Can it be SO hard!?!

I had invested in a new pair of these this week, the sun had been shining, and my
current pair of "Roy Bons" (bought in Egypt 8 years ago) were a bit scratched

And we all know what happened then!  

It hasn't stopped to rain since I handed my pennies - or many pounds over.  Which is a shame, but it always seems to do so, just as my lovely Delphiniums come to their best. 

They are now a bit battered, but still as beautiful

 The Alliums seem to like the weather too this year, and are just coming into full flower

tucked in amongst the onions and garlic

 Maybe one or two more days of sun will see them at their best?

 You may remember that I had promised that I would finish this socking by the weekend?
Well, its a good job that this weekend had an extra day.

Truly, I have done enough stitching to have smocked this

Image borrowed from here

 I started off with this

and stitched and unpicked, and stitched and unpicked. I mean

How hard can it be?

I had a diagram. Its like sewing by numbers. And still when I looked at it,  I had added or missed a pleat so the pattern didn't sit correctly. Now my teacher and friend had pleated the fabric up, given me the instructions, and I know that she would make me get it right. I wanted it to look right.

 So I jumped in the car and popped down to the local store ( thank goodness for Sunday trading)
 and invested in these, (quite a posh store so quite an investment)

I stood in the shop, with needle and thread, and tried several different strengths.
 Is it just me, or do you hand sew closer to your face than the reading glasses take into account? Maybe it was because I was counting,  Maybe it was because it is a very fine fabric.
Maybe I'm just not very good at it.

 But its done! Well the smocking part anyway, which is all I promised. But I intend to get this finished soon, so Miss O can wear it. 

Now I am off to celebrate with a chick flick Because Mr T is staying with the boy tonight - they have had a day out at the BMW PGA at Wentworth

 The sun shone, they had a great time and a hero was kind. Bless!

 And best of all, I didn't have to watch it on the box!

Some of you would open a bottle, but I am going to tuck into some of these little beauties!

yummy

 Each to his own.

Ta Dah!!!!!

At last !!

I have finished my first Sew Along!

25" square, 3" blocks

And I really am quite please (or relieved!)
There was LOTS of cutting (tiny pieces) and it was fiddly to put together. But actually no different than making a larger quilt, of which I have made many! It also takes about the same time too, so bang goes my "haven't got time at the moment so I will make something small".  Duh!!!

But I loved it. I do love it. It is very square (bonus!) and very flat and hangs nicely on the wall.
I know that my quilty friend has finished hers, but she has been gracious enough not to publish until I had finished mine.

She also has another idea for a miniature - and I do mean miniature.

Block size one and a half (YES 1+1/2" BLOCK!)

which I have already had nightmares about, but my friend has risen to so many ideas of mine over the last couple of years ( I have been sewing by proxy!) - I am gladly (sort of) going to rise to this challenge.

But not before I have finished a smocking project that started like this

for Olivia

I am not going to show you the progress , because it has been slow, but I will finished the smocking by this weekend - I PROMISE!!

I have been distracted by making some of the cute shorts for the charity that sends them to Africa.  A friend makes them for her church to send, and the next shipment will go in August and it only took a couple of hours from start to finish, and that included over-locking the fabric samples together to make the pieces big enough to cut the pattern from. This simple pattern can be found here

over-locked scraps made into shorts

 And you many know that we have a wedding in July, and all plans are going well for that but mostly due to Miss S being in charge of proceedings, so obviously we can fit in a Christening of Miss O in in June?! Of course.
Bunting for the garden - of course. Cake for the day - of course.
Honestly - I wasn't asked - I volunteered and  am delighted to do it too.

Bunting all in hand, and would have been finished, but it needed pressing and the weather has been glorious here - but HOT - so pressing will take place a bit later when the sun is no longer shining, and then it just needs adding to the tape. Sorted.

 Not starting ANYTHING else (at the moment!!)

Alien!

 Some really weird weather here last night. The sun had been visiting, and it was quite a balmy evening.

Then I looked out and watched as this really (I mean REALLY) low cloud came rolling in

 It looked like you could almost reach up and touch it

 No wind

 It just crept along

 And then the thunder rumbled LOUDLY

 And some flashes of lightening

 More VERY LOUD rumbles

And then it was gone.... and that when torrential rain and hail fell so I didn't stop outside for that.
The lawn was covered in white. Looked like we had had snow!

But the whole thing was quite surreal and reminded me of this ......

Image borrowed from here

Is anybody out there?


***Edit***

Apparently there is, and they came back this evening!

Nearly there!!

We have been away for a few days. Spent time with my children (they always will be) and my gorgeous granddaughter, who has spent the week doing nothing but this

She is such a treasure to be with.

We were all together on Sunday, which just happened to be my birthday, so parcels were opened and fizzy stuff drunk. I had some very nice twinkly things and a collection of my favourite perfumes,  amongst lots of other treats. As I had been whinging on for weeks, Mr T came up with a very nice new camera. ( just got to learn what all the bells and whistles are for)

We spent the morning in Maldon, which is a very pretty town on the Blackwater estuary, and walked along the Hythe promenade, watched the model boats and a very nice young gentleman rescuing a football from the muddy riverbank for two little ones.

the tide was out!!

There were a number of London Barges on display. Some of these were involved in the Rescue at Dunkirk

 We walked

 and played with my very nice new camera

And ate and drank and generally chilled out. A good weekend.
The weather was kind to us until Thursday, when it decided to rain. All day. ALL day. But we still made a trip to Tiptree to see where the jam was made and to make a couple of purchases.

A very nice cream tea hasn't seem to added any numbers on my scales so a win win if you ask me.

Mr T  and I headed home and after a flurry of unpacking and washing and a bit of pantry replenishing and we are back to normal in the house. I spent those extra couple of hours trying to keep up with miss speedy pants  and finishing off my Sew Mama Sew  Mini Medallion Quilt Along .

Friendship Stars added

Well, when I say finishing of, I mean the piecing. I still have to layer and quilt it,  but that will be for another day. I have cut out another colour-way and will be interested to see how that one turns out, but I am on a mission to complete one before I start another!

 

I have seen some rather nice miniature patterns here and I may have made a small purchase..... 

There is still time for you to join in the Mini Medallion  fun. You can add your photos at 

(hash-tag)minimedallion on Instagram. As you can see  I can't even find the hash tag symbol on my keyboard, so it could be a while before I get my photos (taken on my very nice new camera- did I mention that?) posted!

Now back to normal and work today. (sad face) . Will be trading at Makit at Peterborough Show-ground on Sunday. I have not been to one of these events before so we will see what the day brings.