A couple of very small finishes

I'm off to Dublin this weekend for a reunion with nursing colleagues. We started our nurse training in 1973 at Withington Hospital, Manchester and in 1976 went our separate ways. I kept in touch with a few close friends from that time and last year we met for our 40 year reunion. Ros flew over from Dublin for that event and we thought we would go over to see her this year. A chance for a natter, some sight seeing, eating and drinking.

I've made the FPP butterfly block from last week into a mug rug as a gift for Ros. I hope she likes it.

It has been a funny kind of week and I did not have the time to get out all my quilting stuff so Vivi's triangle quilt is on hold until after Dublin. I decided to finish off my Rainbow Bower bird. This was from a workshop pattern from lovely Lucy at Attic24. I blogged about the workshop here. My workshop colour choices were very subdued. This time I had a go at a more colourful bird which I finished yesterday. The garden was looking very inviting so I let the bird fly! She landed among the Buff Beauty roses.

I also made a start on a crocheted bag from Lucy's pattern. This is made with chunky weight yarn and with a 4.5mm hook. I'm using Bergere de France Magic+ yarn. It is a 50/50 wool/acrylic mix, hard wearing and machine washable. I chose a cream, beige, brown, burnt orange, petrol and dark green. The pattern is very easy and hooks up quickly. I will use the bag for crochet WIPS I think.



I'm linking up to Wool on Sundays  and Needle and Thread Thursday!

I'm off to pack my bags and count down until the weekend,

Catherine

Blue Wednesday

It doesn't take much to cheer me up. Today has been a blue day and I'm not feeling down!


I noticed these brave pale blue muscari peeping through the ground in a sheltered flower bed in the front garden. I hope the promise of colder weather this week does not kill them off. Today is pretty overcast but at least it isn't raining.

I travelled to see one of my new friends from the blogosphere for coffee this morning. Gina blogs at The Occasional Quilter  and lives just a thirty minute drive away. We have exchanged tweets and comments on each others blogs but never met. Gina has been quilting for a long time and had so many beautiful, multi-coloured quilts to show me. She seems to have covered every technique in the book. I only hope I can be like that in time.  She also makes the most amazing cake. I was totally overwhelmed when she presented me with a pretty blue and white mug rug. She knew I was just learning to do foundation paper piecing and so had used that technique for the block. I had a great time asking questions about quilting and meeting a fellow crafter so the morning flew by. Thank you Gina!

Finally on the blue theme, I have washed and blocked a lacy card for Isobel. It is almost dry and just needs a button and then it is good to go.

Have a great day,


Catherine