Every one should have a Janet

Half term didn't quite pan out how I expected - when do they ever!  It's been a productive week though. I had to go in to work on Monday but Tuesday was mine.  Roots done, a quick visit to the farm shop a drive round cos I got lost but hey ho.  Thursday was mine too - up at 4am to go to Oxford. I got the days mixed up and thought we were going on Wednesday.  In fact we went down and back in one day.  I got to visit a lovely little quilt shop just south of Oxford City in a village called Wallingford.

It was full of lovely things but I was very reserved and came away with some homespun - more of that later as I have plans for that.  I went into Oxford after that but I have to say that I much prefer my lovely Durham as a city. I had a look round the Ashmolean, bought some grub from the Farmer's Market and mooched round but I preferred Wallingford. It was full independent shops, even a little department store which reminded me of 'Are you Being Served?' No multi nationals in sight! The rivers were all in full spate many had burst their banks and the water lying in the fields and roadsides was jaw-dropping.  I think we got off lightly in Durham. There were roadworks on and off all the way up the M1 and we got back to our little corner of the North East by 10pm.

Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and this morning I was busy at home with work stuff but took a break this afternoon to meet my friend Janet to watch a rugby match -Northampton against Newcastle Falcons. It was a breath of fresh air, physically (maybe a bit too windy!) and mentally. Everyone should have a Janet - she is a rough diamond, with a big emphasis on the diamond.  She makes inappropriate comments about the physique of the players, she makes noises that ladies shouldn't make, she's loud and funny - on school trips everyone wants to be in her group because it is a laugh a minute. She's honest, generous and will always help you out even when she's run off her feet. I hope everyone has a Janet in their lives somewhere.

Not much to report this week except I finished knitting the bunny I have been working on - just need to sew it up!

I have cracked the problem picking up stitches on the tiny little ballet shoes. I use my mini needles (actually 'pins' for sewing up jumpers) to hold the stitches and a tiny double ended needle to sort the right ones to pick up. Love knitting. Love sewing and gardening and painting too.  Oh and baking and my lovely chicks and the snowdrops and smiley friends and my beautiful family. I know I have to get up and go to work tomorrow but it's been a good week and I'm ready to hit the ground running.

I've uploaded June from Picture the Year - just click on the link on the right hand side. Good sewing everyone.

Big Chill - and it's not cold

So it's half term and I have the whole week booked. Think again - maybe not the whole week, maybe three days, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday. Ok I'll go with that even though someone else's bad planning means I can't get a whole week. (I'll try not to be too bitter). I'm not going to let it spoil the time I do have and this weekend has been a full chill.  Ben stayed on Friday night.  I thought it was so John and Steph could have an intimate Valentine meal but I think they just wanted a good night's sleep! What's happened to romance eh?

Saturday on the 'Hill' was great although we didn't get a good chance for a chinwag with Sandra.  I made some little hearts last week.

This is what they looked like when I left the shop and I did quite a bit of work on them but they didn't turn out quite how I expected and I am going to re-do them at the shop.  I have sanded them down and will hopefully finish them this coming week.  Sandra had a fabulous vintage style block in the shop last week with hearts and beautiful words on.  David cut some for us and this is the start:

I'm really excited to do this one which is destined for Steph but I may have to make another for me.  It's covered with torn up pages from a book and will be decorated with little vintage froo-froos and lovely words.  The hearts have butterfly paper on and I am going to cut out one of the butterflies and emboss it with clear powder.

I always try to find different flavours for cakes and biscuits.  When I asked Will what flavour he would like last weekend he said - plain with jam in the middle.  We (I) quite often forget that simple is good too.  I only had two eggs so it wasn't very big but it didn't last that long - this is about ten minutes after I spread the jam over.

Lovely and light, moist and straightforward.  The hens have started laying a bit better this week so I decided to make some creme caramel. The bought eggs aren't a patch on our lovely ladies' offering - look at the colour of these yolks:

One for John and Steph and one for Will and I.  Ours is gone. Slipped down a treat.

Enough of the stomach.  I have done a lot of quilting today and not much else. The first strip is completed and the second is well on its way.  I'm revising the timescale for this because the pattern on the flowery strips is really zipping along.  Hopefully it will be finished before the hot weather - spring and autumn are perfect times for full size quilts.  The light is good (it's been brilliant sunshine all day) but it's still cool enough to snuggle under.

I always amazed at the difference the quilting makes to plain fabric - it's magic isn't it? Sorry about the colour on this - it is actually off-white but the light was fading when I took the photo.

Update on the fluffy chooks - how big they are now.  I think they are close to full grown - look at the mohican on the grey one!

Ben and John popped up for a couple of hours so I got to have a good squeeze twice this weekend.  This is Ben trying to sneak upstairs to see Will - he's still too young for stairs on his own (Ben that is).

Caught re-handed!

I've uploaded May from 'Picture the Year' and hope to get most of the rest of the patterns printed out so that Alison can test them.  Also on my list are two little quilts for 'Quilts for Comfort' which are nearly pieced and some work on a new pattern. Squeak. I love new patterns.

Have a good week everyone.

Whizz-by Weekend

As usual the weekend has flown by.  It has been good though.  Alison and I went painting on 'the hill' and I finished the little flower pot I was making. I decorated most of it at Sandra's:

Normally I would shade each colour with its darker cousin but I decided to do all the petals with Light Avocado.

I don't have that many crochet hooks and they look a little bit lost but I do love the little pot.

Sandra had some lovely new paint colours - oh my, they are so gorgeous!

The second from the left is called Persimmon.  Its Spanish translation is Caqui which means something else in this little corner of England - ie my grandson has done a big persimmon in his nappy. How childish am I- but I couldn't help but laugh!

When I was making the little wall hanging last week I couldn't find my calico  I knew I was getting low so I decided to visit Ikea for some more. Ikea on a Saturday afternoon - what was I thinking? It took me 15 minutes to find a parking spot and I really don't mind walking from a distance. Even those spots were full.  Undeterred I battled through the crowds and got my calico, managing to leave the store with that and only one other thing!

These lovely little tea towels are 55% linen and 45% cotton with a cross stitch rose decoration.  They only cost £4 for the pair and will make lovely little guest towels.  Well, ok, actually Brendie towels because I use them for my face and they go so well with my shabby chic theme.

Will was at Croft with his petrol-head friends so I had a quiet evening at home. Today John, Steph and Ben came over with the ingredients for a Spaghetti Carbonara (one of his specialities).  We scoffed that for lunch then John and I had a mango and banana smoothie for pud.

It was lush and two of my five a day - how bad can that be?  Frozen banana, a £1 really ripe mango, some milk and a little squeeze of honey. I was so full  I decided to make some soup instead of Sunday roast tonight.

So simple but absolutely delicious.

I have uploaded April for those of you who are stitching the 'Picture the Year' quilt - there is a button at the side of the blog which will take you there.

And now, so soon, it's Sunday night - I didn't have the most pleasant week at work but this whizz-by weekend has made up for all that, seeing my lovely friends, painting, spending time with my family, eating lovely food and very soon I will add a little quilting to that list. Oh and I found the other piece of calico this afternoon - strangely enough in the basket where I keep the calico.

Whew! What a scorcher!

Just kidding - it's been a day for all seasons today, rain, snow, wind, bright sunshine.  It's been sunny all weekend in my heart because I've stitched, baked, chatted to my lovely friend from Surrey and had Ben sleeping over:

Checking out the breakfast situation

and road testing the strippy quilt.

Yesterday I had my quiet time at the start of the day. Loving this particular quilt. I've worked out it will take about three hundred hours to finish.  Three hundred hours of peace and contemplation. Perfect.

However, on a more practical front, or should I say behind, I've been doing a fairly common repair on No 1 son's jeans.  All that bouncing about on a tractor wears even the toughest fabric.

The denim is so lovely and soft now. Jeans that old are a pleasure to wear and I"m not surprised he likes them repaired even in this day of throwaway clothes. Puts me in mind of my first pair of Levis - back in 1969.  I could only afford one pair (my Saturday job paid ten shillings or 50p) and they were washed to near destruction.  I was walking along the sea front in Brighton and some random biker offered to buy them from me for more than twice what I'd paid. I didn't succumb though!

Alison and I spent Saturday morning putting the world to rights and stitching this and that.

Which colour to stitch with? Dark Green.

I sat with this project this afternoon whilst Ben was having a nap.  I don't drink a lot of tea but when I fancy a cuppa I don't think you can beat tea for thirst quenching pleasure.

For some reason I can't find my stash of calico (can't see the wood for the trees I think) so I still need to put the back on this but it's nearly done:

I have uploaded the March block of the 'Picture the Year' quilt which this mini quilt is part of.

The little chooks are getting used to their new home but they are coming back in if the temperature drops below freezing.

Tonight I will be mainly ironing - what an exciting life I lead. But for now the internet connection in playing up so I'm going to press the publish button while I still can.  Have a good week everyone.

Paint, stitch, housework - in that order

Saturday morning was our first sortie on to the Hill this year and we're raring to go.  It's been a few weeks since we painted and what a lovely time we had!  I wanted something pretty to store my crochet hooks in so I chose a little pot that would become a flower.

This is the first coat but will have to wait until next week because I had a huge list to get through today - mostly on account of sitting yesterday afternoon stitching my strippy quilt and watching rugby. It's a hard life. Anyhoo I washed the dishes from the night before (naughty girl) painted until nine, got my shopping list together and scraped the frost off the car. After I dropped off the shopping I went to Dainty Crafts to get some bits and pieces for bag making with my Year 10 class. John, Steph and Ben came round so I put the ironing on hold (no hardship).  Anyway that's all done now and the chicken is roasting away happily and the house is quiet.

Talking about chickens - 

They are looking particularly scruffy at the moment as they start to grow their fluffy feathers but how big are they growing? We have acquired a rabbit hutch for their transition from warm house to chilly garden, via the sun lounge. Could I just say that these are not destined for the table!

The first Mavis and Gladys class of 2014 took place last Thursday and the ladies started on Picture the Year.  If you want to take part the first block is ready to download here.  There is also a bonus pattern if you want to make up the blocks into a Mini-Quilt.  That is the part of the to-do list that I didn't reach today.  There should have been a finished picture of the Mini Quilt but I'm afraid it's still in its component parts.  Next week....

I made some choc chip mint cupcakes for the class but actually I didn't like them very much.  I like After Eight Mints but not Mint Chip Ice Cream or cake. I don't want to make only the ones I like though.  John has suggested sticky toffee cupcakes.  I think I'll make something savoury too for those ladies who don't have a sweet tooth. 

So now I'll serve the dinner and then get into my jammies.  The weekend has gone so quickly, as it does and I haven't got to the bottom of my to-do list again, but hey ho.  

I hope your week is productive and enjoyable, in whichever order pleases you most!

Not a good day for photos but Picture the Year starts today

I'm having some trouble importing photos.  No sure what the problem is but there are some lovely ones of Ben going through his Daddy's rucksack that won't upload.  I was going to show you what was in the said rucksack - A lap top power cable, two pens, a butt bungee, a neck exerciser, two satsumas and an old ipod! I'll just confirm that John is a Sports Physio and the Butt Bungee is an elastic band which helps to strengthen "Glutes" - bum muscles which have become weakened and unbalanced and are giving back pain - just for the record.

This is the only one and is quite blurred.  Ben is not well at the moment and we spent last night in the emergency room. He has croup which frightened the bejeezus out of his Mammy and Daddy and Ben too I think. He had some steroids and they let him out about 2am so everyone is a bit tired today. He is still very wheezy and pale.

The lamp I have been shabbying up has been a bit of a disaster!  The paint wouldn't dry properly.  After two days I decided to paint over the Dulux One Coat  Three Coats with some acrylic craft paint.  That worked great.  I shaded the edges with some pinky lilac to go with the new shade and decided to give the whole thing a quick spray with the sealer. Look what happened:

A bit too shabby I think.  I sanded it down again but it is not the best effort I have made. However it has been salvaged now and is lighting my bedside.

Tried a new recipe today for custard creams - they were yummy and pronounced fit to bake for the quilt class on Thursday. They went in a flash. (Edd Kimber's recipe). They were really crisp and light but I do think they ought to be square!

Quick update on the little chicks - they are really growing strong now and can perch on their own.  They had some delicious dried mealworms today. Mmmm.

The quilt which I marked up during the summer holidays was on my to do list and I had forgotten how wonderfully relaxing it is to just quilt. It changes a piece of flat fabric into something really special.  I'm going to enjoy this one very much.

So, if you're wondering when I am going to get round to publishing the fabric requirements for 'Picture the Year' you will have to go to www.strawberrypatches.wordpress.com  because I couldn't get a downloadable pdf file into blogger and had to set up a wordpress blog.  I'm still working on it so will put a link in every week until I've got it figured out. There will be paper copies available at High Street Quilting from this Friday onwards or if all else fails email me at strawberrypatches@btinternet.com and I'll send a copy that way. The pattern is free - yipee!

I'm looking forward to seeing all the lovely ladies at the first quilt meeting of the year at High Street Quilting on Thursday but it's back to work tomorrow and I find myself yearning for the time when this is my work. Sooner rather than later I hope.

2014 - The year to say No!

I expect everybody knows what it feels like when someone asks you to do something - your brain says "no" and your mouth says "yes".  This is going to be the year when my mouth follows my brain.  "No" to working late when everyone has gone home.  "No" to working a weekends when I should be with my lovely family or chilling out in my little nest. "No" to the fast food because now I will have enough time to make something with real, delicious ingredients. "No" to sitting down staring into space when I can be creating instead of wishing I was creating.

I expect everyone can think of lots of things to say "no' to - go ahead - give yourself permission.

A little while ago I bought a lampshade to make over a lamp which I've had for years.  The lamp is going to be shabbied up.

Am I going to get the get the paint out and put it away a couple of days later because I couldn't be bothered? "NO!"

Bring it on 2014.