I am back.....

It has been ages and I don't really know why! But part of the reason is that instead of using my trusty but slow computer I have been using a 'tablet,' which I really like, but the photos taken on it (really nice quality) will not upload onto my blog which is a pain! So for blogging it is back to the computer.

I have not been idle whilst I have been absent from blogging, I have been busily beavering away at this and that, a bit of decorating in the bedroom, some dressmaking, plenty of knitting and sewing and latterly working very hard in the garden and allotment!

'Cos I am bit of a technophobe I still haven't worked out how to upload ( or is it download?) the pics taken of my makes on the tablet, but here are a couple of things I have made recently...

We are going on holiday shortly and I made these cute shoe bags out of fabric I already had and just to make them more interesting I appliqued them with scraps of felt, on the pink bag is a dog rose and leaf!

a close up of the pattern on the collar

I love this 50s style jumper and it looks so nice on, it is knitted in a yarn called Amalfi which is a mix of cotton, linen, silk and viscose. It knits up beautifully and feels luxuriously silky. Because the weather has been rubbish there hasn't been much opportunity to wear it but once the sun stays out for more than 5 minutes I will quickly put it on with some very nice blue tapered trousers I got from Monsoon.

Wot a week...

Yes, what a week it has been and it's all down to lamb bones! A kindly friend gave our Missy a couple of lamb bones, a real treat for her as being veggies she doesn't get much in the way of bones! (us being the veggies not the dog!) However, lamb bone shards are very sharp and unfortunately two bits of bone lodged in her colon. Disaster! So it was off to the vets and then off to the doggy hospital 16 miles away, one big op and £2500 later said shards were no more. It has been an anxious time for us and a very painful one for Missy but now she seems to be on the mend and at long last has started to eat something, mind you I have to use the cats to tempt her to eat...now that has come out the wrong way! no I don't mean the dog eating the cats, what I mean is... if I put food down for her and any of the cats come near she is terrified they are going to eat it and although she doesn't want it she is damned sure the cats aren't going to have it!
With all the tooing and froing not a lot of knitting and sewing has been going on, but I have managed to finish the Mothers Day gift I was making for my mum, a lined knitted peg bag. I used Debbie Bliss organic DK in a pretty rose colour and lined it with some pretty rose cotton fabric I had left over from a dress I made in the summer.

I have also been working on the blue and white quilt and for the first time I have used a hoop

Although I have had the hoop for a couple of years I hadn't used it until now (sounds silly but I think I was scared of the blooming thing!), but the nature of the pattern for the hand stitching leant itself to the hoop and on this quilt for sure it has made it easier to stitch.

I used a template for the pattern, which is on every square, and the overall effect is really quite pretty. I have quilted with blue embroidery thread (coton a broder) about two thirds of the squares and once that is done it will be the borders next and I plan to quilt those diagonally.

Winter wonderland

Winter is definitely here and it looks lovely (so long as you don't have to go to work in it!). We wrapped ourselves up this morning and Chuck, myself and Missy took ourselves out for a long walk in the fields by our house.

 Missy loves the snow, she loves to roll over and over in it! It was a lovely walk but tiring to walk uphill in the snow. On the way back the wind was in our faces and the snow was stinging my eyes making them water like mad,but ll in all we must have burnt a few calories! Our lane always looks gorgeous in the snow with the snow settled in the trees, and again in the spring with the blossom.

You can't see the snow on the trees in this pic as I have taken it looking up the lane rather than towards the fields, as I was about to take a pic in the opposite direction, a friend passed by in his car and as always one for a natter, we  proceeded to discuss the vagaries of the weather and  I completely forgot to take my award winning pic of the lane.
During the week I managed to finish off a couple of pairs of mittens for my Etsy shop

and with some pretty fabric I bought online from Sew La La ( if you love vintage style fabrics you will love this shop!) I made this pretty bag to hold my knitting.

I am still working on my blue and white quilt which is coming along nicely but slowly as it is a bit more complex than usual, and I have just ordered 26 balls of cashmerino silk double knit for a lacy blanket I intend to knit as a long term project, 2 balls of lacy yarn for a shawl for me and 2 balls of double knit for a lovely cable peg bag which will be lined with a pretty fabric, as a Mother's day gift, phew!