The Instapurple quilt

I can show you my latest quilty finish now! (it's also a finish-along entry - the proposal is here) My Mum's birthday was yesterday so she received this guy along with those socks I showed you the other day. They matched too well to not give her them!!

Now, if you remember she asked for a purple cushion for Christmas. And then dropped a hint about having a matching quilt (and when I say hint? She said "you could make me a purple quilt for my birthday"!!) so I got to it. And then discovered I had almost no purple fabrics and couldn't find any small cuts to buy - I wanted scrappy, y'see. Well, my buds on Instagram came up trumps and a group of them sent me lovely little piles from their own stashes!! Marvellous, right?

I bought that little bolt-end strip of Indelible at Christmas for the cushions and didn't use it. It played so nicely with the subtle Wildwood main print. Simple diagonal quilting with ivory since the front is so busy.

Mum loves birds so this was a total shoo-in.

Course, I had help with the photo shoot. We shot out inbetween showers. Jones is just nosey.

And a good mid-purple (not too dark) for binding.

Tah-daah! I love the scrappiness of the different low volume prints and there's loads of wee bits of other quilts in there.

I am forever indebted to Tracy, Helen, Jan, Troods, Emily, Sadie and Claire. You guys rock!!

Quilty deets: 

Pattern: I haven't a clue whst this block is called, I saw it somewhere and figured it out.

Fabrics: everything and the (purple) kitchen sink.

Quilting and thread: diagonal lines with Gutterman ivory cotton

Size: oops! Must measure it next time I'm at Mum's.

cosy feet

I started these socks when we were on our World Tour of Scotland (part 1) and they were my fourth pair in 6 weeks. I must've sickened myself coz they were totally neglected until last month (I stitched some on the way to and from ComicCon) and only just finished! Just as well since they're on my finish-along proposal too! It is here.

I kept knitting until my ball of yarn ran out on the first one so they're quite long. Either up to mid calf or you can fold them over or slouch them down. I like them slouchy.

And another pair fell on my pins. Oops!

I bought this aran weight Lettlopi yarn in Iceland and these chaps will make lovely thick boot socks for me up the stables in the winter! And I think I might have a look at my lovely shawl and see if I can't get it going again. No promises though, Helen! *g*

Purple Stripes Deets:

Yarn - Knitcol Trends in 61 - Chopin. 2 x 50g

Needles - 3.5mm dpns

Pattern - Knitfreedom beginners toeup for magic loop. Adapted for dpns with 4 and 4 rib. 

Stitches - 48 cast on with Fleegle heel. 34 rows from toe to instep increases.

musings on swapping and bees and online hangouts.

Someone (I forget who) mentioned a few days ago that Flickr had gotten it's act together and "fixed" the problems we've been having the last few years. You know, from when they "fixed" it last time. *rollseyes* With the huge photos taking ages to load and difficulty commenting or getting into group chats (I couldn't log in apart from on my phone for about 6 months. And the app was terrible - no group chat at all!) I know loads of us have abandoned it for the easily usable but not-so-satisfying Instagram. So I've been for a wee peruse. It seems fine but  I am browsing on a powerful tower at work and not trying to upload anything. It may still be total bollocks.

So. I think judging from the passing comments I see we all miss the halcyon days of the Flickr quilting community. And I know it's still there, albeit in a much-reduced form. Blogging is also much reduced these days, whether people are using social media more (or less! you know - actually sewing) or what I don't know. And I don't actually know if there is an appetite still there FOR swapping and online bees and the likes. Maybe they had run their course and just happened to decline in popularity at the same time that Flickr got all screwed up. But I've had a wee wondering so thought I'd ask you lot.

Does anyone want to have a wee Flickr based swap/mini bee or something to test the waters out? Both the tech and the community to see if there really IS still place for a social space where we're not limited to weenie pictures and 140 character replies.

Anyone? Anyone? (name that film. *g*)

Answers on a postcard down there, please! \/ \/ \/

(note: I am talking smallsmallsmall. So if there by some miracle is a bunch of us fancying it then we might not all get to play. No offence given so none taken, right? Just putting that out there incase it doesn't all fizzle out...)

one less problem

I did it! I totally made something that I can wear out of the house!

This is my Tilly and the Buttons Arielle skirt. My first from-scratch dressmaking since I made my prom dress in 1992 with my 6th year Fashion & Fabric teacher, Mrs Brodie.

This is a deceptively tricky shape to get right and is a really, really lovely pattern. Of course, I'm between 2 sizes (my waist is one, my hips another) so I even had to grade between the two. But it's a pretty good fit considering I'm a total n00b. Or at least, a lapsed garment sewer - turns out the fundamentals never really leave you. 

Here's a cracking shot of my lady lumps (including my not inconsiderable chesticles!) and you can see how nicely it snugs in at the small of my back. Why can't I find jeans that'll do that? Coz I'm two different sizes, it would seem!

And a pretty lining since the chambray was lighter than I expected. It actually turned out a nice summer weight - not too thin like I thought it might be. It's the Chambray Union slub from the Village Haberdashery and is a lovely subtle pattern in the weave. I did cock up the lining a bit and forgot that whole grading of sizes bit. So it's just one size which is a big snug on the hips! But I've fixed the pattern for next time. The lining's supposed to be anti-static (brill!!) also from the V.Habdash.

Yup. Shock and awe all round. 

Even though it is close to the most expensive item in my wardrobe I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I am currently perusing black fabrics for something less......pedestrian. And I suspect a little A-line might get whipped up in some daft Star Trek or Marvel fabrics for ComicCon in the summer. Uh-oh, another obsession! 

P.S. The title? Ariana Grande, natch. Closest to Arielle I could think of!

P.P.S. In lieu of my usual photographer (she was in school) I set up my big camera and timer. I'd forgotten what a faff it is! 

life in Chateau DLM

I have been sewing!! But I can't show you my almost-finish since it's a gift.  Boo. 

But I have been sewing a skirt, too! An Arielle from Tilly and the Buttons. I think my chambray is on the thin side (I really wanted a light denim but this is VERY light) and I'm at the fitting stage. My waist and hips are different pattern sizes so I've had to do some pattern jiggery-pokery already but I think it might be quite nice!

And Chook and I planted seeds for our veggie raised bed last Saturday. This is our cabbages, broccoli, beetroot and cucumbers yesterday. Cool, eh? I've had a tomato pop up since then, too. I am a regular Percy Thrower. (national treasure British gardener, foreign peeps)

I'm off to see Mad Max tonight with the spouse and have gardening, dinner with the outlaws and sewing on the agenda this weekend. And riding, obvs. Ooh, look at this wee chap born last week. Four days old in this photo!

D'aaaw! Have a great night whatever you are up to!

Bank Holiday Monday

I mentioned last Monday when sharing my time lapsed photos that we'd been up in our favourite museum, the Kelvingrove, for our bank holiday jaunt. The sun even shone!

Quite by chance they had a fab dinosaur exhibition on. Now, next to ponies dinosaurs are Chook's favourite animal so we spent a very happy spell checking out fossilised eggs and watching videos.

Into the main body of the place and the usual fab eclectic mix of things. David Livingston's clock!

Creepy masks. *shudders*

An outtake from the balcony - I do love those heads.

I'd been scrapbooking those old photos from T in the Park '98 the day before so this made me smile!

And no visit is complete without popping in to see Christ of St John of the Cross. It's one of my favourite paintings in the whole world. Which is weird since I'm not a huge Dali fan and a devout aetheist. But it speaks to me.

And we had timed it just right for the organ recital at 1pm. Yaaas! There was a choir singing acapella, too - it was all rather lovely.

And no trip to Glasgow is complete without some Japanese goodness. Many noms were had in a new-to-us place, Wudon.

A quick skirt round the local guitar place (did I mention Chook wants a ukulele for her birthday?) and we were dead on our feet! But such a nice way to spend the day. 

scrapping ancient photos

I have done absolutely no textiley things at all for over a week now. No sewing, no knitting (sorry, Helen *hangs head*) no nothing. But I did have a sudden uncontrollable notion to get out the stickin' and gluein' stuff. And when I went to my albums to 

look for unscrapped photos I found a whole load of very-early-in-our-relationship Spouse. 

Like this one of his first birthday we celebrated together. Not his actual first birthday (that's one big baby!) but his 28th. I even bought a few new supplies - I am loving those blue enamel dots and even used an old label from a Sweetwater layer cake! *g*

And then I found these ones from the same summer of '98. A very, VERY wet T in the Park music festival.  I had plastic bags inside my trainers and Spouse sported a fetching purple one on his napper. Are we having fun, yet?!

These photos are all from a real whirlwind time in my life. We'd started going out in January and by this July were engaged and had been living together for 2 months!  But it was a great summer of days away and figuring out being a couple. Happy times!

building a planter

So what were we getting up to over last weekend? Well, a few weeks ago we finally got rid of Chook's trampoline since only the cats were using it! And we were left with this very open space to fill.  

Spouse has always had a hankering for a wee veggie patch (and I do mean small, our garden is tiny!) so a raised bed from railway sleepers seemed to fit the bill perfectly. And some height at the back to help camouflage that intrusive telegraph pole that we hate. 8ft sleeper lengths were purchased, measurements taken, angles marked and we hit the ground running.

Of course, after all our beautiful weather it was absolutely freezing cold on Saturday. I was wearing factor 50 sun cream at the hillclimb 2 weeks before - here I am sans makeup with my thermals on braving the bitter 1C. I was wearing a wooly beany most of the day, too! 

By end of play on Saturday our base was completed.

And at least it wasn't so cold on Sunday. It was the wettest day I have seen for a loooong time. But we were only putting up our trellis and tidying up.

And here it is in the sun today after getting its lining. Looks good, eh?

It's obviously got no soil in it (that's the next few days job) but I have my seeds and seedlings prepping. I'm going for the square foot gardening method to cram little amounts of lots of different things in. And my little gardener is raring to go. And Spouse impressed himself so much with his joinery (wood not being his chosen medium) he has plans for a matching pergola in the opposite corner. So I might have another busy weekend this week!!

tempus fugit?

We spent this morning at the Kelvingrove gallery and museum - one of our favourite places to visit. One of my favourite exhibits is the collection of giant expression filled heads that hang in one of the halls. Chook and I always make faces back at them. I can even prove it.

2006 - with Chook aged 4

2009 - with 7 year old Chookie.

2015 - 12 year old Chook (almost 13!)

That first one is simultaneously feeling just like yesterday and a million years ago!

quizzical

Yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day - woo hoo! Now I didn't manage any actual scrapping on account of the Mum's taxi in the morning and my absolutely freezing landscaping and woodwork in the afternoon (more on that another day) but I did order photos from Photobox. And I did make some stickin' an' gluein' plans.

So I feel justified in answering the quiz from Shimelle. Coz I like reading other people's replies so much I kid myself someone might be interested in mine. And I do like little snapshots recorded here. So. This week.

1. My favourite YouTube clip: I don't know if it's my favourite clip but the one I have talked about most is this one from Fitness Blender, cardio and pilates blend. I've been doing their cardio workouts and thought I'd mix it up with some simple (and easy, thought I *facepalm*) pilates. I couldn't reach my shoulders to pick a hair off 2 days later! But it shows it's working, right? Right?!

2. I am listening to: my usual eclectic mix. But my latest buys have been some twenty year old Utah Saints, the BBC Musketeers theme and the Regina Spektor theme to the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. 

3. I am watching: when I'm sewing I have been binge watching "Body of Proof" but Spouse and I caught the Netflix "Daredevil" last week - it was excellent! And surprisingly believable for a blind lawyer fighting the mob in a balaclava. Charlie Cox is fantastic. And this week we're on the second season of "Orange is the New Black." We noted last night while laughing  at "Britain's Got Talent" that it had been a week since we'd watched any live tv!

4. I am reading: "Stranger" by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith. It's a post-apocalyptic young adult yarn where animals and people have changed and you may develop a mutation (good or bad) during hormonal changes. So during puberty, obviously. But also during pregnancy and the menopause! It's been very interesting (I especially love the bad telepathic camouflage the bunnies use!) but I have a feeling a love triangle is about to develop. Yuk. My least favourite trope.

5. I can eat this everyday: Pringles. Although I have been trying hard not to! I did make a particularly tasty butternut squash korma during the week. I usually do a cauliflower curry but the squash was mucho loveliness.

6. My favourite drink at 4pm: Er, tea? Although any drink at 4pm is unusual. That's in the 2 hour window between finishing work and eating tea so it's full of housework, homework, food prep and sometimes exercise and shopping. No time for a drink!

7. On my wishlist: a 28 hour day. Or the winning lottery ticket. Or someone else doing the grocery shop! And it stopping raining so I don't get soaked at riding and finishing the gardening.

8. I am enjoying: lying in bed writing this. What a luxury! (Note: I was in bed when I wrote this NOT when I published it. I don't make a habit of still being in bed at 7pm!)

9. My favourite quote right now: "during the war..." Chook's impression of an old man. Old being anyone over 50. *g* 

10. I am smiling about: Jones not getting me up at 6am, the heavy bit of the raised bed being built (sleepers are heavy!!) and a day out tomorrow to a favourite museum with a noodle bar and shopping thrown in. Yay for bank holidays!!

And

My favourite project for this year is ...... I dunno. That bloody green shawl? Nah. Although it might take me all year! Me, maybe? Since I'm trying to form new habits to see me through my next 40 years. Yeah, let's say that and hope I don't sound all Gwyneth Paltrow-y. *shudders*

So, anyone else having a go? 

May Fresh Sewing

Late again! I forgot yesterday - no, that's a complete lie. I just couldn't be bothered blogging and ended up in bed with my book at half 9. And asleep about 10 minutes later! But I'm here now so lets take a wee look at last month's making.

That's it?!  Yeah, that's it. Well, no, there's one other thing I've done but it's a surprise for a reader so I'm not showing. *g* Soon, promise. Ooh, I finished a sock, too. But I've no photos. Fail. So. *taps fingers together awkwardly* Er....see ya soon? I will be back tomorrow with a questionnaire! Thrilling, eh?