Birthday tea

Today is my youngest son's 17th birthday but we had the tea yesterday with Grandparents etc.. I saw this idea for a cake and decided to try it. It's not as good as I had hoped it would be but it tasted OK!

The lady at the cake shop said I had to put the wires in a little plastic container which you push into the cake or I would probably poison my family! So I did, but I think it wouldn't have hurt to push them straight into the cake!...and would have looked better. It's meant to look like an explosion of fireworks...if you look back on my snowgoosey blog ( or use the link to the right of this) you will see that my boys are quite fond of explosions! They blew up a model house in the garden just after Christmas.

Crafty day

I spent this afternoon demonstrating how to make a patchwork Easter cards to some ladies and children at our Church. I had made some kits up and thankfully it seemed to go alright,.

These little hands belong to a 7 year old who came and had a go and she did really well. She was very creative and made a lovely little card as seen in the next picture.

There were other crafts to try, ceramic painting, Hollie Hobbie bags, and two other types of cards.

It's nice to be able to try other crafts that you don't usually do.

UFO...Unfinished Object....

I am sorry to say that I started this about 7 years ago I think. I went to the National Patchwork Championships in London and saw Dilys Fronks making a quilt/wallhanging like this. I bought her book and started to create my own version.

It is supposed to be a garden looking through a wrought iron gate, I thought if I put it on here it might shame me into finishing it! The patchwork behind the black is done in a watercolour way as a suggestion of the garden, sky and trees and a path in the middle.

If you are interested the book is called "Enchanted Views" by Dilys A. Fronks. and the quilts are

inspired by wrought-iron designs. This picture is her interpretation of the wallhanging.

Fabric landscape cards

I've been enjoying making these little cards lately but if anyone knows of any good online sources about fabric landscapes I'd be pleased to know about it. I'm getting carried away with them and have about 20 done now, I've done them by hand because it means I can be with the family and sew or sit out in this lovely spring sunshine.

The Menopausal, Empty Nest Dish Cloth!

It has been noticed by various members of my family that when one of my children leaves home I enter a flurry of making things, so when my youngest son aged 16 joined the Royal Marines out came the knitting needles! Now I am not really a knitter so the dish cloth was a pretty easy thing for even a beginner like me to make and believe me dish cloths have been made thick and fast since he left. I gave them away to friends...did they want/need one?...I don't know but they were kind about it and just shook their heads gently!
They have become known as the menopausal, empty nest dish cloth, problem is I've now started on tea cosies, sort of funky ones that are shaped like pineapples and fields of sheep...but that's another story!

Mair's quilts.

These are quilts that I have made in the past, I just piled them up to take the photo and am shocked at how old and shabby some of them are looking now, the oldest one I made 28 years ago! Several more quilts have been given away to friends and family, the furthest away is in New Zealand!

Over time I will take a picture of each one and put it on the blog along with currant works in progress.

This is my favourite. While clearing out my Mother-in-Laws home after she had moved to a rest home I found lots of old embroidered tray cloth's, napkins, tablecloths, etc and as some were a little threadbare I decided to use what I could to make this quilt for her to use on her bed. By the time I had finished it she was in hospital and was not allowed to use it, and sadly she died last Easter Monday never having used it. She had however seen it and loved it.

This was also my M-i-L's. I made this for Mair one Christmas and she did have this with her in the rest home. It's a real scrappy quilt, just made out of leftovers.

Dividing the Blog

I have decided that it makes sense to have a separate blog for crafty stuff so as not to bore the folk who look at my usual one for Dorset, Bird stuff and walking. I have been so inspired by other peoples craft blogs and just thought it would be fun to record my shaky progress.
The quilt above has been completed since I took this picture and soon I will put a finished picture of it on the blog.

My aim is to;
-raise £250 (more if I can do it) by Dec 31st 2009 for my favourite two charities, Tear Fund and Compassion UK. Bearing in mind that I have a job as well so will give as much time as I can.
-I aim to have a sale of work in November so will be creating stuff up till then. I make quilts, cards (watercolour and fabric landscape) and odd bits as above with this tea cosy.
- I will be giving the profits to these 2 causes but will keep about 10% to replenish supplies!
- I will endeavour to use recycled stuff wherever I can.

So...wish me luck and here I go!