Blanket three revealed

I can finally reveal the photos of the third blanket featured in my last blog post. I made it as a present for a friend and, since she is now in possession of it, I feel I can share it more widely.

It's the first 'full size' appliqued blanket that I have made and it measures around 110cm by 160cm. My friend is a freelance editor and her home office seems to be rather cool, even when it's baking hot outside, so I thought a blanket would help keep her warm and cosy. She genuinely seemed delighted with the present so I'm hoping it gets lots of use. Obviously, it would be great for her not to be cold at all, in which case I'm sure it could be used to adorn a sofa or bed.

Anyway, here are the promised photos. I was having trouble getting the colours to show up properly in any photos I took - the brown background and the pale appliqued fabrics tending to drown each other out - so I have to say a huge thanks to my friend Ce for these images.

I completely loved making this but perhaps the best bit was hand delivering it to my friend at her new home in Italy. So, a very belated 'boun compleanno' to The New Mrs Smith (and a huge thanks for letting me be a guest blogger on your site whilst I was in Italy)!

Busy, busy

So much for me sticking to the discipline of blogging weekly so as to keep up the momentum of my creative projects. However, I think I have a good excuse and really it's just the blog posts that have suffered rather than the creative projects.

Ten days ago I managed to knock a glass of squash all over my laptop. Once dry (I tried every technique suggested) I took it down to the very nice people at my local Apple Store for a 'triage session' and it was devastatingly declared beyond repair. So, I have had no means to blog and am only now stealing a few short minutes on a computer at work (it's OK the boss has already told me to go home so I'm not doing this in work time - honest!)

Anyway, aside from destroying technology, I have been very busy creating other things, although I may have been a bit remiss in capturing photographic evidence last week, and this computer also isn't great at enabling me to manipulate the ones I do have for best effect, so please accept my apologies.

Since my first excitement of having made an applique cot blanket I have gone on to make two more and these are now complete. Whereas my first attempt was supposed to be suitable for either a baby girl or baby boy, these are more themed. I used some bits of the car fabric left over from making a top for myself (see Home Alone) to make another bird blanket but this time for a boy:

 

 

And then I went all girly with flowers and butterflies to create this one:

 

 

I've even made a third but don't feel I can reveal it just yet but promise I'll take some photos and share them soon, and a fouth is already planned!

 



I have also been busy cooking in an attempt to deal with a wonderful bounty from the garden - figs and yet more tomatoes! I was feeling very proud of myself since this is my best ever crop of both fruits but I've since learned that it's been a brilliant year for growing both in the UK so perhaps it's more to do with the weather than my gardening skills?! However, with tubs of oven roasted ratatouille and Fig and Honey Semi-Freddo in the freezer I'm hoping I'll get to savour the flavour of summer for a month or so to come.

Figs - I really did grow them!

For reference the oven roasted ratatouille recipe can be found in Delia Smith's Summer Collection and the Fig and Hney Semi-Freddo is from Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef. I'm afraid I can't share the actual recipes for you here, since they are on my book shelf at home, but hopefully you can find the recipes for yourself now I've told you where to look!

Let's hope by the time I next blog I'll be able to do so from home on a new computer...I am so lost without one!