Another week of the holidays

It’s the weekend and we have had a busy week doing ‘stuff’ not leaving much time to sew and no time to blog.  So here is a summary (not promising it will be brief though) of some vaguely sewing related things.

My brother who lives in Germany is over for a couple of weeks with his family so we went to visit them at their rented cottage in rural east Devon.  It is quite beautiful, with chickens in the garden and pigs along the lane which belong to their landlady so they are welcome to go and visit them.  The weather was hot and sunny that day (possibly the only day it was this week!) and we took a wander down the lane to see the 3 week old piglets and their mother (and more chickens, ducks and geese).

Believe it or not this is an expression of great delight and excitement not a scream.  I don’t think he could quite believe that these creatures wanted to run around and nibble his wellies!

Bethan, sometimes the serious one, took along her notebook and mini crayon folio I’m not really sure why except that she likes them!  So Tobit took some ‘product placement’ photographs.

We then walked a circular route through some fields and back along some leafy Devon lanes, pausing at the side to let the tractors past.

A bit like her sister, Leah doesn’t always think about whether or not what she is wearing or taking with her is appropriate so here she is climbing a stile wearing a crown she made at the preschool fun day the day before!

Charity shopping was on the agenda this last week, what else to do on a day when the rain does not stop but the children still have to go out?

One morning we ran out of milk so I volunteered to go out to get some, not really being able to walk past a charity shop without going in I whizzed in and found this:

A gorgeous not floral but leafy sheet!

A few days later I found this duvet cover:

Pattern colour reversed on the back – there is probably a technical term for this but I don’t know it.

And still in the packet a pair of floral pillowcases:

Interesting how it seemed to be a purple week, I hoping this next one will be yellow and orange then I might be able to get on with a plan for a vintage patchwork quilt!

A week or so ago I had an email from Paloma at Three Kitchen Fairies telling me that I’d won a prize on her blog – 8 fat quarters of my choice from Sew Deerly Loved.  A great big thanks for this, very much appreciated.  I spent a long time browsing the shop and trying to decide from all the amazing fabrics which to choose.  Eventually I went with these which arrived really quickly (less than 10 days from the US to UK)

It’s Alphabet Soup Boy to go with the roll of 2.5″ wide strips I received from Riley Blake, so I’m now thinking of what to do with them.

The other 2 quarters were a bit of a treat to myself, Tailormade by Cosmo Cricket (Andover Fabrics)  I had hoped to find the tape measure print from this range too but there was none in the shop.

This next prize came in the post from RUCraft an online craft shop which has also just opened a ‘bricks and mortar’ shop not too far from me (but far enough for me not to go to yet!)

It is the 50th edition of the Rowan magazine and is packed full of beautiful photographs of knitted garments and patterns to go with them!  Sadly I can’t/won’t knit so it may just be for looking at!

Here’s an example of one of the amazing photographs.  There are some patterns by Kaffe Fassett in there too and a review of his latest books so something for me to read and enjoy gazing at if not knit!  Thank you RUCraft.

I received another book in the post from Cupcakes for Clara, I’m not sure quite how to describe the things that are created there, my best advice is go and have a look!  Laura illustrates, writes books, sews, embroiders and her creations are fantastic, I could look at them for a long time.  One of my favourite recent pieces is a felt baby illustration of her little boy, it is quite simply beautiful.  Oh, and she also made a great dairy, soya, nut, sulphite, and egg free birthday cake for her children’s birthday celebrations so if you ever need such a cake go there for inspiration.

Anyway the book she sent me is Sew Pretty Homestyle, read Laura’s review here, it’s a pretty accurate review and I’m too tired to try and write my own!

Oh I have done some sewing this week, I patched Bethans favourite jeans and have spent almost every evening quilting that handkerchief quilt.  That part is finished and I now need to sew in loose ends, trim the edges, cut some binding strips…it feels like there is a long way to go before it’s finished.

There is something else that I must write about but my eyes are hurting now so I will post this and try and come back tomorrow, but I’m not promising.