Sunshine and Showers

The joy of celebrating a birthday in the family.

 Even if the 'proper' celebration turns out to be over a video call with other family members.

We can create sunshine wherever possible.

Impossible to get away from the showers, though. 

So when many are facing CV and the related issues, I am worried about my best friend who needs to have surgery for breast cancer.  I've made her a cushion and a 'wiggly bag', but won't know for sure whether her surgery will go ahead tomorrow, or, as it is classified as 'non-essential' it will have to be cancelled.  Of course, I also won't know whether the post services from here to Australia will work in their usual timeframes!

We wait to hear and we hope.

In the meantime our umbrellas (of self distancing, being kind, doing what we can to help others) are up.

Stay safe and well, everyone.  I hope that you find enough sunshine to make rainbows of your own personal showers.

Scrap Busting

 When your scraps are trying to break out of your drawers you know that it's time to take action!

The labels giving sizes on each of the drawers are more good intentions, or a once, now distant, dream.  What actually happens is that I just stuff scraps in there at the end of a project.

 They didn't look less full once I'd pulled them out from the unit - but I did discover that the bottom drawer is still full from last time I had a good sort out.  Oops!  Those bags will be added to over the next couple of weeks, I'm sure.

The contents of just one drawer - which represents several hours of cutting ahead of me.  I'll be working to my usual sizes.

• 10" squares
• 5" squares
• 3.5" squares
• 2.5" strips
• 2" strips
• 1.5" squares
• Odd bits and odd strips

These are sizes that I can use up easily.  Anything smaller than either 1.5" square or 1.25" strip gets thrown away.

Once I've finished all the cutting (I expect that it will take a couple of weeks, doing it just sometimes to not over do the shoulder or wrist efforts required) it will be time to decide how I'm going to use them.

Orange Peel Quilt

 Remember that I started this quilt a few weeks ago?

It's been a slow finish (half term, other projects and events getting in the way of sewing time!) but it's finally complete!

 I made the orange peel blocks that I'd made into a medallion, and then raided the 'small yardage' piles to add borders.

I have to be honest.  I'd wanted to add a border of the dark pink  too, but it didn't quite work out for me.

Then I thought that it would make a great binding, before looking at the colourful zig zag I'd chosen for the back and realising that there was no pink in it to speak to.....

 I had fun with the quilting.  Can you see here the loopy fill on the segments?  Then I used a meander in between.

The quilt finished at about 42" square.

Isn't this a jazzy back?  So pleased with it!

Another one on the pile for Project Linus.

Now to go and think about what to make next!  I have a list, so perhaps it will be something from that.

Mother's Delight! A perfect Mother's Day Gift.

 Aren't these gorgeous?

A rainbow of reusable 100% cotton facial cleaning pads.

A brilliant replacement for people who use those 'throw away' cotton pads or disposable wipes.

Made by my lovely younger daughter!

Available from her Etsy shop here

AngelicCleansing

 You can buy rainbow sets.  You can buy sets of 5 or 10 or 15 wipes (approx 3" square).  You can buy sets of 4 larger wipes (approx 5" square).

Why are they square?  Because she wants to create goods with the least possible waste, so rejected the idea of round pads.

Why are they 100% cotton?  Because she wanted something that would wash easily with your general wash, not need special attention.

 My little angle (she's lovely!) is raising money for an expedition to Borneo next year with her school, when she will get involved in community and environmental projects there. 

She choose to make and sell these wipes to not only raise money, but also try to encourage people to take one more small step to removing disposable goods from their lives.

Perhaps you'd like some?  Perhaps they would be the ideal gift for your mum on Mothers Day?

They are sold in a reusable storage bag, neatly labelled with what they are.




She delights me, as she is being productive, creative, and using her sewing skills (yay for all crafters!).

You can see here, she has stock ready to select and send!

Once more, AngelicCleansing.

or, if you can get to Twickenham, you can find her products in The People Hive, Heath Road, alongside FabWraps - the perfect wrapping for your gift from my elder daughter!