ALYoF - Flora Supply case

 

My goal for June was to make the Flora Supply case by Clover & Violet. The binding I order was the perfect colour but the wrong width - my mistake. I found other bindings in my stash that were either too small, too big or the wrong colour. I requested that my DH pick up some binding from my LQS in aqua or mauve. He did well.

 

 

Using folded elastic was new to me and my lines of stitching aren't very straight, but I'll do better next time. All of the fabrics are by Alison Glass from her Sun prints and Ex Libris collections.

 

I'm not sure how I'll use this case yet but I am very pleased with how it turned out.

 

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Farm Girl Fridays - week 9 - fresh pears and feed and seed blocks

Oops it's already Monday and not Friday. My blocks were done but other things got in the way. I must make a son next week's blocks so it doesn't happen again.

 

I'm loving this fresh pears block which once again uses fabric from I Want Her Stash club. The May and June delivery should arrive next week and I've seen June's fabrics which are lush.

 

I went a little wrong with this block and the green fabric should be where the white is. Too late, it's not being changed, so this is my variation.

Sunday stash - birthday edition

It is Lizzie's 17th birthday today. I did spoil her with one big present wrapped in minions paper. There is one smaller present to come - thank you Claire for being the intermediary.

 

And for those who'd like to know what colour I bought for Lizzie - it's crystal blue.

And just to prove I'm  a sucker for pretty packaging - don't you love the tin and the pouch. Here are some skin care stash purchases.

 

Firstly is the Liz Earle anniversary versions of cleanse & polish. You will see that the cap is missing from one and it is already in the bath room to be alternated with my regular cleanse and polish and another product. I am working through the miscellaneous beauty products this year and I just have one cleanser to finish and one large  moisturiser and some small Olay samples. However I have loads of body lotion to also use up. I'm tackling it one bottle at a time.

 

 

And then in the potty pouch is a trio of Murad products to try. I had already put them in my carry on luggage to take on forthcoming trips, I'll be interested to see how the products feel.



 

And this was my most exciting purchase of the week from Fondant Fibre. I am impatiently waiting for my cable needles to arrive. I bought completely the wrong size so they have been returned for exchange. I have also bought a pattern to go along with a YouTube video to knit toe up. It is printed out and ready to put in my planner for safe keeping.

 

The colourway is Dook Dook Dook. I should Google the name to see if it has a story. And I'm back. Hmm I wish now I hadn't Google the name. however it is a beautiful colour.

 



As well as the yarn, I was sent a cute stitch marker along with a coupon code for when I next order. I am following the shop on Instagram as they occasionally have limited edition kits and yarn.

I also received a mini skein called London Calling. How apt. It's thicker wool so I must check what weight it is.

I have been thinking about buying the yarn for the border of my cosy blanket which is moving along and I have about ten stripes until I have finished the body of the throw. I was resisting buying it online as I know I will buy extra to get free postage. Jan told me on Wednesday that a local shop had new stock so I bought it on the way home from our quilt group along with some DPNs from a local charity shop and a size gauge.

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Ex Libris by Alison Glass

My target for this month was to make the Clover & Violet Flora supply case. The pattern was released on Monday (with 50% off) so I quickly bought and downloaded the pattern. I then printed it as a booklet and it can be stapled, hole punched and added to my A5 planner.

 

On Monday, I also ordered the supplies I needed for the pattern which includes a zip, fold over elastic, medium weight interfacing and a few other bits. I am still waiting for them, so I have been crocheting my cosy blanket and watching Youtube videos on knitting. They are addictive and Little Bobbins podcast gave me a few ideas to make whilst waiting for supplies. the first was an open wide zippered pouch. google is my friend and I soon found Noodlehead's free tutorial. I then cut and paste it into Word and also printed it as a booklet.

 

I chose Ex libris again to co-ordinate with my as yet unfinished Flora supply case. I couldn't find any suitable zippers in my stash so I bought one when making a stop at Rondels Farm shop yesterday. They had only one zip in stock which was a blue 14" zip which fortunately was okay for my purpose. However next time I'll buy a longer zip and add some iron interfacing to give the bag more body.

Then inspired by Little Bobbins, I made a cover for DPNs also using ex Libris. I'm sure you can see a theme here. Yarnie Nana also featured this on her podcast and gave a demonstration of how they worked which helped me in the design of my cover. You store your needles in the cover and the sock dangles down through the poppers. I will need to buy some more poppers as I only have grey and white, but white worked for this.

 

With the remainder of the panel left over from the needle cover, I made a small needle case. No snap closure or ribbon which I find I never use.

 

No delivery of supplies has arrived this morning, so I'll have to be patient and wait until tomorrow. I have however received 100 glow stick bracelets which I will deliver to the WI office this afternoon.

Sunday stash - sock yarn edition

My wish to knit socks started with the purchase of a knitting book when we were in Melton Mowbray of all places which was near to Matthew's sixth form college - Welbeck. Last year I visited Loop with friends and thought more about socks. If I bought some yarn then, it hasn't surfaced.

 

Last weekend in London, we visited Westfield at Stratford and bought this skein in John Lewis.

When I got home, I popped down to the Harbour Gallery and bought some DPNs and a skein of this lovely turquoise. I tried the DPNs but I don't think they're for me, so I am going to try the magic loop technique. So I returned the DPNs and bought another skein, this time in a denim colour. I've since found out that I need to wind the skein into a ball before starting a project.

I also bought some cute stitch markers. I had found some jump rings which would do the job, but these were too darned cute. I have been in touch with the owner of the wool shop about learning to knit socks so I am hoping to start very soon.

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Farm Girl Vintage - Farm Fresh Flower and Farmhouse

We are already on week 8 of the sew along and my array of blocks is already looking quite large. More 6" blocks are called for.

 

 

 For the farm fresh flower, I made a 6" block using some Sweetwater fabrics along with Dashwood Flurry

 

Some more Dashwood Flurry and two fabrics from one of my I Want Her Stash bundles. This is the first building I've made from the book and they all need to be 12" IMHO. I'm using similar colours to the book so as to make fabric selection quicker.

 

And here are my blocks so far. I think the colours are working and no one colour is dominating, but I think I need to choose something other than pearl bracelets for my blocks that need some Orange.

It's all about the cake

Last weekend we were in London and on Saturday we met a tour group at Covent Garden for a cupcake and macaron tour. We were guided by the lovely and enthusiastic George. There were tastings at every stop and even better we got a 2 for 1 through National Rail. Do you want to come on a tour with us?

 

Just follow George into Covent Garden.

The first stop was Laduree in Covent Garden, we all squashed into the small shop as George collected a bag of macarons.

 

I'm not sure what flavour my macaron was but there was no definite flavour. Lizzie had chocolate and said it was lovely. We headed to the nearby church yard where we were regaled with interesting facts. There were surplus macarons so one lucky lady won a box of three and a bag for being first to answer a food question. The answer was Punch & Judy which apparently originated in Covent Garden.

 

The tour website said we would stop at Lorraine Pascale's bakery, but apparently that closed over a year ago, so the next stop was BB Bakery where George bore our lovely strawberry cupcakes on a fancy cake tier. we were warned to grab our sample quickly as passers by have been known to take one. BB Bakery also do double decker bus and boat tours with afternoon tea.

 

 

Next we headed to Leicester Square, into China Town and then into Soho which is an area I don't know. This trip we tried to not do our usual route of Marble Arch to Regent Street, Leicester Square and Covent Garden and enjoyed our trip more for doing that.

 

 

In Soho we ate at the Hummingbird Bakery and had a full size red velvet cupcake. I know they are very popular, but I don't really see the attraction. I'd rather have something zesty, so on to the next stop.

 

Yauatcha is a Michelin starred restaurant and a welcome comfort stop. I chose a yuzu macaron here which I kept for later. Unfortuantely it had a chocolate filling which rather overpowered the yuzu shell. Beautiful displays though and George's favourite stop on the tour.

 

The website also said we'd stop at Patisserie Valerie which I wasn't looking forward to with any excitement, but again the website hadn't been updated and we stopped in Carnaby Street at the relatively new Crumbs and Doilies. Owner Jemma came outside the shop to tell us about that day's flavours and the history of the shop.

 

I chose a key lime pie mini cupcake, very nice. I even bought Gemma's book to immerse myself in later.

 

 

We headed through Burlington Arcade to Fortnum & Mason - our last stop. Have you ever spotted the Chanel cipher on the lamp posts in Westminster. Now we know the story of unrequited love and a public demonstration of that love. I had never been in Fortnum & Mason before so this was a new stop to me. Here I chose a salted caramel macaron to eat later.

 

 

 

 

You may be surprised that  we didn't put any weight on last weekend, though today could be a challenge. To celebrate the WI's centenary we are having an afternoon tea at Government House. each WI has been asked to contribute sandwiches and a cake. I have to make cake for 24 (i.e. two cakes) - one for Hel's belles WI's contribution and one for my contribution as a Board of Trustees member. I decided to try out the Malteser cupcakes from Jemma's book. Each recipe makes 24 cupcakes. I have loads of icing left so may make some more for Father's Day afternoon tea with the family.

 

I have kept one cake back for Lizzie to try. But should I have stuck with one Malteser or three? Three certainly covers up any icing technique shortcomings.



 

 

Time to put raspberry jam in my Victoria sponge and pack it ready to take to Government House where we are setting up at 11 am ready for a 3 pm start this afternoon. 

 

 

ST2 block for June

Helen (Magpie Cat) sent us a tutorial for this striking block which you can find here. We asked to use blue, grey, black and white and they are all looking great.

We are well on the way to hit our target for 100 quilts for the charity, siblings Together for 2015 summer camps. I still have tow belonging to Helen that just require labels. I really should get them labelled and posted next week. we are away for three days in London to take Lizzie to Great Ormond Street Hospital for a second opinion. Fingers crossed for some progress and then next week, WI have a centenary garden party at Government House for us to look forward to.

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CQ Jersey Bee - May / June

 

I'm not sure why I've dithered with this block. It was delivered in time, but the foundation piecing patterns have sat on my table for at least two weeks. Everyone has done blocks in either orange or green so far, so Kim asked for no more in that colour way. She requested small tone on tone prints, so hopefully my block fulfils the brief.

Farm Girl Vintage - Crops and egg basket

We are already on week 7 and this week's blocks are particularly cute. I haven't sewn up any of the buildings yet, but I'm going to have to bite the bullet as it's the Farmhouse for week 8.

 

First we have Crops. This would make a super quilt of just these blocks and would be good for a bee quilt too. This is a mix of fabrics from one of my I Want Her Stash bundles, lots of Basic Grey Grunge that I won in a giveaway from Blue Nickel Studios and scraps.

 

 This basket is also a mash up - the blue is a Lori Holt line, the handle is Little Apples from Aneela Hoey and the red and spotted background are from an I Want Her Stash bundle.

 

Both blocks are 12" blocks and have been added to the group shot below.

 

I like how it's developing. Time to bite the bullet and cut out the Farmhouse block. I could be gone some time.