Too much time on my hands!!!!!

Just thought you might like to see my sewing room now it is completely finished and all my bits are back in place, well they are in 'a place' but that may be not the same place as before.  I was thinking of trying to rid myself of things collected over the years, mainly my teddy bears but most of them were sewn with friends and bring back some happy memories so a box in the loft didn't seem to be a very happy place for them.  After a bit of thought and a trip to Ikea new floating shelves were bought and the Teddies along with a few dolls have a new home, Yeah!  I gained a bit of extra shelving where my little beach huts now sit, and that has cleared some of my window sill.

Believe me it looks so much clearer than before

I also had a reshuffle of my quilts, and made room for a few more.

Some of mine and some swaps.

While I was at that famous blue and yellow shop/warehouse, I saw some nice clip kilner jars so had to have one of those for my small bits of ribbon. I also spied packs of small jars (only £1 for the 4). Having screw lids would be great for all those little bits we collect.  

Bit plain, but wait a bit.

I spent most of Saturday evening winding the odd bits of ribbon onto sticks to put into the big jar.

Surprising how long this took

Neat and tidy

Sunday evening was spent 'tarting up' the little jars.

Cute or what???

and this is how the whole little lot sit in my room.

Love those little crochet tops 

The question I am now asking myself - do I have 'too much time on my hands', probably yes, but its fun.

Cushion - finished, Quilt- finished, room- finished Yeah!

Great, finished another cushion for my 'new look' room, just another 5 to go.  I have been spending time looking at 'Pinterest', and have found some nice blocks that I will attempt to make into cushions, and this is the first, not the first cushion just the first from Pinterest.

block completed and quilted

Bit bright, but that's the look I want... 

I have also made a baby quilt.  As I don't really know the family I have just made a quilt that I think a little boy would love to drag around the floor.  For this quilt I found the idea of yachts on the Pinterest site (I am a bit addicted).  I planned the yachts, then just kept adding blocks of colour. The backing was also pieced with different size pieces.  This was another first for me, I usually have a plan of what I want to do, then get on and make it.  Nothing was planned but I really was happy with the final result.

I

I am very happy with this

Love the back too

You know that we have been decorating rooms, and the sewing/office room was next on the list.  The worst thing about this room is all the 'stuff' I collect needs to be boxed up and stored until the painting has been done.  I think it must have taken almost as long to clear the room as it did to paint.

Room before painting...

Voilà! This is how it looks now.

Bright isn't it ???

Now I have the job of putting everything back...Phew! that also might take some time. Now I have to find that special place for my bits, and where I will be able to find them again.

I think we have been in the doldrums with the weather for so long, that I needed my rooms to be bright and cheerful and they are certainly all bright.

Before I forget, I must show you this miniature quilt.  I have shown you it before, but now I have finished the binding, and I am really pleased with how narrow that looks. There are 198 blocks in this little darling, and yes, I must be mad.

See you next time. 

Wonderful Saturday and more

Before I talk about my week I must make a comment about the Marathons that have taken place over the past couple of weekends.  My heart and prayers go out to those at the Boston Marathon, what monsters cause this sort of damage to innocent people...it beggars belief!.  The London marathon had good weather and a minutes silence as a mark of respect for Boston.  I am sure all of the competitors, no matter what time they came in at, deserve their medal. Congrats to all that took part.

As you may remember we had decided to redecorate.  We started on the kitchen, and repainted it green again, but this green has much more lime and makes the room so much brighter.  I showed you last week my efforts painting the ceiling in the lounge, and this week started on the walls. In our lounge we have the staircase leading upstairs, so once you start on the lounge walls you have to keep going all the way up to the landing. That's not too bad, but then you come to all of those pesky doors that need glossing........ but now Mr D has retired I thought he could have that pleasure.  Our bathroom was next on the list, but as it is fully tiled, there is only the ceiling that needed attention (well, plus the door, but that's not in my repertory) and Mr D offered to paint that few square feet of ceiling while I went out to play at sewing with my friends....... what a gem he is!  So now we have completed the kitchen, lounge, landing, and bathroom, only a few more rooms to go!

You can just see the green kitchen, the Lounge is Jade White, with  Water on the chimney breast wall 

Now all I have to do is get more nice bright cushions made for the lounge and it will be complete.  

Saturday started off with a frost covered lawn, but the weather men promised wall to wall sunshine, so Mr D and I decided on a bike ride, first of the year.  We have a disused rail track quite nearby and it has been turned into a walking/riding path between Northampton and Market Harborough.  We used to travel this path often, but haven't used it for (perhaps) a couple of years, so it was quite a nice change to ride a fairly flat pathway with the hedges trimmed back and the stinging nettles on the hedgerow not grown yet.

path almost to ourselves..made the most of it.

It truly was a wonderful day, blue blue skies and that big yellow sun was a treat.  We had a pit stop at Brampton Holt, where the pub sells very nice food, and my first Pimms of the year

who would believe we would be sitting outside to eat

That Pimms was wonderful

 Since the last time we cycled this path someone (not sure if its the friends of Brampton Valley Way, or the council) has built this cute little dry stone wall bridge over a stream.

before just a hump of soil covered the pipe. 

 I was also thrilled to see this little face showing itself in the grass........

Would you believe once we got home we sat in the garden lapping up the sun, and I was still sitting there at 6 pm.

I have spent today in my sewing room.  I have been creating.........more like creating a big mess in the room, but I do have this to show for it.

I started making the yacht

Then just kept adding the borders

Its not finished, so I will have something to show you next time ...hopefully!

No new sewing...but

No new sewing today, just some finishing off.

I did reduce the patten size and am very happy with it.

Finished size 24" x 24"

Also got on with these...

Decided to straight line quilt this one

My first go at Trapunto Quilting

Look good together don't they?

Now I have the new look cushions, I need a new look room to go with them.  I started on the ceiling, while Mr D crawled around the floor painting the skirting, not sure who 'won' with the choices,  I had to keep climbing up and down, while he had to keep getting down then up again....... poor knees!

Out with the cream and green... not absolutely sure what is coming in though

I do make a bit of a mess, but only on me..... thank goodness for dust sheets that turn into paint sheets.

These are ready to receive a nice cup of tea...please

So much pleasure from bright cheerful flowers.

Touch of Spring..... and we even have sun

 When I lived in South Africa, I and my friends did quite a bit of embroidery, which always seemed to include the flower 'Forget-me-not'.  I think we always included them because the blue colour would almost always give a lift to the finished piece.  I now have Forget-me-nots growing in my garden, and each time they come into flower it reminds me of happy hours with friends, so the flowers are rightly named.  Today I spied the beginnings of a new season of ....the cute little flowers

Just two, but look at the buds of ones to come.

Now, I might be busy with a paint brush, so my sewing might just have to be put on the 'back burner' for a week or so.

What a weekend!!!!

We have woken both on Saturday and Sunday to frost covering everything but within a few hours the white stuff had gone and the sun was shining....wonderful!

Saturday was spent washing, hanging clothes outside (nothing quite beats the smell of clothes dried outside) ironing and gardening... what more could you ask for.  It always amazes me that just a little sunshine can give your spirits such a great lift, and it was great to feel the warmth of the sun...... don't lets go mad and say it was warm, but definitely warmer than it has been.

Sunny little group

Picture of Spring

We just need the Pansy's to show their faces now.

Sunday was a very similar day, but no washing for me, I had a date with my sewing machine.  Mr. D spent his time in the garden, and I must say its nice to see the lawn with a haircut, edges neat and  tidy and the flower beds turned over with the hoe.

We even had a treat when a friend invited us for supper, what a great evening we had and so unexpected.  I had intended to make a glasses case to add to the birthday gift for this friend, and had kept putting it off, so had to get this sewn quickly.

Not sure the magnetic catch was perfect, but it works

Sunday found me in my sunny sewing room playing with this ......well not exactly that pattern as I have her book. I started to sew organza onto the batting on Thursday,  and I have learnt quite a lot. Firstly,  if you fill a bobbin with water soluble thread DON'T forget to put it in the machine...yes, the centre flower was stitched with water soluble thread on the top and ordinary cotton thread in the bobbin...not too much of a train smash, but obviously better if both are water soluble. 

batting cut away

It took a while to cut away all the batting, and I now see that maybe even more patience is needed for the job

Pinned to my fabric, batting and backing ready to sew

This is where you have to remember to remove that water soluble thread...... can you imagine going over this lot only to find with the first wash it all falls apart...Boo Hoo!  Then a blood, sweat and tears moment.... o.k. just blood but cold water to the rescue and that soon disappeared. Phew!

Quite dense quilting 

Just the binding to finish and a new cushion cover will be born

Hope I remember the lessons learnt,  and look forward to making another.

No Sewing blog

Well, did you all have a good Easter?  I certainly did.

My daughter 'S', son-in-law 'P', and their three children came to visit.  This did mean I had to tidy my sewing room (its used as an extra bedroom) but it was well worth it on all counts, firstly my eldest grandson can have a lie in, and I do get to see my sewing room floor for a few days.
We spent Good  Friday lunch with more family members, and that was wonderful as we don't get together with extended family as often as we should.

Bad lighting for the photo, and we were never going to get all 13 in.

Easter Saturday was movie time for the kids, P and Mr D while S and I went off to the sale at my Local Quilt Shop.  Neither S nor I were looking for fabric, but it was nice to catch up with some friendly quilter's that were 'helping out' with the sales rush.  S and I then went off for quite time i.e. coffee, cake and chats.
Easter Sunday was a dry day, and probably the best day of the weekend, so we all went off to Irchester Country Park where they have, amongst other things a jungle parc and that is a hit with the young ones.  We as a family have all had a go at the ropes etc. but for Mr D. S and me it was just too cold, so we watched them go off, had a few laughs at the antics, then called into the coffee shop for a warm.

Those ropes should not be wrapped around your legs 

Stop laughing or you will turn upside down

For the last two days we have seen that big yellow ball that sometimes appears in the sky (I think its called the sun), but the wind is still bitterly cold so we still have some remnants of snow in the gardens and fields.  The weatherman has said that possibly next week we might see temperatures rise a little, so that is something to look forward to.

Last but by no means least I can show you this.....

Tah Dah!!!!

Yes, I have finished the jacket.  Don't ask me to repeat it or even tell you how I got there because this pattern was a 'suck it and see'.  My friend in S.A. goes to a crochet group, and quite a few of them decided to follow Little woollies  'blanket crochet along', but one lady wanted to use the rows to make a jacket for a grandchild and I thought that was a wonderful idea, so once home decided to play myself. I didn't plan the rows, maybe that was a mistake, and I really didn't know how to shape the neck or increase for the sleeves, but it all seems to have worked out.   I do think it is rather cute, but will it ever be worn.......we will wait and see.  Tomorrow it gets packed up and sent off ready for winter wear.

Hope to show some sewing next time.