A wonderful start to the weekend =)

I went home at lunchtime to give our monster his lunch and a run-a-round in the garden and a wonderful package was waiting on my doorstep.
Last week I had ordered some patterns from Patchwork Orange in Australia and it arrived today-YAY!

I love these patterns as they are sooo girly, and I though my niece might like the fairy on a swing stitchery.

These will go into my suitcase for our holiday to Cornwall. Our poor car won't know what has happened with the weight of all of my sewing equipment as I am also going to a day's quilting course while away with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. I can't wait as it is my first ever course.

The weather is gorgeous here, so I will make sure to enjoy every second out in the garden.

Tomorrow we have puppy class number 2 (hopefully not as disasterous as class number 1) which will be much nicer in the sunshine.

Enjoy your weekends everyone =)

Making a house a home

As we have now lived in our little house for over a year it was really overdue for me to start making some pretties for my walls. It is nice having the quilts about, but I wanted something to brighten up our cream (and very plain) walls in our living room.
I fell in love with this kit from Euro Japan Links at the Knitting and Stitching Show last year and it has been in my pile of things to do for ages because I was really scared of the applique.

Hubby went out for a day and I set to work on this. Although it did take a long while, I loved every minute of working on it and am quite tempted to buy another to make for my parents.

In last month's issue of cross stitcher I saw this cross stitch and knew I had to make it. It hangs above our coat hooks and is the first thing you see when you come in our front door. I love it and was so happy with it.

In very old news, I completed this little stitchery which I had started 2 years ago. All it needed was a few french knots and framing. It sits in a little nook in our spare bedroom, which can only been seen from the bed.

We have family coming to stay this weekend and hopefully we will get to take Max out on his first walk. Fingers crossed the sun stays out and some of the mud in our swamp of a garden can dry out =)

Enjoy!!

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!)