How does your garden grow ?????

Back in November I started on another quilt completely using reclaimed/scrap materials ..... some cream cotton curtain lining and curtain fabric samples acquired from my local scrapstore and from a gorgeous fellow blogger Bloomin' Myrtle.  Even the threads used are from my stash of vintage threads ..... how eco-friendly is that????

I found a lovely book in a charity shop and scoured it for ideas ..... I never stick completely to a pattern or instructions (it's the non-confirmist in me!) and tend to choose a basic idea and let it evolve from there. 

I chose Granny's Flower Garden

It's a lovely easy one consisting of small hexagons sewn in in a flower shape and appliqued onto a backing square.   I have used some more of the curtain fabric samples to make larger hexagons for the border and binding.

So this ....

now looks like this ......

My first completed project in 2011!

Pssst ..... don't mention the C word ..............

It seems blogland is split into two camps at the moment ..... those who are laid back and going with the flow and those who are stressing about how much there is to do.  So this post is a 'C' word free zone ! 

This life is not a dress rehearsal dear people so don't worry your socks off about the things you have no control over and concentrate on the things that you can do and changes that you can make.

One of my pet hates is waste.   Waste of any kind really be it food, clothing, possessions and most of all time. 

Since joining the world of blog and visiting crafting forums I have discovered Freecycle, Scrapstores and more recently Ecobees ... each has an ethos of avoiding sending unwanted items to landfill and offer a wonderful opportunity to recycle.  You know what they say about one man's trash being another man's treasure well it is totally true and I love nothing more than rescuing something from the past and giving it a new lease of life.

Over the past couple of weeks I have adopted this little Edwardian sewing cupboard and when the weather improves (we have a light snowfall outside as I write) it shall have a little session with some Nitromors to remove the peach gloss paint and then I shall decide on whether it shall stay as it was intended as a dark oak cupboard or give it a fresh coat of paint and prettify it a little.

A few days ago a vintage Silver Cross Dolls Pram was offered and my heart skipped a beat ..... I hadn't heard anything and presumed that another lucky freecycler was the new owner.  Until this morning that is when I opened my mailbox and there was a message inviting me to arrange collection.  It was described as a restoration project so I was expecting the worst but was delighted to bring home this little baby .....

 She isn't in too bad condition at all and with some TLC and elbow grease she will come up a treat

 The original shop sticker is still attached and the Queensway shopping centre was opened in 1959

 A lovely little Rose cartouche is on both sides of the pram

The hood and cover are in a brown suede-like fabric

 

I am really looking forward to starting on this one!