what? where? why?

If you used to read this blog back in the day, you might wonder what happened? Where did I go? Why did I not post here? Well, to be honest, nothing happened, I didn't go anywhere and I was posting on another blog that I'd started instead. There was nothing wrong with doing that but recently, I've been thinking a lot about this blog and wanted to come back to it. So I have.

I've just spent the whole morning reposting posts from that new blog on to this one - hence the new name on the photos. There's no point in looking for the other blog as I've set it to private so it'll not show up. No point in having 2 blogs that say the same thing!

Now I have to re-set my profile so it's this blog that shows up. I wonder if I can remember how that's done? Then I need to clean my sewing machine and get down and make something from my list of things I want to make. There's a lot on that list and sitting here just playing on blogger won't get any of that done.

So that's the what, where and why. Now I have to get on with the doing and posting on here again. My happy place. My blog. It's lovely to be back! I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes. It comes from Nora Roberts' book "Tears of the Moon" and was said by a father to a daughter.

taking a break

I am taking a break from blogging ... again. Everything is fine with me, I just can't seem to work up any enthusiasm for blogging these days. Whether I return any time - soon or otherwise - remains to be seen. In the meantime, take care of yourselves!

knickers etc

I thought, instead of another post showing how I'm getting on with the scrappy quilt - it's going really well! - I thought I'd just post some of the wee things I'm doing to try and make my days just a bit different. Please note - if the sight of underwear drawers upsets you, maybe you should click away and come back another time!

Don't say you haven't been warned! :oD

Whilst we're told to stay home, I'm trying to do small jobs that don't take more than maybe 15 or 20 minutes at a time - mostly so I don't get fed up with the job and leave it half done. I started with my aforementioned underwear drawer. It's never really untidy but I got it all straightened up - although I have to say, those 2 pairs of socks that aren't lined up are a bit annoying to me! Only sensible underwear in my underwear drawer - how boring! LOL

Then my PJs and nightie drawer. I'm hoping the nighties will come back into circulation soon. It's still too cold for them at the moment but, hopefully soon!

I then tidied all my Christmas jumpers into the one box - they had previously been in 2 places.

I then moved on to the bookcase of my favourite books. I took them all off, dusted then put them back in alphabetical order. Sad but true! Needless to say I read a few endings whilst I was doing this one! LOL

Next came the blanket box at the bottom of the bed which holds my aran cardies and some jumpers. As I was doing this one, I decided to wash some of the jumpers and cardies as it was a lovely drying day. They now smell that unique smell of things that have been dried outside. There's nothing quite like that smell!

This is a job that Douglas did for me. The slatted shelf was in this cupboard when we moved in but it was lying against the wall. We think the boiler must have been replaced at some point and the shelf taken down from its original place (you can see the wooden bits on the sides where it had been before). Douglas fitted some more wood to the walls and put it back up for me. It's already being used.

This was my 15 minute job this morning - to tidy my stud earrings. They're always fairly tidy but now they make some sort of sense - at least to me!

Lastly, we've been doing some jigsaws. We're deliberately only doing smallish ones - no 3000 piecers for me! If you look closely, you can see this one has some bird shapes in it.

So that's just some of the wee jobbies I've been doing this week - in between sewing, of course! :o)

where to start?

Well, here we are again. Thinking about giving this blogging malarkey another go. Why? Well, because I missed it! I missed being able to look up when something happened or when I made something. I know I can look all the photos up on the computer but it's not the same. I actually enjoy reading my blethers that go along with the makes - don't know if anybody else does but that's okay. I'll eventually post all the things I've made in the last 2 years in backdated posts. It might take a while as there are, not really surpringly, a LOT of photos!

In the meantime, what's been happening around these parts? Well, these parts have changed in that we moved house. The house we're in now is as close to our dream house as we can get. Not in a town. Not in the country. Big enough for me to have a sewing room that doesn't have to double up as a guest room. Big enough for Douglas to have a study/office where he does whatever he does in there. Safer not to ask! LOL

The garden is fairly big but not too hard to look after. The street we're in is quiet but there is also always some activity. We live close enough to big towns to be at the supermarket in under 10 minutes but there's a local shop & post office close enough to walk to - which we do often. Use it or lose it, as they say!

We got a wood-burning stove fitted last month and that just makes the house even more of our dream house. We've always wanted a fire and this one is just the bees knees! This was the day it was fitted - Douglas couldn't wait to get it lit and just sit by it. Of course, Tilly had to sit beside him!

We still need to redecorate that wall but all in good time.

The most important change is that our new granddaughter, Isla, made her debut last October. A wee sister for our Miss Emily and adored by all. She is now 4½ months old and watches everything Emily does.

You can see that she's desperate to be able to play with Emily. Won't be long!

Emily is nearly 3. Where has the time gone? She is such a clever wee thing. Her (lack of) hearing has not stopped her in the slightest. In fact, the speech and language lady who came to their house just to check how her development was coming on has signed Emily off as she is as good as, if not better than, hearing children her age. So proud!

She's a good help around the house for her mummy - although I'm not sure the Clangers appreciate her trying to iron them! Hahaha

The tartan bee is doing well. I sold so many Christmas stockings last year that I've already started sewing them so I might have a good stock by the time the buying of Christmas stockings restarts - in about August!! I've also recently designed and sewn some project bags which I am inordinately chuffed with. This is the one I finished this morning and just loaded into the shop.

We'll see how these go before I make more.

I'm going to stop there. There's so much more I could say but we'll go with this for now.

PS: Gosh, it took me a while to remember how to load in photos and make links open another window. I think I got it!

a thank you rose and a baby cardie

I didn't get nearly as much done last week as I'd hoped as I was struck down with a really bad cold. I basically sat or lay on the couch for 4 whole days feeling yucky. I'm on the mend now, thankfully. Crumbs I do hate being unwell.

I got a lovely parcel whilst I was feeling sorry for myself which made me feel a lot better! It was a box from interflora!

Inside the box was a lovely rose.

There was a card:

And on the card it said -

Oh my goodness. I was stunned! Gail - who I made the diary cover for shown in my last post - sent me a rose to thank me! How lovely! How kind! I only hope I can keep it alive!

The only crafty thing I managed last week was to finish off this wee cardigan.

I really was surprised at how far apart the colour changes were in this yarn. There was also no repeat of the colours so I couldn't start the second front in the same place as the first front. It's a bit weird but I don't think it's horrible. If Debbie doesn't like it, she can always make it a sleeping-only cardie. I do remember having a few sleeping-only cardies when my two were wee. You know, the ones that are just a wee bit strange for some reason or another.

I dug out my Hague linker to sew it up - much quicker than sewing it by hand.

This is the back of the cardigan. It looks like it was deliberate to have those dark pinks matching at the top of the back and sleeves - it wasn't. It's pure fluke!

Now for a laugh. I was standing making a cup of coffee in the utility room last week when I noticed this on the mug cupboard door.

It's a Christmas poem written by one of the girls when they were at Primary school. It - along with many others - gets stuck on the kitchen/utility room cupboard doors as part of our Christmas decor. Why is it still there? We use that mug cupboard every single day - at least 4 times a day. How did we not see it? How did Joanna not see it? It made me laugh so hard when I saw it. I wonder if there are any other Christmas decorations still in full sight? I wouldn't be at all surprised! :oD

this year

• This year I'm going to really try and not let what other people do bother me. Actually, it's more them *not* doing something that I get bothered about. Well, no more! I'm fed up expecting people to do what they should do and being hurt when they don't. I know that sounds like Double Dutch but I know what I'm talking about and writing it down will hopefully remind me to stop bothering.

• This year I'm going to be kinder to myself. I have voices in my head - not in the "she needs help" kind of way, honest! 😜 These voices will not let up with the "why are you doing that?" or "are you happy with that?" or "isn't that a waste of money?" questions which have always made me doubt myself. Well, no more! If I want to make something just for the hell of it, I'm going to do it and the voices in my head can just shut up because I am NOT going to be listening any more!

• This year I'm going to live by these words which I saw on a poster in the bookshop in Alnwick when we were there in 2015.

• This year I'm going to be living without my mobile phone. It died on me in December - and I didn't even notice! There's no shame to it as it's the second version of the iPhone so is very old - as mobiles go. Not quite the size of a car battery as Douglas's first mobile phone was but not far off it! Anyway, we had a look at new iPhones and, yeah, at £370, that's just not going to be happening any time soon. It would be different if I actually used my phone but I don't. Many times I've gone to switch it to silent when I go to Singers' rehearsal only to find it's still on silent from the week before. Woops! So no texting or phoning for me in 2017. And, you know what? I couldn't care less about that! There's a certain freedom there and I'm looking forward to it!

• This year, there are a few things we're looking forward - a new baby being the most important one. Debbie is keeping well - just over 7 weeks to go now. I'll keep you updated!

• This year is going to be a good year. Bring it on!

berries, juice, a bag and a quilt

My camera has, yet again, come to my rescue reminding me of what I've been doing recently.

First of all, I got some strawberries for jam-making. I didn't make any jam - I just cleaned the berries, bagged them and put them in the freezer.

I used a couple of oranges to make some of Auntie Mary's orange juice - recipe is here.

Douglas and I finished a jigsaw.

I really enjoy doing jigsaws and we finally managed to find a table that we could leave the jigsaw out on all the time - much easier to finish the jigsaw if you can fit in a few pieces every time you pass the table.

This is the bag that made me think I could sell this type. Nothing more has been done on that front yet as I've been busy with a baby quilt this week - see later in this post for that.

I made (yet another) New Look 6344 top. This time the remnant only cost me £3 but it wasn't big enough to get sleeves out of it. I'm just as happy with the sleeveless version it's already been worn and is just as comfy as all the other versions I've made.

I sold another baby quilt - yay! The buyer asked me to send it directly to the new baby's parents with a note inside telling them who it was from. I used one of Debbie's drawings printed on a card for the note. Isn't that wee elephant adorable?

And finally, this is the baby quilt I've been working on this week to replace the one I sold. Strips of coloured fabrics and strips of white.

This is how it looked this morning with the strips all joined together …

Pinned and ready for quilting …

Quilted and ready for the binding … I *love* the bright green fleece on the back.

I hope to get the binding sewn on over the weekend and then get it photographed and loaded into the tartan bee.

It looks like I've been really busy but that's 2 weeks' worth of photos! In fact, if you peer at the strawberries in the first photo, you can see the sell-by date on them is the 16th of July. I would have bought them on the 12th of July - well over 2 weeks ago. Crumbs - time really does fly when you're having fun!

ten things

1. Today the weather … started with HUGE thunder storms with lots of lightning and VERY loud thunder. Then, in the afternoon, it dried up and Douglas got the grass cut!

2. I am wearing … at the moment, I'm in what I call my comfy trousers and a polo shirt. During the day I actually wore a dress and I loved it. I need to wear dresses more often - they're very comfy in the sticky heat!

3. I am listening to … Aled Jones' CD "One Voice".

It's Aled (the adult) singing with recordings of himself when he was a boy. I bought it last week and have been playing it repeatedly ever since.

4. In the kitchen … I've been making Mars Bar cakes. So easy and so good. The recipe is here. (Scroll down)

5. I am feeling … too warm. It's almost worse than feeling cold. At least, when you feel cold, you can add more clothes or blankies or quilts. When you're warm, you can only take off so many things before you embarrass yourself - and all those around you too! :oD

6. I am going … to the supermarket in the morning. Not my favourite place to go but I'm thinking of looking at the duvet covers to see if I can pick up any bargains.

7. In the sewing room … I'm planning to make some bags like the one I made myself -

- to sell in the tartan bee. I've got the denim and plenty of lining fabrics - just waiting for some cover buttons to come in the post and I should be ready to sew.

8. In the garden … our raspberries are ripening beautifully. We had some with ice cream tonight - oh so good!

9. I am reading … a book on my Kindle called "Pariah" by Catherine Gayle. It's the second book of a series of three. I enjoyed the first one ("Wallflower") so am hoping that this one is good too.

10. A quote to live by … Don't criticise others until you've walked a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticise them, you're a mile away … and you have their shoes!!

pink jacket, cinnamon buns and more

This week I've had a bit of a sore throat along with a chesty cough (still got the cough - yuck!) so I haven't done as much as I wanted to do. However, I did get the pink jacket made.

It's another incarnation of Butterick 5616 - previous versions are here, here, here and here.

This next photo is more like the actual colour.

This morning we had some cinnamon buns for breakfast. I didn't make said buns - I bought them in the fridges aisle of the supermarket. Mmmm, I see they're called Cinnamon Swirls. Oh well, they're cinnamon buns to me! ;o)

We've had these before done in the oven - as you're meant to - but, this morning, we cooked them in the waffle maker. Success! They only took about 3 minutes in there as opposed to 11 to 14 minutes in the oven (which has to be preheated) so much, much quicker.

They were crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside but the best bit - there's plenty of room for the icing to sit in the holes! Delish!

Joanna and I took a trip along the coast to the patchwork shop and, needless to say, I got some scrap bag bargains ...

... and some fat quarter bargains and a sale piece of fabric. No plans for any of this except to add it all to the stash.

This afternoon, I cut out some more pinnies -

and some bags for the tartan bee.

I need to get some fabrics for linings for the bags but I'm thinking I'll just get a sheet or two from Asda's as they usually have some nice colours in there. Well, they're nice for bag linings, I'm not sure I'd want lime green sheets on my bed but I'm sure some people do!

Now a couple of random photos. Our first strawberries of the season - much better than any in the shops!

And this is what happens to a plate that says "microwave safe" on the bottom of it when you put it in the microwave.

Thankfully, my baked potato survived!

awarded!

I've been nominated by my blogging friend Jo from throughthekeyhole for the Liebster blog award. Thanks, Jo!

The "rules" are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to his/her blog. ✔︎
2. Copy and paste the Liebster Award badge to your post. ✔︎
3. Answer the ten questions you've been asked. (✔︎ see below)
4. Create ten new questions for the bloggers you are nominating. (✔︎ see below)
5. Notify the bloggers that you have nominated. (see below)

1. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
We went to see the newest Star Wars film. I was a bit worried about it as I didn't like the second batch of Star Wars films (the ones that supposedly told the story before the original films) but it was great!

2. Where would be your ideal place to live, town, country or coast?
We live in a town on the east coast of Scotland so that's 2 out of the three! We've also lived bang in the middle of the country and it had its moments! Being cut off for 2 full days due to snow (no electricity/heating) wasn't much fun, let me tell you!

3. Do you have any pets?
Not of our own. We look after Joanna's dog, Tilly, when she's at work and, at the moment, that's enough.

4. What is your favourite area of the UK?
Scotland. I am, of course, slightly biased, but, in my humble opinion, you just can't beat it!

5. What song annoys you?
"Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. I was teaching when it came out and, regularly would walk down the school corridors at the change of classes only to hear "We don't need no education" being sung by the masses. I did try to tell my classes that the very fact that they were saying those words meant that they did indeed need an education but the double-negative explanation fell on deaf ears - or stupid ears - or both. Now, even after all the years between, I HATE that song!

6. What three things would you take to a desert island?
Sun-tan lotion, a whole library of books and Douglas.

7. If you were given a million pounds, what would you spend it on?
A big house with a huge kitchen, lots of rooms for hobbies and a garden.

8. What would be your last meal?
Roast chicken, roast potatoes, oatmeal stuffing, carrots and gravy followed by cheesecake for pudding.

9. Have you ever met anyone famous?
Douglas and I met Paul Laidlaw who appears on "Bargain Hunt" and "Flog It" and some other antiques programmes on the BBC. He is such a lovely man - and fascinating to talk to!

10. What's your favourite take away?
I don't remember when we last had a take-away! If I had to choose, it'd probably be your bog-standard fish and chips.

Now, I know I'm supposed to nominate people for this award and tell them I've nominated them but I don't do that. So, what I'm going to say is, here are 10 questions. If you feel the urge to answer them, go for it. If you don't, that's fine too!

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
2. When you go somewhere are you early, on time or late?
3. Do you listen to music in your car?
4. Are you left- or right-handed?
5. What colour are your eyes?
6. What shoe size are you?
7. Have you ever had an imaginary friend?
8. Do you play a musical instrument?
9. What's your current desktop picture on your computer?
10. What's your favourite Disney movie?

Thanks again for nominating me, Jo. It was fun to answer your questions - and hard to think of 10 to ask!

2 weeks?

Really? It's been 2 weeks since I blethered on here? Wow! Time really does fly when you're having "fun"! Let me show you some of the "fun" I've been having in the last 2 weeks.

First of all, I tidied the freezers. Threw out some things that were better out than in ...

... and made lists of what's in there so, hopefully, there won't be any more "what the heck is this?" kind of things happening! (No guarantees on that if labels fall off! LOL)

Next I made a jacket to wear to the Singers' concert which took place last night.

I am trying to block from my mind the number of attempts at making this jacket and how many were abandoned/ripped down because they were ugly/far too big/etc. etc. This one, although it doesn't look that great on Diana the dummy, looks fine in real life on me. Phew!

I saw on Pinterest - where else? - that people cooked all sorts of things in their waffle maker so we had a bash at it too. First of all I cooked bacon - no pic of that - and then fried some eggs.

They were delish - a bit difficult to get out of the waffle maker in one piece but that wasn't too important! Just a note if you want to try doing the same - you cook the bacon with the lid closed but you leave it up to cook the eggs. Great fun!

We had about 2½ days of warm sunshine last week so Tilly and I sat outside for a wee while. I have no idea why she's sniffing my trouser leg! :oD

I sold one of my baby quilts from my Etsy shop - yay!! - so I wanted to make another one. This time I went with my sudoku quilt pattern - 9 colours, no 2 the same in the 9-patch or hoizontal/vertical rows. Using a completed sudoku puzzle is a great way of not having to decide what goes where. Here are some photos of the process:

And the finished quilt top just waiting for me to put in on to a fleece backing:

The most exciting thing that's happened is something I bought for myself. I thought long and hard about getting one of these - I'm talking at least 20 years! - then, last week, I saw that an online seller had dropped the price by £200. I jumped at it - £200 off was far too good to turn down!

What did I get? An embroidery machine! This is it as it came out of its box.

Within 20 minutes of it arriving, I had it set up and embroidering.

These are just a few of the designs I've done so far.

It's quite a learning curve I'm on at the moment but, boy, is it fun! Whoever said "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" was wrong! This old dog (!!) is learning a lot of new things - and having a lot of fun in the process too! :o)