Adjusting

I've been a good girl this month.

Not one packet of biscuits brought into the house.

(I haven't been sneaking them into the shed either!)

Only one magazine bought. 

(I so rarely make anything from the crafty ones, and I only drool over the pretty pictures in the house-y ones.  Pinterest is a perfectly good alternative!)

More walking, fewer car trips.

More culture - books, films, classical music.

(Why listen to certain irritating so-called disc-jockeys helping the nation vent their spleen when you can put Classic FM on instead?)

And absolutely NO new projects!

It's not like I do New Year's Resolutions, it's just that a brand spanking new year deserves a few, shall we say, 'adjustments'.

Anyway, the adjusting means that I have finished off not one but two scarves (mentioned previously but not shown)...

(Modelled by 'Buffy' my trusty tailor's dummy, as the ones  tried to take of myself were, frankly, laughable!)

Lovely Noro wool for one...

This is the dastardly '7-stitch wrap' that a friend and I both tussled with for ages, before finally managing, well, kind of...

The 7-stitch wrap was not worth the effort with the fluffy wool I got from the bargain bin for a pound - you can't really see it! Boo!

 Also finished this month were the bedroom curtains, the ballet wrap for Zosia and - drum roll, please! -  the 'Snapdragon Quilt'!  Yes, you read right - it is done!

The binding was laboriously sewn by hand on both sides as I couldn't get it right with the machine for the front side. Very annoying (and probably something to do with my salvaged blanket wadding).

It is lovely and weighty - it almost clunks when you chuck it over your knees...

I learnt that getting slap-dash with the 'scant 1/4 inch' seams causes big problems with the borders (don't look too closely at the corners) and will resolve to try better next time!

My hand-quilting improved as I went along - it doesn't look TOO bad on the back (and the print I chose- 'Whitewash' by Meg Hawkey of Crabapple Hill Studio -  is quite forgiving).

DONE!

But all this finishing off is a little too virtuous.

You'd forgive a girl if she felt the need for a little bit of planning...

Maybe a bit of a 'feasibility study'...

 A 'prototype' perhaps?

An eeensy-weensy bit of a 'mock-up'?

I'm sure none of these things really constitute starting a new project.  

I'm right, eh?

PS.

Looking forward to getting back to reading and writing blog posts, now I've finished my stint at proper work...

A Little Bit of Shopping

I'm not much of a shopper, but yesterday 

(to reward myself for having sorted the curtains out)

 I had a very nice outing to Dorking.  

Dorking is about three-quarters of an hour away, so not normally somewhere I'd go, but I was heading for one shop in particular...

...The Quilt Room, which is owned by Pam and Nicky Lintott, who have written many lovely quilting books such as this one, which I was lucky enough to have for Christmas last year...

...and many desirable others...

...and...

All images from The Quilt Room

The drive to Dorking is a very pleasant one, taking me onto the Hogs Back and then through pretty villages such as Compton...

Geograph.co.uk

Albury, with its amazing chimneys...

Geograph.co.uk

and Westcott, with its thatched bus-stop and dovecote...

Geograph.co.uk

...but as the weather was miserable I didn't stop to take photos!

Once inside The Quilt Room, I was in heaven!
So many gorgeous fabrics - I could have spent a fortune (if I had one!)


I had gone to get fabric to back the quilt I made this time last year (from the 'Two from One Jelly Roll Quilts' book). 

After much browsing, I chose this one...

'Whitewash Fabric' by Meg Hawkey for Lecien 'Hope Chest'
It comes in a very desirable red colourway too!

I love the mock cross-stitch and monograms .


I also needed some fabric for a commission I have been asked to do, and think this might be good...

A Sevenberry design - not sure what it is called, but it's very fine with a delicate stripe to it.

As the commission is for a dress for a very special antique doll, I think it may be suitable!

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a queue at the till and somehow a Cabbages and Roses Layer Cake called Northcote came to be in my basket by the time I paid...

Shopping done, I headed down the pretty and historic High Street...

...and then down West Street, which is chock-a-block full of antiques shops, and had looked oh-so-tempting on the way in.

There was also this, which I felt had to be investigated...

The FLUFF-A-TORIUM!

...home of Gillian Gladrag, well known in the crafty world for her colourful felting kits and designs and for this book...

Thanks Amazon.co.uk for the pic!

I did buy a lovely sheet of unusual coloured felt, and some felt balls, and would like to return there another day, when I am looking for something yarny or felty to do.

Pretty, pretty colour

The antique shops all looked so tempting, with fabulous window displays.  Needless to say, they did not photograph well, but I'll include a few, just to give a hint of the treasures to be found there.

Beautiful filing trays and desk accessories

The green bench took all my attention, so I didn't even see the riding boots and trees, so like my own (but rather shabbier). Sweet little chair too!

Can you see the 'His Master's Voice' dog with the gramophone?   The rest of that window was filled with vintage, Bakelite phones - all very desirable.

As darkness fell, I wended my way home.  Today, the quilt has acquired a layer of old blanket and the backing fabric.  This evening I shall be sitting underneath it, getting started on some hand-quilting.

A good way to keep warm, as the weather has become rather chillier with this howling wind!

A temporary return to normality

I'm feeling a little disorientated today, as for the first time in over two weeks I have not put on threadbare, paint and glue splattered clothes and traipsed across the road, but have spent the whole day in our own house, doing the things I normally do!  

 Miss U-t-B and her boyfriend have now moved into the flat across the road, though they are having to put up with the fact that the kitchen isn't finished and that, although the new boiler is making it nice and toasty-warm for them, it has decided not to let them have any hot water!  Good thing Dad's next door for showering facilities!

So back to normal.  First of all I tackled an enormous pile of ironing, whilst I caught up with 'Lark Rise to Candleford'.  I do love Twister and Queenie, and so hope that Dorcas finally finds love (even though I'm sure no such thing happened in the book!) Ironing done,  I then felt justified in returning to the Snapdragon Quilt. When I last did any work on it, it looked like this... 

Today I added a plain and pieced border, so it now looks like this...

Sorry about the quality of the photo and the hopeless colours - Mr U-t-B has 'sloped off' for the weekend, with the decent camera.!  I am quite pleased with it, though I need to improve my ability to stitch a 100% accurate 'scant quarter of an inch' seam at all times. My measurements are a wee bit out, and therefore the block border is off at the corners (which, you may have spotted, I have squeezed out of the photo!)  Live and learn!

I also made a big batch of watercress soup, as everyone here loves it, and as the newbies across the road are without any cooking facilities, it's a useful standby.  It always looks so lovely and green - you just know it's doing you good!

Then I put a load of dried fruit to soak in tea, to make a couple of 'guilt-free' teabreads (no fat or eggs - though we won't think about the sugar!) one to welcome Mr U-t-B home tomorrow, the other in case the kitchen-less ones need a small smackerel of something tasty.

The smell of those is currently wafting up the stairs to the attic office so it must be nearly time to take them out of the oven! A spot of tea perhaps?

With Mr U-t-B back tomorrow, I guess I will have to get back to the scrubby clothes and join in with the final push to finish the kitchen,  But at least today has been an oasis of calm in the middle of the renovations!

Snapdragon Quilt - Day One

Thought I'd show progress so far.  When books say that something is quick to make, I never really believe it, but this is what I've done so far, with just an evening's on-off sewing (some bits of 'One Born Every Minute' being too watchable to miss - makes me laugh and cry!) and about an hour squeezed in today between more pressing jobs.  I think it's pretty fast progress...

Hidden in the piles are all 18 nine-patch blocks, 5 of the 17 snowball blocks, a few short strips to go towards the border and all the cut squares for the rest of the snowballs.  Boo hiss I'm working tomorrow, but I'll try to squeeze a bit more in all the same.








Oh!  PS  Did you read this story today!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12213615



Lovely news, but I have to say that if I was the generous woman who had gone through all that, I don't think I'd be pleased to be called 'our gestational carrier'!  Sounds like some kind of futuristic robot!