Another present for the growing pile

I've got another Christmas present ready to tick off the list, for my 10 year old niece. I found this little house in a Quiltmania magazine and decided to have a go. It was pretty easy to make, though a bit fiddly because of the size; it finishes at about 6 inches long. I've filled it with tiny pens and sparkly coloured pencils and put it away in the drawer.

It's a gloriously sunny autumn day today, though a bit chilly (no more than about 5 C, or 41 F) but lovely in the sunshine, so I've been out harvesting the almost-last of the vegetables and cleaning up the vegetable garden. All that's left out there now are the leeks and the swiss chard which should be able to stay out through the winter. I need to store the swedes and turnips, but the last of the beetroot, carrots and tomatoes will soon be eaten. We finished off the last of the potatoes last night, so (sad face) I'm going to have to start buying our vegetables now. Roll on next summer.

A couple of small finishes

I've been doing a lot of hand stitching over the last few weeks, whilst watching the Commonwealth Games, so I've not got a lot to show. But I did finish this little Hallowe'en hanging. We don't really 'do' Hallowe'en, but I thought it was quite cute. It was a free pattern from The Painted Quilt. But then Number Two Son came to visit last weekend and told me that he was having a Hallowe'en party, so it went home with him.

This morning I made myself a pencil case. The pattern came from a special bags issue of the Popular Patchwork magazine, and I love the way that it's turned out.

A rainy day in Glastonbury

A couple of weeks ago, on a wet Wednesday just before DH disappeared to South America for two weeks on business, we went to Glastonbury Abbey. Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury with the Holy Grail after the death of Jesus, and buried it near Glastonbury Tor. It's also the legendary burial place of King Arthur and Guinevere. What is true is that it is one of the earliest Christian centres in England. If you're interested to read more about the Abbey and its history, click on this link which will take you to the official website, and very good it is too.

It is, like many ruined churches and abbeys, well worth a visit, and we found it very atmospheric. We'll certainly be going back, hopefully on a drier day, to spend more time.

Here's a slideshow of some of the photographs that I took.

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Autumn Leaves

I entered my little quilt Autumn Leaves in the Quilting Gallery competition this week, so if you get the chance do go and vote for me; do it quickly though, it's the first one you come to, before you look at the others, as there are some lovely quilts there and you might change your mind!

A busy September

It's only when I went back over my September blogs to find my finishes for this month that I realised how much I've achieved. Several small quilts and some other small items.

This is my latest finish - and last for September. Number Two Son is a DJ and has recently bought himself some new headphones (or rather we bought them for him for a joint birthday and Christmas present) and I offered to make him a case for them. And then I had to work out how to make it. It's been one of those things that has presented itself to me in the wakeful hours of the night, and I finally worked out how to make it.

I didn't want to use buttons or velcro as that seemed a bit 'girly' so I used a zip around the 'equator' of the bag; I used double layers of wadding to give it a bid more body (and I've just discovered iron-on wadding, perfect for this type of project). Don't you love the fabric I found?

Keeping on top of things

My avowed intention for this autumn was to get up to date with all the odds and ends of things I've got sitting around so that I can get on with some new projects with an easy conscience. Luckily, I've never had anything much in the way of UFOs, but I do have a list of things to be done.

This kit was bought for my birthday by my brother-and-sister-in-law when they were in Seattle on holiday this year. I decided to make it into a cushion, and even managed to put a zip in the back. Sadly you can't see in the photograph, but all the fabrics are those with a dusting of gold in them, really luxurious.

I recently treated myself to Quilting Cats and Dogs by Lynette Anderson and have made these two notebook covers using patterns in there. They're destined for my two sisters-in-law for Christmas. So how's that for keeping on top of things!

We have a beautiful autumn day here today, with some very warm sunshine, so I'm now off to make my lunch and sit outside in the courtyard and then perhaps I'll be able to do some stitching out there this afternoon.

Just having fun

(I'm not too sure why the picture looks a little fuzzy, I took it about six times, and they all turned out like that)

I've spent the last two days playing with the last of the fabric goodies that I won in Angela's giveaway. There were lots of little squares and skinny strips in the most gorgeous bright colours. So I decided just to play. I stitched them together in any way that took my fancy, then quilted it by doodling all over it. The quilting in each square is different, and there are odd little bits of quilting in the filler strips too. It was great fun to make and I love the way it looks. Now I'm going to keep my eyes open for more of that colourful fabric.