I've had....

an

Yes, I know this is a very dangerous thing!

Do you fancy a swap?

This is my idea - you put together some items from your stash, you are not to buy anything. Then you send your selected items to someone else. The person you have sent the items to will make something from said items and then send the finished item back to you. Any materials left over are kept by the person making the item.

I don't know about you but I buy certain materials with an idea in mind but I don't follow the idea through so the materials sit there. My idea is to stretch ourselves, using things, perhaps, we wouldn't use.

Anybody in?

Poor Meg!

Don't look if you are squeamish! 

Poor Meg! She is having a bad time at present. She has mega problems with her ears, they build up wax, she has had them cleaned out under sedation before and we have to keep putting drops in them.

The day we went on holiday She developed a huge haematoma (blood blister) on the underside of her ear flap so off to the vet she went. Fortunately my DD was at home and was able to take her for us.

These are the pictures she sent me. She looks very sorry for herself!

She had lots of stitches in the ear flap. Earlier in the week DD & I tried to take the stitches out (being nurses is rather useful). We got 2 thirds of them out but then she got too agitated and I was worried she would try to bit us so she went back to the vet for sedation to get the rest out and the ear was given a good clean out. That was yesterday.

Today she is still wearing her lampshade as she is still shaking her head a lot and if we took it off she would give it such a good scratch she would do serious damage and undo all the good work.

What with her leg and her ears and her allergies she has cost a fortune, fortunately she is insured but the premiums will go up again! Never mind she is worth it and none of our other animals haven't cost much so it all balances out. I'm glad we have got her. I dread to think what would have happened to her if we hadn't rescued her.   

I'm back!

We are back from our holiday in Scotland

This is the cottage we stayed, a 2 bedroomed bungalow with a kitchen/diner/sitting room

 This was the view from the front of the cottage.

Scotland! the view!

Mum & Dad!

This is the village we stayed in - Plockton!

Silence!

There will be silence for 10 days 

As we are off to Scotland tomorrow, first to Edinburgh (to see SofM) and then to a cottage in Plockton.

We are going with the 'Olds' as they are affectionately known in the family, otherwise known as my parents. 

We are going especially to go on the West Highland Railway. The Olds have wanted to go on this for a while and it is now or never as my Dad is getting frailer (he isn't as robust now as he was in this photo). He has had three hospital admissions in 6 months and it has taken its toil. Both of them don't walk well, Dad is worse than Mum so we are going for it before it can't be done at all.

We are having dinner tomorrow night with SofM. We've not seen him since Christmas so it will be good to see him. He will have finished his exams tomorrow so there will be a little celebration!

And burglars don't get excited - DD & Gromit and the very ferocious (ha ha) Meg will still be here!

Uttoxeter Quilt Show

Is anyone going to Uttoxeter Quilt Show on Sunday!

My friend, J & I are. If you are let me know, it would be nice to see hello!

Mug rugs - part 2!

I took part in 'Quilting Galleries' recent mug rug swap

I've already posted the mug rugs I received but I haven't posted about the mug rugs I made and sent out.

Here they are!

My swap partner hasn't got a blog and asked me to show them on my blog.

I really enjoyed making them and I've just bought 3 more patterns from The Patchsmith, who designed these.

A liitle bit of....

......... dressmaking!

Sorry I've been gone for a while - google problems (which aren't resolved but have got round them and trying to get on with making things!)

I've been inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee! I haven't done any dressmaking for over 25 years. I started off dressing making, I have a CSE grade 1 in needlework!!! I'm really enjoying the Great British Sewing Bee.

DD wanted some fabric to make a Minnie Mouse skirt for a party she went to today so we went to Leon's fabrics in Chorlton, Manchester last Saturday. Well! I couldn't help myself, surrounded by all this fabric.

I no longer own any dressmaking patterns, I got rid of them years ago, anyway, I'm a totally different shape now so I bought a simple skirt pattern to start off with - New Look 6843. I've always found New Look patterns easy to use and because there are several sizes in the pattern there is lea way for resizing to fit. 

So here you are! A wearable skirt! It isn't perfect but I'm well chuffed that I haven't forgotten the necessary skills.

I added about an inch to the front to allow for my tum. Next time I make it I'm going to make it longer. I've bought enough of this fabric to also make the dress shown below.

I bought this pattern & yarn from my LYS yesterday. The colour will go nicely with my new skirt, as well as quite a few other things in my wardrobe.

So next I'm going to get started on this!

I've got the bug!