Patchwork Quilt: 1. A Kick Start

As we may have mentioned before, we both come from families full of creative people. When we got married Joe's mum started talking about making us a patchwork quilt. We love patchwork quilts and currently own four of them (one made by each of Jenny, Joe, Jenny's mum and Joe's mum). However these are all single quilts, and this time the offer was to make a double quilt. At around the time of our second...

Read More

Photo Friday - Reflections on a Holiday

Lyme Park (National Trust), Peak District It's quite wide - click the photo for a bigger imag...

Read More

Google Reader, Bloglovin' and Feedly

Joe and I both spend our day jobs developing software in our different ways. We both enjoy playing with technology and announcements such as the closure of Google Reader at the start of July send us straight to the internet to dig out alternatives. Not heard of Google Reader? Its a very nifty tool that goes to all the blogs you like to catch up on and checks to see if there's any new posts. If there...

Read More

The Mechanical Doorbell, Part One: Ding

I have been scheming this doorbell for quite a while. As you may know I scheme quite a bit. This one has finally come to fruition for one reason: I decided to scrap the plan to buy the expensive bits and decided to build the whole thing with stuff we have stashed around the house.  This doorbell handle releases a marble that rolls down a run, making a noise on the way. The first half...

Read More

Photo Friday - on holiday

There will be no excuses about being away - just a sunny picture from the Peak District!...

Read More

Knitting for Small People

I'm going through a knitting phase at the moment. I love knitting to unwind of an evening, usually accompanied by whatever our favourite TV show of the season is. I've discovered that I'm most productive if I can find a pattern that's of the right level - simple enough that it can be mostly memorable, but complicated enough to keep my interest - I tend to get bored by line after line of garter stitch! One...

Read More

A Tale of Two Tables: Part 5b

We have caught up with ourselves! The first table is finished, the second is mostly assembled and waiting a lot of sanding. Sundays will switch to a few other bigger projects until we can bring you the final part. Here is a sneak preview of the finish: ...

Read More

Photo Friday - Violin Case

Wooden violin case. With thanks to Mary for letting me photograph some of her instrument...

Read More

A-line Skirt

Following on from last weeks jumper post I thought I'd tell you about another foray I've had recently into the world of making my own clothes. On a few occasions Joe has made things for me to wear, including a couple of very pretty dresses. We often keep an eye out for fabric bargains to make use of, and earlier this year we came across this purple velvet at £2.50 a metre and for a bargain like that...

Read More

A Tale of Two Tables: 5. It's Got Legs

A solid base is key to the functionality of any table. A lovely top will be ruined by an uneven, twisted base or one with legs in the wrong place. For our small table we went for four legs in a square, 20" apart leaving an 8" overhang outside the frame. Traditionally the cross pieces would be mortice and tenon joined into the legs. This is a fiddly process but if done right is immensely strong. We...

Read More

Photo Friday - Allium

Our first allium in full bloo...

Read More

A Matter of Correction

When I was learning to knit I decided that I didn't want to knit a scarf or granny squares or any of those other beginners items: I wanted to knit a jumper - and one with lots of pattern to it. I picked this one and set off with enthusiasm. I followed the pattern to the letter and the result was a jumper that I never felt comfortable wearing because the body and the sleeves were shorter...

Read More