A little bit of this and that

Trying something new by linking up to the wonderful Lilyquilt's small blogmeet <div align="center"><a href="http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk" title="Lily's Quilts"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEtRrrER0Ip1IHzcXqlecYdrblLtZPZK33ZlL1ylpUr1aAPVW2gDFNJKS7D9XHlgXz7gdL3pUNgNP9lqw_VIjlFVXdvJFLggr-2WKRWMeF7QiWGCIS5ZC-HKabbkWEX5lISgq_jbv8OMu/s150/SBMB.png" alt="Lily's Quilts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Last weekend was a holiday weekend and we headed up to to Camusdarach, Arisiag in the Scottish Highlands, our home from home with some good friends. The weather was beautiful but in true Scottish style you needed to find a sheltered part on the beach to enable the fleece to come off. There was a lot of dog walking, staring at the sunsets and I began a new English Paper Piecing Project called the Rose Star. I had seen examples of these on Instagram #englishpaperpiecing and just had to try. I searched the Internet and found a tutorial and introduction here on the http://selfsewn.blogspot.co.uk but the tutorial is here on her original site. I still had to figure out how to do this so I sketched on some paper and then tried to work out how to get all the pieces of paper I needed.

 This star ends up being 12inches from tip to tip if you start with a 2 inch hexagon, so I printed a sheet of 6 2" hexagons and got a ruler and measured out the shapes show in the tutorials above. It was a fiddle but it worked and then I photocopied my sheets. I have been working on one star at a time using fabric that began with Maureen Cracknell's blogger's bundle from Fat Quarter shop with additional pieces from my collection.
I had intended a QAYG herringbone quilt using Maureen's tutorial but when I was looking for suitable materials for my epp I grabbed this bundle as all my scraps were in the wicker basket which was inaccessible at that minute. I need to explain I have no patience and I was packing to go away at midnight on the Wednesday so I could travel up north straight from work on the Thursday to have maximum time away.

I think these stars and the bundle are going to become cushions/pillows and throws but like all my epp projects it is a wait and see game. It might become one huge quilt.

 After our wonderful weekend away the last week has been hellish with a combination of work stress, worries about family and the usual bits of life we all deal with. I spent every night filling in an application form for a different job and then decided it was the wrong time to apply for a job further away and with more responsibility and hit the withdraw button last night. Friday night we had a wonderful meal in a Russian restaurant called Cafe Cossachok where I had a series of vodka cocktails. In the current political climate I avoided the one called "Putin's Smile" as it seemed inappropriate but overall it was a good night.

Yesterday I enjoyed a fabulously warm sunny day in the gardening which is a constant surprise at the moment discovering what plants we have. We moved here at the end of August last year so missed seeing the garden at this time. I love these unusual poppies. Thanks for dropping by and I will be back on an irregular basis as if I promise to do this weekly or more frequently I know it won't happen as I realise I have limitations but I will try as often as I can. Otherwise you can find me on Instagram as Salamanda001