Cats, Dogs, Butterflies & Beasts

Again so much has happened since my last post. I have finished piecing the back and front of DS1's birthday quilt and really hope the longarmer can fit me in, in time to get it quilted and bound by the birthday!!


The front:

The back:

(ignore the dust specks on the camera please..)

Turns out (with my usual lack of quilt calculations) I don't have enough fabric for DS2's quilt in the same theme, soooooooooooooooo it's back to the drawing board although I have several things churning around in my mind for him. He loves Mickey Mouse, but without much Mickey Mouse fabric I will be speedily researching my other options like already pieced tops or just something small like a bag for this birthday and a quilt for his 5th birthday in 2 years time! (That's about my speed LOL)

Work progresses on the house and the Raeburn cooker has been moved. Not to it's final resting place (these things take time when they weigh 300kgs), but we're closer than we were before.

Now I don't have a proper before picture, but here it is unmoved...

And here it is moved (to the back steps)...

And here it is in the new kitchen...

JUST KIDDING! It's still on the back steps while we wait for a friendly farmer with a tractor :-)

Another friendly farmer lent DH his quadbike and he moved some of the rubble (and rubbish) from the front of our house. The boys loved it....

And as I watched them go down the farm track I noticed lots and lots of beautiful butterflies on our neighbour's bush...

August already!

I am so behind reading blogs and keeping up this one. It's just horrible not having my own computer. And the school holidays mean that I don't actually have any spare time to speak of. My MIL took the boys on a train trip last week and although that meant I was kid-free I had to drive several miles to another hospital for a CT scan of my leg.

Just as I was leaving, the postman pulled up in his little red van and brought me reading material for the waiting room from Anne - fantastic timing!

Anne included some roses and boy fabric too - thanks Anne for a very pleasant surprise.

Andrea led me astray with a fabric warehouse some time ago and as it's near the hospital which is very far, I couldn't not pop in. It sells quilting fabric by the kilo. I treated myself to 2 kilos...



And a piece of red spotty pvc fabric for the new kitchen (and the messy kids!) And some spotty fleece which I have in mind for someone who visits and is always cold ;-)

So I was doing rather well for fabric, but things just got better. A wonderful lady called Barb (who has no blog) contacted me recently wanting to know if I still wanted rose fabric. Why yes!! So we arranged to swap some fabric.

Thanks Barb!

They are already over papers with Anne's fabrics.

The kitchen is coming along nicely and the worktop guy is in today so there will be major changes soon.

Friday the plasterer came in to do the old kitchen ceiling so everything had to be moved onto our bed for the day :-((( Not a pretty sight!

Saturday, was the local village show. I got a First in the Abstract Painting section (only 2 entries LOL)
and a First in the Needlework section (lots of entries) with Rosie's bag.

On the way home from the Village Show, I saw this down the small road I take to get home...

(...not something you see everyday. Not sure where they were going as they were walking in the direction of the bunkhouses and the roadside greasy spoon LOL)

Sunday, we had a day out at the Dog's Trust in Leeds. So many dogs and lots of fun.

And now, my computer time must be well and truly up, so until next time, keep on keeping on :-)

Double Double Delight

Here's what I would like...

I would like to finish my 'Double Delight' Quiltville.com mystery quilt this year.

I would like to piece a backing for the above quilt. (I like pieced backings and this will make it a double-sided quilt - a double double delight!!)

I would like to use the fabrics that I won in a raffle at Birgit's Quiltfest in Schönaich, Germany at least 2 year's ago.

Last year, I cut the fabrics I won and some that complimented them into 3.5" strips (don't ask me why!!) I would like to use the 3.5" strips that I cut as they are, and not cut the strips down, but I would like to use the 'Jared Takes A Wife' pattern from Quiltville.com which uses 2" strips...

I would like to show my block of the aforementioned pattern in 3.5" strips :-)

(Another double: these blocks are now double the size of Bonnie's blocks due to making them with 3.5" strips!!)

Now, I would like to make 11 more!!

ps I would also like to go to Germany to Birgit's Quiltfest this year in September!! I therefore would like to win the lottery LOL

When a man loves a woman

My dad made these metal templates for my mother when she made her hexagon quilt many many moons ago. The larger one is to measure the fabric and the smaller one is for the papers. Even though I am making my hexagons the same size, I don't use them as I download my hexagon papers from the internet and then use the photocopier (thoroughly modern of me LOL), but I do love them very much.

A day in the Lakes

We visited some friends who were holidaying in the Lake District. It's only just over an hour to get there and what a difference an hour makes!! The weather was lovely and the scenery so beautiful.
We all went for a riverside walk to feed the ducks...

I hereby promise to take anyone who visits us to the Lakes!

Pink dinosaurs

I was running low on dinosaurs and fairies so did another screenprint session with my designs.

As I was painting them I found myself getting silly and painting dinosaurs orange and blue...




And pink!!!



I love printing my designs on already printed fabric...

And I love that our kitchen is slowly coming together.

Since taking this photo more progress has been made and my dream of a usable kitchen is becoming a reality!!!

Odd peaches & gifts for Teachers

It's that time of year again. Time for a gift for the teachers...

This year I made covered notebooks with pencils.



(This one went early as one teacher won't be in tomorrow... )

On Tuesday (market day locally) my youngest and I went to buy fruit. We saw these funny very flat peaches:

The fruit seller claimed they were called: Donut Peaches. Personally I thought they looked like cakes that hadn't risen, but they tasted delicious!

Crafting

Last week I had playgroup 'duty' (i.e. it was my turn to bring the snack, make the parent's drinks, put on an activity for the children, wash the kid's snack bowls and cups, tidy away... You can imagine how much I 'like playgroup duty!!!) I drew some dinosaurs on card and got the children to stick coloured paper on them. Some children carefully stuck on scales and other children...

Well other children stuck coloured paper to their hands!


But he did have a nice time ;-)

Raining cats and dogs

I can't remember, it has been so long in the works, but I think I started this quilt (or at least the cutting thereof) for my eldest son's first or second birthday. He will be five this year and I have only this last week managed to get this quilt to 'flimsie-ish' stage.

No borders yet as I still have my youngest son's quilt to do and I need to keep an eye on my yardage...

I cut so many dog and cat squares for the first quilt (no planning as usual LOL) so I have more than enough for a second quilt, only this time I'm thinking of doing simple snowball blocks...

This week saw us at DS1's first Sport's Day.

(We were clearly Sport's Day novices as we neglected to bring folding chairs, umbrellas, picnic rugs and a taste for watery tea LOL...)

My eldest is still only in Nursery, so there weren't many races for him, but I think he had a great time in the rain and in the scattered sunshine :-)

On your marks... get set... (err... whenever you're ready)... go ;-)


First sack race...

all good fun.

Oh my hat!

I had a go at another hat.

I followed the pattern a little more closely this time, but still made a few changes (can't seem to help myself LOL).



I made it reversible again and in a softer colour scheme.

Think I'd like to make my own pattern now and a smaller style for the boys.

Watch this space ;-)

Raindrops on roses

We had a gorgeous day today (of course it's raining again now!), however I did manage to:

1) wear my new hat (while the sun was shining)

and

2) finish Rosalie's sewing caddy while the Ladies Final was on at Wimbledon...

Not sure I'll get any sewing done during the Men's tennis final tomorrow!

Lucky lucky

I have never done a stitchery before, but I was delighted to be a winner on Rosalie Quinlan's blog of this gorgeous stitchery pattern...

It arrived yesterday in the mail, and I wanted to get started immediately (great handwork while watching the tennis...)

I didn't have natural-coloured linen or red thread (as in the pattern) so I did it my way...

Thanks Rosalie, I could get addicted to this ;-)

Printing pics

There's a new computer in this house, hence being able to blog the hat. (Of course since making the sunhat, it's rained! I should have made an umbrella instead!!)

So now I can blog the screenprinting I did the other weekend...

Please note, it's a new computer, NOT a new camera hence the yukky photos, but this was some of what was printed:






Which became this:



And this:

And these prints:

Became these:

More to come, I'm sure.