Hook & I

My student daughter started her new summer job today. I dropped her off at work before the grocery shopping I usually do on a Monday. So now they're both out at work and it seems very quiet round here.
What on earth will I do on my own all day? Only kidding!
The photo is the edging I'm doing for my crochet blanket, and yes it's purple. It's worked the "short way", to be sewn on with some gathering at the corners. The blanket is about 62 x 50 inches, and I'm making yards of the stuff:

The pattern is only a two-row repeat and very quick to do, and there is a certain satisfaction in making such a lot of yardage.
We've got torrential rain here today, hope the weather's better where you are.
Have a good week!

Brought by the Postman

You know that lovely sound you hear when a book you've been waiting for finally comes through the letterbox and lands on the doormat? Well this book arrived today, and it's full of gorgeous primitive projects. I'm already sorting out the wool for the red heart cushion on the cover.

I've started the edging for my crochet blanket, and I'll show you that next time when I've done a bit more.

Another flower photo:

I've always liked tall flowers, things like hollyhocks, sunflowers and foxgloves. My mother gave me a seed head from her giant poppies the year before last, and now mine have self-seeded. This is one of the flowers. They are this beautiful colour, and about 4 inches across.

Star Blocks and a Blanket

No garden work going on at the moment, because it's been raining solidly for two days. But I've been busy inside the house, and I've started appliqueing these blocks for a quilt, in shades of red and pinky-red.
It's hard getting those star points sharp and not waving about. I think I won't have to mind too much if they're not perfect;) The quilt is from a Jo Morton pattern.


And I finally finished all my crochet squares, and I'm using navy blue to join them together, quite a strong contrast. Now I'm thinking it would also have looked nice, and completely different, if I'd used a light colour for the joining, maybe cream or pale pink. So many possibilities with colour! Decisions, decisions. Anyway, I've gone with the navy. I thought the joining would be a major job, but actually it's going quite quickly. I used a hook a couple of sizes smaller for this because I thought it made a better seam. When it's done I'm planning to do some kind of edging round, I'm not sure yet exactly what.
I'm really enjoying making this blanket. I didn't go near any kind of yarn for years, but then I came back to it, and now I wouldn't be without some crochet or knitting.

June Garden

I've nearly finished crocheting all the squares for my blanket, and I should have some progress to show you soon.
In the meantime, here are some photos I took yesterday in the garden. It's too hot to actually do any gardening!

There are a lot of purple and blue shades to see just now. These blue pelargoniums or geraniums were buzzing with bees. You can see some bees on the picture.

I don't know what this is called, but it grows everywhere. Here it has sprung up from a tiny gap in the paving and is trying to grow up the wall.

Here's a bit of pink. I think this is called astrantia. The lavender next to it is covered in buds. Looking forward to that lovely lavender scent.

Pincushions and YSP

I finished this, and I think it might be my new favourite pincushion. The ground walnut shells didn't happen though. There was I, laughingly thinking I'd easily be able to get ground walnut shells. So I went to the local pet supply shop and they didn't have any, then I tried a garden centre that sells pet supplies, but no luck there either. So I gave up and used sand in a cotton liner, and it makes a nice weighty pincushion.
I thought you might be interested in seeing my other sand pincushion. This one is in use all the time and lives on my cutting table. One day I'll post pictures of my sewing room and you'll see how disorganised it is.

This one was from a Blackbird Designs book. Bleeding heart flowers are a favourite of mine because my grandmother always had them in her garden.

I think making pincushions may be habit-forming.

Thank you for all the nice comments about the strawberries in my last post. I should make it clear they were all made from patterns and not my own designs - I'm a pattern junkie and I love my patterns:)

On a different subject, I wanted to show you some pictures from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at Bretton. My husband was at home from work last week and I've currently got one daughter at home all day, so we took advantage of some fine weather and off we went. There are lots of beautiful views there, and I could have taken photos all day long! Here are a few of them:

Rusted iron gates.

Can you see the figure on the tree stump? This piece by Antony Gormley is called One and Other.

My daughter took this one of me when I wasn't looking.