Dreich or Drookit? That is the Question...

Dreich. Drookit. And the best fitting word of all; Smirr. That wretched, hazy, mist of a rain that's like being trapped in a cloud and slowly but surely seeps into the bones. That is exactly the kind of weekend we've had in the Lothians. A plowetery kinda weekend.

Still, we did get plenty of walking in, but nothing particularly grand. Missy dislikes this grim weather as her undercoat gets damp and then she's a bit cold and soggy for the rest of the day, so shes been reluctant to go out. Cuddles on the sofa was most certainly the way she wanted to spend the weekend, not trudging through mud wondering just when we had signed up as extras to a Silent Hill movie...

Missys preffered habitat, cuddles under the blanket

Still, its been a good opportunity to get on with some sewing - not one, but two big projects out the way this weekend:

A new quilt for Missy made with the leftovers of the king size quilt I made for myself (rather pleased about that!) and a backpack for myself. Its my first attempt at a back pack and I'm very pleased with it - one or two things I would do differently next time (a stiffer fabric for the lining being one) but still super happy. Expect to see more in the future!

We did manage to have fun this weekend too - the hubby and I had planned road testing my new picnic hamper and decided that, since there was no point in shivering around a castle pretending to have a nice day, we'd just have the picnic indoors. Bring spring and summer to us, as it were! 

On went the lazy summer tunes playlist and we popped open a bottle of cloudy lemonade before enjoying our sandwiches and sticky buns. Missy did us proud by not trying to eat up all this food that technically was on the floor and patiently waited for us to pass her bits. She did have her own goodies in there, but they didn't last long!

Perhaps next weekend will fare better.

Gotta Love a Bargain!

Firstly, it was farewell to the baby plecs. Our original estimate of 80-100 was wildly out, and we handed in something more in the region of 150 - 200 babies. It took almost an hour to get them out of the nursery tank and I'm already dreading the job of fishing out the next set of babies will be for the much larger, full of lots of stuff, main tank. Yep, no sooner have I handed these little guys away when a new clutch of eggs have been laid. The male has cottoned on to my idea, and this time had the female lay her eggs on the glass, so there is absolutely no way to retrieve them out.

Plecs 1 - 0 Me

Not much to talk about out-and-about-wise, the weather has been gruesome and its finally beaten us all, even Missy cant be bothered with the rain any more. She's still walking plenty, and chasing all the squirrels, but we just haven't managed anywhere new or exciting. With the hubby working this weekend, I decided today was the perfect day to get cracking on with some projects - namely a new tee-pee cover:

So this was my bargain. I found two single bed sheets at £1.20 each in Asda, which gave me enough fabric to make a spare cover for the tee-pee. I'm always on the look out for cheap sheets - generally I wouldn't make anything super-detailed out of sheets, but they are great for projects that need a big chunk of fabric (petticoats, the underside of quilts, general lining etc etc).

Whilst I prefer her white one cover, Missy has managed to shake mud all over it and it sorely needs washed. Its still far too cold to just leave her bed bare and open to the night time elements, so I had to make another cover before I could wash the old one. Whilst I loved the butterfly print, I quickly panicked that it may have been too loud for the hallway, and perhaps the purple underside would be better. The solution? Why, make it fully reversible!

Fortunately, my panic was for nothing, and the butterfly side isn't nearly as loud as I thought it was going to end up being. Making it reversible was worth the extra effort as I'm really pleased with the final finish of this one, the seams are neat and the top stitching has come out perfect. And who knows, I might fancy it fully purple another time! I had another bonus with the fabric, there was a pillowcase with each sheet, and a sizeable enough portion of scrap fabric left. What to do, what to do?

Make a matching quilt of course! So, for 3 hours work and £2.40 (I had scrap batting lying about), that's a tee-pee cover and a quilt. I kid you not - this dog of mine has a cooler, more coordinated bedroom than I do! Spoiled rotten doesn't come close enough.

Missy hasn't given it a road test yet, she's quite happily sleeping on the sofa. She takes her job of quality checking all my fabric (read that as walking over and lying on every piece I place on the floor) very seriously, and has worn herself out!

Just a short post today, hope your all having nice weekends!

I love it when a plan comes together...

A break from our regular programming!

So, my sister is the big knitter in the family - she has the patience to just churn out vast swathes of knitting that become blankets, baby clothes and toys. I, on the other hand, whilst a very competent knitter, always preferred putting the final creation together which is why I ended up moving into sewing as a dominant hobby. But I do still dabble with wool, as you can see!

Anyhow, with the Inkling (my newest nephew-to-be) due to arrive within the next 6 weeks or so, I decided to send down a variety of blankets. Whilst they may not look the best, the knitted blankets are the perfect size for in the car, and the pair allows for one to always be washed. I previously made a set for my niece Felix (all cats, no surprises there!) and my sister used them so much that she actually asked for these. Felix now has both of hers sewn together (which was always the intention, which is why there is no border) and it fits a single bed perfectly.

A nautical theme was picked as, firstly, I personally love the theme. I'd have my whole house decked out to look like a beach house if my husband allowed me. And perhaps if Scotland had slightly less than ten months of winter. Secondly, as the nickname applies, Inkling has been given an affinity to sea creatures - his early scans had his hand at his mouth, so he had Cthulhu-esque tentacles (my sister is a massive Lovecraft fan and she made the association!) and it kinda all came from that. I love the song 'Wave over Wave' (there are many versions, but Great Big Sea have probably done the most famous one) so I went with that for filling in the middle of each blanket. Once linked, it will read the first two lines of the chorus.

Lastly, is my proper sewn quilt! Gotta admit, this is possibly the best quilt I have ever made. Its on a diagonal and everything! The bulk of the fabric was from a fat quarter set, and I got the fishes material separately to just make it a bit more my own.

Here's a close up

And that's about it! I posted these off earlier in the week and got confirmation it had arrived today - I'd have shown them off sooner but didn't want to spoil the surprise! 

Back to regular programming next time!