Stitching through the rain.

Well, the weather girl got that wrong, bright sun, temperatures in the 20's. Hmm, she must have been talking about Vegas. I sat down to do a little sewing once Ben had been out for a little walk and had his breakfast. There were 3 pillowcase beds ready to sew, done.

I will be in Ammanford this afternoon and must scoot round the Charity Shops and search out some more, so easy and quick to make.

When I went to visit Maggie on Tuesday she gave me this skirt for my scrappy patchwork.

I love the vibrant colour and the embroidery print but not for patchwork.

I have a new idea up my sleeve and this will fit right in, I hope, all will be revealed in due course. I have bought some materials on line and should hope to have them by the weekend.

I was blog hopping yesterday morning and found a pattern for a Cat and Kitten, along the style of the doggy cushions, for sale!!! Who would need to have a pattern to make something as simple as these.

I just drew a little sketch and laid out my squares ready to chain together.

Mum, on a blue background. I will add another band and then a border and a quilt will be born.

Kitten, so cute, she has not had the background strips added yet, I have to cut more of the blue and the light is going and I am off to the library. On both of these the buttons and whiskers are just positioned to show the idea, I will be embroidering the features, I do not want buttons and thread ending up in any tummy. I will turn them into little quilts suitable for either a small child or a pet. These will be going to Many Tears along with the beds, they do have cats there, and will be on the craft stall.

I really want to make both of these and the Scotty Dog with 5" charm squares I think they will be an ideal way to work through my scrap boxes. I have pulled 3 of the  boxes from the top of my bookcases and must go through them this week. It is not in the interest of sorting them out, there is a large piece of organza that I want to give to Maggie somewhere in the stash. All I have to do is find it, ALL, who am I kidding, It will be like mounting a serious attempt to climb the Matterhorn.

I popped out for an hour yesterday afternoon, Ben had a little walk and I took him to have a play with some of his pals. There were 5 of us and 4 dogs, the sun rolled out for us and we managed to sit in the garden. Ben was very funny, he managed to sit on everyone's lap and get a cwtch, but as soon as one of the other dogs came to me he was there in a flash letting them know that I was HIS person and not for sharing. This is the first time that he has done this. I let it go for one time as he is normally not bothered at all, if it happens again he will be gently put in his place.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  Good times with friends.

2.  Lots of crafting going on.

3.  My pile of sewing donations is growing fast.

4.  The first chill of Autumn is still being held at bay by the sun.

5.  I have enough green tomatoes to make a batch of chutney.

During the past week or so I have been looking back across the years. I was the eldest of 5, and from the moment that my first sibling was born I became a mini carer. a sister, 2 brothers and a final sister spread out over 12 years and my caring skills and instincts were firmly in place.
I married, had a baby with health issues, bronchial issues and some periods in hospital with severe croup. Later he was diagnosed with Renal problems and went on to have 3 Renal transplants. Along the way my siblings spent their school holidays with me as my Mother worked. And so it rolled on, I feel that I have spent the biggest part of my 63 years looking after others. 
Do not misunderstand me, this is not a general "poor me" moaning session, apart from the health scares I loved it all, a house full of my family, a large garden and a dog all in glorious countryside. I baked and sewed, knitted and played to my hearts content. As the children grew and did not need minding I started work and met a new way of life. Still tearing around, filling every minute of the day with activity.
Now that I am looking forward to the last third of my life I feel that it is time to change my perspective. I now feel that this is my time, time to pick and choose what I want to do and when I want to do it.
For instance I have said " No, sorry but I can not help you at the moment" to a couple of people lately, this is because I am helping Many Tears. My choice, to please myself.
I am planning on at least a week with Jeannie before the winter sets in and will be enjoying some quality time with her.
I have made friends with one of the volunteers in the local library and we are planning to spend a little time together. In order to do these things I will be curtailing the time that I spend elsewhere.

Oops, I have started to waffle and ramble. It must be due to my very early morning start, the past few days I have been waking at Stupid O'clock and once I am awake I am up. If I do snuggle down and fall into a sleep I suffer all day for it.

Have a good day, the sun is doing it,s very best here.

    TTFN                                                       Pam