Green, Blue

I know that for some people, blue and green just don't work together. I remember when I was younger sometimes hearing the old saying, "Blue and green should never be seen".
But for me blue and green are a happy combination. They bring to mind early childhood memories of summer days playing in the garden, blue flowers, grass and sky, and all the shades in between. I think perception of colour can be a very individual thing.

This bag is from the Market Bag pattern by Late Bloomer Quilts. Some bag patterns seem to me to be complicated, but this one had clear instructions. It was hard to imagine all those flat pieces turning into a 3-dimensional bag, but they did.
I was thinking about getting a ruffler attachment to do the frill at the top edge, but the price put me off. Nearly £50 for a sewing machine foot! Maybe for my birthday. So I used machine basting and pulled up the gathers by hand.
This bag will be coming out with me this summer - strictly for fun shopping, of course:)

Gloves Done

I finished the gloves I was knitting, and we're having some very chilly weather here at the moment, so I think I will get to wear them after all.
The pattern is Sirdar 5983. They were made on two needles (rather than 4). I didn't realise there was a line of cables up the back of the hand until I was actually knitting it, because strangely only the palm side of the glove was pictured on the pattern, as if the photographer didn't know the detail was on the back. No matter, I like cables.

I had some fun mail this week from Wendy. I couldn't believe how much lovely stuff she'd packed into that box! Check out those antique threads! I almost had to go and lie down.

The pattern was one I'd been wanting - how did she know?? And 30's fabrics, which I love, to go with it. And can you see the letter C on the pincushion? I think that's a lovely individual touch. Thank you so much Wendy, I love it all! :)

Leaves and Buttons

I've had it in my head for a while to incorporate leaves into a yo-yo project and have some of the yo-yos as flowers. This is what I came up with. I didn't have a yo-yo maker, I just made them the old-fashioned way.
To make the leaves I drew a leaf shape the size I wanted, stitched around it and cut it out, leaving the base of the leaf open for turning.
This is how they look on the back.

I didn't turn the raw edges in because I thought that might make them a bit bulky. I sewed them on with a small blanket stitch, and I think that makes the raw edge acceptable.
I did consider fusing two layers of fabric together and cutting leaves from that, or cutting them out of felt, but I wanted it to be easily launderable.

Some fun shopping this week:

This is my new pale blue teapot, which to be truthful I only bought so I can knit a teacosy for it, lol! (I suppose it might come in useful for making tea in as well.)

I hope you have a lovely Easter with lots of chocolate.

This and That

When I cut some forsythia stems last week they were covered in tight green buds. Three days later, this is what they looked like. A splash of sunshine for spring.

I seem to have fallen into the knitting habit lately. I keep looking for nice small projects to knit.

This is the left hand of a pair of gloves in 4 ply. I think I'll have to knit these quick before it gets too warm to wear gloves!

I've been sewing as well, just playing with yo-yos.

The garden is looking more spring-like all the time. I think these pink hyacinths must have been planted outside by the people who lived in this house before us. They make a little patch of pink in the garden every spring, and the smell is gorgeous.

Four Patch on Point

Here's my blue quilt finished. I used a pattern from Back in Time by Renee Plains. I like most of her patterns. Mine ended up looking a bit different from the pattern because I used more fabrics and a strong contrast for the outer triangles and border. That wasn't planned, but evolved along the way.
I wasn't sure at first if the border fabric worked because there's no blue in it, but it does pick up the pinks from the other prints, and hopefully the blue binding helps pull it together.

It was nice working with these colours. I was wanting a predominantly blue quilt that looked light but not cold (the colour, I mean). It's a bit more flowery than I've made before, but I'm quite pleased with the way the different prints work together, and it was all made from stash!
It was quilted in my favourite allover heart meander, which is from a stencil.

On a different subject, I must show you what my two daughters gave me for Mother's Day last Sunday.
Something really cool.

My very own iPod Shuffle in a beautiful green.

And look what it says on the back, the small printing at the top:

I love that. They even loaded it up with music for me so it was all ready to use. They know how I love my music. It was a complete surprise! I'm so pleased with it and have been "wearing" it around the house. They're so good to their mother:)

Spring Basket

Here's a pretty thing. I found the free pattern here.
It was so quick to make. I added an edging to mine.
The actual crochet took me about an hour. The stiffening process took longer because of the drying time. I used a mixture of half fabric stiffener and half water. It still has some flexibility, but enough stability to stand.

I'll hopefully have a finished quilt to show you soon. Have a great week:)

Knit Garden

After thinking about it for a long time, I recently bought Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers and I love it! I already had her crocheted flowers book, but if anything I think I like the knitted flowers even better.
The flower patterns are many and varied, and some of them are suitable for felting if desired. You can layer them and combine different components, put leaves on them, and beads or buttons can be added to them. I made all these from skeins of tapestry wool. Scale and tension aren't important in the land of flowers.

I was tagged by Ila to list 7 weird or random things about myself. Of course my mind immediately went blank. And what qualifies something as weird or random? Anyway, here are the 7 things I thought of.

1. I'm 4 days younger than my husband. Always marry an older man, that's what I say.

2. I didn't learn to drive until I was in my 30's. I grew up in a household without a car, and we walked, cycled or used public transport to go anywhere. My kids were both at school before I eventually learnt, and then I realised how much easier it would have been if I could have driven them around when they were little.

3. When I was a child my family lived in Australia for 2 years.

4. I have a phobia about being watched. If I'm cooking and someone is watching me, I'll knock things over and spill stuff. (You know who you are.) If I'm typing and I know someone is standing behind me, I'll hit all the wrong keys.

5. I can't swim.

6. I like cold weather and much prefer it to hot. It has to be really cold before I even notice. If I could have cold, bright weather all year round, that would suit me.

7. I'm a patternoholic. I have too many but I pretend it's a collection! Over the years I've collected hundreds of patterns, books and magazines, old and new, on quilting and other needlecrafts.

I think most of the bloggers I know have been tagged for this already, so I'm going to cop out and say if you haven't listed 7 weird or random things about yourself and you'd like to have a go, please do!