More placemats, more crochet and an award.

I got Charmaine's placemats completed in time for the family visit on Saturday.  She had selected a lot of scraps and as I sorted through them I came up with a plan.

It really didn't take me long to put them together and add the chocolate brown border. I used off cuts of polyester batting and some black homespun off cuts  to layer them.

I kept the quilting very easy using my stitch in the ditch foot.

Charmaine was very happy with them and delighted when I said she should take two of them home. 

With those complete I've pulled Jude's ready set sew kit back out of it's box and made a little more progress there.

I'm also making progress on my latest crochet project.

It is very cosy to sit under this while I work in the evenings. 

I promised a picture of the yarn cakes I'm using, I like that they are variegated and I don't need to do any counting or thinking about when to change colour.

My cross stitch dinosaur has grown a little, I worked on it on Saturday during a zoom session with Chooky and the ladies. I'll get an updated pic soon.

And finally for today I'm very proud to say that I entered a jar of my relish in to a competition over the weekend and won a prize. 

I always knew that my Possums pickle was a great recipe.

That's my news. I hope you had a great weekend. 

A dinosaurs tale, and other stories....

I'm sure I have mentioned previously that I am cross stitching a dinosaur for Torstein. And here it is, well it's tail anyway.

It's one of a set of six that I purchased off Etsy.  So far it has been very boring! You might think working in just one colour would be easy and it is, but trust me, it is also BORING! Great for picking up for an hour before work though. I'll see how many I can complete by Christmas. 

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Progress has been made on scrappy placemats for Charmaine. I sorted through the pile of scraps she had approved and came up with a plan.

Which came together looking something like this.

That darker chocolate brown will be the outer border and binding. I just need to find some backing.

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Tony got a big package in the mail the other day. Belle wasn't allowed to sit in the big cardboard box, so she hopped in to the plastic bag instead.

Not ideal and I was glad when she hopped out and the bag was whisked away to the bin.

Why is it that cats like to sit in bags and boxes?

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And finally.......

My recent crochet finish leaves me with an empty lap while we are still in the middle of winter.

Better make a new start.

This one will take a while to complete and may even get put away for a while to rest over summer and come back out next winter. Joe and Lee would like a king size blanket for their bed please....

These are the colours they chose.

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And that is all of my news.

I'll be back soon I hope. 

 

Two finishes, or is it four?

 I finished my wee crochet throw. Just two colours using the Cosy stripe pattern from Attic 24. 

I do like this design, it's simple, good mindless stuff for the evening in front of the TV.

I had to put a little more thought in to the edge, but once I had made a decision it was pretty easy stuff too. No pattern for that I just winged it! And I'm happy with what happened. LOL

The children seem to like it too, they pulled it out and played with it on Sunday very happily.

The other finish, or is it three? Is Torstein's placemats.

I think he rather likes them, I heard him telling Grandad about all of the different trucks and what they do. I was very impressed with excavator!! He is not even three yet and he not only managed to say the word, but he knows what it does.

As you can see, no fancy quilting and they are backed with the same fabrics I used on the fronts.

I have about a fat quarter of trucks left and some cuts of the matching fabrics. They may turn up elsewhere. For now three is enough. One to keep and use here at Nanny's house and two to take home. 

Now his sister wants place mats. I'll have to see what I can come up with. LOL

That's me, that's all my news. 

I'm off to cross stitch, maybe I'll have a photo of that next time. 

Life is still getting in the way.

Life continues to keep me busy, but I am managing to make time to stop and relax here and there.
I joined in with a zoom session last weekend, with Chooky and the girls. I had a new cross stitch project, I'll get a pic of that soon. I've also managed to get myself back on track with my crochet project and have begun the final border rounds, I'll get a pic of that soon too.
I also managed to squeeze in a little time in the sewing room and started to put together some placemats for Torstein.

I didn't manage to quilt and bind them yet, hopefully I will find time to get at least one completed before he visits again on Sunday.

And last but not least, meet Miss Molly.

Joe and Lee are getting married late next year and guess who is making THE dress. LOL

Poor Lee she had seen a dress that she loved but in her words, 'we could never afford it'. So I said that if she found a pattern for it, or another that she liked I would make it for her. When Tony saw this mannikin for sale on a facebook page he thought it might be useful.

Oh yes!

Well, that's my news, brief as it is. Hope you have a good weekend.

A Happy Girl.

I really did not intend to allow two weeks to go by without writing a blog. I'm not being terribly productive at the moment, so don't have a great deal to write about, but last week I spread out my crochet project to get a photo of that and discovered that I had made mistakes on both sides at the ends of the rows and it was becoming narrower and narrower! So I rip, rip, ripped about a third of it out. So frustrating. I'm now back on track and managing to keep the edges straight. I'll get a photo soon. 

If you remember in my last post I showed a quick quilt top that was being made for Miss Charmaine. She had requested it for her birthday, she particularly wanted a nice fluffy back.

I think she is very happy with it, that is one very big smile.

She asked Daddy to wrap her up like a burrito. 

The back is a piece of fluffy fleece in pink with rainbows all over it. 

Mr Torstein had only just woken from his nap and was unimpressed.

He didn't eat his tea, not even his slice of birthday cake and ice cream, he told us Dandan (Grandad) could have his! He just wanted to play with his truck. When home time came he became quite sullen as Charmaine ran to the car with her quilt and he didn't have anything. 

Hopefully I can get myself back into his good books next time he visits.

Debbie and I had a quick shopping trip the other day and with Debbie's help I was able to find the perfect fabric.

I plan to make some place mats. One to use at Nanny's house and one to take home.

Now to find the right fabrics to make some for big sister too. 

That's it, that is all of my news for now hopefully I'll be back soon with something to show.