Fabric Inspiration

Fathers Day was a joy, spending quality time with my dear Dad means a lot I am blessed that we were able to enjoy a afternoon tea together.  My sweet husband was overloaded with cards, pictures from the Grandchildren and gifts he was certainly spoilt.

Last week I had a massive clear out of the craft room and came across a whole box full of Christmas fabric.   I was inspired as soon as I saw it and immediately set to making some mug rugs that Sheila who blogs at Life's Too Short To Iron Tea Towels had made and linked to a wonderful tutorial on YouTube.

 

A simple but effective make using 6 5" squares.

 

 

Tied with some natural twine in a set of four, with a added tag left over from last year it now makes an attractive gift.

 

 

I stitched some fabric on plain tea towels to line a couple of small hampers.

 

 

Using the snowman fabric and some oddments of fleece, bibs have been made for the holiday season.

 

 

An apron has been made using a vintage pattern ready for one of Granny's little helpers.  Red velvet ribbon was using for the binding which gives it quite a luxurious feel.

 

 

Quite amazing how you can be inspired by seeing fabric.  Whilst it may seem a little early for some making Christmas gifts in June I actually do not like to put myself under pressure, so work all year round gift making for all occasions.

 

Go on admit it, you have started looking for inspiration for Christmas...

 

See you soon.

 

 

 

 

Five on Friday - Bobbins

I have had a busy week, hence the lack of posts.  The rain and awful weather kept me indoors and so I managed to achieve so much.  One of the main tasks was the craft room, I have such a love for all things crafty that I have become a bit of a collector.  Whilst on the one hand that is fine, the room was starting to look cluttered and unloved which is the opposite of what I feel about this room.  I have sorted all the patterns and stored them properly.  The fabric and yarn has been sorted and I was realistic about what I would use, so some will find new homes.  The storage in there is now so much more effective.  A job well done I feel.

I am once again joining Amy over at lovemademyhome.blogspot.co.uk/ for the weekly get together.  Pop over and see what everyone has been up to.  My five this week are bobbins/spools that adorn the craft room.

One

 

I am presuming that these bobbins are used for some sort of weaving as they are wound with wool.  I would be happy for you to correct me if you know what they are.  I bought them back from America, so I am also presuming that they were American.  There are no markings on them that I can see.

 

Two

 

Again bobbins that I presume are for weaving, they are blank but look very similar to those above, although this time I did buy them in Scotland.

 

 

They are about 8" long and have the same top as the ones from America.

 

Three

 

 

I am guessing that these are some sort of industrial bobbin as they are quite large and heavy, the biggest one is about 12" tall.

 

Four

 

 

These are bobbins that hold thread, the large one at the front is cotton the yellow one is silk.  I have no idea what they were used for I am presuming the large one is industrial.

 

Five

 

 

Now these I do know about, they are lace bobbins.  I spent several hours on youtube following a tutorial and I am able to thread the bobbin and do a test patch.  Some of them are quite old and I am sure have many a tale to tell.

 

 

I do have a pattern book and dream of one day been able to achieve something, there are courses that you can go on but nothing local.  The lace bobbins in the case all have spangles which all tell a story about the lace maker, I find it fascinating.

 

 

These are some oddments that I use to practise threading.   Some have great markings to commemorate events in the lace makers life.  They tell their own story.

 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

 

See you soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden Update

Whilst the rest of the Country was basking in gorgeous sun here on the East Coast we were cold and damp.  Rain never seemed to be far away but for once today the sun is shining although not particularly warm there has been no rain.  I have managed to get some outdoor jobs done, including some washing hung out to dry and enjoyed a little tour of the garden.  The pots are thriving with all this rain so one less job to be done.  We have 2 large raised beds at the side of the house that are in desperate need of weeding the rest of our produce is grown in containers which we seem to do well with.

During the summer months we always have some sort of lettuce and salad produce.

 

A selection of mixed leaves, a variety not grown before but we are using some seeds that we got free with our monthly gardening magazine.

 

 

Spring onions, we have several tubs all at different stages.  This tub is ready to harvest.

 

 

The radish seem to have grown overnight and are ready to be thinned out.

 

 

The broad beans are flowering and have just been tied to canes to protect them from the vicious wind we have here.  They don't call this area bracing for nothing.

 

 

The strawberries are doing well, they never actually come into the house the dog and my husband eat them but it is fun to watch them grow.

 

 

The beetroot suddenly had a growth spurt and now needs to be thinned out a little, all this rain has certainly made a difference to the pots.

 

 

I have a dwarf apple tree that has finally started to fruit after two years of nothing, I can not tell you how exciting this is we keep going out and checking the branches.

 

 

The peas seem to have taken a bit of a battering but with some TLC I am sure they will survive, they need some canes putting in, another job for the list.

 

 

We also have blackcurrants and gooseberries coming along nicely.  The plants are small and do not produce large quantities but enough to fulfil the need to grow something for ourselves.  We do have a substantial herb garden that I do use a lot and dry out some for winter use.

 

For those of you that live in the UK I hope you enjoyed the many celebrations around the Country celebrating our wonderful Queens birthday.  We had an afternoon tea, traditional English fayre with a couple of friends.  My contribution was of course scones, with homemade jam and a toffee cake which was definitely a little moreish!

 

 

The toffee topping and crushed nuts was not for the faint hearted, delicious!

 

As always thank you for all your lovely comments on my previous posts it is always a great pleasure to read them.  I finally got my ears syringed on Friday so I am now pain free and most surprising able to hear properly once more.  I was amazed how much difference this made such a simple but certainly very effective cure.

 

See you soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five on Friday - A Mixed Bag

Friday certainly came around quickly this week, I think that is probably due to being so busy, time certainly is flying by.  I am joining in with the weekly get together over with Amy at lovemademyhome.blogspot.co.uk/ pop over and join in the fun.

One

A wonderful surprise visit, a weekend spending quality time with my eldest daughter making plans for the christening of Hector.  It was wonderful to be included in her preparations, we spent some lovely time together in the craft room sourcing materials she wanted for the décor.

 

Two

 

The whole house has been given a declutter, regretfully some of it has had to be taken to the tip which is the one thing I do try to avoid and recycle as much as I possibly can.  The area under the stairs is now full of things ready to do a car boot sale.  Unfortunately the weather forecast is not looking good so there is it going to have to stay until the weather picks up.

 

 

Three

 

I have once again spent time in the kitchen, batch cooking for both the freezer and for my parents.  Dad's appetite is not good at the moment but he does like soup so I did make him a batch of tomato and red pepper and a carrot and sweet potato one.  Cottage pie is always a firm favourite and a orange jam sponge pudding freezes well for unexpected guests.

 

 

The dessert cut into 6 portions, perfect with custard.

 

Four

 

We have had a mixed bag of weather, with only one day of sunshine where it actually felt warm.  I keep reading everyone's blogs and am envious of the summer sun.  I did however manage to get into the garden and made a great start on weeding the copious amounts of pots that we have on the patio.  We do a lot of container gardening and grow a wide variety of flowers, herbs and vegetables.  We also have a couple of raised beds at the side of the house which we have fun growing vegetables in.

 

 

Living so close to the sea our gardening is affected by the wind which can be quite damaging at times.  The sea fret causes damp conditions and the salt in the air is corrosive but we have learnt over time to work with Mother Nature and we do manage to reap the rewards of our labour most of the time.  We are already eating lettuce and spring onions and we have a constant supply of herbs.

 

Five

 

Finally I have spent some time in the craft room preparing list for Christmas.  I spent a lovely afternoon browsing books and patterns so that I could make a start on some gifts.  The list has been made...

 

 

 

As always I wish everyone a wonderful weekend and hope the weather is a lot better than it is here, at the moment it is raining and that is predicted for the next week.

 

See you soon.