When I was a child

I was completely fascinated by the production of something from what seemed to be very little.I moved around alot during the early years and it would seem that most I went to stay with had creative hobbies of some kind.But sadly not always the time to teach me what they were doing.I would be given pencil and paper to fill my time, I loved to draw and I have no doubt that this was the perfect way to keep me quiet whilst they got on with what they were doing.

But over those early years I did manage to absorb what people were doing, by the time I was in junior school I could make my own very basic clothing, I could crochet, I liked to knit on a dolly pin [finger knitting], was allowed to sit at my nans loom and if I sat very still and didnt talk too much [for a treat I may be able to push the shuttle across] and on highdays or rainy Sunday afternoons I could sit and cut out the hexagons from old christmas cards for my nans patchwork box.

My nan, bless her did try to teach me to knit, but she didnt have the patience or maybe I wouldnt sit still long enough, but I did so want to learn.In those days needlework was part of our school curriculum, both boys and girls learnt to sew and made their first apron ready for cookery class.We also learnt to embroider, do our own designs for cross stitch and eventually learnt to knit.But I was not taught by a teacher, but a girl in my class at lunch break, she was left handed and some how taught me to knit right handed when no one else could, I concluded from this that I learn visually and had in my mind started to knit before I held the needles in my hand. Knitting has been a long term friend and a hobby I have on the go at all times, although these days my projects seem small scale compared to my youth, where upon the bigger the project the greater the satisfaction. These days of time constraints , I am happy to complete items for new babies or tea cosies.

My last big project was a winter throw for keeping warm whilst watching films, but it is a cheat really as is made up of many ,many squares stitched together and a border added.

My current patchwork project has memories of my childhood stitched into it. I call it my Daisy project, as the design is made up of flower heads of multiple colours, once all the flowers have been completed I will seperate them with a background of white hexagons, but I am not at that stage yet.

I can see there is part of a christmas card here from me as a child to my nan and grandpa.

Lots of Daisies

Some of the butterflies which will be flying over the quilt when completed.

Stage 1,the flower centre.

The green polka fabric  was from my nans sewing basket and was once part of one of her Sunday dresses.

Stage 2.

The templates that I use for cutting out, are infact the ones from my nans patchwork box, infact some of the fabrics are too.So as I sit and hand stitch the peices together I am combining the past as well as today. I am making this patchwork quilt in honour of my sadly passed youngest daughter, her name was Daisy and she loved butterflies. It will not be finished any time soon, but I like that about it, each time I pick a peice up and sew, I feel like I am in a better place, it gives me some serene time.

Lovelly weather and one pot cooking.

Another lovelly day, my time would seem to be supped away by the up coming wedding on Saturday, not that I am complaining, a good summer wedding is a treat which ever way you look at it.

So all this mornings beauty pamperings have been completed, numerous outfits have been tried on and retried on with different accessories and now I am happy to leave choosen outfit 'hanging' ready for Saturday, I do hope this effort will mean I dont have the customary change of mind Saturday morning and end up going out with half a dozen garments strewn on the bed and a landing full of shoes and hats. I cant promise but heres hoping!.

I also had my daughters bridesmaid dress to alter, this is now complete and hope it will preserve her modesty, as the dress was a little on the large size, think Marilyn Monroe over the air vent but in sexy pink instead of white, with her colouring and blonde hair I think she will look very beautiful.

I am never one to complain about good weather, but it does seem such a waste of ones time to spend the evening in the kitchen cooking, only so many salads can be eaten in one week. Today I decided to go for a one pot tea, firstly because its quick and easy and secoundly because I hate to waste anything, and as the week has progressed the 'odds and sods' in the fridge seemed to be multiplying, no left overs to be seen now. I am coeliac and also allergic to red meat and fish, so a rather restricted menu is available and no prosessed food for me, things you wouldnt believe contain wheat flour or pork fat. So todays meal comprised of chicken strips, yesterdays left over baby potatoes, fresh leeks, rice cooked in vegetable stock, chopped tomatoes and half a carton of double cream, and seasoned with salt and pepper and of course some fresh and dried herbs and served with crusty [GF] bread.

And now am off to sort through my wool sacks where I store all my bargain finds, I have found a very nice tea cosy I would like to make for my 'garden tea pot', the pattern was in a book called 'really wild tea cosies' by Loani Prior, I wont tell you which one I have choosen just yet, but will upload once completed. I still have plenty of hand stitching to do on my Daisy Patchwork, in fact I must start taking some work in practise photos. For today I will leave you with a different Daisy inspired peice,I choose to do a cross stitch with many of our favorite things, on the border I did one tree for every year of her life, she like me loved cake, and was a home girl, happy stitching............

The sun is shining.....

and this is my first blog, first of many I hope.

There is something invigorating about sunshine apart from the known benefits of vitamin D ,somehow it works its magic, I feel so much more able on a sunny day.

I am off now to visit a poorly friend, but when I return I have a few sewing projects requiring my attension and I look forward to that.

In the meantime , has anyone else been enjoying the new magazine 'Mollie makes'?,living and loving homemakes.This month they have an article on simple summer flowers to crochet, if you havent tried before, it is a fab way to use up all your odds and ends from the wool box, another avenue of intrest on the same topic is a book called 100 flowers to knit and crochet by Lesley Stanfield which I own and can heartily recommend, it has a large selection of flowers to make and is a good reference book for the bookcase.