........ scroll quickly past the first photo! I had a slight accident when I was sewing last night - oops
perhaps I was distracted by this super cute baby monkey on tv. The babies have red hair to make it easy for the adults to see them if they need to run to safety (the big leaves on the right aren't part of the jungle, they are on our rather large rubber plant, which sits beside the tv!)
did I mention yesterday that I bought one or two little things at Stitchin' Heaven? First, a posh needle threader. When I am using very small needles, by the end of the evening I struggle to thread them. I have in the past just used little metal needle threaders, but they soon become bent and often break, so I have invested in this one
you have seen the little red clips that I use, but when I saw these purple ones yesterday, I was delightd to find that they are almost half the price of the red ones
I bought this fat quarter to do some sashiko, although it is a tighter weave than traditional sashiko fabric
I have to admit to an online purchase of fabric ........ I get regular emails from here, telling me about their latest fabrics. They don't just sell patchwork fabric, and when I saw this furnishing fabric, I thought it woud be perfect for cushions for our holiday home
I did some more work on blocks for the sampler quilt this afternoon. This is the start of the Rose of Sharon block
once I have stitched those pieces in place, I will add these pieces
I prepped this circle for the centre ........
........ but I think it is too dark. I might use this fabric instead
next was a Dresden Plate block
I have to turn under the seam allowance round the points, then stitch the plate to the background fabric. The last stage is to add a circle to the middle. The dark red fabric works better here
to finish - while I was busy sewing, Malcolm was working in the garden. When I went back into the house at the end of the afternoon, I saw that he had removed the protective fleece from the olive tree, revealing this little beauty