Oil painting

An oil painting I have just about finished today. 

It will disguise my electric box which I'd just beside the front door.

It just needs to dry now before it can be varnished and hung. 

Visit to Malaga

A trip to Malaga to see the consultant after the operation on my hand. Stunning views on the way down on the bus and a walk around the port. Very strange and quiet due to the lockdown. We saw lots of police checkpoints on the way back too. But it's quite reassuring too. 

Painting a chest of drawers in the spare bedroom.

Before and after painting a chest of drawers. It has certainly brightened the room up I think. 

Dressmaking... despite healing hand... couldn't wait

Just begun to make myself this dress from a pattern from the burda magazine February 2019. Pattern copied and cut out, adjustment to the bust dart. Pinned onto my dress form (made by Mr G and I).

Good to go 👍

Homemade pesto

Impressed how well our homemade pesto sauce is keeping in the fridge.. Thanks to our daughter's fantastic basil crop 😍😊

Sewing repair

A darn repair with embroidery thread to the bottom of a denim dress. Using some of the original weft threads

Printer dust cover

This is a dust cover that I made for the new printer we bought this week. The lining was made out of an old t shirt of Mr G's. 

recycled pyjama bottoms

Despite recuperating I couldn't resist playing with some old pyjama bottoms and managed to make myself this t shirt. 

If I am highly critical, the neck could have been a better fit should have gone for the 80% stretch instead of 90%.

Not bad for a first attempt at sewing Jersey.. 

still recuperating

As you can see, my left hand is pretty swollen, but at least the bandage is off! 

I have to do some physio to get it stretched and moving again, but it's still quite painful to do. 

Not doing anything is driving me nuts... 

🙄🍷

crafting temporarily stopped

I have had an operation on my hand to straighten my little finger.. So crafting has been halted for the moment until it heals.. 

I am bored with not doing any crafting 😔

At least its my left hand. 

Mr G has been helping me with dressing and other tasks I am unable to do at the minute. 👍😁

Finished quilt

I have finished quilting! 

I think I might be getting better as I didn't get any major problems whilst doing it. 

I thought that quilting in straight lines would be more difficult, but the walking foot was worth it's weight in gold for accuracy. 

I hope the daughter of my friend who sadly died will be pleased with the results. 😊
, 

Continuing the quilt.

Still working on the quilt for my friend's daughter. I have been sewing in the same direction without turning the quilt every time I reach a corner. Thanks to my walking foot I can mostly be very precise and if I have to ican finish the corners by hand. This means that the quilt backing has no visible wrinkles this time... A first for me 👍😁😁😁

Quilting quicker than I expected.

A surprise for me today!

I thought I had quilted half of the inside section of the quilt I have been sewing for the daughter of my friend who died. But, when I turned it around to continue the other half, I only had one more set of blocks to quilt around..

So I will probably finish the inside section tomorrow 😊

I also have been sewing the ends of the thread in as I have been going, as I have made the mistake of leaving them until the very end before and hated doing this task all together. 👍🙄

I now have the job of deciding what pattern to quilt around the edge sections.. What do you think? 

Quilting started on the memorial quilt eventually.

After having bought the temporary spray glue in the patchwork shop in Torre del Mar, Which was closed during lockdown here in Spain, I have finally begun to quilt the memorial quilt with my machine. It is looking good so far. 

I eventually worked out that I need to sew in the same direction without swivelling the quilt, which is making the machine quilting much easier. 

Sewing machine cleaning

I decided to clean out my Brother LX 25 sewing machine...

I was totally shocked by the amount of dust that was hiding in there... 😱

I'm sure it will be feeling much better now. 

I found it very easy to do following the instructions. 👍

Blog resurrection

I have enjoyed resurrecting my blog from the grave. Thanks to the encouragement from our lovely daughter Lucy I have been able to share a lot of memories of things I have made.

I didn't realise how much stuff I had done over the past few years. 

I intend to keep posting updates too

👍😁😁

Sketching

A sketch of Mr G having a 'snoozerette' during our recent trip to Torre del Mar July 2020. 

Crib quilt. scrappy log cabin.

A scrappy crib quilt made for another baby girl in the village. Her parents were very pleased and said it was the first present anyone had given to her 😊 July 2020 

Crib quilt

A crib quilt made for a new arrival using up loads of scraps June 2020 

Sketch

This is a sketch of our friends dog that I did last year. She has just sent me this photo as I forgot to take one at the time! Freddie is a much loved Wheaten terrior. June 2020 

Watercolor painting

This picture caught my eye so I decided to make it into a watercolour painting. It reminds me of holidays... June 2020 

DIY Plastering patching up.

A bit of plastering in the corner of the front room, which needed to be done because of the damp.. Mr G provided the tea and refreshments as needed June 2020 

Masks

A photo of some of the masks I made to help with the corona virus crisis April 2020 

Making masks and hats

During the corona virus crisis, we were in total lockdown here in Spain. I was asked to help by making much needed masks and scrub caps. A selected group of sewers in the village participated. They were all gratefully received by the villagers and health workers in the region. I ended up making over 500 masks and lots of hats too. I believe that I was the only foreigner to be asked... 😊

Cross stitch

My friend Rosa also asked me to finish this embroidery for her as she is unable to sew by hand anymore. March 2020 

Memorial quilt

This is another memorial quilt I have been asked to make by the daughter of my friend who sewed all of the squares. January 2020 

Beach bag

This is a beach bag with longer straps on one side to accommodate towels or beach mats. I saw a similar one on Pinterest and made one for our daughter Lucy too. February 2020 

Knitting Adjustments

Ajustment to the collar of the dog coat I made to make it narrower. There is a hole in the top of it so the harness can br attached when wearing

Macrame wall hanging in position

This is the macrame wall hanging in position. Our daughter Lucy hung it with some lighting behind which looks wonderful. January 2020 

Macrame

A macrame basket made for Lucy for storage. December 2019 

Sewing Kindle covers

I made myself and Mr G these kindle covers. They turned out really well. I followed a pattern I found on Pinterest. September 2019 

DIY umbrella holder for suitcase

This was my solution to help me carry my umbrella with the suitcase. It worked really well and meant we didn't have to carry two things at once. September 2019 

Scrappy log cabin crib quilt

A scrappy log cabin baby crib quilt made for a baby in the village. September 2019.

Sewing first shirt.

This is the first shirt I have made. Mr G thinks it is lovely.. The 1/4" presser foot for my sewing machine came into its own again for very accurate top stitching. May 2019 

Macrame wall hanging March 2019

This macrame wall hanging was made for our daughter Lucy the stick was given to me by a friend. I had to get the macrame rope from Amazon as it was impossible to source it in Spain. 

Dressmaking top for me

My daughter Lucy bought me this lovely silky material. The top pattern was copied from a one I bought in H and M.Sewn in November 2018 

knitted fairisle waistcoat

This fairisle four ply waistcoat was originally knitted many years ago. I couldn't bear to let it go and had kept it. Mr G had lost weight on his diet and now fits it perfectly. September 2018

Oil painting

This oil painting was inspired by Mr G.. Who had been asking me to paint summer leaves. So I did eventually do it August 2018.

I was very pleased with the results 

Top made by me for my daughter

A top made for our daughter Lucy. I copies the pattern from a favourite top of hers. August 2018 

Patchwork bag

This is a bag that I finished for Rosa another friend from our patchwork group who is unable to sew much now. It is made from the materials that all of our group made so there are a few in the village mostly similar. This one is a bit smaller than the ones we all had to make. She is very happy with it. August 2018

Cómpeta Church tower original watercolour painting

The church tower in Cómpeta. I like trying to paint it in unusual angles

A cap and scarf combo for Mr G

Mr G was feeling the cold, so I had fun making him this cap and scarf combo from an old tweed jacket. January 2018

Memorial lap quilt

This quilt was made as a memorial to my friend Lola. Her daughter asked me to do something with all the blocks her mother had made by hand before she died. I was honoured.. I also managed to incorporate most of her scrap material to make the sashing flow from dark to light, which was a great idea from my quilting friend Liz.. 

Lola's daughter now has a lovely lap quilt and says she will now remember both her mother and me when she uses it. 

Knitted dog coat

A knitted dog coat for the grand doggy