Getting smaller

This week has been VERY busy workwise - sports day / Alton Towers / German exchange / Y11 prom, so I've focussed on getting some smaller things done.

Like this quilt top:

Now, other people have said that this is fine, but the top left hand corner isn't right, so I need to unpick it and restitch it (if even Mr Z&Z comments that its not good enough - I know it must be quite a glaring error!).

The top is about 8" square - I couldn't find anything sensible to photograph to give a sense of scale - at least, without moving off the chair - so in the interests of idleness, I put a pencil on it to give an idea of scale.

Of course, it still needs to be quilted - I'm hopeful that being so small, it will at least stand a chance of getting completed, as I won't be able to use my usual excuse of not being able to find a space large enough to lay it out flat......

The garden has been very productive - plenty of cherries:

a lot of which have just been bottled up in brandy (I'd hoped this was just a case of pouring it in neat, but no such luckl.  Lots of boiling up sugar syrup and poaching fruit, before putting it away.  And the lovely red colour seems to bleach out of the fruit as well).

This is the first crop that we've had from the tree - usually the birds get there well before us - but this year there was more than enough to go round.  I do wonder if the hard winter has meant a heavier crop, in some sort of way?

Newark

At long last there seems to be some signs of life on the apple tree.  Ironically, this is on the tree that for the last two years has borne no fruit at all - perhaps this marks a change?

And then on to Newark yesterday, on a beautifully sunny spring day. 

There was a small market taking place, and with the blue sky, Newark seemed to have almost a continental air about it...

The castle was looking tempting:

but no time to visit today.  We'll be back there in about 6 weeks.

And today we leave for the Cotswolds, and grannie's birthday party.  95 this year, and so she's planned and organised an enormous gathering - there will be people there that I have never seen - distant cousins and remote relatives.  It will however be interesting to put faces to names, having been heard about them all my life.  We hope to visit Kenilworth Castle on the way - traffic and driving time permitting - and as long as this sunny weather holds.

Have a good weekend!

Has spring sprung?

Friday was the first day this year so far that has felt like spring. The sun was shining, and as I was pottering about the garden, getting despondent about just how much work needs to be done, it was heartening to see some shoots starting to come through. The sky was blue (although yesterday was a return to rain - but blue again today - hurrah!!) and there is an almost tangible sense of a new start.

Jenny is having a giveaway on her blog, about what the first signs of spring mean to you. It's hard to quantify - yesterday there was 'something in the air' and for the first time in a long while I wanted to get on with things / get weeding / get rid of the winter clutter / fling open the windows and let in the sun.

A day's sewing yesterday, then, and two quilt tops completed. To be fair, both had already been started, but they needed spring in the air to make me get the last few bits put into place - otherwise I knew that they would just sit about for an inordinate amount of time and that I would fall out of love with them.

I got the blocks done Sunday, whilst visiting my sister (who oversaw all block placements decisions),

to this, yesterday.

It's for Grannie's 95th birthday next month, and I've tried to incorporate as many photos of family as I can, but I've been thwarted by the inactivity of too many people. Suffice to say, my sister and I, and two (female) cousins have rustled up everything between us, and unfortunately a number of key players are missing - I just couldn't hang on any more waiting for digital pictures to get to me.

And this is the second top completed:

It's for a friend's daughter, and the colours are really lovely for this time of year. It's made from the Jelly Roll that I bought cheaply a few months ago, and to a pattern in Nicky Lintoft's book. It is truely much bigger that I thought it would be (I MUST learn to look at dimensions properly) - and the pattern calls for 3" borders as well. I fear that this quilt will actually be too big and heavy for a 4 year old - but then again, it should last her a LONG time.... I will probably leave this to one side for a short while, and speak to my friend to see what she thinks.

I also bought these fabrics:

to start making this quilt:

The range is Midnight, by Fabric Freedon, and the pattern, by Sally Ablett can be downloaded from their website.

This isn't my progress - I'm still cutting out - but I thought that it was nice to see a black and white quilt that is actually in grey instead - it's much softer on the eye.

Jo made this for her sister-in-law:

Today I had to go to a branch of a well known chain, to buy 1/4 metre of a fabric to bind a quilt, as I'm trying to finish off a number of UFOs, and after completing the transaction, I was asked whether I'd be interested in some remnants of fabric. Of course I said 'yes', dreading what they would produce, and how much it would be. To my amazement, an enormous plastic bag was pulled out, and after a bit of umming and ahhing - they suggested £10.

When I got home, I sorted it all out on the garden table, and this is what was in it:

Some of this is felt, and some is nylon - but the vast bulk of it is cotton - with the manufacturer's name on the selvedge - it's all Makower and Moda..... The smallest piece is about 1/4m, and the biggest is about 1/2m.

Included in the bag were several panels as well:

....maybe not my taste, but will make up into something useful - a bag? a cushion?,

two of these stocking panels, so I could either make 2 stockings, or 4, if I use a plain fabric for the back of each one,

and finally, an Advent Calendar panel!!

I recovered from the shock of this bargain by doing some pruning. Unfortunately, I was a little too enthusiatic in cutting back the honeysuckle - and now this archway has collapsed.....

SNOW!!!!

Well, after much excitement, the snow arrived.

And stayed.

All day.

This is what the garden looked like from above:

and at ground level:

Just to prove that it was really really deep:

(Yes, oh cynical friends of mine - that does show 6 inches of snow - so no, I wasn't making it all up....)

And why doesn't the snow fall through the slats on the picnic table???




So, even though school is open again tomorrow, I can't get there by car, as I'm still snowed in, so it's on with the boots tomorrow, up with the walking poles, and a brisk hike up the hill to catch the bus.


On a brighter note, I got some sewing done - just about finished the border on a quilt top - but am 6 inches short of plain black and none to be found in the house - grrrr.


And I started my very first block for SBS - Handy Andy - finally!!!!!!


Got half way through paper piecing it - it's the wrong size.


Yep - I printed it out too small, and so it's going to end up 5.5 inches across, instead of 6.5.

My own fault - but I've enjoyed doing it, and hopefully will attempt the full size one later this week.

Warm at long last!

Yeah!! At last the skies have turned blue and the warm weather has started. Over to Newark at the weekend to see a friend and her family, which is where I spotted the street above. I don't appear to have captured the full effect in my picture - but all the front doors are a different colour, yet it's been very carefully done, with the colour gradually changing, but not jarring.

And here I am, cuddling my friend's gorgeous baby, who's now all of six weeks old.

Jim decided to make the most of the hot weather - working on an essay...

We planted this hebe in March this year, and thought it would take a couple of years or so to get settled and start to grow - but it's already more than doubled in size!

Even though it's summer holiday time, I still went into work for an hour or four - I love the feeing of stillness, and the fact that at long last I can start to tackle the heap of paperwork that's built up over the year. Hopefully by September I'll be able to see a bit more of my desk....

Finally...

..I've managed to get some blocks done:

These are made with Jelly Rolls, and the pattern is from "Strip Happy" which I picked up in Patchwork Garden. The Jelly rolls I've used (2 of them) are Hemming House by Moda. They go together incredibly quickly - these four blocks, (and one that I forgot to photograph) took me 4 hours in total, which inclues cutting and piecing, as well as time spent making cups of tea and looking out of the window......

Photographing them didn't work as well - it was very windy yesterday, hence the somewhat wonky pictures.

The plan for today was to get another 5 done, but as it's gone midday and I still haven't started, that could well be too ambitious....

Here are three of the blocks, with 2 more on the grass, fluttering about on the washing line.

Pass the jam, Jim

Well, not literally.

Here is the product of 2 hours of blood sweat and tears, as I conjured up my very first jam - EVER!!!!


Okay, I know that I'm suppoed to be writing about quilting / needlepoint / embroidery - but as usual, my attention span is somewhat limited, and so rather than complete a UFO, I thought I'd deal with the gooseberries my mother gave me when I went to admire the puppy ten days or so ago.

But why, if this is gooseberry jam, is is red instead of green?

And why did I not put the elastic band on properly, I hear you ask? It wouldn't go on, that's why. They kept pinging about the kitchen until I was well and truly sick and tired of them - and so I ended up just jamming (lol) them on any old how.

Of course, if I were a truly diligent housewife / homemaker, I would now make some lovely jam pot covers, but as usual, I now want to move onto something else....

Jim has so far refused to sample it (but he will soon......). Meanwhile the garden continues to grow - and grow - and grow...

Happy Birthday!!!

On Tuesday, Jim had a birthday:


Note the JB scribbled onto the terracotta pot.

I saw this when I got home from work, and was all ready to take it back to the garden centre, when he confessed that he had written it on himself.

It stands for 'Jim's birthday' (just so that he knows it's his, I think)- perhaps he thinks there will some sort of unseemly squabble about terracotta pots and patio roses?

I baked a cake, which is in the picture - it's a carrot and walnut one - but it came out of the oven too early, sank, and rapidly became soggy.

He still ate it though.

As the weather seems to have brightened up a bit, we went to Fanshawe Gate Hall to look round the garden. Jim seemed to enjoy it, and much was admired:

and this:



But sadly, his essay still isn't finished, so we had to return home so that he could gaze at a computer screen for hours and hours, in the pretence of writing some masterpiece or other on "Scottish Identity in the Nineteenth Century".

So I thought 'Hooray' and set about sewing some squares together. The pattern, such as it is, is from Lisa Bergene's book 'Passionate Patchwork' - a book that I love to look through in search of inspiration. This is supposed to be used for country picnics:



Obviously it still needs to be quilted, but this is the top completed:



But (as usual) I now want to add more - perhaps some extra borders.....

And hooray again - although the garden isn't super sized, the apples are doing well:

June Days

The weather has been absolutely glorious (with one or two exceptions) over the last few weeks, and at long last the garden appears to have plants in it, rather than stones and weeds.





































Yesterday my new copy of "Quilts in the Sun" arrived, by Kaffe Fassett. I say "new" because I'm sure I had a copy last year, but it appears to have disappeared into thin air. I'm absolutely sure that Jim hasn't taken it, and so, having spent some considerable time looking for it, decided to be reckless and purchase another copy.

So while the football was on last night, I spent my time drooling over the luscious photography and trying to decide which project to undertake first. Of course, mentally I've allocated the next six months to making things, but sadly I feel that I may have to go to work once or twice.