whats wrong with two weeks in Spain ?

Youngest is on route to Bali for a two week holiday.......shes been in the air for 13 hours with at least 3 more to go......I'm tetchy and can't concentrate on anything till she gets there......its not just a fly and flop.....they are going trekking, white water rafting and other things that just set my heart racing.....was I this stressed when she went travelling aged 18?.....I keep reminding myself she's 24 and living the life....but I also keep thinking, whats wrong with 2 weeks in spain??

Last night.....

Last night......

was spent with friends oohing and ahhing at pictures of french property for their coming retirement, hurried home to watch the recorded tour de France and all its drama, when all the while a terrible crime was being committed on a day of celebration......what is the world becoming? makes me despair....its yet another dark day

What have they done?

A fantastic holiday in France and Spain....we have met such lovely people along the way, fellow Europeans who treated us with such kindness (at our lack of language skills) and showed interest in our lives here in the UK......and now this decision by a little over half the vote feels like we have turned our backs on all those people and indeed sent a strong message that all the people who have come here are no longer welcome. But more that the divisive nature of this vote, its the young people who are the real losers in this. The last dagger blow from the baby boomer generation on their future. I feel incredibly sad and angry.

Quilt top finish

This has taken me ages.....life just got in the way lately with work and family stuff......and it's only the top done!

I'm not happy about where the new 'beast' is located.....in the main kitchen -living room area. I though it would be good not to tuck myself away upstairs but now I'm not sure. At least then I could just close the door on it instead of putting everything away when we want supper or just because other people living here(husband) don't really want the ironing board in plain sight.

 

Or I should stop making excuses and get on with it! ( posted by new app on ipad so see how this goes)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Quilt top finish

At last this quilt top is done. Life just seems to have got in the way of finishing this or was it the heat......just trying out the blogsy app on ipad so see how it goes

 

Posted with Blogsy

Bit late to the party......

but the tour came through our small town on its last leg in the UK and it was AMAZING! All the schools were shut and even though it was a Monday, I think most people must have had the day off.......the crowds were enormous.

A year off from blogging for no particular reason. I regret it a bit because its a nice diary of events but hey ho!

Christmas came and went.....gifts made and given.

One child started her dream job in the corporate world (scares the hell out of me!) and the other just finished uni and is job hunting.....not an easy task at the minute.Where have those 3 years gone!

bit of embroidery...well a lot

still playing with fabric .....I took the plunge and bought my very first sewing machine....up to now its been a 25 year old Brother, belonging to Sis.

Its a Janome 8900...I call it the beast and we're still getting to know one another.

a bit of hand sewing  for a  quilt along I'm taking part in on Facebook with Brigitte Giblin.

 and that's the spot where most of the hand sewing takes place.... when the english summer allows that is.

I've enjoyed reading all the blogs I like as always, ........its a great community  x

Kaffe inspired birthday quilt

My baby is 21 today!

........how did that happen

Beautiful, funny, talented and full of life..... Happy birthday darling girl x

Bloggers quilt festival 2013

OK here goes.....if like me you spend a ridiculous amount of time looking for others online who also create the kind of things you like, then the bloggers quilt festival spring 2013 is brilliant because its an introduction to a world of like minded people. I can happily spend the rest of the year looking at the gorgeous things people have made. That said I am showing my quilt for the first time at this festival and would introduce the .....kind of scrappy court house steps quilt! Ta dah!

Made for my sister's special (50th-sorry J) birthday. I used Kona bleached white and lots of pink scraps in various hues , included lots of Kaffe . I didn't measure it foolishly but its ample single bed size, a generous throw.

 Made with cotton batting and a mixture of machine and my first attempt at hand quilting (the circles.)

It was inspired by one of my favourite bloggers Mary. she makes the most wonderful things and never fails to delight.   

I've 'discovered' my love for all things stitchy in the last couple of years coinciding with my girls leaving home and its been not only a fantastic hobby but has certainly filled the space they left and I am completely hooked.

fabric, fabric everywhere......

I added another strip to my liberty quilt to make it more usable....I love it, the picture doesn't do justice to  the colours of this fabric....all scraps that I've been saving up.

I've had a bit of a spend up ! I absolutely love getting parcels of fabric in the post......its a kid at Christmas feeling! 
All the fabric has come from the u.s....a couple of sites that were doing a reduced shipping offer as the us postal service recently increased the international charge to around $25. 
It still works out good value but I do try and support UK business too and there are some really good sites out there. 

Wonderful Kaffe ....I love this line and will be buying more when I dare.

and these, especially the modern mecca , far right and the orange

Am a wee bit disappointed with these Michael miller fabrics....they're not really my colours....I think I was on the wine when I ordered them....that's a dangerous game!

these are more my thing....I ordered these to make a quilt for eldest for  her new flat in London. 

Not quite sure what to do with them though. Maybe I should be a little more ambitious in my choice of pattern this time.

Did I ever show you these? really cute little panels to be made into a quilt.....I got them at the nec last year.....what shall I do with these?.....Don't say it says Herb I'm not ready yet!....me neither, back in the cupboard.

Avoiding all coverage of Wednesday's events in London.....

I knew if we didn't distract ourselves Herb would be inexplicably drawn to the coverage and that was more than my poor ears could stand . So prompted by this post by Celia about something in Cambridge we had yet to see, we jumped in the car.

We parked and partook of refreshment at the Grantchester tea room...see these pics from another visit...it really is a special place to go and relax when the sun is shining however we were on a mission.

The Grantchester to Cambridge walk is one of our favourites, all along the river..it really felt like spring at last. Then to the Museum of Classical Archaeology and wow....you open the doors to a very unassuming building to discover statues....hundreds of them.

A beautiful light room with casts of some fantastic Greek and Roman statues and friezes .....amazing. We whiled away an hour, reading about the statues. We had the place to ourselves. We will return , go if you are in Cambridge.

Then along the backs, this is Kings, to our favourite cafe for lunch....in a church that still has a chapel in use (sometimes the choir are practicing while you eat) the food is brilliant, really reasonable and it has a great atmosphere.

Finally a quick visit to the Fitz museum for the Quentin Blake exhibition......a tiny bit disappointing as it was small but we loved seeing the original sketches and water colours.... then a little more refreshment in the Fitz excellent cafe then back along the river again. You know who wasn't even mentioned! 

Have decided to make this liberty quilt larger to use as a summer throw...(am of a certain age where duvets are causing me a heat prob) and the sun is really shining..... that's today sorted....happy weekend!

Finished and gone-the court house steps quilt

The quilt is finally finished and given to my sister for her special birthday.

A label was sewn at the very last minute

It was a difficult one to quilt because of the colour of the threads and fabric....I didn't want pale pink thread crossing over the middle of the red section and my machine cannot cope with anything clever or fancy (cant cope with much actually).....so I machined lines, then did my first bit of hand quilting in circles on the colours. I wish I'd had time to do it all by hand....although the stitches aren't great I like the effect and I guess that my stitches will get better with practice......need to find a better thimble though.

I used Aurifil thread for the first time and I'm completely won over. Really good in the machine and  using for the hand stitching. No knots or breaking.

and a cake! well a double pavlova as requested by Sis.

what shall I start on now......Kaffe inspired me thinks.