Flowers and paper piecing.

Over the week I've either been knitting the back of the cardigan or working on the little embroidery. The knitting has been the easiest to work on as the pattern is easy and so I can enjoy watching the TV at the same time. I have now finished the back and started work on the left front.

The embroidery has also moved forward and I plan to have this finished this month. I tried watching TV whilst stitching but managed to stab myself a couple of times so I gave up.

Every two weeks I have a flower delivery.  It's fun getting the delivery and finding out what's inside. I could look on the website but that takes some of the fun away.

The flowers come with instructions for arranging them and plant food . They usually last a minimum of two weeks and depending on the flowers they often last longer.  The flowers are well packaged to keep them safe from crushing and the boxes are reused. I love the little caps they put on the 'blooms'.

I tend to put the flowers into a vase so they can open properly and then move them into a more appropriate vase if needed.

Some of the flowers from the last delivery will be good for a few more days.

Yesterday morning John and I went to visit Katy, Olly and Aubrey. Katy wanted some help with putting up a shelf and fixing a baby gate on Aubrey's bedroom. We were supposed to go to Kew Gardens in the afternoon for the Orchid festival but we were both very tired so we headed home. We stopped in Kingston to pick up a pair of knitting needles. Somehow I've lost one of the pair that I need for knitting the ribbing of my cardigan. We decided to have a cup of tea before driving home. It was really refreshing and made the drive much easier. Once home I rebooked tickets for the orchid festival.

Today I had a sewing day. My plan was to complete my February challenge for the Chookshed Challenge. 

The challenge was number 2 and my number 2 was to complete the next round of the Red Manor House quilt. This is how far I had got before the challenge.

The diamonds in the last round were foundation paper pieced and although I managed to make them and it wasn't too difficult, I didn't enjoy the experience. The four corner blocks of the next round are paper pieced and I had put this quilt to the back of the cupboard as I didn't want to do any more paper piecing. Still a challenge is a challenge and I also need to move this quilt along. I did raw edge applique for the dove, flower and sheep blocks and then set about making the arrow blocks. This proved a lot more challenging than I would have liked  and there was a lot of unpicking in an effort to get it right. In the end I managed an acceptable job. Acceptable to me that is. This quilt is for me, so providing I'm happy with it there is no problem. Having made the arrow blocks as well as I could I then had problems sewing the various blocks together. I put blocks in the wrong order or upside down. I got fed up with unstitching the blocks. Finally I got it put together and although the arrow blocks are a mess I am happy with how it looks.

If there are any more paper pieced blocks I can assure you I will be using applique instead. The next round is a border followed by Irish Chain, and no paper piecing!

I have some household jobs to do tomorrow and want to make some bread but I think there will be time for sewing. For now it's time to head to bed.

Take care

Lyndsey