This is post 396................

..................... so not long to go now until my 400th post giveaway.


Last weekend was a real mixture - some stitching, some drooling, some pottering and some wandering aimlessly



Firstly I managed to finish all the japanese folded patchwork blocks and this morning at my quilting group I got them put together with the borders ready to bind and then embellish to turn them into a wintry christmas wall hanging. I'll show you this next time


Then, after having big hints dropped by Kate about swapping fabric for a heart quilt, I completed one for her - it will head off in the post in the next couple of days.


The drooling was also associated to stitching as I somehow persuaded Nigel to whizz up to Bristol on Saturday for Bristol Quilters' Exhibition. Not a particularly big collection but definitely food for my soul.


Not least because two of the quilts were by one of the best hand quilters I know of - Sandie Lush. Her stitches are so fine and even - I just don't know how she does it but it was a great privilege to be able to get up close and personal to her work.


Although she mainly does wholecloth, this was a gorgeous applique number she'd magicked together - truly beautiful


There was lots of other inspiration there - from enormous quilts to teeny-weeny ones. I'm not going to show you any more except this one which was so teeny I had to get Louise to put her hand just in front of it to give you an idea of scale. The geese were less than 1/2" wide by 1/4" high - absolutely amazing!


I shall save the rest for further postings this week.


I did partake of a little purchasing, picking up these six fat quarters - I seldom buy matching fabrics from ranges - I prefer to pick at random not giving a jot if any of them match as I usually have something they'll each go with at home - but this little lot really caught my eye. I think it was the particular shade of dusky pink/mauve. All except the very dark burgundy are complimentary from the same make - but I thought the burgundy spray-time would play nicely with them too.


On Saturday before we left Nigel had a job to do - before we can get the contractors in to do the front drive one of the surface water drain manholes needed replacing. We think it had been damaged by a heavy vehicle while the house was still being built. Once he'd fitted the replacement top section he needed to remove any clumps of earth that had fallen in to ensure the drain didn't block.


Unfortunately Nigel is too large to reach down into the hole so went for the next-best thing - Nicholas! Thank goodness it was the freshwater drain for taking rainwater away and not the foulwater one for bathroom waste!


I wasn't quite quick enough with the camera, just before I took this picture Father was dangling his Son and Heir by his ankles upside down into the hole to bring out the clumps of mud! I'm impressed by them using whatever facilities are available to them but I did have to remind Nigel that here in the UK we stopped sending small children up chimneys in Victorian times :o)))


Yesterday we left the two eldest at home in the afternoon - Sarah revising for her second RE exam later this week plus two English and one French as well and Nick amusing himself on the Wii.


We headed off to the estuary of the River Parrott where it meets the Bristol Channel as there's a bird sanctuary there which is the sort of thing Louise always loves to visit. With all the sporting fixtures we've been committed to since we moved here we still have loads of exploring to do within just a 10 or 20 mile radius of home


We had a wander along the sea defences


Made friends with a local cat


And a horse


Then spotted a heron in the tide who in turn was spotting fish


And managed to get quite close to some other little birds at the edge of the water which I still have to look up in the bird book to identify


Finally we found a little village with a launching slip where we might be able to take the canoes out from sometime

And in the village was a cottage with this wonderful tower - who wouldn't love to live in a house like this?