Wednesday, 31 January 2024

January furtle

First Furtle of 2024! So what did January bring? Firstly lets acknowledge what a hard month January can be? Here it has been cold, dark, icy, its not an easy month is it? But making things makes all the difference and helps so much.
First we have this lovely cushion cover, I made this from my very favourite Japanese fabric for the revamped Sewing room, it fits perfectly
This year I am determined to get some long standing things of my fettle list, first up was my idea to use up all those selvedges we all keep hoarding! well most of us anyway!
I sent off for some lightweight interfacing, ironed up all the selvedges ... memo to self, keep them flat if you are going to continue to collect them! and off we went. These are such fun blocks to make, no faffing with measuring, seam allowances etc just off you go sewing. My main issue seems to be I have made almost 20 blocks now but its not made much of a dent in the pile of Selvedges!
I also signed up to the tiny 9 patch challenge hosted by reproquilter, I am hoping these will make some of a dent in my liberty scraps!
I also redid my pompom for my swimmming bobble hat! very nifty
Outdoor swimming has fast become my new passion, I love it so much! One of the lovely ladies I swim with had her 50th Birthday, it seemed only fitting she gets a Mermaid open wide pouch as a present, the mermaid pattern is from Quiet Play under the sea BOM
I always seem to start the year with smaller quilts, I think it is because I end the year finishing up so many bigger quilts!
I also often get gifted fabrics because people know I will use it for charity quilts, the lovely Cori Dantini fabrics below were gifted by a chum, I am glad I could use them to make this cute wee quilt.
This will be properly photographed soon but the weather is too awful just now for that! Yep, the "Planets" quilt is done!!! Cath, cumbrian Longarmer did her usual fantastic job on it, I love it!
Espresso Martini 😆 I did get out for a lovely chums birthday meal! well it would be rude not to toast them ...
Ah yes, in my quest to get things off the long term list I started this again! Fabric Marbling, so much fun and now the quilt will get made!!
Oh yes, the colouring sheet for the tiny 9 patch challenge ... a friend who is not a quilter or crafter but who is a BIG spelling pedant made a snarky comment about the spelling of colour on the sheet. Now I love her dearly but felt very uncomfortable about it, so I am not showing that part of the sheet again 
And another small finish! This was again gifted, a Lovely charm pack, the price on it said 2.50 so Im guessing its about 15 years old!, a few FQs and we have a quilt!
oh yes another charm pack! January seems to be charm pack month, good job i have a few ... and lovely Fig tree charm pack, some meterage and bish bash bosh here you go
January always seems to be ducking in and out of the weather. We did get a break enough to have a lovely weekend away, three amigos, we all took knitting and I started off a sock, lets see where this goes!
So thats a summary of January! Have fun whatever  you are doing

Storygraph January 2024


OMG how much do I love storygraph!!! I need something other than long covid to blog about and what better than reading!!! And storygraph gi especially me these cool graphics!I'm doing this retrospectively so might not remember them all!



So I read 6 books??? Blimey I don't actually remember this but I do remember some of the books, PC Doherty always a favourite and a reliable read, the 2 Mark Dawson ones were freebies for signing up to his newsletter,  not my usual read but enjoyable, Robert Van Gulik always a favourite i love Judge Dee, Fressingham witch I don't actually remember much about that but I only gave it 3 stars which is not bad but probably means it's not memorable for me








 

Tuesday, 30 January 2024

Three amigos

A lovely break from the gloom of January! A visit with Ruth and Sheena to Tyndrum, we were going to knit so I decided to try socks! Thanks to some expert advice and pattern advice off I set!
so! This was the wrong way round!🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ but thanks to some expert guidance I soon got the right way round 😊
Chill calm good company 
Lovely views


Right way round now!

I remember Ruth buying the fabric for this quilt!

The best of chums, three amigos 😊
And look what happened on the way home! Just as I was pulling out my car ticked over 100000 miles, old faithful 



January swimming

What a way to start the New year ❤️ I can't express what outdoor swimming has done for me, yes it's helped the arthritis and mental health but it's more than that, it's the community the welcoming, the kinship. More of this please!





 Aberdour 





Loch lubnaigh 





Janet and Ruth chat up the rescue chaps!



Loch Venachar for Lynnes 50th

The best of floofs




Lagoon 26/1/2024




Lagoon 30/1/2024
Annette's camera gave us halos!