Onto plan C

A few months ago my Mum asked if I would make her a lap-sized quilt for her living room to throw on the back of the sofa. I have already made her one which she loves but she has changed her colour scheme slightly and thought a new one would go better. She asked for green and cream - that's it - no other colours. Now as I am a scrappy quilter at heart I thought it may be a challenge. So that was her Christmas present sorted I thought.

Anyway as I had been feeling so rough with this wretched flu I was very behind on lots of things ( after 4 weeks the bloody bug is still lingering around - I can't seem to shake it off completely ). Time was moving on and so I needed a simple pattern if I had any chance of getting this done in time to give my Mum for Christmas. I decided a simple chequerboard may be just the job and so cut loads of 2 inch strips in lots of different greens. Lots of soft florals - nothing too bright. Off I went. After a few blocks I knew this was going to be possibly the most boring quilt in living history - bland, bland, bland. See what I mean. . . .This photo actually makes it look better than it really is - lol !

So onto plan B. Which was ? erm no plan B. So I made a few 9 patches hoping for inspiration.

Then added a bit more

then a bit more. This is actually a nice forest green but is showing up very dark here.

Things were starting to come together. I remembered a nice piece of green in my stash that went from light to dark across the width. Yes I liked it.

I didn't have a lot of anything suitable for borders and a quick trip tp my fabric shop came up with nothing. I had a green which would have gone but it just was too much dark and I went with the lighter option. Once borders were on the quilt just started crying out for some applique to zaz it up a bit.

Here's where I ran out of time and admitted to myself that there was no way this was going to get done it time. I decided to finish this after Christmas without rushing and making a bad job of it and so I moved onto plan C. This involved me frantically hand quilting a cushion ( pillow ) on Christmas Eve so my Mum would have something hand-made to go along with the other gifts I bought her. In my rush I forgot to take a photo but the cushion was lovely - pretty green hearts in a circle and hand quilted background. Mum liked it and is waiting patiently for her quilt to be finished.

On Monday I will be putting my swap packages in the post. These too are a bit late but as they are private swaps and Fiona and Carolyn have been so nice about it - it's not the end of the world. Something to look forward to in January at least.

In between other stuff I managed to make this little Santa from a pattern from a friend.

All my decorations have gone away now but I'll leave him out a while longer. Once Christmas is gone ( which was great despite us all feeling rubbish ) I can't bear the decorations out for too long gathering dust. My Mum always tells me I should wait til 12th night to take them down or I'll have bad luck for the coming year. So Santa will hopefully ward off any heading my way - lol !

To try and get my sewing motivation back in I am planning Bonnies new mystery quilt. She is hopefully posting the first clue today so I am off to check if it's there yet. With the time difference I may not get very far today but I am very excited about this.

Just remains to wish you all a wonderful 2009 and to thank you all for continuing to visit my blog and being such all-round lovely people.

Happy New Year !!!!!!

Never again !!

Well my cross-your-legs cough developed into full blown flu and infected sinuses - how terribly convenient just before Christmas - lol ! I feel weak and am sick to the back teeth of coughing. Over the worst now which is just as well as along with everyone else I have a ton of stuff to get done. I won't panic - not in my nature. Will just plod along and hope for the best.

One good thing about being unable to run around at my usual pace was I got the 15 year old sampler done. Here are a couple of photos of the HAND- quilting. AARGGH. So much cross hatch quilting in them sashings.

I will never be persuaded/ cajoled/ bribed again to do something like this. Lesson learned ! It did look lovely when done though. I'm glad I perservered. It has been passed on to my friend who will pass it on to it's owner. My quilt group have assured me she will love it. So glad it's done and out of the way. DH Jason has never heard me moan so much in my life - lol !

Got a couple of little Christmas swaps to finish up so no photos of those yet.

Quick post this - got to wrap up my pressies - well got to buy them first actually. Haven't dug out the decorations or anything like that yet. Help . . .

One last thing - I have signed up for the pocketfullofmysteries quilt. I have printed out fabric requirements and may sort out something later. I think the first clue is published Christmas Eve - what fun ! See ya.

Catch up !

Thought I'd best squeeze in a post before you all desert me - lol ! Oh for a few more hours in the day. So what have I been doing ? Let's cast my mind back.

I finished this

I've shown this before when I thought it was finished. BUT it would not lie flat and I decided it needed some hand quilting. I traced a leaf shape in each triangle ( not the flying geese ) and hand quilted it with a dark green thread. It is now as flat as a pancake and I have actually got out my drill and hung it in our bedroom. Cheers up a dull day a treat and all from scraps. Talking of scraps I am working my way through this

This is a huge laundry basket and the plan is to cut all of these into ready-to-go pieces. So far I've started cutting squares in 3 different sizes and a few 2 inch strips as well. I have bought a load of really useful boxes and am trying to get organised. Takes forever though but will be worth it in the end.

My favourite fabric warehouse - Abakhan fabrics had a sale evening with free mince pies and wine and it seemed rude not to go - lol ! I don't drink wine but did manage a little shopping.

About 20 yards here and so cheap !

And the really big news for this post is that I have finished my first stitchery quilt.

Now I went about this a little differently than the pattern suggested and so it was a bit trickier putting it all together but I managed it with only a bit of ripping. Ithink Iam in love with this. I aimed for an old-fashioned look with lovely dark country colours. Need to get my drill out again and hang some hooks. I first saw this on Belvies blog a while back and just had to get the pattern. Brilliant fun. The pattern is by Bareroots and I am dropping hints to Santa for more of their patterns. I did not follow the border ideas as the pattern suggested either.

I have so much I want to be doing and instead I am plugging away hand-quilting the 15 year old sampler quilt that I was talked into finishing. Not fun but I have decided it is not going to be starting the New Year in my house and I want it done and GONE.

Going to catch up a few blogs now. I have a bad cough and am hacking away like an old donkey - I am driving my family mad. Annoying thing is now I'm getting older I have to cross my legs when I cough - lol ! Too much information ?

See you all soon.

ALQS2

A lovely bit of post this week. My much awaited little quilt from Kates swap. And here it is

Gorgeous ! As my favourite block is log cabin and I love blue and yellow together this suits me down to the ground. The maker of this little beauty is Sharon from Canada who did a fantastic job of this. Perfectly sewn with amazing hand-quilting. A couple of extra gifts of a great notebook and some Laura Ashley sticky notes too. Thankyou Sharon - another successful swap. I have some lovely little mini quilts now and I absolutely love them all.

I have done a fair bit of sewing this week although I have been naughty and not done any quilting on the sampler. I will try harder next week. I would love to have it gone to it's owner by Christmas. I have been sewing a new project and an old one. I want to do a bit more before I show photos though. Next time . .

By popular request here is the recipe for the chocolate beetroot cake. Measurements are in metric as that is all the recipe stated. I usually use imperial ( pounds and ounces ) and I know US cooks use cups. I think there are probably conversion tables lurking about on the net somewhere. As promised the cake was very moist and although you could not actually taste the beetroot it had a slightly earthy taste. Very good cake and if you make it I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake

125g butter

100g dark chocolate ( at least 70% cocoa solids )

250g beetroot - cooked and obviously without vinegar

3 large eggs

100g cocoa powder or hot chocolate drink mix

225g self raising flour

200g caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180c/160c fan/Gas4 and line tins. I used 2 8 inch square tins.

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Leave til melted and stir to mix. Remove the bowl from the pan and set aside.

3. Puree the beetroot. Beat the egg and stir together. Sift the chocolate powder and flour together into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and beetrrot mixture.

4. Divide mix into the tins and level out.

5. Bake for about 35-40 mins until cooked through i.e until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool.

6. Make some filling. I made a fudgy chocolate crean with some melted chocolate, a little butter and some icing sugar. Sandwich cake together with this and dust top with a little icing sugar.

Our weather has been very cold this week and my cats have stayed in a lot.

Here are Marley and Tizer giving my new quilt a try.

And here they are a couple of hours later.

Tizer ( the tabby ) loves Marley and follows him around like a shadow when he is in. I thought this was so funny. Seems like he's copying his sleeping positions too - lol !

Have a great weekend !

Doing my bit . .

. . to help the global economy - lol ! What's a girl to do when she has birthday money burning a whole in her pocket and the worlds in financial crisis ? Spend it of course - here's a few goodies

Helping out Amazon in case they run into difficulties.

Spreading it internationally. Order from Thousands of Bolts.

A few plains from my lovely fabric seller who comes to our local quilt group once a month. I would miss her if she had to give this up through the recession - lol ! Not much chance of that.

A few bits from a local shop or two.

So there you go - I can sleep easier at night knowing I've helped out all these people :-) Who am I kidding ?

Anyway do you remember these blocks ?

To recap these are for a quilt for my DH Jason to keep him warm through the winter. Well originally I planned to make 35 blocks and set them 5 by 7. BUT after sometime of making these I couldn't bear it. Each block seemed to take forever and I was itching to get them finished. After a quick count I only had 18 blocks. Almost half of what I had decided to do. Not nearly enough. I had a think and wondered how to make these into a decent sized quilt. Maybe I could set them on point or make BIG borders. AHA - what about doing both these things ?

Job done..

This is now a great size - actually bigger than I thought by quite some way - lol ! Will try and get this quilted soon. Just gearing myself up to struggling along with my domestic sewing machine. I can feel my shoulders aching just with the thought of it.....

A couple of non-quilting things to end with. If you have been wondering about the little rescued cat - Tibbles ( Susan and Margeeth have been enquiring amongst others ) here's the latest. A couple of weeks ago we went off to see him at our local rescue center only to be told he wasn't there as we had been led to believe. I was perplexed at this and made further enquiries at the vets we had taken him to. Apparently for whatever reason he had been taken to a centre run by the RSPCA about 50 miles away. I tracked down the phone number ( would have been easier to get the number of the Queen I think ) and gave them a ring. Yes he was there under a new name of Oliver and was doing very well. He is being assessed soon and will be re-homed when he is ready. The very nice lady I spoke to said he will be better going to some-one in a new area as that is something they usually do with stray cats. I asked her would she do me a favour and let us know when he has found a home and she has promised to do so. However I know they are busy so will probably ring soon to find out the latest. We were all a bit gutted that we never got to see him - I so wanted a photo of him but at least he is safe and sound and will make a great Christmas gift for somebody. I am just pleased we managed to get him sorted before the cold night hit us.

One last thing. Here is a cake I made earlier in the week from a cookery magazine. I am always searching for a good recipe for a moist chocolate cake and this one promised just that due to an added secret ingredient. I made it when no-one was in and then asked them to guess what the secret thing was. They all enjoyed the cake - it was rather yummy but they didn't guess that it contained pureed beetroot. Strange but true. I am the only one in my family that likes beetroot and I don't think they will eat it again now they know what's in it - lol ! But I had a laugh watching their faces when I revealed all - ha !

See you soon xx

The good - The bad . . .

Not sure about the ugly - lol !


Life is running away with me just now and I am a bit behind on lots of things. Behind on blogging and answering emails. Behind on ironing - but I can live with that. This week I'll be playing catch-up I think.


Anyway first the good. It's a great feeling when your son asks " Mum - are you expecting a bloggy parcel because the postman is coming down our path with a box ?" And even nicer when that parcel is a complete surprise from a lovely lady called Karol-Ann. It was a slightly belated birthday present and is absolutely the best bag I own.


Here is son very kindly modelling it for me. ( No of course your face isn't in the photo Patrick - just keep watching The Simpsons - lol - bad mum ).



I cannot tell you how lovely and gorgeous this is in real life - so well sewn and I'm very impressed with the magnetic fastenings. Thanks KA - you are a star ! There were also some sweet little candles in the box and some fantastic threads which are very beautiful and unusual.



Now onto the bad... I mentioned last post that I am working on something NOT fun. It is this.








It is not mine and I don't even know the lady who owns it but here's the story. Two of my friends from my small quilting group ( who happen to be sisters ) first discovered quilting 15 years ago when they did a sampler quilt for beginners along with another lady they know. My two pals duly finished their quilts and made others and joined our quilting group etc,etc. The third lady however got so far and abandoned her quilting career in order to take up other hobbies. So this poor quilt has been sat in a bag for almost 15 years waiting for some unfortunate soul to take pity on it and finish it. Yes - that some-one is me. I was persuaded to take it home and finish it off. Now the lady whose quilt it is had started hand-quilting it and although my friends said that finishing it off by machine would be fine I just thought it would look so much better finished off the way it was started. So hand-quilting it is.


I have umpteen projects myself that I would love to hand-quilt but instead I'm finding myself working on this. A bit musty-smelling ( well wouldn't you be if you sat in a bag for all that time ? ) and absolutely not my colours. I'm doing my best quilting on it but my heart isn't in it - in fact I can't wait to get shot of it. I'm trying to do at least an hour a day on it but there is still a way to go. Lesson to self - Just Say NO !! One day I will learn. Meant to say my friends have assured me she will pay me for my time but not sure how much. She is quite an elderly lady and would love to see it finished. You know the saying - There's one born every minute - lol !







Quick last photo - there were no cats in sight when I got this opened up to take a photo - quilt magnets !!





I have been doing a bit of fun stuff too but have no photos just yet. I got shut of some quilty stuff on Ebay last week too so that was good - made a little room for more :-)

See you soon.

Quick update - Patrick came in and rumbled me - he saw his photo and said I was a terrible liar - lol ! He doesn't mind really...

Small quilts.

First of all do you remember that batik quilt I made for my friend Jacqui's birthday ? Well she phoned me on my birthday last week full of aplogies for not letting me know earlier that she had received it. She is a TV producer and has such a busy life it makes my head hurt so I told her it was fine. Anyway she absolutely loved the quilt so much etc. She opened my parcel as well as her other presents during a dinner party - she said she cried so much that some of her guests started crying too - lol ! Wish I'd been a fly on the wall !

She can't post my present apparently but will bring it to me in person in the next few weeks but in the meantime she sent me these as a sort of birthday present but not - lol ! Beautiful. If you click on the picture for a close-up please avert your eyes from the dust - must do that !!

Anyway Kate and I had arranged a little swap in honour of our 40th birthdays - hers is next month. Here's what I sent

and here's what I received.

Now Kate couldn't have chosen better colours for me as blue and yellow is my favourite colour combination. The fabrics are SO lovely and the quiting is brilliant. I love it and it was a great swap. Are you on for another for our 50th birthdays Kate ??

I've also finished my little quilt for ALQS round 2. I need to label this and get it off asap. It has a LONG way to travel. I will be sad to see it go.

Here is a close-up of the quilting.

I was a bit unsure about what colour thread to use and was dead brave and went with blue instead of playing it safe with white. I like how it came out. It is hand-quilted except for the borders.

Here's my new quilty notice board I recently bought. All sorts of bits and bobs on there. Some I have plans for and some I don't.

Next post I will show you something I'm doing that I'm not enjoying. I want to do other stuff but this is weighing heavy on my shoulders - it needs to be done. All will be revealed - sorry can't help teasing a bit.

See you soon.

Winners

Thanks all for your good wishes and for taking the time to tell us all your favourite bits of this fantastic hobby/obsession.

Patrick picked 3 random numbers and the winners are Anne who gets the 8 fq's and pincushion and the 2 runners-up are Country Mouse and Gene. And yes Gene I will send you the blue one - lol ! I have your address Anne but if the others can email your addresses please.

For the people who asked for a pattern - there isn't one. I just drew around a CD for the base and cut some flower shapes and leaves out of paper. I can't draw for toffee so that tells you how easy this is.

Because I have limited space to sew now I had a good tidy-up yesterday and have dug out an old UFO to work on. I should have pictures next post.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend. Our clocks went back an hour last night so that means an extra hour of quilting time right ?

Another candle on the cake !

Yes tomorrow is my birthday - and its a big one. I will be 40. Crikey - how did that happen ?

Anyway I am doing this post now as I'm sure I will be busy tomorrow. I think Jason has booked George Clooney for a couple of hours for me and no doubt afterwards I will be wined and dined - lol ! Actually we have nothing planned except for a nice family meal out - nice and quiet - just how I like it. I have ordered some quilting books from Amazon too.

Last year I started a new quilt on my birthday and I am going to make this a tradition. Here is last years effort just dug out from a dark, dusty drawer.

Yes as you can see I didn't get very far with this - lol ! After cutting out a zillion melons by hand and drawing the seam allowance in in pencil and then piecing by hand I didn't like it. I could not get the middles to lie flat and it had lost it's charm. I still plan to do something with the bits I have cut - maybe some machine applique. Anyway whilst flicking through a mag late last night I saw something that got me going. Armed with Patricks compass and protractor and a sharp pencil I've been fiddling. This is my template. Keep tuned...

I've also finished a top but will show you that soon. I've been messing about with felt and made these. Great fun and nice to do in the evenings whilst everyone else is glued to the gogglebox ( as my mum used to call the TV ).

I have plans for more

What shall I do with all these ? Well as it's a special birthday tomorrow and I'm feeling generous - not to mention my fabric drawers will no longer shut I'm having a little giveaway.

For the winner I will send one of these pincushions plus this

2 yards ( 8 fq's ) of autumn colours for the taking. Also 2 other winners will get a pincushion and 3 fat quarters each. Sounds like a plan.

You know the rules - the main one being I must be able to contact you if you win. I will follow the example of Linda who had a giveaway recently. Anyone is welcome to enter but if I recognise you as a regular commenter I will put your name in twice. Fair ?

For a bit of fun and because I'm nosey please tell me which part of quilting you enjoy most. Is it the searching for inspiration, the choosing of fabric or indeed the BUYING of fabric :-) etc.

I will choose winners on Friday 24th October.

Take care xx

Kitty update !

You are all so lovely - I knew you would understand. The latest on Tibbles ( as we used to call him when he visited our garden ) is this -

I phoned the vets on Friday afternoon and he had been operated on and had his eye removed and was doing very well - bless him ! The vet had managed to get him a place in a local animal sanctuary only 2 miles from my home. They do great work here and I know he will be well looked after while he recovers after his surgery.

If we want we could still adopt him and I have talked myself in and out of this no end of times. A couple of things I forgot to mention in my last post were that he has already been neutered so he has belonged to some-one at one point. And the other thing was the injury was not terribly recent so he had been suffering for a while. This tells me he has been neglected by some-one very badly or perhaps his owner has passed away or something. I'm kind of thinking he will be better off away from this area with a new start with new owners that will look after him and love him as he deserves. Not that we wouldn't love him - if anything we love our cats too much and are slaves to them - lol ! But I think after all he has been through he needs a quiet life for a while and I don't think he would get that here with our other cats. Our youngest cat Tizer is the equivalent of a hyper-active toddler and poor Tibbles would never get a moments peace. It is a lot to ask for 4 adult tom cats to all get along together I'm thinking. My other big fear if we take him in is he wanders back to where he came from and we never see him again.

Anyway we plan to visit him later in the week and see how he is. We will take some food and stuff for the centre. I'm sort of thinking that if they don't find somewhere for him soon then maybe we will have a re-think. Not sure that will happen though as he is so cute and friendly people will be falling over themselves to provide for him. If possible I will try and get a photo of him to show you. I think this is for the best. I have shed so many tears over this cat you wouldn't believe. I'm so glad I spotted him out of that window that day and I'm glad we persevered and got him sorted. We could not bear to think of him suffering.

Next post will be back to quilty stuff. I have a little something planned too...

A Cat story

Well I'm back - not that I've actually been anywhere - lol ! A bad dose of flu had me wiped out for a while but I'm all better now.

Before I go any further thankyou all so much for your fabulous comments on my new quilt. You are all lovely and I appreciate so much the kind words even if I don't always get round to answering every comment. I do try but sometimes it is just impossible. I can confirm that it is now in use on our bed and is doing us very well now the colder nights are coming in.

I have quilting news to share but that is for another post. The next tale is cat-related so if you're not interested look away now - lol !

The story starts back in April when we had a little visitor to our garden. the link to that post is here. The visitor is in the bed.

Well on Tuesday this week I was sewing upstairs when I looked out of the window to see the same little cat walking down our path. My stomach sank - the poor little thing was in a bad way. He literally had his left eye hanging out of his socket - aww. I shouted Jason and he came and had a look. We were both horrified. I very quietly went out the back door of our house and tried to get to him but he ran away down our road. We quickly grabbed a box of fishy treats that our cats love and followed him. He had settled under one of the neighbours cars. We then tried to entice him out with the treats. He came out so far and then shot back under. He was eating the treats so was obviously hungry but he was very scared too. Jason was then despatched back to our house for some roast chicken and one of the cat baskets. Oh yes he liked the chicken and got a bit braver coming out a little further but the slightest movement from me sent him scurrying back under the car. I almost had him a couple of times. Then some of the neighbours got curious and came over to see what we were doing. Well that blew it - with all the commotion he got spooked and ran. We were gutted !

Since then we have been looking out for him. I called all our local vets and animal rescue centres hoping he was being taken care of but no luck. We didn't know if he had a owner or not but we were thinking that surely if he had a home he would have been taken to the vets by now.

Anyway last night ( Thursday ) my daughter Jess and her boyfriend were leaving our house to go out. A few minutes later Danny knocked the door to say the cat was back down the bottom of our street. I was in my PJ's so quickly chucked on a coat and some shoes, grabbed the cat basket and treats and off we went again. It was dark at least - I must have looked a right loony. We weren't sure exactly where he was so started peering into peoples gardens. One of our neighbours has a security light and I kept triggering it off. He came out to see what I was doing and after I explained he went back in and got me a torch - bless. After about 15 minutes of searching we were about to give up as there was no sign of him. Then Danny saw a cat go under another car but we didn't know if it was him or not. A quick flash of the torch confirmed it was. I settled down again to try and get him out with the treats. Same again - came out so far and retreated. So Jess nipped back home for a tin of sardines. I thought if I could get him eating out of the dish I stood a chance of catching him. Oh the scent of that fish did the trick alright. I laid a trail of chunks of the fish right to the cat basket and waited. He was starving and followed the trail just great. As he started eating from the bowl I very slowly moved my hands and grabbed him and shoved him in the basket. Hurray - I was so pleased I could have cried.

Got him home and phoned the emergency vet. Up close his eye was far worse than we thought. Absolutely awful. We took him to the vets - by this time it was nearly 10pm. She confirmed that is is so bad he will need to have his eye removed. We got him out of the basket and although he must have been terrified and in pain he was an absolute star. He started rubbing up against my hands and even began purring. What a little love !

Now we are faced with a quandry. The vet asked if we are prepared to take him after his surgery. We already have 3 cats and have always said that is enough. Our house is not big and we don't want to overcrowd them. Also it has taken us almost 2 years to get to this stage where they all happily live together. It has not always been this way - it took alot of time and patience to get to this stage and I am worried that introducing another adult male to the mix will really throw a spanner in the works. If we do have him obviously we will have to pay the vets bills too which are shockingly high. Jason has just returned to work after being made redundant and money is very tight. What to do - what to do ? If we don't have him they will try and get him into an animal rescue place where the vet said they will have no problem re-homing him as he is such a sweetheart. If they are unable to get a place for him he will have to be put to sleep but that is a last resort. I can emphatically say that will happen over my dead body. We left the vets and I broke my heart. My other worry if we have him is that after all this he leaves us and returns to where he came from. Perhaps he already has a home - we just don't know.

I will phone the vets later today and see what they say. My head is telling me it is a bad idea to adopt him but my heart is telling me otherwise. Trouble is I love him already.

I will let you know what happens.

Oh Yes !!

I have a quilt !

Finished binding this on Tuesday just as our new bed was being delivered.

This is my version of Bonnies Carolina Crossroads quilt. I started this Boxing Day last year as a mystery. You may remember once all the blocks were placed together I wasn't sure if I liked it as it was too pink. Now I love pink but I decided to add the striped green sashing to break it up a bit. I'm so glad I did as I love it. These pictures are not brilliant as the quilt is just draped over my settee as there is no-one in to hold it up for me.

It was put together quilt-as-you-go and worked very well.

It is such a great feeling to have something done completely. I am definitely hanging onto this one as most of my other quilts seem to leave home - lol !

Thanks to everyone who emailed with suggestions for helping with the dreaded migraines. They are much better this week although I am still sooooo tired.

Have a great weekend. I have a quiet one planned so may just have a play with my stash and see what happens . . .

Checking in . .

now I know I was put on this earth to sew so how come I have to spend so much of my time doing other stuff - lol ! This is a catch up post as I've been doing a bit here and there

First off the batik quilt got quilted and bound and was posted off to my friend Jacqui for her birthday. I have not heard if she likes it yet as I'm pretty sure they are away on holiday. Hopefully I will find out this week. I used a new thread to quilt it - a madeira one in lovely turquoise blue. It behaved beautifully and I really like how it looked.

Next up I made a bag. I've come across some blogs that mentioned the use of selvedges. I had so much fun going through my fabrics and cutting off the selvedges. Inspiration came from this blog - . I think I could become addicted to using this little strips that I would normally throw away. I think my bag is very cool if I say so myself. I had a ball making this - my daughter says I need to get out more - lol !

I'm also involved in several upcoming swaps so have got started on one of them. I'm liking this so far - needs to be a bit bigger. One of the new ladies in my quilting group loves this and said how gorgeous it would be if there were about 11 more of them made into a quilt. I am not listening ! I am not starting any more big quilts.

More hexagons too. This is my evening project.

I have been having a few migraines lately and in desperation went to my doctor as they have been very severe. I normally grin and bear them. He has put me on some preventative medication which seems to be doing the trick but is making me sooo tired. I'm in bed before the kids some nights. Things should settle down soon I hope - I'm wasting too much time yawning and mooching about.

I'm making good progress on a UFO and have the finish line in sight on that one. We have a new bed on order and you can't have a new bed without a new quilt can you ? Trouble is it is being delivered rather sooner than I'd expected so I'll have to get a wiggle on.

Have fun