Easter weekend

I had to work on Friday, but as it was a public holiday, we didn't have to start until 6.45 am, which is a nice change from 05.15 am! LOL I had planned to do some sewing in the afternoon, and made a start on this wee pouch. It was a kit I purchased on our girls day out on Wednesday. It was of course not the only thing I purchased, but in true Loulee style, I forgot to get photos. LOL

Any way, I finished off the pouch today, after spending most of yesterday in the garden. The Easter bunny called while I was closing up the binding. :-)

So after a cuppa and some chocolate, I got on with another quick project. This farmyard panel came to me in a fabric bundle, purchased from the internet. You know how it goes, some are hits and some are misses. This one was a mixed bag. The piece of fabric was big enough to make two wee cot size quilts and there are off cuts, which I did consider putting into the binding.  

That didn't happen. 

This one is very simply quilted, echoing the straight lines of the squares, both inside and outside. It is backed with a piece of off white homespun, which I also used for binding. The batting layer is a piece of off white fleece. The second quilt will be finished in exactly the same way, just as soon as I get my hands on some more homespun.  

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Two finishes for today, not bad.

But I wasn't done yet. 

Some time ago, Maria and I exchanged emails discussing all those little triangles we save when we make flying geese and HSTs. What do you do with them? How can they be used?

I hinted at making something with them a little while ago, but as the colourful corners are usually done stitch and flip style, and I had ready cut corners, which would have made things a little tricky, it all got put away, while I had a think about it. Then, when I was doing the applique on the wee pouch, inspiration struck. Why don't I applique the triangles onto the corners?

 So today, out they came, all my beautiful wee scraps of batik fabrics.

 And out came a packet of the cafe au lait charm square fabrics, which have been stashed away in the drawer for quite a few years.

 I told my sewing machine I wanted a blanket stitch and pressed my wee triangles as some of them were a bit untidy, and this happened.

There were some triangles left....

So out came another packet of Cafe au lait and I made some more.

Now I'm trying to decide if I want to make a quilt, or some market tote bags?

What do you think?

I have two more packets of charms, but I'm out of triangles and would have to make more. Not a problem as I have plenty of tiny scraps of batik fabric. I find it very difficult to throw batiks away, even the tiniest pieces are saved. LOL

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In garden news... 

The courgettes are still yielding fruit!! I picked four yesterday and was congratulating myself after giving two of them away to a neighbour, when I spotted another hiding amid the leaves! So including the two that were already sat in the fridge, I now have five courgette sitting awaiting my attention. And there are more out there, getting bigger by the hour!!

The climbing beans are still producing a good handful every couple of days and we seem to be having beans with almost every meal. 

The lawns need another cut and we plan to spread some of the clippings onto the cleared out veg beds, along with some well mulched leaves which I collected this time last year. 

The peppers and chilli in the green house are still changing colour, and like the beans, each visit yields at least a handful of colourful fruits and after a warmer day, a bowlful!

Yesterday I spent an age chopping habanero chilli ready for the freezer. Then I nearly choked on the fumes as the hot soapy water got to work on the oils they had released. 

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Well that's my news. We have another public holiday here tomorrow, and Monday is my day off anyway, so I plan to sew some more.

I hope you are making the most of the long weekend.