You know how it is - lovely to see visitors and just as lovely to see them leave. My parents live in Yorkshire which is about 200 miles from us - obviously with that distance they have to stay over when they visit and it's always lovely to see them but as much as I love them dearly, after a fortnight it sure is great to have the house back to ourselves.Here they are enjoying that cream tea at Montacute House. My dad is a typical northerner, flat cap and muffled up to the eyeballs against the 'cold?' My mum just smiles quietly, having survived almost 48 years of marriage she just bumbles along gently - anything for a quiet life - although they do seem to rub along far more easily than they did when we were all kids. I'm the one on the left grimacing trying to make sure the cream doesn't fall off my scone - damning evidence that the diet MUST start again tomorrow when we all go back to school.
Dad will be 76 later this month, Mum 67 in August but they neither enjoy the best of health, mind you Dad has been revelling in ill health for as long as I can remember - the original creaking gate who certainly knows how to play on it at times, if only to get Mum to dance attendance on him :o(
It is terrific to see them and as they get older of course the occasional thought slips through your mind that this may be the last visit for one or the other so as I get older and more tolerant I indulge them more with my good humour when they're here even when one or the other drives me potty. Long may their visits continue :o)
The strawberry is just for fun - it made us all smile last night when getting them ready for dessert - in today's Supermarket controlled world these sorts of fruits usually don't slip through the net but end up at the jam factory - my kids thought it was great and fought for who would have the privilege of eating it - Nick won! I thought it looked like the profile of Mick Jagger with a mohican hair cut. Louise thinks it looks like a red version of Grandpa Simpson.
Jeanne on Spiral blog (sorry - haven't worked out yet how to put links in) inspired me last night with her patriotic bulls eye quilt - so after the elderly ones had gone to bed for an early night - 'long journey this morning' - and DH had become engrossed in a late night film I grabbed some of the random fabrics I had to hand and started chopping 9", 7", 5" and 3" strips to cut squares for my very own scrappy version. Here's what I've cut so far
Never had the bottle to make one before as they always looked so complex - all those curves - yeauch! But Jeanne's instructions look simplicity itself so here we go. I did wonder about a specific colour scheme but thought even my DH might baulk at lifting fabric boxes down from the loft at 11.45pm with the rest of the household in bed - so started with what I had to hand - I think it will have to have something else other than blues and purples - we'll see :o) Right off to the cutting board to turn those strips into squares in readiness
7 comments:
I was intrigued by Jeanne's Bull' Eye Quilt too - can't wait to see how yours turns out. I think KCQuilter has some instructions on how to add links to a sidebar on her blog - like you I haven't worked it out yet myself but they look really helpful.
Dear Anne,
thank you so much for your encouragement... I also really liked that quilt on Jeanne's blog...
I enjoy reading your blog, it is lovely!
Oh, Anne, I'm laughing about your parents' visit -- all too familiar!
Ha, now I'llbe looking forward to seeing some bullseye blcoks here.
Jeanne :)
Bullseyes are very fun. I have done three. One red,white,& blue (yet to be quilted), one small one out of matching fabrics, and one that was watermelon.. that one was dark green as an outer, lighter green as a middle and a red or dark pink as a center - some even had watermelon prints for the center fabric. The RW&B and watermelon ones were swap blocks.
Oh yummy scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. When my sweetie and I were in London in October we had tea and scones almost every afternoon. I'm ready to come back to England!
Quilt's looking fun
Oh your mom and dad look like they were enjoying themselves. And what a fun strawberry! I thought it looked like a really bottom heave dinosaur!
I am still laughing at your description of the Mick Jagger strawberry! I thought it looked like a big ugly fish I once ran into while diving!
I can't believe how fast you made that bullseye quilt top!
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