Mission Accomplished

Inspired by all the red, white & blue that is everywhere at the moment I decided to sort out my stash of hexagons

Whenever I work on a project I keep every incy wincy scrap (because you never know when they could come in useful!) ..... in odd moments I sit and cut out hexis and store them in a box for when the fancy takes me to sit and hand stitch some more together.

I wanted to keep a little bit of randomness to the design and based the central diamond shape on a layout in an old quilt book.

There is a mix of vintage and contemporary fabrics ..... the blues are from a Clothworks collection, the stripe is from a shirt that my friend had ruined while trying to remove a stain (her husband hasn't noticed yet), the red floral is from a vintage dress acquired at a car boot a couple of years back

The blue rose fabric at the top is vintage Laura Ashley and the plain cottons are new Klona

Some Laura Ashley toile de jouy and a few pieces of Chinese Willow pattern

Another recyled blue paisley shirt

I didn't bother with wadding for a more lightweight summer throw and used plain blue cotton on the back.  The outlines on the diamonds have been hand stitched with blue embroidery thread and some left over squares of the fabric machined together and cut to size to make the edge binding.

I do love it when a plan comes together ..... I've managed to reduce the stash again and make something out of nothing!

Ooh forgot to say that the paper pieces for backing the hexis were all ready cut .... I found a big bag of them at a vintage fair last year .... somebody had precisely cut them from 1970s greetings cards, reader's digest letters and envelopes so there was some interesting reading as I went along too.

Now for the next mission ..... watch this space x

All is quiet ...... do you want to see some goodies ???

All is quiet on the Lala front now .... and the back for that matter as the borrower next door has retired for the day thank gawd!

We were intending to pop to a local produce show today .... this happens every August BH where local allotment holders bring all their excess produce and for a donation to the Keech Hospice you can fill a bag with all manner of lovely fresh fruit, veg and flowers but last night we happened to drive past the Hertfordshire Showground and saw that there was an antiques fair today.  Well I didn't need much persuading to change the plan and off we went this morning.

These are the goodies that I bought

 

Royal Albert Plate

 

Cute tray in the shape of a duck

A little pewter candle holder and behind you can see a selection of EPNS sugar tongs

Copeland Spode Cake Plate in the blue willow pattern

and what's this ????

The most exquisite Victorian leather bound photograph album which is almost full of family photographs and the only indication of the previous owner's name is Nellie which is handwritten on the inside cover.  Most of the photographs were taken in studios on the Kent and Sussex coast but what caught my eye the most was the delicate hand painted detail to these pages .... tiny little flowers, birds and insects and the colours are still so vibrant. 

Another book of 'lost people' .... I can never quite understand how such things get discarded.

My little treat of the day was this sewing table

We arrived home at lunchtime to find this

Our big brown bear Mollie and she was absolutely sparko .... don't know how she'd managed to kip with all that noise on the other side of the fence.  Poor dear is starting her season and always feels very sorry for herself at this time.

Hope you all had a super bank holiday xx



Bank Holiday Monday Tranquility

After a busy week and even busier weekend, today all small people were banned from Lala Towers.  Today was strictly 'me' day.  Sad thing that I am I was in bed just after 9 last night and woke refreshed to start my day at 7 o'clock.

True to my word I have managed to finish four cushion covers today ... two to match the quilt on my last post and two more from blocks from the 'no strings' challenge.  They are all envelope back with polkadot or gingham check backing.

It's so rewarding to finish projects .... I am a terror for starting things and then getting a little (oh alright a lot) bored and moving onto something else without finishing.  My sewing desk is testament to this with little piles of different colour co-ordinated string, some finished string blocks, patchwork squares and offcuts from vintage table covers patiently waiting to be used.

Last night I also finished a crochet cushion cover in soft pastel cotton .... the front is four squares and the backing is in the same colours but in traditional granny square style.  I'm also using up odds and ends of cotton yarn to make crochet coat hanger covers with little crochet/knitted flowers.

I hope you have all had a lovely long weekend whatever you've been up to x

Uptown girl

As the weather seemed to be holding out for us this morning we decided to have a wander round Harpenden in Hertfordshire ..... a rather posh and expensive town just a short drive away ...... they have a better class of charity shop and also today was preview day at the monthly auction. Nothing really caught my eye but I am regretting not leaving a bid on a couple of items ..... one was a gorgeous vintage Christening Gown in its original box and beside it was another small unassuming box ...... as with all boxes I have to open them coz you just never know what's inside. Inside this one was some tiny pieces of crochet work with some patterns cut out of newspapers which were dated 1912 (the year the Titanic went down) .... the crochet work was somewhat discoloured after all those years but it is the thought that this has been tucked away unfinished in someone's house for almost 100 years that grabs me .... may be I will pop over again tomorrow.

The charity shops didn't yield much today either but I did find this lovely Ladybird book from 1972

There was also a book sale in the Church Hall where I picked up a gorgeous book called Comfortable Country by Enrica Stabile ..... here are a couple of pages just to wet your appetite ...

Granny Knit Knit

Had a lovely bargain hunting weekend - two table top sales and two car boots and the best ones don't start till Easter - can't wait. My girls call me 'granny knit knit' so I couldn't resist this one - her little card reads 'God couldn't be everywhere so he invented Grandmas' - so sweet and the little one peeking over her shoulder is just like my Ellie ... she has a little bag of scraps that she gets out whenever she is here while I am sewing or knitting .. I am looking out for a little toy sewing machine this year because she takes such an interest which is more than my girls ever did. I learnt to knit and crochet at my Nana's side - she was a tiny wee Geordie gal who had such a hard start in life. Whenever I see press reports of poverty in this country my blood boils - Nana's parents died from the influenza outbreak at the start of WW1 in Newcastle - her and her younger siblings were put into a convent and this is when she started to cut her ties with the Catholic Church as the nuns were horrid - she had to walk to school in bare feet and was put into service at the age of 14. She worked six days a week from dawn till dusk - cleaning, making the coal fires and had a couple of hours to herself on a Sunday when she took a walk to her cousin's house ... this privilege was quite often withdrawn for the slightest reason. Somehow she came south to London and met Grandad - I remember staying for weekend with her and my first completed project was a little knitted pixie and I can still picture him now.

Picked up some useful crafting bits and pieces - one tablecover with monogram and crochet border which was falling apart (£1) so I have finished the job and will use the border to make some vintage style pillowcases for my bed; bags of daisies, embroidery thread, ric rac (one in particular is enormous), rose buds, an old bridesmaid dress in a gorgeous floral broderie anglais which I will take apart and use for patchwork; sewing & craft books. All in all a most satisfying weekend .................

Show & Tell

Heck I am on a roll this weekend. Just got back from the car boot with some more goodies - Edwardian swing mirror for £4 - this is going to get a coat of Laura Ashley paint and will be added to my stash for the bedroom makeover; two lovely old magazines dated 1951 (older than me!!) and I will be adding more pix from these - they are fantastic, full of old advertisements and hints & tips; balls of cotton for 50p each and a bag of mixed sewing thread for a £1.

Half Term

Things are looking up - the snow has gone and it's half term holidays - shame the timing wasn't a little later and don't get me wrong I love the snow when it first comes down. Everything looks so clean and pretty but the past week of slush and black ice has been horrible. I have four of my after school club staying all day this week. I have been a registered childminder for 5 years and unofficial carer of small people for the past 27 years. My eldest hits his 27th birthday in a couple of weeks and my youngest reaches the grand old age of 21. There are two more in between - one is the father to my Charlie and my other daughter is a midwife so we are never too far away from babies and children.

We spent this morning sorting through all my papercraft bits and pieces and making collages - glitter, sparkly bits and scraps of fabric and paper stuck everywhere. Following lunch we chilled and watched Willy Wonka (the original - as much as I love Johnny Depp he just looks like a pervy Michael Jackson in the re-make) and it has been board games this afternoon. We are having an early Pancake Day as a trial run for next week coz making pancakes for six children plus the grown ups keeps me tied to the griddle for quite a while!! A busy day but I like to keep everybody occupied as it makes life much easier all round - there is nothing worse than bored 8 year olds. I would love to post some photos but am unable to because of child protection issues - although I have parental permission to take photos they cannot be used on the internet.

All this business has curtailed my bargain hunting quests this week but look what I found at the weekend - a lovely glass cake dome (£2), a pair of pretty floral cornucopia vases (£1), Painted Furniture book (75p), two beautiful white linen table cloths plus hand sewn Willow pattern embroidered tray cloth, napkins and teapot cover (the whole lot for £2). I then came over all queer and actually paid shop price at Waterstones for this lovely book by Emma Hardy called Sewing in No Time - it has some lovely projects so I thought I would treat myself. Can't wait till the weekend when I will be off again.

Time for bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I don't know what has come over me today - strange side effects of all this pretty white stuff engulfing us again. My small people have again spent some quality fun time at home with mum after a false start this morning when her employers decided at 6.30 am it was safe to travel in (a fool could have looked out of the window and decided not a good idea!!). The boys were walked to my house with dad in thick snow and by the time they arrived mum had received another call from work to say don't bother (she was stuck by now in one of the horrendous traffic log jams shown on the Eastern region news). I know Luton is a dump at the best of times but even the local Council told people to stay away today which I found amusing. Anyhow they returned home at 10 so I had the day to myself again - deep joy - I hastily dragged out the sewing basket and finished the needle cases I started yesterday. It's now nearly 1.00 am and feeling a little guilty at neglecting the housework I had a power surge and have had a good tidy up. Completely knackered now so off up the stairs to Bedfordshire .. hope the old man isn't snoring his brains out again.