The sun has returned!

Hello lovely ladies, thank you for popping in, it's so nice to see the sunshine again, today is so beautiful outside and warm. I've put the two Eiderdowns that live in my summer house over to the garden swing so they can share in the sunshine and be refreshed.

I wanted to show you the beautiful flowers my eldest grandson Mark and partner Sarah sent me with a get well card that had beautiful verses in. He's a very quiet, keep your emotions to yourself person which made it all the more special.

Aren't they just darling, I was totally blown away by the blue ones, I'm not good at taking photos so can't share the intricate petal details these have.
I've been really tired today and in quite a lot of pain the nurse told me I could remove the delightfully classy surgical stockings, they were doing more harm than good. Such a relief to get them off but they are necessary to stop DVT after surgery. I take aspirin daily so that will help and as long as I take regular walks around the house it should be ok.

Mr B has been very productive over the past 2 weeks stocking the freezer with meals, pies, chillies, currys, baking etc. It will mean when he goes back to work tomorrow it will just mean getting his evening meal from the freezer to thaw. He's been absolutely brilliant, I told him he'll go back to work for a rest! lol.
I've been catching up on blogs and watching youtube quilting videos, I've discovered new blogs, well new to me, I saw a tutorial on one for making a 16 block of squares, cut it diagonally, put it back together and you have great triangle blocks, going to try that one as soon as I can.
I managed to crochet a few more blocks last night and managed a necessary rest, it's surprising what you can do when politicians are on the box lol.
I love baskets and a few years ago I found this lovely picnic basket on our local flea market, it's lined so without replacing the inner fabric it couldn't be washed so I gave it a maximum spray of good quality flea spray, just in case. It lives in the sun room with it's lid firmly closed because if Nemo saw what's inside he would have a field day!

 
The last time I left a basket open he very kindly measured the amount of wool I had by wrapping several balls around furniture, the stair posts etc.

Now this little man is our grand-dog Teddy Edward he was adopted from our rescue by my eldest son and family after coming in as a stray at approximately 12-14wks old. At a show he recently won the category of Best Rescue Dog and came first in the Dog the judges would most like to take home. He's the most delightful little man who loves everyone and enjoys meeting people big and small. He loves his family there's nothing negative you could say about the Tedster and best of all he loves cuddles.

I totally love my Accuquilt Go cutter and had some brought downstairs so I could do some cutting recently these are a few of the dies I have collected. They're not cheap but are a life saver for me because I'm not having to hurt my hands using my rotary cutter. It easily slices through fabric.

The one thing I would love them to put out is a 10" finished square die it would be invaluable, it took me quite some time to hand cut my way to getting these sorted. I just need to decide how I'm going to make the blocks up.

This month has been significant in more ways than one, the most momentous was it was the month our youngest grandson Jacob, started senior school. He's our youngest sons youngest son.
He's 12 in December and growing so fast, here is the photo his Dad sent me the morning of his first day.

Doesn't it just make you want to cry, he looks so grown up it doesn't seem long since we were waiting for his birth. He looks so much like his Daddy and Mr B when he was young except Mr B had curly hair.

This gorgeous young lady is our youngest granddaughter Molly on her prom night. She is such a lovely girl in looks and character, she's 17 in December the day after Jacob and is attending college in Sheffield for baking. She makes the most amazing cakes. Her exam results were amazing and reflected the hard work she put into them. Molly is our eldest sons youngest daughter.

I think that's it for today I'm off to study the insides of my eyelids for while ;O)

Take care and I wish you all a great week ahead in whatever it has in store for you,

hugs
Peg xx

Gosh what a change in the weather and a catch up

I went into hospital on Friday wearing a sleeveless cotton top and cotton summer skirt, the sun was shining it was warm and all's well with the world. When I went on to the ward after my op the sound of torrential rain met my ears. This part of the hospital backs onto vast, beautiful open countryside plus the inevitable golf course but visibility was down to a few yards. The rain didn't stop until Saturday morning and then it was dark and overcast. What's happened to the wonderful summer days we've enjoyed, I suppose it had to end sometime.
I was more than happy to be home hospital isn't my favourite place.

A while ago whilst at our bolt hole I started a new quilt, I'd cut and sewn the blocks a few months before.



When I laid them out together I decided I'd cut them again and sew into different patterns so this is what I had after the cut and sew.


Rather than sash the blocks I decided to sew them together and introduce borders.
I managed to get a pretty decent photo in the sun room, I've added borders and there's just one more border to add before sandwiching and quilting. I don't know if it shows up but the first border around the blocks is a beautiful cream with tiny deep pink dots. The fabric is so soft, I'll be working on this again when I've got the go ahead from the hospital.



I've not been slacking on the crochet front, I've been enjoying youtube tutorials, blog tutorials on both crochet and quilting, here are a few of the items I've been working on.
My large Granny sq blanket is coming along nicely I've just started the soft sage green row. The colours are more vibrant than my pictures show.



A cushion front made up of granny sq's, needs blocking.



A few blocks for another pink and white blanket



A variety of blocks recently made including Maybelle flower, hexies and 2 hearts, tutorials hereAnnette's blog



Also in thie middle is the start of another cushion front.
Finally 2 of my knitted dish clothes, I loved working with this cotton its so soft. I managed to get some balls in different colours but they're at the van so I can't use them until I'm able to go back.



Purchase wise a set of 15 x 10" sq's in gorgeous ditsy prints and a 2" strip jelly roll from a lovely seller on ebay.


I've always wanted to have a go and use flying geese in a quilt so bought this from Creative Grids, fast service every time.


Not being able to do much over the weekend I've thoroughly enjoyed myself catching up with my blog list. My goodness its been a pleasure beautiful items being created, I haven't fully caught up yet on them all.
I get side tracked, I read a catch up, go to post a comment then pop over to the blogs of a couple or so of fellow comment leavers. There are some fabulously talented people out there in blog land.

Take care and thank you for visiting

Peg xx

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Just a few things...warning photo heavy post

I haven't been idly sitting around not bothering with posting there have been some changes in my life that has knocked me for six as we British say.

However I have managed over the past few weeks to be creative with my quilting and crochet efforts. Due to ill health although I'm still a director of our rescue I will not be responsible for any day to day running of the rescue. One of the other directors and 4 staff members are now running it and I know it is in very capable hands. These ladies are dedicated to working to make our rescue what it should be, now we know for certain that ALL funds coming into the rescue are used for the dogs care, vet bills are being caught up with. They're working hard to raise funds, organise having stalls at fund raising events and auctions. I trust them all completely and know all dogs coming into the rescue's care will be well looked after whilst waiting for his/her new home.
My contribution will be making items for sale and auction whenever I can, I recently made the following which has now been posted off to be auctioned or sold. All proceeds will go to the rescue.

My Lush Greenery quilt, named because of the line of fabric used, I pieced to my own design and quilted it with Stitch in the ditch stitching. It is the first time I've done this and enjoyed it so much. It's backed with a lime green cotton and the batting is Homespun anti allergy.

The quilt started with a jelly roll called Lush Greenery, strips sewn together with a white 2.5" strip in the middle.

Add a plain green border, a rosebud border and delightful dark pink spot on cream binding, wash and air dry on a beautiful sunny day.

I also made 2 throw cushions to match backed with the same fabric as the quilt binding.

These are the two crochet blankets I crocheted to help raise funds for the rescue.

My first crochet blanket I called this one Pastel with a hint of Bold crocheted from various colours of wool.

My second one which I called Fizz bomb, it is crocheted from the same variegated wool throughout and goes from white through to the deepest strawberry fizz.

On the subject of crochet I have also learnt how to do the Maybelle crochet flower square. You'll find the pattern on Annette's delightful blog here her instructions are very easy to follow, she has given the pattern for the flower and the instructions to make it into a square plus her blog is a pleasure to visit.

Also on the crochet front I have been making chunky baskets, I found the patterns on Liz's blog she makes the most lovely items. This image is of LIZ'S gorgeous large chunky basket. If you look on the sidebar on the right of the page you will see the links to the pattern. Very easy to follow instructions, I am hoping to do one in similar colours because I think it's so striking. Mine are the ones which follow, I do have 2 others that I've made but they're at our bolt hole I'll show those later.

Liz's basket

These are my baskets, this is the smallest one

The larger basket, as you can see they're not small, the balls of wool in mine are 2 x 100gm balls, a 200gram ball and 2  x 50gram balls. The hook you can see poking out is a size 8 hook with a twisted pink/pale blue handle purchased from ebay.

I really enjoyed crocheting them. Please pop on over to Liz's blog it's a delight to visit.

.Tomorrow I'll share my next quilt project, I have photos but not of the stage it's at now, plus I imagine you're fed up of photos by now :o).

Take good care of you, thank you for visiting, 

hugs Peg xx