rubykittyruby

 It's not been the warmest April day, but bright and breezy enough to put a spring in my step.  I eased myself into Saturday by tidying up and hoovering, and shoved a load of laundry in the machine.  Once that was pegged on the line I caught up with 'The Archers' while adding more quilting lines to this.   I made this small quilt a while ago, at least the patchwork and appliqued part of it, and finally got around to adding backing fabric.   I had very nearly enough of this soft grey floral cotton.  Just had to add a little corner piece of a similar style of material to make it large enough to back the quilt.  I tacked the layers together and the work-in-progress is currently sat on my dining table.  It's a very busy pattern, isn't it?  Hopefully the occasional section made in plain fabric allow the eye to rest on them, providing a little oasis of calm among the frenzy of dots, paisley motifs, flowers and swirls.   I'm not ...

It's been a pretty good Monday actually.  Sowed more seeds (aubergine, Echinacea, white zinnias), ate two large bowlfuls of yesterday Butternut Squash Veggie Korma.  Might have scoffed a couple of chocolate bars, but we'll quickly gloss over that ...  I got the dull household chores out of the way this morning.  Hoovering and laundry done, I resumed playing around with improv blocks of plain fabric.  I'd recently bought some calico, so decided to join the blocks with rectangles of neutral cream.  I like the contrast between the smoothness of the vividly coloured cotton and the more homely plain calico.  They'll either get made up into a lap sized quilt, or maybe a couple of cushion covers to go in my Etsy shop.   To give myself a break from doing that, I also entertained myself by playing around with stripes, using two contrasting colours.  Sewing strips of pink and dark blue material together in alternative rows, then splicing them and ...

It's been the weather for long walks.  My photography skills aren't up to much, so this picture doesn't do credit to how lovely the view was from this bridle path.  Deep blue sky, masses of dandelions everywhere, cowslips, daffodils still blooming.  The sharp yellow of a field of oil seed rape.  Blossom on the trees and birds flitting about, gathering material for nest building.   This second photo was taken at RSPB St Aidans nature reserve.  Easy to reach from my house, and ideal for an early evening stroll.  It's not only what's visible that I like about this site.  It's the sounds too.  You get the birds squarking and calling out as they swoop and dive through the air, but also the rustle of masses of reed beds and dried grasses as they sway and shiver in the breeze.   Such pretty blossom.   Once back indoors, I've been studiously ignoring the DIY type jobs that need doing - everytime I go into the bathroom I'm loo...

Why a picture of fruit and veg when this is predominantly a craft blog?  Well, because I snapped up one of Lidl's Waste Not boxes yesterday.  £1.50 for this lot.  I do love a bargain.  After defrosting the freezer the other week I'm gradually refilling it, so made a slow cooker veggie stew with spuds, red onions, the courgette, some parsnips and carrots.  That's been batched up and slung in the freezer.  The bananas I'm munching away on.  The cabbage, celery, spring onions and chillis are due to be stir fried, and I'll make a leek and potato soup with - predictably - the leek and rest of the potatoes.   I'm not always lucky with my timing as regards these boxes.  Sometimes they're available, sometimes not.  So it was pure chance I got this one.   I was mainly in the shop as I wanted bags of potting compost.  My shabby faux-Victorian conservatory (tacked on to a 1950s semi detached.  Not my choice.) is filling up ...

It was a day of sunshine and showers.  The windy weather over the last few days has blown the petals off a few tulips, but most are intact.  I've got several varieties, mainly vibrant shades of pink, purple and orange.  Nothing too fancy as most of my bulbs - tulips, daffs and hyacinths - originally come from either Lidl or Wilko.  Everything's coming to life in the garden now, including bluebells and even some cowslips in the rectangle of dandelions, moss, clover and a few clumps of grass that I optimistically label a lawn.   I hand-tied a quilt made for a relative's birthday present this morning, which was a task that needed doing.  However, and very annoyingly, I found a seam where I'd not caught a raw edge of a block, so had to think up a way to disguise it.  A trio of buttons has hopefully done the trick, and my mistake will go unnoticed.  Yodel finally delivered a parcel today, an impulse purchase from eBay of 22 mens ties.  14 of ...

I finished reading Ann Patchett's excellent 'The Dutch House' the other day, and started on Sarah Winman's 'Still Life'.  Which meant my To-Be-Read pile was a tiny bit smaller.  Only now it's not as I succumbed to another charity bookshelf purchase.  A lovely hardback copy of Kate Summerscale's 'The Haunting of Alma Fielding'.  I am partial to a hardback, just that bit classier than a paperback somehow.  Summerscale wrote 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' and I enjoyed that, so I've high hopes of Alma and her mysterious haunting.   'Still Life' is one of those books that you start and immediately feel like you're in safe hands.  It's set in 1944 Italy, a meeting between Ulysses, a young British soldier, and Evelyn, a lively 64 year old art historian.  The blurb on the back of the book claims it's 'Big-hearted, sweeping and full of unforgettable characters'.  Just the ticket, eh?   What else have I been up to t...

  I meant to post this yesterday, but got distracted, so I'm sat here on the sofa with a cuppa and a few minutes to spare.  Well, it's April already and today is a fine, dry day.  Yesterday was partly spent on the allotment.  Planting spring onion and spinach seeds, plus moving self seeded foxgloves from the random spaces they'd grown into where I'd prefer them to be. The hyacinths are still blooming like crazy, providing welcome splashes of pink, white and vivid blue, and wonderful scent.  The wallflowers are looking pretty too, just a little more demure than the showy-off hyacinths who're very much 'hey! look at me!'   Apart from that, I did a few hours of hand stitching, working on extra Chris English style scrappy blocks.  Then sorted some fabric to back the Terry Rowland style Colourwash lap quilt I'm making.  I was going to add a fleecy blanket backing to that, but not sure I've a piece of fleece large enough.  So instead I'll prob...