On Top of the World

I woke this morning to that telltale sound of heavy rain and howling winds. Good to tell it's rugby this afternoon.

Sarah's team has finished third in their local league. When I say local I mean covering the two counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire. Girls rugby teams are fairly sparse so we think nothing of travelling up to 80 miles each way for a 'local' league game. This afternoon we don't have to go quite that far just half an hour's drive to the home of Yeovil's rugby team Ivel Barbarians. This will be the play offs taking the four top teams to work out the league winners etc.

The other three teams are very strong, one of them only being lower than us in the league because they've played less games than us so it will be a tough afternoon - and obviously very wet and muddy if this morning's weather holds.

Yesterday, however, was a whole different story. Beautiful blue skies and mild spring temperatures. Sarah was working in the afternoon so we took the two youngest out to Ham Hill Country Park, also near Yeovil.

It's a huge iron age hill fort which gives the kids every opportunity to run around like complete lunatics and wear themselves out.

Here are the two youngest giving a mole a headache. The weather was mild but don't take my son's shorts as an indication of that because he wears them all year round regardless of the weather.

And here's my baby in pensive mood considering a descent.

The views from the top are awesome.

On the edge of the escarpment is monument, a war memorial I think, providing the opportunity to rest some weary legs while enjoying the views. Here you can see loony kids on the top step, and a less than amused Daddy on the bottom one!

The whole park is full of hills and dips, ancient fortifications I believe, but great for haring up and down letting off steam. Yesterday Daddy drew a line at them slithering down on their bottoms getting muddy - We'll save that for another time when he's not there to apply the brakes :o)

Obviously precious little stitching got done but lots of fresh air and even a bit of exercise.

Oh my - over a week's gone by

Well back to school this week :o(

This particular five week half term is the shortest in the school calendar this year but for me it will be the most hectic. Preparing the budget for next year (the first time I've done this) and prior to that ensuring everything is smack bang up to date before the Area Finance Officer comes in for the aforementioned budget will keep me on my toes, ready for bed and probably on my way to the local asylum for the next four weeks. However today was the very first day, since I started the job last September, that I actually achieved all the tasks I'd identified on my mental to-do list and then did one little one more - so I must be making progress. AT LAST!!!!!

Lois asked to see all my applique blocks so far in a picture together - so here you go.

The background on the long thin block next to the star looks whiter than its neighbours but only because it has three layers of fabric folded over as I haven't cut it to size yet.

As you can imagine I have a long way to go and I think I shall use the title 'Soft and Faded' as a work in progress name for now. I aim to make lots of sashing and block border edgings in geese, HSTs, pinwheels etc so it has a real random feel about it.

For my next block I spied a lovely ''trumpet stars' applique design on Jane's blog - I think I'll pinch it for the next bit of the quilt - oddly enough the colours are similar but that's merely a coincidence.

I have been busy on another little project over this past few days. Quite a few of you have been stitching lovely 'bluework' snowmen calendar blocks - sorry too tired tonight to look through old postings and put a link on here now. I thought I'd like to have a go at this technique but scoured the internet for something a little different and came up with some sewing notions instead.

I also liked the teapots on this European blog and particularly liked the postage stamp sashings - I have loads of blue fabric so may well make a wall hanging for my stitching area in this kind of design. The linen she's used for the redwork designs is gorgeous. I know I have some old linen tableware I rescued from my MIL when she cleared out her own mother's things and was going to ditch in the bin but I have to locate them (suspect they're in an awkward access box at the back of the cupboard under the eaves in our bedroom - a Nigel job then that one). Maybe I'll persuade him to locate them for me this weekend.

I really enjoyed squirrelling away on this bluework embroidery so I may well do some more as it's easy to pick up and put down again in front of the tv in the evenings

We are getting very close to completion on the conservatory - at long last - we have had a heated discussion over paying the last 4% of the purchase price which we feel is a fair discount to cover all the grief and aggravation because of their delays. However they have set a debt collection agency onto us and won't budge an inch on the money front. Until we pay the lot they won't send us the 10year guarantee either so our hands are tied. Both Nigel and I have a whiter than white credit rating and it's too precious to jeopardise for a principle. As much as it sticks in our throat to make that final payment we will do it and learn from the experience. We don't have any plans (or room for that matter) for further building work but should we enter into anything like it in the future a penalty clause for delayed completion would be a definite possibility.

Nigel will put down the carpet tiles we've bought this weekend which only leaves the skirting board to complete the job. We've picked a lovely mid aqua/teal colour for the floor that echoes the colour scheme in the adjoining dining room. My brother has been storing a terracotta bed-settee for us which we bought to use at my parent's old house and reclaimed when theymoved house, so that will make a lovely contrast to the floor. I'll take some photos once he's finished playing carpet fitter. It really is starting to feel like a proper room now.

Right I'm off to bed - or should I say back to bed as I fell asleep for two and a half hours earlier this evening due to sheer exhaustion from work. Have a good weekend one and all :o)

A little more applique and another sign of Spring

The weather changed today - and not for the better. The gorgeous mild sunshine we've had so far this holiday week was replaced with that revolting combination of wind and rain. Either of them on their own I can cope with - the two together are just not funny!

So it was a case of holing up indoors and keeping occupied as best we could. Sarah is working her way through a mountain of GCSE coursework. The size of the mountain may well bear direct correlation to the amount of time she's left certain pieces and their impending deadlines straight after the holidays - only she can work through that one. Hopefully it will teach her a lesson about pacing herself.

Lou got the paints out - she loves to play with watercolours - and kept herself fully occupied. Out of my three she has always been the one who could find something to do without the usual 'I'm bored' that I get from the other two

Nick was walking round like a bear with a chewed ear! Mainly because all his friends who live nearby were otherwise engaged today. Eventually I managed to find something he fancied having a go at...................

I know this will be difficult to believe but he wanted to try doing some ironing. Yes you heard that right.

Now there may well have been an ulterior motive for this - mainly because ironing in our house is a lucrative occupation. For some time it has been Sarah's way of earning extra pocket money. Well at a fiver a basket it's good value and to our way of thinking we would probably only end up funding the extra credit on her mobile phone anyway so we might as well get something productive for it, plus she gets to learn the value of money too.

Of course now she has a part-time job netting her a good £60 or £70 per month, a basket of ironing for £5 isn't quite as attractive or as essential to keep the cash flow going. So it does seem to pile up a bit more than it used to.

So the mantle may well fall to her younger brother and sister eventually.

I had already ironed about half the basket this morning and then took a little time out to show Nick some simple things like pillowcases, handkerchiefs and school polo shirts.

I've probably mentioned before that of my three he is undoubtably the most clumsy particularly with his hands on the fine motor skills. He's excellent at sport, has good ball handling skills, but give him drawing or anything craft wise to do he's at a complete loss - I've never seen anyone so cack-handed.

However much to my surprise he gave it a pretty good shot (maybe it was down to the teacher) and polished off quite a few items before he singed a fingertip and decided he'd had enough.

When I told his dad on the phone he was amazed that he hadn't done it the moment he picked up the iron - maybe we give him insufficient credit.

So he's earned a pound or two to add to his slush fund and it kept him quiet for a good half hour or more. We will definitely build on this at a later date.

While he was ironing I managed a bit more applique and here is another block I've completed. I just keep making them at random as the fancy takes me picking up different design ideas as I go along with no particular finished item in mind except I'd like it to be a soft pastel version of the sort of Robert Callaham quilt you used to and still do see the patterns for in McCalls Quilting

I shall do some HST's, stars, pinwheels, geese and checkerboard effect pieces to infil between them as I go along.

And finally the mini daffs are just starting to come out in the pots in my garden - I managed to snap this one in one of the few sunny spots between the squally showers today

Just for Fiona

These are initially for Fiona but they serve to remind us all that thankfully Spring is just around the corner albeit a miserable chilly one.

I couldn't believe my eyes when we returned to the car and spotted this vinca (periwinkle) bravely flowering away too

What an awesome day!

When asked what she would like to do for her birthday our youngest announced she didn't really want a party this year but would rather go out as a family for the day taking a couple of her closest friends.

During further discussions it was agreed that Bristol zoo was to be the likely destination

This was until a news item appeared on television about a rare shark that had been caught and older examples of it preserved in alcohol in glass jars were shown at the Natural History Museum in London

Louise is probably our most interested news hound and watches most current affairs type programmes with great fascination. She can always tell you what is currently in the news and this particular article really took her fancy. Wistfully she said quietly to herself 'I'd really love to go there'

So it was decided - a day in London with the purpose of visiting the Natural History Museum it was.

We drove to the outskirts of London and took the tube in arriving at the museum at around midday, just in time to eat our picnic lunch.

We'd browsed the website previously so I knew that it would be possible to visit the museum's neighbouring building the Darwin Centre to look at just a handful of the over 22million specimens in their care.

Having to book in advance I phone from the train on the way in and arranged a visit at 3pm. This was the part of the museum Louise wanted to see most.

Unfortunately there was a bit of a mix-up and our guide failed to collect us at the allotted time - there were some glum faces thinking that we'd missed our opportunity but the museum staff were fantastic and organised a special curator to take us round on an individual tour. An italian lady called Carmen was our guide and she was terrific with the kids pitching the commentary at exactly the right level to keep them enthralled.

This all just happened to coincide with a private visit by a lady who had worked for Speedo swimwear - she wanted to see the basking shark specimens on which they'd based their 'sharkskin fabric' for competition swimwear. She was accompanied by the Fish Curator Oliver Crimmon who had helped with the fabric's development.

On the back of their visit then we got to see some of the larger specimens in the stainless steel tanks which the general public never usually set eyes on - awesome!!! And on the subject of large the long glass tank behind the scientist houses a giant squid caught off the Falkland Islands measuring in at 18 feet long - amazing. This building, as the name implies, also houses a good number of Charles Darwin's original specimens from the voyage of The Beagle when he wrote 'The Origin of the Species'. Sarah is currently studying this area of science at school so it added real pertinence to her visit.

It was a wonderful day - the building which houses the museum is more like a cathedral than anything else - in fact for adults they do a tour solely to look at the finer features of the architecture - another time maybe...........

All the kids (big and small) thoroughly enjoyed the visit - they had to throw us out at 5.50pm when they were locking up and we still had probably seen only just over half of it. I do so wish we lived a bit nearer the capital so could take advantage of all the free entry museums in the city without a major expedition to get there

Pizza Hut all round once back at the car meant the journey home took us until 11pm - so as you can imagine there are some very tired little bunnies draped round the house today.

Sunday afternoon saw Louise at cub camp, Nick with friends and Sarah with her boyfriend which freed Nigel and I up to go off for a walk completely on our own. We love our kids but everyone knows you can have too much of a good thing, so it's always great to have a little time together on our own - especially if it's something a little more interesting than a trip to the supermarket.

On the edge of the Quantocks up behind our house the National Trust and the Somerset Wildlife Trust jointly look after the gardens of a demolished mansion Fyne Court. We tend to use it as our 'extended back garden' as it is less than 10 minutes drive away and there is only a nominal donation of £1 for parking so it's a lovely wander with little expense. They do make the most awesome cream teas there during the summer so it's a good job the walk cancels out some of the calories.

At present the snowdrops are beautiful and we actually managed to remember the camera - a feat in itself :o)

On the stitching and blogging front I've been pretty quiet - life has been so hectic this past week - but in and among it all I have managed to do a bit more applique on my green and pink random quilt - sorry this next photo shows up that I didn't bother to press this particular block

I keep reading round all the blogs and saving some of your pictures to work as inspiration for more blocks and panels for this particular piece of work.

As my sister-in-law's baby is due in just over three weeks I really must get myself organised to sandwich and quilt the 'natural hessian' number in readiness - where is that sandwich fairy when you want her?

Knitty Nora!

My baby had a birthday on Saturday - she's now into double figures at the ripe old age of 10!!!

Sadly I can't show you what an absolutely beautiful baby she was as all the pictures are still in boxes in the garage (only 18months down the line) and I couldn't get the scanner to work even if I could find them.

Of my three she is the most arty crafty. The eldest is a very competent cook and very practical but not particularly inclined towards fabric/yarn/paints etc. The middle one (the boy) is as bright as a button and a whizz at maths and sports but the least practical child I've ever met - it makes your eyes water to see him trying to cut an apple up for example - in fact it's a minor miracle he's never had to visit A&E with any amputations.

So it's down to my baby to follow me in the craft department. One of her presents for her birthday was a knitting set with a pair of what look like 15mm knitting needles and a large ball of 'Icelandic' type yarn in glorious variegated colours.

Saturday morning I casted on 12 stitches and set her going on just plain garter stitch. By about 2.30pm she's used up all the ball of wool and the scarf was only about 24" long - well the pattern did say 5 stitches so you can imagine we used up the wool over twice as quickly.

As we were going to the cinema later in the afternoon to see Charlotte's Web for her birthday we just managed to fit in a mercy dash into Taunton town centre and bought a couple of balls of similar weight wool to set her off on another scarf - hopefully long enough this time :o)

And Voila!!! here is the result this morning. Ok along the way she's managed to gradually increase from 10 stitches to 12 but it will make a very fine scarf.

She is so taken with the whole concept that when I headed into town this morning to go to my quilting group I bought two more lots of yarn, one cream in the same thickness as the picture above and the other a dusky pinkish mauve in a more icelandic type yarn but slightly finer. So I purchased a pair of 10mm needles in the hope that this will slow her down a bit - otherwise she will bankrupt me before long!

A few days ago I asked for everyone's ideas on another colour for the soft white/pink/green applique I'd started. I decided to go for a cornflower blue and had a good hunt through my two light blue boxes. I could find loads of greyish blues, aqua blues and purplish blues but this was the only one that really fitted the bill. I did momentarily consider using the right side of the fabric but soon changed to the wrong side. I shall only use it as occasional accents throughout.

Here is the first applique block completed

DH headed off this morning at 4am to catch the 6am flight to Brussels and then a connecting flight to Marseille for work until later on Wednesday. I'm more than a little envious as I do love to travel but now we have a larger house with its accompanying mortgage etc etc then you can't have everything. However I did smile this morning when he texted me on my mobile with the message: 'In hotel, weather wet'

What a tragedy eh? Can't help but feel a little glad he's having the same as we are here :o)

Speaking of posties

Yesterday morning a great swathe of central England woke up to snow.

No big deal I hear you Canadian and Scandinavian girls............... well probably not in Canada or Norway but here in the UK you might recall that our favourite topic of general conversation is the weather, too cold, too hot, too wet, etc etc etc and we see all varieties of weather but seldom any real extremes. To hear the media you'd think we'd had 8ft drifts not a measly 2 - 4 inches at most!

Much to the disgust of my two youngest particularly, Taunton had precisely none. Gloucester, where we used to live and it's neighbour Cheltenham near where Siobhan lives had a good covering. So much so that a lot of the Gloucestershire schools were closed for the day (probably because the teachers couldn't (be bothered to?) make it into work) and the kids had an impromptu holiday.

My two were appalled........ 'It's not fair, in all the time we lived in Gloucester we never had a day off school because of the snow, I'm not going to school then!!!!!!!'

Of course my reply was 'Oh yes you are, I have to go to my school, you will go to yours!'

As is usually the case over here the minute we have a sniff of snow everything grinds to a halt. The BBC headlined the 'adverse weather conditions making travel hazardous' . You Canadians must be laughing into your thermal knickers at us! Jane in Rugby is a Canadian and can't believe how all our systems grind to a pathetic halt at the first flake.

However as you can see from the picture above at least the post gets through and this postie still has his shorts on. My little lad always wears shorts to school each day regardless of the weather - he just detests hot legs, but he will get an incredible shock in September when he goes up to senior school and is not allowed to wear them. Maybe he's destined to be a postie!?!

The quilting group I go to each Monday morning is held in a converted victorian warehouse next to the river in the centre of Taunton - we have the use of an upstairs room with skylights which make the lighting excellent for stitching. However as we're a small and chatty group we wouldn't dream of taking machines in - it's a strictly 'hand-stitching' zone. Therefore on Sunday nights I usually have to pull together some hand work to take in and do the next day.

This week I couldn't lay my hands on anything specific and just cut a square of white-on-white that my friend brought 5yds of back from her last trip to the States and some bits and bobs of mauvish-pink and pale green to have a bit of a play.

Here are the results so far along with some matching pieces I flung together once I got home. I might make a whole quilt with these eventually including various applique blocks and pieced sections - we'll see. I do think the white/green/pink a little restrictive and would quite like another colour to pop in here and there to add variety but can't make up my mind which to use - any ideas???I particularly like the chevron effect with these flying geese.

And I even tackled a QST - (which I hate) for the centre of this star block. Getting brave eh?

Tomorrow marks the second weekend of the Six Nations Rugby championships here in the Northern Hemisphere. After our dreadful efforts under the previous manager Andy Robinson (8 losses from nine games) a new era has dawned under a new manager. Jonny (Sarah's hero) Wilkinson is back injury free and we comfortably beat Scotland in the Calcutta Cup match last Saturday. This weekend England play Italy at Fortress Twickenham. The men kick off first at 1.30pm and then the ladies team, who currently hold 'their' Six Nations crown, follow afterwards at 4.15pm. For anyone wishing to watch only the Ladies game entry to the ground is free once the men's game is finished. Some friends of ours whose daughter Cat (short for Catherine) played with Sarah at Regional level last year have kindly taken Sarah for the weekend and will head off down to London tomorrow with the intention of watching the men's game in a convenient bar and then watching the ladies game live in the stadium. Sarah has never been to Twickenham before (what mean parents we are) and is so excited. She found out today that her best friend had beaten her to become Head Girl at their school and she was very disappointed so this will give her a real lift as well as the opportunity to watch some really class ladies rugby.

This little fellow (taken from the BBC website pictures) certainly hopes we beat the Italians in both games too :o) (Or at least his dad does anyway!) And so do we - GO ENGLAND!!!!

Look what postie brought.............

Through an on-line quilting group here in the UK, four of us have embarked on a block swap project.

I was inspired by Norma and her Elements swap and suggested something similar but using the four seasons as our theme

As you would expect our first blocks have to be made on the theme of Spring

This is the block I received in the post yesterday. I love the crocus fabric. I am expecting two other blocks from the other two people in the group eventually before the end of the month.

These will be coupled with the crocus block and my daffodil block you see here to make the first quarter of a Four Seasons quilt. If you look closely at the bottom green piece you will see that I have had to put a seam along its length. I only had a fat quarter of this spring green shade and had to cobble together the last of the four blocks which was the one I kept. I reckoned that once I'd pieced and quilted the whole thing you'd never notice that little seam. Now I just have to think what to do for my summer block - I'm kind of tempted to make exactly the same block for each season using different fabrics but I'm not sure - we'll see.

Finally it was our monthly quilters group meeting on Monday night where we listened to a talk from a male quilter entitled 'A man in a woman's world'. His name is Roy Dickinson and he has been awarded 2nd, 3rd and finally 1st over three years in the Hoffmann Challenge which is run here in the UK. I forgot my camera so sadly didn't get any photo's of the handful of his own quilts he brought with him but this is the prize I won in the raffle - a pattern for an applique 'Steam Train' - very fitting as Nigel's first love is just that. Not sure when I'll get round to making it for him - but I think it would look lovely on the wall of his model train area - when he gets it sorted out in the garage! Who can tell what will come first - the quilt or the train area :o)

My new work station

Well my beloved got the bit between his teeth today and, with the assistance of Sarah's boyfriend Dan for some extra muscle, he put in my new work station in the playroom.

Woohoo!!!

The worktop measures 3ft deep by 8ft wide in one big area - the only minor annoyance is it is so deep that the foot pedal lead for my machine isn't long enough to thread up the back and still enable me to reach the pedal - mind you that could also be the fact that I am a tad vertically challenged with very short legs

In addition, as the only light in the room is behind me when I'm sitting here, he's rigged up a temporary spotlight fitting above the work area so I can see what I'm doing after dark

I have no excuse now I can quilt to my heart's content - just have to find a magic fairy to do that sandwiching first ;oP

Lots of stars

Lots of stars this week......................

Firstly this morning Sarah had the results of her regional squad trials last Sunday.

Unfortunately she wasn't selected which she was bitterly disappointed by, but in our eyes she's still a real star and she gave it a full 110% - for example during those trials she tackled a girl twice her size, pulled her down on top of her and ended up in A&E this week with severe abdominal discomfort from soft tissue damage. Nothing permanent thank goodness but it doesn't stop her or put her off playing her beloved game.

It is disappointing for her not to be selected for the third year running but she has moved up this year from U14s to U17s which is a big leap and we think she was actually the youngest girl trialling - there will always be next year and indeed two more after that. England's decisive win over Scotland in the 6 Nations this afternoon, coupled with Jonny Wilkinson's impressive return, hopefully helped a little to ease her disappointment.

On Tuesday Louise was awarded the trophy and necker for cub of the month, much to her surprise. One of her brother's friends goes to cubs with her and is a bit of a 'teacher's pet' and she was convinced he would get the award.

Nick was invested as a scout having moved up from cubs on his birthday in November.

The conservatory people came and sorted out all the last bits of snagging to complete the job on Thursday. Hoooorayyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!! All we need now is the radiators plumbing in, the carpet tiles down and the skirting on to make it fully useable. Today was a beautiful sunny springlike day and it was lovely in there, so roll on the final finish.

Last but not least, in a week where precious little stitching has got done as work has been very demanding, I completed the stars on the charity quilt for the Women's refuge. I decided to shorten the whole thing by taking about a foot off the bottom, sort of squaring it up. I'm very pleased with the various stars - much nicer than the white from before - that frog stitching was well worth it.

Lots of stars all round!

Cider Apples

There are areas of both the south west and south east of England which are famous for their fruit growing prowess (not for Ali's lovely kiwi fruit and avocados) but for apples and most particularly apples for making the alcoholic drink of cider.

Herefordshire is the county we lived in when first married and DD1 was born, Gloucestershire where the other two came into the world, Somerset where we now live and it's neighbours Devon and Dorset all like to claim themselves as the Cider Making Capital of the UK.

We have some very dear friends, Pearl and Jon, who run a farm providing bed and breakfast and self catering holiday accommodation about half an hours drive the other side of Hereford, heading towards the Welsh border. We got to know them when we attended the same ante-natal classes with Sarah and their eldest Heidi. Subsequently they did us the great honour of standing as god-parents to our youngest Louise.

Over the past few years they have had a very tough time - they narrowly missed losing their herd of cattle during the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak. However as all traffic on and off farms in the area was severely restricted they watched their holiday business dwindle away to almost nothing. Then a short while later they lost half of their herd to an outbreak of Bovine TB. Pearl also had a nasty bout of viral meningitis followed by a long episode of Post-Viral syndrome making coping with a business and a young family very difficult indeed.

To top all this off Pearl's father lost a two year battle with bladder cancer last autumn leaving her mother who suffers from alzheimers in a very distressed and confused state. Pearl is their only child and lives over half an hour from them so with the responsibility of dealing with his illness which included regularly taking him over 100 miles away for treatment has taken its toll.

Louise had a letter from them last week apologising for not sending a christmas gift - as if we minded :o) - and the writing between the lines spoke volumes.

So I spotted an appliqued apple tree as part of a pattern the other day and adapted it to make into a wall hanging to cheer her up. Their main crop on the farm is cider apples so I thought it rather fitting.

I think I shall add some plaid/homespun borders to match round the edges and get it off in the post to her soon in a bid to bring a smile to her face for a little while at least.

Seeing stars

I returned to work yesterday - having been off with a grotty head cold and sinus pain all last week I thought I ought to put in an appearance. I should have had a nice easy re-entry as the local Clerk to Governors' cluster meeting was sheduled at the hospitality building of our local racecourse, so a morning out of the office rather than first day back straight into the melee.

As with all good plans - how often do they not turn out as expected.

When I arrived I found that the meeting had been rescheduled for two weeks hence?!?

Ok I thought - fair enough - the notification is probably sitting in my email inbox at work which I couldn't read as I was off sick - so I went into work instead at the normal time, much to the delighted surprise of my colleague

Never found the aforementioned email - no idea how the other clerks had found out the meeting was postponed - one of life's little mysteries!

Still I put my usual four hours in at the office instead and made a reasonable start on the backlog of bumph littering my desk. I can't say I feel 100% better from last week's cold but this is winter and I guess lots of people out there are not firing on all cylinders at present - still the world keeps turning. DH is currently in Dublin on business for three days (lucky dog!) so the taxi driving comes down to me and only me for now in amongst the rest of family life - thank goodness I feel better than last week - but we ladies are made of sterner stuff and we manage :o) After all as the old adage goes: Kids get colds, men get flu and women get on with it!

I didn't do much stitching yesterday - partly because I spent my spare hour and a half between taking the kids to school and starting work searching out a non-existent meeting - grrr what a waste of valuable stitching time!

Still the evening before I had made a start on the stars - Sarah (DD1) who's also at home poorly had insisted I work them in red and white to match the beachballs. Fine, I thought, give it a go......... but no, I'm afraid those white ones just don't sing at all ................ sooooooooooo dull! You often find that adding black to a painting really deadens everything and art teachers usually advise against the use of it unless essential - this white seems to do the same here for me.... yeeuchhh!

So I had a rummage around to see what else I could come up with and found one or two brights in the haul of recently selected fabric sitting neatly on the sewing room shelves. You'd be proud of me, I managed to extract them without pulling the rest of the fabric onto the floor behind them. DH is talking about maybe putting my long awaited work surface across the whole width of the room under the window this weekend so I daren't make a mess or I'll have it to shift before Saturday.

I stitched one bright green star to see how it looked - MUCH better than that miserable drab white which goes 'see-through' as you stitch it on - I just know the fabric wasn't that thin when I ironed the freezer paper on - gremlins at work again I think!

So this evening I can see some frog stitching on those white stars and I shall replace them with a variety of brights including the green - probably purple, turquoise, yellow etc too.

Better to have realised now than once I'd put all the white ones on :o)

Butterfly thoughts

You know something, that prospective Lubeck wallhanging has obviously not lodged itself far enough into my psyche to reach my fingers - it's hovering around there in the brain (? is there one?) and doesn't want to play on the cutting table and sewing machine yet.

I've also had a yearning to do a random applique quilt a bit like the ones Jeanne has done - there are loads of lovely ones on this site - but while I love some of the little bits featured on them again this is only a germ of an idea. Eventually it will be the Bebbington quilt and I aim to add things special and/or pertinent to each of us along with our hands drawn round and appliqued in our favourite colours - but this is all hovering in the ether too.

My mind is very much like a butterfly on the sewing front at present - flitting from one thing to another but not settling to very much of consequence - I obviously used this months allocation of concerted effort on the scrappy hearts and stars and the baby quilt.

Then when I was scanning through lots of blogs this morning I came across Nancy's 'Kaffe Gone Primitive' up in beautiful Montana - the scenery and wildlife pictures in her blog make me drool each time I drop by to see what she's up to.

I love this idea - a simple horizontal strippy, brought to life by some 'larger than life' applique.

So it set me thinking...................

And then it occurred to me I had just the thing lurking away in a drawer. A quick and easy quilt top I ran up in an afternoon for Katrina all those months ago. Then I'm ashamed to say it got stuffed in a drawer on an emergency tidying session - you know the sort of thing, the MIL's coming and always looks down her nose exclaiming 'You can tell children live here, can't you?' so everything on the floor gets stuffed into the nearest drawer not to surface for another half century! :o)

I went to get it out thinking in my hazy memory that it was all watery blues and it might be nice to applique bright fishes and seaweed all over it.

Yeah - great idea - but where do all those red and white beachballs I'd conveniently forgotten about fit into the equation?

Rapid rethink on the feet required............... bright red and white stars in the non-beachball areas might just give it the lift it requires.

On Saturday 17th March not only is it St. Patrick's day but it's also IQD - International Quilting Day and our county group which meets monthly to listen to a speaker has decided to have a quilting day in a local hall to make charity quilts

This is a first for us and was my initial suggestion - they do sometimes have to be forced to think outside their cosy little box - so I should give it my wholehearted support. We aim to put some quilts together from start to finish but also think it would be good to work on some already completed tops so some people can be cutting, others piecing, some sandwiching (not me please!!) and others quilting.

The charity to receive the products of our labour will be the local women's refuge for families fleeing domestic violence. It's a needy cause but not one that will bring the group publicity as by the nature of things the anonymity of the victims is paramount. However fame and fortune was never the aim of the project anyway. They have specifically asked us for bright and cheerful children's quilts for the kids who turn up often in the middle of the night with only the clothes they stand up in. They then get to keep 'their' quilt and take it with them once the family is rehomed.

So I guess the stars had better add a bit of zing to it as it looks a tad dull as it stands at present - maybe I should add other primary coloured stars too - what does anyone else think?

You never realise quite how bad it's got..............

.......... until you tidy it all away again!

Sewing rooms get untidy overnight - they do honest! Mine does it all the time. Little gremlins creep in while you're asleep and throw fabric all over the floor!

So this weekend 'amazingly tolerant DH' finally lost the plot (mainly with the kids about the rest of the house you understand) and discretion being the better part of valour I thought it prudent to set to and tidy up my sewing area before I needed to don a tin hat and a flak jacket!

So much so I could lay down the newly finished baby quilt top on the playroom floor for its photocall instead of having to go into the lounge :o)

Now to say it's not the sort of colour combination I'd pick for this type of project I am pleased with it and looking forward to quilting it now.

The baby's not due until 15th March so I'm not in any great hurry and sandwiching, even of small pieces, is my least favourite job. It won't be quilted in the next day or two that's for sure.

So what onto next? I do have several tops I could also sandwich and quilt including my scrappy hearts and stars - same excuse so that probably won't happen in a hurry.

My Ostrich is done for the next two rounds so there's nothing pressing there either.

Several UFO's are also looking at me longingly but I don't fancy them either - one even made it out of the zipper bag it's in but went back double quick.

So of course what does any self-respecting quilter do in this situation?

Of course - look for something new to start.............

This photo (ignore the light spot in the centre - the gremlins are playing in the camera now I've tidied the sewing area) shows a little tablecloth measuring about 30" square which depicts the beautiful distinctive buildings of the north German city of Lubeck. You might remember that the school exchange partner of DH lives there with his wife and family. The cloth was a present to Nigel even before I met him and sadly sits in a cupboard as it doesn't have an immediate obvious home anywhere.

As I was tidying up all my fabric I came across the piece of cotton sheeting I'd dyed some months ago in a very similar blue (shown here sitting on top of it) so I think I might have a go at a wall hanging incorporating them both. At least that way we'd get the pleasure of it instead of it sitting in the linen cupboard.

It will probably be a long narrow strip quilt with rows of blocks between the rows of buildings you can see here in the close-up using just blue and white fabric - after all I said this week about two colour quilts!?!

So I shall go now and have a think about maybe playing with a bit of seminole or some mini blocks

Out with the needles for a change

Well I've been busy with a needle or two over the past couple of days but not sewing needles this time.

Baby Matthew is progressing as hoped at this stage (details are sketchy as Nigel's family aren't good communicators and we don't really want to ring direct and bother them so are leaving it to his parents to be the main line of communication - chinese whispers and all that!) so I decided to put my mind and hands to something a little more practical.

Yesterday I had to go to the post office to send off Nancy's string blocks and it is also a little general purpose shop which just happens to sell a small range of wools including 4ply baby wool. So armed with a ball of white and one of lemon (they'd run out of blue!) I set to and made 3 hats of varying sizes in each colour. The smallest were so tiny that Lou asked me if they were baby mittens as I was wrapping them up - I stupidly forgot to take a picture first - duhh!

The smallest one had only 36 stitches and 24 rows of 2 x 2 rib so as you can imagine they didnt take that long to complete. The patterns were taken from the internet and said they were for babies of his size but it's hard to imagine without seeing him hence the small variety of sizes made. However I don't suppose he'll be wearing a full size panama for a while yet, bless him.

I very carefully picked a birth congratulations card while I was at the shop - deliberately avoiding the ones with 'bonny bouncing boy' etc - and popped the hats in the post with it this morning once we'd checked the situation. I struggled to know what to do for the best on this one as the situation is obviously quite precarious but on the other hand he has arrived, was much wanted and with God's love and the care of the NICU professionals will hopefully continue to thrive. Therefore it felt right to send a card and acknowledge his arrival while sending our support and good wishes for the best possible outcome for him. It will be a difficult time for the immediate family and they may be quite hurt if noone sends cards for fear of putting their feet in it.

I have the doubtful priviledge of having a mother in law who seldom gives her son or I any credit for even an iota of common sense and after Nigel had talked with his dad about the situation she made him call back in a flap to ensure we hadn't sent a tactless card (you know just the sort I'd so carefully avoided in the shop)

Never mind - she really should credit us with a bit more common sense than she does - mothers in law! who'd 'ave 'em?

Anyway once I returned from the post office I was still on a bit of a roll and with lots of yarn left I made a little white cardigan. Sarah was in town for work this afternoon so brought home a ball of blue and the little blue cardi with the yellow stripe was run up this evening. You can see from the tape measure just how tiny they are.

Sewing hasn't been totally neglected though - all six stars c/w sashings on my to-be nephew or niece's baby quilt are done and joined together - this only leaves the outer border to complete the top.

As you can imagine it's a bit of a baby preparation zone here today - something our house hasn't seen en masse for some time I can tell you.

Making progress, but still unsure about that colour

Well I've been off work again today, feeling pretty grotty so I've just pottered in between flopping on the sofa. Four of the six stars put together with their sashings. Like the pattern but still unsure about the colour scheme.

Mind you if you think this is an odd colour combination for a baby quilt take a look at this one ............

I did find it a touch ironic that while I feel this 'hessian' shade is not the sort of theme I'd pick for a baby quilt, it obviously is the colour I'd pick for my lounge - look how well those corner squares melt into my rug :o)

Only two more blocks with sashing and a 4 - 5" plain cream border needed to complete the top.

Natural Hessian it is then

Meggie commented on my last post suggesting that maybe my brother and sister in law were joking about the choice of colour for the nursery.

Sadly the answer is no - they're serious. This is the couple I made the celtic knotwork cushions for Christmas. The whole house is decorated in nondescript putty colours. The wedding quilt I made them with pastel coloured background and cream knotwork is hidden away in a cupboard as it doesn't match the colour scheme (Blogger won't let me post a link to this but you can look back at it if you so choose in last May's old postings under 'My biggest quilt')

So here is the start of their baby quilt.

I've used a similar 'star in a star' to the cushion I made for us just before Christmas

They come out at 12" square so I shall do 6 of them (3 x 2) and then put 2" cream sashings with 'hessian' cornerstones which should appear to float. Then I'll complete it with a wider cream border. The abundance of cream will hopefully dilute the strange hessian colour. Then I can play with some more freehand feathers or something in the large cream areas as I quilt it. Finally a 'hessian' binding should finish it off.

I'm not a fan of two colour quilts of any colour combination and I could only find one fabric in my stash that seemed to fit the 'natural hessian' bill - even then I had to use the back of the fabric

I hope they like it because I can't say I'm keen - but it is their choice.

On a slightly related topic Nigel's cousin's wife gave birth to their second son yesterday at around 24 weeks gestation. Matthew John Bebbington weighed in at a miniscule 1lb 7ozs and was immediately rushed from the local hospital in Lancaster to the neo-natal ICU in Manchester a good hour's drive away. He's fighting for his tiny little life and who knows what the outcome will be. Because Cath's waters broke a week or two ago she has been given lots of steroids to hopefully give his tiny little lungs a fighting chance. We're all just holding our breath and waiting now to see what happens. Part of me wants to get a congratulations card and send it up to them to celebrate and acknowledge his arrival, the other part is reluctant to do so just in case he doesn't survive those first crucial few hours/days and the receipt of a card would just add to their sorrow.

He is of course in God's hands and I pray that he will survive and develop into a healthy little chap like his big brother Andrew. Only time will tell.