Well, we have had a super Chrismas! Youngest Daughter Sarah made her house available for us all to gather in and we each took something for the meal. There was just one missing from the whole family and that was my eldest Grandchild Terry - he decided to spend it with his girlfriend and their baby son Louey. So we sat fourteen down for dinner.

Sarah has had a new extension built and the family gathered in there before and after dinner - she can seat us all.......it is that big! and what is usually their sitting room became the dining room - it worked very well, but a lot of furniture moving - we have to go and collect our dining room chairs later today - and my shoes - we just could not find them when we were leaving - so I came home in my slippers!

I got what I wanted from my Secret Santa - the dvd of Mama Mia - which I watched yesterday afternoon while the boys were all watching Chelsea win in the freezing cold.

Nativities

After a super holiday in the Lakes with my eldest daughter and her friend we have come down with a bump. Our birthdays are over and now we must prepare for Christmas......the time of the infant school and playgroup Nativity plays is upon us! Yesterday we went to our youngest Grandson's nativity play at his school and today we went to see our youngest grandaughters one in the Church. Joshua's one was good but Joshua was a sheep and we think he thought that precluded him from doing anything else in the play! he did not want to join in anything else -even th singing of songs he knew. On the other hand Emily this morning sung her little heart out with all the songs she had learnt, and played her part of an Angel well.

This afternoon Jackie brought the youngest of the family -her grandson Louie -to visit Gran-Gran and Great Grandad, he has grown since I last saw him and he was only just toddling, now he is going up and down stairs on his own. Next thing will be going to see him in his Nativity play when he is old enough to go to playgroup I suppose! We didn't manage to go to our other Great grandson's nativity as it clashed with Joshua's so his Mummy has bought a DVD of it and we will see him in that - probably get a better view of that than we did of Emily's this morning.

Holidays

The bags are packed - jast last minute things to do to night and we are on our way to Cumbria! We have taken a time share place quite close to my friends, so hope to catch up wth them sometime during the week! Brian is very pleased with the work done on his car and is very glad to have it back in time to go North. It was delivered late yesterday afternoon.......Brian checked all the light connections to the caravan before he would let the delivery guy go.
Jackie and her friend Sue are coming with us - there are three bedrooms in our apartment, so plenty of room for two girls and all their junk! I did ask Jackies DH to join us but he has used his holiday time this year.......ah well I am trying to get those two together again! So Sue is coming to keep Jackie sane - her words! and let us old foggies go and do our own thing while they do theirs.....
We have packed our cold weather gear and walking boots - don't know how much of that I will do - my ankles are playing up and when I went to London the walking round Leicester Sq and Piccadilly was very painful! I will have to see......but I shall take my sewing and my art stuff....I'll be fine while everyone else walks.
Brian is busy making a big batch of marmalade - he loves making this and his own specail recipe......while I have been making a top from the patches I bought of the charity table at Thamesiders on Monday - they are just simple stars but some I have unpicked and remade - some with different fabrics in the middle - now they are a cohesive whole and I think the top will work well.

thank-you's and quilts

When Jackie came in yesterday evening she brought me a thank you card from my Grandaughter and Great-grandson - apparently he loves the Caterpiller quilt I made for him! (no picture of him with the quilt - yet!)
He had helped Mummy to write the card by drawing on it - his version of an ice cream which spilled out all over the inside of the card! guess it's his idea of of something nice - ice cream!

This little lad has chicken pox - and has been very spotty, I have steered clear of him while he was in the infectious stage - I don't really want to run the risk of Shingles this near to going to Cumbria! but I have kept up with the progress of this infection! we will baby sit this afternoon while Mummy, Aimee, baby sits Jackies little charge (she is Nanny to two little girls , one goes to nursery and one stays home), while she goes to have a a mamogram. Complicated arrangement I know but Jackies charge is very uncertain of people she doesn't know very well and would probably have screamed from the time that Jackie left her till the time she came back. She is about 18 months old by the way! and although she has come visiting us occasionally she doesn't know us well.

On Monday evening I took cousin Dorothy and my friend Sue to our quilt meeting - we belong to Thameside Quilters - and on Monday we had a talk by Gill Turley on 'Something old Something new' where she told us about the quilts she makes from reclaimed fabrics - mainly mens shirts.
She had some lovely quilts with her and I wish I had taken my camera because she was allowing photos.....some of the quilts have been in books (Quick quilts to be made in a weekend, is one of the books.) so I have been able to have a look again at some of the quilts. She used to hand quilt with tiny stitches but these days (with failing eyesight - she says!) she now uses larger stitches and thicker yarns.......these quilts are beautiful and so soft and cuddly.

I was glad I took Dorothy, it was the first real outing since her mastectomy two weeks ago. She was begining to get a bit down from staying at home all the time - she is like Brian and likes to be 'out and doing ' and although she was tired when I dropped her off at her home she said she had a nice evening. She goes to the hospital to see the surgeon again today - and hopes that they will remove the last of the dressings. The plasters irritate her skin.

boys!

What a busy day today! Firstly Jackie arrives almost for breakfast with her grandson Louie - he is a darling, walking very well now and knows what he wants.....and holds great long conversations in a language no one can understand - but seems to mean something!

Then Kevin comes in for lunch - he has borrowed my KA for the last 10 days and gave it back ot me yesterday - he wanted to re-fill the tank but Tesco had no fuel yesterday so he is going to do it after lunch. We had barely finished when Stuart came with Charlotte - who I have not seen for a couple of months - she is now taller than me and growing to be a beauty and at 13 is very self assured.

The lads stay most of the afternoon, so Charlotte and I had some nice girly time together - looking at fabrics - for some reason that I didn't find out she wants some leopard print fabric - I told her that there was none in my stash, but she looked any way! she showed me her Beebo blog and told me how to get into it - I always learn something new from her.

The boys have now all gathered at Stuarts house to watch the Chelsea away game against West Brom. so I have the house to myself for a while - I have made Brian promise to take me out for a meal when he comes home.

Bigggg quilt top

This is one pattern from the quilt top I found this morning, the whole quilt is shown at the bottom of the picture.

Each block is about 15" square! and as you can see there are 12 and they are set on point ! So a very large top - too large for me to cart around to meetings......It is one of the Piece of Cake designs and I loved putting it together even this block with all those little circles - the instructions were so easy to follow.

I have found something smaller to take to meetings - it is a lap size quilt and with simple quilting it will be easy to do while nattering (picture another day)

Dh is complaining his neck is painful and put him off his snooker game this afternoon - even with pain killers - hope it doesn't last like this for long, poor love!

On Thursday last week some stupid boy did this damage to our car .... DH was waiting at a junction on a roundabout and a lad in a Landrover hit him! DH says it's a pity that it wasn't an ordinary saloon car cos our tow bar would have caused him a lot of damage!

The car has just been collected by the repairers and taken away and now we are wiating for a hire car!

Dh is fine except for whiplash......he went to see the Doc this morning as he has had an uncomfortable wekeend - the pain didn't start till late Friday - apparently this is normal. So now he is on Ibruprofen to reduce the inflamation...... if it's not one thing in this household at the moment it's another!

Having finished the Caterpiller quilt I am hunting for something to do - looking through some boxes I came across a quilt top I finished a long while ago - it needs quilting - but it's hugh - I need something to do by hand when I am at my groups afternoon meeting.......but is this to big to handle? when laid on my bed it almost touches the ground on three sides! I know it needs doing but it's going to be a long time in the doing! Going to see what else besides hexagons I cna find.....I'll let you know later what I find!

another finished quilt

I have finally finished 'The Hungry Caterpiller' quilt . The label is sewn on and it is now with my Great grandson James. I gave it to my daughter Jackie to give to him so I don't know how it has been recieved - ah well......I expect I will find out soon. Ihad great fun making this and am looking forward to making Joshua's one.

On Friday I went to London with the group of ladies that I sew with on a Wednesday afternoons, we went to see Mumma Mia at the theatre in Piccadilly. We had our lunch at Garfunkles in Leicester Square, then had a wander round an arcade and were in our seats by 4:45pm - what a great show - if you ever have the opportunity of seeing this show do so! It was great fun, a little cheeky but still fun. We arrived back home about 9:30pm - very tired but we had a good day out. I think I would now like to go and see the cinema production - just to compare the two.

This and That

We have yet another dull, cloudy damp day here so I am spending it indoors sewing....I am making a quilt for my Grandson James - this is James playing in the garden during the summer this year. He is three and loves worms and creepy crawlies just like all boys and I found a caterpiller for him - he was facinated by the way it crawled - "not like a worm Gran Gran" !

So - when I saw the caterpiller fabric from Makeower I just had to have it - I found it at FoQ this summer and bought it from Patchwork Corner, they had done a pack of matching fabrics and they also had some lovely fabric for the back of the quilt. Well it is nearly finished - photo later! I have enjoyed making this quilt, it has been such fun, that I have ordered more of the fabrics to make another for grandson Joshua who is five. I already have a quilt (BOM) that I am making for his sister Emily so when they are both ready I will give them to them. This will probably be after Christmas as the BOM doesn't finish till February - so perhaps they will be ready for Joshua's birthday at the end of that month. We will see........

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Catch-up

Gosh what a long time since I last posted anything here!

So much has happened over the 'Summer' that I can't remember most of it - we seemed to be at a lot of quilt shows and on many motorways towing the caravan for most of it.

I think that we have had a good summer even if the weather hasn't been that grand! Too much rain and not enough sun for my liking! and now we are into winter (should really be Autumn!) This picture was taken last Tuesday evening - it then snowed all night and we woke to about 3" of the stuff! It was soooo cold that it didn't go away for 3 days.

All the leaves are now off the tree in the garden - first it turned a super red then the gales blew all the leaves off.......and now the frost has 'done for' the begonias, geraniums and fushias!

Went and had a mamography last week and am glad to report that I am fine, this was triggered by cousin Dorothy having one done the week before and being told that she has cancer.......she has now been into hospital and had her breast removed and all hte cancer with it - they took some of the lymph nodes too - just be sure. They were so quick with her surgery that she really didn't have much time to think about it at all. She should be home from hospital by now - she is being looked after by her daughter.

Cumbria here we come!

Well - we are ready for the off again - the van is packed with summer clothes, winter clothes and walking boots........not that I am planning to walk up and down fells.......but himself likes a walk!

We are hoping to leave here about 9am in the morning but first He has an exam to get over! he is sitting an accountancy exam this evening - no I don't know why he's doing it! because he can I suppose!

I don't know how long it will take us to get to our destination as we will stop when the driver gets tired and start again when he has rested - no he doesn't let me drive him! and I have never towed the van!..........If we were not towing it would take about 4 1/2 hours at approx 70mph - with the van - who knows?

Mrs Bilbo I will phone you when we have arrived at our destination to let you know we are safe and well and perhaps to make arrangements for Thursday - OK? I'm really looking forward to seeing what you have been doing to that garden of yours, and to meeting your other half againand of course 'the Hairy one'.

Quilts and visits and gardens

I just had to show you these photos - Jackie came with her other grandchild Louey, they stayed while he had his lunch and played for a while - now htey have gone to meet up with Jackies other grandson to go to the park and play on th swings. I haven't see Louey for a month and he has grown so much and is much more steady on his feet.

This morning, before I did anything else I finished sewing on the hanging sleeve to 'Swan Song' aka 'that Purple thing' ! It has now been washed in cold water to remove the blue marking and is under covers on the patio drying. Himself thought it would dry quicker if I removed the top sheet - NO! I don't want the birds pooping on it!

It is a lovely warm day - not too sunny and the patio slabs are warm.

While waiting for the quilt to dry I took a look at the garden - lots of the flowers I have previously shown have gone over. The rain spoilt most of them, but look what nature has done - others are opening! The hollyhocks must have loved all that rain because they have grown so much in a week. These ones are a pale yellow - so pale they are almost white. I used to have such a lot of hollyhocks all sorts of colours from seeds I purloined from a garden near to the university that my niece went to in Watford. Over the years the others have died off but I still have some of the original seed so I may try planting them again.

Yesterday we went to see how our youngest daughters new extension is getting on - as you can see they nearly have the roof on - so no more fear of water invasion! It was such a lovely afternoon that we had tea in the garden and just as we were about to start more visitors arrived - my Eldest daughter, her daughter and grandson! The littlies have a whale of a time playing together - There is a large trampoile in the garden, a large shed (as a wendy house) and this large climbing frame, swings and slide ! Emily's

hair is so fine that when she sat to put her shoes on again after jumping around for a while, it all stuck to the netting surrounding the trampoline.

The garden has a load of rubbish still to be cleared from the build - the old walls were being moved to a skip but I think that this weekend will see Brian using his car and trailer to move stuff to the local tip . On Sunday the new walls are to be painted to match the rest of the house (magnolia) and I expect we will all be involved in that as the scaffolding is coming down next week and the painting will be easier if it's not done from a ladder!

Sunshine at last

What a difference a bit of sunshine does to us! i was really depressed on Tuesday when it di nothing but rain all day, but yesterday and again this morning the sun is shining and I feel better!

I have finished sewing on the binding on 'the purple thing' now renamed 'Swan Song' as I think this will be the last quilt I hand quilt - my fingers are so painful today after sewing the binding on and I still have a hanging sleeve to do and a label. I had hoped that I might wash the quilt today but I think it will have to be tomorrow as I have to go and have my eyes tested this morning, so don't really have the time it needs to do a good job.

Yesterday we managed to clean the rest of the outside of the caravan - it was really dirty after two trips away and we are off again next week - going to see a friend! so must make sure it's looking smart! VBG. Now to get the vaccie inside and then restock the fridge etc and we will we ready to go on Wednesday - 320 miles will take us about 7 - 8 hours I think. The AA say that the journey should take 5:30 hours but that is for a car and with no stops, a caravan is not allowed to go over 60 mph so it will take longer just for the journey and Himself needs to stop every 2 hours or so. We hope to leave about 9am (after the neighbours have all gone to work so that we have room to manouver the van) and arrive at our destination approx 4pm.

Really looking forward to this trip - we have found a nice camp site on the opposite side of the valley to our friend in a place called Brigham nr Cockermouth. It is an adult only site and is on the site of a farm fisheries - so should be interesting! Fresh fish for supper? who knows.

Strange things in the compost!

I knew that these were the only things growing in the green house, as they have self sown themselves from last years plants. BUT!

Well! Really! - I went to put the kitchen waste into the compost bin (usually himself's job) and see what I found - I wonder if there will be anything at the bottom of the bin for me?

We have not been doing much in the way of gardening this year - to many trips away! We have managed to keep the grass mown and the weeds pulled but we have not put the greenhouse to use this year - perhaps it's just as well - we had so many tomatos last year that we didn't know what to do with them all - Ok I made soup and pickles and froze some whole (for caseroles) but there are only so many that you can manage to eat.

I have been doing so much sewing that the tops of my fingers are quite sore but I have at last finished the quilting and am now nearly finished putting the binding on ( I have sewn the hanging sleeve in with the binding this time) now for a label and it is ready for festival of Quilts in August! (this is another reason for not having grown any veg). I must now chose a fine day and wash the quilt to remove all the blue marker pen - when that is done I will take another photo and show you all how it looks.

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!

NOOOOOOOO!

This template has run all my paragraphs into one - will have to find out why!

Changes

As you can see I have been 'playing' ! I didn't like the fact that the writing was just down the middle and I didn't like the fact that my paragraphs were ignored and then all ran into one another! We will see how this one goes for a while - don't think I have finished playing - you may visit tomorrow and find it different again!

Well! we have booked a caravan site just out side Newhaven from tomorrow till Tuesday - so there will be quiet from me for a few days. I haven't see my sister since Christmas and this is the main reason for going to E. Sussex. This is a new site for us - we like to go to one in Alfriston in an old apple orchard or to one in Falmer on a farm on the Downs, but we were unable to get into them because they were already full. These little basic sites only take five vans and only provide water, electrics (sometimes) and sewerage disposal! they are always quiet and sometimes very beautiful - often we are the only ones there!

Corrections

I have been into the 'setting' this morning and hopefully have enabled you to comment on my ramblings. I hope also that I have enabled Sue to read this blog - e-mail me if you can Sue.



I am very tired this morning - Monday is always a busy day but yesterday seemed busier than usual. We have decided to take the caravan away for a few day, mainly because I am going stir crazy! (Brian has been working at Sarah's house most evenings and weekends for the last couple of weeks, while I have stayed 'home alone'. I suppose I could have gone with him but I would only start doing things round the house for Sarah (washing up, laundry,ironing, tidying up etc and generally making myself very tired), so I stayed home and quilted.) it will give us the opportunity to make sure that everything is working properly berfore we go to Malvern for the Quilt show next month.

To make the van ready for a trip away ment doing shopping and restocking the van with essentials - you must realise that the van is an extention of home - so you need loo rolls, washing up liquid, cooking oil, and all the other basic needs, etc



Last night I went to the Thamesiders AGM taking cousn Dorothy and my friend Sue Bouchard with me - a long drive. Quite a good meeting were we discussed the quilt show we will be holding in June and who was going to 'white glove' it! of course I volunteered to do half a day.......don't I always? but I am not doing the sales table this year - no one came to relieve me last year and I was on it for the whole of the day!

We were told that our local quilt shop Green Mountain will be closing it's doors at the end of April and that Paula Doyle will be concentrating on designing quilts instead. Our next nearest shop is at Hampton Court (can't remember it's name for the moment)and it is a devil to find parking space near to it.



Enough ramblings for today.



Please e-mail me if you still cannot make comments.

Hello

Hello - I have started this blog, but am not yet sure what I can and can't do!

This weekend has been a busy one - DH has been erecting fences for daughter no 2 and we have all been to a grandaughters birthday party - she was 3.

I have been sewing like mad - trying to finish a quilt I started earlier i n the year - I would like to show it at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC Birmingham in August .