birthdays

May is the month of birthdays - for Jo and myself. For Jo's we went out for snack where I had a monster of a hot chocolate -

- and a monster of a scone. Both were delicious! Presents were given and a good time was had by all!

Two days later I had what's commonly referred to as "a big birthday". Jo's card to me was ingenious!

I got some lovely gifts which all made me very happy!

We had a combined birthday tea with all sorts of good things. Yummm!

And Jo added some number candles to the cake. Yummm!

It's a good thing that birthday food doesn't have any calories, eh? 🎂 🤣

February's bits

I've been trying to get this post written since the end of February. So many things wouldn't work the way I wanted them to - specifically the photos were annoyingly fuzzy and I couldn't figure out why. Today, for no apparent reason, it all started working again! So I'm going to post this in a hurry just in case it all goes to pot again!

We started February with Douglas's birthday. Jo got him this card - soooooo brilliant! LOL

I found a recipe in my recipe file which I hadn't made before. I have no idea where it came from but I decided to have a go and am glad I did. These are sooooo delish!!

Here's the recipe:

I finished the stained glass quilt for Jo. I loved making this. It's such a happy quilt!

I always keep notes of how I made my quilts so, as this was a repeat, I looked back at my notes to see how I made the back. That saved me so much time as I just followed my own instructions and it worked out perfectly! Here's the label and you can see the yellow fleece I used for the backing.

Lastly, I made another smalls bag. I found myself getting annoyed at only having one when I might need one for lights (my bras) and one for darks (my tights) so now I have 2 smalls bags and don't get annoyed (at that) any more!

I'm currently knitting a cardigan for Isla. I'm up to the armholes of the second sleeve so nearly done. I hope to get it finished soon and make a start on one for Emily. I doubt I'll get Emily's finished in March but I should have Isla's ready for showing off in March's post. 🤞

!!! 3 !!!

Our wee Emily is 3 today. Goodness me! How did that happen? I remember exactly where I was when Jason phoned me to tell me she had arrived ... at long last!

We all went to Emily's house on Sunday to have a birthday picnic/party with her. No way could we go outside but we were all quite happy inside! Before I show off the photos of her playing with her picnic basket and blanket, let me show you the finished quilt - the front:

The back and the embroidered label:

I made some mini napkins to go with it:

Then I had some fun making "food". First of all some sandwiches - ham and lettuce on the left and cheese on the right.

Some Oreos and jammie dodgers:

Some ginger nuts on the left and crackers with cheese on the right:

Some triangle cheese and some babybels:

And some egg sandwitches on white bread.

Honestly, I had way too much fun making the food and had to make myself stop! LOL

Here's Emily on Sunday emptying out her picnic basket with all the goodies inside. You'll notice she had put the quilt upside down - Pooh had to be upwards!

She had lots of fun sorting things out -

Then her mummy and Auntie Jo joined in the picnic fun pouring cups of tea and filling plates for anybody who wanted one!

Isla was very tired as she sat on her Grammie's knee wearing her bear ears hairband but she would not give in!

We all had a lovely time - it was a really fun day.

Happy birthday, Miss Emily. Have a lovely day! 🥰

in the pink

We had a family get together yesterday. Just our wee family of 5 plus both dogs.

Joanna blew up some balloons.

She had also made some special things to eat. Dummies - although Jason insisted they were called pacifiers ... maybe where he comes from (Canada) but in Scotland, they're called dummies! :oD

Joanna had also made a very special cake! Love her sense of humour!

We're going to be a wee family of 6 in February! Yes, Debbie is expecting our first grandchild!

A baby girl! Wheeeeeeee!!!

more catching up

Another week gone - another catch-up post. First, I added a bigger pocket to my swimming bag to hold my watch and fitbit when I'm in the pool. I'd left the smaller pocket on that I'd added last week so there was plenty room for both devices this week.

I bought some new towels for the kitchen so I cut up some of the old towels to make cloths. It's funny how they were past their best as towels but are perfect for cloths!

Then it was back to star-making.

Then I played with my new embroidery machine again.

It was our wedding anniversary last Thursday - 37 years!! As I go to Singers on a Thursday evening and so couldn't go out for a meal that night, we decided to go out for morning snack instead. My cheesey scone was most delicious! Who needs fancy food to celebrate 37 years? Not us! :oD

I treated myself to a blouse out of Asda's this week. I tried it on and was delighted that it fit me so decided I would change the buttons. 12 buttons later, I was ironing the blouse to put it in the wardrobe when I noticed this hole in the sleeve just above the cuff. Aaaargh!

There was no way I could take the blouse back - apart from having to change all 12 buttons back to the original ones, I'd taken off the tags. As I said "Aaaaaargh!".

I pondered a few solutions - darning the hole, patching the hole, making the sleeves shorter, covering the hole with something. But what? Another button? How about an embroidery? Like this?

That was supposed to be a test piece but I decided it would actually be better - and probably easier - just to attach that wee piece over the hole. So that's what I did. I also ironed on a piece of cloth interfacing on the back. I'm actually quite chuffed with it. Nobody else who buys that blouse will have one like mine!

But, you can bet I'll be checking any further purchases very carefully!