It's probably a little sad, but I had fun finding myself amongst the etsians whose birthday it was yesterday, can you spot me? I was amazed to see that there were seven pages of people, etsy is certainly a big place.
By contrast this small place is part of my garden, which at the moment looks great filled with these pretty wallflowers.
And it was nice to find myself in this lovely treasury by Marmalady , thank you!
A big thanks to Nemeton who put my little cream box in a treasury at the weekend!
We are getting into a new routine this week as Stuart starts a different job, I have plenty of things to post about but haven't managed to take any pictures yet! And it is my birthday tomorrow so photograph taking might be delayed by another day.
: )
Stuart spotted us before we saw him and doubled back to say hello, he is in this picture below, well his ear is anyway! He went by in a flash and I couldn't work out whether to watch him or take a picture!
Then we went to mile 11 as the course did a big loop around but we just missed him. And the queues at the underground stations meant we changed our plans from trying to get to mile 20, and went instead to mile 25 where we managed to see him again.
He is running underneath the tree in this picture, he looked a lot closer in real life. And below are the crowds at the meeting point at the finish on horse guards parade. We all had a great day with wonderful weather, I'm tired now but I don't think I've earnt the right to say that!
: )
This first week back to the school routine has seemed very hectic and has gone in a blur. My plan tonight is for some uninterrupted sewing, keep your fingers crossed for me! I have finally managed to finish this new pink home for pins which was part of a sneaky peek photo I posted ages ago now, it has just been listed in my etsy shop.
Friday tomorrow, hooray! We have a big weekend as Stuart is running the London Marathon for the first time on Sunday, and we (and my sister) are going to watch and try and spot him. I hope the nice weather we have at the moment holds out!
: )
So here it is, my first ever baby blanket/quilt, all finished! I hand quilted a little cross (or a kiss!) in the middle of each flower on alternate diagonal rows in the fabric which held the layers together nicely and made it look quite cosy. It also made the back look nice with the little regular gathers it created. I didn't really have fun with the sewing machine part, but it was neccessary as I wanted it to be a useable blanket that you didn't need to think twice about throwing in the washing machine. Not all of the stitches are perfect but I'm not sure anyone else would notice. All in all I am pleased with how it turned out, and I hope my niece will roll around on it and snuggle up on it for a good few years to come.
: )
Today we met my new niece for the first time, and look what she was wearing - the little booties I made for her a few months ago, they now have real little feet in them!
: )
A busy day today, I got wet on my bike both going to and coming home from work, went to see the animals at the pet shop with Holly, tried to buy her some new summer dresses for school, put new grass seed down to improve our lawn, cooked the dinner, ate the dinner, finally managed to finish two new notebooks, (the one above is now in my folksy shop) and I have just finished the blanket for my new neice!! It just needs a little iron, then I can take a picture and show you.
How has your day been? How do you relax at the end of it? Me? I'll be off to cut out some fabric in a minute, then hopefully settling down with a nice cup of tea. (once I've hung the washing up to dry)
: )
Look what came in the post for me today, a lovely parcel from Rachel at contented ! I was one of the runners up in her recent giveaway and I was lucky enough to win one of her gorgeous bird brooches - the perfect thing for me! I didn't manage to take a picture before I opened it, I was straight into that gorgeous spotty tissue paper, and not all of the chocolate chicks that were in the parcel made it to the photo. (yum!) Thanks so much Rachel!
And this notebook has finally made it way into my etsy shop, more are on their way very soon - some of which will go onto folksy as they have sold out there at the moment.
I need more hours in the day, this evening I have mostly been fighting with my sewing machine, which inexplicably decides to go funny halfway through a long seam, which means I will be spending more of the evening unpicking! But this does mean that I am on the final stages of the baby quilt/blanket, which is a good job as we are going to see them on sunday!
After the last two hectic weekends and this week too, I am looking forward to a quieter Easter. Four days off work will be lovely, it just needs to stop raining now! Tonight we have Holly's cousin to stay, they made pizzas for their dinner and are now reading poems to each other before they go to sleep. Tomorrow we have plans for a treasure hunt (above is the treasure, all ready to hide), easter biscuit making and lots of easter crafts. I also need to spend lots more time quilting, and this little pile of half finished items need painting! Hope you are having a happy easter weekend
: )
On Tuesday a new niece arrived for us, we haven't had the chance to meet her yet but I can't wait. They live quite a drive away but I am sure very soon we will be on our way, hopefully after I have finished making this blanket/quilt for her.
I'm sort of making it up as I go along, I hope it turns out ok! So far I have cut all the pieces and pinned them together, ready to start hand quilting it tonight. I have used one of my favourite fabrics for the top and I bought some more of the same fleece that I used for the baby booties I made for her a few months ago to be the back. Now I just need to get all my chores out the way so I can start sewing!
And also a big thank you to Rose at Autonomous Artisans , for featuring my pincushions in an article she wrote about having a gift drawer.
: )
This was Stuart's birthday cake, he isn't really a cake person so instead I bought an Italin panettone (chocolate of course) which was a big hit and very delicious. So much so that I forgot to take a picture when it was whole and had the candles in, never mind.
The best excitement of the week was the arrival and fitting of our new front door. The first picture below is our old door, which we think was original to the house and so over 100 years old. You can't really see from the picture but it was very warped and ill-fitting, with lots of draughts.
And the glass wasn't stained glass, it was a special window sticker that we put on as a stop gap until we could get a new door. There was no hope for it so we now have a lovely new door with etched glass, which I love. It makes such a difference to the house, now we just need to finish stripping the rest of the frame and repaint it. No rest in this house!
: )
