Last week was exciting!  My first grandchild arrived, with a little bit of drama; Seonaid developed pre-eclampsia and was hospitalised, then induced. Things never got out of control, but it was a bit stressful waiting for news. 

 Everything was fine in the end, and we welcomed Isla Rose into the family.

She is a delicate little girl, only 6.5 pounds, and is a very calm, patient baby.  She was born on my son's birthday, which we think was excellent timing, as there's no chance of forgetting the date. Her uncle thought it was the best birthday present.

So now I"m a legitimate grandma, not just practicing with my great niece and nephews.  I'm looking forward to this!

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Not much sewing going on round these parts lately, I've been busy with other things.  I've been to visit my DD twice, taken the car to various places to have work done on it. I've gone to the postie job each morning, then started work on the computer after I come home from there. I babysat Tawny out at the farm for four days. I've wrestled with an old orange wool blanket because a customer requested a new binding (it didn't want to cooperate).  I've worked on bookwork and taxes, cleaned up my kitchen and walked the dog, and I haven't sewn a single stitch for a week.  I think I need a mental health sewing day tomorrow.

I bought a Martelli rotary cutter to see if it's comfortable to use; I would like to find a way to cut while sitting down, my back and feet ache after a big cutting session so it would be great to be able to do the long cuts standing up and all the little subdividing cuts while sitting down. I need to find a chair or stool that will put me at the right height for that.

 The purple cutter is for my DD, who asked for a cutter, ruler and mat set; she says she wants to make curtains, but I'm sure I can lead her astray into patchwork.

These simple blocks are on my design wall, with the sashing all cut, ready for me to sew them together.  I have the border fabrics picked and everything, I just have to find the time to sit down and do it.  Once I start work on it I will want to see it finished, so I should just get on with it.

My leader-ender project grew quite a bit while I was working on the tops I completed recently.  I have 24 rows pieced, out of 60.  Still a long way to go, but it's almost at the halfway point, and it's been entirely painless so far.  What a nice little project!

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