Rain and more rain

What a dreadful weekend - so much rain. The garden I took a delight in a couple of days ago is looking very bedraggled! I admit that we did need the rain but not a months in one go.

This morning we had a frantic call from our youngest daughter - she and her family are having an extension built on the back of the house to enlarge the dinning room (that is a small one story extension already) and give them a fourth bedroom with an en-suite upstairs.

The builders have reached the stage where the roof and ceiling came off the extisting extension a few days ago and they are now almost at roof level with their brick work. There is a large sheet of board between the kitchen and the original extension for security and to day the rain was pouring through the building work and seeping under this board and flooding the kitchen.

We went armed with mop and bucket - wellies and raincoats - and a huge bundle of old towels!

Son-in-law had gone to the local building merchants and bought some sacks that soak up water and swell (a bit like a building nappie) and had placed them at the bottom of the security board - and they were working - hooray!

Husband and Son-in-law went up the scaffolding armed with a large roll of black plastic sheeting and proceeded to lay it on the the rafters, holding it down with breeze blocks. Hopefully this will stop any more rain getting in to the house!

Being out in the rain has not done my Husband any favours - he has a sore throat and is now feeling quite poorly! I think this has been 'cooking' for a couple of days and now it is really making it's mark felt. We will see how he is tomorrow.

The fact that I can't get out into the garden has had one good thing - I have done a lot of sewing on the quilt going into the Festival of Quilts, and it looks as though I am on schedule to finish it by the middle of June.

Here are the piccies of the flowers in my garden - all we need now is the sun so we can sit out and enjoy them.

Cleaning and gardening

Brian has started cleaning the van roof to clear all the petals and dirt.......it is a difficult thing to do as our tallest ladder isn't quite tall enough, he uses a broom head on a long handle to reach the middle but where the skylights are needs special treatment so he has erected a scaffold in side to climb on. He finished it after about an hour and said he will clean the sides another day.....he was bushed!

I have been trying to do some gardening today - the border under the window in the front of the house has so many weeds in it - I have half filled the compost bin! and digging it over has been hard , because it doesn't get much rain on it the ground was like a rock! The shrubs that are there are doing well and need a bit of tidying up - I know it's the wrong time to prune but they were so untidy! the back garden is looking lovely - a lot of the shrubs there are in flower, and we even have a bonus from next door with a clematis growing through the fence - Brian was all for cutting it down but I asked him to wait till the free flower display was over.

Wanderers return

The show at Malvern was not very busy early on Thursday morning but became busier as the day went on. There didn't seem to be as many quilts as usual - at least not in the Marquee - I wonder if everyone now waits till August and puts their quilt in Festival of Quilts show? I enjoyed what I saw - there were some spectacular quilts and some more ordinary one (the ones I could acheive if I wanted to) The overall winner was based on 'the tents of Cairo', and was beautifully appliqued and quilted.

I had a nice meeting with Sew-Ali on Saturday lunchtime and we showed each other our purchases, and gossiped and gossiped an gossiped! (nearly didn't go back to the show) - I had bought a Moda Jelly Roll in browns and oranges and the book from the Quilt room in Dorking to help me with ideas on how to use it. I also signed up for a block of the month with Antique Angels to make a teddybear quilt for Grandaughter Emily, for when she goes into her 'big bed' next year, she has nearly outgrown her cot.

We brought the van home on Monday - had a little bother getting it on our drive as the guy opposite had parked his lorry opposite our house again! (a big irritant in our cul-de-sac) but we managed in the end. Now to clean it.......we had parked it under a May tree! with a willow close by - the petals and pollen from both trees is all over the van - in the vents and stuck to the roof!

I have managed to clean the dead flies from the front (you kill hundreds while travelling and they stick real hard!) but the roof will have to be Brians job - I just can't reach - not even with our high ladder!

Our trip home in the middle of the week was intersesting - Brian thought he would be just dismissed by the Consultant - but no! he gave Brian an ECG and wants hime to have a CT scan and other stuff done - but we have to go to Charing cross hospital for one of the tests. We have the appointments for the begining of July. He seems fine in himself but I think his memory isn't as good as it was - little things - you know! Looks like we are going to have a busy summer................

Travelling again

We have packed the van again and taken it to a CL near Upton on Severn because I want to go to the Malvern Quilt show again - I think this is the best of the small shows and sets the standard for the others during the year.


We took the van away yesterday but are home again (minus van) because DH has to go to the hospital in the morning - 8am to be precise! it will take us over an hour to get there in the morning traffic!! I shall be glad when this appointment is over then we will know more about his TIA and what to expect in the future - as this is his second one in 18 months it is quite likely that he will have more, but will they get worse? what do we do about them? how can we stop them happening?


The site we are on is not large and is some ones very large garden, so we have a lot of contact with the owner, a nice man, retired as we are and who will make sure our empty van is OK over night.

Our younger daughter also has had to go to the hospital this week - she had a breast reduction last October and has gone for a check up - but - she also has a decision ot make - does she go under the knife again or not - the surgeon thinks he could have made them smaller for her - he wanted to take her down to a 32 D or DD but has only gone as far as a 32 G which is much better than her previous measurement of 32 K......When I phoned her she said that she had told him that she would leave them as they are - I'm glad - the thought of her having more surgery was too much for this Mother! I know she is 40 but she is still the last of my children and is still my baby!

I promise that I will take lots of photos of the quilt show and I will show general veiws but not individual quilts and those of you that I meet at at some later date I will show the quilt photos.

Baby sitting and granchildren - etc

This has been a very busy weekend for me. Firstly I was left on my own while DH went and helped our eldest son change his bathroom suite. I had all the shopping to on my own - not what I am used to - but I managed. It took a long while because they shop are having a revamp and I had difficulty finding they things I wanted! Then I went in the evening to babysit for my greatgrandson while my grand-daughter went out on a date with a new fella she met a few days ago - he took her out for dinner and I sat and sewed while James slept! he didn't wake up for a cuddle with Gran Gran and Mummy came home just before midnight!

While I was out shopping, Son number one was trying to phone me - the mobile doesn't work in Sainsbury's for some reason! DH had been taken ill - had a funny turn - as they say! Good job our Daughter-in-law is a Nurse cos she looked after him and then made sure he was OK before bringing him home. She advised a quiet weekend - so that was what he had! made to sit and watch the football and snooker all weekend - with me and his eldest sister waiting on him - poor boy!

Yesterday afternoon (bank holiday) we had lunch at our youngest daughters home - it was such a lovely day that we had it in her garden. It was very wet underfoot after all the rain we have had the past few weeks that the littlies had their wellies on and we were careful where we walked!
It was so hot that Joshua and Emily had water play and the garden became even more soggy in parts and they became so wet that their clothes came off and they were left with just their wellies on! Wish I had taken my camera - they did look so funny........

DH has been to the Doc this morning and has been told he has had a TIA and that an appointment for the TIA clinic will be made for him, but that he can carry on just as he was doing, cycling, swimming, gardening etc and helping the children with their projects but to remember he is 75 not 25 and act accordingly!.

I am expecting youngest daughter to come and cut my hair this afternoon - I am begining to look like a shaggy dog! I hope she does come - then I can tell her how Daddy got on - I can never get hold of her on her phones.........and I hate leaving messages , I always wonder if she actually heard it!

Catching up

Above is the quilt going to FoQ in Aug. and next to that is my sister Gill.


This is our great grandson Louey, visting Gran Gran

Brian playing with some new friends.

Since I last posted we have been away with the caravan to Newhaven E. Sussex. The object was to make sure the van was OK for a trip to Malvern and to enable me to see my young sister!

We had some good weather and some rain, the site we went on was not full so we (himself) had a lot room to play!!! and he also found some friends to play with!

My sister was very well - we have had cause to be concerned about her over the last couple of years, she had a stroke and then an adverse reaction to medication, but she seems to have rebuilt her life and is enjoying it. She looks after her grandaughter a lot which means that her daughter checks up on my sister every day and is only a phone call away if needed.

Since we have come home I have been trying to do a lot of quilting on the quilt going onto the Festival of Quilts in August. It is slow going as I am hand quilting and my fingers are hurting due to arthritis. It is not going to put me off finishing though - I am aiming to be finished by the end of May. I have also started sewing Lady of the Lake patches made from the fabric I won at last years show, they are begining to look good - I have used just the orangey shades so far but i may include the green ones - I won every shade of fabric that Oakshott do in their 'shott' range, they are lovely altogether in the box and it seemed a shame to split them up, but they must be used!

My eldest daughter came visiting yesterday and brought her little grandson to see me - he's going to be a charmer - just like his Daddy. I couldn't believe how much he has grown since I last saw him - then he was only trying to walk and now he is running all over the place.

I still haven't got the hang of this blogging lark - now my pictures are all over the place!