rubykittyruby

  I shared images the other day of a secondhand craft book I'd spent a grand total of £3.50 on, and here's another bargain for the same price.  The previous book was from the '90s, but this one's pure '70s.  More of that in a moment.   Firstly, how pretty is my corner of West Yorkshire?  The cow parsley's out, lining grass verges with clouds of frothy white flowers and lush greenery. This horse chestnut tree in a local cemetery promises conkers will be abundant in autumn.   In my small front garden the Love-in-the-Mist are starting to flower.   Mexican daisies and Evening Primrose have self-seeded everywhere. I should have peonies blooming soon, as well as foxgloves, calendula and goodness knows what else is in the mix.   Indoors, all these blocks are sewn together, and I've about 40 more that are waiting to be added.  Hopefully I won't need to make any more blocks, and I can soon add a layer of wadding and sort out backing fabric to get this quilt neare

  Sometimes you have to give up on one idea and head down a different route.  I've been making blocks on & off for ages, with the aim of making what's known in the quilting world as a 'Terry quilt'.  If you've not come across her on Facebook or YouTube, Terry Rowland's an amazingly accomplished needlewoman who produces stunning patchwork quilts using a colourwash method.  Colourwash quilts are where one colour blends into another across a whole rainbow of shades, and they're extremely beautiful.  If you want to see what I mean, here's a link to one of her videos .   Anyhow, I'd been making blocks and had them stacked up in a box, and every so often I'd take a wedge of them out and trying arranging them in a pleasing fashion.  Couldn't do it.  Just couldn't get the colours to flow.  Okay, I thought.  I simply need to make more blocks in different colourways and patterns.  But I realised the other day that no matter how many blocks I

  It's a glorious day here in West Yorkshire, sunshine and birdsong and - possibly - a chance to catch sight of the Aurora Borealis later on tonight.  Fingers crossed as I've not managed to glimpse that wonder of Nature before.  I've got lots of crafty pursuits on the go at once, as usual.   I've got various plastic storage tubs filled with scrap fabric, and sorted roughly into colour groups.  For some reason I got it into my head that I wanted to piece together some of 'em, probably as I've not done any machine sewn patchwork for a while.  I grabbed the tub with browns, oranges, yellows and greens in it, and tried to be really spontaneous about piecing scraps together, not spending any time deliberating over which colours or patterns complimented each other. I chain pieced lots of small scraps together, so it looked like I was making raggedy bunting!   Out came the quilting rulers, and I cut my sewn-together scraps into 12 and a half inch squares.   I made half

  I have to limit time spent on Instagram as it's addictive.  Once you start scrolling through the endlessly inventive creations on there, it's so hard to stop.  On one of those browsing sessions I came across a beautiful plump pincushion - made by Heidi Parkes - and I couldn't resist making my own version of it.  I'm calling this a pouffe pincushion as the shape reminds me of the overstuffed padded footrests that cluttered up lounges, maybe in the Seventies?  I'm not sure of the period they were popular, but I bet you'd find 'em in any trendy vintage furniture sale.  Anyway, here's how to make one:  As with lots of my projects, it started with unbleached calico to use as a base.  I cut out a circle of it, using a teaplate as a template.  Then a slightly larger piece of purple material, something soft and easy to stitch into.  Pinned the two together and began sewing lines of simple running stitch across the circle.  It's an ideal way to use up all

  There's nothing like a few sunny days to lighten the mood, is there?  I don't know whether it's been all that rain we had, followed by the sunshine, but the hawthorn blossom is looking especially beautiful this year.  There's wild garlic popping up in the grass verges -  and Jack-by-the-hedge too.  Soon they'll be joined by masses of the tiny cream coloured flowers that belong to cow parsley.  Apart from country walks I've been indulging in a couple of my favourite occupations - crafting and picking up bargains in charity shops.  One of my bargains being this bag.   I've been wanting a small informal bag with a long strap that I can take with me on those walks.  For when I just need the essentials.  Phone, house keys, tissues, lip balm.  This bag's a Fairtrade one by Earthsquared, and it's got separate compartments inside and a zipped pocket and is in very good condition apart from the mangled bit on the strap. But that's easily repairable with