Pin Cushion

Well me dearies, what with itchy fingers needing to make something and not having a pin cushion, thought it would be a good idea to make me one! So out comes all the scraps and I thought it would be a good idea to quilt the top....well it wasn't as 1) it was to thick to stick me pins in and 2) the wretched machine wouldn't do free embroidery. Why I don't know as it was fine when I did the other projects so was a bit miffed I can tell you!

Next one I do will not be padded and then the corners will be a lot crisper.

Anyway it had to be a Quirky House didn't it! haha

Bottles

You may remember the bottles that Head Honcho dug up in the garden back in May, well I thought they  lacked a certain something and were a bit boring (and one was rather cracked, which happened when I dropped it after being in the ground all that time without a scratch!) So found some old fashioned labels copyright free to print out.

As the round bottle is a poison bottle that got the danger label. The ingredients that is on the label to the left is enough to make you keel over AND you can give it to babies 1 month old!! Hopefully they no longer produce that particular medicine. haha.

Tis a monkey!

Yep, havn't put a monkey post up for a little while so I can't have that! :0P
Hot off the press is Maureen Monkey

She has monkey faces and bananas all over her. Her bag is to put some more bananas in!

A bit of cross stitch

I'm further on with my large cross stitch than I thought I would be, mainly due to using a blue washable pen to mark out the lines in blocks so mistakes are easily picked up. Having finished more or less 3 pages out of 9 so am pleased with that. Although it is still going to be one of those projects that you amble along on so not an overnight whiz!

 At the moment it doesn't look much but I hope it turns out as nice as the other one that I did in the same series.

Mojo returning.....hopefully!

I hope the loss of the crafting mojo was just a blip! I fancied making something a bit more subdued and feminine than I have been doing of late, and fortunately had the material in my stash.

 Making some sort of pattern and cutting it out. As you might be able to tell the buff coloured fabric is linen, and doesn't it crease but so lovely to sew.

 Finished product, which I'm fairly pleased with as all the patches actually meet in the middle! Yep, there is a little house....well had to put one in didn't I. (It was either that or a monkey haha) This time for the applique house I turned the edges in and slipped stitched all the house.

                                                              Close Ups

                                                       

                                          For the edge binding I put the linen with the pattern and
                                          pattern with the linen which looks really nice in real life.

                                           The back is a simple slip on with no buttons (which
                                           means no button holes!!)

For the front I gently eased some wadding in half so that the patchwork and quilting has a slightly padded effect. With the cushion inserted the linen looks so much better.

Even daughter was impressed and she doesn't do pink! I have an urge to do some more cushions, I've got some ideas for some different mottos to embroider on.....watch this space!

A boquet of button flowers!

There seems to be a lot of button boquets about on peoples blogs so I thought that as I have a box full of buttons and the other equipment to hand....give it a go. Great to find inspiration on others blogs.

This minature vase of flowers was made from shirt buttons, pearls and paper, then twisted with florist wire. The mini vase was the one shown a few posts back that Head Honcho had dug up from the garden. It's so tiny, what could it have been used for?

The pound coin shows how small it is. The buttons must have been in my button box for the last 40 years!

The label is just a stick on one, with coffee painted on around the edges to make it look older, and with it saying Petite Flowers finished off with a bit of ribbon string.

In situ. Most suprised that HH even thought it looked cute! Now the other bottles are bigger and one of them says poisonous on the side (they are those pale green ones) so will need to think about what to do with them, bigger boquet maybe?

A bit of activity in the kitchen

I thought I would try out a way of preserving the carrots and beans that were grown in the garden as the freezer was rather full. Having heard about salting beans and that sounded pretty easy, but, why not carrots as well. So mixed plenty of salt with water (no weighing involved!) and sterilized the jars. These two have been in a dark cupboard for nearly two months. I'm going to keep them for a few more months and then have a taste (after much rinsing!) If it works it would be a good way to store food and leave more freezer space for other things.

p.s. They were put in the jars uncooked. Will let you know the outcome.

Mojo lost

Have had a bit of a lull in the crafting side of things :0(
Have tried 2 different things (not saying what!) and neither have so far turned out right and I don't have the oomph to correct them as yet.

On a better note I have knitted a few more squares for the blanket so now upto 26 blocks, still a loonng way to go tho.
So no pictures to put up.....maybe it's the overcast weather making it hard to get going! Do others have the same problem?

Cute things for the house

When we went for our rellie visiting trip I mentioned that we went to the shops (and more shops!) and my favourite shop now for bits and bobs is Wilkinsons. This little bird  was £2 and the 3 drawer cupboard  £3. It's a handy size for storing those small bits that you don't know where to put! Also got this matching home sign for £2. The colours are a light sagey green and the birdie is a lime green. Bargains!!
They are housed on the mantlepiece now. I still havn't seen a Wilkes in Scotland, although I know they are on-line but there is nothing like seeing items in real life!

Chalk Pictures

A whiley ago my daughter was into 'painting' with pastels. So she encouraged me to have a go. I think the photo is a lot better than the actual picture! I have to say tho it's quick, but pastel dust everywhere! I did it on a left over peice of black thick paper. I sprayed some  hairspray to try and set it without it making any difference.

Was a lovely sunny day today, in fact probably better than some summer days we had. lol. So did a much needed clear up of some of the garden. Got a load of bulbs to put in as well, so hopefully it will be sunshine tomorrow as well.