Knitting quilting and life..

Monday brought me a big bag of fresh vegetables from  one of my friends from our knitting group, including broad beans, onions and lettuce.
Delicious.mmm
One of the newer ladies arrived with a spanish knitting magazine, full of different charts and explanations of all sorts of knitting stitches, I definately need to get a copy of it. I spent the time in the class explaining how to read the charts to her.. it makes it so much easier for me :)
It was also my birthday, and I was spoiled by Dave, getting some perfume and new bifocal sunglasses which arrived in the post via e bay  and having a delicious meal out at Bar Fernand's.
Yesterday, found me pulling out the quilting I had done on my cushion as it was very wrinkled, I have not been putting enough tacking stitches in which made the material move around.
I have nearly finished the back of the fairisle cardigan I am knitting for myself, I have not really had time to knit during our classes, but here it is so far...
Our daughter and her fiancé arrive for a holiday this weekend so Dave and I are both looking forward to their visit .

Crochet and watercolour painting

I have been busy here in competa, painting some watercolour portraits in different colours for my daughter and her fiancé, which are done in a 'pop art' style.
Also I have crocheted a monster toy as a present for my neighbours grandson who will be 3 in April.
I also bought some old frames from our local charity shop, and painted some miniature baby birds in watercolour and ink which turned out well and are now hanging on the staircase wall. I did not realise until I had finished that the frames were a set that clipped together too.
My mobile phone is still with Samsung in Madrid, and has been a miss since January, when it was first sent back under guarantee...it is so much easier to post blogs directly...
The weather in Spain is improving day by day, and it is now not getting dark until 20.00 hrs, which will be 21.00 hours when the clocks go forward next weekend :)

Oil painting

The weather is eventually perking up and I spent a couple of days painting a boat and a prickly pear plant beach scene.
I enjoyed using the oil paints again, as they are very different from the watercolours I have been using and I am hanging it up until it dries and it can be varnished. This will take up to three months.
Meanwhile, we are still sorting out the problem with my mobile phone, which is still under guarantee.. hope I get it back from samsung soon as I find it easier to post my blogs direct from it.
I spent yesterday afternoon sitting in the sun on the terrace quilting a cushion cover, and now have the dreaded ' strap marks' from the t shirt I was wearing.
Note to self.. try and wear bandeau style tops in future!!

Gallery wall and cross stitch

I was inspired by some online tutorials of how to create and hang pictures to make a focal point, which with Dave's help (and not much bad language) we did in our guest bedroom on Friday with excellent results.
All of the pictures are now level and organised properly.
A couple of our friends have also become grandparents recently and asked me to make a cross stich sampler to welcome the new arrival, so thanks to the inclement weather this weekend,  is now completed.

Busy doing nothing

Well,  this week has just flown over...
On Monday I went to ikea in Malaga and managed to get some new covers for the two Ektorp sofas we have in the lounge.
Fortunately the colour I wanted was in stock so I was very happy.
Dave and I put them on the sofas and I used the steam cleaner to get the wrinkles out on Tuesday.
I made a pattern fot the front of the arms and made some covers from some fat quarters, which are all odd.
They also have pockets in so Dave can store the remote controls for the telly.
I am pleased with the results

Painting and decorating

I am unfortunately still waiting to hear what is happening to my samsung galaxy s2 phone which has gone to the technical department of samsung in madrid, hence my lack of posts recently..
Anyway I have been painting in oils for a change, and did this harbour scene..
Yesterday I enjoyed my trip to Malaga with a friend where I bought a couple of new settee covers.
I will have to make some new armrest covers and cushion covers as the ones I have do not match the new colour scheme.

Little quilted bags

We had been given a bag kit in our patchwork class here in Còmpeta. So I began to cut out the material on Tuesday. The ladies discussed going on a mini cruise from Malaga to Barcelona, staying on board for a couple of nights, and staying in an hotel for the final night. As the trip fell on Dave's birthday, I waited until I had spoken to him before agreeing to go.. but am now looking forward to the trip at the end of April.
Because I fancied a change from knitting yesterday, I decided to continue with the bag.
The instructions were in japanese, with a bit of english thrown in, but thanks to the very clear diagrams, I managed to finish the rabbit bag first, which looked very cute.
Because I had been economical in cutting out, I had enough material to make the outsides of another bag. My friend Magny had shown me similar bags with cats and dogs on the front, and I made a dog ( smaller ears) adding a bone instead of the carrot.
Here is a picture of them both.