Swap shop

Just a quickie....... have just got in from the crafty swap at Newark library.  Me and Louise popped in, donated some wool, zips, buttons, stampers and oddments of fabric, and came away with some good swaps.  I got the fabric below

and some wadding - which will be used in my Christmas table runner (if it ever gets finished in time)

 

Louise got lots of baby pink and baby blue fabrics for the bunting she has been making.  No photos of her fabric swaps I'm afraid, but here is the baby's room, with the bunting we made together, and the button picture I made for her wedding present.

 



For some reason you will all have to lie on your sides to see it - whatever I do I cannot manage to rotate this picture - sorry (a good excuse to have a nap while you're down there!)

x

Quick bread

I love libraries....... there is always treasure to be found.  This weekend I stumbled into the cookery section rather than the sewing section for a change.  This was what I found.......

So, I have made courgette and cheese loaf - which was scrummy.....  there was only this much left by the time I remembered to take a photo.

And today I have made a butternut squash and fennel seed loaf.......

It has been frozen in portions for school lunch boxes (otherwise it was in danger of being eaten in one go!)

Whilst on the subject of libraries..... if you live near enough to Newark, then you might be interested in this.

What a great idea.


I have also been given a fabulous new book

So this week I will be venturing into the world of cake pop making...... we have a 2nd birthday party to prepare for!

x

My name's Tanya and I'm an addict

 

addicted to............ A5 spiral notebooks!

 

I take them everywhere, I have one at work with lists and reminders of all the things that need doing, and at home I have one on the go all the time with a variety of lists (things to shop for at the supermarket, things to make, things to make lists about - you get the idea).  Phew I feel all purged now I've got that confession off my chest.

 

So, imagine my absolute delight when my parcel from the scrappy swap arrived....

 

 

Sheila from bluepatch quilter was my partner, and she stalked me so well.  It felt like a best friend who had known me for years had made my parcel.  The green scraps were wonderful, so much yummy green goodness that I have enjoyed stroking and admiring, and putting in my green scraps section..... need to look at the list of things to make to decide how to use them.

But the best part of the parcel was the notebook cover, complete with pen and A5 spiral notebook.

 

 

I really love it, and it is in use already.  There were also chocolates in the parcel, but strangely they didn't make it into this photo!!!  So thank you Sheila, I have enjoyed getting to know a new blogger through this swap.

 

 

x

Right up my street

When I was reading Judith's blog the other day, I was intrigued to see this

Vintage fat quarter swap.......

For more details check out the flickr group

Now, most of my fabrics are reclaimed or recyled in some way or another...... so I had a hunt to see if there was anything that I could use to join in with this swap.  Got a wash on, and left everything blowing in the breeze while I browsed the flickr group.

I have come up with this little collection.  Which I hope fit the criteria.  I love these strawberries, and hope someone else will too (I do appreciate that vintage fabrics are not everyones cup of tea)

To quote from Jude..... "There is still loads of time to join in if you fancy having a swap! You can join the flickr group here and post pics of your vintage fqs you would like to swap. There are also some lovely inspiration pics in the group of what you can make when you get your fqs back!"

I promised a photo of my shelf.....

It makes me feel like I have a little sewing corner of my own!

x

Show and tell

Here is my 'show and tell' from the past few days.

 

 

 I made this lunch bag for the scrappy swap, I really hope my partner likes it, as I enjoyed making it for her - it will be off in the post with some Nottingham lace (my local item) by the end of the week.

eeek - terrible photo, (and I won't draw your attention to the parts of the star that don't line up!) but I made my stash bee block for this month, this was loads of fun to make - it's off to the USA already.

 Two big kisses for the bee blessed quilt this month

Lots of goodies arrived for me this week (can't think why!).  My favourite things are the hand made items..... it's not very clear, but there's a funky lanyard for work which I am very excited about.  My own personalised mug hug....

and Jan (Isisjem) made me the most adorable pincushion and handy sewing roll. - I love it

My decadent treat this week has been a day totally to myself - and I have sorted myself out a sewing shelf..... putting things in tubs and jars and baskets (happy days!) ..... photos of my shelf next time!!

getting in knots

This week we had the second "Stitching it Together" evening at my house.  And Hannah taught Di and I to crochet.

 

Well, she taught Di to crochet, Di took to it very well and whipped up the cutest little trinket pot during the evening - hopefully there will be photos on her blog soon.

I on the other hand was very slow to pick it up, and here was my effort after a whole evening of trying

 

But, I am not to be deterred, I may not be a natural crocheter, but I have perservered, and finished it.  So here is my completed little trinket pot!

And...... what fun I had organising all my scraps, and putting mine together with the ones Trudi gave me, look at them all in colour order.......

Now there is no excuse, I have to get on with my scrappy swap - thinking of making a pink penguin lunch bag......

 

Here are details of the next Stitching it Together - let me know if you fancy coming along.

 

“Stitching it Together”

We are meeting again on Wednesday 9^th January 2013, 7pm onwards.

Last time we had lots of fun when Hannah taught us how to crochet.  There has been talk of us tackling a paper pieced block next time….. so watch this space.

Or, if you want to bring something else you are working on that is fine.

There will be cake!!!!

Hope to see you there,     Tanya x

 

 

Feeling grateful

Those of you who have been with my blog since the beginning (hello you two!) will recall that I intended this blog to be about the things I made and created, from things I grew, found, discovered and aquired!

As I got deeper into the world of sewing blogs, it took another turn and has mainly focused on sewing and quilting and the fabric side of things.

I'm kind of going back to the beginning today.

Today I am feeling grateful for other people being generous...........

I have been given a bag of green tomatoes and apples from Sue at work.  It was full of the most gorgeous green tomatoes, from teeny weeny to very amusing - check out my favourite!

I did a bit of research and learnt that if you store them in cardboard in a warm dark place they will ripen and turn orange - so these are forming an experiment to see if that is the case.

And these have been turned into green tomato soup (I considered making chutney but decided to make something I love, and I far prefer soup to chutney).  The recipe is here.

I snuck in a few of these bad boy chilli's that Polly grew - and gave me a little packet - they may look small, but they are mighty powerful.

These were the apples, and they will be turned into a crumble and apple cake this evening. 

Here are all my pots of soup (the paler ones are the green tomato soup) made this morning

 

Now....... it wouldn't be a proper blog post if there wasn't some reference to fabric would it??  I was really touched and a bit overwhelmed when Di handed me an enormous bag of scraps from Trudi when she came over for "stitching it together" this week.

Look............

I am going to spend this evening colour coordinating all my scraps, now I have a collection big enough to organise....  THANK YOU to Trudi.

So watch this space for my next post which will show my lovely colour coordinated scraps..... and my efforts at learning to crochet when we met with Hannah for "stitching it together" this week.