has it been so long?

since my last blog post? It really has; our summer was just starting and now it is near its end.

It has been a strange summer in our part of the world - yes, we had the occasional warm spell (too hot sometimes to be able to enjoy it) and not even "stitching in the garden weather", very often too windy to be able to stitch outside.

We managed to squeeze in a birthday party outside somewhere at the end of July. 

The flower beds at Barrington Court gardens are very much "end of summer" now.

The National Trust have a wonderful large second hand book shop here, 

after a big "sort out" at home, we brought lots of books here.

 I didn't disappear, there was too much other stuff going on - deciding should we "downsize" again,

trying to sell our house, getting a deal and it all fell through......  Not so unusual, unfortunately.

We are at the age when even our current house is proving too large and may be we just have enough time to settle into something smaller. Selling and buying property in this country can be painful, say the least. 

There is nothing as sobering like having a sort out, what furniture we are likely to keep, what we can possibly take with us and many trips to the charity shops.

And keeping the house constantly ready for viewing.

But I am forever the optimist - "it will work out somehow".

Crafting is such a wonderful thing for keeping my sanity while all this is going on.

You could tell there was something new going on my sewing room:

At the beginning of summer I started making " Lewis Coverlet" by Susan Smith, from her book 

"Quilts Somewhat in the Middle",

something I had my eye on for a while - lots of applique!

I am loving it!

This was the start - the centre:

and this is where it is now,

working on final borders:

I also made a very good start on new crochet project - Macaroon Blossom blanket , which I was given all the yarn for by Santa last Christmas.

The little flowers blocks are like small cakes 😊.

 I hope you all are keeping well, I will try to visit you soon!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2024

slow coming of summer

Lost and lots of rain.............

Wet winter, wet spring means that our small garden is very lush and green; 

but with little sunshine now and then some colour is coming through at last!

With so much time spent indoors I managed to finish two projects in May.

Crojo Retro blanket - so pleased this is done. 

It is all wool and very warm, so not very comfortable on my lap any more. 

Also my Cherry Picker's Garden quilt, all done.

The colours in the picture are not exactly true,

what looks red here is actually more salmon pink. 

Whenever I am working an any project, 

my sewing room is a total chaos;

but all tidy now....ready to start on something new. 

What is it going to be?

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2024

Still little chilly, but the sun is out more often and it does feel like spring at last!

We even get to sit outside with our coffee now and then and watch the blackbird feeding his young.

He isn't very happy for us being there, had the garden to himself until now. 

Trip to Lytes Cary Manor gardens (NT), our regular at this time of year, just to see the wonderful show of camassias and cowslips together, a couple of weeks earlier then usually, probably due to our mild winter this year.

 

At home I have been carrying on with same projects, Cherry Picker's Garden quilt is still being hand quilted and as for Crojo Retro blanket - is taking time to fill in all those gaps between flowers. 

I will be glad to see the end of that one - one day!

Wanting some new applique to sew,  I joined Katrina Hadjimichael's "Amelia Rose quilt" (pattern of the month). 

This is the first month, central panel.

And this where it ends for me; while I like Katrina's designs, as I was sewing it, 

I realised that this is not "me", too busy. 

I will probably border, back it and quilted it at some point and it will stay as a small quilt.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2024

Happy Easter!

I hope you are all having a nice Easter weekend; 

mostly dry and even sunny in my part of the world,

 so welcome after all that rain we have been having.

This morning we even managed to have our coffee siting outside, 

enjoying little sunshine.

Spring has arrived in my garden, 

so many blossoms opening up

now.

 

The last few weeks had been so wet, 

there was absolutely no incentive to venture too far out.

I used that time to finish all the blocks for Cherry Picker's Garden,

 

make up final borders,

and put it all together - ready to quilt.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2024

hope of spring soon

It has been very mild (but very wet) in my part of the world. Looking outside, one could be fooled into thinking that spring is very close. 

Pair of Blue Tits seemed to have already claimed a nesting box in our garden, and there are another signs that nature just can't wait to burst into spring.

Spending lots of time indoors, I decided to tidy my work room (again, from which you can tell I am bored, 

although I have been reading a lot); 

that is when you come across past projects hidden somewhere in the corner, 

like this Crewel embroidery, long forgotten. 

It is a welcome break from crochet and quilts.

Back to my quilt project ( "Cherry Picker's Garden") 

shown in my last post: 

I have now finished the last two 10 inch blocks, 

it is time to choose border fabrics.

I am still trying to use my stash.

The final green border is actually much nicer colour in reality,

and it was the inspiration for this quilt.

So, back to Crojo Retro blanket. 

I have now joined all the parts together, but because the flowers and leaves are different shapes, you can see what the problem is now - big gaps! 

The solution to that are more flowers, small ones this time.

Many of them!

Yes, it will take some time to fill in all those holes!

-------------------------

As I do every winter, I made some orange marmalade,

enough to last us until next year.

But this year I have also come across Bergamot lemons, not seen normally in our local supermarkets.

They are very small and actually look more like very small satsumas.

Apparently used often for preserved lemons, so having only 4 of them, I experimented:

one small jar of preserved lemons,

and the rest to make lemon marmalade.

I made this marmalade before, using supermarket unwaxed lemons,

so I knew we would like it.

The recipe 

( which includes a spring of rosemary - yes, it does work) 

comes from this book.

Of course, the result was a very small yield, just one jar!

But it was worth the effort, it is very nice.

I have managed too buy some more Bergamot lemons,

so I will make some more,

 and mixing them with normal lemons will surely work

and will make a larger quantity.

So, that's me for now.

I hope all is well with all of you. I haven't been very good blogger again - life just gets in the way,

I am sure you know what I mean.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2024