Freebies

One thing that has never failed to amaze me is the amount of free quilting information, tutorials and patterns that are available on the web - in fact I would go so far as to say that without the internet I don't think I would be quilting today and for me that would be tragic!!!

I depend so much on this wonderful tool to keep in touch with what is happening, provide me with 'on line shopping' facilities for my fabric, helpful explanations when I am floundering and inspiration when I feel brain dead!! That so many talented people are willing to share their gift is amazing, and I am certainly grateful for their generousity! So - having said all that here's a little of my 'Freebie' Christmas sewing !!

A cheeky snowman door hanger from All People Quilt - free bells too as they came from Jo in Tas (go look at her blog to see some great Christmas ornaments!)

A small cushion made from a block at Fat Cat Patterns (some great Freebies here and also the birthplace of Dylan !)

A redwork Santa that I found (but can't remember where - sorry!) and made into a small wallhanging

Lastly, not a freebie really as I found it in this magazine

but as its Christmas related I thought it should be included with this post - my version of Christmas gone Scrappy Country !!

All of these will find their way to one or another of the DGDs (don't think the 2 boys would be very impressed somehow!!) and I just hope they have as much fun receiving them as I did making them !!!

Almost forgot! I've heard from Anjea that my Holiday Booty Quilt Swap parcel has arrived, so I can show it now

She seems to be pleased with it, thankfully! It is always a bit of a worry making something for someone else, and wondering how they will like it ! Don't think I will be taking part in any more for a little while now as I have so much I need to do for myself - unfortunately not all quilting related but things like the dreaded redecorating (!!), such a waste of good sewing time, but getting very necessary - Ah Well!!!!

Another Frosty Morning

After several more days of grey skies and a very wet weekend that you'd rather forget, today's sunshine was more than welcome, so we took ourselves into Ploermel and a brisk walk along the lake and back through the local Golf Club!

There were a few other walkers around, a couple of the more hardy types out on the water

hope their rear ends were well padded as the water looked pretty cold!!

The local duck colony seemed to have the right idea, all puffed up with their heads under their wings keeping warm!

Mind you, some of them preferred to do it on the water !

Splash Crash Landing !!!

Phew!! Missed them!!

Lucky !!! Look who's watching !!

Don't think Heron will snitch on him, do you ??

We made our way back through the Golf Club to recover from all this excitement, nothing but empty fairways and even emptier bunkers - but wonderful views!

Perhaps we should have taken a detour here for a hot chocolate

Well - Maybe next time !!!

A Quart......

into a pint pot....... aka the continuing (quilting) adventures of William !!

If I tell you that the basket is only 10 inches long and that Will is a BIG cat, you'll understand the effort he made to fit in !! Now guess what's underneath him - Yes! You've got it!! The fabric I need to carry on sewing!!!

Anyone care to explain the built-in radar that cats seem to have for finding the most inconvenient bed !!!

Catch Up

Back on this post I mentioned how much I'd enjoyed making the little bag from Stitchers Angels and that I was tempted to join in the Noah's Ark BoM - well, I did join in and have managed to catch up !





It is many years since I've done so much hand stitching (!!) and I am VERY rusty , but I've really enjoyed it and I'm waiting patiently for block 10 !




I think I can now put the little 'Noah's Ark' badge on my side bar with a clear concience!!

Thanksgiving

To All My American Friends & Readers - A Happy & Peaceful Thanksgiving Day !!

Cold & Frosty Morning !

Our weather has been very strange the last few weeks, one minute wet & cold with high winds and the next wet & mild without a breath of air - the only thing that has been consistent is that it has been very GREY ! Even the odd mornings that started off reasonably bright deteriorated rapidly as the day went on.

Our normal routine is to try for a walk after lunch but this has fallen by the way lately because of the weather pattern, so as this morning was very frosty but bright

we changed our habit, left the housework and went off to the Voie Vert ( Green Way). As you can see from the web site(translated by Google from the original French language site !) this is a traffic free zone

that is about 5 minutes drive away , nearest marker on the map is Neant-sur Yvel

One of the best things about the Voie Vert is that you can walk there in any weather and keep out of the mud - the draw back is that you have to walk 'there and back' which can be a bit daunting at times

When it was first opened, it was very stark as the 'lane' was newly metalled, and the verges were inches deep in red gravel, now though nature is taking over and turning it into a real 'Green Way!

Cold it might have been but well worth the effort for views like this !

Slow News Week

It's been a very quiet week here in Brittany mainly due to a bit of a bad start after having my anti 'flu jab .

This is only the second time I've had the jab and as I reacted badly the first time, I said never again, but given the kind of year I've had healthwise, I listened to the Dr's advice and put myself right back in the frame for several nasty 'flu type days as a result!! DH has it every year as he is one of these 'at risk' people ( cardiac disease) and never has a problem - just goes to show doesn't it !!!

One thing accomplished though is that my Holiday Booty Swap quilt is finally finished, packed and ready to go on Tuesday when the Post Office opens . I've only just made the deadline, which is silly as it's been finished for an age except for sewing down the binding - anyone else hate this job?? A little peek but before the binding went on !!

I have a question for all Log Cabin fans - how do you quilt your tops ? I have one almost ready but can't decide how to machine quilt over all these seams - any advice anyone ???

I shouldn't really mention the Wales v New Zealand rugby match last night (!!) DH is still in a state of shock especially as he thought Wales was on a roll at half time - isn't it sad to see a grown man cry (LOL!!!) Having said that England didn't do any better against South Africa and it was left to Ireland & Scotland to salvage a little British pride in their matches against Argentina & Canada !! France & Italy also lost to Australia and the Pacific Islanders respectively - doesn't say a great deal for the Northern Hemisphere teams does it - perhaps its lots of sunshine that equates to better (!) rugby players !!!!

Busy! Busy!

Not a lot of sewing going on over the last few days as it was DH's birthday on Sunday! The place been like Piccadilly Circus with all the comings and goings all over the weekend, and added to the days of preparation before hand, I am ready for a long lie down in a dark room!!! Actually, it has been good fun with good company and lots of laughs !!

All I have to show at the moment is a new book

which contains what is possibly my next project - what do you think !!

This will be another first for me as I have never really been a fan of paper piecing, but I would love to try the New York Beauty block and this pattern is certainly in my comfort zone !! Can I do it I ask myself or will this turn into another step too far !!!!

Coming of Age.....

....or the story of a quilt made twice !!

I have mentioned on other occassions that I am inclined to see a quilt and think 'I can make that !' only to find out later that I can't really!! This is the story of such an occassion that happened when I first decided to try my hand at making quilts some 3 years ago.



I saw this particular quilt in an Australian magazine , and it was so striking I decided to have a go so out came the Singer Starlet , the only machine I had at the time!

A nice reliable little workhorse that saw me through my first attempts at this craft even allowing for the fact that she must be over 30 years old (if not more!) as I have owned her for 26 years and I am her third owner - still going strong I might add, if a little noisey !!

Together we stitched the necessary sections ready to put together for the finished block - then disaster!! In my ignorance (!!) I had photocopied the template and omitted to verify the size which was smaller than the original, so the overall pattern was lost!! After kicking myself, I then did what I think maybe most would have done - put it in a drawer and forgot about it ! I couldn't let it go though as I had really fallen for the pattern, so some months later I got it out, unpicked (yes!!) every section, redrafted the template correctly and reused where possible the bulk of the fabric and remade the flimsy! This time it worked, but I was faced with a second problem - what to do with all those white areas ? That I can't hand quilt has already been established and until recently haven't had the bottle to try FMQ, so back into the drawer it went!!

This week, I steeled myself to finish the quilt and today put the last stitches into the binding, and now that it is finished at last I am just so glad that I did perservere as it was worth the effort! Voila - my Spider's Web !!

Not perfect by any means, but to me its great !! My oldest UFO finished at last !!

Just before I go, a line about my posting yesterday and the comment left by Touring in Brittany. In case anyone is wondering, I should explain that in Brittany many people still speak the original Gallic language or 'patois'. In our little village alone the language spoken amongst our older neighbours is Breton ,although when they are in 'mixed' company French is the order of the day. During 1914-1918 Breton would have been the language of the men going to war. At this time the Province was still a bit of 'the poor relation' in France , somewhat isolated from the rest of the country , and French had not yet been adopted as the official language .

Brittany is extremely proud of its Gallic roots and this is apparent throughout the Province in many shapes and forms.

Armistice Day

Armistice Day this year marks the 90th anniversary since the end of World War I, the war to end all wars.

November 11 is a National Holiday France, which allows everyone and anyone to attend the Remembrance Services held across the country to mark this day - if they so wish.

Our local village was no exception, and this was the scene this morning outside the church after the service.

Just a single wreath of fresh flowers, but where it is speaks volumes .


Brittany has reason to remember WWII as it suffered greatly not only throughout the occupation, but also through intense bombing by the Allies. St Malo,Rennes, Nantes, Brest, St Nazaire & Lorient were the main targets, the last 3 being occupied ports and/or shipyards which suffered greatly.

Talking to our older neighbours can sometimes be like re-living history . Just last week out on my walk past one of the nearby farms I stopped to talk to Monsieur (82) & Madame (81) and after catching up with the general gossip we got to the subject of the influx of British residents in the area ,always a favourite topic ( incidentally we are known locally as 'OUR English ') - Monsieur told me that the first time he heard spoken English was when he was 18 years old and the American liberation forces drove past the farm just a few feet from where we were standing !

I am too young ( just!!) to remember WWII, but I can remember my Dad , who was in the RAF, sharing his memory of being caught in the London Blitz and being buried in the rubble for 2 days , and I can't help but wonder what kind of memories our elderly neighbours must have of this most terrible time .

Lest We Forget ................

Cats & Quilts

I'd just been reading Andrea's blog and her comments about quilts being cat magnets and thought I must show you what happened 10 minutes later when I tried to tidy some of my stash !!

Sweet William - what would I do without your help !!!!

And Yet Another !!!

How's this for yet another coincidence - I do seem to be having a run of them at the moment !

My ALQS2 swap mini arrived this morning from Lisa Jo - a lovely quilt called Wonky Pineapple Blues

( I 'stole' the photo off the ALQS site as I've not had time to take one myself!)

Also this morning I got a mail from Trish to say that she'd received my quilt called - wait for it - Exploding Pineapples !!!

Now what do you think the odds would be for us both to have picked not only such a similar pattern but also in the same colour family !!

Thank you very much Lisa Jo for the delighful quilt, and thanks to Kate for organising the swap .

Another Coincidence!

It's been a very bitty week this week ,taken up with what seemed to be one long hospital appointment - 2 for me and one check-up for DH! The good news is that my lung function tests were OK, but the (not too) bad news is that they need to look a little further into a possible sleep/breathing disorder which might be causing my lack of energy and constant tiredness , so I am off to the local hospital next week to spend some time in the 'Sleep Clinic'. This is one that made me smile - as who can ever sleep in hospital !!!

As a result very little has been achieved on the sewing side of life other than a little more progress on the Holiday Swap mini, which I can't show yet. I did however get to the LQS yesterday and found this on their sale table for half price !



I haven't had a really good look at it yet, but like what I have seen so far , and there's certainly a good story behind it all ! Then look what arrived in today's post , all this lovely reproduction fabric !

Now, don't you think someone is try to tell me something !!!

Finishes

November is well on the way to becoming a very full month (and we're not even there yet!!) with hospital check-ups, Christmas 'workshops', visits to and from friends, birthdays, wedding anniversary (!) etc, etc . Last week was been spent trying to get some of my commitments for October and November finished, so - ALQS2 mini wrapped and ready to post tomorrow, no photo yet until it arrives at ...?? October FPC for Brigitte also going off tomorrow and Miniature Booty Holiday Swap mini well under way, just a little tweaking to be done, so the pressure is off that too!



One other finish, early this time (!) is my third and final Nature Challenge journal quilt, not due until November, but at least now I won't be panicking about being late! The final theme is 'Nature Close Up' and I've chosen to use the chestnut tree . Brittany has a profusion of trees and certainly the sweet chestnut is one of the more common hardwoods in my area !



At the bottom of our garden this morning - chestnut trees








another chestnut tree

and just for a bit of variety, a chestnut tree and an old bread oven (now renovated!)

So my JQ for November is - a chestnut leaf !!!

I played with transfer paints for the background fabric, and as normal, didn't quite know what would appear when I removed the papers, but it has worked quite well . Not a lot of quilting, just some outlining of the 'leaf' & 'cloud' shapes that I could see in the colours, and I am not sure about binding it, but overall , (IMHO !!) the effect is that of autumnal day showing the kind of skies that we've been seeing lately thanks to our late Indian Summer.

I've really enjoyed taking part in this , it's allowed me to try a couple of techniques that I probably would still be 'thinking' about, so a big 'Thank You' to Suzanne for coming up with the idea for the challenge and also for letting me play along !!

Apology!

I feel I owe an apology to Kathie for not remembering that it was her beautiful Tumbler quilt that inspired me to make mine. Well, I did know , but you know how it is sometimes when you are convinced of something but no matter what you do, you can't confirm it - well, that's what happened to me this time !

Not only does Kathie make incredible 'antique' quilts ,which I admire immensely, but she was also very supportive to me when I was struggling along with my Civil War Diary blocks (really need to get back to them !!!) and I am very embarrassed that I couldn't remember her Blog's name , even though I have it bookmarked - beat that for a senior moment !!

Kathie, thank you for stopping by , leaving a comment and solving the mystery for me !!!

Scrap Happy !

I really love scrappy quilts! I am constantly amazed at the way that fabric 'allsorts' come together to make something useful and pleasing to the eye! I have several other reasons for this addiction not the least being that scrappies are just so forgiving about all my mistakes (not that quilters make mistakes, we just 'experiment' don't we !!) The other big reason is that most of my fabric is bought on line and with the best will in the world, when it arrives it is not always what I'd envisaged - so for me scrappy is great for using up all these unfortunate buys !!



Having said all that, it'll come as no big surpise that I am a big fan of Bonnie Hunter and her quilts, not to mention her generosity in sharing her knowledge & talent so freely, so once again I
have started one of Bonnie's quilts .

Just a couple of finished blocks, but already the top is taking shape-well, it would be if Blogger stopped turning the photos !!!

As well as a 'start' I also have a 'finish' to show - my Tumbler Block quilt !!





I saw this quilt on a blog (can't remember who's unfortuately, but it was lovely!) and thought it was something I'd like to try. It has taken a little while :-) but finished it is - at last !!



Our weather continues to be glorious,lots of sunshine and blue skies, albeit a little cool after very frosty mornings, but this sunshine will surely help to shorten our Winter, which is looming on the horizon ! I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays dry & fine at least until Friday, as we are off to Jersey on a day trip to do some 'British' shopping for all the bits and pieces that we can't buy in France (isn't it strange how we cling to some things !!) and guess what - St Hellier's actually boasts 2 quilting shops, so not prizes for guessing where I'll be spending my time!!!!! The downside is that the ferry leaves early in the moning and as we have to be at the ferry port 1 hour before departure, it's going to be a morning when we are up BEFORE the chickens !!!

Nature Journal Quilt Challenge - Month 2

This month's challenge is 'your favourite season' and for me its just got to be Spring !!!


After all the gloom of Winter I don't think there is anything better to lift your spirits than a bunch of golden daffodils, but perhaps I am biased being a Welsh'man' !! I love all the Spring flowers from the dainty snowdrops, which are usually the first visitors of the season ,to the very showy azaleas that bring a burst of flashy colour to the flower beds later on . A couple more of my personnal favourites are primroses and cowslips, both of which peep out in the shadier depths of my garden . So , as I said, no contest as to what is my favourite season, as for me Spring means a fresh, new start filled with bright and cheerful colours !






I 've been wanting to try out Tonya's letters for a while now, and this seemed like a good project to start on , and I must say I'm quite pleased with it! Admittedly the letters are a bit squashy, but it was difficult trying to get them to fit onto a JQ ! What I should have done (isn't hindsight a wonderful gift !) was photograph the letters before I chopped them down as they looked better then. DH is very taken with the stemless daffodils, ( praise indeed !) ,and I haven't the heart to tell him that there wasn't enough room for stems !!


My ALQS2 quilt is finished and ready to to go to its new home once I've managed to find some 'goodies' to send with it - here's a little corner of it !



October birthday block is also finished and ready to post tomorrow, so that only leaves me with a FPC for Brigitte to complete and that'll be me done with swaps for this month! Perhaps now I can find the time to quilt a couple of the UFOs lurking around the place !!

Coincidences ?

Have you ever wondered about the way things happen sometimes ? I was really dreading Saturday morning and was winding myself up into a terrible tizz about things when DH appeared in the doorway clutching several packages from the Postie - now I knew that a couple of items were en route but what were the chances of three arriving on the same day ?

In no particular order (!)

From Linda in Canada, probably my 'oldest' cyber friend , a really fine tote bag from her Quilt Guild's last show plus a couple of pins. A lovely gift and the pins are my very first !! Thank You Linda !

From Annette in the UK a set of Patsy Thompson free motion quilting DVDs she'd picked up for me - no more excuses for not trying something other than stippling now! Thank You Annette!

Finally, from Brigitte here in Angers , a wonderful little quilt! Merci beaucoup, Brigitte !

So thanks to these three lovely ladies from various parts of the world , and whom I have never met , my day turned around completely ! Isn't life is full of nice ,as well as nasty, surprises !!

There is a story behind my quilt from Brigitte, which I must tell you as it demonstrates to me , yet again, the limitless generousity of all the quilters who have touched my life !

If you haven't visited Brigitte's Flickr site, then you are in for a treat when you do, as she really is a talented seamstress .Well, I was having a peep to see what she'd been up to when I spied the little quilt, which captured my fancy straight away as it represents the 4 national emblems of the British Isles !

I wrote and asked Brigitte if she could tell me where she'd got the pattern from, but unfortunately it turned out that the pattern was no more, but she would send it along to me for me to see close up, and maybe I could work from there. That offer in itself was generous, but you can imagine my surprise and utter delight when it arrived and I found a note from Brigitte saying that there was no need to return it as she would like me to accept it as a gift from her ! I wish you could see the real thing - it is a little gem and the hand quilting is amazing , I really don't know how she could bear to part with it, but I will certainly treasure it!!

Thank You!

Just a very short message to say 'Thank You' to the wonderful people who have either left comments on the Blog or e-mailed me privately after my last post. I very much appreciate your kind thoughts , they have been a great comfort to me - Thank You all again !

A Very Sad Day

This is the day I have been dreading for some while now - my lovely mare Megan is no longer with me. At 26, old age has unfortunately taken its course, and today I had to make a very difficult decision.

To say that I will miss her doesn't begin to describe how I feel, she has been my friend and a big part of my life for over 15 years.

Don't think you'll hear much from me for a little while , but I am sure you'll understand

It's Magic!

Do you believe in magic ? Well, I didn't until today - at least 'magic' is the only word I can think of at the moment for what has happened !

Continuing the story of our 'card fraud', today we received our replacement cards from A Bank
with an instruction to contact them ASAP to activate the account. I was connect to a very helpful young lady, who handled the call very efficiently and with the minimum of fuss AND no buzz words or OK phrases!!

Whilst talking to her I asked her if she would check our last account and tell me if there had been any more unauthorised activity , as I had been having nightmares about more spending that we would have to prove wasn't ours. She asked that I tell her which transactions I thought were unauthorised so - I listed the information we had been given a week ago concerning the 3 debits


Now remember the whole performance we had , zillions of phone calls over 2 days, cards & account frozen, threats of accountability unless we could prove otherwise, the inconvenience of no credit card waiting for the replacement (not long I know, but inconvenient nevertheless), worrying ourselves silly that this could maybe end up as a bigger problem, etc, etc.

You can imagine how I felt then when I was told that the account was clear, there were NO unauthorised transaction on the account !! Speechless is not the word to describe it, and certainly not something that happens to me very often!! When I recovered myself (!!) I asked where the debits had gone, who had removed them, why hadn't we been told !!!!!


Obviously she didn't have that information and said she would get the card fraud people to contact us urgently to tell us what was going on - that was 7 hours ago and we still don't have a clue what has been happening to OUR account!!

So you see MAGIC is the only explanation I can come up with !!

In this age of easy and virtually instant communication, I do feel a quick phone call or e-mail to put us at ease would not have gone amiss - so now, as well as believing in magic I want to believe in dreams coming true!!