rubykittyruby

  The Olympics have begun, and even someone like me who's not that bothered about sports ends up watching all kinds of weird & wonderful contests.  I become an armchair expert, criticising a dive or a jump, a kick or a badly timed manoeuvre.  Of course, being an armchair expert means I can keep one beady eye on the telly and the other on some hand-stitching.  I'm making progress with my Creation themed wall-hanging, though I'm still not 100% convinced it's going to all come together and look good.  My landscape's got too much of a post-apocalyptic look about it right now.  Doesn't so much say 'isn't the world a wonderful place?' as 'the end of the world is nigh, repent! repent!'.  Oh well, I'll soldier on, it may get better.   I finished reading this, which was pretty good overall.  The story moved along at a rapid pace, the details of life in 1938 Germany were chilling and appeared well researched.  If I had reservations it's tha

  It's early evening on Thurday, and I'm in desperate need of ideas for my brother's birthday present.  You know what blokes are like.  Ask them what they want, you get a shrug and 'I dunno'.  I haven't a clue what to get him as he's enough gadgets and devices to last him a lifetime.  At this rate he's getting socks & gardening gloves as at least I know he'll use those.   Anyway, on to other matters.  After that 'tidy up or we'll kick you off' letter from the allotment people I've been pulling up weeds and cutting back anything unsightly or overgrown.  The plot's not perfect yet but it's definitely in better shape. I'm leaving the large swathes of marjoram though as the purple flowers are attracting bees and butterflies.  Not as many as usual, but our insects are having a tough time right now.  Loss of habitat, climate change.  They need a helping hand.  The borage is flowering too, and that's always a favourite wi

  There are three or four blackberry bushes on my allotment, and the first of the berries to ripen and be ready to eat were picked today.  Served with fat free natural yoghurt and a meringue nest, completely delicious.  Lots of the hedgerows locally have blackberries growing in them, and I'll be out - with my freezer bags and plastic tubs - collecting berries in a few weeks time when they're at their peak of sweetness.   I was on my allotment today, making the most of the sunshine, and doing my best to tidy things up.  I've not been spending enough time down there this year.  A combination of cold, rainy weather and having other things to occupy myself with has kept me away.  Consequently, yesterday I received one of those official ' tidy your plot or we'll kick you off ' letters.  Ooops!  I've nearly four weeks to get my act together, which is do-able, and I've made a good start.  Pulling up weeds and flowers that've gone to seed, cutting back unrul

  When you've a stack of single bed size or lap size patchwork quilts that'd been patchworked but not quilted, all of 'em waiting for you to finish them and put them to use or give as presents, it's immensely satisfying to make these teeny-tiny pieces of patchwork.  Not even a full day's stitching and you've something completed.  Of course, these mini quilts aren't going to keep you warm at night, but they do have a practical purpose.  Kind of.   This one measures roughly around 2 and 1/2 inches wide and 4 inches long.  It has a calico base, then scraps of material sewn on, sewn over, stitched and re-stitched.  I was going for a boro style.   The back's reasonably neat.  What I found was that the more I stitched into the mini quilt, the nicer it became to push the needle in and out of.  The different layers of material become like one, and I liked the way the horizontal running stitch and vertical running stitch went over and under each other, forming th

  I was watching a YouTube video by Annie Claxton yesterday morning as I ate my bowl of breakfast porridge.  I like a slow-start in the mornings.  No rushing around, just a gentle introduction to the day.  Annie was using up material from a Bazaar scrap pack, and that set me off thinking I'd make a similar fabric wrap from a piece of Indian patchwork I'd got squirrelled away.  So I ignored my extensive 'To Do' list and hastily put this together.   This is the back of the wrap.  It's an upcycled piece, so it's had a previous life and is slightly tatty here and there.  That made me decide to not treat this crafty 'make' as one I needed to agonise about.  I'd put it together speedily and not worry about aiming for perfection.  I lined the pink Indian patchwork with a cotton print, and added fabric twine for a fastening.   This is the inside.  The two pockets are made from Bazaar scraps too, while there are two pages of pink felt for needles to be pushed

  I was going to do some cleaning.  No, really!  I was.  But the vacuum cleaner's decided to give up on life.  I've tried resuscitation.  Switching it off and on again.  Also swearing at it.  But it won't work, and I've yet to buy a replacement.  I'm debating whether to buy a cheap 'n' cheerful model for about £60 or so, or splurge on a Henry at a more substantial £140.  The Henry looks like it'll last longer and be robust, so I suppose I'll end up getting that.  Anyway, being cleaner-less gave me an excuse to spend time on craftiness.  First up was this bag.  I'd decided that it needed an inside pocket.   So I dug out this denim pocket harvested from an old pair of jeans.  A simple task to sew it to the bag's lining.  A nifty bit of upcycling, I hope you'll agree.   Also completed is another zokin.  I went off-piste with the sashiko stitching and for some reason added circles.   It'll be interesting to see if the zokin's noticeab

Saturday's rolled around again, and I've done my stint on the allotment.  The hollyhocks are well and truly blooming.  Not a single bee on them though, and I've seen a few tweets and postings on Facebook about how few bees people are seeing this year.  Is it simply the weather we've been having?  Or the effects of climate change and environmental pollution on our pollinators and insects in general?   All I can do is avoid using chemicals on my plot and provide as much food for bees as possible, like this marjoram, now flowering profusely.   The ragwort's flowered too, waiting for the caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth to turn up and munch on it.   The tall, elegant verbena bonariensis (if that's how it's spelt) is lovely too.  Though it's a manic self-seeder, and I'm forever pulling out seedlings from places where it's not needed, like smack bang in the middle of a path.  Back from the allotment, I needed to crack on with something crafty.  I deci