Turnip!

My husband popped home from work today toting a black bin bag that appeared to be rather heavy. 'I bumped into Ray' he said, in explanation and drove off again. I lugged the bag into the kitchen, it being indeed as heavy as it looked and man-handled it (or woman-handled it) onto the table. The shapes inside felt like severed body parts, I was sure I could make out at least one head!

Inside was this haul of jumbo veg.

The potato is there to show scale and is a very ordinary, medium sized potato!

Ray,to explain, is a friend of ours who has an allotment and keeps chickens. Over the years we have had tons of delicious eggs, potatoes, peas, beans, tomatoes and other veg in season delivered to our door by Ray. He single-handedly kept us in the freshest of goodies while our children were growing up - all for, quite literally, chickenfeed (allotment keepers can't sell for a profit, only seed money etc.)

Ray, however, does NOT produce baby vegetables!

We are used to cabbages as big as your head - but this turnip beats them all!!

This baby weighs in at 5 kilos and has a circumference of 70 cm. I think I will be cooking it until Christmas, please excuse me while I head to the shed for a saw!!

Bless you, Ray, you're a star :-D

Tiddlypots!

I made these lovely little knitted pots over the weekend and popped them in my shop to see if they would sell. I'm sure I can find many uses for them if they don't!

I found the pattern in Craftseller magazine, which I love. It is a Gina Alton design from Pots To Knit And Crochet. 

I'm now off to raid my stash (along with the biscuit tin!) and see what variations I can make.

Peace, love and chocolate biscuits :-D x

Dresden Plates - my first attempt at hand quilting.

Some time ago I pieced together some Dresden Plate flowers and I've finally got around to doing something with them!

I managed to make 2 each of the 4 colourways with material from my stash using the English paper piecing method. My favourite toy piece of equipment, my Sizzix Big Shot, was used to cut out my paper shapes.

I love EPP for patchwork as I can be downstairs watching telly or listening to the radio with Malcolm. While my sewing machine is great for bigger items like cushion covers or bags I prefer to do most crafting by hand. Although it's more time-consuming it just seems more satisfying and therapeutic, like making bread by hand rather than in a bread machine.

Also, I have to use Bethany's bedroom (when she's at uni) or the kitchen table for my sewing machine, with the ironing board set up in the living room - not very conducive to the creative process!!

I've wanted to have a go at quilting for some time but found the idea of tackling a whole quilt very daunting, especially with a basic sewing machine like mine (and my even more basic skills!) So with this in mind and the reasons mentioned above, I decided to combine hand-quilting with quilt-as-you go for new project.

Ooops, wait!

I had to remember to remove all my paper pieces before pinning the layers together!!

My first two finished blocks

and the back, not perfect but I kinda like that!

All I need to do now is decide what to make them all into. The blocks are 12" square and there are 8 of them. I could intersperse them with other blocks and use sashing and borders to increase the size. I'm thinking maybe a wall hanging or cot quilt....

..... any ideas?

Love you, Dad!

Here's my lovely husband (somewhere under there!) trying to enjoy a Friday night beer while getting a Valentines Day 'kiss' from our dog, Angel lol!!