Makes and Deconstruction

Not a working day today, but I've slaved today. My hot stove has been a rotary cutter, the sewing machine and a trawl of the local CS's.
Today's haul:-
2 children's M&S dresses, both 100% cotton
A brand new home made quilt cover in really very good, pristine cotton
A large new set square - to be utilised as a quilting tool

Obviously, the dresses and the cover are destined to become part of my fabric stash. You knew that, though, didn't you - I like a bit of upcycling.

I particularly like the strawberry fabric and have a future project in mind for it to be added to.

It will need a wash , freshen up and a press, but otherwise in excellent condition.

10 minutes later, rotary cutter going full pelt and I had deconstructed the dresses. I've cut into the quilt cover, but the obvious destination for such a large expanse of quality fabric is a as a quilt back (s).

I must have several metres of fabric here - total outlay - £2.50.

I also, made these mug mats. I'm still very slow where my new hobby is concerned, but improving. The mats probably don't warrant very close inspection, but they're not bad. They are destined for new homes and will be posted tomorrow.

I backed the mug mats with a little bit of my quilt cover fabric. Now, if only I could get those corners completely square?

Sunday

Today has been rather busy - in a good way. I've been cutting up large pieces of fabric into small pieces and then sewing them together

One Green Finger

I'm not really the green fingered type, much as I'd like to be. I'm always envious of those who manage to grow so much of their own food.
I don't have very much space outside and anything I attempt to grow inside is very quickly decimated by feline attack.
A few years ago, I bought a raspberry bush from the pound shop for.......£1. I haven't really given it much attention and after last years crop yielded precisely 3 raspberries, I sort of ignored it.
Well this year is different - it's spread, is growing terrifically and is positively dripping with raspberries. I've popped out several times now with a little bowl to reap the fruits of my non-existent labour.
With supermarket organic raspberries costing almost £17 a kilo, I think my £1 investment was well spent, even if I have had to wait a long time for a return.
Who knows, next year, I might get even more productive. meanwhile there's foraging to look forward to!

How Do They Know?

I had a phone call telling me that T*sco were selling off some dry cat food. As the owner of a couple of naughty moggies, I took up the kind offer to pick up some of bargain NutriCat.

It was nearing it's sell-by date, but as I don't believe in these dates, I said, 'OK, get me 10 bags'.
They were 2.5kg bags - er.... that's 25 kilos of the stuff. Great, that will keep me going for a very long time.

As you can see, they were reduced from £8 a bag to 40p. So, £4 for 25kg of dry cat food - likely to last for ages.

Happy pussies all round and loads of money saved? Well, no.
I took all the usual precautions - didn't bring it into the house all in one go, never mentioned I had mountains of the stuff, removed the yellow stickers, so they wouldn't know it was reduced, etc.
First 3 days were fine - proved to be very popular at meal times.
But........
Will they eat it now? - will they buggery.
How do they know?
Think the remainder is destined for the local animal sanctuary!

Woolly Things

I took these pictures a while ago.

It depicts an example of the yarn bombing going on in Crewe, UK.
Diane,  The Cheshire Quilter has already posted about this, but I thought I'd show this particular tree as it's one on it's own - behind Asda's car park, if you're visiting.
It's obviously a very large tree and subsequently, a lot of work has gone into this particular Yarn Bomb. I stood for quite a while looking at all the different pieces.
Unfortunately, some of the others in the main square have been damaged / vandalised, but this one is a little tucked away, so hasn't had the same attention.
I think it looks great.
This also signifies the end of my relationship with the town of Crewe - my secondment there has come to an end, so I'm now working in Congleton ( just up the road). Still got a fair old commute, though.

Tardy

Yes, I've been a bad blogger. I haven't gone away - just life getting in the way. Some semblence of routine is about to re-appear, so normal service will be resumed. Well, what passes for normal in my world!