Obsession...

When I made my first quilt last year, I had been on a little journey around the 'net looking and finding inspiration from blogs and other recommended books and websites. I noticed that virtually every quilt that caught my eye had a common feature and that was Denyse Schmidt's seedling fabric from her now-out-of-print Flea Market Fancy collection. I don't know what it is about this fabric that I find so alluring - it is simple but the colours are rich in their own quirky little way.

I even had a lovely email conversation with one of the sales people in Purl in New York as the fabric featured in Last Minute Patchwork Gifts, and that was who broke the news to me that it was discontinued. While we're on the subject of Purl, I have been to New York twice and walked past this wonderful little shop having admired it BUT NEVER WENT IN! What a fool I am. It was before I started quilting, so that's my excuse, but I kick myself every time I think of those two wasted opportunities! Still, I do order from them now and then and I can recommend both their fabric selection and service.

While I have been on my new-found journey of fabric-love, I have been searching for anything that is Flea Market Fancy. I have a satisfying little stash but for some reason, I can't quite bear to cut into it and use it! You see the lime green posy and the red and pink dotty fabric? I got that a couple of weeks ago when I visited The Quilt Room in Dorking... just saying...

Then a while back when I was lost in another blog-led thread I came across this site and so of course, joined the petition to get FMF reprinted. I've just added the button to my sidebar, if you want to click and see what all the fuss is about.

Now it seems that every new quilting blog I look at is a Flea Market Fancy Freak too! They are doing a giveaway at the moment so this post is dedicated to that. Just click on the picture to see if you'd like to join in too:

It is the biggest carrot-being-dangled in front of me! In fact, I am waiting for some of the pink seedling fabric to come from an Etsy shop in Australia right now and some others that I managed to track down on Friday coming from the US. I am obsessed! All I need to do now is find the courage to cut into it and use it...

Go on, treat yourself...

That's what the barista said to me in my local Costa coffee shop.

So I did.

It was de-licious! Just ask for a crème brûlée latte...

...you know you want to!

Watermelon, perhaps...

There seems to be a theme to the quilts I make, or maybe an association to another love of mine - food. Jasmine's quilt is the Batternberg quilt and while I was making this one for my next-in-the-quilt-line-niece, Tia, the word that kept springing to mind was watermelon.

With the endless squares of pink and green, it's easy to see why!

This quilt measures 64" x 80", an easy measurement to work with in my mind; this time with 4" squares and 2" x 2" 4-patches. 800 squares in all - phew!

I started off with a fat-quarter collection from the fabulous Cia's Palette of Joel Dewberry's Aviary collection in, wait for it, pink and green and then added some other fabrics that I picked up along the way. I've got the hang of ordering from the States now with the customs allowance and so bought some Erin McMorris Wildwood from Purl too.

For the binding, I used a Heather Bailey bright pink print that I spotted on a whim in John Lewis after having already bought something else in Liberty! I always love the way that the binding brings the whole quilt together, frames it.

For the backing I used Amy Butler's Dandelion Field which reminds me of vintage sheeting. I'm sure I had something really similar when I was young on my bed. I hand-quilted around each 8" section of the quilt front which leaves a lovely regular pattern on the back.

So it is neatly folded, awaiting wrapping, alongside Jasmine's one.

Yesterday, the sun didn't really help me out in the photograph department and the wind kept lifting the quilt off the deck, so this is the best I could get of the whole thing in all it's pink and green glory:

Looking a bit darker than it really is, but never mind...

Being (a) patient...

Thank you for your get well comments. My surgery went well and I came home on Saturday as planned. All my worries about having a general anaesthetic were unfounded and my care was amazing. Other than a bit of a stiff neck due to the swelling and some initial pain on swallowing, I'm feeling fine but tired.

I managed to cast on another pair of socks from my (fancy, electric) hospital bed much to the interest of virtually everybody who came into my room! Much more interesting than the surgical stockings I had to wear the whole time!

Back at home I can while away this week doing what I like doing best - hand-quilting. I prepared a quilt before I went in. It is the last one for my nieces' Christmas gifts. I am waiting for the low November sun to move round a bit so I can photograph Tia's one out on the deck. I finished it last week. I gave a sneaky peek in this post and hopefully, I'll be able to show you in all it's pink and green glory tomorrow.

So, I'm waiting patiently to be back up to speed with things. And behind the wheel of my car - I don't like being stuck indoors very much. I look out of my conservatory door and tell myself that there is no point sweeping up leaves when there is still this tree-full to come down yet!

I'm so glad I made my scarf - I'll be needing it! Look away now if you're squeamish!

Actually, not One Skein...

I felt the need to crochet or knit something for myself, just a quick project because I was desperate to use this yarn. I bought it in John Lewis Oxford Street a couple of weeks ago.




I had a browse through Ravelry and hit on a pattern that by luck I happened to have and in one of my favourite books. The great thing about Ravelry is that you can find patterns made up in different yarns to that stated in the pattern with amazing results. The scarf in the book was (to me) totally uninspiring and more of a short cravat-type affair. I needed a longer, softer scarf so I used 2 balls instead of 1.




The thing I love about crochet is that with just a few basic stitches used in different combinations you come up with such wonderful patterns. Added together with the most gorgeous multi-coloured yarn and what's not to love?





This scarf hardly took any time to make and was perfect for biding a couple of dark evenings away with a big hook in hand.





It looks so lovely on my weathered garden furniture don't you think?




And goes perfectly with a dress I bought on aforementioned shopping trip!

Scarves are going to be accessory of the season for me as I am going into hospital on Friday (the 13th...I know...don't even go there...) to have a hemi-thyroidectomy which will leave a scar on my neck which I will be doing my best to conceal until it becomes less noticeable. Hopefully, I will be able to come home on Saturday with half a thyroid gland that I am hoping will be able to manage my thyroid hormone production without the need to take a replacement.

It will be my first time in hospital as a patient (other than having the boys) and I am a tad nervous about the anaesthetic as I've never had a general either. For the best part of this year I have been up and down to an endocrinologist about a cyst that has grown in my throat. I had it biopsied (it was benign) and aspirated twice but it is persistently reforming so surgery is my last resort.

Luckily, there is a coffee shop round the corner that I can send my visitors out for a gingerbread latte while I'm lording it up in bed... I am dying for a cup of coffee as I'm off it this week while I'm taking some arnica to help with bruising. I didn't ever consider myself hooked on caffeine but it may be true. Roll on Saturday!

Out to lunch...

I'm off out for lunch to my parents.

They are in the process of moving house so the stress level is tangible.

Hopefully apple and blackberry pie will comfort everyone.

Personally, I cant' wait for a rock bun for tea.

Although I know that my sister prefers banana loaf.

I've had a busy morning! There is also a bag of parsnips and sweet potatoes from my box to roast...

Out with the old...

It felt almost criminal to pull up my pink geraniums while they still had a few flowers brightening up my deck, but I had bulbs to plant as a priority this year having not got round to it last autumn and regretting it this spring.

As you can see the geraniums I kept inside are still flowering - who knows, maybe I can keep them going until next year.

There is still an abundance of dahlias at my local nursery for the picking and these ones looked like they were enjoying this November morning sun.

It's all looking pink in my conservatory with these lilies too...

Unintentionally, I have managed to keep the colour scheme consistent for the coming spring!

I planted 2 varieties of tulips in the planters to string out the flowering period a bit and made a hasty exit from the garden centre when I was only charged £8 for £24-worth of bulbs!

Once they were in, I put some festive looking (sorry!) white pansies and red cyclamen on top for a bit of instant colour.

I love the variegated leaves of cyclamen. These pink ones are for one more tub just outside my back door and that's my lot now til next year. Well, apart from a bit of general tidying up...