Thank you to the few of you who suggested I look for a doll house gramophone for my wee Nipper. I found one on ebay that wasn’t too expensive (that is NOT a cheap hobby!)…

I had to adjust the height of the horn a little, but otherwise it was the absolute perfect size. When I bought it, I assumed it was made of plastic, but it’s actually metal and wood and is quite nice in its quality.

It almost looks like it was made for him!

The weather continues to do its up and down, teasing me with sun and warmth, then slapping me in the face with snow and cold. Spring will come… it always does. But until it’s really here, I have to content myself with flowers in my fabric.

The Calico Garden quilt has a deadline. It’s not until the beginning of June, but as you know, I don’t like to leave things to the last minute. So I made two more blocks

Which brings me up to four completed. There will be nine in total, plus sashing and a border. This is going to be a BIG quilt!  I’m breaking the creation of them over two session… creating all the HSTs in one sitting (there are 72 at at time), and then trimming them all, and creating two big beautiful blocks in another.

And I have to show you the amazing fabric I got for the back…

A few weeks back, Lens had a special coupon – 65% off any Free Spirit fabric. Since Lens already has fabulous prices, the coupon made it an absolute steal. I mixed some Free Spirit Fabrics in the blocks, so it was a great choice for the back.  The selection was pretty picked over by the time I got to the store, so I was thrilled to score these cute little forest creatures. The recipient is going to love them just as much as I do.

 

 

“Look at mah feets!!!”

One of the things I’ve been wanted to try to make for ages is a simple tote bag. While there are hundreds of patterns out there, I didn’t have one – just a canvas tote bag I really liked, and a general idea of how to make a quilted one.

It took me most of an afternoon, but in the end, it worked out almost perfectly!

It’s nice and big, and fully lined, just as I wanted.

I will make more of these, but I will change just a few things. I’d like to put something in the bottom to make them sturdier. And the straps I’ll make wider (for ease of turning to the right side) as well as a little bit shorter.  The straps on this one are large enough to sling crosswise over your body, which is great for the recipient, but in general I’d like them shorter.

Now… about that fabric. You may have noticed that its the character from theLittle Mr/Little Miss series of books. It was part of a stash that a former sewer gave Mom and I. But what I didn’t notice until I started cutting it…

They are all in French! Luckily, the recipient will find that all the more charming! I certainly got a good giggle out of it.

With the Laguna socks done and dusted, I needed a new pair on the needles. I always like to have something ready for travel knitting, and socks are the perfect thing.

I still had the part balls of Twinkle Cat leftover from my Knotty gloves kicking around by the couch, so I decided to use them up. A quick search through Ravelry came up with the perfect pattern – Woodland Walk.

It’s a surprisingly quick pattern. I got through the entire leg, and a start on the heel, first while waiting for my own doctor’s appointment, and then a few days later waiting for Dave at his doctor’s.

I love those leaves – they are just so elegant. And the chart was quite easy to memorize, which was another surprise.

These are destined for the gift box. I’m not sure who they will got to yet, but I have several ladies on my list with the same sized feet, so I can make them now and decide later.

There’s also no rush to finish them, so I don’t expect you’ll see a tonne of progress on them, unless I do more travelling than expected.

A short time ago, Sam commissioned me for another quilt. This time one for her little Calibre…

… the most spoiled puppers ever.

I had to get a few things out of my queue first, but the other day I was finally able to work on it.

I had a nice selection of dog-themed fat quarters, including the perfect fabric that could be fussy cut for the centre of some log cabins.

It didn’t take long to add the logs to build out those cabins…

And soon enough I had six done, sewn together and borders on for a completed top!

For the borders I had just enough of the green fabric (which matched the green in the bone print), and had music notes

Because we all know beagles have such lovely singing voices!

Now this one is ready to quilt! Mom has some dog-themed flannel for the back, but I’ve got to come up with something for the binding. I’m sure there’s something in the stash that will do.

Last, but definitely not least, in my line up of birthday sea creatures is…

Mr. Octopus! If you’ve hung around the blog for any period of time, you’ll know that this little guy is my favourite of Hansi Singh’s patterns. In fact, I’ve made six others, and this seventh one won’t be my last.

It’s an absolutely brilliant little pattern… made even more so by the addition of pipe cleaners in the legs that allow you to curl those tentacles. Like the others, I just used leftover bits of leftover Stray Cat.

And that ends my spate of toy knitting for now…

It’s time for something new!

While you’ve been seeing a lot of snow in my pictures, early in the week the warm air and rain came in and turned the yard into mud city. Wednesday, we finally got some sunshine so I suited Burton up and we joined Relic outside for some fresh air.

As much as I don’t like it, I will never turn Relic into an indoor only cat. He’s never more happy than when we are outside with him.

Rupert came out too… eventually. This is the first time he’s been out this year. He’ll get comfortable again as the weather warms and we are out more often.

We actually didn’t stay out too long. The wind whipped up and scared Burton back inside, but I did get a chance to do a little garden inspection beffore that happened.

Oh be still my heart! Those little bits of green* just make my heart sing!

 

*of course, on Friday it snowed again and all my pretties are covered up for now

So, I know I’m supposed to be on a fabric diet…. but Missouri Star Quilts and their darn daily deals! This one totally wasn’t my fault!

This is the “Tell the Bees” collection and I fell in love with it as soon as it came out. The fat quarter bundles had already sold out, so when MSQ offered up charm packs as their daily deal… I knew I had to get one (or two!). And of course, I had to add a few other things to take advantage of the flat rate shipping.

This “Outdoor Adventure” collection (in FLANNEL!!!) jumped into my cart. Though it’s for my brother’s Birthday quilt, so I don’t feel bad about it at all.

This “Bramble” charm pack has no other purpose other than I like it (and want to make a red/black/white quilt) so I do feel a little guilty about this one. Though it will become a baby blanket for our eventual quilt shop.

But “Knit Together” and

“Rain or shine” were thrown in just because….. because. They will like become quilts for sale at some point, but I already have a pile of small fat quarter sets like these, so I really shouldn’t have bought them.

But then it gets worse….

Because before that order could even arrive, MSQ put up 10″ square set of this gorgeous collection:

“Watercolour Wishes”…. just look at those gorgeous colours! I’ve been coveting this one since it came out, it was just too hard to resist.

And of course, I had to top up to make the most of that shipping…

“Catmosphere” is another one I’ve wanted for ages.

And after I put it in my cart, this gorgeous panel popped up in “suggestions”. I’ve never done a quilt with a panel, so this should be fun.

I added a little bit of this yardage to go with it.

Actually…. looking at most of these fabrics, I don’t have a shopping problem! I have a RAINBOW problem!

The many faces of Burton