Lovely socks from my lovely friend.

 The other day when I was chatting with my friend on the phone I happened to mention that I would love some nice thick winter socks. When Tony went to check our mail box look what she had sent me.. They look hand knit although they aren't.

You might be wondering why we have a mail box?  It was here when I arrived.  Tony was working abroad when he bought this house as a doer upper.. He put in a front door without a letterbox so that mail wouldn't pile up and show that the house was empty.  The mail box is attached to the wall of our house and we have never thought about changing the front door just to have a letterbox. 

A busy day so far

 I went for my morning walk at 07.45 this morning. When I got back I set to and nailed the rest of the edge boards on the new potting shed and gave them a lick of Willow coloured preservative. It looks lovely now and the very next time the weather is decent I plan to make a start moving things from the big workshop down into the potting shed. I am really looking forward to making a start as I want to use the space that the big shed currently occupies.  Gardens are always evolving aren't they.

I couldn't understand why it looked so nice when I looked out of the window. Then I remembered that I moved the mini greenhouse over to the edge of the garden this morning. Now I can see the full length of the garden from my spot on the sofa. I can look at the birds on the feeders from the sofa too.  This afternoon I have done some winter sowing but I have put that on my veggie garden blog if you are interested. I've cooked some mince and onions ready to warm up for tea and made three salad/pasta boxes for Tony's packed lunches this coming week.  One prawn, one ham and one cheese and ham. A lot of the green leafy veggies came from the garden. It still gives me so much pleasure to wander along the veg bed picking beet leaves, radish leaves, lettuce and baby chard to add to his lunches.  For tea tonight I picked two varieties of kale, some chard and loads of sprout leaves. They will be lovely shredded and lightly steamed with Yorkshire puds, mashed potatoes and the mince that I cooked this morning. I've stopped for a rest and browse of tinterweb as I want to take a look at some more English Paper Piecing videos.  That's my current obsession.. Have you been up to much today?

This made me cry

 The little girls have the voices of angels. Click the link  to listen to it.

"Have The New Jab" - "Hallelujah" adapted by the Marsh Family - YouTube

Blazing mad and angry and stomping.... yada yada yada

****head blimmin  neighbours.....Bear with me while I have a rant.. It's a bit long winded but I am stomping mad.  This morning we needed to pop out in the car.  Our first time out in the car since Christmas day.  Tony keeps the works van parked on our drive in front of the car. In order to get the car off the drive he first has to move the van.. He parked the van in front of our house directly opposite their house and then we popped out in the car. There and back in twenty five minutes and then unloaded the car. While unloading the car the bloke diagonally opposite came out and started taking photo's of the van.. He had complained to Tony's employer once before about the van in front of their house.. They have two cars one of which is parked on the street. We have one car.  The couple directly opposite our house, park their second car directly opposite our drive. Tony has never once complained about this he simply struggles each morning and evening to drive the car or van off or onto our drive.  It's not even as if the prat was going anywhere in his car and would struggle to get off the drive. He was just out to cause trouble. I'm blazing mad, can you tell. 

Upcycling and a craft project

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous today. It makes such a difference to how I feel and I've had a thoroughly lovely day so far.  I left Tony playing solitaire on the laptop and took myself off for a good long walk this morning. When I came back I put the edge boarding on the new potting shed.  Then I decorated a little wooden heart to go on the centre line of the boarding. I was originally just going to mod podge the wording onto the heart but it looked a little bland so I added some hearts. It is currently drying and once it has had a second coat of mod podge and dried thoroughly it's going to look really pretty on the potting shed.

 If it doesn't rain tomorrow I will nail it on and show you what I mean.

Then I decided to upcycle some old birthday and Christmas cards. I've cut loads of templates so that I can make some decorated applique squares. I have so much fabric to use up and it will make the job a whole lot easier.  

Crafting blog share

 I love looking at this lady's blog.Now I have a number of projects on my tick list.  I want to make some pretty little fabric birds and knit cardigans for my Luna lapin family. Then I want to try my hand at appliqueing little birds and rabbits onto a quilt. I think my crafting mojo has returned with a bang.  I am so excited at the thought of the projects lining up for me to make a start on. I have loads of lovely fabric to work my way through  and plenty of ideas buzzing around in my brain. Are you crafting?

Helen Philipps

First attempt

This morning I downloaded and printed some hexagon templates and have had my first attempt at hand stitching a sample of English paper piece quilting.. Oh my goodness it's fun to do. The stitching isn't as noticeable as the photo suggests but it is something I will need to be aware of when I make my next one. I will make another three of these then stitch them each to a square of fabric and turn them into a cushion front. That will give me plenty of practise before starting on a quilt. Thank goodness I now have something to do to fill the time until the ice melts. I am desperate to go for walk but wouldn't dare chance it in case I slip over. My dodgy leg is being very naughty just now but I think it's because of the weather. We don't like the house to be too warm preferring it to be around 17 degrees through the day and much cooler at night but my leg would disagree. It's obviously become a fair weather leg since the op.  :-(...  Roll on Spring. 

Lovely surprise parcel

This morning I was having a video chat with my friend when she asked if  I'd like a jigsaw as she's cleaning out cupboards. Of course I said yes as I am climbing the wall with frustration. It's so icy and dangerous underfoot that I haven't set foot outside the house for a few weeks now. It's obviously not gardening weather and I'm not in the mood for cleaning.  I mentioned that I had tried to order some spray starch with my online order but it's out of stock. She said that she had some in her cupboard that she never uses and I could have it. She's just popped round with a bagful of all sorts for me. We did the covid two step... Knock the door and place parcel on the floor.. step back.  I open the door pick up parcel and step back.  We had a chat across the driveway until it got too cold for either of us to stand there any longer. I have just had a look in my bag of goodies to see what she had brought me..

Jigsaw

Magazine with free sewing pattern

2021 calendar and diary

I have lovely friends.  

English Paper Piece Quilting/Applique

This is something I have thought about trying for many years.  Can I ask the experienced quilters whether I need a specialist glue stick or will a Pritt stick or similar be ok to use.  I have tons of little bits of fabric and it's going to be a great way to use them up.

Blog sharing

It's frozen solid everywhere again so I won't be going for a walk unless it thaws. I have a morning of housework ahead of me and this afternoon I will settle down and browse some you tube videos or craft blogs.  A little thought occurred to me.  It might be nice to share some new blogs here that would be of interest to me and I wonder if you would be so kind as to leave a link to any that you think I might like. Gardening/crafting/chatty blogs are a lovely way for me to fill my spare time. I'm not always in the mood for crafting these days but it's lovely to see what other people have  been making/doing. It's a nice way to 'meet' fellow crafters and kindred spirits too.