Another Safe Arrival

My Miniature Booty 2 quilt has arrived at its new home in Oregon with Dorothy ,so now all can be revealed !

I wasn't quite sure which of Dot's colour preferences to use and then I came across this pattern for a 1890s Reproduction quilt and decided to go with the 'Patriotic ' scheme ! It did turn out slightly larger than the Group dimensions ( Sorry Toni !!) but it would have been such a shame to try and alter it in my opinion ! Anyway, Dot seems pleased with it and I certainly enjoyed making it ! Thanks again to Toni for all her work in organising the Swap !

As this is a short post , I'll just take a minute to update the 'chest' situation ! After 10 days of the (hated!!) nebuliser, steroids and jabs (my rear end feels like a pincushion at the moment I can tell you !!!) it seems I still have some congestion lurking so more medication and more tests looming up to try and get to the bottom of things ! I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice to say that I am breathing a lot better, managing to walk a bit more and slowly getting back into my normal routine ! I am so glad to be feeling better as we are due to go to Paris for the day on 28th and I would hate to have to cancel that !

My weight - well that went by the board with all the bedrest, lack of exercise etc, but although I've not lost any weight at least I haven't gained either so at least I can start off again weighing a little (!!) less than last time. One thing for certain , off it must come !!!!

Summer Has Arrived !!

Unlike our Summer so far this one is here to stay !

This is my 4 Season Quilt Swap for 'Summer' and made by Rose Marie from Toronto. It is absolutely gorgeous and the photo doesn't do it any justice at all !! The quilting is so detailed and most of it hand quilted at that ! You might be able to see some of it in this photo

and it doesn't stop there - just look at the label !

Thank you so much Rose Marie, I am just delighted !!! Thank you also to Margaret for all her hard work in arranging the Swap. Just one little regret - I wish I had known about the swaps sooner as I have really enjoyed 'playing along' !!!

One of my fellow British ex-pats here in France, Claire , has been posting views from her various windows - now I don't have such pretty views as Clare ,so won't be rushing around the house snapping from every window (!!), but thought you might like to see the view from our garden gate this afternoon

Yes, harvesting has started, the Combines are working all hours and the roadways are jammed with tractors & trailers of all ages, shapes & sizes !!! Most of the grain goes to the local co-operatives and you cannot imagine what a driving hazard this causes ! Now, please don't laugh, but this is the time of the kamakazi wood pigeons !! They flock onto the roads to get at the fallen grain, so driving at the moment consists of closing your eyes each time you come across a bunch of pigeons. They promptly take off as you approach, but goodness only knows which way they will fly !! Going up to Megan this morning I counted 42 birds in a couple of kilometres - so far I've been lucky and managed to miss them all, but one day ................!!!!!!

Keep forgetting to mention, just over 1 lb off this week (1 lb 6 ozs actually). It must have been the ice cream (Ooops !) last week-end that slowed me down (!!) but I am quite OK with that, at least its the right direction

Problem Solved !

Well, the wedding certainly went off very well yesterday if the noise was anything to go by !!! We are only a very small village, more of a hamlet really as there are only 11 occupied houses, so everyone got to join in the later celebrations !!! Our contribution of a bottle of champagne didn't go very far between some 50 people !!! The weather was not too unkind, rather fresh but at least the rain kept off, and when we went to bed around midnight the party was still swinging , so no bets being taken on the number of sore heads this morning !!!

Remember the problem I had with the Medallion top (posted here ), well I never did get a reply from Quilting Treasures other than an acknowledgement, so I thought I'd best sort it out myself ! After hours of trying out the piecing on scraps and with the needle on the Bernina swinging from side to side like the pendulum on a Grandfather clock (!!) trying to get it right, I eventually managed this

Not perfect, but done !! To say that the seam allowance is a 'scant' 1/4 is stretching the imagination somewhat (LOL!), but it did work out at last and at least I can now get on with the next round ! The problem must have had something to do with the bulk of all the seams on this border, which didn't show up when I tried the pattern out on paper, so lesson learnt - again !!! What I really need to stop me getting into this kind of situation again, is to find the 'pantomime' audience participation voice. You know the one I mean, the one that warns the character when something devious is going on behind their back? If I could only tap into this, then next time I get carried away when I see something and think 'I can do that!', it could shout back at me very loudly ' Oh no you can't !!!'

This week Civil War Diaries blocks

Sugar Cane (CWD)

Gloomy Prospects (LL)

By the look of today's skies, heavy & grey , we are in for some bad weather. The wind has picked up in the last half hour too, always a bad sign (!) so looks like I will just have to spend some time sewing again - Oh Dear!! What a chore !!!!

Finally, the Diet !! This week I've managed to weigh in 5 lbs lighter than last !! Now if I could achieve this every week, then this could be the shortest diet of my life! We all know this won't happen though , the first week being the time when our bodies loose any retained water - and believe me this is exactly what has happened (VBG) I will be very happy to settle for 1 - 2 lbs a week in future - but time will tell !!!