They say things come in threes!

You know they say it never rains but it pours!  Well that has been a good saying for us over the past few weeks.  Just after my last post our iPad/ radio docking station started to play up and as it was still under warranty we took it back and had it replaced...great you would think, until, we got the replacement home to find this new one had the same problem as the old one, so, back we go again and are still waiting for the outcome......luckily our T.V. does give us most of the radio channels (I love my radio).
Next the central heating 'combi' boiler seemed to be leaking gas, so  the  engineer promptly condemned it....no heating and no hot water.. yuc!  It's the hot water I am missing most as luckily the weather has been kind to us and I do have a few crochet blankets I can wrap myself up in.
There has to be a third thing.....yep! The garage door came off its runners.......we manage to close the door with a little bit of brute strength, but carrying  my bike through the house it not ideal.  I have called the guy that fixed it back in February but he seems to be a bit busy at the moment so Mr. D and I spent an hour or so this morning fighting fixing the 'spring/wire thing' (thing is the technical term!).  So, my weeks have been busy getting quotes for all sorts of things which takes up a tremendous amount of my sewing time.

All I can say is that I have started a number of things (unlike me!) so I can give you a bit of a glimpse of some of them.

Sat under my blanket I started to make one of the laceweight yarn scarves,  I think these may be for Xmas gifts so there is no rush.

This yarn is hand dyed Angora, and beautiful

Then I saw some bargain yarn locally that I could not resist, so have started a baby blanket.  This yarn is so soft I am really pleased with it and as 200g was only £1.75 I can't really go wrong can I?  Not sure if there will be any left, but I bought it from here

Its the 'Attic 24' pattern

One of the ladies (A)  in the crochet group fancied making this, so I thought I had better have a practice run before she started.  The stitch is not too bad, but I did have trouble making the stitch that would denote the corner,  but after conquering that little problem I find that 'A' is going to make a round one...no problem with the corner then ....phew!

Not sure making baskets is my 'thing', but love the colour

For the next 'group meet' I found  this little critter.  I thought some of the ladies that are interested in making animals might just like the little snail as well. The pattern can be found here, there is an English version or your computer can translate for you (that 'Mr Google' is a star).  I  realised (after stuffing him with all wadding) that his house needs to be stuffed with plastic beads (or the like) otherwise he just falls flat on his face.  I think that is mentioned in the pattern, but I obviously didn't understand it or just chose to ignore it,  He is quite cute don't you think?

Cute 

I have been asked to help at our group in September and the theme for the day is Mini Quilts.  So looking around I found this and thought the ladies that like to hand sew might enjoy making a mini Dresden plate.  Phew!  I have gone off that idea pretty quickly.  I have not quite got all the points perfect and some of them are drastically one sided.  Not that I am a perfectionist, but thought it should be a bit better than this sample.  I will go back to the drawing board internet and have another search.  I do have one pattern that I think they may like but won't show you that just yet.

just the start

looking good so far

But those points are just not quite there

I have had a couple of evenings out walking and riding my bike.  The walks have been country walks and surprisingly informative, and the bike ride showed just how unfit I am  (again informative!).  Note to self.....get out on that bike more!

Northamptonshire countryside...beautiful

Beautiful sunsets

Tomorrow (Monday 27th April) will be a reveal of our 'Mini Mania' quilts, so with a bit of luck I will have something that is completed to show you next time.