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 !!!

Not A Quiet Sunday !!

Yesterday was a good start to the new regime with an excellent day as far as the calorie intake went and plenty of exercise planned and unexpected ! The planned walks started early in the morning and passed without any drama but the evening walk was quite another story !!

I had groomed Megan, fed both horses and set off on another circuit leaving DH to stand guard whilst Megs finished off the bits in the bottom of her feeder (we have to do this otherwise Wranez chases her off and gets double rations !!)


Coming back down the hill to the paddocks ,there was the most fearsome commotion and all I could see was this melee of horses kicking the daylights out of each other, and the solid galvanised fencing, in the field next to Megs !! Panic stations set in as I saw one of the horses clear the fencing (from standing !! some jump!) and set off down the lane at a trot !! Now, normally horses will stop to graze as soon as they get over the initial thrill of escape - but not this one ! Oh no, she makes straight for the very fast main road some quarter of a mile down the lane with nothing to stop her and with me in persuit screaming my head off at DH to pass me a bucket of feed to use as bait to catch her !!


Now I don't run very fast these days (!!) and I had horrible visions of a major accident when this animal cannoned onto the roadway in front of a vehicle before I could reach her. Luckily just as she got to the end of the lane she spied an opening into a field of young maize and veered into it. After trampling down several rows of corn, she shot back out onto the lane, but by this time I had caught up with her and managed to tempt her close enough to grab her headcollar . She was having none of that and as I am a little shakey still on the old pins, I slipped the lead rope back off (coward that I am !!)and used the bucket of feed instead to coax her a step at a time back up the lane !

Eventually we got her into an enclosure, with much pushing and shoving and shaking of food buckets and, more importantly, avoiding the back legs which were a bit prone to kick out - I have a very healthy respect for horses' hind legs since I collected 3 broken ribs plus a punctured & collapsed lung from getting in their way !!


Unfortunately, she has a very nasty deep gash down her nearside back leg, and several smaller wounds on the other side too. Don't know when this happened, whether is was during the kicking match or when she cleared the fencing. DH eventually went off to alert the owner and we left him with the vet stitching up the leg. Today she is feeling very sorry for herself and very, very lame - Poor Girl !!


So on top of my scheduled 3 kms for the day, I must have at least managed another 2 racing up and down the lane !!

In between all the excitement yesterday, I managed to make a big hole in the number of Chunky Churn Dash blocks still needed, and now have just 12 more left, so all the block will be ready to put together by the end of today. I also managed a couple of Civil War Diary blocks, and will be trying to stick to 2 a week until I decide I have enough for a 'large' twin, which is about as big as I can manage!

Smallpox - CWD

Sweet Pleasures - LL

I 've also finished piecing the top for 4SQS - Summer swap but now need to get some more quilting thread on Thursday as the one I have doesn't quite look right to me ! Next in the pipe line is Minature Booty Quilt Swap - Round 2 and I think I have that sorted in my own mind now

so that's another step forward. (Big Breath!!) All that's left now for July is my FPC swap with Brigitte and Sharon and after that, my time is my own !! (Well at least until something else comes along !!)

Back on Track!

Just to show that I am still in the game, four blocks finished today


First three are all from the Love Letters book

Top : Awful Tragedy & Numerous Excuses
Btm : Privilege of Communication

The next block is from the Civil War Diaries book, and is only here because a very special lady made my wish come true !!

Old Abe Lincoln!

Thank You Kathie !! You have been very, very generous !!!

Quilt Blocks Galore!!!!

You know, I didn't realise how many CWD & LL blocks I have actually made and it came as quite a shock when I put them all together to take a photo as suggested by Kathie yesterday.

You can see that there are a LOT of them even if the photo isn't very good!! The light is so bad that you'd think it was evening time (!) that's because it is a grey dismal day here in Brittany - in fact our 'delightful' weather is back with a vengence, it hasn't stopped raining all week!!!!!

This has been a good exercise for me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there are a few blocks that I think I will remake either because the colours don't seem right or that the block now looks far from accurate (!!) These must be blocks put together when I have been tired (Well that's my excuse!!) Another thought is how big ? I long ago admitted to myself that I would not be able to cope with a quilt made from 121 blocks, plus sashings & borders, and that I would need to make a decision where to stop - think this time is fast approaching !! Of course, the other alternative is to keep on making blocks and end up with more than one quilt, what do you think ? I've really enjoyed this project ,with just one regret - no Abe Lincoln block, but I will keep on trying to find a way to reproduce a reasonable copy of the fabric as no way will I find it in France !!