Bit of this and that

Not much quilting going on here yet again. The reason being this time I have been laid up with a trapped nerve in my left arm. Ouch !! Never had one before and never want one again.. Much better now so feeling a bit more cheerful. I HATE not being able to go about my business. Been a bit grumpy due to lack of quilting. However I have not been completely idle - here is a crocheted baby blanket I finished off for a friend. It was nearly done - just had to do the edging.

And to my own amazement I fancied doing a bit of cross-stitch. I have dabbled in this a few years back but not done an awful lot. Whilst unable to sew I sorted through a couple of file boxes of patterns etc and came across a chart I had saved. My daughters friends grandma ( who I never knew ) died a few years ago and I inherited a bit of fabric and some patterns. I think she had tried a bit of all sorts of crafts. There were some half finished quilted and embroidered table mats. I finished these and gave them back to the family. Anyway this pattern was amongst the pile and I knew I would do it someday. The reason it appealed so much was because it is of a lady making a quilt. Here's my progress -

I'm enjoying this as a change. I even bought a cross stitch magazine this morning just to have a look. May do some more - not sure yet. I hope not to be too long doing this as the last piece of cross stitch kept getting put away and coming out when I felt like it and all in all took 10 years to complete - lol ! And I still haven't had it framed.

And as we have had some lovely weather of late I have washed a few quilts and dried them on the clothesline to air them. This is the first one I made for Jess about 5 years ago

This a big one and the first one I quilted by machine - nearly killed me.

and one for Patrick made about a year later. I wish I'd labelled them.

And I also realised I haven't shown my DD top yet - minus borders so far. I have a fabric in mind but haven't quite decided for sure yet.

And one last thing. Patrick is 12 yo and hitting puberty with a bang. All of a sudden he has changed - grumpy, uncommunicative a lot of the time - any one with teenagers knows the score I think - lol. Well today he shown he is still my little boy in a lot of ways - we have had a great time making a gingerbread house he got as a Christmas present. It has took til now to get round to it with one thing and another. He has now decided he may be a cake maker when he's older. If he can fit it in around being a professional basketball player - lol !!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Almost forgot - "met" a lady this week interested in starting her own blog. I explained how much fun it is and she decided to go ahead. So welcome to blogland Sally. I'm sure she would love some visitors so go and say hi if you have time.