Each to their own / Frogs R Us!

Let me pose the question - Which skill would you find the easiest?  In my case, doing a lot of sewing as I do, when mum wanted a table runner - no problem - just run one up.  Ask me to bake a cake, or, in the case of today's effort, a cheesecake and we are talking about enough preparations to solve the world's conflicts!  Let me explain.  Tonight the church is having a "Food Heaven" fund raiser - £7.50 for soup and a roll followed by as many puddings as you wish.  Since the puddings are all donated the event tends to raise a lot of money.  I offered to bring a pudding and was asked to make a cheesecake.  No problem - says I - and, in truth, the mixture does taste delicious (it's a lemon and lime citrus no bake cheesecake) but the kitchen looks like a bomb site and I really had to gee myself up to make it!  Still, hopefully it will have set by tonight and people will like it!

Today has been a lovely autumn day so I set to tidying up the garden.  I am trying to keep out of the back garden to give the concrete time to set properly so spent some time sweeping out the side "garden", pruning the fuchsia tree back and planting some daffodil bulbs in pots.  By the time that I had moved onto painting the other side of the fence, the joiner had arrived to cast his eye over the enormity of putting the summer house together - there sure seems to be a lot of parts!  (He has gone away scratching his head over the instructions and promising to ring with a date this week.  Meanwhile the summerhouse has been wrapped up in a tarpaulin to keep it snug and dry.)  Of course Millie and Daisy tried to help - in their laid back way.  But the chief issue were frogs - in every dark place a frog jumped out - you can just make out this one trying to hide in the recess of an oil tank!  The side still needs sweeping again -some of the bags had damp soil built up underneath so I want to let it dry off - but the green bin is full (it was emptied on Thursday morning!) and then the final step will be to power wash it - ready for the winter.

Elsewhere at chez moi, it was pinning and sewing (78 / 164 now - 48%) and assembling everything for the Scamblesby sewing day tomorrow.

Oh - and I haven't forgotten - I promised pictures of the garden - well here they are.  Bare at the moment but just waiting for the summerhouse and then pots, pots and more pots!  I have set my sights on a veg trug (that will please Dad - he thought the whole patio should come up and have a veg plot there instead) but want to wait until the summer house is up so that I can see how much space I have.

Day 5 - it's all starting to come together now

Last day for the gardeners and they told me, at coffee time, that they are 3/4 way through - erm?  how does that work?  Again they have come as a pair but, by lunchtime, the large patio is done, an area gravelled and just a couple of paths and a small patio to be completed - I have hope and it does look a lot LOT better!  Not only that but the "Shecave" has arrived - all flat ready for construction - but it's here!  Mind you my nice cream carpet has muddy dog prints all over it - drying (hopefully) ready to be hoovered later.  The perils of earth mounds in the garden!  It will be nice to get back to some form of normal tomorrow.  I will also post a piccie tomorrow - its getting late here and they haven't finished yet!

Sewing wise I have been concentrating on designing and sewing a cover for the ScanNCut machine.  Amongst my stash I managed to find fabric and matching bias binding so the cover is free (always good to say that I am using my stash up!) and, apart from a small fault which I won't point out to you, I am rather pleased with it.  The cover certainly does its job of protecting from dust.

I also continued with my quest to sew the curved pieces for Tuesday night and have now completed 63 out of the 168 (34%) - only another 21 to go to get to the halfway point then!

The other present today were the pair of tables for the summer house - oh the vision of sitting in the rocking chair, doing some hand sewing with my coffee beside me and two contented dogs curled up on the carpet together.  Well - a girl can dream can't she?

On a totally different note, my cousin was complaining in her blog last night that she has lost her crafting mojo.  I know that she is a knitter and does crochet and, coincidentally, a local yarn shop here was doing a mystery block of the month club.  Thus an idea was formed and, starting after Christmas, we are going to swap a block a month.  The structure is fairly sketchy at the moment but we both have a stash of wool to use up so the concept of receiving a mystery block to knit and using up the stash has to be a "win win".  If you would like to join us in this venture and could source a pattern for a 10 inch square, using DK yarn, which could be emailed / link sent electronically then we would love you to join us - if we could get a total of 12 then we would all have to only find one square each!  How about another a  new challenge for 2017?

Day 4 - now they're multiplying!

So - last night and Shakespeare's Cymbeline.  It was a good performance of a confusing play with at least three different storylines - all becoming clear in the last scene.  On the positive I am now educated and could tell you the brief outline, on the negative I don't think that I would rush to see it again.  Mind you Wendy only nudged me once when my snoring got too loud!!


Today the gardener turned up with a friend in tow - the friend was deputized to make concrete all day long and to carry all the paving slabs around the back.  They undoubtedly got on a lot quicker but I am struggling to see how they will have finished by tomorrow!  They still have to buy soe gravel for the back garden and its now heading towards 5pm!


Today was another sewing fest - well, this morning anyway.  I started with The Blue Project and completed the 6 parts that I talked about yesterday.  That means that I have completed step 2 of a ten step process!  Meanwhile I then set to sewing the curved pieces that I so lovingly pinned yesterday.  Then I pinned some more, then sewed them.  In all I have completed 34 pieces - not too shabby until you realise that I have to do a total of 168!! So that would be 20.2% completed then!  I wouldn't mind but we have a two hour lesson every fortnight (the others have 3 hours every fortnight) and our class is already ahead of the others doing this project.  Why am I killing myself to get these done before the next class then?  Well, Wendy and Trisha will have completed theirs by the next lesson and I don't want to be left behind - you know how competitive I am!

This afternoon was a WI committee meeting - with truly divine home made coconut macaroons courtesy of Carine - followed by a lovely sunny walk with the dogs at the beach.  Can you tell that the diet is not going great at the moment - my only excuse is the lack of sleep and painful leg means that I am not as focussed as I should be.  However the meal plan has been made and I am trying to keep away from temptation! 

Tonight I have a date with an ironing board and some more pinning to do.  I also promised Sewingbuddy that I would design a cover for the ScanNCut machine so will do some drafts tonight with a view to making the cover tomorrow - something totally different to the projects that have been dominating the past two days,

day 3 - now you see him, now you don't

After an early rise for the gardener - he didn't turn up until 9:30am.  He apparently hurt his elbow 4 months ago but decided yesterday to go to the doctors and was sent for an x ray first thing this morning.  He had arranged for a friend to help him today - but his friend let him down.  Why me?  Not only that after about an hour or so he rushed into his truck and drove off - I had no idea why / where he had gone - but he left his tools here!  after about two hours he reappeared apologising - saying that his wife had messaged him saying that the trucks MOT had run out so he's taken it to a garage and returned with his trailer - ladened down with the slabs etc.  Mind you he made up for it this afternoon - the cement mixer ahs been going all afternoon and slabs are starting to be laid.

Anyway - back to my day.  Having spent some time on some church admin, and then at the doctors getting the dressing on my leg changed, it was down to working on The Blue Project.  Without giving too much away, I was working on creating 6 pieces from all those strips.  Let's just say that I managed to get over halfway through but its a long process!




I also managed to find some time to work on my Tuesday night project.  We are making a quilt using curved piecing - each one needs to be pinned within an inch of its life before sewing.  On the grounds that you only have so many pins you have to pin, sew, pin, sew etc - this will sure take a long time!



Tonight is one of our forays into the world of Shakespeare live.  This time its to see Cymbeline - a play that, even after I have read a synopsis, I am not familiar with and cannot pretend to understand!  I have watched a trailer and its seems a bit trendy but we will give it a go.  Let's hope that I don't fall asleep again!

Garden rehash - day 2

Truthfully this could be the shortest post ever - I have literally done nothing all day! 

The gardener arrived early again - darn it , no lie in then - and set to taking the slabs and greenery away.  Meanwhile Jean picked me up and we set off for the senior screen.  We had decided to watch Absolutely Fabulous and there were moments which gave us a good chuckle.  However the darkness combined with a lack of sleep saw me really struggling to stay awake.  When the lights went up Jean confessed that she had nodded off here and there!

Once home, after a detour via a local farm that sells lovely veg, the garden had been scalped and conversations had re paths / gravel / patio levels etc - there are now yellow lines sprayed all over the garden!  However, along with the pile of sand dumped at the front of the house, I can see that progress has been made.  Apparently there will be two of them tomorrow - digging out old roots etc.


So, apart from lunch and an afternoon nap, that is literally my day!  Tonight its my sewing class so I will need to get ready for that and I did spend some time sweeping out and trying to tidy the carft roo  ready for the blue project to advance, but I don't think that I would win the workers prize this Tuesday!  Ah well!

The disappearing garden

So - today is the day that the back garden gets a total facelift.  Sure enough, the gardener turned up at 8:20am and set to cutting everything back.  The idea is to tame the hedge, cut down some unwanted shrubs, take up my patios and relay properly with concrete - all in all a total overhaul which will then make it "she cave" ready.  The first problem happened within half an hour - we have a nest with baby birds in the hedge - I thought that this was the wrong time of year for that - so one part will have to be left for another month or so.  Otherwise the morning went smoothly and the first truck load of garden waste taken away.  As you can see from these before and after photos - the lack of greenery is already making a difference.
This afternoon he took most of the slabs away - although the truck's limit was reached so a second journey will be needed!







Meanwhile I set to finishing cutting for the blue project.








Then I made another tea towel bag before working on another Christmas present.  Truthfully I had another bad nights sleep ( I am averaging around 4 hours of sleep if I am lucky) and am struggling to cope with so little. 





That being said life goes on and it was the Textile Group this afternoon where the request was to give a Masterclass on needleturn applique!  Well - I tried my best.  They tried both the appliqué paper method, using the appliquick tools, and the needleturn - and declared their preference for the needle turn.




With the rain starting to look like it was settling in the for the rest of he day, we had a quick turn around up at the beach (the girls had had a day shut in due to the gardener being here so needed to stretch their legs) before getting ready for the evening.  Craftwise me thinks it's more hand sewing!

On a different note I seem to have won again on a facebook give away - afternoon tea for two at Springfields - an outlet shopping centre that I just happen to be going to with two friends soon!

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ( Mark Twain)

 
 






Last night was thoroughly "strictlyfied" - catching up with Friday's programme as well as Saturday's.  In-between the fantastic dances I also worked on the crewelwork project started at the workshop - and managed to finish it.  Now I just need to decide what to do with it - make it into a cushion or perhaps combine it with others and turn it into a wall hanging.  The jury is out at the moment.










Sadly I didn't sleep that well last night - my leg means that I have to sleep on my back - not my natural position.  I am so sleepy that closing my eyes in church today to pray seemed dangerous!  Perhaps that goes someway to explaining why I lost an hour or so this afternoon and took some time to come to.  However come to I did and began a task that I have been putting off for the best part of a year - hence the quote as a title.  I can't reveal what I am making (yes it's another Christmas present so let's call it The Blue Project) but it involves 18 pieces of fabric and then cutting each piece into 6 strips - so that's 108 strips to cut!  On the grounds that you've got to start somewhere I am, at least, off and running and have reached the halfway point - well, with the cutting at least.  Mind you it seems that complicated that I have made a crib sheet to remind me what's what!  I would also point out that this is the most technically difficult project that I have ever attempted - I may just have to buy this person a present in case this doesn't come off!

Tomorrow, as I have said before, the gardener comes to start clearing the back garden so time was spent moving tables and chairs, pots and ornaments out of his way.  Luckily it has been a glorious afternoon and the dogs enjoyed their walk (what did the nurse say about keeping the leg up - well the girls deserve some fresh air!).

Tonight the plan is to spend some time cutting and preparing the pieces for some splendid sampler blocks ready for the sewing.  As Sewingbuddy is fond of telling me - if the pieces are cut then it is an easier and more achievable task to make a block up.  After all I am still playing catch up but now have a bed ready to receive its stunning quilt!