June 5th, 2012

The last day of the Diamond Jubilee, and the extra day off nearly halfway through :-( That's the fastest four days off I've had in a while. I needed it, I've been shattered for ages, and it's been a bit of an up-and-down few weeks:



My granny's funeral was held in the middle of May. She was nearly 97, so a jolly good innings by all accounts, but she was the last of my grandparents and it feels rather end-of-era-ish. We had a good turnout though and it was nice to catch up with my rather large extended family. She would have approved of the flowers - she was a florist by trade and a very enthusiastic gardener. Sadly, her house will most likely now be sold, and the garden she put so many years into will go with it. It's slipped a lot over recent years, but I'm trying not to think about someone putting decking and slabs all over it, and probably pulling the house down. Instead I dug over the border outside our kitchen window and planted it up. It now has hardy geraniums, hebe, dahlias, a hydrangea and the climbing rose "Crimson Glory" which grew up the gable end of Granny's house. A small, but fitting tribute.

Back at home, the quilt is nearly done (I'll finish it today) and while I was up North I picked up my fabric stash, including an almost-finished quilt top, so that's now on the list.

I finished my handspun Ishbel, and it's already had a couple of wearings now the weather's gone to crap. We went to Durdle Door on Saturday and it was very handy keeping the chilly wind off my neck. I don't have any photos yet as I was using the Diana and I haven't finished the film off!

I started a Japanese crochet pattern  but it's looking enormous so until I've sorted it out there's no picture - it's in the naughty corner just now. I'm still making hexapuffs - I've completely lost count, but I keep filling up my bag then tipping it into my puff box upstairs. I have sewn some of it together, and it was alarmingly small.

I finished off the blanket made with quilt weaver squares. I still had quite a bit of yarn left, so I crocheted a deep border with bullion stitches. It looks well, so I'll snap a picture when I can find time to spread it out. I really like the Hazel Rose looms, the quilt weavers are quite a large gauge though so I'm thinking about getting a finer one. You wouldn't want to use anything lighter than an aran weight on the quilt weaver, I used mainly chunky weights and that came out perfect.

In other news the Sky dish packed up (now fixed), the oven has given up the ghost (typical Bank Holiday, we found two dead mice in the back of it) and the lawn has turned into a hayfield. We do have a family of fox cubs entertaining us, although the resident bunnies are less impressed.

~♥~