Busy Busy

The last couple of weeks have been super busy!  I finished my job - hurrah!  That was a great feeling.  Had a week off which felt like work as I was running around all over the place.  The boyfriend turned 30, we had a BBQ with friends and family round, we went to Prague and I started my new job!

And breath!

Ice Cream

The boyfriend treated us to some gorgeous nardinis ice cream

I mean really  Who could say no to this.  Honeycomb explosion with vanilla and a gorgeous crunchy wafer.  I don't know about you but I hate ice cream in cones.  It's always such a disappointment being left with the end and no ice cream, just biscuit.  This way you get to monitor things and ensure there is enough ice cream/crunchy biscuit wafer goodness to go around.

Mmmmmmmm.  

Perfect Sundays

Longs lies, long walks and long lunches!  Can't beat it.

We started the day by having a long lie.  Zzzzzz.  Bliss

Then we went to Chatlerhault park in Hamilton.  It was lovely.  I love a walk in the woods anyway, but on a nice day, with the dog, even better.

Pippa loves a good adventure walk.

I love imagining what's in the trees.  Tell me fairies don't live in here.

They definitely live here:

But asides from fairie hunting we just kept on walking, and walking and walking....we did a whole heap of walking

and we posed for some photos

The headband is a new thing I'm trying out.  I like it in this pic... but Pippa steals the show - always.  Too much cuteness.

So after all that walking it was time to make a roast.  I prepared it all before we went out and put the chicken in the slow cooker.  It worked a treat.  I put some chicken stock, some red onion, garlic and some sliced lemon in with it, closed the lid and went off out walking.  Came home and the whole house smelled of gorgeous chicken aroma.  Yum.

This is a huge plate, so it's actually a big portion - tho it looks like the plate is half empty.  It was yummy.  The slow cooker really made that chicken juicy and tasty.  My yorkies turned out perfect and yummy stuffing and gravy - just makes a roast.

Cute little faces wanted some chicken too.... so of course they got some! She's so spoiled.

Dress Fabric

So I started the dress making course....it's going well

I'm making the colette peony dress.

Here's a sneak preview of the fabric:

I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the fabric.  I purchased it from fabric rehab.  I got a sample and it appeared to be light weight, but when I got the actual fabric itself it was a lot heavier than I expected. I don't think it's going to have a nice hang.  So I ordered some more styles from ebay.  I think I shall persevere with this garment as it is and then perhaps try another dress after the class with a lighter fabric.

Yay!!!  So I got a macbook air!  And now I'm back on an actual machine that isn't touch screen like my ipad I am going to post more!  That's a promise.  Got to make use of this super expensive machine somehow!

So.... since I last posted.  The dog has got bigger, I started a dress making class.  I've been sewing more, baking more, cooking more but the king size quilt is still in a bundle on top of the spare room wardrobe!  That will get done before 2014!  It will.  honest.  I won't keep hiding from it.

Tonight I had some spare time so I got a bunch of fabric patches I had previous cut out and decided to do something with them.

And I managed to turn them into this!  A cushion that I've been meaning to cover for ages.

So I'm pretty pleased about this!

I rewarded myself with a cup of green tea!

Tomorrow we are going for a big walk in the forest and I am going to make my first roast in ages.  We normally don't make one for just the two of us as we end up either eating it all in one sitting (if we're feeling really greedy) or grazing on it for days.

The dog!

Here's some cute pictures of my puppy Pippa 

Aww - sleeping like a baby!

In her new pink polka dot hoodie!

Isn't she the cutest thing?  I don't think I'm biased either.  She's so gorgeous and yummy!!

Christmas Pinwheels

Inspired by an online tutorial by misouri star quilt co I've decided to make a small table runner - just to even out the work and effort in trying to get my huge king size through the machine!

I went to my local craft store the other day and bought a couple of Christmas fabric bundles and started cutting them up into 6 inch squares to make pinwheels.  So far so good.

Start with some pretty christmassy fabric

Cut them up into 6 inch blocks

Choose two to piece together (right sides together) and just sew a 1/4 inch right around by pivoting with needle down at the corners

Then cut them along the bias until you have 4 perfectly formed triangles for each square

You then need to iron them out (choosing one colour to iron flat - I usually go with the dark), then piece those together to get your pinwheels!

Pretty pinwheels!

So now I need to get some kind of lattice fabric and do a lattice to join them.  I'm thinking something white with a slight print and then use one of my main colours for a border and binding.  I think I've got enough fabric to do 2 or 3 so I guess some folks are getting Christmas table runners for presents! 

This was lots of fun and a really easy project to get in to!  It's always nice to do the quick and fast ones as it gives you the inspiration and encouragement to tackle something bigger!  I can see that king size coming off the top of the wardrobe this weekend and being stuffed through my machine again!

I got a quote from a quilting shop for how much they'd charge me to do the quilting for me!  £180.  Can you believe it?  No way.  I'll manage it myself for that price.  Tho it did make me wonder about investing in a long arm machine!