Distractions

This blog has had to take a little bit of a rest for a very good reason...

We have had a new addition to our family. Max is a 10 week old Cockapoo who is soooo gorgeous and I can't get enough of him. He hates having his photo taken, but this is the best of many blurry, fuzzy photos, normally of him shooting past. Hopefully once he settles down a little, he will let me take a photo.

The sewing room was a hive of activity with many new finished pieces and I promise I will blog soon to show you.

I'd better get back to this naughty bundle of fluffy cuteness =)

Spring is in the air

Finally spring seems to be poking its head up.
I love this season and try to make sure I have spring flowers in vases as much as possible.
I feel a spring clean coming on!

Finally- a quilt of my own

In between all my friends having babies I have never had time to make a quilt for Hubby and I.
I decided to change this about 6 months ago, and bought the fabrics but never really got round to making the quilt. About a month ago, inspiration took over and I started cutting and took over our living room when Hubby was away on business. Last night, I finally finished piecing the top.

(Sorry for the bad quality photo-taken with Iphone this morning in my excitement)

We have decided that this is not going to be a quilt for our bed, but will be a HUGE wall hanging as we have a large white wall we have never found the right size picture for.

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew as it is so large (Floor to ceiling square) and I only have a tiny sewing machine, but I have decided on a nice simple straight line quilting pattern which should compliment the piecing nicely. I'll save that for a rainy day though =)

My favourite... So far

My grandad is a wonderful person and treats me like a princess.
We have always been very close and when I starting quilting I really wanted to make a quilt for him. He is in his late eighties and since my nan died six years ago, has adapted to do everything for himself.
I saw moda's range 'twiggy' and thought this was very apt for him as his surname is Wood. So two jelly rolls and some yardage made this...

I love this quilt and he likes it so much it is in his guest bedroom where everyone can see it.
I can't always be with my grandad as much as I would like but it is nice to think that he can have a visual reminder that I do think about him a lot when he is not with me.

I'm still here

Sorry for such a long absence.
I have been unwell for many months with a suspected stress related illness and it has really knocked the wind out of my sails. I am now working with doctors to find a way to help me and I am so grateful to have a caring GP who seems to understand that being unwell is severely affecting my life.
Crafts have still been going on in our house and I will report back with pictures later.
Back really soon (I promise!)

A re-found love

I am nearing my winter exam session and so my sewing machine was packed away in it's cupboard to stop any temptation. I would have gone crazy if I wasn't able to do any crafts and so I started this cross-stitch for our spare room.

As we lived in norway for two and a half years I loved this cross stitch but I have had it squirrelled away for about a year. I had fallen out of love a little with cross-stitch in recent years, but I have loved doing this so much and just a few stitches a night is enough to stave off my cravings for crafts.

It is only two weeks until the exam so hopefully I will get time afterwards to finish it.

A great day was had by all :)

Yesterday was the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra palace in London which I went to with my mum. We have been before and this is by far one of my favourite exhibitions. It has such a beautiful setting and the exhibitors are so friendly and helpful.

Needless to say we both came home with bags of new projects (and I did break my rule about buying fabric) but it was so lovely to get caught up in the day.
I'm not a knitter but I was so tempted by all of the beautiful yarns and the fabrics and projects could have kept me going for many many years.
And then afterwards we sat down as a family to lasagne (my favourite) and then mahjong which I learnt to play when we were in China. Now the whole family is hooked and I hope that it can become something we can do more often. We don't often sit around the table as a family and it was so enjoyable. Hopefully soon my brother will return from his travelling in Australia and we can be a proper (complete) family as we definitely all missed him being there.
Such a lovely day and I was quite sad to go to bed last night knowing it was over.