Well, I can't believe how quickly this year has gone.......
I have been soo busy - quilting and lace making and holidaying and visiting shows.

We went to Spain at the begining of the year, then went to Cornwall and Bath on main holidays. 
The other time we were away from home was when I went to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. I belong to the Quilters Guild and joined the Traditional arm of the Guild last year so have made lots of new friends.  We were asked to make a small quilt on the subject of the Suffragets to be hung behind the Traditional Guild stand at FoQ.  Those quilts were seen by some one who asked if we would allow themn to be taken to an exhibition in Prague....of course it was given...so I have a little quiltlette going to Prague to an exhibition in April , with all the others of course! We will not get these little babies back till September next year as after Prague they are going to the Bramble Patch in Weeden for the whole of August.

Earlier in the year the Thamside Quilt group I belong to asked members to produce a quilt to go into the Grosvenor Exhibition held at Sandown Racecourse in June so I made one..we were then asked if we would allow them to stay with Grosvenor and go round the country to their other exhibitions - of course we would! I should get my quilt back sometime next year.

I finally finished the piece of lace I had on my pillow for over 14 years......it is now waiting to be mounted onto a table cloth....I will do it sometime this next year - promise!  I am now doing small pieces of lace as samples just to remember how to do other types of lace.

I have just prepared and given permission for two quilts to go to an exhibition in a place called Ailsa Craig west of Toronto in Canada.  This is through the Traditional Quilt Guild and they will be on exhibition there in May.  The Quilters Guild are doing all the arrangements to get them there and then home again - all I have to do is get them to the Guild museum in York by the begining of April and collect them at FoQ next August.

 These are the two going to Canada. the top one has had more celtic work added since this picture was taken.

Well, our birthdays are over (end of November for both Brian and I) he is now 81 and I am 78 - where do the years go? (did I say that at the begining of this diatribe)  Christmas has come and gone for another year - the family all came here on Boxing day and we two were exhausted all next day, but I did enjoy seeing them all.  

I hope everyone has a prosperous New Year and I am making one new year resolution I hope to keep and that is to post here more next year. What are you all promising to do?

Happy New year everyone - yes I know I am a little late but it is still January!

We had a quiet christmas spent at our younger daughters house, the children were so absorbed by their new toys that we hardly heard a sound form them..........a first!  New year was spent at home - just each other and the fireworks from the local shopping area to watch from an upstairs window.

I have been busy though - the quilt I stared in September is now finished and just waiting to go to it's new home, after I have let other people see it.

I now have a challenge from Thamesiders to make - we are making hangings about the River to go to Sandown in the summer - I have an idea but have not made a start - I must get going or it will not be ready for March!!
I also have another Jacobs Ladder quilt sandwiched waiting for me to quilt it and a tiny (cot sized) split ninepatch to finish.

I am glad our snow has gone, although it was pretty for a while, but I will not go out in it in case I slip over - don't want broken bones at my age!  Brian did help nextdoors grandchildren build a snow man on our front lawn, and very good he looked too..........but he has now gone along with the snow.

 

 

 

He also had Brians Chelsea football hat on for a while as well as the scarf!  the girl next door made a small dog to sit by his side to keep him company, but I didn't get a very good photo of that.

Catching up - again!

Gosh it's a long time since I last blogged! I have been a busy girl though, I have been making lace and started on a new quilt.
This is just the middle, I have since finished the top and now just have to decide how to quilt, then mark it up  and then to sandwich it etc.
I have lain this top on another quilt that was on the bed and you can see the pattern of my Jacobs ladder quilt through the star quilt! silly me......

The lace has been on the go for several years and I am nearly at the end of it, just a couple of inches more to do.  It is a table cloth edging and I have to find a good piece of linen for the middle.  I have done quite a bit since I took this photo and just have three fans, five small diamond spiders and some ground to do  - you can see a large diamond - that has been done - so just what is below it needs to be made.

Holiday to Cornwall in May

During May this year we took a holiday in Bude in Cornwall.  The weather was kind to us and we were able to do quite a lot of sight seeing.
One of our favourite places is Boscastle and we had a lovely day there, warm enough not to need our coats and no raincoats either!

A few years ago they had a terrible flood that devastated the village, washing away a lot of the houses and many cars and caravans that were parked in the car park further up the hill.


                                                                                   Since then  a lot of rebuilding has taken place and the pub at the bottom of the hill has had to have a lot of work done on it.  This building is the National Trust information area and they tell the story of the flood and the rebuilding of Boscastle, 
 some of the buildings were many centuries old and one in particular was almost destroyed and was rebuilt using the stone from the old building and is now a lovely little cafe. Other buildings were  wshed away altogether!

 We discovered these RHS gardens about 15miles from where we were staying, Rosemore is in a sheltered vally with wooded sides, and is the most amazing new garden with lots to interest everyone. Lots of formal 'room' gardens as well as large well manicured lawns and specimen trees and a lake , lots of shade and seating for a hot days viewing!  If we go back to this area I will certainly visit it again.

This is part of the beach at Bude - it is very large and the sea goes out a long way leaving pools for the little ones to play in - this day was very hot and as you can see those that were on the beach at lunchtime put up shelters for some shade. A very safe beach for small children to play and explore, but just round the headland there is a sea water bathing pool for those who want to swim when the tide is out.

Some finished UFO's

 Before I took on the whole cloth quilt that my friend Margaret had startd I had started a couple of quilts - one to hand applique and quilt and one to do by machine.  The red/pink one here was started as an alternative design for my daughter Sarah - she chose the pink quilt show you before - the one with all the applique flowers round the borders!

 This is the quilt I started for myself and I have done the centre and corners and all the little circles in applique an the rest was machined.  This quilt was had quilted as I have to have something to do when I am at group meetings and when I 'watch' tv.  It was from an Australian
magazine and was on the front cover - I had never made the clamshell pattern before and was just going to make that but I got carried away! The quilt was originally in lavender and yellows and as it was going to my quilt I made it colours I like .


This corner shows some of the quilting before I had finished the quilt and given it a wash to get rid of the blue marking lines.

Someone challenged me to make a quilt top using only the scraps from my other quilts! So here we have a Pandora's box quilt made from the left over binding strips of other quilts! I always use two and a half inch bindings  so this was quick and easy to make.  A jelly roll would make it too........

These cushions are from a kit I bought at Festival of Quilts last year from 'The Bramble Patch' and finished in April.

I also bought this bag pattern from The Bramble Patch - but the year before and finally made this in April too.  So quite a month for finishing things.

                                                                       

Postcard displayer!

While the Nation celebrated the Queens Jubilee with a long holiday, I went (with some very special friends) to a Quilting Retreat held by a lovely couple Kate and David Ranson, called Come to Quilt is the name of their business and it is in the heart of the country near Taunton Somerset. This lovely couple looked after us superbly! the meals were to die for..and Kate allowed us to 'do our own thing' but also gave us a project to do 'if we wanted to'.  I didn't manage to finish mine at the time and told Kate that I would post a picture of it when I did (after my trip to Canada for three week which followed ).
So Kate here is my 'Post card display hanging'? I have added some of the postcards I have had sent to me over the years and the one I did 'in class', I know that a couple of them are Christmas ones but theyfitted the pockets well.

A work shop with Ferret

I was fortunate to be able to take a work shop with Ferrett, I vowed I would finish the work and to prove that I have here are some pictures of it.  I have used a piece of space dyed Batik and many different threads to fill the spaces made by the star pattern, some are metalics and some are rayon and some are valdani varigated threads.  I really enjoyed 'playing' wit this piece.  Thanks Ferrett for giving me 'permission' to play.  This work was finished sometime in January 2011.

Margaret's Quilt

In the spring last year a dear friend died, she was a quilter like me and she had a quilt on 'the go' when she passed.  This quilt was a commission for another friend who wanted it as a  Wedding pressie for her Grandson and his new Bride - she would give it to them when they came home from Afghanistan at Christmas.  I volunteered to finish this hand quilted whole cloth quilt.  Margaret had started in the center (as you do) and had done two of the motifs. I had the quilt by June and quilting every day for about 3 hours a day I finished the quilt  at the begining of December. 

Begining again!

I showed you the beggining of this challenge quilt last year - here it is finished - well almost - I have added double circles of brown applique to the corners of the quilt to try and balance it out a bit .  Better get it out of the cupboard and take another photo of it I suppose.  Each of the borders were dictated to us by the Thameside Quilt group,  one border every two months.First the width of the border then what style of patchwork then a 'special' requirement.  The last border was to be 13" wide with curves and the special requirement was lof cabin! they are in the corners..........

I have promised friends that I will restart this blog, they keep coming to look (they say!) and I haven't put anything in it! So here we go:- to start with there will be just a record of the quilts I have made since I last posted and then maybe more about me and the family and what we get up to!
Ok I've made a start - more tomorrow I hope!

Finished at last!

I thought that, those of you who look at my blog sometimes, would like to see that I have finished the quilt I started last summer (2010).  It will go to my yougest daughter Sarah at the begining of March, for her birthday.  This is Sarah and her Husband Gary at a party we all went to in Swanley Kent at the begining of this month, to celebrate a neice's  60th birthday.

Progress

Remember the quilt I am making? Well I have finished the applique and have now added the borders to the center.  I have sourced the white 80/20 Hobbs heirloom wadding I wanted, in the size I wanted - a whole piece just the size I need , so I don't have to piece it - great! .  I bought the backing fabric - a white on white small flower design - at the Quilt Show at Sandown in June and that now needs to be pieced - quite a mammoth job and I have to feel like doing it.......! BUT the fun starts here! how do I quilt it? what designs shall I do - feathers? straight lines? in the ditch? cross hatching?  - I think I will spread the top on the spare bed and leave it there for a couple of days and wait till it tells me what it wants me to do!

Thamesiders challenge 'Add a Border' quilt.

In the mean time I have gone back to the Thamesiders challenge 'Add a Border' quilt........this next border must be 13" wide, be curved or woven in style and have a special requirement of log cabin! Help............!
I thought perhaps twisted log cabin for the corners - a block of four in each, but I can't make my mind up what to do for the sides of the border - I think log cabin all round would be too heavy a pattern, besides being an awful lot of work...... I have thought of Celtic trails, or swags, or large and small clamshells  in three colours - what do you think? 13" is such a wide inner border and I don't want to make it too fussy.........I will show you what I have done at a later date - when the brain has got it's self into gear and told me what to do.  I have just realized that this picture does not have all the borders on it that I have made - just added an updated piccie.  The Suffolk puffs (yo yo's) are only pinned in place  in case the next border was a complicated one and the top was begining to look too busy.

Third border in place - with pinned on Suffolk puffs.

A horrid day - so far!

This morning I have had to go to the dentist - I hate the dentist!  Himself  had to come with me to hold my hand - you would never believe that I am a grown up great grandmother by the way I have quaked today at just the thoughts of this visit!  I hate impressions and that is what today has been all about...........I'm such a whimp!
Thank goodness the rest of the day is a fun day - sewing with friends this afternoon and lace making with others this evening.  To morrow I will be exhausted - but at least I will not be having nightmares about a dentist chair tonight! and I can sleep in -  if Himself doesn't wake me while getting up to go Earlybird swimming at the local pool.

SewingGranny sews........

Sarah's first quilt

I have been asked to show a friend what I have been sewing lately, so here are a few photo's - sorry if they are wobbly but it is breezy today.   This is the beginnings of a quilt for my youngest daughter, she and her DH have moved at last into the new bedroom they had built onto their house last year and she wants to change her colour scheme from blue to pink.  This is going to be a big quilt to fit their king sized bed. The borders are still to be finished - as you can see there are only three here  - one more to go.......then I have to attach them to the main part and applique the corners.  Then the next lot of fun starts with the sandwiching and the quilting -I shall quilt on my Bernina of course - my hands can't cope with hand quilting any longer....and although I would love to have a frame to put my machine on to it is never going to happen - htey cost too much! so the diningroom will be taken over while I have the machine downstaires on my table in my dining room  and with the help of the ironing board I will manage to support this monster!

Photos of our holiday in Cornwall in May this year.

St Ive's on a lovely sunny day - May day               celebrations made the town very full - lots going on - a parade along the harbour wall by the scouts and girlguides and other groups all marching to a brass band.   

A trip to Mousehole is always a must for us, we find it a facinating village. Himself always like to walk over the cliffs to Lamorna and back again but this year he and only walked to Lamorna with our son-in-law and then was driven back to Moushole as he has been so very ill this last winter.

                                                                

    The gardens a Cothele are always a delight and this year was no exception, the flowers all seemed to be making it up for our hard winter and gve us a spectacular display.  The daffodils under the trees in the orchards were amazing - so many different tyoes and colours.

                                                                                     St Micheals Mount is another must for us - we have been going there for so many years that we almost know every stone up to the castle - even knowing under which one the Giant's heart is buried!          

                                                                                                    

The gardens at Trevarno were a delight this year - the flowers amazing! and the bluebell woods ! well I don't think I have ever seen so many flowers there. This peacock was displaying to anyone who would stop and watch him, be you a peahen or not

Bluebells at Trevano gardens

Quilt times

Quilt Times has a book to give away - a nice looking Christmas projects book from Martingales.  Go and have a look, you may be the lucky winner, you never know but if you are not in it, you can't win it! 

Holiday in Cornwall - part one

We have just come back from a very cold weeks holiday in Cornwall.  We find travelling all that way in one go a bit too much these days so we stopped off in Devon for a couple of nights first.  We found a delightful Bed and Breakfast place in Lydford (we never book a B&B in case we need to stop earlier and you can always find something somewhere ). This one was on a farm where they have some rare breeds and some ordinary animals but not a hugh farm with hundreds of cows and sheep.  The farmers wife ran the B&B and she was so hospitable that we are keeping her telephone number with a view to going there again.  She kept the chickens and geese and we were served fresh eggs for our breakfast - you can certainly tell hte difference from the super market ones.
While staying there we did a bit of nostalgia visiting - we used to camp in the area when the children were small and haven't visited for years, so we had to go and look at the church on the top of Brent Tor and the Cross on another Tor and of course we had to go down Lydford Gorge to see the White Lady falls.
While visiting Tavistock, a little way away I found a very nice patchwork and quilting shop near the Pannier Market and of course I bought a few things in there!
For another nostalgia trip we visited Morwhellan Quay - oh dear I wsh we hadn't - when we took the children many years ago now - it was a busy tourist attraction with the Quay working and all the assosiated trades and shops around and all the people wearing costumes of a bygone era - it is now nearly derelict - nothing working and no one there, so sad !

Cothele house and terrace garden.                                             Some of the Rhodedendrons   

Looking from the terrace over the vally gardens to the viaduct and across the moors.   

 So we went to have a look at a National  Trust property called Cothele over the border in Cornwall - it was the wrong day to be able to go in the house but the gardens were glorious! the Rhoddies and Azalias were in full bloom and looked superb! We had a nice lunch in the 'inn on the Quay' and walked round the gardens in the warm sunshine.  A great day out in the end.