Angels... and a lodger.....

I have been away from blogging - about a week ago the sun came out at last and it has been such treat to be outside.

There is some more colour coming through in the garden, a month late, but at last!

When we moved to this house, we planted a white lilac bush in the front garden; this year it is really wonderful and now in the sun, it has the most beautiful scent.

The buds start dusty pink and then open up into pinky white.

And this is the home of our resident hedgehog at the bottom of the garden;

he used to live next door, but last year wasps made their nest in his house and evicted him.

My husband has made him a new house in our garden 

and the hedgehog moved in at the start of the winter.

 Together with our neighbours we all made openings at the bottom of our fences, 

so he can roam from garden to garden.

And yes, some sewing too:

To avoid the monotony of applique leaves, I rescued little forgotten Awakening quilt

(which I  call now "The Funky Angels") 

and made another large block.

These angels definitivy have fashion sense of their own......

I have just finished reading this wonderful book,

author's first novel - how do they do it?

I recommend it.

Oh, I wish the Blogger stopped messing around; I tried to change my header picture - now I am stuck....

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2021

...if you go to the woods today..........

This week we took a trip to our old haunts, to the woods on the Stourhead Estate. It seems a very long time since our last visit (everything seems a long time ago at the moment).

Definite signs of a changing season, 

and we even managed to find some mushrooms for our lunch,

despite the fact they did try very hard to hide,

not a bad result in the end.

We came across a small camp someone has built,

In the middle of the forest is "The Convent", a gothic folly from around 1760, which occasionally comes up for lease - see here.

What else have I been up to? The little forgotten Awakening quilt had a little outing; it is getting rather large, so not easy to take a picture. I made another long block for it.

With the coming of chilly nights I can feel a new blanket coming on.........

specially since I came across "Tobermory" pattern by Lucia's Fig Tree.

For those who don't know, Tobermory is a place on the isle of Mull on the west coast of Scotland. It brings back memories of watching TV with my grandchildren - 

the children's TV program "Balamory" was filmed here. 

Tobermory is known for its colourful houses, and these inspired Lucia's design.

Of course there was also another Tobermory - one of the The Wombles of Wimbledon Common (little older TV program, that one I used to watch with my children...a long time ago....).

There is enough colourful wool or wool mixed yarn in my stash to start with (colours not exactly the same as the pattern, but near enough).

first three squares

I am all set for cold nights!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2020

FNwF - another month gone - really?

Yes, really! Again - thank you to Cheryll for getting us together for another Friday Night with Friends!

For most of the day yesterday we had bits of blue sky - so welcome after what seems to be weeks and weeks of unrelentless rain, I even set outside in the sunshine for a while, just enjoying the warmth on my face. There are very small signs of spring in our garden. Buds on the crab apple tree are just waiting to burst open.

Pair of blue-tits have taken over repaired and clean nest box, I really hope it all means that spring is close.

I haven't been doing much sewing, it must be the time of year, I do feel tired.......

All inspiration is eluding me. 

This pretty pink hepatica  has been out for a while.

So, what was up to last night? I picked up somewhat forgotten Awakening quilt.

To be very honest, I am struggling with that one, and that is quite rare for me.

I can see now why Irene did not release this one as a stand alone pattern; she writes about it her collection of quilt patterns "Focus on Applique". It was her first quilt and it has a very personal meaning, it helped her through a very bad time in her life. 

So, why did I think I could somehow copy that and make it mine?

At this point I am stuck.

Too many (very small) blocks and angels, and angel quotes (which I decided right at the start I would not include).

I decided there is only one thing I can do, just carry on (it is a very difficult quilt to ignore and not finish, but I will simply "do my own thing" and finish it in my own way, ignoring the deeper meaning. I am using other ideas from other blocks and quilts in Irene's book.

Last night I finished this rather a large block (larger than most others). I liked making this one, this is more "me".

I have also been working on the crochet Arabian Nights blanket, and there is also another crochet project in making, a summer wrap (one has to look forward to something, right?); I will share that one soon.

I hope you are well and keeping out of the way of the horrid virus sweeping across the globe.

Enjoy your weekend!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2020

this and that, and some stitching too

The weather has changed a lot since my last post; drop in the temperatures, 

lots of heavy rain, thunderstorms, and the odd nice day as well.

Early August at Lytes Cary Manor(NT) to see the changes in the gardens there.

Back in the kitchen,

small batch of one of my mixed fruit jams,

which we will appreciate during the cold winter months.

One of our favourite biscuit recipes, with dried fruit, honey, nuts and white chocolate.

and experimenting with a new bread recipe -

I was really pleased with the result, 

and I plan to make it again this week.

There is a slow but steady progress with the Arabian Nights crochet blanket, I am well past the mid point now, but I am out of the red wool, so I need to re-order.

I have put together some of small blocks of the Awakening quilt, 

so this is the top 1/3 of the quilt,

and I have a couple of large blocks ready for the lower part.

In the post this week - "Stitches to Savor" by Sue Spargo.

I know many of you know this book already; I have been looking for a good second hand one, but Sue's books do hold their price. Last week I came across an unused copy on ebay, at a half price of any price on Amazon, an opportunity not to be missed.
I am well pleased!

This is not a project book, there are not patterns or instructions, this is simply a showcase of her work; twelve of her quilts on show, a mixture of fabric and wool applique, embellished with lots of embroidery stitching, and beautifully quilted - a feast for the eyes!

The photography is first class, with lots of close up details.

I have been browsing through every day since it arrived, constantly finding new bits.

I have been very much in the "reading mode" in the last few weeks, and since my last post I got through another "Department Q" thriller, 

and at the moment I am reading  "Drums of Autumn", which is book no 4 (of 8) in the "Outlander" saga.

All the Outlander books are pretty "hefty" and so is this one, with over 1,000 pages.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019