sunrise ~ sunset 13 August

Today's figures are:

dawn to dusk = 16 hours and 41 minutes (34 minutes less than last week)

sunrise to sunset = 15 hours and 13 minutes (30 minutes less than last week)

Christmas wallhanging - finished!

I finished the Christmas tree wallhanging. Yay!

I think I've decided not to bother putting the stars on the tops of all the trees because this is what the wonkiest of the tree tops looks like after I quilted it with gold thread.

I don't think it looks too bad. And anyway, it's a wallhanging. It's not being entered into a competition or anything like that so I'm thinking it'll do fine the way it is. If I decide at Christmastime that I just have to hide the tree tops I can sew the stars on then.

Here's the back:

I love the tracks of the quilting but, OMG, that gold thread is a pain the bum to sew with. This is what parts of the back look like.

It's a good thing that back will be against the wall! Anyway, it's done and it'll now get laid away until December.

In other exciting news, I sent for this pattern a few weeks ago and, after a slight mix up, it came yesterday. I love these 'phants! Can't wait to have a go at making them.

What was the mix up? Well, I was sent this pattern instead of the 'phants.

I e-mailed to ask them what we could do about this and Isaac e-mailed me back telling me to keep the turtle pattern as it was his mistake and he would send me the 'phants right away. How's that for customer service? So hats off to Isaac at the Heather Bailey Online Store. What a man! :o)

a sunny day!

It was warm and sunny here today which is a miracle. This summer has been awful so far so, when the opportunity comes to sit outside in the sun for a wee while, I'm grabbing it with both hands. So, instead of watching the Olympics or quilting the Christmas hanging or cleaning or doing any of that other indoor stuff, I unashamedly sat outside on the deck with my Kindle and read ... in the SUNSHINE. (I'm shouting those words because we all know it's bound to be raining again tomorrow!)

I did do the quilting of the wallhanging this evening but it's too dark now to take photos now so I'll do that tomorrow ... if I remember ... and if I'm not outside reading ... in the SUNSHINE!!

I want to answer Softie's question in her comment yesterday as to what I'll be using the iPad for. Well, mostly as a computer. My "big" computer is an iMac and is on a desk in our dining room. I wanted something that I could use in the livingroom or outside or in the sewing room or wherever I fancied and I wasn't interested in a laptop. (I *hate* those trackpad mouses with a passion!) So, when I wondered out loud on Sunday how I might get on with an iPad, the ball started rolling from there.

I won't be giving up my Kindle either as it's so small and easily transportable when I have to go to the doctor's or the dentist and have to wait in their waiting rooms. My Kindle fits nicely into my handbag but my iPad wouldn't do that. I could, of course, make myself a bag big enough to take it but, in the meantime, I'll just stick with the Kindle.

Of course, if I'm being honest, I'll no doubt be playing a few games on my iPad as well. I'm getting quite good at one called "Compression". I'm rubbish at one called "Cubilus" though. Really, really rubbish. Oh well, can't win them all.

Okay, so that I don't post a post without a photo, here's something from my miscellaneous Photobucket album which makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. I'm sure it could apply to yarn or any other crafty things. :oD

tree tops, reindeer and my new toy

I sewed the rows together of the Christmas hanging and pinned it to the wadding and backing ready for quilting tomorrow.

As I suspected, some of the tree tops were cut off in their prime:

I decided I wasn't going to worry about that as I have some stars which I'll sew on to the tops of all of the trees so nobody will know which ones are cut off and which ones aren't. I'll use gold stars:

And red stars:

And green stars:

So I think it'll look just fine. :o)

I also did some embroidery as I was sitting watching the Olympic triathlon this morning. I dug out the reindeer embroidery which I got last year and then didn't finish in time for Christmas. I'm determined I'll finish it this year.

I have to confess to spending a bit of time today playing on my new toy. An iPad of my very own. Yay!!!

I know I'll get the hang of it eventually but it's kind of scary on my first day.

more hanging stuff and the rain

I got more of the Christmas hanging done today - after having to unpick all the seams I'd sewn on Friday. Don't ask! Let's just say that human stupidity came into it and leave it at that!

Anyway, here are the bits before I sewed them together (properly) today.

After sewing them in twos:

And with the rows all sewn.

Now I need to sew the rows together and hope that the tops of the "trees" don't get cut off. Time will tell.

Now you might be wondering why those photos look like I had the lights on in my sewing room in the middle of the day. That's because I *did* have those lights on because this was what was happening outside. This is out the front of the house.

And this was the swimming pool which formed at our back door.

Thankfully the rain stopped after about half an hour but it was as heavy as that for all that time. It was, as we call it in Scotland, stotting off the road - and the pavement and the cars, and the puddles and the garage roof!

Explanation: Stot is a common Scots verb meaning "bounce" or "walk with a bounce." Uses in this case include stotting a ball off a wall or rain stotting off a pavement.

sunrise ~ sunset 6 August

Today's figures are:

dawn to dusk = 17 hours and 15 minutes (33 minutes less than last week)

sunrise to sunset = 15 hours and 43 minutes (27 minutes less than last week)

jamming and hanging

I spent Friday afternoon making jam. This wasn't with the berries I bought and cleaned this week but with the last of last year's berries dug out of the freezer.

Here's the strawberry jam in its jars:

The rasberry jam not yet lidded. (Is "lidded" a word??)

And the best bit about jam making - other than the supply of jam, of course - is the skimmings. These are the raspberry skimmings. They're yummmmmmmmmmy. :o)

I've also spent some time planning a hanging for - yikes! - Christmas.

Here's the pile of fabrics I chose to go with.

More of that as it progresses. :o)

berries and a ripple

Today we went along to a farm shop and got some raspberries and strawberries for me to make into jam. You can't see the rasps in this photo as they're underneath the strawbs. :o)

I started cleaning them as soon as we got home:

And they were all clean and bagged within an hour. I forgot to take a photo of them before I put them in the freezer so here they are in said (very icy) freezer. Note to self - do something about that ice!!

I bought the "table" berries as opposed to the "jam" berries because I well remembered the wastage from last year's berry buying and didn't want a repeat of that! We went to a different shop from the one we went to last year but I still didn't want to buy their jam berries even though the assistant on the till was amazed that I'd buy "good berries just to make jam with". To me, if you want good jam, you buy the good berries - but I didn't tell her that. I thought it, but didn't say it out loud! :oD

I finished a ripple blankie last night but it was too late to take a photo so I did that this morning.

And from the other way:

I love it!

I've now started making hexagons to make another hexagon blankie. It doesn't take me too long to make each one and are easy to do as I sit in front of the telly cheering on the gold-medal-winning rowers or the gold-and-bronze-medal-winning cyclists or the silver-medal-winning swimmers at the Olympics. Go Team GB! :o)

blouse for Joanna

I made a blouse for Joanna yesterday.

I used this pattern - view E (shown in yellow on the pattern).

I made it out of the leftovers from a blouse I made for myself last year and the buttons came out of my button jar so this felt like it cost nothing at all! Yay!

I don't know if it fits her or not but I'm sure it will. At least I hope so!

So that's one more thing out of the crate of "things to make for Joanna" made. I think that only leaves the summer dresses now. I think there are 3 if not 4 or 5 of them to do. I wonder if I can distract myself with anything else? I bet I could! :oD

sunrise ~ sunset 30 July

Today's figures are:

dawn to dusk = 17 hours and 48 minutes (32 minutes less than last week)

sunrise to sunset = 16 hours and 10 minutes (26 minutes less than last week)