Spring has sprung!

I found some unknown bulbs in the nice warm cupboard under the stairs a while ago. I didn't want them to freeze in our snowy garden so I planted them up in pots and they've flowered. Shame about the lack of crocuses and snowdrops in the garden tho :-(

Bisto Buttons!

When I was visiting my Gran last week, I did a bit of mending for her. She occasionally worked as a seamstress in her youth and made clothes for all six of her children but she's lost most of her sight now. She told me she had a tin of spare buttons, but I wasn't quite expecting a full Bisto tin!

This isn't a great pic in terms of the scale, but trust me, it was a big tin!

Gran kindly let me have the three covered buttons that are on the top as payment. Can't wait to find a project good enough to use them on!

Fabrics!

I came home to a lovely pile of new fabrics from Fabric Rehab yesterday, the products of a bad day and the ease in which Paypal allows you to buy things! They were packaged really cutely as per usual.

I got:

a blue emergency scrap bag (robots! planes!)

a lucky dip bag (tortoises!)

a bundle of Modern Whimsy and Sherbet Pips

and finally!

Some Put a Lid on It, Blue Leaves from Half Moon Modern and a charm pack of Domestic Bliss - now all hidden away until I can say "What, this? New? No, I've had it ages!"

One last picture - my in law's Jack Russell who we dog-sat last week - he didn't sit still long enough for a better photo!

Dead Simple Plus....

This pile of solids...

Turned into this...

set of 5" squares laid out in a plus layout. I cut them out using the rotary cutter to do a few layers at once - a first for me, no more doing them one by one now that I know better! I didn't want to just piece them into rows, and I think that I've been putting off doing anything with the fabric because I wasn't too happy with the layout.

Current status...

I'm hand piecing the rows as I'm still machine-less, and really enjoying the peacefulness of this method. Hopefully it might be done before Hub's birthday!

A pea green dilemma

During a "conversation" with my 14 week old nephew and his mum this weekend, we came onto the subject of peas. Mum hates them and thinks they should be squished but Auntie S thinks they're the best veg ever. As I don't see baby H very often, I wanted to make something to remind him of this fact!

I found some scraps of green felt, and here's my first thoughts ~ give peas a chance!

I based the idea on the beautiful tutorial from bugsandfishes which I used to make these valentines hearts:

The pea design is no where near as good - I need to have a good think about what to do next...

Thanks Virgin...

For getting me home quickly to Hubs, and for the compensation vouchers from last time we were delayed. First class upgrade here I come!

Banana, cake, tea and sewing as we whizzed along the Cheshire plain.

Frustration....

I'm having one of those weeks this week! I've got a horrible cold and sewing is not going well!

Mother in laws machine and i are not getting on well, we've had several disagreements this week involving chewed up fabric which means I haven't been able to finish the burp cloths for the other new arrivals. Work has been ridiculous and this cold seems to have turned me into Bitch-Woman!

The silver lining is that i finished the cross stitch (and washed it without incident!), it's half term next week so I'm going to visit family, and Hubby keeps muttering something about "birthday" and "new machine"!!!!

Here's the view from our kitchen window too - taken earlier this week.

February already!

Where has the last month gone?

I only made 3 things this month - the patchwork pillow being the only completed project. I also played with making some HSTs for the first time - I've got an idea for this, but it needs thinking through further! S's birth sampler is basically done now too, and I can't wait to meet her at half term to give it to her.

It's a good start I guess, mainly as I'm feeling much more confident in my abilities. I STILL need to get my machine fixed though, and have no excuse now that I've been paid! (What's the betting that I'll be saying the same thing on March 1st too??)

Linking up to Lily's Quilts again.