Round 3!

 It's been difficult fitting in blog posting since finishing work.  I need to establish some kind of routine, which will not be easy when so many random, unexpected things seem to take up time every day. Nevertheless, a routine will help keep things going even if it does get disrupted now and then. Something that has confused me since being at home is that there don't seem to be so many hours in the day now.  I don't know where they went! 

I've got a lot done, like cleaning, washing, baking and even doing my own ironing, but not as much of the extra, enjoyable things.  I'm hoping more time will come for that once I've organised that elusive routine.

I seem to have a knack for making things difficult for myself when it comes to stitching, but I won't ever entertain the idea of buying stacks of new fabrics and cutting them up for my patchwork. With production of new fabric being so detrimental to the environment it seems only sensible to me to use what's already 'out there'.  Hence the time spent turning the pile of scraps above into a border for my ongoing Bee Quilt.

 I'm pleased with how it's looking so far.  This is Round 3 with Round 1 being the receipt of all the blocks from around the world during 2010/11 and Round 2 putting them together with sashings.  There should be 3 rounds left to do with Round 4 being another plain border, Round 5, the quilting and finally Round 6, the binding.  

 I've been pestering OH for a few weeks to look out for any fruit going to waste on the estate where he works.  Normally, there are lots of damsons, plums and apples around but this year the harvest has been very poor indeed, and not just in the wild;  garden produce has been seriously unproductive and farmers have been badly affected by the wet weather.  Anyway, I took advantage of the gorgeous day last Saturday and went foraging in the hedges while OH occupied himself renovating his tractor in a barn at work.  Blackberries were my main focus and I wan't disappointed, managing to fill a good sized tub.  Sloes were also in abundance but I left them alone because I don't know what to do with them.

 This was the view behind me as I picked.  The barn to the left of the house is where OH was....

 .....and this is what he was focussing on!  One of his vintage tractors.  He's been sand-blasting off the old paint ready for respraying.  It's turning out to be more time-comsuming than he thought - and I should know all about that!!

I used some of the blackberries in the above crumble along with a few raspberries I bought from a Harvest Supper produce sale and some plums.  I must say it was probably the best crumble I've tasted. The cakes are banana and walnut from over-ripe bananas, but unfortunately not so successful - edible but a bit sunken.

Progress since last time:

Another round on the Bee Quilt
Lots of hexagons (smaller than my usual ones) for a new project.


Bye for now
Teresa x