Manic month

At work I play a little game with our college administrator. We come up with our song of the day. It must match, compliment or describe the day.  Over the weeks we've had some cracking songs but over this last month we've come to realise that 'Just another manic Monday'  could be applied to everyday. For me it hasn't just been about work. In August Lucy and I will be visiting India. We are both very excited  if not a little apprehensive. The preparation for this trip seems to have taken up so much time, thinking about what to wear as the area we are visiting is rather conservative, organising our visas, getting our immunisations (definitely ouchy). At least we don't have to worry about getting Indian money as you have to exchange currencies in India. As it's the end of the rainy season the weather may be a little cooler but it does mean there may be more mosquitoes and of course the heat plus rain makes it very humid. In between holiday preparations I've been trying to finish up all my marking as I'd love to come back to a clear workload. OK so I guess that won't happen but a girl can dream. Anyway our preparations are nearly complete so I have some spare time again and a will to get some sewing done. 

During the hot hot weather I was enjoying spending time in the garden and visiting places and I lost my sewing mojo but looking at my stash of gorgeous fabrics I have to get back to it. I spent quite some time stroking my fabrics, resorting projects and making plans on Thursday and since then I've been catching up with reading the blogs I follow plus some new ones. There is nothing like reading what everyone is making to help fire your imagination.

A little while ago Olly, our oldest daughter's partner completed his training as a chef, and on July 2nd John and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary, so last night we had a celebration meal at home. Olly loves to cook so although we were celebrating his success he did the cooking helped by Katy . All I had to do was set the table. The meal was fabulous and I think we all had a little too much champagne. There was cream involved for the dessert and when I went out to the kitchen to tidy up I found Casso looking guilty with cream on his whiskers having licked out the cream dish. 

I wish the photo wasn't blurry but he never stands still for the camera. Picasso hasn't been well recently and at one point wasn't eating at all. It took a lot of coaxing with his favourite treats to get him interested again so it was lovely to see him being his naughty self. He is an old boy. We've had him 17 years since we bought him home from Battersea Cat and Dogs home. They believe he was between 1 and 2 years old then but he may have been more.

I realised that I had never shown you the picture of the completed quilt I made for my brother. He is very pleased with it. Although this was a Christmas present I wasn't able to deliver it to him until the middle of June as our free weekends didn't coincide before then.

For next Christmas Alex has asked if I could knit him a long multi coloured scarf. I made him one many years ago but last winter he lost it and so would like a new one. I'm currently collecting together a variety of coloured double knitting yarns. He wants the colours completely random so this will be a project in the autumn whilst watching TV. No need to think or worry about the pattern. I need to check if I can take knitting on a plane as this would be great for the long flight to India.

Since I last posted I have received not one but two of my subscriptions boxes. This one contains these beautiful fat quarters and a pattern to make a sewing machine cover and a sewing caddy. I do need a cover for my Brother which has the larger aperture and will make my quilting so much easier.

The July box has these fabulous Japanese prints from Sevenberry plus Moda Bella solids in Navy. The pattern this month is for a Japanese Wall hanging and I'm currently toying with the idea of making it.

Although I haven't really done much sewing I have been working on my projects. I picked up the jumper I'm knitting for John and have moved it forward quite a lot. The jumper is knitted on a circular needle and I find I can't knit many rows at a time as the weight of the work makes my right arm ache. The wool is called Dovestone and is from Baa Ram Ewe, a shop in Chapel Allerton in West Yorkshire. This wool is a natural aran and is a blend of wool from the Bluefaced Leicester and two Yorkshire breeds, the Wensleydale and the Masham. It comes in five undyed shades and I love them all but the shade I'm using was chosen by John. The wool is very soft to handle and knits up really well but the way the jumper is knitted makes it heavy to handle after a while.

The wool for this comes in hanks and to continue knitting I need to wind another hank into a ball. I have a few more rows before I have to divide the stitches for the yoke which has a cable pattern on it.

As for my slow stitching for today I shall be working on Charlotte. When I last worked on this I was really enjoying the stitching and had hopes of completing her in a couple of weeks but too many other things got in the way. I'm excellent at letting things get in the way of doing some stitching. Anyone would think I don't like stitching but it isn't true. I realised that I tend to prioritise other things higher than having space and time for myself. Over the weeks I haven't posted I've managed to almost tame work and to get it to fit into its proper time. I've also practised saying no. No is such a liberating word, especially when being asked to do something for someone else in the late evening when you should be having a little space to chill out before bedtime. My hopes for Charlotte are to have her finished by the end of this month. Here's how far I've got.

There is still a good way to go but let's see how I do this week. Charlotte is ready and waiting in my project bag with all the threads I need to get her finished. I can't wait for a little later today when I can relax and enjoy some stitching. I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching.

I have a lot more to tell you about but it will have to wait as I need to sort out dinner and do some ironing. Believe it or not I've managed to tame my ironing mountain and for now I'm managing to keep up to date with it. Not sure how long that will last as it isn't my most favourite job.

Lyndsey