Archie The Wonder Dog

Hello! Welcome to February's Furtle!  Thank you to everyone who linked up last time (how exciting was that?!), I hope you all had a good time reading about people's furtling? This month, I have finished four things from my Finish-Along list  while I was confined to my sewing room while the decorator was here and I was unable to rest: The little ipod sleeping bag from my Finish-Along list: A pair of socks: My hot water bottle cover: The Oakshott table runner on my Finish-Along list, which I quilted in the ditch (many, many ends to darn in, which was quite good as in addition to being confined to my sewing room, I had no telly and no internet - thank goodness for the radio!): And I've pieced the second LV scrappy trip block:  Phew, what a month! Linking up to the February Furtle If you're linking up, please add a link (one per person, please) to your blog post, which could contain: a mosaic of all you've made in...

Hello! Thank you very much to all who linked up to the January Furtling post - I had planned to pop on a few days later to write this post but then my router died and I've had to wait for a new one to be delivered. In my last post, I mentioned that I got a set of quilt stamps/patchwork stamps for Christmas and had a few enquiries about them so I thought I'd write a post explaining all about them and where to find them. I first saw these stamps on Instagram, on Annie's Patch Pix feed in August (she got hers at Festival of Quilts) and had quite a few chats to her about them while I dithered about which set to start off with and which ink pad(s) to buy.  In the end, I decided to get the large Le Moyne Star set because that included a 2" (finished) square and that was the size/shape I thought I'd get most use out of in the initial months - I have plans to sit and stamp my way through my scrap boxes, making postage stamp/nine patch/double nine patch/Irish Chain ...

Hello!  And welcome to the very first furtle! I've added a Furtling page to my permanent pages but here's a brief explanation: Back in the day (gosh, I sound old!), Lynne at Lily's Quilts had a monthly link up (called Fresh Sewing Day) where people shared sewing which had made them happy or which they wanted advice on, or just a round up of all they had done that month.  I loved those posts and connecting with quilters round the world and made lots of friends through them.  As happens, times change and many blogs became neglected in favour of Instagram.  I managed to blog fairly regularly until 2015/16 and I've really missed it.  I decided that having a monthly link up like the old days would help me get back into blogging regularly (well, once a month at least!) so I asked Lynne if I could revive FSD or do something similar and she said generously said yes. With the help of a group of friends (which we named The Furtlers after a comment from one of u...

Hello!  I hope you're well and are keeping your spirits up if you live in the northern hemisphere and haven't seen sun in what feels like years. If you live in the southern hemisphere, I hope you haven't melted... I have a plan for a revival and renaming of an old blog favourite (of mine, at least), so come back on Thursday (31st) to see what's happening...

Hello! I have been meaning to blog for a few months now but never seem to find the energy to do it (knitting on the settee while watching telly seems more appealing than perching on a kitchen stool in a chilly kitchen and tapping away at a keyboard, somehow), but I wanted to pop in before the end of the year (just!) and say hello!  I have a wish to start blogging on a more regular basis next year (maybe once a month) but need to sort the photo thing out first: at the moment, 99% of my blog photos are hosted via Flickr (with a free account), but their rules are changing in January and so I need to find another way to host photos.  I have downloaded all my photos from Flickr and am slowly going through each one to see if it's on the blog or not.  Those not on the blog will be deleted, those on the blog will stay, and I'm hoping that the latter will bring me below the 1000 photo limit. Wish me luck! Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and say (a belated) Merry Christmas and ...

Hello!  I'd like to start by saying thank you very much for all the lovely comments you left on my previous post about Archie.  I'll be honest, I did intend replying individually to each and every one, but I just can't do it, so please consider this your reply.  Thank you xx I've finished quite a few things, both from my  Finish-Along lists  and not (oops!), and here's a sample: Mini Archie's hexy quilt Welly socks for Moo Socks for Sarah (Moo's mam) Socks for me A tunic ( Kate Dress ) for me A crocheted wreath, started before last Christmas and abandoned when it became clear it wouldn't be finished in time! A Fair Isle jumper for Mini Archie (my first ever Fair Isle and my first ever jumper, what a project to start with!) I finished my seaside embroidery (on my FAL since Q3 2015) and made it into a pouch A Lola pouch for a friend A Lola pouch for my sister-in-law Another wreath which...

snow Archie: 2000 - 2017 This morning, I took Archie for his final walk (actually two of them), he had his final breakfast, he made his last visit to Mam and Dad's house, and then he took his final ride in the car on his fluffy blanket. Do I get a treat for sitting so nicely? Archie has been in fragile health for many years - he had a really bad back as the result of an attack by a much bigger dog a few years ago, and the injury constantly threatened the feeling in all four legs.  He also had a failing liver and a heart murmur, and the latter was slowly but surely getting worse and meant he was losing power in his back legs.  Throughout all this, he was he usual chirpy and stoic self and always looked well considering how many health problems he had.  He loved his food (particularly biscuits and tuna) and he loved his walks, right up until the end. I love it here, lots of sniffs to sniff, lots of people to admire me.  Now, how about a biscuit? Yesterda...