Riding the Ripples.

There are a few ripples in my life but it could be worse, they could be waves. There are some good ripples as well, you will see them a bit further down.

I have not been far from home for a few days but will be out and about tomorrow. I have made a few more pillow case dog beds and have 3 more ready to sew, these will go to Many Tears in the morning.

These are the perfect size for the smaller dogs and being poly-cotton with polyester wadding they wash easily and dry quickly.

The pillowcases were either old ones that I have relegated to the scrap sewing stash or in the case of the pink patterned one picked up for 25p in a charity shop. With the wadding supplied at cost these are as cheap as chips and take minutes to make.

I was sorry to miss Yarndale but am making firm plans to go next year. I have been looking at pictures on some blogs and they are great. I am enjoying hooking away in the evenings, they are pulling in so fast now.

I have made a start on Lucy,s seaside ripple blanket from Attic24. Just for once I am following the pattern completely, a new discipline for me.  

The pattern is simple and repetitive, and I can watch the TV without missing a thing. There is a new version coming out with Cottage Garden colours, that is in my line of sight but I will maybe change some of the colours. It will have to wait until I have looked at the blanket in detail and mull it over.

The most wonderful smells are creeping around the house, I have Frugal Queen,s Sticky Fiery Pork in my mini oven, I have some runner beans and sweetcorn ready to cook and some noodles ready to heat. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Another recipe that I am following exactly, it won,t last.

I spent an hour with Maggie this afternoon, she is a talented artist and has started to work with semi precious gems. We both have a love of colour and some of the materials that she uses have sparked my imagination. I will be playing with lots of new ideas this winter and looking for sources of various materials.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  The weather continues to be lovely for the most part.

2.  I have been given  many plants for my garden.

3.  I seem to have a never ending supply of runner beans, good job that I love them.

4.  My new friends and acquaintances are very supporting.

5.  Ben is in good health although ageing quite obviously now. 

We are curtailing our walks as his hind legs shake if he over does it. I am going to have to put in some swimming time or start walking alone to make up for it. There is a walking group in the village but they take it very seriously and I prefer my exercise to be enjoyable.

My landlord dropped in today, there are a couple of little jobs to be done, he was very complementary on the garden and looks forward to seeing how it develops. He was most impressed with my little apple trees, I imagine that he thought that all apples grew on standard trees 40 ft tall.

Enough now, I have pork to turn and veg to cook, dinner is not too far away.

      TTFN                                                    Pam

Still Sewing up a Storm

My goodness, Wednesday already it is amazing how fast the days slip by. I have been sewing like crazy, getting some things ready to try and sell. It is not a chore though as I love it.

Six smallish bags with padded handles ready to go.

This one is my favourite, I like the contrast of the bold colours on one side to the much lighter ones on the other.

The bold colours that I love.

I have crocheted another 2 bands round my Granny Blanket and will show you when it is finished.

I pulled a box of Vintage Sheet Charms out while searching for something else and had a Eureka moment. I have been shuffling these around for quite a while now and decided that their time had come.

One baby quilt, pieced, layered and pinned ready to quilt.

I just quilted in straight lines either side of the seams, I did not pull the layers too tight as I wanted a little puffiness in the finished quilt.

I bound it with some soft grey and used a remnant of brushed cotton for the back, this was left from a large quilt that I made ages ago. I machine stitched the binding to the front and my clover clips are holding it all in place. I will hand sew it later on today.

My "sciatica" was quite bad over the weekend so I made an appointment to see the doctor, I could not get in to see him until yesterday just before lunch. By 2:00 I was at the hospital in Llanelli waiting to go to Xray, my doctor thinks that I have arthritis in my left hip and possibly the knee. I had thought that it may be the case as this attack has been ongoing from last November. The pain has been somewhat different to the norm and I have started to "roll" when I walk, a bit like a sailor just ashore.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that if it is then I will be able to have a hip replacement sooner rather than later.

In my haste to get back to my sewing, on my return,I managed to forget leaving 2 big bath towels on the line to finish drying. Of course it poured down in the night and is a fine drizzle now, I will have to get them in and put them in to spin before hanging on the clothes horse.

Yesterday it was as hot as Hades and should have been so all week, hey ho If I am confined to the house I will finish the baby quilt and maybe the Granny border.

I was supposed to be gardening but that can wait for a dry day.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  The Health Service is much maligned but was on the ball for me yesterday.

2.  I managed to complete my planned sewing and almost finish a baby quilt.

3.  Ben is now on some new medication after all the tests.

4.  James and Cerys are all set to move this weekend.

5. Francesca will be here on Friday till Monday mid day.

I am hoping, that once Ben's skin condition is either resolved or completely under control, I will be able to get over to Oz to see my brother and his family. My eldest nephew and his girlfriend have had a house built and it would not surprise me if there was a wedding next year. My youngest nephew has grown like a weed since I saw him last and as I said earlier the weeks slip away as do the months. I saw Tony and Sue when they came to England a year ago and in all likelihood it will be another year before I see them again. Fingers crossed that a new hip is in place as it will make the long long flight much easier.

Ben has had a walk, albeit short he decided quite abruptly to turn round and head for home, I think he was ready for his breakfast as it disappeared at an alarming rate. I have a beef casserole in the slow cooker and part of the stock from that will be used as a sauce for the beef olives that I am going to make for some of my new found friends. I also need to get some bread started and I have 2 banana cakes to make.

On that note I will say..............

      TTFN                                                   Pam

Good Morning, Oh My Word it,s early.

I am up, exercised, showered and dressed. It is 6.45 and the village is quiet, all I can hear is Ben's gentle snoring and the whir of the washing machine.
Francesca has gone off to London, she has to leave the cottage at 5.45 to get to her office by 8.45. Once she has moved it will be 40 minutes door to door. That is a time gain of nearly 25 hours a week, an extra day, I want one. Santa take a memo.

I am working with my 2 1/2" squares for a little while this morning, I have all the coloured ones in pairs and am pinning a third one to each pair. I do not usually pin but in the interest of keeping pressure off my leg I will pin and then set the machine to run on auto and just feed them through in a chain. I have 126 trios to make then each one will have a white square on one end.

There is a method to my madness. Remember the trees I showed yesterday, well it is an about face. I have decided to sash them and make a quilt that can double as a  table topper instead of a runner. I have lots of 3" sashing strips to cut and then bigger pieces to square it up. While I have the white fabric out I am going to cut my 126 x 2 1/2" squares. I know myself and if I do not have the sets ready to pin them to I will lose them.
 To give me a rest from sewing I will write this post as I go through the day. Toodle Pip for now.

It is now 9.40, I am more than halfway through my 2 1/2" squares and just back from walking Ben. A cup of coffee, a quick whizz round the kitchen and more sewing. Square eyes and no telly!

It is now 2,30, I have finished sewing for the afternoon. I have some cooking to do.
Ben has had a second walk and the weather is pretty disgusting, a fine mizzle that soaks you before you realise and enough wind to blow it down the back of your neck.

All 126 sets ready to press, whew.

Pressed and stacked in piles of 20, I made a few extra so that when I assemble the top I will have a few to juggle with. There are bound to be one or two that I feel do not fit.

The first two Christmas tree blocks, the other 8 just need the white strips to be sewn on the bottom, they are all pinned.  I am going to put a 1" sashing strip in that will give me a finished quilt size of 48" wide by 64" long. A good throw size, when it is assembled I will decide  whether to add a border or not. I thought about another row of trees but do not have enough of the green and I can not drive out to buy any more.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A good mornings sewing.

2. A sparkling kitchen floor. ( I was pressing white fabric)

3. The exercises are becoming easier.

4. My favourite Chicken and Bacon Pasta Bake for dinner.

5. A gift of free range eggs for my baking later.

Altogether a satisfactory day, and I still have some play time in the kitchen tom look forward to. Before that another round of exercises, tea and 30 minutes with a book.

              TTFN                                      Pam 

The Beast Is Tamed

Well if not completely tamed under close control.

He He, just kidding, Ben is just having a little snooze after a longish walk and the excitement of meeting a new dog in the village, a Beagle cross puppy. Lots of bouncing up and down and a little swing from one of Ben's ears.

You may not have noticed but I am a bit of a flibbertigibbet  I start a project and then new ideas come flooding in and I want to start another, rinse and repeat, I have to force myself to batten my mind down and focus. I still mange to have a few things on the go though. The real problem here is that when I finish one thing I still have more in progress, this means that I never get to grips with all the left over fabric. 

The smaller bits are no trouble they go into my scrappy crumb bin and when it gets full I make improvised blocks by sewing them onto strips of paper. When I have enough of these they are quick to sew together and tun into what ever I fancy.

It is the bigger bits that mount up, more than a 5" square and less than a fat quarter. I 'fess up to having 2 large bins full. I follow both Lori Holt and Bonnie Hunter, both prolific quilters and authors, both keeping their scraps under tight control. PING I have to buckle down and do the same, it will make my sewing storage neater and make it easier to use up my scraps as leaders and enders.

2" and 3" strips

3 1/2" strips and a pile of trimmings to be used for stuffing.

2 1/2" and 5" squares, the building blocks of many quilt patterns.

A pile of odd shaped trimmings for my scrappy paper pieced blocks and a pile of odd sized strips.

The latter will feature in some "wonky" Log Cabin blocks.

I normally make log cabin blocks with strips all the same width but saw one on a blog last week where the maker had just used every sized strip that she had and I liked it.

2 days cutting, pressing and more cutting, aching shoulders and a sore wrist, lots of tea breaks and Ben breaks. It is done, at least i have done as much as I can do for now, my newly sorted scraps need to be housed in separate containers. I have stacks of plastic and will sort through them later. 

The two boxes that I emptied? Oh I filled them before I started cutting so that I had to get the job done now instead of later.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A job well done.

2. Order where once there was chaos.

3. Ben being as cuddly as he can.

4. A dry and warm day.

5. New recipes to try from a follower

The person responsible for my expected weight gain is Shaz Frugal Goddess. You can find her by looking at the comments on yesterdays post and clicking on her name.

I will be making pitta bread, oat bread and Apple and Walnut cake.

Dirt Under My Fingernails, very recently discovered, has to take some of the blame as I will be cooking her Grans Fruity Cakey Dessert as well. Thank goodness for Nev.

Now I am hungry and need a cup of tea before I walk Ben.

TTFN                                           Pam

Wonderful Wednesday

A glorious day. I have a new follower, welcome aboard Csarina, I clicked on your little picture and saw that one of the blogs that you follow is Bluebell. I have come across several mentions of her but this is the first time I have found her blog. So I owe you a big thank you. I also found Snitty Kitty,s blog Woo Hoo, that is two friends discovered and a new one added in 24 hours. It really is a wonderful day.

My favourite apple tree showing how blue the sky is today, and it is warm too, no jacket needed to walk Ben. I leave a few apples here and there for the birds, as the winter goes on I will take some out of store for them along with fat balls and meal worms. I love the birds in my garden and want them to prosper.

This tree is nearest to the house, I leave a lot of small apples on here as they seem to cling on to the tree for dear life, once the hard weather comes this will hold fat balls and a few dishes of water will be close by. There are a few cats around but they do not come this close to the house thanks to Ben.

Ben had another crazy play last night and this was the end result.

He stayed like this for around 15 minutes, catching his breath and gently wagging his tail.

It was a different story this morning, on our walk he managed to find something very very dead and sit on it! I walked him home at arms length and he went straight into the bath.

An action shot, he throws himself into his towels and gets quite dry like this.

Butter wouldn't melt/Who me/A big dog did it and ran away!

Once he is completely dry I will take him out again, on a different path.

I got all the meats out of the freezer to make faggots for dinner and will freeze plenty for future meals. I do not mince the meats just chop them in the processor, we like the extra texture, I put the liver in last otherwise it turns to gloop. I use lambs liver and will keep a slice and dust it with a little flour and have it lightly fried for my lunch, cooks perks.

I have a bag of frozen wine cubes, made in an ice cube tray with ends of bottles of wine, and have pulled some of those out to go in the onion gravy, yum.

I always add a good dash of Worcestershire sauce as well, I like the gravy to taste as good as the faggots.

I am going to do a little sewing later while dinner cooks. It really is a wonderful day. BTW I sorted the linen cupboard, it is very full but I am loath to part with any of it. one shelf is full of Ben's towels and in a wet week I will need them all.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Another old friend found.

2. A new friend discovered.

3 Some new crafty blogs followed.

4. Time to read without worrying about work.

5. Francesca much better, she really did have an awful few days with her cold.

The Ben is dry, the post has been I am off for a walk.

                                                       TTFN     Pam