My pile of quilt blocks is still growing. I have already used a kilometre of thread and lots of scraps!
The weather here continues to be mainly very sunny and warm, despite a couple of very heavy thunderstorms and a power cut.
Mr G and I have been slowly getting ready for the winter, which can be cold up here in the mountains.
Here is the view from my front door and a star block in progress.
The pile of little scrappy wonky star blocks is growing. I am managing to make at least a few every day. These are going towards two single quilts for my guest bedroom.
By my reckoning I need 140 x4" blocks for each one so I am hoping this project will keep me going over the winter. My 1/4" piecing foot is making it easy to do.
Here is a photo of the finished collar. I did the background by making a random base using an Irish crochet technique. I will be giving it to my friend tomorrow.
My friend asked me to make her a collar in crochet. She wanted one side to say Amor and the other side yo have a hrart motif. Here are the letters so far. I will of course join them together to make it up into the collar.
I am stupidly excited as the post office has delivered my new adjustable bias binding foot for my sewing machine.
The foot allows you to sew the bias binding onto your item in one go! Sewing the front and back at the same time.
I have not posted in a while sorry!!
Dave and I have been busy. Firstly I was on a mini holiday with my two sisters Laura and Judy and our friend Denise for a girly trip to benalmadena which we all enjoyed. The excuse being my 60th birthday. . Mr G was left on his own to man the fort at no8.
When I returned our expected guests had doubled in number to eight. It was lovely to see everyone!!! :) here are a couple of photos of my latest project which will be a pair of quilts for the guest bedroom .
Also an oil painting which is drying.
Continuing the painting of our house in Cómpeta, I mixed up a bit of blue paint and painted the inside face of the doorway. Several tourists have taken photos now :)
It was Dave's birthday too and we celebrated with tapas in las Gemelas.
I have also been making some travel slippers as I hate walking round in bare feet. Pattern made by me using up a bit of my stash ;)
Just need to finish stitching the binding on.. probably a good time will be Wednesdays sewing meeting .
Since we returned from our trip to malaga Dave and I have been keeping busy.
We decided to paint the dining and sitting rooms and they have both now been thoroughly spring cleaned and polished to a sparkly shine.
Dave had his drill out and rearranged the picture hooks to organise the gallery wall in the dining room.
I also mixed a nice shade of grey paint and have painted this on a feature wall in the sitting room.
Dave and I have spent a few days in Malaga at the Hotel Soho Boutique. We were celebrating my 60th birthday (cant believe that). We have loved wandering around the old city centre and the port, enjoying the historical sites, shopping and eating out.
Can thoroughly recommend the hotel, which is very central, comfortable and has only been open for 3 months. Will definitely be back! !!
By using an old pair of Daves jeans I have made myself a messenger bag. It is fully lined with inside pockets to hold my phone and purse. The jeans zip closure works well, and the outer pockets are handy.
The band at the back of the bag enables it to be secured to the handles of my suitcase.
It is all trimmed with bias binding made from an old shirt too.
Following our holiday, it has taken a while to get used to the colder weather here in Competa.
We have booked a break in Malaga later on this month as it will be my 60th birthday.
Everyone has been asking about our holiday, and I have been showing them the photos.
I ordered some material which arrived last week and I am going to make myself a dress for the summer.
Meanwhile I am making a messenger bag with a pair of old jeans.
Here are the photos so far.
Off to knitting class just now :)
Back in November, Dave and I decided to treat ourselves to our first holiday in over six years. We picked Gran Canaria as we used to come here years ago for family holidays when Lucy was small.
We have been looking forward to a bit of sunshine and higher temperatures, especially as Lucy and Mathew were joining us for a week
:)
We picked a different resort, Meloneras, which wasn't built when we were last here.
Here are a couple of photos.
The temperature has really dropped here in Competa. As we are up in the mountains it is even colder than down on the coast. We had lots of snowflakes yesterday afternoon, but it didn't lie.
Sadly, one of our favourite restaurants has closed and we are both missing the lovely family and the food from Despacho De Fernan :(
I have been making a banner for my friend's grandson, which took me a couple of afternoons.
This morning we had a very long power cut due to the winds, but Dave came to the rescue, providing us both with romantic lighting whilst we got washed in very very cold water and cleaned our teeth. The power was restored at 10 am and the shops and bars opened up a bit later than normal.
The weather has begun to get a bit colder here in Andalucia. The waterproof magnetic draught excluder I made to fit the gap between the two doors is definitely working well, as is the one I made for the bottom of the door.
It has been snowing in the sierras, and the mountains look very picturesque from our terrace, where it is warm in the sunshine during the day :)
Happy Spanish Christmas..
It was the day of the kings in Spain yesterday. When everyone recieved their presents from the three kings, the equivalent of santa, so it was a relaxing bank holiday day here.
Carmen, my spanish neighbour gave me a bag of fresh oranges and lemons so today I have just finished making a batch of lemon curd.
Mmm
Oops!! Thanks to my sister Judy reminding me that I haven't posted anything on my blog for a while (she is not on facebook) I thought I'd update it.
Dave and I spent a lovely Christmas week with our daughter Lucy and her fiancé Mathew.
Dave and I were invited to attend Miguel's 50th birthday party, and so I painted a view of the bar for him. We ate out most of the time. We were lucky to have really good weather, did some shopping in Torre del Mar and watched lots of telly. We were sorry to see Lucy and Mathew both go back to the UK.
It has now been a week since they left, but the sun is still shining and we hope to see them again very soon.
Here are a few photos.
