Wednesday 30 May 2012

A lanyard and some little irises.

I saw these lovely lanyards over at Crazy Mom Quilts and thought how lovely they looked compared to a horrible dirty white one I had for work.

So I made this from my basket of scraps..

Lanyard

I love small projects that use up little bits that I couldn't bear to throw away.

Lanyard

And these little irises have come out.

Iris


They have been in for at least a couple of years and this is the first time they have flowered.


Lanyard by the irises

Sunday 27 May 2012

Alterations

I hate alterations.
The laborious unpicking of seams that have already been finished off securely is one of my least favourite things, but this week my thrifty (some would say scottish!) genes took over.

First it was the blouse.
It was far better than the first attempt but nevertheless has remained in the wardrobe. Not helped by my daughter who said that it looked like a uniform (and she was right).
So after a little unpicking and a bit of bias binding I think it may be wearable.

Blouse back

Then there were the school trousers.
He wanted long shorts.
I found a pair of longs that were scuffed around the bottom (well that's most of them really) and chopped them off.

School trousers- from long to long shorts


Then I used the bit I'd chopped off to fashion a pocket..

Making the pocket

And ta da..

School shorts

And they must be OK since he has worn them all week.
 
While all this making was going on inside, outside in the fields around us they have been busy, cutting the grass and making haylage.

I love watching the process.

Rows of cut grass


Making Haylage


Grass is cut
And finally, a little lavender house with the end of the lavender from last year as the new lavender grows.

A swap for some ornamental grass.

Lavender house

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Inspired by last year.

Liberated baskets from book by Gwen Marston called Liberated Quiltmaking II

I found the quilt festival for the first time last year
 and spent lots of time browsing and thinking about what I would do next.
It was this quilt by Jolene at Blue Elephant Stitches that really caught my eye.
 I asked for Gwen Marston's book, Liberated Quiltmaking II, for christmas and on the 30th December, the house empty of visitors, I crept up to my little room in the roof and off I went.

First two baskets


By the 31st December there were 7 baskets and I was addicted.
 They were the perfect size to be able to snatch 5 minutes and achieve another basket.

Liberated baskets- from Gwn Marston's book 'Liberated Quiltmaking II'


By January the 4th there were 15.
I used recycled shirts as the backgrounds and scraps that I had for the baskets.

Liberated baskets- from book Liberated Quiltmaking II by Gwen Marston

Then I went back to the book to look at possible borders and decided on having a go at liberated squares.


Liberated baskets and squares so far.

By january the 30th the quilt was finished but as is often the case I had to wait for a sunny day before being able to do it justice in a photo and so just gave a sneaky peek.

Liberated baskets finished but I need some light to get a good picture

Only  24 hours later the sun came out.

Liberated baskets from book by Gwen Marston called Liberated Quiltmaking II


The quilt is now on the wall of our house and I hope that my entry this year may inspire someone else to have a go just like Jolene's did last year for me.

 
Amy's Creative Side

Monday 21 May 2012

Trying out the new camera.

My favourite rose- I wish you could smell it !


I spoke about this rose last year so I have just realised that Textiletally is over a year old!
It is very pretty but more impressively smells gorgeous.
I wish I knew what it is called.

Ferns unfurling

The ferns are all unfurling in the wood.
I love it when they do that.

Bluebells are out

The bluebells are out and my knew camera takes great pictures close up.
 (Thanks to a certain person who showed me what the little flower picture is all about!!)


A brilliant sweet shop in Polperro

This was a sweet shop window in Polperro at the weekend.
We just had to go in.

Ready to row

And these were being prepared for action in the regatta.

Hope you had a good weekend too.

Thursday 17 May 2012

From seed

Honesty in the hedge


I admired this little patch of honesty in a hedge near us last year and decided to empty a couple of seed heads onto a patch of gravel.
This is what has grown..

.
Honesty in the garden

I like growing what works and am not one for battling against nature.

There is a gorgeous field of barley near us at the moment and it is such fun to walk through, following the tractor tracks.

Barley field

A barley maze.

Barley

Friday 11 May 2012

Bunting and blossom.

Bunting in the breeze

I have been making a bit of bunting for a present and finally the sun has come out again so I can show you the lovely apple blossom.

bunting
 
I used a mixture of recycled fabrics and new. Luckily I have a good supply of pink shirts (mentioning no names!), and they are perfect for this.
Above we have 5 shirts, 2 pillow cases and 5 new/stash fabrics.

Bunting and bluebells

The bluebells are lovely here at the moment.

curtain material

I bought this fabric today to make a curtain.
I was outside taking photos and happened to plonk the bunting down on the curtain fabric..

Curtain material and bunting

it all matched in remarkably well.
Funny how that happens.

Have a good weekend.

Saturday 5 May 2012

A case for my sunglasses

I got some new sunglasses last week and decided it was time to use a few nellies.
I have made a number of glasses cases over the years but the one I keep coming back to is an old favourite that lives in my car door. It doesn't look as neat as some of the others but it works and doesn't mind being chucked around.
I decided to try another one along similar lines.
I cut three rectangles roughly twice the size of the finished case (plus a bit to spare!).
I used the elephant fabric and a scrap of linen, a layer of wadding, and an inner layer of a recycled fleece jumper.
The three layers were quilted together..

In progress

trimmed down and the top edge bound ..

 In progress

Then I folded it in half and sewed up the side and bottom (wrong sides together).

In progress

Sorry about the thumb but I tried to add it to the coleslaw earlier in the week!!
Finally I trimmed the seams and  bound the two unfinished edges with some scraps (cut into 1.5" strips sewn together).

In progress

I added a popper in the top.

Glasses case in the daisies

The helianthemum is out.

A corner and some helianthemums

Happy weekend.