The Little Village

The Little Village by Jessica Dayon is completed.

I have loved working on this design, and the pattern is free on her blog.

A lovely sunny day for a photo. 

 I managed to squeeze out enough of the green fabric, used in the quilt as corner stones, for the binding, which I did by machine.

This was such an interesting project with all the blocks within the houses being different.

Thanks to Janie for the the Long Arm Quilting.

February comes to an end

Well here we are at the end of February. The news is we are coming out of Lockdown, slowly but hopefully surely.

Schools are back open from March 8th and Caravan sites from April 12th.

It is a mad scramble to get a caravan site as all those, like us, with booking around Easter have to change their dates. Luckily we already have a booking for April, three days after our second vaccine.

During the month I have gradually been working on my Women of the Bible Quilt and reading their stories. I now have all the main blocks done and need to work on the ‘filler’ blocks. My design curtain is not big enough to hold all the blocks, this is going to be a BIG quilt.

I now have 13 Pinwheels, 16 x 4 patch and 21 Flying geese to make before I can start putting it together.

Under the pile of blocks on my table are the Barn and Elephant quilts back from the Long Arm Quilter and waiting for their bindings.

I managed to complete a pair of basic socks a couple of nights ago.

I use the same pattern so much I have laminated it!

Interesting how the wool makes the different patterns when knitted up.

I also treated myself, having tried to resist, to the Winwick Mum new Seasons book and wool.

When the parcel arrived there were two of the Winter Blue and no Spring green, but the shop are sending me the missing ball of yarn and told me to keep the duplicate. I may knit myself a new pair of mitts with the extra Winter blue. Matching socks and mitts, whatever next!!

I was keen to start another pair, my TV knitting to stop me falling asleep!

I prefer to use the square 2.5 DPN [double pointed needles]. If you’ve never tried square needles give them a go, they are so much easier on these old hands of mine.

Having tried small, medium and large circular and a number of different needles, I always come back to my comfort  DPNs.

The yarn is Summer Sunset Signature 4ply, made in Yorkshire by West Yorkshire Spinners. The label says Reared, Sheared and Spun in Britain.

A surprise visit

A few days ago we had a surprise visit from Abigail and Richard to show us her new car, a Fiat 500. She is so excited, so we donned masks and went to look at it. As she is still learning to drive, Richard took her for a lesson on a local fairly deserted road.

I am so pleased for her, even though the petrol garage though she was to young to pump her own petrol! Richard had to point out she is 17 years old and it’s her car!!

Yesterday my two quilts, the Barns and Elephants were returned from the Long arm Quilter, I am so pleased with them now need to get the bindings on.

Boris has decided we cannot use the caravan until April 12th, so had to cancel our March trip. We already have a booking in April which will be our first in the new ‘van.

January Sew Sampler and the new car

Yesterday was such a nice day, my car went for its MOT and passed OK. Chris followed me to bring me back home and something was wrong with his Range Rover. The next thing I saw he was outside with a wheel off it ! I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to get back to the garage to pick my car up! Like the good “ Mr Fix It “ he is, he managed to get it fixed in time to drop me off to collect my car.

2019 MOT year 7349 miles travelled. 2020 MOT year 1057 miles travelled... Covid has a lot to answer for!

The January Sew Sampler box was delivered [yes 2 boxes in one week!]

What a brilliant selection of goodies, plus some new things to try.

Best news of all, a phone call from Abigail in the evening to tell me she has her first car! A Fiat 500.

She is so excited and I am so pleased for her. Six months ago she started weekly driving lessons but due to Covid there have been many weeks the driving school were not allowed to teach, so the six lessons she has managed to get are well spread out. Hopefully with her own car and a parent beside her she will gain in confidence for when the driving school reopens.

December Sew Sampler Box

Due to no fault of their own the Fat Quarter shop were unable to post the December Sew Sampler Box until January 8th. I keenly followed the tracking until it arrived on the 18th January in Switzerland, it stayed there a couple of nights and was then on its way to the UK... it arrived this morning !! Twenty Eight days to get from Switzerland to England !  I had just about given up ever getting it.

Chris has been asked again to Shield until March 31st, even though he has had his first vaccine, so we were quite down as this looks like the much anticipated first trip in the new caravan will have to be cancelled. We will wait until the announcement due on Feb 22nd about lockdown etc. Before making a final decision.

The Sew Sampler box arrival has really lifted my spirits, and I love it.

Such a nice box of goodies. Love the fabrics, not sure about the pattern, but may give it a go.

Interesting Foundation paper pack, and a magnetic needle holder. Plus the two spools of thread to match the fabrics.

A Cross Stitch UFO completed

In the late 1980’s I was mad keen on cross stitch and completed many projects both small and large.

One of these projects, The Mighty Samurai, started in 1999 never did get finished.

I decided to take another look at it and realised the reason it never was completed was all the outlining and back stitching, both of which I hate doing.

Rather than let it live forever in the drawer I completed the fan, hands and feet and called it a day...

Mounted it on board attached a Command hook and it now hangs on my ‘Computer Wall’.

I love it, even without all the outlining.

 12 x 18 inches, pattern part of the Gold collection by Dimensions bought in France for 2838 French Francs.

Wonder what else is lurking waiting to be finished in my Embroidery drawer...

Coldest night

Man oh man was it cold last night! 

It’s the first time in a long while that the pond froze over, the only area not frozen was under the water cascade.

The icicles look really pretty this morning when I ventured out to feed the birds.

A few days ago, before the BIG freeze arrived, I managed to fill my new tubs with a straw base, potting compost and water retaining gels, ready for planting. 

All twelve of them ! They will go around the edge of part of the pond, where we get the most trouble from the local heron.

I sent for some seeds to cheaply fill them with plants / vegetables as I think it will be a long time before we are able to shop for plants and that’s a lot of pots to fill.

The first sign of better things to come

I adore daffodils, and add a bunch to my weekly grocery delivery.

Block 21 to 29 Women of the Bible

My MoJo has almost left me this past week, a bad attack of IBS has meant very little sewing or anything else has happened around here.

I managed to add to a few blocks of Women of the Bible quilt that I am making.

Top Row left to right

Priscilla, she and her husband met the Apostle Paul, Romans 16: 3-5

Mary Magdalene, she was the first witness of the resurrection of Christ, John 20: 14-16

Anna, a very aged widow who recognised the baby Jesus while she was praying in the temple. Luke 2: 38

Middle row left to right

Hannah, second wife of Elkanah prayed for a child as she was unable to conceive 1 Samuel 2: 1

Shiprah & Puah, were Egyptian midwives Exodus 1: 19

Crippled Woman: healed by Jesus on the Sabbath Luke 13: 12-13

Bottom row left to right

Tabitha, a good Jewish woman dedicated to making clothes for the poor  Acts, 9: 36

Delilah, cut off Samson’s hair. Judges 16: 15

Samaritan Woman, met by Jesus when he asked her for a drink of water. John4: 13-14

This is such an interesting project, reading the stories of these women and making the different blocks. I have eleven more blocks and then lots of ‘filler’ blocks to be able to put it together. 

Knitting and Sewcialites

I have been spending my evenings knitting a pair of socks, a UFO from last year!

I love hand knitted socks and the brighter the better !

I like to use a simple pattern, especially with the multi coloured wools.

They wash well in my washing machine and most of the time they are the only thing on feet, so get a lot of wear.

I am also playing catch up with my Sewcialites blocks as I seem to be three behind.

I am loving this project free from The Fat quarter shop, and each block I am trying to make in a different colour of Dimples Fabric.

My Leaders and Enders project with Bonnie of Quiltville is also growing, I probably have enough for a lap quilt already but the challenge ends in June, I think so I’ll keep making them.

Bailey Pageant arrived

Yesterday while watching the Church service on Zoom our new caravan arrived.

We had bought it having been given a tour on WhatsApp, so it was exciting to see it in real life.

If you had asked me a year ago if we would buy anything like this without actually physically seeing it I would have laughed.

The World is a different place now and everything from the smallest packet of bread yeast [ yes that also arrived through Amazon] to a caravan can be bought on line.  We are thrilled with the service and the caravan, just need lockdown to end so we can start enjoying it.

Another finish

This 1 inch hand sewn hexagon cloth was a nightmare to complete. I started by lining it, going in and out of the hexagon shapes to give it an interesting edge, just did not work, so made it into a circle, which I think looks OK and fits my garden table.  Just need some nice weather to be able to use it.