January 2026

 I have had a furtle through the phone photos for January and thought these might be mildly interesting!

I made a-some vinyl pouches with the Chertsey ladies a few months ago (the blue ones) but didn't like that the studs were on the vinyl as that seems likely to break, so I adapted the design a bit and added another section of fabric: these (the yellow ones) now work much better

I finished this hug quilt (yes I have done the binding since the photo was taken)

One I-Spy for a new baby, just need to do a second one for baby's cousin (honestly some friends are very greedy about grandchildren LOL)

Travelling to see *my* grandson means at least 75 minutes in the car.  If Brian drives I like to have something to do - my collection of EPP balls is growing!

I have finally finished my 2022 Easy Stack quilt from a Paula Doyle class.  I have rather fallen out of love with it, hence the crazy long time it took to make

I don't usually add labels  but the fleece backing moved a bit and ended up a bit small so I had to Frankenjoin a bit and it all looked a terrible mess, so the label is a sticking plaster to hide the booboo

We had a lovely late Christmas family gathering at mum's

A few new Gingers made an appearance: this one for Pie Appreciation day

This one for the RSPB bird spotting weekend

And this one for the RNLI SOS day

Brian made this for Jack - his dad made one for Lisa 34 odd years ago 

I'm teaching Paula's easy Stack at Chertsey on Friday, so though I'd show them the original idea and how much more complicated a Stack and Whack block was - and forgot to make the white  tall enough - doh!

More furtling this time next month.  For now, pictures of gorgeous boy!

September 2025

Hello again, thanks for visiting!  Let's see what happened in September

A very good friend of my mum's became a great granny, so an I-Spy quilt was, of course needed

The Chertsey ladies made what we are calling Iris bags: the handles were part of the huge haul I collected from Iris's craft house after she passed away some years ago and we had great fun using them and reminiscing about Iris

I made a ginger pirate for National Talk Like A Pirate day!

I took some hand sewing with me on holiday and had a lovely time EPPing in the sun, by the pool, cocktail in hand!

I didn't have quite enough fabric for any of the projects, but there are two baby balls (one for our munchkin, one for spare) and what is going to be a robin - you'll have to believe me!

Sadly my niece went back to Aus after 3 months in UK and Europe: she did fly out in the evening so we had a lovely final day together - what a treat: it was my birthday

My lovely friend Jane made me a chicken for my birthday

And the equally lovely Sharon sent me a most amazing stack of fabrics.  I'm planning what I could do with them but for now I'm having to keep them wrapped so I don't get drool on them!
 

We had a great Crafty Church session in our new Studio

And then the family had a terrarium making session which we all enjoyed 

And now it's October 😳 How did that happen?

2023 December

Happy New Year

I started December with some playing with clay with Jane and Hayley.  We used air drying clay and made toadstools

My finished toadstools drying

and then painted

We had a Christmas themed class at Chertsey Museum, making seasonal badges

I made a few samples for a future class - I put out a plea for glass pots and loads of lovely people turned out their kitchen cupboards

My Christmas tree decorations are almost exclusively  hand made by me or friends, or bought on trips - I think I know where or who they all came from

I managed to make a few Gingers with Christmas trees

I had a few requests for Gingers - for a stable where a friend's daughter rides (yes I know their zip is upside down - she wanted them anyway!), and the other daughter's trampoline team

and the cheer-leading squad

I got some lovely crafty Christmas presents - this sewing machine was one of two decorations, plus some wool for crochet, an embroidery project kit, and some fabric as well as a hand made fabric bowl and other bits and pieces

EPP balls were gifted to the very gorgeous Amelia and Freddie who seemed to like them 

I got started on a crochet blanket in this lovely Northern Lights wool

Niki had a clear out of stuff left at ours, and her karate belts from 20 years ago got the heave ho.  I nearly let them go into textile recycling, but then started playing

And then the year ended!  I hope you had a good Christmas, and have a very happy and crafty new year

2023 August

 Well this is another month where I have been astonished by the number of photos I have to show you!

I have been painting flat wooden beads to match two colourful dresses

There was a great variety of show and tell at Chertsey as the ladies brought in projects they had finished

I finished two EPP (hexies and pentagons) balls

These are made in two halves: 10 hexies and 6 pentagons in each half, sewn together like this

I then experimented with other alternatives: One central hexi surrounded by pantagons (x2) makes a flattened ball

but a pentagon surrounded by pentagons (x2) makes a very satisfying little ball (I think these were 1/2 inch sides)

that with the help of a wooden base and a hot glue gun becomes a sweet little pin cushion

I managed to get to Jackie's for a few days.  We had a go at making pouches with an internal pocket, 

but I think I must have not been concentrating as I was handing her stuff to sew that had been assembled incorrectly so some handles were on the inside

We also mode some bags that would hold projects but I maganed to pin the zipwrong on one of them too😱

These two vinyl zippy pouches weren't too bad

I'm making a quilt for a friend from her B-i-L's shirts.  I don't have space to spread the blocks out at home so take advantage for the village hall. All laid out

and the rows all stitched.

My Tula Pink EPP just about fits on the sitting room floor, but not much longer!  I've got some purple to go in the triangles

And I have been working on a smaller EPP travel project.  I've been making the flowers on and off this year and have now decided it's going to be a flower garden (my first).  I found some 'grass' fabric and have started  preparing grass hexies to be added to the flowers

Once they all have the grass I can lay them out and speed date them

Still on the subject of Hexies - I received the August swap flowers, and got mine posted just before the end of the month