Over the Old Stone Wall....

Poor Chris had a dentist appointment yesterday morning so I dropped him off and then took Spencer for a run on Minchinhampton Common. This is just down the road from Spencer's usual walk on Rodborough Common. I've followed this path a couple of times before. It leads along a lovely old stone wall......

 

 

 

The weather was just right....warm with a lovely breeze....the cows were looking sleepy and peaceful.....

I'm usually busy throwing the ball for Spencer, making sure he doesn't go near the cows or roll in anything horrid so I don't always take much notice of what's on the other side of the wall. There's a couple of fields and a cricket pitch. But this time something caught my attention.......

As I drew closer, fluffy little heads popped up.....

And I saw adorable alpacas with their young......all different colours....

The youngsters were very inquisitive and one even came skipping over...

They look very cuddly but in my experience they're not the easiest animals to handle!

 

I was happy to chat with them from the other side of the wall. Yes...I always chat with animals....

Did you spot the baby hiding in the grass?

 

 

Maggie xx

Quilted Garden Chair Cushion

So we're having a spot of nice warm weather!

 

I feel we have to make the most of it and spend time in the garden.

 

We have some new garden furniture....4 chairs, a table and a parasol. The chairs are comfortable but a little on the hard side so I decided I would make some quilted chair cushions.

I wanted to use some of the lovely cotton fabrics I have in my stash so I used different fabrics on each side to make it reversible....

I used this gorgeous Amy Butler fabric for one side....

and this beautiful butterfly batik fabric for the other side...

I made the cushion by measuring the chair and making a simple quilt.

 

I found an excellent tutorial for a quilt without binding on Chrissie's lovely New York blog, made by ChrissieD, here.

 

I incorporated ties at the top and sides to secure the cushion to the chair. I used two layers of wadding for extra comfort.

 

So three more chairs to go...there's a couple of things I would do differently.......add a couple of inches to the length as the quilting shortened the cushion.....as you can see in the pics........and add a bit more wadding to the seat area....

 

But apart from that, I'm pretty pleased :)

 

It's certainly brightened up a rather grey chair!

And made it softer and more comfy to sit on!

Thanks for visiting!

 

Maggie xx

The Doll's House Quilt: A Perfect Travelling Project

Hello!

Quite a long time no see.....I hope you're well.

 

We've just spent a couple of weeks touring in France and I just had to show you this quilt that I made whilst on the move :)

It's a little doll's house quilt :) 

I had gone away with several ideas for crafty projects to do on the road. As the weather wasn't brilliant, I found time to make some bunting and, of course, a patchwork block for my holiday quilt.

But this little quilt was by far the most enjoyable.

I loved cutting out the tiny squares and using up the smallest of fabric scraps!

It made the perfect small project to travel with.

 

I sewed it by hand and I particularly enjoyed the hand quilting which I hadn't tried before.

I used the English paper piecing method to make the patchwork top...

 

 

I wasn't sure how the back would look......

but I think all the little stitches look cute....

When I'd completed this little quilt, I decided to make another.....

and another!

As you can see, I haven't quilted these yet (another couple of WIPs on the list!)

Here are the backs....

 

My little projects mingled well with the French dictionary, Kindle and travel sweets in Harvey J's glove box :)

 

So if you like a spot of relaxing hand sewing and you have some fabric scraps, I would thoroughly recommend making a little quilt whilst on holiday.

 

 

For me, there's only one downside. No doll's house to put them in! I have a solution though...... I think I will treat them as mini wall quilts. In fact they will look very cute in Harvey J. They will add a nice homely touch....

 

Yes....good idea.....I'll just check with Chris.....on the other hand........maybe I'll just put them up and see if he notices.......;)

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Maggie xx