A Day Out Hand Quilting

Yesterday was the hand quilting day with Barbara Chainey at Cupcake Cottons.  We set off at 07.30 and had a nice drive up. Only a brief delay at Marlborough, which was unusual, and a drive around Burford when we missed the turning on the roundabout and we still arrived at 09.30 on the dot.  John and the dogs went off for a day at Lechlade fisheries and I went up to join in the sewing group.

It’s a lovely light shop with lots of fabrics and quilts to admire and room enough for classes.

Afternoon tea and the beautiful cupcakes arrived (in style if you read over on the Cupcake Cottons blog). 

I had to buy a piece of fabric or two and a lovely little wooden beehive with beeswax for quilting thread.  My effort at quilting in a hoop was passable but then I didn’t learn to drive a car in a couple of hours either.  I will try and finish the sample so I can say I achieved an end result! 

I was a great day for me meeting two bloggers in one. Thank you Barbara for travelling to the shop and to Jackie and Steph for hosting.  John’s fishing was unsuccessful but he did have a couple of chasers apparently.  Jackie and Steph were kind enough to send me home with a secret parcel for him which put a huge smile on his face though.

Elsa and Mike drove down last night too to start their move back to the south coast.  Lots of cleaning and decorating to be done over the next few days before they can move in fully but they are so excited.  And a last picture of the Imperial Fritillaries that we planted three springs ago and had done nothing each year until now.  Patience does pay in the end. 

I hope your weekend is as lovely and sunny as it promising to be down here.

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Pepé Le Pew Eat Your Heart Out.

Don't you think I'm gorgeous?

Up here's good...

No?...

Ok then...

 I've just spotted another conquest.

You sure?

I'm going to sulk now.

More of the everyday antics of our resident pheasant population.  Please bear in mind that they really don't do trees if they can help it and this male is very persistent!

Time Waits For No Electrical Supply Company

Well I’m now fed up with the company supplying the track lighting (Not Stuart the electrician who is great and bends over backwards when he works!). The lights are in the room, in a box.  The track, I believe, has now arrived and is the correct one but the connectors are wrong.  Stuart has hair that is too short to pull out or I’m sure he would have by now.  He has told me that he won’t need full access like the blind man did so I have more or less moved in and started using the my space place.  

The room may be shoved in down the side of the house but it appears I am in sparrow central.  I looked up the other day at this view but then the trellis had at least 15 sparrows sat in it, a bit like Celebrity Squares, and up in the top left you can see the sparrow flats.  They have chosen to nest in the eaves at the end of the gutter instead though just above the box.  (Not far from the headboard of our bed on the other side of the wall, hmmm).

I also have plenty of visitors in the close shrubs down the side and perching on the gate right next to the desk.  The Robin has decided it’s the best place to boss everyone from, until the wrens tell him off that is and there is a regular visit from a group of Long Tail Tits as they do their rounds.  It really is amazing to be so close to them all.

The BTO has a Nest Box Challenge from 27^th March which is good to take part in even if you only have a small space, every observation counts.

Jen over at Twisted Stitcher (Oz Style) (she is also doing the City & Guilds) asked about the stand used by Jan Beaney in the In Action video.  I thought it looked good too but had given up trying to find one.  Then the other day I was looking through Three Dimensional Embroidery Stitches by Pat Trott and there it was in the equipment page naming it as the Lowery Workstation, so I treated myself.  

If it helps me not have this constant crick in my neck it has to be good!  (Yes still suffering, still haven’t been able to finish Barbara’s other quilt.  The last thing you want using a longarm is stiffness in the shoulders!).  I have re bound some round hoops except one broken one which I will use as a frame. The things we find to do just to pretend to be creative!!

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the quilted top.  Barbara H was over the moon.  I also quite liked how open the pattern was.  There seems to be a trend in some of the longarmers I follow online to do such heavy quilting one wonders how stiff this makes the quilt in the end.  The Great Tits are still visiting the box Maggi, minus earplugs now too.  Yes hayfever has backed off and Spring is springing so I’m really hoping more and more it’s just the pollen of the hazels.  And Barbara C.  Ha, haha, hahahahaha.  See you Friday.

I was incensed to read Maggi’s post over on her blog To Dream To Stitch.  How can that be, no one can put a trademark on an adjective!!  Anyway it’s an English style and phrase, how dare they!!  I vote we all use SHABBY CHIC as often as possible.  Stupid people. 

Minor rant over, messy stuff to be sploshing around, I have plenty of coursework to catch up on and rugby this afternoon.  GO ENGLAND!!!  Quick pic of Ruger ready to work in the garage last week.

Oh, and don't forget, tonight is the night of the super moon and should be quite a sight at sunset.  Have a good weekend.

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Silence Has Been Golden

I've only just realised how long it's been since I last blogged.  Well I haven't been overly creative, we've only half the electrics done in the workroom due to the wrong lighting track being sent, and the blinds don't arrive until this Thursday.  Too much moving things around to fully settle in yet.  It is a great place to be though and everyone else seems to want to be in there too, which is nice really (I could always lock the door if I wanted to be that alone!!).

I was kindly given a couple of pieced tops by one of my ladies, Barbara, to use to play on the long arm.  Barbara is an incredibly particular piecer and all her work is always 110%.  I was quite worried but I did offer and she complied.  I know she will be having a top quilted for free but I need the practise too so I thought it a fair trade off (she did say it would be in the loft for another ten years other wise!).  I have discovered that deciding what to do is so hard!  And finding what to do that the piecer agrees with too can be a stumper, though I was given free rein I wanted her input. This is the result of my first 'someone else's' top.

I didn't want to do yet another all over design which would have been the easy way out.  I wanted to use the opportunity to actually think about a block design.  I managed to only use the ruler for the diagonals and freehand the in the ditch and curves.  It's not an overly dense covering but we think it works well with the log cabins.  The other top I have from her I will do a totally different way and it wasn't too hard to decide what to do on it.  More of that when it is done.

I have finished the Goldwork star, about 4 inches across.  An interesting exercise, I'm not sure I could really do lots of it but I have had a taster of another technique.

I have had nasty hay fever for the past two weeks too.  I've not really had it before other than a brief few days last year.  It seems to be dying down at the moment along with the hazel catkins so I'm hoping it's plant specific and I can plan for it.  Our field behind us seems to have Oil Seed Rape in it this year though so that may be a little interesting.  I must admit to not feeling great on the antihistamine but it's better than the hay fever.  I've also had a pulled muscle in my neck which has been very painful and the tight nerves have been giving me dizzy spells, sometimes very scary ones.  Another reason for the lack of creations.

This morning John called me to see this fellow on the bird box on the Atlas Cedar.

He is a blur because I managed to catch the moment he was drumming.  There have been Great Tits in and out of the box so if they were in there I'm sure they were rather unhappy!  We think he was using it as a sounding box as another, rather elusive woodpecker came to see what all the noise was about.

Guests for dinner tonight so slow roast Spanish lamb to be prepared and left to do it's thing before the rugby.  Have a great Sunday.


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Small Steps

I've realised how much of my crafting equipment sort of floats around my working area.  I'm now a little reluctant to pile it all in the workroom just yet knowing that both the electrician and the blind fitter will need access to the windows around the back of the desks and units.  I have an idea where everything is and I'm working towards replacing shoe boxes with plastic ones but the bulk of it can stay in the spare room until the moving around has finished.  (Sorry Elsa, your bed is still in there somewhere!)

A finished block 2 of My Tweets.

A book. (Fabulously informative).

And a new rug.

We also have two smelly, muddy dogs thanks to the rather wet start to the weekend that will now need a bath before I can sort anything more and then settle down to an afternoon of rugby!!


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Where This Woman Will Create

Last night we managed to sneak in a few of the larger pieces of my workroom furniture.  This is probably the only time you will see it this tidy, there is plenty more to move in!

Of course Tully's bed was one of the first things to be put in, and is hogging the warmth from the radiator, naturally, and you can just see the foam board design wall up above it.

I had been worried that putting in the cutting table would make the space feel small.  On the contrary a 6 foot and quite tall lump is absorbed and hardly makes a dent in the space!  I will be ordering some more units to help organise and hide the clutter along the back wall and a nice rug I think too.  Just the power and lights to go in and the blinds to be fitted.  

And just for Maggie, this is our version of the doggy pedicure.

Have a great weekend, mine is going to be rather busy sorting 'stuff'!


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And Today Has Been Mostly Spent...

Making this bag...

It's from the series 6 Quilting arts DVD and has two pockets on the outside and is nice and roomy.  I added an extra pocket with a zip on the inside too.  The original was made with all those bright Amy Butler type fabrics but I'm not really into them so I chose some Jinny Beyer and a couple of Alex Anderson Whisperings (recognise them Maggie?  You sent them ages ago and I have been using them!)

And this case to go in the bag.

The case was made in some curtaining sateen I had and is quite a vivid blue that would just not photograph well.  I made it large enough to carry my sketchbook, watercolours and a few other bits when we go out and about.  I'm going to try and find this spontaneity thing I'm supposed to fill sketchbooks with lol.

Julie you are set to no reply so I can't email you.  There's nothing badly wrong with my wrist as yet but I do have a spot of tendinitis, De Quervains I believe, that flares up when I do a lot of hand sewing.  The support is a sports one from the supermarket and was just white.   It helps a lot and saves me lots of pain and the ability to drop things when I forget it especially hot pans and heavy crockery!


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Today I Have Mostly...

Prepared the appliqué on My Tweets block 2 for sewing...

and then doodled on my wrist support.

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Friday Night Sew In February

Last night was the FNSI for February and I actually managed to join in a little.  I did have Elsa with me though but it did mean I could help her set up an appliqué table runner she had found in one of the magazines I brought back from Australia.  It's all fused down and she has started the buttonhole stitch.

I so love the Australian magazines!  I wish I could go back soon and add more!  They far outstrip any magazines from UK or America and are just always packed with things to make.

I then actually managed to make a start on a piece of Gold work I bought as a kit and totally forgot about.

My new workroom has a dehumidifier in it sucking all the water out so hopefully Andy will be able to lay the floor sometime next week.  Stuart the electrician is on standby with the plugs and lighting and the blinds are being made.  I could actually see next weekend as being a possible!!!!

Andy did come back from the builders merchants with an 8 x 4 foot x 50mm (love those combo measurements) sheet of Celltex insulation foam for my design wall.  He said there was a pile about 5 foot high and he went right through most of them to try and find the straightest one.  Bless him, he's done really well working with a frustrated crafts-person continually pacing around!   I have the wadding ready to cover it too so that will be a nice stage to pass very soon. It's lurking out of the way at the moment so it doesn't become damaged.

Elsa and Mike leave us today but we have Chris and Becks arriving for lunch first. This evening I will catch up on some DMTV and see what the Kemshall's have been up to.


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Plate Glass and Pasta Bags

I added some gyrocopter bubbles to my SAH Robin for this month, silk ones of course.  Don’t ask me why, I was feeling quirky.  I also had some silk tops lurking so I couched them down too.  Nothing wrong with a little surrealism!  Couldn't to do too much as we still have a few months left.

The end of last week was so wet everything came to a halt on the conservatory.  Of course Saturday was absolutely glorious and Spring was so strong in the air.  We had a total muck out of all the building grit and dust and the windows were wide open with the fresh air and birdsong.   Yesterday was dry enough again for Andy to at least put on the roof which has helped with today's morning downpour.  He is now fitting the glass, in the rain, and we will hopefully have a weather tight room by this evening and the heaters can go in to dry it out.  It’s becoming exciting, even Tully has her new bed ready for her days of dosing while I play.

Thank you for all the lovely comments about the folder cover.  It really was a quickie play.  Julie, Ari is Ariadne the longarm quilting machine.  It really is just as easy to mount up a small section of fabric and use the longarm as it is to sit at the Bernina.  It’s more like drawing though and great fun.

Thank you for the book list Maggi, I will look into them.  A girl can never have too many books.  Or fabric.  Or shoes.

Unfortunately the Harrier was pulled from Ebay.  Apparently those of us with the odd 100k lurking under mattress (ha ha) and who were likely to buy it would be full of evil intentions and convert it for use in our own world domination plans. 

Last week Nina, Gilly and I were invited to for lunch with Jacky.  Whilst there we had a good arty natter, Nina runs the pastel group Gilly and I attend and Jacky has a dabble with paints too but she also has a pottery studio and has done some amazing pieces including the entire dinner service and extras that were all around her kitchen and used for lunch.  The reason for the lunch though was for Nina to photograph Jacky’s three lovely Labradors so she could portrait them as a birthday gift.  It was a great afternoon chasing dogs around trying to convince them to pose, not to eat all the Bonios at once and to put on ‘that’ expression that would be paintable.  And a trick to gain ‘that’ expression?  A crinkling pasta bag as ably demonstrated here by Gilly as Nina snapped away at one of the dogs.   

Elsa and Mike arrive this afternoon, post holiday, and I have instructions for roast rib of beef.  I suspect the champagne may come out too whilst we admire the ring.

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Slow Going

And now it’s raining!  We have a frame up but no glass in so it’s rather damp in my workroom to be.

Not a lot of action in the making department, I’m still feeling very unsettled.  I did need to cover an A4 ring binder though so I had a little practise on Ari and was quite pleased with how tight I could go.

This book arrived in the post so of course I want to go and play!  NO room!! Patience patience.  (The title is a bit gangsterish don't you think! )

Barbara, I am hoarding the MM4 instructions and will catch up as soon as!  Still not decided on those fabrics yet though.

Yesterday I had a morning with my ladies.  We haven’t been together since the beginning of December because Heather, who usually holds the groups, is still very poorly.  It was strange having quite a few of all four groups together but it made the hired hall quite lively!  I had to do a show and tell with the tops I had been doing on Ari. 

For anyone doing the Friday Night Sew In the next virtual gathering is the 18^th of this month.  See the button on the right.

We’re still excited about the family news, No Elsa I don’t make dresses, No Maggi and Benta I don’t wear hats! Lol!  Here’s a quick glimpse of the ring and doesn’t she look literally on top of the world!

Lastly, I know we are in aviation but do you think I should be worried that there is a Harrier Jump Jet in our eBay watch list?

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We're Gaining a Son!

Just had a call from Elsa to say that Mike proposed in the sunshine on the top of a mountain and she said yes!

                              



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Calm

We've had a wonderful week with Elsa and Mike here.  Quite surreal that the past 5 months has just gone and now the next phase of their lives begins as they start looking for a home down here.  First though, they have both gone off for a well deserved holiday skiing and the house has resumed it's calm with the dogs wondering where everyone has gone.

For said trip we had to have a couple of days shopping of course.  There is nothing worse for a young lady's demeanour than being confined to a gritty, mass laundered uniform 24/7 for weeks on end!  Girly stuff was the order of the day and a nice cooling down session for the wallet afterwards!  On one of the trips John did buy me this mug so I had a look in too.

Friday and Saturday I finally put the Waves quilt on Ari and had a go with a pantograph and I finished the binding this morning.

Again it was more of a learning curve with seeing how doing a panto needs thought.  The rule of  'if the piecing or fabric is too busy, don't knock yourself out with the quilting' went out of the window though.  You can't really see the pattern of shells in the photo but I'm quite pleased with it.  I used YLI invisible.  I haven't used invisible on such a large scale before and had no idea what colour to use on this multi coloured top so it seemed a good opportunity to see how Ari would take it!  Like a dream of course, loving that HQ machine!

I'm having a quick scoot around the blogs and then catching up on two weeks of Lisa's beading.  Have a good Sunday.


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Christmas 2

Christmas 2 was great yesterday.  We had turkey and all the trimmings but I was good and didn’t go overboard with buying all the extra chocolates etc! 

It was really wonderful to see Elsa again, she is so skinny now though!  More to do with extreme exercise than lack of food I may add.  The army doesn’t exactly starve them!  But she has been running virtually half marathons most days and practising Jujitsu.  I think all my exercise genes went into her and Chris.  Two very active children I have!  

We did our bird count on Saturday morning.  It seemed quite low for us this year but we have had Andy all over the front garden all week and he had moved one of the feeding stations.  I also don’t think they like the dumper truck left in their usual line of flight.  Our highlight, apart from a Tree Creeper ,  was a pair of Song Thrush.  Absolutely lovely.

Andy is back to work on the conservatory, the floor is partially suspended now and that will be all the heavy groundwork done.  My head is starting to fill with ideas as it always does when I don’t have access to everything.  As soon as I can work on something though I haven’t a thought in my head!  It’s my age I think.  Hormonal desertion is a pain.

Jen,  I sent you an email but I think your account is on no reply.  I will catch up over on yours soon.

We have an afternoon at the ski centre today.  Well Elsa and Mike are being active and John and I will be sat in the lodge watching! 

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Home and Almost FREE!!!

First of all a quick picture. Andy has moved one of the bird feeders nearer the window and out of the way of his digger and dumper truck and I managed to take a snap of some of the finches.

Who you looking at?!

They are growing quite bold and will even gang up on the very boisterous Starlings.

Please don't forget, if you can spend an hour away from crafting, it's the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. I read today they are going to do a survey on Magpies, Crows and Sparrowhawks to find their impact on the decline of the smaller birds. About time too I just hope they include the other corvids. We hardly actually see crows, rooks however have become a bit of a problem.


And the reasoning behind the title. MY LITTLE GIRL IS HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN!!!!

I cannot express how hard the past four and a half months have been, and we were the ones left here in our cosy homes surrounded by the people and things we love!  I know she is going to squeak at me about the photo, (hence birdy ones at the top so they show in Blog Rolls first), but I think it is a lovely one and it is the most recent I have even though it is just before she left!  (Sorry Ess xxx)  We won't actually see her until Saturday as she still has to work today so I'm still bouncing up and down a bit, and we will be having Christmas again on Sunday.  THEN the tree can come down.

Now I just have a problem of finding the bed they are supposed to be staying in under all my stuff dumped on top of it.


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