some sowing and sewing...

It's been a lovely warm sunny day today and what a difference that makes! I got my wellies on and got outside and did some jolly old digging and sowing! Managed to sow lettuce, carrots and spring onions and am already impatient to see them growing. It was a very satisfying day yesterday too, as the weather was so dull I decided to spend most of it in the warm, indoors. I finished making a cushion cover for Sophie.

Isn't the fabric gorgeous? Sophie chose it from on line shop Fabric Rehab which has a fab selection of  retro fabrics, this one is called Critter Community, Trees and Owls. This is the reverse of what is a huge cushion and from 1.5 metres of the material, I  managed to get this cover measuring 65cm square and a smaller one of 36cm.

I also finally got round to cutting out the rest of the patches for Rosie's quilt

a total of 56 squares, 6 squares wide by 9 squares long.

Now I can get on with piecing them together and then I will machine stitch them together but will quilt it by hand as my machine isn't suitable for large quilts.
 I have loads of odd and ends of fabric used for previous projects so I am cutting them into strips of 5cm wide and varying lengths, stitching them together and eventually I will cut them into equal lengths to make a patchwork quilt.

Watch this space for progress!

Love is in the air!

If spring is not here yet it is blooming well on it's way! From my window I watch the frisky bunnies with their little white tails bobbing up and down as they chase each other round and round, they look so sweet! And on the other side of the field is Mr ' I am a very handsome' pheasant, equally frisky, busily trying to persuade two pretty little pea hens that he is the one for them! I guess they aren't having any of it because they keep running away! Such is love!
Talking of love, I am not very popular with Louis, Spike and Tiff the three Melmore feline cuties. Yesterday was the day for the flea spot treatment ( all cat lovers will know what this entails and is a moment to to be dreaded).Tiff was easy to do as she is now quite elderly and a bit on the pudgy side so she can't be bothered to make a fuss, but the other two, what a nightmare, you would think I was trying to kill them! Special tactics have to be employed. A towel is surreptitiously picked up, I walk towards them looking the other way and then I pounce. Gotchya! Legs everywhere, quick tuck them in, oh no I have been scratched, never mind on with the task. Holding him with one hand (while he is doing his hardest to get out) and with the other doing the dirty deed on the back of the neck! Now for the other one, who not being stupid has shot away in the opposite direction, ah well do him later when he leasts expects it!

I am steaming ahead, (well not quite steaming) with knitting the aran cable sweater. The cable and bobbles are really easy to do and I can cope with knitting this and watching the telly!

I love browsing around the charity shops and the other day I managed to pick up this lovely Wade vase.

 You never know what might catch  your eye and I was really pleased to spot this, it has a little green framework in which to insert the flower stems. It will look so pretty with dainty little flowers like sweet peas arranged in it.

getting crafty with red and white gingham

Woke up to blue skies and sunshine and let's not forget the hard frost! So it was off to the allotment shop to stock up on supplies and then  to the allotment with dog and hubby in tow! Hubby to be the fixer of all things needed on the allotment that is not to do with the actual growing of green stuff and Missy to bark and whine at any cats she might see (even though she lives with three cats!) Me...I did some digging! Lovely though the day was it was perishing cold especially when the sun went down.
From growing stuff to putting it on the table, I have been looking for a round table cloth for ages now and eventually bought a red and white gingham one which ticked the boxes, but the new problem was none of my place mats suited it. Problem solved! I had some suitable fabric in my stash to make a couple of place mats. Managed to find a place mat to use as a template and then out with the scissors cuting out two pieces of gingham and  one piece out of some wadding.

I then  stitched all the pieces together with the wadding on top, leaving an opening at one end, then turned it inside out through the opening and closed the opening with some slip stitches.

Finally I marked out diagonal lines and using embroidery thread quilted all three layers with a running stitch....voila

Perfect for the table!