Nature's Ways

I have been awaiting the arrival of a young friend's kittens. The mother is a long haired calico and the father a ginger and white long hair. Both beautiful cats and as it was a ginger kitten I've been looking for I thought this would be it and I'd finally have one.
Sadly, she only had two baby kitties and they both didn't make it. She seemed to have no maternal instinct and refused to let them feed from her. We can't argue with nature, but it sure hurts sometimes!
I'm going to make sure the young chap keeps his eye on the mummy cat as she may have or get mastitis with any milk not being expressed.
It would still be nice to find that special little ginger kitten!!

Cushion Covers

Hi just showing you a couple of things I've been doing in the last week or so between other quilty things and waiting for my op.
The cushions are for my sister's suite. There are 4 cushions in the set. She's really pleased with them. The fabric was originally a pair of curtains from a charity shop and I bought them knowing what I was going to make them into. Here they are......



That's Brodie Bassett posing alongside and making sure the cushions don't fall over. He's a great help!!!

And these little guys are going to be a large quilted cushion cover for my husband who has arthritis of the spine and needs something quite large and soft at his back while he watches TV..................



I have plenty other projects in the pipeline so come back soon or follow to see what's doing over here in Sleepy Hollow.
Thanks for visiting. Please let me know you called by leaving a comment.

A Photo From My Garden Today

Just sharing a photo I took in my garden today......



And of course there's no show without Punch................or rather, Magda!!



Be back soon!

Blue and White Snowball Quilt Top Finished!!

I'm delighted to say I have finished the top of my blue and white snowball quilt. I have enjoyed every second of this English Paper Pieced quilt and am looking forward to hand quilting it. English Paper Piecing and hand quilting are definitely my favourite ways of creating a quilt. So here's a pic of the quilt for you.....



I cropped quite closely on the photo to spare you the sight of my husband's little legs below the quilt. He very good-humouredly held the quilt up for me, even though he was watching something "important" on the telly!!

I will be using a simple quilting pattern on it and will keep you up to date with my (slow) progress! But come back soon for my other postings. Thanks for calling by today. If you're not yet following, please do so I can follow your blog as well.

A Couple More Pin Cushions and a Coaster in the Early Stages!

Hi everyone, this is a little catch up bloggy just to let you know what I've been up to between gall stone bouts!
Here is a little cockleshell pincushion, front and back......



And I love the fabric in this little cushion. Sadly I only had enough to make one.........


The other side of the cushion is green polka dot fabric which matched the green spool of thread on the front perfectly. I wasn't initially sure if it was too much of a contrast but I'm happy with it now and feel it works fine.

I decided to make something a little bigger today so I selected some puffin fabric and a bright red "dimples" fabric and cut out a 6 inch square of each plus 6 inches of thin wadding to make a coaster. These are the fabrics.............



Click on all pics to enlarge and see the fabric better.

I will be making them in sets, each set consisting of four coasters. They will be bound in a multicoloured fabric that picks out all the colours in the puffin fabric. I'll post a photo once I get the first set done.

Puffins come here to Shetland every year to breed. They are adorable little birds and so tame you can get right up to them to photograph them. Normally there is a webcam set up to watch a particular nest at the south end of Shetland. Unfortunately this year nature was not in this puffin family's favour and the egg didn't hatch. It's just one of those things. It happens in the natural world.

I will be selling the puffin coasters on Etsy but if you would like a set I can always accept payment through Paypal. There will be another set coming soon with gannets on. The fabric is just as beautiful and, as we have gannets here too in abundance, I will be selling both these sets as Shetland souvenirs. A great present for friends or family.

My next blog will hopefully be tomorrow, when I will show you a couple of things I picked up in a charity shop and destined for my Etsy shop.

As always, thank you so much for dropping by. If you're not already following my blog, please feel free to do so and keep up to date with the very fabric of my life!!

Some Cutey Little Pin Cushions!

Although I haven't quite finished the snowball quilt yet and I thought I maybe would have done by now, I have actually been sitting at the sewing machine this weekend for some of the time. The rest of the time was spent trying to tidy my sewing room/office.
It was crying out to me!!!
So I thought I'd show you the little pin cushions I've been making for Cancer Research UK. My friend Polly is having a stall at one of our local agricultural shows this year and we're all pitching in to make something to help raise money.
The pin cushions all have one thing on one side eg. a sheep, with perhaps a dog or a flower or tree on the other side.
Hope you like these little ones!!



And then I decided I needed brighter fabric for a change so I created this humorous little cushion.


That's the front and back.
I hope to get many more finished before the show so we can raise as much money as possible. Every little helps.
I've found a lovely kiddies apron pattern which I may try out tomorrow if me and hubby don't go into town.
Thanks for dropping by again. Feel free to comment or give me more quick ideas for fund raising items. I would truly appreciate that.
Bye for now.

It's Been a While

Yes, it's been a while!! It feels like ages and it's definitely been too long, but I've had several months of bad health and still don't feel good a lot of the time. But it's nothing that can't be fixed and I'm awaiting surgery which will make a huge difference.
Here's a peek at how the Dresden Plate is coming along, although I've got more done than this photo shows.....


I've enjoyed every minute of this one and can't wait to get it layered and quilted up.
I've also almost finished the Snowball Quilt top. I'll try to put photos on tomorrow.
Needless to say I have other projects going on at the same time. I will let you see the very first beginnings of a purple Broken Star quilt I hope to hand make. It will literally be the fabrics you will see and I think you'll really like them.
There's so much more to share but for tonight, that's it folks because I'm off to bed to have a good sleep and make an early start on my quilting.
Take care and speak soon!!

My First Attempt at Variable Star Block

Hi again.
I've been busy these last couple of days trying to master the Variable Star block. For some this will be a block you could do with your eyes shut, but for me it was a great learning experience. It also MADE me use the sewing machine!
So here they are........







And now I'm off for a nice cup of tea and a couple of Digestive biscuits!! That's my reward!!! LOL

Gorgeous Garfield

Just HAD to post this photo of Garfield, who lives next door but also spends ""quality time"" with us, I'm glad to say!! He's SO handsome and I think he maybe just knows it too!



Butter wouldn't melt!!

Shirty Quilt Fabrics

My "shirty quilt fabrics" stash is growing slowly and I thought I'd just give you a look at the shirts I've bought so far from charity shops. The other day when I went into town our local Save the Children shop had a sign on the window which said, "Fill a bag for £1.00"". I didn't need a second bidding! While there I got another two shirts, so here's what I've got so far......



There's actually quite a lot of fabric there as most of the shirts are quite big and two of them have long sleeves.I was thinking of a cunning plan though! I could wait until dear hubby goes out somewhere, then I would cut the sleeves off his shirts, hem them and say they were short sleeved all the time and he must be experiencing senior moments!! But I wouldn't do that. He'd just get shirty with me!!

Off now to work on my "snowball" quilt which seems to be taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r!!!
Catch up with you soon. Pop by again or click the follow button and stay up to date. Please leave a comment to let me know you've passed this way.

Liberated House Block for Block Lotto

Here's my very first attempt at a Liberated ( or Wonky) House block.
My eyes were going wonky by the time I'd finished. This little fellow was a challenge as I do nearly everything by hand, over freezer paper and with exact geometric shapes!!I'm not quite delighted with it but I'll share it anyway just to encourage others who may think they can't do other things too!!



Catch up with you soon.

I've Lost Four Pounds...........

....................that's 4 pounds in British sterling money!!!
And looked what I gained for it......
Six lovely cross stitch books, one of which would have cost me £14.99 to buy new!

Here's a closer look at my super bargains.....



This is a fabulous hard back edition of "Design Your Own Cross Stitch" by Shirley Watts, a well known cross stitch designer, known also for her avid love of nature, conservation and photography. I simply adore the blue and white windmill design on this apron.....



I was thinking of perhaps making this scene larger by adding trees, clouds, birds etc to the sides and top and maybe even having a river in front with a fisherman casting into the river. Then the original scene would actually become the view the fisherman has from his standpoint. Could perhaps even add a little sailboat somewhere too. Endless options from one idea!! Perfect!

Also these trinket box lids really appealed to me. I have a storage stool that's in need of re-upholstering and I was thinking of adapting this design to fit a square cover with sides of about 1 and a half inches......



The next book is "The Beatrix Potter Needlepoint Book" by Pat Menchini which contains some adorable Potter characters.I picked this one to show you for it's cuteness factor.......



It's Mrs Tittlemouse! Perhaps she has nodded off after too much cheese pie!! Could that be why I identified with her so readily???? Hmmmm! Who knows!! (Only me!)

There were also 4 delightful small paperback books among my bargains. Here they are........




These little books were originally priced at £5.99 each. I got them for 50 pence each.

The Cuddly Cats and Kittens book is my favourite of the small ones. There are two cartoon cat designs. Just look at them......



And a 'lazy cat' nightdress case.....



Well, I hope some of these photos have amused you or given you inspiration for a new project. I'm off to work on my blue snowball quilt. MUST finish this quilt top this weekend! So I'll start with a cup of tea!! Great place to start a project, don't you think?
Hope you have a happy and peaceful weekend.

Sale Fabrics I Couldn't Resist

First of all, a warm welcome to my new followers!!

Yesterday I visited my local fabric store which was having a sale. Although there were lots of different things in the sale section I headed immediately to the fabrics like a demented homing pigeon and got my beak into the autumn colours!!!

These are the fat quarters I came away with........



The red one is "Turn of the Century" designed for Exclusively Quilters. It is such a pretty little paisley fabric!
The delightful little spotty fabric is "Country Kitchen Spot" by Makower UK.
The green is one of "Florrie's Favorites" - A Florence Peto Collection by Froncie Quinn, endorsed by Shelburne Museum for Red Rooster Fabrics.
I'm not sure what the next fabric is as there was no selvage attached to it. Perhaps if you know the name you could let me know as I would gladly have more of this design. I may be able to get the name of it from the shop if they still have some left.
I adore the next fabric which was designed by Jo Morton for Andover fabrics. This is a beautiful cinammon colour. The very last fabric is the same range but in a nutmeg colour. Between those two fabrics is a scrumptious rich brown and rust fabric but without the selvage edge again :>(

I think I would like to use these fabrics for either the grape basket or flower basket design but they would be stunning used in the Fons and Porter Oak Leaf Quilt.

I can visualize the red paisley as a basket and the spotty fabric as the 'flowers'. Here's a basket pic to help you visualize it too.......





Off now to get a cup of tea and do some more stitching. Two of my favourite things!!

My Latest Find and My Jammy Trophy!!

Well I can hardly believe we're at the weekend again. This week has gone VERY quickly and brought along with it a change of weather for sure. Here in Shetland we have gale force winds which stopped the ferry sailing last night so anyone who wanted to get off the island would have been disappointed. The air has turned markedly colder and the guy in the chip shop told us there was frost due this weekend!! I'm not sure how good a forecaster a chip shop guy really is!! Perhaps he was just "chewin' the fat"!
My photos today are of a lovely little chest of drawers me and hubby found in a second hand store the other day. It has a vague touch of art deco about it and we love it!



Made of a creamy marbled melamine veneer, it has a gorgeous shine to it and looks great against our pale yellow wall. Of course it's almost full up with "stuff" already, but that's what drawers are for!!



The trophy is the one I received for my "best in show" jam. I was told later it was the smell of the fresh strawberries that did it!!! I had only made the jam a couple of days before the show so I may do that again next year.
I noticed from the winners names engraved on the back that no one has won the trophy 2 years in a row, so that is my "mission" for next year!!

Now I'm off to settle down with my snowball quilt. I want to get as much of the top finished this weekend as possible.
Thank you for popping by. Leave a comment so I can visit you too and feel free to press the "follow" button and I'll keep you updated.