Making Progress

It's been quite a while since I posted about my ongoing quilt project, but I have been stitching away at it and I am pleased to say that all the applique is now completely finished.
This project has been going on so long I had almost lost interest in it, but having come this far has renewed my enthusiasm!
The next stage is to layer it with some cotton wadding and backing fabric.
(The light wasn't that good when I took these photos.)

The backing is the same fabric as the light squares in the quilt top.
When it's all basted together, then comes the fun bit. I'm planning to quilt it by machine, with some straight lines and some free-motion stitching.

Bugs

I have always liked bees, and things with a bee motif, and I thought I would try making some.
While I was at it I made some ladybirds as well.
These bees aren't stripy, but they are black and yellow.
They are basically just covered buttons with beads and muslin wings attached. They were easy to make, but these are half inch buttons and they were FIDDLY to do.


The good thing about them being buttons is that they would be easy to attach to something just by being sewn on as a button. I'm not sure what I'll put them on, but I can think of some possibilities. Maybe one could go on a pincushion or a bag of some kind.
I'm pleased with the way they turned out and I think they are really fun.

Wool Hearts

I had to go to the dentist yesterday, a big phobia of mine. Just a minor repair to one filling, but I was glad to get out of there! Anyway enough of that unpleasantness.

Valentine's Day is a good excuse to make some heart-themed gifts, and this year I made these stuffed hearts for my two girls.

They are made of wool fabric and filled with dried rose petals to smell nice, plus a bit of ordinary stuffing to round out the shape.

I wondered what I could add to them for decoration, and decided on yo-yos with felt leaves and vintage buttons, with a bit of cotton lace thrown in. They can be hung in a wardrobe on a coat hanger to scent clothes, or on a hook or chest of drawers as an ornament.

A Light Dusting

With all the fuss in the news about the recent snow, you would think that everywhere in the country had been affected by heavy snowfalls, but this was all we got. My plans for winter wonderland-style garden photos came to nothing, and now it's raining!
We found this old garden roller hidden away in our garden after we moved in some years ago. I wanted to put it somewhere it could be seen and admired, much to the bemusement of other members of my family. (Would you believe that to some people this is just an old piece of scrap metal!) It's extremely heavy and difficult to move, but we managed to get it positioned against this old tree stump.
I think this old utilitarian piece gives a sense of age to the garden, and its rustiness only adds to that. I'm trying to encourage the ivy to grow over it.

Signs of Spring

Look what I found under the trees in my garden. Snowdrops!

Primulas are flowering away.

And bluebells are leaping out of the ground.

More Reds

After writing about my red quilt the other day, I started thinking again about the colour red.
I went round the house looking for red things, and put together this grouping.
I once read somewhere that as recently as Tudor times, there were no specific words for the colours we know as pink and orange, as these were perceived to be shades of red. It was this that first got me thinking about red in a different way, and about the wide range of shades and intensities of red.