Chutneys, Pickles and Quilting....

The harvest is here and I love preserving my left over veg.  I had loads of green tomatoes and an over abundance of cucumbers.

The tomatoes were turned into lovely green tomato chutney

I added sugar, red wine vinegar, spices, onions, sultanas, ginger and home grown red chillies to offer a little warmth.  I managed to produce 4 jars which will last us through the winter and into the spring



I planted my very first cucumber plants this year and they were so productive and easy to grow, that I wondered why I have never grown them before

After having plenty for salads and for sharing with friends and family I decided to pickle them along with onions, sugar and white vinegar with spices.  This the first time I have pickled them but next time I think I will make a chutney with them.


I am making quillows and teddy bears for my grand children and friends for Christmas, so I have been inundated with projects.  I have concentrated on the teddy bears and have used 2 different patterns.

This is the first pattern I used with the arms and legs separate. I have attached the arms and legs using plastic safety hinges and boot studs for the eyes and nose.  This is for a friends daughter and I shall be doing a quillow to go with it.

This is the other type of bear.  The arms are sewn on and the legs are attached when putting the body together, so no need for hinges.  This bear is able to be posed sitting with its legs hanging over.  




So I have more bears than a teddy bears picnic but I know that each one will find a loving caring home with a little girl (or woman) who will love them forever.

If anyone would like the pattern for the second bear I will post it.

What crafty ideas are you all getting up to or home making Christmas presents

Take care

Welcome to my Blog.......Again!!

I have not posted on this blog for over 6 months so I have decided to give it a makeover and to put it to better use.

I have been extremely busy in those last 6 months....and we have a new family member

Meet Paddy.  He is a puddin' Jack Russell Terrier.  Puddin's have shorter legs than normal Jack's but more often than not they are call Irish Short Legged Jack Russell's.

He is a lovely boy who spends his day chasing a ball, , enjoying his snacks and sleeping on the settee with his dad.

He is 4 years old and has been rehomed twice, both times for good reasons, but now he is in his forever home with his forever mum and dad.

I shall post on my blog about what we have got up to, how the growing season is going for us, the preserves I have made and also about the crafts I am creating. I hope, in a few weeks, to return to an art group which will give me the push to revisit my paints.  I will post pictures of my artistic skills but David Hockney is safe, I only paint for fun.

Today, I picked up a fabulous bargain.  My local Wilko's were selling tomato collars for £1.50 reduced from £2.95.  That's almost half price so I bought half a dozen, 3 for the grow house and 3 for the greenhouse.  I can't let a good bargain pass me by.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and thank you for passing by....so long for now!!

Easter Teddy Bears

I have 4 grand children one is 13, another 9 and two younger aged 4 and 3.  The 2 younger girls will receive lots of Easter Eggs so I decided to do them something different.  I have bought them each a small egg and made them a teddy bear each.

I used a paper pattern which had been given to me by a very good friend.  I am thinking of enlarging the pattern to do bigger bears 

 As I was doing 2 bears I decided to cut them out at the same time.  Here is the first bear cut out of flowered material.  It has pretty colours so I know my grand daughters will love them

The body of the second one is made from curtain material, while the arms, legs and ears are  flowery material.  

 I sewed the head and body together, leaving a gap in the back to allow me to stuff the bear.  The arms, legs and ears are sewn and an opening left, again to allow stuffing.  These are all hand sewn later.  Here is the curtain fabric bear.  I attached a red ribbon and tied it into a bow to add a little extra finishing.

The legs and arms are sewn on by passing a needle through the arm (or leg), through the body and out through the other arm.  I do this a couple of times to ensure it is secured tightly.  The arms and legs still move.  I would normally sew through a button on either side but not when the bear is for a small child.

Here is the flowery bear once again had a red ribbon added to it.  The bears stand 14" high and are a lovely present.  I know my grand daughters will love them and I shall be making them as part of their Christmas presents as I am aiming to hand craft all presents this year.

Quilted Bed Runner and Cushion Covers

I was asked to make a bed runner and cushion covers in turquoise and cream for a Christmas present.

I used a zigzag pattern on the runner which was made by cutting out 9" squares, putting opposite colours together, right sides facing, sewing them all around and then cutting them across diagonally, twice

Once sewn and cut each triangle was opened and sewn together.  By doing this a required length was reach.  After each length was reached, I sewed the lengths together.  I continued doing this until I reached the size I wanted.  I added wadding and a backing.

Here you see the finished bed runner  which has been folded in half.  It is for a double bed.

The order included two cushion covers, so I did two in the Somerset pattern.  My friend had seen them and wanted them included.

Quillows

This is a quillow, which is a quilt folded into a pillow.  I have used the somerset pattern for the pillow which is one of my favourite patterns

I used the disappearing 9 square pattern which was good doing. I enjoy this pattern as it is interesting and looks like you have sewn small pieces together.

The pillow part looks wonderful and I am so pleased with it. The pillow can be made into cushion covers, which I am going to do for my lounge to match the quillow.

Purple Quillow...A First

I went to a sewing class where people were making quillows and as I had no idea what they were I decided to do some research.  They are a quilt inside a pillow and are ideal when you have unexpected guests overnight or for a lap quilt.  I was intrigued to see how it was made and decided to have a go at making one.  I used a quilt cover from a charity shop in purple and lavender which cost me £1.99 for a single quilt and 2 pillow cases.  A real bargain as the material was in excellent condition.

Firstly I made the pillow part of the quillow using a somerset pattern, which is also called a folded star pattern.  I started with 4 purple triangles, added 8 lilac triangles, then 8 purple, all in size 21/2" x 11/2".  I followed this with 2 rows of lilac in 5" x 21/2".  I then cut 2 51/2" squares in lilac, in half diagonally and attached a 1" strip of purple material to the longest end.  

Using a ruler, I measured 31/2" from the center 4 times and squared the pattern off.  The 1" strip and triangle were sewn to the straight lines just drawn.  To border the star I cut 2 11" and 2 14 1/2" strips of purple fabric and sewed it to the squared up edges of the lilac triangles.  I then backed the pillow with the same material I was going to use for the back of the quilt, in this case lilac.

 This is the reverse side of the quillow where the pillow is attached.  It is sewn back side facing so the pattern is inside.

This is the front of the qwillow.  I. cheated a little by doing diagonal lines, with a square in the centre

And here is the finished article folded up.  To fold the quillow you lay it face up and fold the edges into the centre using the pillow lines as a guide.  At this point you pull the pillow through so that the pattern side is showing, fold the quilt from the bottom in thirds and fold it into the pillow, straightening the corners as you go along.  I enjoyed this so much that I have started my next one.  These are going to be Christmas and birthday presents for family and friends but this next one is for me.

Garden Bargains

We went to the Garden Center today and picked up some bargains

The most expensive was this cyclamin which cost £2.50 but I'm not bothered about that.  I have always wanted to have cyclamin growing under the tree and it will look lovely around the apple tree.

I have always loved primulas and this white one looks a lot better in reality than in the photo.  I have 2 in the back garden which were from my mum's grave when we had a little garden for her but the church made us take it apart.

.

 I love this purple one as well although it again looks better in the flesh LOL.

This is a viola which, with the primulas will go in the front garden.  I may even split this one to get a few plants out of it as it is rather big.  I can see this in the garden.  They are good growers and don't have any problems with soil.  My main problem is going to be the dreaded SLUG!!!!!!!!

Have you found any garden bargain just recently?