Back from a blogging break

Hello there & happy first of November!

Its been a wee while since my last post, so please forgive me… I've been out of the blogging world for a few months now I know, but life sometimes overtakes from things like blogging. As a family we've been on a path with lots of unknown twists & turns… But we've had a beautiful autumn here with lots of lovely forest walks…

If you follow me on Pinterest or Instagram you'll know that, despite all the comings & goings, I have been busy making lots of bits & pieces - like these house placemats, which were a house-warming gift to three wee cuties

I used Svetlana's great placemat tutorial with a few amendments, which is available here
I've also been busy finishing off this baby quilt, for my gorgeous wee nephew

I used Mary's triangle quilt tutorial, which you can see here I hand stitched round each triangle with hand-quilting thread & added a few embroidery Xs too

As the triangles were quite small, for the back I pieced larger bits together, for a more scrappy, improv look

As the winter nights draw in I've been busy with my knitting needles too - this hat reminds me of the pebbles on the beaches near our home

I hope you have a great weekend - stitching, knitting - or just enjoying the winter sunshine & I'll be back soon with some more stitchy loveliness
Take care
Karen

Foiled on Friday by Trials with Technology

Hello there!

How has your week been? I've been super busy trying to get some long-needed projects finished... but unfortunately I've been foiled by the storms which means we've been without electricity since Thursday night. We're all sorted now, but before I get on with my quilting, here is my to-do list & progress so far:

• Make a fathers day gift for my dad...something for his camera - got an idea for this
• Make a fathers day gift for my husband....something for his surgery - QUILT TOP FINISHED, BACKING FINISHED
• Post off some bee blocks DONE :)
• Finish a secret gift for someone in our Care Circle bee - almost finished
• Make a start at the Handstitched Class project - no progress yet :(

So unfortunately my great intentions haven't exactly come to too much!

The big project was a quilt for my husband for fathers day for his doctors surgery &, although I'm a wee bit behind schedule, hopefully I will get this finished in time....Thanks so much for all the brill suggestions about the blocks - I've squinted at it (thanks Dolores), looked at it through a black & white filter (thanks Kerry), scrutinised & pondered over it & finally, come up with this:

Now the colours are a lot lighter in real life than this picture & the squares are 12"X12" - so hopefully it will be a a nice wee throw & a good size for the treatment couch in the surgery... 

For my father I'll be making a pouch for his camera & leads & bits & pieces - but that will have to wait till tomorrow too!

So are you fixed for fathers day? Do you make gifts or buy them? What about cards?? If you're looking for some last minute fathers day gifts here are some great possibilities from pinterest....
Aren't these key chain fobs so cute!

Tutorial etc from My Crazy Life

Love this dog silhouette!

Tutorial etc from The Creativity Exchange 

This looks like a great printable book for dad

Download etc from eighteen25 

Lots of great printables for fathers day

Downloads from Hello Lucky

Hopefully this lot has given you some last-minute inspiration! I'll be back on Sunday hopefully to show you my completed gifts!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend! (& congrats to England who have just beaten Sweden for the first time in World Cup Football history!)
Karen