Feeling better and getting back to sewing.

Wow that was an interesting ride. Still not sure what the virus was but it was a humdinger! Anyway I'm now feeling a lot better although my ears are still blocked so hearing is a problem plus I get told I'm speaking very quietly but in my head it is so loud. I found my concentration was badly affected, a common side effect of viruses, and so I haven't been able to get much done on any of my projects,  but I have finished my blue cardigan. I had finished the main pieces before I was ill so just had the button and neck bands to knit and of course I had to sew it together. This progressed very slowly over the last week until yesterday it was finished and I wore it.  I love the wooden buttons I found and used alternate butterflies and hearts.

Yesterday evening I decided to start my knitted jumper as I wanted to find out how the pattern worked. It is a four row pattern and it produces this lovely effect but it does take a lot of concentration. the cardigan was started in early January and finished last week. The jumper is bigger and takes twice as much yarn with a pattern that needs serious concentration. It won't be finished any time soon.

Yesterday afternoon I got my sewing machine out as I was going to do some work on the dinosaur quilt but in the end I put it away again having not sewn a stitch. John's comment was that I must have been much worse than he realised. Today I have energy and although it is slow stitching day I am going to try and make two more blocks for the dinosaur quilt. The fabric is all cut and all I have to do is follow the instructions carefully. I'll update tomorrow.

Yesterday I did make some caramelised red onion chutney. There are a lot of recipes out there for this chutney. I chose the BBC good food recipe but decided that brown sugar would have been better than caster sugar. I also added a dash of balsamic vinegar. Here is the link to the recipe Red onion chutney I will be making this again but in a bigger quantity as my family love this chutney. It goes very well with cheese. I made  two and a half jars but the half jar got used last night. I also need to buy some new outer ring fasteners for the jars as they have been used and sterilised a lot so the outside is starting to rust. 

On Wednesday I had a new flower delivery which cheered me up a lot. Usually the flowers last two weeks but last week was so hot that they wilted and died quickly. I love having flowers in the house but our lace handkerchief sized garden isn't big enough to grow enough flowers for cutting. There are flowers in the order that are just called 'blooms' and these come with protection for the flower head.

I put the flowers in a vase and the blooms opened quickly and the flowers head this time are enormous.

On the puppy front he now has a name. We called him Twiglet which lends itself to a lot of short names such as Twiggy or Twig. He is answering to his name most of the time and this coming week we will start his potty training and also his recall training. I find recall is much easier to teach indoors and then once he has had his second vaccinations we will be able to take him out on a long lead to do some further training. Missy and Twiglet are very mismatched in size but they both have big personalities. They have also been playing very well together although they do get a bit riotous at times. Missy also sometimes forgets she is so much bigger. Twiglet has already discovered the joy and comfort of a quilt. He and Missy had been playing for about an hour when we put him on the sofa for a rest. I will have to make him his own quilt over the summer. He does have Scamp's quilt to use at the moment. 

Yesterday was our grandson's 2nd birthday. The little family have headed off to Cornwall for a holiday break over half term. When they get back my daughter will be dealing with the GCSE examinations for her subject areas, such a busy time for teachers and stressful for the children.

I'm off to do some sewing whilst I have the energy. Later I'll catch up with my blog reading, something I haven't done for two weeks.

Take care

Lyndsey.