Catch up!

After the fun and games of last Saturday, we took an impromptu trip to Snape on Sunday for the vintage market. I’m always so tempted by the wares displayed on the stalls, constantly saying ‘oh look, we had one of those’ or ‘oh look how much they want for that’! I resisted though and didn’t buy, although I was sorely tempted by the lovely cake stands made, mainly, from similar but not quite matching plates. The thing is I decluttered a few years ago and now have very few decorative things on display – plus my style is more contemporary that vintage, although I love the look of vintage on other people’s blogs as I browse my way around them. We followed our browsings up with a trip to Aldeburgh where we had fish and chips on the beach – imagine that, on a Sunday! For those of you that don’t know Aldeburgh, it’s a lovely place but very popular with Londoners for holiday homes (disclaimer – I have absolutely nothing against Londoners – it’s where both our families hail from!)

Whilst we were queuing (you always have to queue) for our fish & chips there were a couple of young children in front of us whose mother had left them to keep her place whilst she wandered along the shops. They were a bit mischievous but nothing exceptional and, right on queue, when their turn came to order, Mum appeared as if by magic. I’m getting to the point now, don’t worry. Order placed, the children helped themselves to the little wooden forks on the counter. Handfuls of them. Only to be told by Mum that they didn’t need that many. So they put them back! Eeeeeewwwww! I watched so carefully, determined not to take any that they had put back! Mum didn’t bat an eyelid, just steered them out of the shop when she’d paid.

The weather wasn’t brilliant – overcast and cloudy, but I liked the look of this boat!

I suppose though, in the scheme of things, that was nothing compared to the headlines of this week – I’m not even going to begin to go there, don’t worry.

A joyful week at work was broken by a day off on Wednesday when I had to wait in for the man to come and replace the door trim on my oven – can you believe that it is not covered under warranty? As a matter of principle, John insisted that they come and fit it and not send it in the post for us to fit ourselves – it took all of two minutes! And then I waited for somebody to come to repair our front door handle – it’s not been right for a long time and sickeningly we realised too late that it would have been covered under the 10 year warranty if we’d called them out before – that took about three minutes to repair!

Yesterday saw the first home game of this year’s football season. We lost. Enough said. Before the match I did something I haven’t done for a long time – I bought some yarn from a real shop! The friend that I call Julie has put in an order for another baby blanket (she seems to work with some very fertile people!) and, as the sex is not yet known, I opted for a minty green and white – hope that’s OK Julie!!

Which brings me on to today where I spent the day joining fabric squares together – in two places – only to cut them in half!

I’m sure some of you have worked out by now I was making half square triangles!

I bought this in kit form several months ago and thought it was time to do something with it – if it works out well it will be a Christmas present for somebody who I think will like it!

I’ve decided that I’m going to add my name to some of the photo’s as I discovered a few of my pics on Google Images for all the world to use! Well, I might just as well make my claim on my own stuff, mightn’t I!!

That’s it for now – another exciting week awaits me I’m sure! Thanks for stopping by!!

Scarborough

It’s been a while again I know but time just seems to disappear from my grasp these days. I’ve been up to all sorts since I last wrote but the big thing is that we had a lovely long weekend away in Scarborough. You may wonder why Scarborough. Well, call me sentimental but it was the first place that John & I went for a holiday some 28 years ago! We’d been up to stay with his parents in Northumberland and stopped off in Scarborough on the way home. Needless to say things have changed over the years and parts of the town were very run down and neglected, almost to the point of shabbiness which was rather sad. We stayed in a small, privately run hotel – The Wharncliffe which was very homely and welcoming. We had a beautiful view across the North Bay and it was lovely to watch the sun rise and set across the sea. I’m not a big breakfast eater but John loves a ‘full English’ if we’re away – you can see why they won awards for their cooked breakfast, each one fresh cooked to order and to perfection.

Using Scarborough as our base we travelled around for the three days we spent there – Whitby, Filey & Pickering (for the railway). Of course before we set off I researched casually looked for fabric supplies (you knew I would didn’t you!) and saw a tiny reference to a shop in Whitby – Judith’s. I can’t give you a link because she doesn’t have a web site. I have never seen so much fabric in such a small space in my life. It was stacked floor to ceiling. All colours. All patterns. All plains. I needed to buy some fabric to bind & back the quilt that I haven’t shown you yet and when I went to pay she didn’t take cards, only cash or cheque, so I trundled to the nearest cash point and drew out far too much to pay for what I’d already ordered so then proceeded to look for more when I got back to the shop! There was another couple in there at the same time, who believe it or not were from Felixstowe at some time and knew Quilters Haven at Wickham Market!! Small world, anyway I’m rambling, the husband commented that his wife buys fabric and never uses it!! She admitted that she is out too often to make things! I have to say that, although I buy far more than I use, that made me feel better!

So we wandered around Whitby taking photographs of the same things so that we could compare the results between the two cameras (which I have yet to do!).

On Sunday morning we woke to a beautiful sunny day, blue skies, no clouds. We decided to explore Scarborough and set of to walk round to the South Bay where John had identified a couple of caches (I like to play fair and let him have his chance to play as well ) but sadly the blue didn’t last. By midday the clouds blew in in and the temperature dropped, we bought rolls for lunch and sat out on a bench outside the hotel to eat them and nearly got blown away! As the weather had changed we set off to Filey in the car but by the time we got there it was absolutely pouring down and we parked up and sat in the car watching  the waves crash in. I crocheted and John snoozed – a real Darby and Joan moment! It stopped raining long enough for John to take some photos of brave souls paragliding (I think that’s what it’s called – they had parachute things on boards in the sea – or is it parasurfing?) We rounded the day off with delicious Fish & Chips in the sort of restaurant that your parents took you to when you were a child and that you vowed never to go to yourself.

Monday promised better weather and we headed off to Pickering to go for a ride on the North Yorks Moors Railway. We‘re not train people generally but took the opportunity for more photography along the way – John ended up with loads of tiny flecks of coal in in his hair from hanging out of the windows to take the photos! There wasn’t much to see and nowhere to buy fabric on this trip but as part of my research I had found this shop before I went. Well, Judith’s was amazing but this place was something else. On line the fabric is £6 per metre – in the shop it was £4.80!! £4.80. I know. Cheap. The only problem I had was that there was too much choice. I only spent £30 in there, they only sold full metres which is OK – after all it will get used, won’t it? I bought some lovely mauve-y fabrics for a bag – I reckon there’s enough for at least two plus some smaller bags, I won’t bore you with the other stuff just yet – there’s plenty of time for that!

So home on Tuesday via York – and the Cath Kidston shop and Betty’s tearoom (you should have seen the queue outside ‘big’ Betty’s but fortunately we’d spotted a smaller version around the corner and went there) where we had coffee and sandwiches. We were expecting something special but you should have seen John’s face when the sandwiches arrived – they were tiny little triangles with the crust cut off.

So we headed home, exhausted after our relaxing break and ready to re-join the fray of everyday life. John went back to work on Wednesday but I’ve had the rest of the week off, spent all day Wednesday baking and all day yesterday feeling bleurgh and tired  - it’s early today but I hope it’s better than yesterday!

The one where…

…I tell you about phones, glasses and my first big bag! I’ve stolen the title for this from that wonderful TV series Friends which seems to constantly on air on the satellite channels.

First up the phone. I got an early upgrade offer for my mobile phone. I was that excited. I-phone here I come, I thought, but it was not to be . Much as I coveted the I-phone  i was not prepared, nor could I afford, the £250 quoted by Vodafone for the initial purchase price. Instead, with support from the on line team via Twitter, I settled for a gorgeous purple HTC Wildfire S. It looks amazing, all the functionality really of an I-phone for zero outlay and the same monthly cost. I was happy. Forget that I couldn’t use the touch screen to type ‘cos I managed to hit the keys either side of the one I meant to. Forget that I sent messages and rung people who I didn't intend to. I loved it. Until that is, the screen started to freeze on me. I couldn’t open it. When I did manage to open it I ended up in all sorts of strange places and, the best of all, I couldn’t hang up on any calls!! The friend that I call Julie had a lovely silent voicemail message from on Saturday. Anyway, cut to the chase, I went into the Vodafone store in town today and, thank heavens, the guy there saw the problem for itself. You need an exchange he said. OK, said I. You’ll have to do it online – can’t do it in the shop, says he. Oh, OK said I and off I went to phone the magic number – which surprisingly I managed OK, until it came to entering my PIN!! Not a chance. Select an option 1-5. No chance. So I just held out in the hope that somebody would speak to me which they did. After me spelling it out that I needed an exchange, they agreed to just that, shame is I can’t get another purple one, had to settle for grey, not that that matters too much. Then, haha, they sent me a text about the exchange which, you guessed it, I couldn’t open. Facepalm is the word I think the kids would use!!

And then there’s the glasses. Way overdue for a check-up, I went a couple of weeks ago to that store that gives you an extra pair for nothing, the one who’s prices start at £85 – you know the one, right? Well, of course I don’t meet the criteria for the cheap option as I have varifocals, so £250 later and an order placed for a regular pair and a light-sensitive pair I awaited with baited breath their delivery. The light-sensitive pair are the very latest Gok Wan design, oooh, get me – I just loved the idea of them as sun glasses, not that I planned to wear them for everyday stuff. You know what’s coming, don’t you? Yep. Couldn’t see through either pair – the Goks meant that I couldn’t see distance and the other pair completely blurred my vision in the middle distance . Every time I buy glasses I have these problems. However a very nice young man (very young man) fiddled a little with both pairs and I left the store this morning promising to persevere for a couple of weeks.

And breathe. On to the bag. I bought the kit for this when I went to the Quilt Show at Chilford Hall. It’s from here and although it’s not in colours that I would normally choose I’m well chuffed with how it’s come out! Hyper critical me will tell you that I’m not happy with the place where the handle joins the bag because the sewing machine almost had heart failure when I tried to force coax the many layers of fabric through and I tried to tidy it up by hand, but that apart, I’m pleased with it!

You probably can’t see the lining very well but it’s a floral print from Moda on a brown background, yes I know, brown! As it’s such a spacious bag I’m going to make a small bag to go inside for my phone and stuff – I did think I’d do that today but have now changed my mind and am going to supervise John in the garden while he plants up the plants we bought this morning in anticipation of the torrential rain that’s promised!

Just before I hit the publish button, John has said we’ll plant after the football has finished if it’s not raining – fingers crossed, it’s still beautifully sunny here right now!!

It’s been a while!

This has to be the longest I’ve gone without blogging! I even missed my Blog-versary .

No reason though, just been plodding along doing all sorts of stuff and getting on with life in general whilst battling that dreaded middle-aged woman thing, you know the one I mean, don’t you? Mother nature has a very cruel sense of humour, likes life to be full of surprises so that things happen when you least expect them – if you’re there or been there you know exactly what I mean!

Anyway, let’s move on from the workings of my my body clock shall we? So what’s been going on – well, Son 2 turned 21 earlier in the month and we went out for a meal. Just the four of us because FDIL was away on her work placement. We went to a local pub which was his choice, had a lovely time and the boys even started play fighting because Son2 hid Son1’s sunglasses – happy days! Son2 has also announced that he plans to travel to Australia for a year, if you remember the debacle of his trying to get a visa to the US last year you may be pleased to know that the Australian authorities seem to love him and gave him a visa on line within two days of applying! The plan now is for him to go in October. I’m happy for him to go and gain some great life experiences, if he comes back all well and good, if he settles out there I’m happy with that too.

On the making front I’ve been quite quiet, I made this bag for my friend’s birthday – the fabric just cried out to be diamond quilted which took an age but I was really pleased with the result.

Do you remember that I admitted a few posts ago to not telling you about everything I buy? Well time for another confession. I found fabric on EBay. Yep. Remnants. All different sizes. Some big. Some not so. Some absolutely ideal for my hand pieced hexie quilt. Some that will be absolutely perfect for a baby girl quilt that I just can’t wait to start!

I intended that the hexie quilt would be a WIP for many years, with me adding random hexies as I finished a project. I’ve really enjoyed the hand work, for those interested I’m using one-and-a-half inch templates and two-and-a-half inch fabric squares, all tacked/basted and then joined – I love taking the tacking out and removing the paper pieces intact! However I have deviated into using fabric from the remnants that I bought on EBay because I was getting impatient and couldn’t wait to build up enough scraps! I’ve been really lucky with what I bought, good quality cottons including some Amy Butler pieces. In some ways I regret not piecing this in a more constructive way but as I originally intended that it would be totally random I’ll live with it.

Do you like my inventive way of keeping the pieces together?? The bigger this gets the more totally random the piecing will be – seems very blue at the moment!

In other news we are up bright and early this morning because John is awaiting the delivery of a new camera – he’s like a kid at Christmas! Trouble is, delivery will be between 7am and 3pm – hopefully it will be earlier as I wanted to have a day out today but forgot to mention it to him when I was planning it but as he didn’t ask tell me about the new camera I suppose that makes us quits!!

That’s enough for now I think. I’ll try to get back in the habit of posting every week again – if for no other reason that it gives me a personal discipline!!

Busy, busy, busy!!

What a busy few days, I hardly know where to begin!!

I’ll start with Friday, I think. I went off to Nicola’s for the day for more sewing practice – it seems that you can’t have too much practice!! I had prepared a couple of bits as I hinted at in my last post and I think I’m safe to reveal them now!

The pink one I made all by myself – it’s not quite the same as the purple one but I didn’t do too bad considering it was from memory and by almost deconstructing the one I made with her help a couple of months ago!

These have now been given as pressies to the friend that I call Julie and her lovely daughter, my goddaughter.

And then, after a quick trip to Quilters Haven (if it’s possible to have a quick trip, that is!) where we met up with a friend that Nicola had made through blogging (she can be found right here) and her friend (who can be found right here) and I bought just a little more fabric and a book – oh and we had a cup of tea – we returned to Nicola’s and I made this bag, which will probably go to my FDIL as she seemed quite attracted to it!

So after a long day sewing on Friday, I woke up on Saturday morning knowing that it would be another busy day. It was Julie’s birthday and a joint party was being held for her and her daughter in the evening. But I had nothing to wear , sure I’ve got dresses and shoes but absolutely nothing that I could wear on Saturday night. So, while I’m in the hairdressers, having had the magic worked on my head and during the next most important part the manicure, the idea was put in my head that I needed to buy a maxi dress and then I could wear flat shoes!

So suitably attired we all set off down to Colchester for a night out – the boys and FDIL came along as well! And what a party – great mix of music, the guests were of all ages and I have to say that I haven’t seen Julie looking so happy for ages!

Sadly no photos are suitable to publish exist of me from the evening but here are the birthday girls in full ‘row’ to ‘Ooops upside your head’ and no I didn’t join in as I would never have got up again!!

After a very late night for us we had a lazy morning yesterday, Son2 came for Sunday lunch and we settled into the garden for the afternoon – and then FDIL phoned and asked if we’d eaten. They had bought a turkey and when she went to put it in the oven it had gone off! Fortunately I had a lot of meat left over  so was able to feed them when Son1 finished work – they bought their own vegetables!!

And today, after a quick trip to Sainsbury’s I decided to have a lazy day, apart from making a cushion after Son2 asked yesterday if there were any cushions for the garden. I’ve been very lazy with this and just sewn some strips from a jelly roll together – my excuse is that I wanted to keep it simple!!

So that’s my weekend – just as well we only have to work three says this week – I’m exhausted!!

It’s a disaaaster dahling!!

Before I get stuck in, I’ve added a new button over there on the right hand side for Brit Quilts – if you’re interested take a click and join the group! I came to it via this blog which is one I regularly read through Google reader.

Disaster struck on Friday. John’s car was due in for service and as it was my day off I ‘volunteered’ to get up at the crack of dawn to take him to the garage which would save him having a hire car which he would then bring home to sit on the drive whilst he walked to work (we live too close to be able to park our car). Anyway, long story short, my car wouldn’t start (fortunately I had the bright idea of checking before he went off ahead of me).

I had grand plans to busy myself with shopping and stuff but instead spent the day sewing – no reveal yet I’m afraid ‘cos I’m making something for somebody who might just read this . I was determined that I could make what I wanted to without help and, after much stitching and unpicking, have managed to do just that!

So back to the car. I phoned Son 1 thinking that he might have a set of jump leads – he had some at work and would love to help his poor mother but it would be later. OK no problem. He came round whilst we were out, sent me a text saying all sorted, driven the car round the block – you need to take it for a drive (nothing like stating the blindingly obvious, son). So, we tried to do just that – it wouldn’t start. Son 1 comes back, still it won’t start until the neighbour comes to help – the jump leads weren’t making contact properly so with a little adjustment we managed to get going.

John and I decided that a trip to Felixstowe was the best idea, build up a bit of speed over a short distance. ‘What’s that noise’ says John. ‘Oh, it’s been there for a while – it’s speed related if you listen’ says I (can you tell how much we know about cars?) ‘Oh, it’s stopped now’ says John ‘but the ABS light’s just come on – wonder what that means?’ Well I knew it meant slow down and go home!! ‘Ermmm – just drive carefully, slow down and use the gears – don’t break hard’ was my contribution. The car is now going to visit the repair man tomorrow – no doubt leaving me with a hefty bill.

And then the oven broke. It’s been causing me concern for a while because the door’s not been closing properly but now it’s kaput. After a very quick metaphorical toss of the coin, I decided to go for a new one in view of the age and sat and wondered what would be the third thing to go wrong … I’m saying nothing but keeping fingers crossed.

Do you like my flowers? It was our wedding anniversary on Thursday and John bought them for me.

So that’s about it really. I’ve got a lovely run of short weeks coming up what with Easter, the Bank Holidays and the Royal Wedding coming up – I’m looking forward to that – I don’t think that I have to work a five-day week for over a month which will be nice!

Have a good week – hope the sun lasts!

Didn’t we have a lovely time…

…the day we spent sewing!! Sorry – that started out better than it finished (I had that stupid song about a Trip to Bangor in mind when I started typing!!)

Unusually, I had today off as part of my nine-day fortnight and I spent it sewing with Nicola (check out her handiwork here – plus her version of events!!) after I had completed the mountain of ironing that had built up over the weekend!

Nicola arrived about 10.30 and after about two hours of chatting – I haven’t seen her for ages – and lunch of soup & roll plus delicious Victoria sandwich cake (provided by Nicola) we finally got around to sewing – and this is the result…

We started with two rectangular pieces of fabric (no pattern or instructions – just Nicola’s memory) which I quilted together, bound the top and bottom, fitted a zip (never done that before!!) and then pleated the sides ending up with about four (maybe more) layers to sew through – just as well the machine is sturdy! Add a tab in to the mix, turn it inside out, give it a bit of a tug here and there and …voila!! You have this…

Lovely!!! So what’s next? Well, I had a bit of a browse after we’d finished with the thought that I needed some lovely bright solid colours and stumbled across a site here that I thought was very reasonably priced so I did myself a bit of ordering – bags could become the new quilts!!

Oh – before I forget the verdict on yesterday’s muffins – Blueberry’s were OK – not sure about the butternut squash and rosemary – they were a bit soggy for my liking – I think maybe I misjudged the quantities of squash!

Ta Dah!!

Woo hoo!!! I am a chuffed Sparkle! Two batches of muffins – one Blueberry the other Butternut Squash and Rosemary – this weeks Blueberry mix rose a little more than last weeks but I still don’t think I’ve found the best one – anybody have one to share? The Butternut Squash ones are from this book here. I don’t very often watch TV cookery programmes but this one really caught my eye – especially when she made these muffins. As yet they are untested – I’ll let you know what they are like!

So, without further ado…

And…

This tin is perfect for 9 muffins – which meant the other 3 had to be eaten!!

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And last but by no means least – I’ve finished the top of the ‘Simplified Log Cabin’ I thought I was never going to finish it but I am quite chuffed with my efforts –not so sure I’d rush to use the pattern again though!!

Still needs backing and quilting but as it’s been such a lovely day today I thought I’d get out there to take a sunny day picture!

When I posted this morning I forget all about the great day I have planned with Nicola tomorrow – I’m going to learn something new which I hope to share with you – if they work out OK!!

Now  back to the TV for League Cup final – if I can stay awake, happy days!!

Catch up!

Before I get started, if you read me in a reader and only see a few lines, I learnt this great tip the other day! In Google reader, go to ‘Settings’ (over in the top right had corner) and choose ‘Reader Settings’, then take the tab that says ‘Goodies’ and scroll down to ‘Put reader in bookmark’, drag the ‘Next’ button (right click and drag) up to the lower tool bar and you’ll see the Google logo with the word ‘Next’ – and you can read the posts from their original location and in their entirety without having to open a new window – simples!

Well, my last post certainly brought me a lot of visitors from worldwide locations! It seems I must have been the top Google response to ‘Paul Evolved Management’ searches – sadly it appears that ‘Paul’, whoever he may be, will not be buying any of our super duper blogs!

While on the subject of money, I was ‘lucky’ enough to receive an email from a poor man called ‘Blessing’ this week, begging me to help him get his late parents’ monies out of his country – sadly I did not feel charitable enough to help him out (please don’t judge me!)

In other news, errr… other news, ummm – let me think…Oh yes, last Saturday Janet & I finally had our day out in Framlingham. The weather was a bit grotty but we enjoyed a good natter and a mooch around the various shops, including the ‘Pretty Birdcage’ which I don’t believe has a web site – yet! It’s my kind of shop selling both yarn & fabric – heaven! I didn’t buy anything though – I’m feeling very virtuous – I must use some of my stash first as I’m spreading, sadly I don’t have a dedicated room for all of this stuff, poor John can’t raise his eyebrows any higher!

During the week we had dinner at Julie’s before going of to see my lovely goddaughter in her last ever school production – I can’t believe she’ll be 18 in a couple of months!

On the sewing front, I’m whizzing through my ‘simplified log cabin’ with just two more rows to piece, sadly I won’t get any done this weekend, what with football yesterday and Linda & John visiting today. I’m being a domestic goddess today, having already made blueberry muffins and having a bread & butter pudding soaking in the fridge – oh and I made a banana gingerbread loaf yesterday as well, get me – first time I’ve baked in an age!

Football wise things are looking up! We are now undefeated in seven games – haven’t won them all but we haven’t lost any, surprising what a change of manager brings!

I’d better go now  - can’t entertain my guests in my PJ’s however comfy they may be!!

Allsorts!

No not the liquorice type but a mish mash of stuff that’s gone on over the past couple of weeks!

Last time I posted I mentioned that the friend that I call Julie and her friend Steph were coming to visit and I was going to help them create a blog, right now I should give you a beautifully crafted hyper link to take you to it. But I can’t. When it came to getting started neither of them could remember the password they use to access their joint email account! No matter how many times they tried, they just couldn’t remember it so we abandoned the idea of creating a blog and instead spent the afternoon chatting about crafty things and them sharing hints and tips with me – they’ve been at this creative lark an awful lot longer than I have!

What else has happened? Probably not much worth sharing, I have to say I will not be sorry to see the back of January. It’s been a terrible month at work which, no matter how hard I try, plays a very large part in my life and in my thoughts. I’d like to think that February will be better – I’m not holding my breath though.

Oh yes, I started a new quilt project – it took me all last Sunday to cut the pieces, 210 of them. I’m using a pattern that I found on line and is called ‘Simplified Log Cabin’ with the skill level of beginner. Huh – let me tell you that he person who created this must be having a laugh! I laid out all of the pieces in order on the front room floor – unfortunately I don’t have a dedicated sewing room so I’m restricted in that I can’t leave things laid out. So anyway, there I was (OK there was John – my knees don’t do crawling around on the floor these days) laying out the pieces in a beautiful pattern, my mind knows that I need to take a photo to make sure I piece it together properly, and suddenly I find myself collecting the pieces for each square to pin them together – 42 blocks in all – after I’d pinned three rows together I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t taken the photo - doh! I nearly cried – I was so cross with myself but also very tired from all that concentrated effort! After a ‘light bulb’ moment on Monday I thought I know – I’ll lay the pieces out on the spare bed! So with John’s help, they were beautifully laid across the bed – where they will stay until the final square is pieced.

I’ve started piecing today – the first 5 pieces to make the first block were stitched and unpicked about 5 times but I persevered and after about 4 hours I had my first block completed – the next 3 took a lot less time! I have to wonder if the designer of this pattern actually asked anybody to test her instructions before she published, if this had ben my first project it would be in the bin by now!

What else? Oh yes – went to the cinema yesterday and saw ‘The King’s Speech’. I’m no film buff but strongly recommend that everybody should see it – no matter what nationality you are. *Warning* there is a little bit of strong language but not in a gratuitous way. The film tells of King George V’s endeavours to cure his stammer and also shows the love story of him and Elizabeth, Queen Mother and is worth a couple of hours of anybody’s time.

So that’s about it really – nothing much of any great excitement happening, Ipswich knocked out of the cup after putting up a valiant effort in both legs, the boys are both busy with their lives and John and I are settling into being just the two of us – not as bad as we thought it would be!

Thanks for stopping by!

Just another week gone by

Here we are again, Saturday morning time for a round up of my oh-so riveting week – not! To ring the changes this morning I am writing this post from the comfort of my bed! Outside I can hear the wind blowing around the house but I still have the curtains closed so can pretend it’s still night! Oh – and John has already been out for about an hour – something about a ‘first to find’ geo cache thingy! (Just heard him come back in ‘cos his batteries have gone – hehe)

I spent Sunday finishing the quilt that I’ve mentioned in the past couple of posts – I’m going to blow my own  trumpet here and say it’s very definitely my best effort yet! It’s the first time I’ve followed a pattern and I am so pleased with the results – even my mitred corners are good – not perfect just good! So here it is -

All of the coloured sections came from either a bag of scraps that I bought or from leftovers from previous efforts – the white has a tiny self patterned dotty print on it. The beautiful blue on the right hand side is lovely – it has a metallic sheen to it.

I found the pattern here as a freebie and have followed it (almost) faithfully, except for the binding – I used strips of most of the coloured fabrics instead – and the quilting – I ‘stitched in the ditch’ and kept it simple. My next goal is to practice free hand quilting on some scraps!

The rest of the week just sort of went really, Ipswich played Arsenal in the League Cup during the week. I didn’t feel brilliant when I got home from work and really couldn’t face a damp evening watching Ipswich lose again so I gave my ticket away. And of course the inevitable happened and we won 1-0 against the mighty Arsenal!! Having said that, we did lose 7-0 last Sunday to Chelsea! I wasn’t worried about the score against Arsenal because they were my first love anyway – a win-win there!

Today I’m expecting the friend that I call Julie and her friend that she calls Steph. Together they are JuSt Two here on Etsy and I’m going to help them create a blog – should be fun as it’s been an age since I did anything other than post on my own blog!

Ok – battery is almost gone so I’ll wish you farewell for another week – thanks for reading!

Welcome to 2011!

Happy New Year everybody! It seems that this years ‘thing’ is to have a photo montage of the past 12 months – I tried to choose one photo per month but found that was difficult as some months I’d taken more than others but here is my contribution – in no particular order!

2010 was a good year, we had three great holidays, I completed loads of crochet projects and I learnt to quilt – mostly self taught and through books but also with help from Nicola both remotely and in person! I haven’t blogged as much this year but I’m getting the impression that this is a natural progression from newbie blogger to feeling more comfortable with only the occasional update. 2010 also saw us become empty nesters as both boys left home which has taken some getting used to – as Son 2 has so recently left it’s something we’re still learning to cope with! In my mind I have a post prepared about what I miss about him – I’ll try to commit it to the keyboard in the next day or so!

Today we’re off to friends for our belated Christmas/New Year celebrations – before I go I just need to finish quilting my latest project so I can show them!

Here’s to another great year in Blogland – hope it’s a good one for all of you!

Can you tell what it is yet??

Naughty Nicola posted this on Sunday as a teaser for me! Those of you that have visited her blog already will know just how talented she is with fabrics – I think she has a real knack of putting colours and patterns together but she denies this!! Yesterday she revealed the whole thing to me and here it is in all its glory.

The light isn’t very good and doesn’t show the lovely colours at their best but I hope you get the idea!

It’s a one off and absolutely gorgeous – thanks Nicky and thanks for the inspiration, 2011 may be a very colourful year!!

Excuses, excuses…

I know – I left you all tantalised at the thought of the lovely new sewing machine and then just left you hanging in limbo!

I’ll tell you why. I got the lurgy last weekend. I was full of good intentions, I’d take some pics as I unwrapped it. I’d take some picks as I was setting it up. And I would take some pics of the finished results. I failed. Miserably. And indeed I was miserable .

It started with a cough, just a tickle, on Friday evening – just as I got home from work. It became a very irritating tickle through the evening and by Saturday morning had become a 40+ smokers cough with a sore throat in to the bargain. But I carried on. Up early, I went to Sainsburys so that I could have the day free to sew and fiddle. When I got back I set the machine up – not inclined to take pics – cut some fabric and rubbed my hands in glee at the thought of a sewing day. But then I needed a sleep – poor me.

When I woke up the inclination to sew was gone, I was feeling shivery, then warm so laid on the sofa for the rest of the afternoon. And then we had a power cut. No flicker, no dimming lights just a full blown instant cut into darkness – I had tea lights lit so we had something to guide us towards the torch under the kitchen sink. Son2 went into hyper excited mode – hard to believe a 20 year old can get so excited over something like that! He was most worried about going out for the evening with his friends for a curry – fortunately the restaurant was open! The power was off for two hours which seemed like forever – an hour and a half in I had the bright idea of playing I-tunes to give us some entertainment!

Sunday was another bleurgh day, it was local derby day for football with Ipswich playing away at Norwich, our sworn enemy. The match was live on TV so I pootled around in the morning and settled down to watch the match at lunchtime, an early goal set the scene for the match and I slept through most of it. We lost 4-1. I missed nothing and still felt awful.

Got up for work on Monday, still coughing but OK until I suddenly felt a rush of ice through my body quickly followed by heat – I threw myself back into bed where I stayed for most of the day. And then the snow came. And on Tuesday more snow came. I was glad to be indoors.

I soldiered back to work on Wednesday, coughing and sliding as I went – man it was cold out there, but dry. Grey skies prevailed most of the day and the wind whipped up with such ferocity it was cutting right through us.

More snow fell on Wednesday night and all day Thursday which has made conditions treacherous – Son1 had to pick up FDIL from Cambridge in the afternoon which worried me, bizarrely once he left Ipswich there was hardly any snow at all!

So we reach Friday. I had a sew day! On a snow day! I finally got around to using the machine to some effect – it is an absolute gem – well worth the extortionate sum that I paid for it. I think we will have many happy hours together – providing I can get the darn tension right. I don’t know what it is with me and tension but I always seem to have a problem, no matter what machine I use!

So without further ado, here is the reveal you’ve all been so eagerly waiting for – I do hope you’re not disappointed!

What a beautiful carry case! Which reveals a …

 

…very beautiful sewing machine!

Sadly I don’t have magnificent views to share with you from my window so you’ll have to make do with this!

These beautiful icicles are on my neighbours workshop – brrrr

My first Christmas bit!

Finally finished my latest quilty project – apart from the actual quilting that is!

I used an idea in this book which had been made by my friend Nicola and tweaked it a little. I’m quite pleased with how it’s come out but I still have issues with the finer touches, mustn’t beat myself up though as it still is really early days!

This will adorn my dining room table over the Christmas period, I don’t think it’s too twee and I have been careful to use patterns that don’t clash with anything else!

 

 

In other news…I’ve only gone and ordered myself a new sewing machine! I can’t quite believe it myself but I now know that I can’t achieve all that I want to with the one I bought just a couple of months ago. Big gulps now – hope I can use it when it arrives!!