Pretty things!

This is the skirt I finished making recently.....as you can see, it's quite bright. It looks small, but I'm a fairly short person. The colours are even brighter than they look here, and my wardrobe contains a few bright tops that I plan to wear with it; red, orange, green. It's a Kwik Sew pattern. Not bad for just a few dollars - $2 for fabric, not much for a zip, and I already had the yoke lining, interfacing and pattern.
The Kiwi place mats have been given to their recipient, and she likes them. I left off the applique that spelled out various Kiwi words for a less casual look, which was the look I wanted. Six fat quarters was all it took, the fabrics which look like solid black and white are in fact printed, and I quilted them using black and white variegated thread.
My giveaway parcel from Tammy has arrived, I am so lucky! Thank you Tammy, you are very generous. A lovely pattern, and two packs of charm squares - Village Green by Thimbleberries and Garden Party by Moda, some little scissors and........
some very pretty Valentine's Day fabrics - and - chocolate! Should have taken the pattern out of the packet as the glare is a bit bright, it says "Little Charmers 5". The little scissors will replace the embroidery scissors I had confiscated at Sydney airport on our way to Canada last October. (It was my own fault - I had swapped things from different bags around, and forgot the scissors were still in the bag that I put in my backpack instead of the one I put in my checked case - but I had those scissors for over 20 years, and I was quite peeved to lose them.) (and of course women like me with our little embroidery scissors are a dreadful threat to air travel aren't we.....can't have that)

Nice young physio bloke said yesterday he is pleased with my progress, to keep doing the exercises, and only go back to him if I feel it's necessary. While I was there I mentioned my left shoulder to him, it's been sore ever since I broke my arm, but I put that down to carrying the weight of two casts on my arm and to having restricted movement for a while. He checked it out and suggested I have an ultrasound done, as he thinks I may have torn a shoulder tendon when I fell - my left arm (the one which broke) ended up under my body, so I probably wrenched my shoulder at the same time. I still can't extend that arm out to have a stretch as it's too painful, and it also hurts if I put my arm behind my back. So it's worth checking out, but I'm a bit sad as I thought my arm was getting back to normal.

On the home front......we have contacted the agent we decided to go with, and he will come on Monday to start the paperwork to sell the house! Yay! Last time we did this was 1987 and things may have changed in that time. We certainly have.

Next sewing project will be to make a bag using the Thimbleberries Canadian fabrics I bought in Toronto - it was a "Twice The Charm" roll - and the Maple Greetings bag pattern from Hopscotch Quilt Shop, Alberta. The last few projects I have made have been for other people but this one is for me!

"The plan of reviving the old Saxon names has been adopted by some, and it has been claimed that the names of Edgar, Edwin, Arthur, Alfred, Ethel, Maud, Edith, Theresa, and many others of the Saxon names are pleasant sounding and strong, and a desirable contrast to the Fannies, Mamies, Minnies, Lizzies, Sadies, and other pretty diminutives which have taken the place of better sounding and stronger names."

My maternal grandmother was named Edith, and she was born in 1887 - just two years after the book from which this is taken was published. One of her sisters was named Ethel, and a brother was Alfred.

Have a great weekend!

Jennifer