Little Things

I'm always busy

(or easily distracted),

this time experimenting with teeny stockings...

One could pop something even teenier in them...

Other small things on the go are these cakes

I made for Little Miss Kalico.

She loves tea parties....

Tea & cake!

My mother sent the boys some crafty things for their birthdays.

It kept them all quiet for a few minutes ;)

And I have finally finished quilting

my super-size 'Jared takes a Wife' quilt...

almost had too little batting...

Phew! Only almost!!!

Family Time

Someone made a snippy comment to me the other day,

they have 2 children and they said:

 "You only have one child more than me!"

Implying I shouldn't make a fuss and I should just get on with it??

Yes I just have one more....

Just one more who is now only 2!

(2nd Birthday cake!)

Just one more who needs constant attention 

or she's likely to spill, break or colour in etc...

EVERYTHING!

Just one more who needs all functions monitoring and supervising.

Just one more who needs mental and emotional stimulation.

Just one more who is at home with me most of the time...

(and I love that soooooooooo much!!)

Just one more, who along with the other 2 

needs feeding, and clean clothes and a clean house and and and...

I'm not complaining!!

I love my 'just one more!'

And my family:

 And the wonder of purple cauliflower!:

 And the vitality of youth:

 And where we live:

And the very occasional lie-in:

 And the sewing that I do get done:

So yes, just one more,

but it's a lot more.

A lot more to love!!

Super-Size!

Although I have had this quilt loaded for a while now,

I just had not had any time to concentrate on getting it quilted!

But at last, I have made a start!

The blocks are enormous,

as is the quilt,

so I am sure I will be busy for a while on it :)

Sometimes I Wake Up Grumpy...

...Sometimes I let them sleep...

and sleep...

and sleep...

and sleep!

Wordless Wednesday - Beautiful Yorkshire

Square Dancing

We have the most amazing shops in the small town nearby...

I know I always moan that we are miles from anywhere,

but when the local coal merchant

 manages to produce the exact screws 

that I needed to fix my American-made Long-arm quilting machine

 then I really shouldn't complain -

(and at 5 pence each I was over the moon!!! ;o) )

So now the handles on the front of the machine are in action again

and to celebrate I quilted a little table runner 

that I made from blocks that Kate gave me.

(Thanks again Kate!)

 And Chris gave me a book 

with some interesting patterns to quilt on blocks

so I gave a few of them a try 

just to see what I could do

and it was such fun....

(Thanks again Chris!)

Now to bind it and get something else on my machine

The Monster on top of the Wardrobe!

I was looking through some old photos

and found these pictures taken about 16(?) years ago

of my Mom's Monster quilt laid out in our old back garden.

I think at this point

the sheer size of it must have overwhelmed her

because she just packed it away again...

Such a lot of handwork

as it's been English Paper-pieced...

A friend who was visiting at the time,

was very keen for her to finish it

and he helped her lay it out...

But she never did.

A few years back, I made a stab at finishing it.

But I never did.

It's in a box above the wardrobe 

waiting for inspiration/enthusiasm and determination to strike.

But it hasn't. Yet.

Outdoor Shot of Finished Purple Oceans....

A 'Harvest' of Finishes

Tomorrow is Harvest festival at school,

I was stupidly proud of our 'harvest'

considering how hard it has been to grow anything

the last few years!

This is our donation to the church:

*****

I have had quite a few finishes of late,

but the weather is seriously wet, rainy and GREY!!!

So no nice countryside pics of these!

The binding is on my Purple & Green Oceans:

I do love this colour scheme,

I'm not sure I'm ready to redecorate 

the living room to make it match, but we'll see :)

A close-up of the quilting:

*****

I've also finished another baby quilt...

I'm expecting (ha ha - no!! not me!)

 lots of babies to be born or else!!

The back:

I really enjoyed this floral pantograph,

it looked harder than it was and very relaxing to quilt.

*****

Here's another one 

that I'm sewing the binding down on:

Quilted with 'Stars & Loops'

*****

I've finished a doll from a magazine my mother gave me,

I'll try and come back and credit the designer...

*****

I've also got this huge top to ready to quilt stage

by adding borders:

And I pieced a humungous backing

for it, so it'll be the next one to quilt

once I've finished the top that's on the longarm at the moment....

So that's it as far as finishes 

(or almost finishes)

for now!

Wordless Wednesday - New Blog Header

Workshop At Quilting Antics

Today we had a lovely Brooch-making workshop

at Quilting Antics in Settle.

By we, I mean my local village craft group

and the lovely ladies at the shop.

I ran the workshop

and each participant managed to leave with

2 brooches or 2 hairbands.

It was most enjoyable 

and I brought along 2 cakes to get everybody feeling creative ;)

 - Nigella's 'Easy Almond Cake'

and Sue's Sponge recipe (chocolafied by me lol)

went down a treat.

Julie kept us hydrated 

and Anthea informed us of upcoming workshops.

***

An example of the brooches

I taught:

So all in all, a fun few hours!

Oh Yes She Did!

I turned around for a minute....

And a little person removed a Kit-Kat finger

from George's cake!

I had to clean her up and make humble apologies that

the cake was presented minus a bit of decoration!!!

Luckily, I was forgiven

(and chocolate washes off!!)

Corkifying an Old Mirror (& Cake)

My new love is...

a glue gun!

It meant that, with the help of a friend,

I could get this...

(AFTER:)

from a bag of old corks

and this mirror:

(BEFORE:)

Result!

Well, I am pleased with it at least.

*****

On the cake front,

my friend's son had a serious operation

and so a definite 'Get Well' cake was needed:

(I purposely didn't make it Gluten-Free 

so that I wouldn't be tempted to eat a piece!)

Wordless Wednesday - Goodbye Long Hair!

(Actually chopped it all off last Friday, 

but I am a bad blogger!)