Winter warmers

Winter has definitely arrived this week, and it has encouraged me to finish the knitted hot water bottle cosy that I started before Christmas. The pattern comes from The Knitting Book by Frederica Patmore & Vikki Haffenden that Mr Q bought me for my birthday. With some help from the owner of &SewWhat in Chorley, I substituted Rowan Lima for the suggested yarn. Ever since I first saw Lima I was seduced by its softness and heathery colours, but as it is on the pricy side, I thought I'd try it in a small project before really splashing out.

I am delighted with how this turned out. The yarn is just as gorgeous as I had anticipated and I really enjoyed the simple cabling of the pattern. I'm looking forward to being toasty warm on the nights Mr Q has to spend away from home for work.

I have made progress with the Made in Cherry quilt along. I've sewn all the pieces together and added natural linen as a background. I have ideas for how to quilt it, but for the time being it'll get added to the end of the quilting queue.

We're enjoying the chilly weather. Stretched out in front of the fire...

this feels a little like a rotisserie!

chatting on FaceTime...

or playing outside...

I found this on the patio!

making the most of the sunshine with an ice-cream in the snow!

It's been a good week.