Just because...

And after saying I hadn't blogged for ages, how about another post straight after?  It never rains but it pours!

Found some pictures from Kingham that I thought I'd post too, just because they're pretty.  Kingham Lodge were hosting a sculpture exhibition as part of Oxfordshire Artweeks, so I dragged The Boy along.  It was really lovely, followed by cream tea, and a narrowly avoided dognapping!  I so desperately want a Welsh Springer Spaniel, but can't have one because we both work full time and it wouldn't be fair on the dog to be at home alone all day.  But the people who own Kingham Lodge have a beautiful brown Cocker Spaniel who was so gorgeous and kept following us begging to be stroked.  The words 'grab her and run' may have come out of my mouth, but The Boy talked me out of it!

Anyway, dognapping aside, here are the pics....

Bad Blogger

So that was what - 3 months? and I stopped blogging.  Poor form!  Excuses excuses but I was crazily busy with organising an enormous photoshoot for work and the blogging just got shoved to one side.  As did sewing.  So I am definitely still 'Sew Useless', just blog useless as well now!

To bring you back up to speed...very little sewing has taken place.  I've pieced all the four square rows for my Blue Lagoon quilt, but failed to take any pictures.  I've now got to piece the smaller rows and then I'll take and post some pics. 

I went to Malvern quilt show with Mum and spent rather a lot on fabric.  Although The Boy is convinced I found a surprising amount of bargains, and spent less than £100!  Hmm, probably just as well he doesn't know the price of cotton, or see my bank statements, or see my blog!  I bought some gorgeous fabrics though, had a small splurge at Fabrics Galore.  They had a lovely grey swallow bag which I'm going to attempt to recreate, so obviously had to buy that fabric.  And some stripy fabric that complements it oh so well that I can use for the handles!  They also had some beautiful elephant fabric which I'm going to turn into a cushion.  The Boy's already annoyed we've got so many, so one more can't hurt right?!  Got the backing fabric for my Blue Lagoon quilt there too, so that's almost all set.

Oh and I might have got carried away with some nauticals - no idea what for, but they're SO pretty!  Red and white stripes, navy base with cream anchors, and cream base with red anchors.  I'll find some use for them I'm sure!  And I might have got a quilt pack too, oops!  Now where on earth can I find some time to make them all?

So that's a sewing update.  The only thing I have managed to find time to do is bake.  A summer fruits cheesecake for The Boy, a red velvet layer cake for Mum's birthday, and some mini scones and Jubilee cupcakes.  I might also have found time for some Pimms and sunshine too! 

And with the beautiful weather we had (I guess that was all we're going to see of summer this year) my alliums finally flowered in the garden!  Picture below, because I'm so proud :)  And I had a fiddle on Instagram with a picture of the cow parsley that was growing out of the front lawn.

A few piccies of all that below, and I'll be back on the more regular blogging soon hopefully.   Although that said, I have got three more photoshoots to organise this year, so perhaps I shouldn't speak too soon!  I've got my first non-bank holiday day off since Christmas on Friday so very much looking forward to that.  A bit of National Trust (and fabric shopping!) with Mum, and perhaps I'll even get round to some sewing.xx

Bournemouth

The Boy has started training for two triathlons this summer and has been on desperate lookout for a road bike.  So I was rudely awakened on Saturday morning with "I've bought a bike on eBay so am going to Bournemouth to collect it"!  I managed to persuade him that it was such a beautiful day that we should go to the beach as well.  Apparently the thought hadn't occurred to him!!!

So here are a few pictures from our beautiful March beach trip.  Now I just need the weather to hold for my photoshoot in April!  Off to tackle the garden now, then going to bake some banana bread, and hopefully some time to carry on with my quilt.

Enjoy the sunshine!xx

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my fabulous Mummy!

We had a joint brother's birthday/Mother's day combo yesterday, so here are some very quick piccies below of the present I made for her.  One Kilner jar filled with fabric and ribbons, preserving disc removed and pincushion in the lid:

And now out for lunch with The Boy's Mum!

What's the fastest cake in the world?

....Scone!  That joke still makes me chuckle, so here's a picture of the scones I made last weekend.

Teeny tiny miniature scones.  With clotted cream and raspberry jam.  So these are the good batch (the five that wouldn't fit on the tray of the first batch).  The first batch (of 18) got a little toasted.  And by a little, I mean a lot!  'Preheat oven to 200 degrees' was somehow interpreted by my feeble brain to mean 'preheat oven to max and cremate the scones'.  Oops!  But this lot were pretty good actually.

What to burn - I mean, BAKE - next? 

Sewing-wise, I've still been piecing together my Blue Lagoon quilt.  I've got all my calico rectangles joined to my four patch squares, and I've got all my individual squares cut up.  Now just to cut the remaining calico and I might have some actual quilting to do!

So until I've cut the rest of the calico, I sat and methodically planned where to put all my four patches.   They were predominantly red, so every set of yellow squares and blue squares is now paired to a red, and the leftover reds are paired with reds (obviously!).  So now I just have to sew the rest of them to each other to finish my rows.  Providing I don't lose my colour chart to remember which order to put them in!

And then once I've finished the rows, I'll put a picture up.  Now, I'm off to scoff the second Creme Egg of the season with a gigantic cuppa!

Birdy Bag

Well it doesn't look like spring's coming to Oxfordshire any time soon.  We've got a lovely mix of rain and snow coming down at the moment, so no glorious sunshine like last weekend.  Looks like the spring wardrobe is going to have to wait a while for its first outing!

So to cheer myself up yesterday I broke open the hot chocolate, and got cracking on my Lotta Jansdotter All Day Tote.  With fabulous results!  I used the bird fabric Mum bought in Malvern, and there's still just under half a metre left for something else.

The terrifying cutting up of all the pieces taken care of:

And the final bag:

Complete with magazine pouch and flask pocket

And interior pockets...

And key chain

I think I've been annoying The Boy with how excited I am about it, but he can't be that annoyed as he agreed to take the photos!  So I'm feeling incredibly positive about it, and not feeling quite "Sew Useless" as before.  It's still going to take some serious bravery to attempt the skirt though!

I've also finally finished piecing together all my four patch squares for my Blue Lagoon quilt.

Just starting on creating my rows now, but still lots of cutting of the calico to go.  More stealing Mum's rotary cutter!

I'm going to attempt making some soda bread now - got to use up the leftover buttermilk from the pink velvet cupcakes.  And then I might even make some scones.  First time for both of them, so really going all out with trying new things this weekend!  Will report back soon on how they both went x

Lots of pretty things

So it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks but I've got lots of nice pictures out of it!  First of all I baked chocolate biscuits for Valentine's day.  The recipe was for Two Chocolate Zebras from The Great British Bake Off book - dark chocolate and white chocolate.  Except I kept my two doughs separate, made little hearts and then sandwiched them together with a suitably Valentine'sy pink buttercream.

Last weekend Mum and I finally got round to starting on the hare.  We cut and stuffed all our pieces, but didn't have a doll needle to do the button joints.  So, this is what he looks like so far....

Not looking especially hare like just yet!  But if you hold all the pieces together you can imagine it.  Sort of!

And then a little more baking.  This time it was for my manager's 40th birthday surprise.  She's a great fan of pink, and I had a giant cup and saucer that I knew would be perfect for something.  So I made pink velvet cupcakes (Hummingbird Bakery's famous ones but with pink colouring instead), iced with cream cheese frosting, and decorated with wafer flowers.

And to go around the saucer, Nigel Slater's chocolate cookies.  Dark chocolate with finely chopped hazelnuts and white chocolate chips.  Deliciously chewy in the middle!

As a brilliant payday bonus, the email newsletter from Seamstar had their new feature of 40% off specific fabric.  And the fabric which was featured was Monaluna Marin Poppies which I've been lusting after for a looooong time!  Two metres for £18 - absolute bargain!  So at some point when I'm brave enough to attempt it, it should hopefully become a gorgeous A line skirt.

So, if that wasn't enough GORGEOUS photos for you....here are some pretty shoes I bought today.  £4, Primark, lovely summery yellow, job done! 

Until next time...xx