April furtle

It's been a slightly lean furtling month since I've been gallivanting a lot 🤣 but there has been progress! A couple of small things ticked off fettle list, this drawstring bag for my sister, she has a sewing machine and this is for the foot peddle

I started a new scrap quilt 🤣 using up the black sashing from my Dear Jane quilt which I unpicked I'm making string blocks which will hopefully use up a lot if not most of my scraps, I dont like scraps they annoy me 🤣 I'm going to try and cut up future scraps and maybe make a drunkards path Scrap quilt? We shall see

below is not my work!!! But how gorgeous and fun is this bollard topper! See down Fraserburgh beach last week

Another finish! The one meaningful word embroidery from Lolli and Grace, I do love the variegated threads although the red did run a bit 😕

I need to get this quilted! Maybe in May? The selvedge quilt is all done top put together ready for quilting 

Tiny nine patch hmmmm I seem to have stalled on this, I will get back to it, I've chosen fabric for background just need to clear out some of the other in progress tops

As mentioned above I unpicked Dear Jane ditched the black sashing and used the background colours for sashing instead, I'm happy with the change, fingers crossed it will let me progress now

The center block of the "In the Meadow " BOM from Quiet Play, am loving this but need to crack on with it, I need to stop gallivanting 🤣🤣🤣 (never gonna happen 🤣🤣) 

Again another top ready the marbled fabric one!  It will get quilted along side the selvedge one 🤞🤞

And that's it for April! Linking up with Archie The Wonderdog for this months Furtle
 

April swimming

 Avon Lagoon 4/4/2024

Avon lagoon 8/4/2024

Avon lagoon 11/4/2024

Avon lagoon  13/4/2024

Avon lagoon 25/4/2024

Tralee beach 28/4/2024 with my Scoobs ❤️

Avon lagoon 30/4/2024

New Selkies bobble hat!!

Love these ladies 

One meaningful word mandala

 

We have a finish!!! Finishes have been a bit thin on the ground, it would help if I stopped gallivanting 🤣🤣🤣

This is the mandala from Lolli and Grace "one meaningful word" (I missed out the word in the middle deliberately)

I loved the use of variegated threads, even though the red one ran a bit. I do love a mandala as well. Lessons learned? In embroidery don't use a fabric which has a pattern printed on it (does that make sense?) This beautiful fabric is shadow liberty,  very lovely but the additional pattern print makes it a bit more difficult to pull the needle through with my hands, plus I used solve to print the pattern onto. A triple layer this did make it challenging for me

But I love it, it will go into the embroidery/temperature booklet for 2023 or 2024 as it straddled both years (and who is counting anyway 😉😉)

Drawstring bag for my sis!

 

We haz a finish! A nice small satisfying finish, it's a drawstring bag for my sis. She has a sewing machine which she keeps in her kitchen (it has a nautical theme) but the footpeddle keeps falling off the top so I thought I would make her a drawstring bag to contain it 😊 some nice tape measure twill for the drawstrings, slightly worried its too small but this is all I had left of the sea fabric, 🤞 she likes it

Florence day 5 last day!

Awwww farewell lovely hotel! The nuns were so wonderful, they wouldnt let me pay for the night I didnt stay, how sweet was that!

One last croissant!

Hearing this as I walked to the cafe was wonderful

Ponte Vecchio! I couldnt really see what picture I was taking hence the slightly stern looking face!!!! I had just dropped off my luggage, quite liked it, you book anbd pay online then they send y ou a code which you enter at door, you can also open and close the door from the website, which is all very well but whn inside the room the mobile signal wasnt too great, caused a bit of a panic! but all went ok and I didnt have to cart around my backpack all day

Better!

Reached the Pitti Palace for 9, brilliant as it was quiet

I celebrated with more coffee and cake!!!

Very tired but very very happy!

Fist up the appartments, stunningly gorgeous

Then the costume galleries! as ever just stunning!

One of Marks chums said this reminded him of Beaker from the muppets!!! I now cant unsee it!

There was an exhibition of art from Uzbekistan, very lovely and moving

Next up? well it wouldnt be a visit to florence without a visit to the Bobboli gardens 💕💕Next to San Marco one of my favourite places

LOOK AT THAT VIEW 💗💗

See the wee turtles under the Obelisk???

I was ever so slightly (a LOT!!!) out of breath up at the top, but it is so worth it

The Ceramic/china museum was closed but thats ok, it just means I have to come back!

Medici Grottos

After all this visual stimulation I needed some calm, so last stop was Santa Croce, cooling and calming and it has skulls! Sadly the Giotto chapel was closed, I was not destined to see much Giotto on this trip!

So that was it! my first visit to Florence in 5 years! Who would have believed it would take so long but hey global pandemic and all that .... it is amazing to be travelling again and something I hope I will never take for granted. I picked up my luggage and headed off!

I actually got to see Florence airport on the way home! A 10 minute tram ride from the city center out to the ariport, cute wee airport only 11 gates but quite a nice selection of shops, I was starving so had some sandwiches, slight panic when they called out my name 5 mins before boarding, they said they wanted to check my passport, all went very smooth after that thank goodness! It was very late for me getting home but I knew that. What a trip, sooooooooo good to be back!