Beautiful Things

So a rather nice shop is having a sale and I rather liked two of the lamps in the sale.  Some how they seemed to have both come home with me.  Please do not ask how much!

This is the one that originally caught my eye and my reason for going into the shop in the first place.

And then this one just called out to me.  The birds are in gold.  And yes I know the shade is still wrapped in plastic I'm still deciding whether it is the right size for the base, the one in the shop was even smaller.  Think I'm totally happy with the colour and style of the shade though.


A little confession I don't actually have places to put these lamps but I have been rearranging my lounge all day in order to solve this problem, it'd be a shame to hide them away on top of tall bookcases.

FNSI Results

Well my Friday Night Sew In was more of a Friday night prep in.

At least this pile of squares is now all ready to be converted into HSTs and eventually pin wheels.  Don't seem   to do much machine sewing during the FNSIs, but I don't want to annoy the neighbours with my sewing machine during the late evening.

My other Friday evening treat was finding this...

A very productive alpine strawberry plant with almost perfectly ripe tiny strawberries which have thrived in a shady condition and taste yummy.  And the best bit ... I appear to have got to them before the birds!

Pretty knitty and FNSI

Normal crafting is definitely resumed now.  Been trying to revise and therefore have done next to no craft over the last few weeks, I haven't even been managing to keep up with the blogs.


Anyway just wanted to share my gorgeous dpns and lace yarn with you all...

The dpns are knitpicks wooden ones, no sure they're quite pointy enough for lace knitting but they're pretty and are doing the job.

And this somewhat dark picture (should really take pictures earlier in the day) is the lovely blue tonal yarn that for the life of me I can't remember the details for.


I'm sorry I can't show you a better picture of the actual knitting but it's destined to be a present, hopefully this year!


And just for those who have been in a blog free world like me for the past few days the next FNSI is 17 June and signs ups are on Crafty Vegas Mom's blog. This coincides beautifully with my planned weekend of crafting.  Two baby quilts required by July and I'd like to finally finish my quilt and I could do with squeezing in a bit of knitting!

Baby Quilt 2

Just a quick update on the jungle HSTs that appeared a while back.

They've now been combined to make the top for another zig zag baby quilt.

Very much a work in progress type picture.  I really like how this one is working out.  And I now have, hopefully, the right fabric for the back and binding.  I foresee a quilting and binding session in my future!

Strawberries and white!

More exciting news from my garden...on my regular inspection of the strawberry plants I've found baby strawberries

Or at least I found them on one plant, the other has decided its mission in life is to grow leaves.  Hopefully I'll
get to at least see some red strawberries.  The birds round here are keen on berries.

And speaking of red

I couldn't resist trying out making a pinwheel for my next baby quilt.

New Toy!

Big excitement this weekend is the purchase of a new car.  A lot of debating went on beforehand but in the end I went for a red mini.

Brilliant fun to drive and the weather and roads have been kind so the roof has been down.  Couple of lessons learnt - a hat or hairband is a must and suncream would be a good idea too!

Normal Service Will Be Resumed...

...with a vengeance once I find the cable for my camera.  It's annoying as I have at least two so one is always where my camera is, or at least that's the plan.

I have also been pretty busy changing jobs and doing all the peripheral stuff that comes with that.

So busy that I had totally failed to notice the upcoming FNSI and now, as I've made other totally pleasant plans, I won't be able to participate for the second month in a row.  But if you're interested in finding out what it's all about then click this link

Hopefully that worked and hopefully I'll remember the simple way of doing it.

Anyways whilst remembering (and being too chicken to post another button linky thing) if you're a UK quilter then you may want to look in on Lily's Quilts Brit Quilt group (button over there -----> somewhere, the cool union flag one...that's it you know you want to find out more) designed to give us British quilters somewhere to virtually meet up and chat. <Looks embarassed> I have signed up quite early on but due to earlier excuses I haven't got round to having a good nosey and joining the fun but I keep reading good things about it so will be making regular visits in future.

Right enough apologetic blogging, watch out for the re-emergence of posts over the weekend I have plenty to share. 

Garden Update



Just spotted severalflowers on one of my strawberry plants, obviously they don't mind a shady-ish spot.  Fingers crossed for a timy bit of fruit! The other is growing well, no flowers and some dead leaves but seems ok. My clematis is trying to take over the balony and the 'ignore them and they'll thrive' lillies are looking positive for a nice display in a few weeks. 

A Previous Project

Whilst doing a spot of tidying I came across a photo of a patchwork pillow I made for my brother a couple of years ago.

Was about to apologise for the quality of the photo but its come out much better than I expected.  Each of the colours is a different fabric, the blue was a real pain it kept on fraying.  It was all hand sewn with the thin cream, cord fabric strips being very tricky. It was backed with a black canvas fabric, unfortunately I didn't have the patience to make the cover removable. Loved the finished item and it hasn't put me off making another, possibly using a sewing machine, but you couldn't pay me to use the blue fabric again although it looks great.

I'm Back

I'm back from what I think is my laziest and most relaxing holiday ever. Mornings were spent in the local markets or towns, afternoons on the beach or by the pool (too cold to go in!) and then we played card games or rummikub in the evenings after dinner.  Wonderful and exactly the type of holiday I had in mind.  Got plenty of reading done but didn't take any crafts with me; also forgot to take any pictures.

And this week my sister has been visiting and we spent a day going round some London museums.  The Museum of London was fascinating; the Science Museum had its good bits but was somewhat too warm (maybe due to the unseasonal heat wave but still unpleasantly airless and sticky) and a surprising number of exhibits were run down or not working (those that were hands on).

Whilst in London we came across what we thought was a novel way of window cleaning...

Maybe a little tricky to see on the original, here's a blow up of the bottom of the picture...



Still not great but hopefully you can see the two guys abseiling whilst window cleaning; they picked a nice day for it.

No Crafting Here

For the first time in ages I'm having a totally craft free weekend, not even a row or two of knitting has been completed.  Am trying to enjoy the glorious weather in between shopping and packing for a week's holiday, packing to move accomodation and writing an essay.  Not quite sure I'm getting the balance of my todo list right, my bed has disappeared under what seems like way too much clothing for a week...

...and it will not surprise those that know me that the rest of my room looks a heck of a lot worse!

Ah well better stop procrastinating and get on with it!

...And a finish

Finally a shot (or two) of the finished baby zig zag quilt.

Love the back, top and quilting on this quilt - it all seemed just to work.  Still not 100% sure about the colour of the binding but it went on like a dream, all four corners nicely mitred both sides.

All there is to do now is stick it into the post to my cousin's new daughter in America.



A Start...

A lovely weekend this weekend.  Started with an impromptu night out on Friday, gorgeous weather all weekend, a trip to an antiques cellar and some work on the major baby quilt to do list.

I started machine sewing quilt two, for my second cousin, and I like what's appearing.

Seem to have become addicted to HST quilts, the next baby quilt (for which I now have a perfect fabric selection except the back) all involve them.