We have finally done it! Moved into our new home!

We have a front door at last so are weather proof, have a working kitchen and bathroom, and have moved into our renovated and extended new home!!
There is still some way to go before it is all finished, but we are moved.

I left the view that I have come to love so much, and have moved from one end of Cumbria to almost the other. It was a beautiful afternoon when we left….

…… and I woke the next morning to look out of my new window to a glorious, misty, atmospheric new view - which I am sure I will love just as much.

Still so much to do, both in the house and in the garden - it has been a long building journey - but we are here!

Potfest in the Park 2015

I can't believe how fast the time is flying by…. it hardly seems a year since I went with a friend to Potfest last July. Potfest in the Park started back in 2001 in the grounds of a beautiful country house at Hutton-in-the-Forest, a few miles outside of Penrith. If interested you can read more about it here.

We arrived quite late in the afternoon , so had a quick whizz around. Just a few photos to show some of the variety….

This little plaque took my eye, with a knitting theme!

A general view with the tented stands and a view to the house

 Large pots…...

and sculptured ceramics.

I think I prefer to have practical pots, things for eating or drinking from, or to use when cooking. Last year I bought the spotty mug, and I was hoping that the same potters would be there so I could add to it and maybe start a bit of a collection. Yes, they were there and in the same spot as last year so easy to find! This time I bought another mug…...

and a bowl - to use for my morning porridge (there is porridge under all that fruit!)

 So my collection has grown…. I really love the blue/yellow colours

Hopefully they will be back again next year.

A catch up from June!!

Well….. June went with a blur and we are almost half way through July!….. we are so busy with the house renovation, the builders are working very hard to try and get it mostly finished by the end of August. Then we will be able to move in … yippee :-)  It seems quite close now, but I've not really thought about all the packing and sorting things out at the house we are in at the moment. Every time the girls come home I do get them to go through their things and sort out what can go and what should be moved with us. 

However, I did manage to make some time to go to Woolfest, at Cockermouth. I really like this event, maybe as it was the first I ever went to a few years ago now. I was good and only bought a couple of  things…..

…… some yarn. I have plans to make a cardigan with this, as I have a lovely pattern that I want to use. However, I will not be starting this project for a while.

I also met with Jackie Cardy on her stall. I have admired her work via her blog 'Dog Daisy Chains' for a while now and was pleased to actually meet her in person. I bought one of her beautiful brooches, and may well save up for one of her lovely textile wall hangings.

The hay fields, near our present home, really did look fantastic this year with all the wild flowers. I walked around the edge of my friends fields and came away with very yellow trainers!

 

On walks with the dog along the lanes and bridleways, there have been so many beautiful wild flowers….

…. mingled with the scent of honeysuckle, it has been gorgeous

I also bought my friend a pair of chickens, here they are just settling into their new home.

Other wild life….. a toad that came in to see us one morning!

On the house front …. the fittings are now going in, so I've been busy trying to sort out a pattern for the tiles behind the cooker - just as well I enjoy patchwork!!

Things that made me smile last month…..

…… being photo bombed by a swallow as I was trying to capture the bluebell view from the garden.

….. new baby goslings on the farm.

…… our neighbours new chickens.

…… beautiful apple blossom in the orchard.

 ….. our new postal delivery service! I know we live in a rural area but….(he he). The balloon actually landed soon after I took this photo, knocking out the electricity supply for a few hours. Luckily no one was hurt.

….. more bluebells, the view from my window,

……. more bluebells, on one of my new walks with the dog,

 

…… and violets.

……. progress on the house, seeing the first phase of windows going in, and the flat roof at the front being made into a pitched roof.

 ….. and finally, a little knitting - when I'm not thinking about colours, light fittings, bathroom fittings, carpet, etc etc for the house.

Life is very busy at the moment.

make do and mend!

Oh no! a hole in my sock! I made these socks back in 2012 and they have been very well worn. Unfortunately a hole has appeared. What to do?

I had a look through my odd bits of left over wool and found the very same yarn - all be it a lot brighter in colour. My socks have faded in the wash, and the wool content has also felted a little.

I took the decision to just cut the toe end off, and pulled the yarn back to a complete round where I could pick up the pattern again and ….

…. just like new! my socks live on for a little longer.

Up, up and away…..

Last week I discovered this beautiful little nest snuggled in our beech hedge. It rested in a crook of branches, made with a mossy base with the nest constructed on top. If you look carefully you can see some fluffy mounds at the front of the nest

I didn't want to get too close, but couldn't help myself but look inside the nest - three little chicks! I think they are blackbirds. I kept my eye on the nest over the next few days and then...

…. it was empty. All gone, fledged and flown away. What a beautiful little nest, constructed amongst other things, with some string the found in the garden.

On my dog walk I went to check how the frogspawn was doing, as I was afraid the warm weather last week had dried the puddle……. 

…..but although the puddle was smaller the tadpoles were growing. Must check again this week how they are doing.

I love this time of year, there is so much going on.

Finished - playmat quilt

I loved making this little playmat quilt. It is for my nephew and his partners first baby. I started making it about a month before the baby was due, but she surprised us all and came three weeks early!

What I like best about making these quilts is that they are small - so it allows me to try out different techniques. I have made a couple of other ones for my niece's children, see here and here

I knew the parents had decorated the nursery in lemon, so wanted something to tone in with that, and also that they liked the small pattern fabric I had used to make a cushion for them as a christmas gift.

I was flicking through a book by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke 'Material Obsession', and liked a quilt Sarah had made called 'Corner Shop'. I adapted this pattern making all the blocks smaller, so my finished play mat would be 36" square. I tried out the block full size at first and then adjusted my blocks to make them smaller.

I had bought a moda charm pack at the festival of quilts last year, and thought that would work well and once I had sorted out the quilt design I also bought a layer cake of the same design so I would have lots of choice of the different colours and patterns.

So the centre became 16 blocks each measuring 5 inches square

Once stitched together, I made the inner boarder in lemon, and then added two rows of smaller 3 inch squares around the edge.

Clara came up to my workroom see what I was doing so late into the evening, and took a few photos of me working away. I thought I would add an action photo here, this is where I am just finishing the last strip to finish the quilt top …..

Next day I layered up the quilt ready for some simple machine quilting. I used a slightly thicker wadding than I would for a cot quilt, as this design is for a playmat. I quilted diagonally on the centre - just 'stitch in the ditch', then around the boarder on both edges…..

….. and just a straight line between the smaller blocks along the lengths. Then made some matching bias binding for the edge.

I really love this fabric, and was really pleased with the way it all came together. I had also tried a couple of new techniques that I'd not used before - setting the squares en-point, and adding triangles to the edges of the squares - is this called broken dishes?? so that was all new for me. My original plan was to embroider a little something in each of the white centre blocks, but in the end I thought it would look too fussy so left them plain.

Then the grand ta dah!! Clara obliged and held the quilt up for me!

We went to visit the new baby last week, and took the gift with us…. so here is the new baby girl, sleeping peacefully on her playmat!