uppers and downers

April was never going to be a post heavy month - it's been a very busy one though. Below are a few things I got up to.
First is Rotten Bananas

It even has a back

And a little 'un!

a perfect square of 36" sides. I started out with this as the back for the big quilt but once I got this far, I realised it was the ideal size for a stroller and stopped. 

A middling downer is that I'll be doing the quilting (attaching the front, the batting in the middle and the back together) myself. I had planned to have it professionally quilted but all the long-arm quilters I contacted require the batting and backing to be 4" to 10" larger than the quilt front...on all sides! This didn't sound like a problem until I learnt I couldn't "just add on" the extra 4" all around because the seam being at the edge of my quilt would interfere with the long arm machine! 

My only other option was to reduce the quilt top by 4"-10" on all sides. Not an option, really. Hence I'll be quilting this baby myself. 

Sorta happy is that knitting is still occurring, intermittently: this is the "sorta" bit. Vanilla socks are still going and I'm working on a blanket for a dear friend too. Hmmm, when you knit for a friend's little one are you knitting for the friend or for the little one?

Major downer alert! 

The weather! It has been downright horrid this past month! Rain, hail, low temperatures, strong winds - ghastly! But today? Today, dear friends, is 16 Celsius and sunny! I will be out walking. 

Upper!

Lately, I've been getting to grips with my not-so-new big girl camera - a valentine's present from S. On Saturday, we had friends over for lunch 

and Simon (once again) showed me how to set the white balance - hopefully jumpstarting me on documenting.

MAJOR upper ahead!

And tomorrow is May. I am very excited about this. May will be good. May brings with it: two mini holidays, house guests, the monotone cross stitch along (with @mooncalfmakes and others on twitter) and gorgeous weather! I have every confidence in the weather being gorgeous because, frankly, it cannot possibly be worse!

And to start the week off here's another little upper.

Wishing you a good one folks.

life in pictures iii

Picking up from where we left things last day, there was a week of brilliant sunshine and tropical temperatures. I was happy, my garden was happy and the ladybirds had a party! (or whatever you want to call that).

The weather was so good I decided to hop on a train to London and was very impressed by the newly improved King's Cross Station.

so pwetty!

Much fun was had in London. I was absolutely spoilt by my folks, got to visit with my high school bff and her 5 week old boy(!), ate lots of yummy food,

{i LOVE katsu! and should really learn to make it}

before returning home to one last day of gorgeous sunshine which S and I spent walking. There's nothing quite like walking the Yorkshire countryside to welcome me back home.

We've begun working on the garden...well actually S works on the garden while I cut pretty flowers to take indoors 

I've also been catching up with friends. I'm particularly enjoying my bittersweet visits with little Bea, who will be moving to the other side of the world in a matter of weeks. I've grown very fond of her visits. I especially love observing her play with my trolls and beach pebbles. Having spent last Wednesday and Thursday in her company, I found myself missing her already and so decided to have a little play with my pebbles too.

{In the absence of Bea}

I hope you're having a lovely Easter weekend whatever you get up to.