Just Sew "Bag Swap.".

Things are a little quiet about here on the blog front, I do not know where the time goes too.

If the weather is good Mr M and I can be found  in the garden  as large portion of fence has blown down and has had to be replaced. So many trips to the dump with all the vegetation that came down with it.

When the weather is not so nice, a little sewing has been done. I joined an on- line group called

Just Sew and joined in their Bag Swap.

It was really strange sewing something for someone you do not know. All I was given was the name and address of the person I had to send my bag to.

The bag had to be made using just two fabrics so this is what I made, for a lady called Janet who lives in Gretna.

As you know, I knit lots of socks and I find this bag very handy for carring my knitting about.

Rough idea of how it was made

Janet put up on Facebooks  Just Sew site that she loved it, so I am well pleased.

Now, I am waiting to receive my bag from whom I do not know..Ha Ha !..

The Frolic sewing group to which I belong have now finished the quilt, "The Battle of Sole Bay".. and it is going to the NEC in Birmingham in the group quilt category.

So keep your fingers crossed for us..

 Their were just 6 of us this time, and it was fun to make though a bit daunting at first..

Desperately trying to make some summer tops, before the summer is over, but I think I have made this one a little short for me.. So it will be my usual trick to lengthen it so watch this space.:0)

So I am leaving you with a couple of views from my back door..

Keep safe and keep stitching........................Doti...

Wilfred Rabbit..

Not a great deal accomplished since my last post. The garden is having it's tidy up as the spring blooms are almost over, and now the roses are beginning to bloom. I found a nice space for the the little garden bench, it is looking good against the yellow rose Canary Bird.

Though I used it as a prop for the finished baby quilt, for our very first Gt Grandchild.

 Also finished is a little cuddle blanket which took me longer to sew him up than it did to knit him.

Wilfred Rabbit..

Both have gone off to Devon to await the arrival.

The knitted cot blanket was not finished so could not be in the parcel, but at long last is getting there, one more round and then the boarder.

The only bit of sewing done is a few more rows on the triangle quilt, although they are not joined on as yet. Just another 13 rows to make. I have not made a large quilt in a long time and I keep thinking shall I make it smaller ? :0) Well watch this space...

I guess another row is on the cards now so ..

Keep safe and keep stitching....................Doti...

Fine weather..

The weather has been great, so readers of this blog will know where I have been. Yep, in the garden!

Now, you can guess what is coming next. Yep, it's peeing with rain today so I am back in the sewing room.

I had done my May blocks for ST2 before I decamped to the garden..Charlotte is the mama of the month for May, and as our daughter has moved in next door and is also a sewer, I got her to make up a couple of blocks too..
They are 1/4 log cabin blocks and rather fun to make. I am very interested to see how Charlotte puts them together..
Next job is to get them in the post to her.

Mine and my daughters blocks for Charlotte.

This is a newish quilt magazine and I liked the quilt on the cover of last months.

I was thinking, as I have rather a lot of taupes and blues in my stash, this might be the quilt for me.

Some triangles had also been cut out before the nice weather, so today I have started to put them together. All a bit scrappy at the moment but they are looking good.

More triangles to cut out as I need 390 taupes and 390 blues. This hopefully will make a dent in the stash. :0))

Now, I thought I should tell you what Mr M has been up too while I have been slaving away in the garden.

When we emptied the furniture out of our holiday cottage, we could not even give the two little single beds away, so they ended up in our wood pile.

Every time I passed them, I thought they looked too good to chop up for fire wood.

2 bed ends from one bed.

added sides.

Now a seat

So having trawled the internet, this is what we came up with. 

As yet unfinished, (rain has stopped play) and then a nice new coat of chalk paint and possibly a polished seat. I know a nice spot in the garden where I think it will look great.

Watch this space.:0)

Keep safe and keep stitching.........................Doti

A Privy for my Birthday...

Its my Birthday this week and here is my early Birthday present. It looks a lot like an old fashioned Privy, which is why I like it so much. Now, I can keep all my gardening things together. 

It came flat packed and Mr M put it together and believe it or not he was one screw short

(he is always one screw short).

 He has some repair work to do on my cold frames, then this little corner of the garden will be sorted.

The view out of the back door is changing as the narcissi are beginning to open.

Mr M does not like gardening but he is quite happy to do all the woodworking, and landscaping as and when we need it.

Every time the sun shines I am in the garden, so there has not been a lot of sewing done, though I did do some quilting on my Battle of Sole Bay Block.

Some rather large big stitch quilting in the sky and machine quilting on the sea.

The Sun is shining so you know where I am off too :0))

Keep safe and keep stitching.....................Doti...

Time to do some Quilting.

I thought it was time to do some quilting, when I heard it was only 3 months till our Gt Grandson is due to arrive. 

So I started on his quilt, (the fabric is called Guess how much I love you by Clothworks) and is really lovely. I took the idea for the pattern from Lynne Goldsworthy pattern Forest Friends.

The large squares are 8 1/2" as I wanted to show case the lovely bunnies. The photo does not do it justice but just the borders to add and then get it sandwiched and quilted.

A little more knitting was done, and of course it had to be socks.

They look so little next to a pair of normal socks. Fiddly but great fun to make.

A lot of gardening has been done over the weekend. I have been in and out like a yo-yo dodging the April showers.:0)

For those of you who follow my blog here is a view from the back door, not much colour there as yet, and yep the shed door needs a lick of paint..

Last time when I did a round up of the lovely quilts at our Bee, I left out this one of my friend Sandra's. It is machine appliquéd and she has quilted it beautifully, most of it by hand.

Well, the sun is out so it's off to the garden again, till it rains and then it will be cutting borders for the baby quilt..

Keep safe and keep stitching.......................Doti...

All things Knitting..

This week has been mostly knitting on the craft side, and on the sunny days spring cleaning and gardening. 

It is lovely to have had all the windows open and the bed quilts blowing on the line.

Sadly today, it's back to English weather, peeing with rain.

So the log burner is lit and we are snuggled in again, I really thought spring was on it's way.. 

 I have finished the third Hap, this really is a great pattern and so easy to knit. Pattern bought from Ravelry, its called "A Hap for Harriet" by Kate Davis Designs.

 Baby cardigan knitted for our soon to be great Grandchild, Just the seams to sew up, I am a sower for goodness sake so why oh! why do I hate sewing up knitted garments :0)

Loveknitting had this great yellow wool on sale, now who could resist that. Well, not me, so I am knitting myself this bright pair to cheer myself up. Yellow always does it for me..

It was not all knitting, I did manage to sew this block for Sally. She is the mama for April for ST2 group. It is a big old block 18"X14", ( I do prefer appliqué rather than pieced), so it was a learning curve for me.There is a pattern for this quilt over on sewfreshquilts http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/ 

called Dog Gone Cute..

I picked what I thought was the easiest, but believe me it was't..

On that note, going to sit by the the fire and get some knitting done..

Keep safe and keep stitching.........................Doti...

Another Week..

Another week, and again not much sewing done.All I have achieved is this tiny 2" X 2 1/2"

corner stone for the Frolic group quilt.

My interpretation of Charles 1st.

 So here is a round-up of what some of the girls were doing at the Bee this week.

Ann had put this jellyroll top together and I like the little 2 1/2" blocks splitting them up.

Quite a different look.

 Pippa was putting the binding on her baby quilt for a boy, (the pattern is called Fiona) and is very popular with the Bee group. I think all of us have made it at some time and everyones looks so different.

 Close up of Pippa's quilt.

Maggie was hand stitching around the pockets on this wall hanging for her Gt Granddaughter.

  

Jenny was putting the finishing touches to yet another garden chair cushion , I think her 6th.

Easter is now with us, and the ladies of our village have been decorating our church for tomorrow's Easter Sunday Service. I have been decorating the same window for the past 30 years.

 Every year we wonder if the daffodils will be out, and of course they always are..

On that note I wish everyone a lovely Easter..

Keep safe and keep stitching................Doti...

Not much Sewing done..

Not much sewing done indeed, but plenty of knitting.

Half way through I thought

"Why, oh why, did I choose 2ply yarn to make this shawl", but on reflection, now that it is finishes and  in the process of being blocked, I am quite pleased I did.

It was very difficult to photograph, as you can see, and seemed never ending while knitting. But it is finished and thats another thing off my to Do list..

Good things have happened this week.

On my blog list, you will find Patchwork Allsorts and Christine was having a give- a- way, and as I usually comment on her blog( she does such lovely work), I was thrilled when I won the Appliqué Art book which Christine was giving away..

 The author is Abigail Mill and a lot of her inspiration comes from Suffolk which was fun for me as you know we live in Suffolk.

Our last guests ever came to stay in our little cottage yesterday. They are friends and came with a lovely gift of Suffolk Black Bacon, Oh! My it was delicious we had it for breakfast.

Though it is a little sad that we will not be continuing to let out the cottage, we have met some lovely people over the last 17 years and we will miss that. 

 We will not miss changeover day when we morph into a couple of chars...

There will be more time for sewing and knitting and of course the Garden..

Stay safe and keep stitching...................Doti...

A Very Mixed Week..

After last weekend,(full of visitors). this week has been catch up time.

I intended to catch up with my Battle of the Sole Bay block at half term, but that was not to be, so I arrived at my frolic group on Friday with nothing more done.. But!!!! I have been a busy bee this weekend and now I have two boats done (not much of a battle) you might say and Yes, I do need to put in more boats, but it is getting there at last.

I have finished my Hap. A Hap is a Scottish word for a throw or wrap. They are used to wrap anything and anybody from babies upwards and come in all sizes.

I bought this pattern on Revelry and it's called "A hap for Harriet" and is designed by Kate Davis, who is in the process of writing a book on Shetland Haps..

My Hap modelled by Mr M.

A few more Appliqué blocks are now done, and I have to decide whether I am going to make them into a bag (which was my first intention), or carry on making blocks and make the quilt.They are such fun to make so watch this space :0)

Teresa is the mama of the month for March's blocks for Siblings Together 2 and I like to get them done as soon as possible in the month. She has however, put them up early, so thats another job jobbed for March..

Blocks for Teresa ST2

Now off to cast on a little Knitting and watch the footy game..

Keep safe and keep stitching.........................Doti...

Apliquick Rods

You might well ask Apliquick Rods ?

Well, they have been around for quite a while, but were oh! so expensive that I could not justify buying them.

They were however, on sale on the internet in January so that I thought I might treat myself.

 So, after watching countless videos on the internet, I decided to have a go.

 I tried a very simple block and Whoopee, I think I have got it... I tried straight edges as well as curves and Yep, I am well pleased.

So are they worth the cost, plus the glue stick and Appliqué papers, not sure, but definitely worth it if on Sale.. :0)

First Block attempted with Rods, papers and glue stick.

Also, I am a happy Bunny. Mr M and I are going to be Great Grand parents, our Granddaughter is going to have a baby this August.

So to start off, I have hopefully made a very useful pressie ( a Nappy bag). I love this fabric, it's called Guess how much I love you.

It has four large pockets on the outside, and plenty of room inside for the nappies.

Going to wait for the next scan before starting on a quilt. I have girly fabric as well as lovely fabric for a little boy..

Talking of Quilts, I have put the top together for the next Siblings Together Quilt and it is looking good. 

Next job is to make a quilt sandwich and get it quilted and bound.

But I want to try another block with those Apliquick Rods, and as the wood burner is alight in my sewing room and it is very cosy I think the Appliqué block might win.

Keep safe and keep stitching ....................Doti...