My new love - and it's nothing to do with sewing.

For the past year or so I've been desperate for a bike...and I've finally committed. So, this post is for the friends I have who have been interested enough or kind enough to ask about what type, what colour, what I'll be doing with him etc.
Our journey together has begun - and I love him. All I know is that he's fast and when I ride him I feel like Boadicea - all-powerful, all-conquering. And I'm sure that I have a big daft grin on my face the whole time. It's that good. Oh, and he's called Spartacus. Or Fabian if I'm being gentle with him.

We'll be doing many miles together - and this will take me away from home and my darling cats and my beloved sewing. Gulp. But I'll be out in the fresh air, seeing wonderful things ( I saw a stoat this morning! ), and that is a wonderful way of topping up the happiness quota......

Pin cushions for charity

Over the last couple of nights I have made these pincushions. I cannot take any credit for the original idea - I think they were part of a DMC kit I saw at a show a couple of years ago and the design stuck in my mind. The colour scheme is unusual and a fairly accurate rendition of what I remember the kit to look like. I drew the little cats onto paper first and used as a template.

I am going to make a batch of these - perhaps in various colours - and donate them to Leeds Feline Friends so that they can be sold at their Christmas Fair, an event I always attend.

The chicken and the egg

I finally got around to making a door-stop, a much-needed addition to my sewing room. It was very quick to hand stitch, the only difficulty being what colours to chose. I adore gingham and plumped for the orange version from my stash.
I made use of yet more pieces of left-over wadding to form the chicken shape.

The fabric was then tacked around the wadding and felt details stitched into place along with a beady eye.

Both pieces were stitched together and stuffed with buckwheat - I'm so glad I finally found a use for that!

And totally unrelated, I quickly made these egg-cosies as a small gift. Again, wadding was used to provide structure and insulation.