Another Project Finished

... well almost! It just needs the buttons, which I am hoping will arrive in the mail soon. This is a bag to carry a large cutting board, sewing extension table, rotary cutter, patterns, fabric and whatever else. This is the outside:

I used curtaining fabric for more stability, but also used pellon on the outside (phew! that was not easy to quilt, hence the minimal amount). Also made the handles from the stalks of the flax flowers. I have varnished them a couple of times for durability and to stop any splintering.
This is the inside:

Again, curtaining fabric. The long center pocket holds a 6" x 24" ruler, on the right is the cutting board pocket and you can see the rotary on the left. I actually have a velcro stopper for this pocket so the cutter doesn't fall out. Plenty of pockets for scissors, needles, patterns and fabric. The pattern for this bag (a.k.a Gypsy Rose Bag) comes from The Cloth Shop.

Spring Is In The Air, Everywhere I Look Around

as the song goes!. Here are some leaf and blossom buds from our orchard:
nectarine

apricot

peach

pear

and mandarins which we are still eating, mmmm!

A Parcel in My Mailbox

and it's not even my birthday! This was a little competition my friend Kirsty in Australia was running on her blog. Some beautiful braid, gorgeous buttons (my favourite is the ducky), a lovely piece of '60s fabric and a pin cushion made from an old doiley. Ahh! Kirsty, it's so lovely, thank you.
We have had some lovely 'spring' weather over the past week so Derrick and I have been able to get out and mow the lawns - actually it would be so much easier if the sheep could do the mowing, but you can't trust them not to eat everything else first, then the grass. Hopefully they will be having a pre-lambing shear this weekend, then it's a matter of waiting for the lambs.