break . I shall look at the t,v instead of just listen .

I love reading blogs and seeing the amazing stuff that is created . I look at pinterest .

Today I put up my red gingham kitchen curtains so now christmas is coming into my home .

Ah! life without pressure is sweet .

Ahhh! sweet completion

My crochet blankets for chrismas presents are now complete . The ends are sewn in . I love them . Perhaps I should not saythis about my own work but I believe yu should not giveanything away unless you would eally like to keep it for yourself .

 

I still have a red and white one that I am crocheting to compliment the christmas stuff I am doing for myself but ,no hurry .

 

This weekend I am just going to read and mooch . I'm sure to look at blogs , and Pinterest. Nice to see what other people are up to .

 

Bye for now , off for a cuppa ,

My christmas extras

I have made 5 crochet blankets to put in my family's christmas gifts . I have 3 more to show you before the weekend . I just have to weave some ends in .

They could be on the bed as a little extra tootsie warmer but I have made them to snuggle into when curled up on the sofa to use as a lap quilt .

This is my red christmas quilt for myself . I'm hand quilting it , I want it to be soft . I think you get that effect with hand quilting . I really do like the structured feel of machine quilting and I like doing it . I shall most likely do machine quilting on the border for extra strength .

 

It's very cold today but I'm not complaining, at least there are no floods in the area I live .

A quilt for a very special boy

I said earlier in the week I would show this quilt . Finished today . I am very pleased with how it has turned out .

All the material on the front is from my stash . The centre is a cushion panel bought at Malvern about 6 yrs,. ago . All the other bits are from my bit boxes .

 I bordered the panel with strips , then I used 41/2 inch sqs,. then another strip . I then made 61/2 inch crazy sqs and finally the grassy fabric for the final border .

 The cushion panel

 The crazy sqs,. and the grassy fabric

 The backing is dark brown fleece , no batting or wadding .

Among the  sqs,. are pictures of animals .
I have really enjoyed making this quilt . It was a joy to make . I have only spent £6 on the fleece . The quilt is approx  54 inches sq . I am now itching to make a pink one for a little girl .

Bye , I'm off to have my lunch .

Jelly Roll Quilt

Winter is setting in . We are in countdown to christmas . Soon be time to get the trees from the loft and dress them . My trees are the pretend trees but they do look pretty when they are trimmed .

 I have been catching up with my quilting and patchwork . This quilt is made from a jelly roll by Freedom fabrics . Under £20 from the fabric guild .

 Such delicate colours .

It is machine quilted , the binding is sewn down half way round . Two more hours at most and anoyher quilt finished .
I have been working on a quilt for a next years pressy. I hope to show you that later in the week . I say next year because I do like to keep my quilts awhile before passing them on .

My christmas quilt

It seems I have loaded my pics,. in reverse order but never mind .

At the malvern show , do you recall I bought fabrications magazine for Dec ,. 2011 because I wanted to make this quilt .

 

If you start at the bottom of this blog I have a pic ,. of the magazine and fabrics I purchased .

 

The sponge cake I made as an energy booster to keep me going . I'm not always successful at sponges but this one turned out fine , filled with my home made strawberry jam and buttercream . I used 3 eggs , weighed they came to 8 ozs so I used flour ,butter and suger to match . Ah! sweet success .

 

I have put pictures of my quilt in various stages . On my bed it is being sorted into the best way using the blocks . They are not joined at this stage .

 

On the quilt rail the top is completed . It now needs batting and backing . I would have liked to complete it on my frame to be machine quilted but I think it is too big . . I still want to machine quilt it but it will have to be the Juki machine on the kitchen table and steady as I go .

 

I am very pleased with it up to now , it went together like a dream .

 

This afternoon bluebell rang, shall we go to Bramble Patch tomorrow ? o,k sez I .

Put the purse in the cellar and button down the hatch !!!!!!

Two happy girls leaving the Malvern quilt show . I ask a man to take a picture . When I looked at the camera on arriving home he had inadvertantly done a video and a pic,. in the distance .

 

It was a very cold and very windy day . My hair doesn't do windy .

 

I cannot get the video to play, I cannot remember what bluebell was pointing out but if the video does play ( it does on my Picasa ) bluebell just about floors me . She pushed her bag at me so there is a fracas . I tell you she takes that bag everywhere , it is very heavy , I don't know what she carries in it I have never been priviledged to look insde .

 

I have made a start on the red quilt , so far all is well .

Day out at the malvern quilt show

Ah ! yes ,a day of pure happiness , lots of laughter on the way .Fri,. 26th , the quilt show at Malvern .

The cushion I'm showing was on a stall . The lady heping said it was a cushion she had made , she didn't have a pattern but she would hold it up and we could take a photo . Usually people are so , no no no , but we didn't ask , she offered  , such a lovely gesture .

The autumn show is not huge but essential if you want the shopping . One of my fave,. shops were not there , Cotton Patch . I wanted Kaffe Fasset fabric , they have a good range . I know I could shop online but it isn't like buying from the roll in front of you , also there is post and p,. to consider .

I have long wanted a red and white quilt . On the fabrication stand they had displayed a lovely red and white quilt by Susan Briscoe called Famoe quilt . I had to pay

£4.50.for issue no,75 which is Dec ,2011. Not really on to charge full price for a last years magazine but I suppose you want it , you pay for it . Still cheap for a pattern , say no more .

I bought fabric from 3 different stalls to make the quilt .I shall buy the backing later.

I bought a felting kit , this is something else I have been wanting to have a go at . I think it will give a three D effect to embriodery on a bag .

I'm now juggling , crochet ,hand quilting on my zig zag quilt ,and other bit,s . but onward I go.

I bought 2 bag kits. The stallholder didn't have just the patterns but at least I will not be fishing around for the fabrics that attracted me to the bags initially .

I also bought a pack of hand dyed fabric for applique . A great stall with fabric so reasonably priced .

I was looking around for Madiera Super Twist machine embroidery thread . No one sold it so I suppose I will have to trawl the internet . I want no other so the search continues .

Yes ! I spent too much but it's a long winter . It was very dark this morning . We put the clocks back 1 hr,. tonight . It's a tradition I think should be scrapped but who am I to say .

 The weather forcast is arctic cold but it is a beautiful sunny morning .

Bye for now .

 

 For my red and white quilt

 My bag patterns and kit

 My felting pack

My hand dyed fabric

I went to my usual Thursday afternoon sewing yesterday with Bluebell , our host gave us 4 wooden cotten bobbins each . They are so collectable . I had a lot at one time then someone saw them and ask could she have them . I gave . I didn't realise they would be so sought after . These are the only ones I have so I better cherish them and turn a deaf ear next time someone espies them .

 

 

My next picture is showing why I'm finding it difficult to blog . I'm doing crochet every spare moment . Little extra christmas pressies . I love doing crochet so it's no hardship . I saw my first crochet blanket when I visited Silver Sewer about 2 years ago . She had made a very pretty blanket after being taught when visiting an American friend .  I next saw a tutorial on the blog of Attic 24 , I then made a positive start . Dividing my time between crochet and my patchwork leaves time for little else

 

Off for a cup of tea to fortify . Bye .

Whoops

Sorry about the spelling mistakes on my previous post . I'm not really a duffer , please forgive

I hate being a come day go day blogger but I seem to have lost the rhythem of doing stuff on a regular basis.I'll call it laziness but I haven't been lazy . I'm doing crochet and knitting to put in my christmas presents . Those crochet ripple blankets take a long time to make but I hope whoever receives them will feel wrapped in love . They are not a cheap gift to make so I'm hoping they will be well received .

The throw on my settee is a present to myself . It's really luxurios . It's chenille , soft and silky , pearl beads on the fringing . I bought it from Laura Ashley , 30% off it's original price and I love it . It's quitebig , It's folded in four here .

A fair amount of cooking done today , Chicken and veg, soup, at least four portions to go in the freezer . Chicken curry , two portions for the freezer . Beetroot , and chicken drumsticks , some for my dinner tonight with salad and some left over . I bought a pack of chicken portions yesterday , there were 15 pieces in the pack so that is the reason for the cooking and I shall have meals just for the taking and defrosting .  I have to bake a coconut cake this afternoon in an exchange for Bramley apples . My tree didn't produce any this year . I have also been given blackberries so they must be cooked also ..

I have been making a pretty patchwork top , it's ready for the batting and backing . That is from a jelly roll . I'm always surprised how much there is on a jelly roll .I am hand quilting a large zig zag quilt . I saw one on the blog of http://cluckclucksew.com , I have lots of scraps so it was a good project for using some .

Well no time to dally , I need a cuppa before the cake mixer comes out . I hope I find time to write again soon

This bottle is my latest purchase . A nice little bit of nonsense . I like nonsense .

I have been stuck indoors all day , rain rain rain . I had such a lot planned , but I have done nothing . Well , I made pickle, it has yet to be put into the jars . I made blackberry vinegar 2 days ago . I think that is my lot for preserving . No apples or pears this year to go in the freezer . No fruit on my trees .

 

I have spent time again on Pinterest . It is like you have been given a pile of magazines on any subject you care to look at . 

 

Off now to see if I can find some T,v to interest me.    

 

The twins went home from the maternity hospital today . Ellie Mae has no problem identitying which is which and she is only 4 yeas old .

I don't seem to have had much time to keep my blog up to date but I do miss keeping in contact so I will try harder . I have spent considerable time sitting in my garden just contemplating and thinking . Thinking? my mum used to say " no good thinking it will make your head swell" . I keep toying with the idea of spending the later months of winter away somewhere in the sunshine .

These teddies and a bag to put them in will be passed on to someone else who is in charge of the project of bears for african children who have had operations in hospital . I have not knitted any of these bears but bluebell and myself did bears a couple of months back . We collected these from the Fabric Guild . We left a pattern there . These were from a group called knitters and natters . 14 bears! I think that is a superb effort  . If by any remote chance anyone from that group sees this blog your bears will be collected from me this week by Elaine Capewell .

I have been anxiously waiting for my grandaughter to give birth to twins . They arrived on Saturday . Two little girls .  Today I learned their names are Brooke and Bobby Sue .

Work this one out

I take part in a monthly postcard swap . Unfortunately all the swaps are in far flung corners of the world . I have never had an English swap .  The postcards are p/c size , embroidered or appliqued or collage whatever method you prefer . The theme for this month is CIRCUS .

 

Now down to the puzzle .I took my offering to the post office to be weighed . The post lady stamps the address side of it to give it a bit of authencicity . Then on the scales . £1 .38 she says . then I slot the card into an airmail envelope .  Oh! says post lady , your sending it as a package of fabric , that will be £ 3. 80 . In that case I won't send it I said . Aye aye ! she is losing a sale . I'll send it as a letter said she . How much I ask £1.68. P/c is sent.I felt there was a bit of duplicity here . I walked home muttering . This post lady has only been in charge a short while . I will not send anything else from her post office .I do send parcels and packages quite often but out of interest I'll take my custom elsewhere .

This is a picture of my money plant . Is it losing it's powers.