Zipper Quilt

I can't claim any credit for this quilt - it's merely a picture I saved for inspiration on my computer, which is where Sarah spotted it - it may well have been Calico Cat's or Nancy's but I honestly can't remember - so if it's yours my humble apologies for not giving credit where it's due

Atet was asking for instructions or a link - sadly I don't have either but it looks reasonably simple providing you keep track of what to stitch to what.

If anyone does have basic instructions of what size/ratio of sizes to cut the pieces and would be kind enough to share them I'd be very grateful.

Now to pin down the girl to a timetable of an hour a week to regularly stitch

Another (very special) brand new project

Ok - I hear you say - why would a woman with so many projects bubbling along want to start YET ANOTHER ONE!!!

However this has a different twist on it......................

It's not me that's starting it but Sarah, my eldest.

In the UK there is a scheme for young people to participate in called the Duke of Edinburgh Award (colloquially known as the DofE). It can be taken at three levels - bronze, silver and gold.

The award at each level has four parts: service, activity, skill and expedition

For her bronze award Sarah has completed 3 months service - helping at a church kids club, and 6 months activity - trampolining. Now this leaves her with 3 months skill and the expedition to do. Her school will arrange the expedition but she has decided to go for patchwork and quilting for her skill.

She has to spend at least one hour each week for three months on it.

With this in mind, last summer she bought two metres of this funky fabric

Then when we were in Hereford we bought the three others to accompany it.

We originally thought about doing a sampler quilt but then she spotted a 'zipper' design on someone's blog I was perusing so we'll go with that, probably in a lap quilt size to sit on the end of her bed.

Another convert :o)

On my front Spencer's Stars is back under the needle as I get on with the fairly tedious job of microstippling all around the edge now - still at least it's making progress

Back to work :o(

Just a quick post today before I head into work - boo hoo!

Actually I did go back yesterday - unusually as I don't often work Mondays but it was the Governor's Finance Committee meeting yesterday teatime to discuss the budget. Fortunately my area finance officer was there to clarify lots of it because I still am fumbling about in the dark - however the governing body are generally a pretty friendly bunch so it was fine even if I did get home after three and a quarter hours feeling like my head was fried.

I can't have been that bad though as I sat and did some more handstitching on my table runner last night and this morning, for a little while before work, I've done some more machine quilting on Spencer's Stars - poor little mite is over five weeks old now - he should get the quilt before his first birthday.

Okay gotta fly - work beckons - have a good day everyone

An assortment of purples makes a little bit of nonsense

I did promise you some of my charity shop treasures......................

It's going to take me some time to dismantle all those shirts, blouses and skirts but this selection of purples is a start. The one second from the right is a pale turquoise and white with a really pretty sparkly mid purple over check - very sweet. More colours as the scissors allow

When we were away last week I went into one of those touristy shops in Hay-on-Wye and spotted some very simple stuffed fabric hanging hearts made from a single pretty flowered fabric with a hanging ribbon and a little button and bow in the notch of the heart. These spectacularly simple hearts were retailing for £10.50 (about $20) - yes that took my breath away too. Of course as is always the case it's whatever the market will stand regarding pricing, and Hay does get a lot of affluent London weekenders particularly in May for its famous Literature Festival, but I brought home the idea.

On Friday I made one for Nigel's little niece for her third birthday to slip in with her presents - there's no photo of this as the camera was with him and I needed to catch the post. However Louise then said those immortal words - "That's nice, I'd really like one of those Mummy........"

So here's her own particular little bit of nonsense. What a great way to use up all those bits of wadding I've been saving after cutting away the surplus before binding quilts - can't we always justify hoarding :o)

Quilt group again today so I have to dash to iron some more leaves and tulips to take with me for my table runner ............. see you all later...............

Back from our travels - well four of us anyway :o)

Well we're back from our foray into beautiful rural Herefordshire. The weather was exceptionally kind to us - like a balmy summer day rather than the usual weather we have in April.

We had some really lovely days - Nigel took the children, three of ours and two of our hosts, canoeing down the River Wye one day, another day both families spent the afternoon exploring the gardens of a nearby stately home - here you can see the entire Bebbington family in one shot - an unusual occurrence by any standards. After all one of us is usually taking the picture.

Another day I took the two eldest girls into Hereford on a shopping expedition with the main aim to find a posh frock for Sarah for her forthcoming rugby club presentation evening - we found a fabulous elegant long black number for the princely sum of £40 (about 75 US$) which was a real bargain.

The rest of the time we chilled big time - what a treat after the past few weeks, particularly for me - gave me the chance to rest my aching brain and just recuperate.

Here are our three with Scamp the farm pony - more new experiences for them.

All in all a wonderful break.

I managed to do a little hand work while I was there - probably the most stitching I've done for a few weeks. I would show you my progress but the camera is with Nigel at present.

We arrived back in Taunton mid afternoon on Thursday in plenty of time for Sarah to go to work at the local swimming pool where she helps the little children learn how to swim.

However no rest for Nigel - he was up at 5am the next morning to head off for Exeter airport to catch a flight for Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

His ultimate destination was the tiny neighbouring Channel Island of Sark - a beautiful idyllic place which is even more peaceful than rural Herefordshire.

Sadly the reason for his trip is less than happy. His cousin Caroline is the post mistress on the island and her husband died suddenly of a massive heart attack a few weeks ago while they were on holiday with their young children in Australia. Tim was only 45 years old - a sudden and shocking way to go. Althought they held his funeral and cremation while they were still in Oz today will be his memorial service on the island.

Finances prohibit all five of us from attending but we felt it only right that Nigel should go to represent us all.

Things like that certainly make you count your blessings and try to live life to the full.

On a lighter note I managed a trawl of our local charity shops yesterday and came home with a haul of lots of lovely cotton garments. As I haven't got the camera at present I can't treat you to a picture of my goodies - maybe tomorrow when my beloved returns from his trip.

I think I can feel a plaids and plains quilt coming on - as if I haven't got enough on the go already!

On a final note Tanya from Japan tagged me for the Thinking Blog meme - I haven't had the chance to sit down and give this some thought yet - so I'll save my list of inspirational blogs for another day

A seasonal wish before we head off

I'll take out a few minutes before the melee of the day really takes hold to wish all of you who celebrate it a very happy Easter, and to those who don't but benefit from the public holiday, have a restful break

I came across this picture when searching for an Easter image to put on my blog - and we think quilting is painstaking. Can you imagine the frustration if you drilled just once too often and it collapsed in your fingers - think I'll stick to fabric

Have a good one :o) and see you at the end of the week when we return from glorious Herefordshire.

And then off on a completely different tangent

Well we're heading off to sunny Herefordshire tomorrow teatime. I've put together lots of hand stitching to take with me for those quiet spots you get when you're relaxing. I have my Christmas wallhanging in redwork to crack on with - I managed to refrain from stitching most of it during this week - and I also traced off some bluework snowmen too.

Sarah made some Lemon Curd (or some people call it Lemon Cheese) in Food Technology the other week and it was so delicious I suggested she might like to make a jar to take for our friends, Jon in particular is especially partial to lemon flavoured things.

So this afternoon she rustled up a jar full and we dressed it up with a pretty lemon coloured fabric cap - just right for a present.

Our own lemon curd jar from the other week is still well over half full and as it's not one of those preserves you can keep for too long and I seem to be the only person in the house spreading it on my toast I thought I'd use some of it up in some baking to take with us tomorrow too.

I've no idea what the name of these is - if in fact they have a name - I just made them up as I went along............... shortcrust pastry on the base, a layer of lemon curd and then a thick layer of victoria sandwich cake mixture with added lemon zest and juice and finally sprinkled with copious quantities of caster sugar to give a crunchy sweet topping - then in the oven on 180 degrees C for I've no idea how long as I just kept adding another 5 or 10 minutes until the cake testing skewer came out clean. Jon's farm work involves plenty of physical exertion so he never needs to worry about what he eats and cakes are always welcome - hope he likes these

Then once I'd finished the baking I was surfing around the blogs and came across this beautiful table runner on May's blog - how beautiful and springlike

So it set me thinking - my dining room table has a row of three black granite blocks down the middle to put hot dishes on - we have never had much luck with place mats so bought these as they looked pretty indestructible - indeed they are but they're also a bit dark and dreary.

Just what I need then - a nice bright table runner to sit on top of them when the table is between meals.

So in the winking of an eye I cut out some 3.5" squares and stitched them together.

Two tulips later I've made a good start and I shall take the rest of the leaves and flowers with me tomorrow and might get some of those done too. Needless to say the tulips will take a little longer than the pieced background!

Who knows I might make a whole series of runners and change them with the seasons like some of you girls do with your quilts

Finally here's a sneaky picture taken by the 'Lemon Curd Cook' of me lumbering onto the floor to lay out the tulip WIP for photographing - not the most flattering photo with me specs on the end of me nose - I'll get her back tomorrow :o)

Yet more soft and faded - fed up yet???

The weather here is absolutely beautiful at the moment - around 15 to 20 degrees centigrade with not a cloud in the sky. Unprecedented for this time of year - global warming may well be manifesting itself. Totally unusual for a British bank holiday too which generally automatically signals rain. But the 5 day forecast on the good old BBC shows sunny intervals and similar temperatures right through into next week - yippee! and it looks like it could be even warmer over in Herefordshire which is somewhat fortuitous as I know DH plans to take a few canoes with us and canoeing in freezing cold weather isn't fun for either paddlers or bankside spectators.

I've finished another soft and faded applique block and played with a little bit of piecing making this strip of HST diamonds from some left over flying geese bits and pieces. So here they are to bore you yet again..........

I thought I'd lay what I'd accomplished so far out on the floor to see how far I'd got but there doesn't seem as much as I thought - surprising when you start laying it out how much it does take for a full sized quilt. Still I'll keep plugging away - a bit of applique here, a bit of piecing there. After all it's not destined for anyone or anywhere in particular and there's no deadline for it either. So it's just add another bit as the fancy takes me.

I had thought after wandering through the net and looking at lots of quilts on loads of different sites that I might like to outline each of the blocks and pieced sections with a thin maybe half inch border in the light blue but I checked and I only have about a yard and a half or maybe a little more - probably not enough to be able to do that. The fabric was bought at a little P&Q shop in Tavistock in Devon when we were on holiday last year and for the life of me I can't remember the name of the shop except that it was in the pannier market part of the town. Frustratingly there's no identification on the fabric selvedge either. Maybe I should get my detective hat on and try and search it out the shop and buy a couple more yards mail order. It would be quite nice to use that fabric as I sort of plan for thin borders and to bind the quilt - we'll see.........

On a roll now..........

Well here's another soft and faded applique block done with yet another one part way through stitched last night.

Nigel is home tonight after two days in Madrid for work. So taking full advantage of the house to myself yesterday evening (once we'd all got back around 9.15 from the two eldest's swimming lessons that is) and coupled with the fact that for some reason both televisions were on the blink this meant I could just sit and stitch peacefully (or should that read piecefully) away to crack on with the soft and faded blocks.

DH's impending return means that I really ought to at least spend part of the day today clearing various detritus from around the house so it looks like I've not just sat and stitched all the time.

However that's for this afternoon - last night I had a bit of a brainstorm about what to take with me stitching wise when we go away on Saturday. I had so enjoyed doing my bluework sewing notions that I subsequently bought a few skeins of both red and blue embroidery thread and stuffed them away in one of my sewing drawers for the next time the urge came over me.

Yesterday while searching in vain for the wooden heart buttons I found the threads and thought I'd sort out some redwork for the holiday.

I had a ferret around on the internet and adapted a christmas design I found and traced it through onto some nice sand coloured fabric. I've just been brought back some red and sand checked fabric by a quilting friend who's been out in Florida for a few weeks so I shall use that to border this christmas embroidery once it's done. Now I just have to stop myself from stitching it before we head off at the weekend :o)

Of course all this then brought me back to those bluework sewing items so first thing this morning saw me rifling through my scrap drawer to pull out lots of blues for 1" squares to border them.

And here is the result..................

Ok I suppose I'd better stop playing now and get on with some housework :o(

What a busy little bee

You know how it is - get the feel of a bit of fabric between your fingers and you're away..........

Have I ever been a busy little bee.

Another block for my soft and faded quilt - I thought I'd do a long horizontal one this time - I'll just keep plugging away making lots of various applique blocks and eventually I might even start thinking about some more pieced joining areas. This project is nice and portable and so usually goes with me to quilting on Monday mornings - hence I keep just trickling on with it.

On Saturday teatime once Sarah has finished work we are heading off to stay with Louise's godparents over in Herefordshire until the following Thursday. You might recall I told you about their run of bad luck a few weeks ago and showed you the start of a wallhanging I was making for them with the apple tree on it.

Well the fact that we're going there on Saturday has acted as sufficient catalyst to get me off my lethargic behind and finish the hanging.............

I've added plaid borders, quilted around the skeleton of the tree and echoed the outer edge of the leaves and apples, quilted in the ditch where the borders join and then quilted a little apple in the middle of each border. Apologies as the colours are a little strange in the photos - the greens look just a bit too far over onto the blue end of the spectrum, maybe it's an optical illusion with the carpet tiles in the conservatory - who knows.............

Finally some little terracotta hearts in the corners finish the job - I know I have some little wooden heart buttons squirrelled away somewhere that I would've liked to use but I'm blowed if I can find them.

Of course they are bound to turn up the day we return - the law of Sod in full force again!

'Opposites' blocks all done

Well the creative juices are back and running again.

I've completed all my opposite blocks for the next row of my Ostrich.

The top row will be ones I use - for some reason they just feel better with the dark background on the left. Their opposite numbers will go into the orphan block pile and probably go into another quilt similar to the one I'm planning to use all my soft and faded applique blocks - but that's another day another quilt.

For the Ostrich I just need to put them into a row with a border fabric all round as the other rows have been done and add them to the bottom. The lighter fabric in the centre block is a little busier than the others but it's some I've just bought to use in one of the narrower outer borders so I did also want to include it somewhere in the main body of the quilt.

This morning my ladies all pulled a face somewhat when I told them the next round was to be 'Opposites' - that will certainly make them think - teehee!

The final row will be 'triangles' - loose enough for them to incorporate all sorts of things - hst's, qst's, flying geese etc etc etc - the possibilities are endless. I think I may make scrappy maple leaves to balance the scrappy stars in the top row - we'll see.

The weather here has been beautifully spring like - very sunny but with a chilly wind - so nice if you can be in the sun but find a sheltered spot. As you can imagine the conservatory has been a delight - I've sat there for hours on end stitching away at those hearts to my 'hearts content' groan.................

However as in all the best plans sometimes things don't always work out quite as you expect.

When we planned the conservatory we wanted to use it as another sitting/chilling area and decided that the second tv along with dvd player and the house's only video player would be moved there from the 'work room' which houses the computer and my sewing area.

All fine and dandy until someone wants to watch a video on the aforementioned sole video player while the sun is out - the reflections from all those windows make viewing a little challenging -

unless...........................

you use a little initiative :o)))

Here is Sarah watching some rugby videos she's just been given - now that is dedication to your sport.

TGI Friday!!!

I can honestly say I've never been more glad to see a Friday come round than I am this week.

During March I have put in about 35 hours overtime when I would normally only work 64 hours in total so you can imagine I've been pretty busy and the work has, in the main, been a steep learning curve so needed me to expend lots of brain power - not that easy when there's little there in the first place :o)))).

Little surprise then that I've not felt much like concentrating on stitching too.

However I have managed to drum up a little enthusiasm for the next row of my Ostrich.

I was vaguely aware that by now all my ladies were almost caught up with me and so I ought to make some progress with Round 6 which I've titled 'Opposites'

I had started off playing with flying geese in two fabrics using the two shades as geese or background but I really wasn't impressed with how the block had turned out - it didn't shout 'OPPOSITE!' enough to me.

So I had a rethink and plumped for hearts in positive and negative opposing each other.

Here are the first two blocks - I will probably only use one of them and do others in other fabric combinations as there are seven in the row so somewhere in the middle I would have an odd one out.

Then here are the next two initial blocks ready for cutting down the centre and rejoining.

It feels great to pick up some fabric again although I have to say I think it will take a little while to get back into full swing again and recover some energy and enthusiasm. Good job I have two weeks off work :o)

Total Exhaustion!

This is just how I feel right now - I won't even begin to go into detail about last week at work and this week will be no better until the end of Thursday.

I'm taking Friday off this week instead of my usual Monday - just too much to do before deadlines and of course it means I miss my usual Monday quilting fix with the ladies. :o(((

Never mind once Friday comes around we break up for the two week Easter break - Hurrah!!!

To illustrate how little stitching I've done over the past week I had to go hunting for my glasses in my 'Monday quilting bag' last night just to stitch a swimming badge on DD2's swimming towel. I haven't picked up my specs since last Monday - speaks for itself.

Have a good week all of you and I hope to return to Stitching Land on Friday

Mothering Sunday and a breath of summer

Over in the US and on mainland Europe (well certainly France) mothers are honoured with their own special day sometime during May.

However here in the UK we mark the second Sunday in Lent (yesterday) as Mothering Sunday. Originally apparently this was the Sunday that everyone went back to their Mother Church, but over the years it has come to denote Mother's Day as well.

I was woken yesterday morning with a cup of tea in bed and some lovely gifts and cards from the kids.

The rest of the family had asked me earlier in the week what I'd like to do. My only request was a roast dinner cooked without me having to enter the kitchen - the weather for the day was destined to be very cold and windy so a walk on the Quantocks up behind our house didn't have quite the same appeal as if it had been mild and sunny like earlier in the week.

So I was happy enough to spend the day in the comfy chair in the conservatory stitching and reading while the rest of the family looked after the kitchen. A phone call to my own mum was slotted in later in the afternoon too.

Finally a roast pork dinner in the evening completed the day - lovely!

Today I've been busy stitching my four summer blocks for my 'four seasons' block swap and will post them off in the next day or two. I've picked the 'paths and stiles' block from Quilters Cache and used a lovely 'sweet pea' fabric for the centre - just right for summer.

Tomorrow and Wednesday will see me putting in two very full days at work grafting away with my finance officer working out the school's budget for the next twelve months. If I have any brain left after that it will be a miracle - wish me luck and some extra grey matter!

International Quilting Day - Taunton style

Well here we have the net result of all those plaits from yesterday - Wild Hair or what?!?!?

She loves it though - mad child :o)

As no doubt the vast majority of you are aware today is International Quilting Day. This isn't something that has hit the same celebratory dizzy heights here in the UK as over there in America. However when, about nine months ago, I suggested to our Monday evening speaker group that we maybe should consider an event to mark the day it was met with pockets of enthusiasm.

The net result of the suggestion and a huge amount of effort and organisation by Lin (another member of the group) was a lovely day for about 20 of us.

A local hall was hired, copious quantities of fabric and wadding amassed from people's generous donations and about two dozen children's lap size quilts was the outcome.

Lots of us didn't even know each other well enough to say hello to at the group so today was a wonderful way to get to know each other a little better.

The recipients of the quilts will be the children who, through no fault of their own, end up arriving at the local Women's Refuge, often in the middle of the night with only the clothes they stand up in, generally as a direct result of horrific domestic violence.

As the co-ordinator from the refuge said these little quilts will mark the start of their new life giving them something soft and cuddly with no previous history or memories. A real loving hug!

Here's mine - I've spent the evening hand stitching the binding in front of the tv - Today's simple piecing and quilting has made a welcome change from Spencer's Stars which is now about two thirds quilted.

Red Nose Day!

Some years ago here in the UK a group of comedians got together to raise money for needy causes both here at home in Britain and in Africa. This event was christened 'Comic Relief' and the public were encouraged to wear red noses and do funny things to raise lots of cash.

Over the years this has been thoroughly adopted into the British calendar as 'Red Nose Day' and usually falls on the Friday nearest St. Patrick's Day in March. The BBC host a huge tv marathon all evening and encourage people to ring in and donate.

Lots of schools hold non-uniform days and the kids pay a 'fine' to dress up or wear their own clothes or silly hair do's or all three.

Here are my two youngest who have to wear something too big for them and have silly hair! Their elder sister just had to wear her own clothes so did not look quite as ridiculous.

Thank goodness it's only once a year - it took me the best part of an hour this morning to put all those plaits in her hair!

Spencer's Stars - let the quilting begin...........

The 'hessian quilt' has been renamed - 'Spencer's Stars'

And I thought that as it had a proper 'Sunday title' I really ought to get on with the quilting

Here is the result so far.

For both the four leaved clover design and the circle for the basis of the feather ring I used freezer paper gently ironed on and stitched round for the guideline - I have a psychological aversion (probably partly based on bone idleness) to marking quilt tops - I'm always frightened the marking medium won't come out and this method with the freezer paper seemed an ideal solution. I'm sure I'm only reinventing the wheel here and loads of people will have used it before me but on this application it's working well.

I did do the feather loops round the circle freehand.

I was reading the comments left on my last posting about books and it suddenly occurred to me where I'd seen the picture of the books in real life. It's the barrel roofed library in Trinity College, Dublin - this is also place where they hold 'The Book of Kells' an ancient illuminated manuscript. If you ever get the chance to visit you must do so as both the library and the book are very impressive - lots of quilting inspiration there girls! In fact Dublin is a fabulous city to go for a city break.

Right back to a little more stitching before I head off to work.

Are you a book slut?

I'll own up to it - I most definitely am - any time, any place, anywhere.

As a kid I would read the back of the cereal packet at the breakfast table - even now if I'm in the middle of a particularly engrossing tome I have to stop myself from bringing it to the table when eating dinner with the rest of the family.

I came across this meme on Clare's blog

An eclectic list of 100 books - I've only read a quarter of them - as I constantly have a book on the go what have I been reading all these years?

You'll notice I haven't marked any of them in italics - probably because there's absolutely nothing there that actually catches my eye. I also have the uncanny knack of almost immediately forgetting most of what I've read so that I can re-read a book only a few weeks later and most of it seems new to me. Maybe that's why I haven't read many on the list - I've been too busy rediscovering the ones I have read already :o)

Have a go at this - and if you spot any you think I really should have read tell me which one(s) and why........

Look at the list of books below:
Bold the ones you’ve read
Italicize the ones you want to read
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
If you are reading this, tag, you’re it!

The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) - one of my all time favourites

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) - tried and tried but gave up in the end

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)

The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)

Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)

Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)

A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)

Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) - a far finer book than The Da Vinci code

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)

A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)

Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)

Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)

The Stand (Stephen King)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)

The Hobbit (Tolkien)

The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger).

Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold).

Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)

Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte).
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) and the other 6 books in the series – just reread them all yet again

East of Eden (John Steinbeck)

Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)

Dune (Frank Herbert)

The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)

Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)

1984 (Orwell)

The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)

The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) loved this - so different from his usual books

The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)

I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)

The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)

The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)

The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)

Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)

The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)

The Bible – only bits and bobs

Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)

The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)

Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)

The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)

She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)

The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)

Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)

Great Expectations (Dickens)

The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)

The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)

The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)

The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)

The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)

Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)

War and Peace (Tolstoy).
Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)

Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)

One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

Les Miserables (Hugo)

The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)

Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)

Shogun (James Clavell)

The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) tried and tried to get into this but just couldn’t

The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

The World According to Garp (John Irving)

The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)

Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)

Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)

Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck)

Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)

Emma (Jane Austen).

Watership Down (Richard Adams)

Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)

The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)

Blindness (Jose Saramago)

Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)

In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)

Lord of the Flies (Golding)

The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)

The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)

The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)

The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

White Oleander (Janet Fitch)

A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)

The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)

Ulysses (James Joyce)

The real reason for the conservatory!

I will have to be very careful that my DH doesn't find out the ulterior motive for our conservatory.

He thought we had it built to add another sitting room to our house.

I know deep down inside that the 3.5m x 6m floor area was really designed for sandwiching quilts tee hee!!!

You can see from the photo that we have the flooring in place. We've gone for carpet tiles in a mid teal green - my favourite colour and one that follows on from the duck egg blue and deep teal on the walls in the adjoining dining room. The carpet tiles will be practical as we can move them round if they fade and have spares if any meet any particular trauma. Kids/gardens etc - need I say more.

The room is not quite finished as Nigel hasn't fitted the skirting board yet (hence the mitre saw in the background behind the ironing board - from pressing the quilt top and backing - honest!)

We've purchased two chairs like the one in the picture - they are so comfortable, easy to move and not as bulky as normal armchairs. They will be joined by a terracotta bed-settee along that back wall and this along with moving the portable tv in there will complete the picture.

Not the easiest of processes to get it to this stage (what building work ever is?) but now we're almost there it's already worth it's weight in gold - especially for the sandwiching!

Welcome Spencer to God's wonderful world

We've been on tenter hooks since Wednesday in our house.

The birth of the baby to receive the 'natural hessian' quilt (above and still to be sandwiched and quilted) has been on the cards since mum-to-be was taken in with a serious risk of pre-eclampsia.

To cut a long story short after failed attempts to induce it was decided to perform a caesarean section this afternoon for the good of both mum and babe - not necessairily the desired mode of birth but there's alot to be said for a healthy outcome for both parties

My new baby nephew Spencer Ross arrived into this wonderful world at 3.55pm this afternoon weighing in at 7lb 2oz

Here's the closest I shall get to seeing him for a little while as they live at the other end of the country. Apologies for the standard of photo courtesy of my baby brother's mobile phone

So, despite feeling a bit sorry for myself as I've got no chance of getting up there to see him for a few weeks, I'd better get that quilt finished.

On the stitching front I've done another block of my soft and faded applique - inspiration courtesy of Jane's turkey stars

I've also now got all four of the Spring blocks for our four seasons swap so I'd better get a wiggle on and stitch my summer blocks to post out.

Off to stitch then :o)