Tuesday 28 May 2013

Watch out.....

my Mum's about.

Here she is in the craft room (which she still insists on calling the dining room...she's trying to wear me down) sewing a scarf to the back of a knitted bears neck.....    


Looks like she's enjoying stabbing that little toy a bit too much for my liking.   Reminds me why I won't let her anywhere near if I have a splinter in my finger.  Or a boil on my head for that matter (I'll tell you about that later).

Success!!


After years of trying I finally persuaded my Mum to knit a toy.   I don't know who's more pleased... Mum or the bear!   It wasn't long before it had a little friend to play with....


actually bears are multiplying like rabbits over at her house right now.... what have I started!

Mac popped in curious to see what was going on.....


Him..... "Is that camera on?"

Me......."Yes"


Can't help but think I married Micky Mouse!

What about the sewing I can here you think...... well.....


Sweet Menagerie is almost done (not in the photo... that was earlier).   Only got one more white border to attach and it will be officially a flimsy.    As luck would have it I remembered I'd been working on a pinwheel quilt around the time I started SW.  After a bit of rummaging I found that project stashed along with no less than 2 metres of the exact same white fabric I'd run out of for SW.     How lucky can I get!

The pin wheel WIP was not so lucky though..... 


it's getting the chop... literally .    Decided what I didn't like about it (apart from the dodgy points) was that the pin wheels were just too big.   Seems I prefer them small.   As they were already sewn into rows (almost a flimsy) I took my trusty rotary cutter and got to work slicing and dicing them down from  8 1/2" inches to 6 1/2..... liking them much better now.... fortunately.

Bet you are thinking what I've done doesn't amount to much considering I've been AWOL for more than two weeks.   Well... I've had problems.....


the wheel fell off my barrow for one.   Right in the middle of me shovelling and hauling a ton of hardcore down the drive to fill in the worst of this winters pot holes.  I was not happy.

Was even less impressed by the state of the greenhouses.....


I've normally scrubbed and disinfected them way before now.  This year I'm so late the vines are in leaf and the strawberries already have their flowers on.   I'd like to point out.... it's not my fault... honest!    We've had so many months of torrential rain I was thinking about turning the whole place into a bog garden with the greenhouse as an aquarium feature.

The big (86 feet) flower bed looks like this.....


the field next door has moved in further than ever before.   As for the smaller flower bed.....


can you see it?   I'm having trouble and I know where it is... or is supposed to be.  As for the veggie bed....


perhaps this would be a good year to try out rice as a crop.

I've been forced to admit defeat!  I'm calling in a man do do the heavy digging for me.  Chris and Sally are having a real good gloat about it.   They've spent all winter telling me I'm getting too old for my turbo digging antics.  If they mention I'm 60 in December once  more I'll  be digging one big hole and planting both of them in it!

Apart from all that the caravan looks like a mobile Petrie Dish it's covered in so much Algae.  Mum wouldn't let me take a photo of it to show you.   To Mac and me it's a reminder of happy times gone by to my Mum it's an eyesore..... a very big... very green in your face one.    She's not a happy bunny.

This is though......


He/she (does anyone know how to tell the difference... apart from the obvious which I can't get close enough to see) has just feasted on the flower border.   What's the betting he/she didn't eat the weeds or field grass. Would you eat burger if there was steak on the menu!  Before you correct me... I know this is a hare not a bunny..... the long legs and big ears are a dead give-a-way.

Now... I said I'd tell you about my Mum and a boil I once had on my head.

I was about 10 years old when I developed a monster boil on my temple. In fact I remember my Mum and Nana discussing (at great length)  the possibility of it being a carbuncle.  Now...I was too young to have encountered a carbuncle but judging by the horrified look on their faces I knew it was nothing to brag about at school.   Whatever it was.... it was closely monitored till the day came when my Mum announced (with great zeal) that  it was finally  'ripe'!   If I'd know what was coming next you wouldn't have seen me for dust.

I was sat on a dining chair in the middle of the lounge and Mum began the Boilectomy.  She heated a glass tumbler... placed it over the boil and held it there.   When it was deemed to have been there long enough she tried to remove it.  I screamed loud enough to wake the dead.   Mum  let go of the glass and it stayed put on my head.  To give here the benefit of the doubt I think she'd underestimated the power of a vacuum!    Didn't do me any good though.... I was the one wearing the glass fascinator.

When she finally regained her composure  Mum scolded me for being a sissy and had another go at pulling  the glass (and hopefully the contents of the boil) off my head.   No way was that glass going anywhere without taking my entire brain with it.    Enter my Dad.    He took one look at me and my strange headgear muttered an expletive and headed off into his workshop at warp speed returning with a tea towel and a hammer!   I almost feinted on the spot!   

It all turned out well in the end.  Dad covered the glass with the tea towel then hit it with the hammer to break the glass and subsequently the vacuum.   He was my hero.   He saved me from having to go to school next day with a tumbler on my head.    Mum stopped trying to 'fix' me herself and took me to the local pharmacy where a nice man mixed up a glob of pink paste to put on my boil (with hindsight I think the tumbler was more attractive) and all was well in my world.

If you think that was bad.... my Nana used the same technique to cure constipation.  Being sat on a bucket with boiling water in the bottom was bad enough......trying to get up without taking the bucket with you or scalding your posterior in the process was something else entirely.  Besides.... it didn't work......  ever!

That I survived childhood never ceases to amaze me.    Don't you just miss the 'good old days'..... nah!!

OK.... I'm off.    I've rabbited on way too long and I have to be up early in the morning... hairdresser appointment.

Hope you are all enjoying whatever season it is in your corner of the world.

See ya soon....
Have fun...
Josie

Saturday 11 May 2013

You were right!

It does look better with the borders are on.......


I never would have thought I'd have to eat my derogatory words but Spam Fritters are on the menu tonight for sure.


I fancied an outdoor photo shoot (cool eh) to show off my latest finish but as it's been raining cats and dogs out there most of the year and I didn't fancy scraping mud and sheep doddles off my new flimsy (even if it was a freebie)  I opted for some conservatory pics instead.   It's a good job I did manage to get the decorating done in there before going on retreat...eh!


Took this aerial shot by balancing on the back of the sofa..... apologies if it's a bit blurry.  I was having trouble with my centre of gravity.... turns out it's lower than I thought!

There's someone else taking over working in my little room right now.........


 Tilly is here having a little 'creative' break.    It's true what they say... creative people are messy!   We've had everything but the kitchen sink dragged out in in search of  "inspiration".   Personally I'm hoping she's inspired to run the vacuum around  before she leaves!


It's looking good so far.   Actually it's looking even better now that it's finished.... I'll show you the end product next time.  

Me..... I'm working on another WIP that's been hanging around a bit too long...


I made a great start with this one a while back.   Managed to make all of the blocks before something else bright and shiny caught my eye.    Been busy adding  sashing and joining rows.  All is not well though.... I have a problem.    I haven't enough white fabric to finish!   The white I used came from stash and now I don't know where I bought it from or who the manufacturer is.   Before you say it..... I've cut off the selvedges.    If ever you needed proof I'm an idiot........

This is the pattern.....

 
 you can download it here if you love it as much as I do.

Back to my dilemma.    I have enough fabric for the centre sashing and first white border.  Enough white to complete the chequerboard border to which would  leave me two white borders short.   Rats!

First option...I could buy another white fabric and use that to piece everything from the blue border outwards. Hopefully the blue dividing strip would hide any shade difference.

Second option...... I could try to  re design the border.  With luck I could maybe squeeze two chequerboard rows out of the white I have and use those to replace the three border rows in the pattern.

But... I love the pattern just as it is!  (whinge....whinge)

Third option...... shoot myself now and save myself some angst!

If you were me..... what would you do?

So.... I'm not going to finish this quilt top this weekend as planned   Grrrrrrrrrrr!    Still.... I have other quilts in the WIP pile that I can work on so the rest of the  weekend won't be wasted.

On the home front Licky Lou and Bagpuss have both joined Mac on the sick list.   The vet treated them with an injection of long acting antibiotics (the cats that is....... much as I'd like to I can't get Mac to the vets).
The injection had a rather unfortunate effect on their little tummies.   I've been on Poo Patrol for so long now I'm beginning to see my yellow rubber household  gloves as a fashion accessory along with my new Eau de Disinfectant perfume.  Lovely eh!   Wish you were here?   Guess not!

Well.... that's all folks!    Nothing much else is happening here so I'll get out of here and leave you to enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Don't forget to have fun... it's compulsory
See ya soon
Hugs
Josie

Saturday 4 May 2013

Thank goodness for FNWF!

If ever I needed a good sewing session in the company of friends it was last night.   I know I've just had a week of sewing fun and frolics and I am so grateful for that .... but.... I've had a bad case of post retreat blues this week.    Chris... Sally and Kitty have all been feeling the same way.  Guess that's what happens when you have too good a time.   Turns out fun is exhausting... who'd have thought! :o)

FNWF got me sewing again......


I sewed together all 26 rows of the Pom Pom de Paris freebie quilt.    It really has been a nice quilt to sew... once you get over the headache of laying it out.    I made sure I kept my rows organised....


it might look like a jumble but all the rows were labelled with the letters of the alphabet which helped make the sewing session a very relaxing one.

Of course a lot of sewing meant a lot of.......


the dreaded pressing!       Am I the only one who has to concentrate hard on pressing not ironing?   I use steam.... so much steam that my glasses fog up and I'm ironing pressing blind.  Overall I think I made a pretty good job of it. 

Job done.....


I have to say It's taking me a while to get to like this quilt.  I love the pattern.  As for the fabric....with hindsight I think it would have been better suited to a different pattern.   Maybe I just can't love Spam pink and Custard yellow!   Too late now!  

I didn't stop there.......


 I cut the strips for all three borders.    I did intend to carry on and attach them but hunger got the better of me.   So I chose to end my evening with a nice meal.... some vino and an e.mail catch up session.  I'm still not up to date with that but I'm trying hard.

So..... now you know what I got up to on my Friday Night With Friends.    Hope all you girls who joined in are happy with the progress you made.   I'm ecstatic!

If you didn't join in the sew in why not pop over to visit Cheryll   (who coordinates FNWF) and follow the links to find out what everyone got up to last night.   You might just be tempted to join in next month.....;o)

Went to Kirkcudbright this morning to take Licky Lou to the vet and thought you might like to see a couple of snaps I took .....


the whole fleet of Scallop Dredgers were moored in town today... 


how about that.... our very own castle!


Small boat moorings further down the river.  Ok that's enough.   I don't want you thinking I'm being paid by the tourist board.

OK...   I'd better get going.   I'm hungry again!!  

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend.....   I'm decorating the bathroom tomorrow... enough said!

See ya soon
Hugs
Josie