End of days...

Ooh that sounds a bit more dramatic than I was intending!

If the weatherman is to be believed, the weather will be turning wetter, windier and colder, so I am glad I got to put my feet up for a little while in the sun today.  It was beautiful.

The feet up was a break from the preparation, both of what I am taking away, as well as what and who I am leaving behind for the weekend.

Yep, it's a Brit Bee Weekender, and I can't bloody wait; it has been a long time coming.  Some of our wonderful number will be absent, in body at least, which we are all sad about, but they will be in our thoughts.   The remaining baker's dozen, (not a quilter's dozen, 'cause that would be 12 and a half, I suspect!), will be stitching, munching and talking, printing, munching and talking some more, from tomorrow afternoon until Monday.  Did I mention that I am rather excited!?

It's a long old journey from here to the Peak District, and I wouldn't do that for any old body!

This evening though, (as if I didn't have enough to do), we went to visit dear son's next stop on the educational ladder.  We have a peculiar system here with years 6 to 8 attending a middle school before moving onto the Grammar, and tonight was the open evening.  We were impressed, but boy those year 8s look big!

Roll on tomorrow, and roll on next September.

4 Seasons in One Day...

Well not quite, but it was the most beautiful Spring day; there was gardening, I raked up a tonne, (well, half a wheelie bin), of dead leaves out from under the bushes, I know, should have done it last Autumn, but it started raining, and didn't stop for 4 months!

I then spent the afternoon soaking up the sun, it was pretty glorious.

When the conservatory cooled down enough for some sewing action, I got to work on my next Brit Bee border; finishing off Laura-Jane's modern Christmas vision for the month...

This sneak peak was taken in the last sunshine of the day; I have since stitched it all together, joined it to the growing quilt top and it's ready to move on down the making line.  It looks fab.

So I have cleared my conscience a little about wanting to get on with my bag, I just have to write up a few projects, take some photos and I know I owe you some finishes, including a couple from my FAL list already, although one will not get a grand reveal for a while, annoying secret sewing, sorry.

I really hope you had a great weekend too, and hoping the second week of the holidays is just as perfect x

Sew Wednesday...

Well I am considering myself lucky to have been able to stop indoors for most of the day, dodging the rain storms and listening to the howling gales outside.  With power, heating and plenty of tea and biscuits, I had a pretty good sewing day.

After dropping the kids at school, I stopped by the little village newsagents, and re-arranged their displays a bit, Love Patchwork & Quilting 5 is in the shops from today...

Then the sewing.  Sadly it was of the secretive kind.  I have February's Brit Bee border additions made, and because Susan is such a super-speedy star in the round before me, I am already 1/2 way through March's with all fabric cut.  I made the siggie I had forgotten for her under-wraps Stitch Tease month and have just sussed out what I am meant to be doing for Siblings Together, so that's a job for tomorrow.

What I can show you though are the two blocks I made last night for Bee Blessed...

Aren't these blocks superb!?  I'm sure Sarah and Judith wouldn't say no if you wanted to spread the love and contribute a couple too!

PS. To all my West Country friends, stay safe, warm and dry.  xxx

Saturday quickie...

Well it was a day of shopping, cleaning and sewing - one of those unfussy Saturdays.

I will show you part of what I was up to in tomorrow's post, although you may have seen already on Instagram, but for tonight's quick one, a postal smile that I got yesterday, which I forgot to show in the FAL hubbub.

When you get a parcel with a warning on, you know you won't be disappointed...

I totally hadn't felt the need to avail myself of any mirror ball dots until I started thinking a bit more about Christmas, and then I had to have some!  Plush Addict, (new to me, but likely to be on first name terms soon enough), had a great selection and decent postage, so I had to!

... and they are gorgeous!!

And like many others, I got my first subscription copy of Love Quilting & Patchwork in the mail...

It looks wonderful; I only hope after the last modern quilting magazine debacle that this will run and run!

So for once I am hoping the weatherman is right with his forecast of stay-at-home, don't-venture-out rain for tomorrow, I am feeling all kind of creative!

Changeable...

The weather and my mood have swung from good to bad and back again today, and quite frankly I will be glad to start again tomorrow.

Legoland plans have been abandoned for this weekend; long car journeys, irritable kids, queues and rain are possibly my least favourite things, so no thank you!

Instead, the girls and I went to the leisure centre 'fun day', where, to be honest, all the fun to be had was watching the lady trying get the candyfloss to stay on the sticks!  We collected some goodie bags and were home in 30 minutes.

Pah!

And I had a misadventure in piping.  I finished my Spring Carnival cushion, I added piping as I thought it would be a brilliant finishing touch, having seen Svetlana's beauty last night.

Wrong.

I have just unpicked the whole cushion and piping and zip, and I am not happy.  I will be back tomorrow.  I will be smiling again... I hope!

Yeah Yeah...

I know, it's not exactly craft-central round here right now!

There was a little of this though...

... prepping a couple of teacher gifts, because end of term will be here before we know it, and I really want need them done before Retreat.

But mostly today was about this...

Before Friday I have 3 mornings of work, a Key Stage 2 performance (or 3), Cubs, swimming, a hair cut, packing and writing a big list for dear husband for all the weekend's eventualities. 

Apart from literally having a meltdown about what clothes to take if the weather stays like this, it'll be fine, I hope.  xxx

Hot Hot Hot!

No stitching today, not a lot of much really, except buying ice lollies and lying in the shade; the garden was slightly less stifling than anywhere else, well except the chilled aisle at Tesco, that was quite a nice place to be for a change!

So here's photo of my new case that I ordered and received earlier in the week with Retreat in mind...

Having done all my fabric-cutting and other prep a while back, I have that niggling feeling that I should be doing more, as quite frankly, a huge list is rather reassuring!

Well I hope you are maintaining a comfortable existence this weekend, and I will try to come up with something more exciting tomorrow xxx

Hot & Cold

It has probably been the hottest day of the year so far, and I have had the worst day of cold of the year too - figures!

I did get a few bits made and sorted, but by 11am the conservatory was so hot, and with not a wisp of a breeze, the prospect of basting my huge Stitch Tease quilt was just not my idea of fun.

Not one to leave you picture-less, I'll just fob you off with a photo from last week I didn't show you, a pair of key fobs I made; Liberty for me, Architextures for my Dad for Father's Day...

Hoping today was as bad as it gets, I am running low on tissues; I have things to sew, people to sew for, no time for germs!

My Weekend

Well it was a wet and windy weekend here, with odd moments of sunshine, luckily coinciding with this...

But after the domestics were taken care of, there was a little time for some stitichery.

Yesterday I made a start on my partner's name tag for FQ Retreat...

I have embroidered the name and blog-name of my secret partner under those there virtual buttons.  The liberty patchwork has ended up with 1/2" squares.

I am undecided on what colour/fabric to bind and make the lanyard in - yep it'll be a lanyard (again); I do not like pins, and I expect my partner to tow that line too!

Today after the duck race, I settled down and pieced all the crosses for the next border of my Marcelle Medallion...

And because there was a rather large bunch of bananas turning blacker by the minute, I made another Moshi Monsters 'nana bread - yeah, I am almost fooling the kids that I can cook!

So that was my weekend; hope you managed to cram some good stuff into yours too!

Sunny Snippets...

Well would you believe it, a Saturday warm enough for the first time to do this in 2013...

The grass got cut, and dear son returned from his first-timers Cub camp; very tired but loved every second; and it appears they spent every second awake.

This is the 'before' shot; after was not so 'compact'.

The girls went off to a Harry Potter birthday party...

Professor McGonagall and Luna Lovegood!

I got all the cleaning, washing, shopping and sorting out the way and spent a lovely couple of hours soaking up some rays, leafing through my Liberty Love and Patchwork Please! and planning a little fusion.

Hoping the dry and fine weather continues into tomorrow, because, even though I now have a pile of ironing that is making me wince, a day out somewhere 'historic' is on the cards, taking advantage of this offer.

Hope your day has turned out as nicely, and if not, there's always tomorrow xxx

Super Saturday...

Waking up and being able to breath cannot be over-rated!  I've still got aches and pains, but my head is clear at last, and it's been a good day.

The sun appeared at long last, so we made the most of it this morning and went for a walk at The Warren, a local wood/heathland frequented by every dog walker for a 50 mile radius it would appear; but fresh air, and a nice bench to sit on whilst the kids ran about, was just what we needed after the last week, OK, 3 months of snow and bitter cold!

If the miracle of sunshine wasn't enough, after lunch, I baked!!!!  Banana bread, edible banana bread at that.  Our oven is probably not the most accurately calibrated, fine for heating things up, but not what a master baker would require. 

The recipe was courtesy of the Moshi Monsters magazine, again... I wonder what I will make next month!?

Whilst the banana bread baked, and the Grand National pre-show went on in the background, I made my second block for Ceri.

This is a lovely Brit Bee month; guided improv, I can just about cope with.  Last month Ceri asked us to post a doodle in the flickr group.  This was mine...

Clever old stick that she is, screen printed all our doodles to then be included in our blocks, which were to be based on this from Ashley-FITF.

So yesterday I made this one...

I think I must have over-thought it a little, because the second one came much easier and quicker...

Ceri has masterminded such a wonderful plan, I really really can't wait to see what an amazing quilt our combined efforts produce.

My Liberty charms also arrived today, but they, and my Marcelle Medallion deserve a post to themselves, so you can see more of those tomorrow.  For now, I have a date with a Sky+'d Doctor Who and a rotary cutter xxx

Bits...

It's been one of those days, not the greatest - and I am very tired.

You know when you tell the kids that if they eat too much chocolate they will be sick, and they don't believe you; well after last night, they do now...

The toys got swiftly ousted for their own benefit! (Ange, keep your thoughts to yourself x).

So not much sleep and a lot more washing than I had anticipated.  We didn't therefore go on the village egg hunt today, and it snowed anyway.  Nothing settled, but why is it still that bloody cold?

I did finish my Orbit though.  It is all washed and lovely, and I will take it to my parents' tomorrow for a proper photoshoot, all things being equal...

Pre and Post crinkling.

I also cut all the templates for my Marcelle Medallion quilt.  I have some additional fabric en route from Pink Castle, and can't wait to get on with it.

Well I think I better just grab a quilt, settle on the sofa and try not to spread my mood this evening, don't you!?

I really hope your weekend has started on more of an upbeat note than mine xxx

What a difference...

... a day makes!

At 6.30am it was still snowing, blowing a gale and school was closed for the day; thanks to a nice early text, we didn't have to do the full getting ready routine and then find out, for a change.

By lunchtime the sun was out, time for a little fun and by teatime, any snow that had seen the aforementioned sunshine was all but gone...

So I got an impromptu extra sewing day, and started on my Orbit top; which I am hoping to get finished tomorrow.  Every bloody print is directional though, unlike my (miserly) cutting, so I had to cast caution to the Siberian wind and just not stress about it...

Oh, and I am back here in full blogging glory, after giving my MacBook a good shaking!  Not what a Mac Geni-arse would suggest I am sure, but it worked, and after a day of trying all the proper technical mularky, that was good enough for me!

It was too sunny...

... and I was too busy doing Half Term type stuff this morning, that by the time I had finished making my emerald cushion this afternoon, the light was not so good, and the pictures that I took were pretty rubbish.  Sorry.

So I will get some more tomorrow and write up a proper post to do it justice.

In the meantime, here's the lovely bundle that arrived from Japan today...

I won a month of my choice from Alyce's Blossom Heart Quilts' Japanese Bundle Club back on SMS Giveaway Day.  I chose February - Sewing themed, to spread that winning feeling further.  I may have supplemented my winnings with a little Heather Ross, Kumino Fujita and Easter bunnies. 

What awesome fabrics.  I cannot thank Alyce, and her hubby enough.  Fabric should be the last thing on their minds right now, but they still managed to get this mailed before heading off to be with family in Australia.  Thank you Blossom Hearts xxx

#iliketobinditbindit

This afternoon we settled down with a few of the Christmas Sky+ leftovers, including Madagascar 2, and I got on with binding my #scrappytripalong...

I am now over halfway round, about 5 out of 8 yards sewn; I was thinking I might get it finished this evening, but maybe I need to give my eyes and fingers a rest and have something to look forward to tomorrow evening.  Still undecided.

It has snowed and thawed at the same rate all day, so we are no worse/better off than we were yesterday; school have already texted saying that they hope to be open tomorrow, so saving that binding may well be a good idea; another day of kids, or a day at work, it's a toss up which I would prefer less!

Happiness!

Woke up this morning to this...

...which soon turned to rain, disappointment and bad hair, but never mind, look what I made this evening...

 As soon as the dinner plates were cleared off the table, the sewing machine was out, and my 36 #scrappytripalong blocks were stitched into one beautiful quilt top.

I know I have asked before whether is it wrong to love something you have made yourself, well this time, I am not even asking.
  
I love it!

There was swearing, in a very good way, as I flapped out the completed top after sewing the last seam.  It is beyond what I had hoped for, and I am so so pleased I jumped into this using my most precious hoarded fabric!

I will try to catch up with blogs and emails later, but I might not!  If you have a problem with that, you'll find me on Cloud 9!

Brrr!

The Christmas lights were switched on in our village this evening; carols were sung, Santa made an appearance, or two, and it was rather lovely...

Then the freezing rain started... and two hours later I still haven't warmed up!  So I am going to sit on my hands and watch Kirstie on +1 xxx

Some calm...

Half term has swung into town; we have already successfully school-shoe-shopped, car-MOTed and turned up the central heating.

I won't complain about the weather (for once), because I know there are a lot of friends battening down the hatches for real tonight, and a bit of gusty drizzle here really is nothing in comparison.

Last night I got as far as ironing on the transfer for the next embroidery I want to attempt from Aneela's book, but then I could not resist the call of the hexies again.

So I decided instead to immediately start making my Mum a cushion for Christmas; I routed about and opted for a calm, low value selection to match the decor of her bedroom, I enlisted the help of my Szzix-winding princesses and got this far...

So now I am all set for my TV-watching, swimming lesson and ballet-waiting moments again.

To my East Coast American friends, be safe xxx

Party Time!

Well I successfully got the birthday purse made this week, in time for the little princesses to take it to their friend's party this afternoon....

Sadly, before wrapping, the weather was less than considerate of blogging photographs, but you get the gist...

The Open Wide pouch is definitely my new favourite make, and with a little embroidery for the birthday ballet-girl, it was a complete hit, especially when filled with chocolate coins.

And whilst quietness prevailed this afternoon, I basted, quilted and attached the binding to the secret commission quilt.  I am looking forward to hand-finishing the binding in front of the TV tonight.  The heating has been on all day and cosy stitching is definitely needed.

We didn't get any snow unlike some, but I think temperatures peaked at a dizzy 7 degrees!  I hope everyone is suitably attired, (flannel 'jamas for me), and comfortably crafting this weekend xxx

Autumn view...

I can't show you what I was working on today, as it is a commission that I am not at liberty to reveal until the new year; but lets just say I cut and pieced 25 blocks and made them into a sashed quilt top all before school finished.

I did stop to rush outside during the few minutes when the fog and drizzle cleared and the colour of the leaves needed to be recorded for prosperity; I expect they will have all dropped and blown away, (well, into next door's garden) by the weekend...

If the weatherman has it right, and dry, bright but cold weather is coming, I'll be happy.

In the meantime, I plan to have a purse made for a 6 year old's birthday party, the next Stitch Tease strip finished and hopefully another hexie project under my belt before half-term.   Wish me luck!