Tuesday 25 April 2017

Of Bluebells, Quilts and Purple Hair

Hello my lovelies. Let me apologize in advance for a rather photo heavy post; it's been about 3 weeks since my last one, so the pictures have accumulated somewhat. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Both my babies were home for the holiday, so all felt right with the world. The roofer finally came (!) and I made a quilt out of multiple pairs of old jeans. I've been gathering them for a while: some were outgrown, some worn out and some oil or paint stained. I cut out 5 inch squares from where I could, reversing the worst to hide the stains, and spent a merry couple of days sewing them all together, backing them with red, starry fabric and doing some hand quilting. I admit that this was entirely an exercise in distraction - I didn't want to leave the house in case the roofers downed tools and disappeared, but their radio was driving me crazy, so I drowned it out with my sewing machine!



 
I also started to make scrappy quilt blocks out of some fabric that E bought me one year. I admit that I struggled a bit with these - if there is a shape equivalent of dyslexia, I'm convinced that I have it. I just cannot hold a shape in my head (jigsaw puzzles are a dead loss), so I'd cut out the triangles, line them up ....... and then sew the wrong edges together! Whichever way it could go wrong, it did and my unpicker was working overtime. I feel that this project may take me a while.
Sorry, I forgot to rotate the photo: 
 Other happenings over Easter:
Our wisteria flowered:
 Our own little Easter bunny enjoyed having L and E home again:


 We went for a walk to the castle and then back home through the woods to look for bluebells:



 The blossom finally arrived:



R bought a mig welder on ebay and we had to drive to St. Albans in Hertfordshire to collect it. I'd never been there before and it was a lovely place. We had lunch in the centre and then had a little wander round. The cathedral was beautiful.

 E decided that she wanted afternoon tea!
 My bulbs did turn out to be Narcissi: 
 I balled up some yarn to make the Pavement Sweater. The colour is called 'Lettuce'!
  R and I went to see Twelfth Night at our local cinema. It was a very gender fluid performance and we thoroughly enjoyed it. After last time's 'picnic of shame', I made sure that we were better prepared food and drink wise .........
.......... homemade veggie sushi, complete with chopsticks, dips and G&T in a tin (thanks for the tip Leanne!):
 .......... and L dyed her hair purple! It really suits her and who wouldn't want a purple-haired barrister?! 
Finally, after months of injury and being too scared to go running in case it flared up again, I plucked up the courage and went this morning. I went on my usual circuit which I used to do twice without any bother. This time I took it slowly: I did it once and stopped to walk 3 times. It wasn't pretty and it was rather frustrating when I think how easy it was a few months ago, but it was a glorious morning, I was out there and it felt wonderful.
Well, that's all for this week. Well done if you made it to the end! Wishing you all a fantastic week.

Toodle Pip for now. x

9 comments:

  1. What a lovely post. The purple hair is great! Your quilt looks amazing and the picnic looks highly superior :o) That lovely bunny of yours looks like the cat that got the cream with his girls home. And as for the running- whoop! whoop! fantastic! well done you! I went out this morning too- cold but exhilarating. You'll recover your distance quickly once you get back to running it regularly. xx

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  2. A lovely quilt may I say and what a great idea to use up old jeans. Nothing like recycling. The picnic must have been fun for twelfth night, I must remember Leanne's tip too! The purple hair looks excellent and well done you to get back to running. I'm still taking it slowly as my old bones sometimes have a moan. Have a great week. B x

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  3. The purple hair is fabulous!!!As is the happy bunny and a high class picnic, glad you weren't caught out twice!!! Thatquilt is really lovely, what a fantastic way to recycle old jeans, I bet your girls would both love that.
    Good to hear you have started running again, I'm sure you'll be back up to speed in a week or two. Good luck with it. what a charming bluebell wood.xxx

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  4. Oh, I love that denim quilt! I throw so many pairs of jeans away when they get worn out. What a wonderful way to use the material. There are so many things I love in this post... your daughter's purple hair, those bluebells, the afternoon tea! I would love to join you on one of your days out :)

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  5. I love your daughter's hair! I wish I'd had the guts to dye my hair when I was younger. And your quilt is gorgeous. As for the gin in a can.... I heartily approve of that too!
    Bravo on the running. It's difficult to start up again after an injury, but you'll find your fitness levels recover quickly enough.
    Leanne xx

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  6. Nice to catch up on your news. I like the jeans quilt. A great idea for recycling.
    Amalia
    xo

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  7. I love your denim quilt - what a great idea! And I like L's hair too. I'd love to have purple hair but sadly work will not allow. Well done with the running too :)
    Cathy x

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  8. Love the quilt, I am planning to make one using some of Mr JK's shirts. Hamish is gorgeous, I really didn't think that rabbits had so much personality. Your daughter's purple hair is fabulous too. xx

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  9. Loving the hair; purple is my fave colour :-)

    That quilt is wonderful too. Another hobby on my hit-list to learn!!

    And as for your bunny - he is just gorgeous. I had no idea that they make such wonderful pets!


    xx

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