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..

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

And these little irises have come out.

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

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.

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.

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

And ta da..

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.

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.

Inspired by last year.

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.

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.

By January the 4th there were 15.

I used recycled shirts as the backgrounds and scraps that I had for the baskets.

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

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.

Only  24 hours later the sun came out.

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.