Saturday 30 April 2011

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. 

Sunday 24 April 2011

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.

Saturday 23 April 2011

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.

Sunday 10 April 2011

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!

Thursday 7 April 2011

...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.


Monday 4 April 2011

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.