The Morning After

 Not so deep, but certainly crisp and even this morning and -  Oh So Pretty!!

A good long walk crunching snow under your boots, frozen fingertips and toes, nose glowing fit to make Rudolph jealous- don't mornings like this make it all worthwhile !!

Surprise!Surprise!!

Look what we've been watching all morning.......

...........and still 2 days left in November !

Thanksgiving Day

A little something  for all my American  blogging friends and visitors  - a day early I know, but I am sure that everyone will be very busy tomorrow enjoying the holiday and not have much time left to go blog hopping !

Le Bon, La brute et Le Laid

Or to use the words of  that wonderful 'spaghetti' western starring Clint Eastwood.........

THE GOOD - has to be winning not only a little prize for joining in Sue's  Christmas QuiltaLong, but also finding out this morning that I managed another win on Darlene's  Christmas Quilt Show!  Now this is really a red letter occasion as I have never won a single thing before!!  Many thanks to both Sue and Darlene for taking the time to host  these events!

THE BAD - was waking up Sunday morning feeling not too good and looking in the mirror discovering my eyes had  turned  into narrow slits and my whole face swollen !  I did make it through the day, but in a lot of discomfort I have to say, even after swallowing handfuls of antihistamine tablets.  Yesterday  however it was worse, couldn't stop itching or stand light at all so we called in the Doctor.  Seems like I've got a very severe case of allergic conjunctivitis which, thankfully,  is a lot better today thanks to the meds, although I am still not too happy with bright light.

THE UGLY: - really has to be me looking like Miss Piggy with a bad case of sunburn without the pleasure of seeing the sun!

....or if that doesn't make you smile try this one - one of my treatments is to spray my face with purified cold water and DH  has suggested that I stand in the corner of the room impersonating a rubber plant to do it   - don't you just love them !!

What A Week !

Isn't it strange the way some weeks happen just the way you planned them, whilst others gallop away from you in a whirl of organised chaos -in other words the kind of week I'm having this week!!

Sunday -  started off OK, I got through the routine chores very quickly (!)  and made a good start on my Christmas Quilt a Long list, that is until a power cut caused by the foul weather brought my machine to a grinding halt for over an hour! Not too long really and I was just settling down to start again when then was a knock on the door heralding an unexpected visit from some of our neighbours in the village - no more sewing.

Monday - I'd voluteered to help make Christmas puddings for the Christmas Fair to raise funds for the local Cat Protection Society.  Off I go thinking it would be just a couple of hours - do you know how long it takes 6 women to mix up enough ingredients for 50 x 1lb puddings, including chopping dried fruit, grating peel off dozens of lemons etc etc? Well, it took a lot longer than a couple of hours, mind you DH seems to think that it might have taken less time if we'd not talked so much ! By the time I got home I was so covered in treacle and other gooey stuff that all I wanted was a shower, some clean clothes and sit down for longer than 5 minutes- no sewing.

Tuesday - DH's birthday and a day that turned into a  cross between manning the phone at a busy call centre and open day at the local lunatic asylum - no sewing !

Today it's been catch up day for all the chores that haven't been done this week - no sewing !

Tomorrow , as we didn't make it on Tuesday, its' out for DH's celebration birthday lunch and chuck in some Christmas shoping - no sewing!

No bets are being taken that anything will go to plan for the rest of the week,my normal sewing time has been  hijacked and I am resigned to the fact that I will be lucky to switch on my machine before next Sunday.

Christmas Quilt Show

Did you know that SewCalGal   is hosting a Christmas Quilt Show ?  

As I missed the Bloggers Fall Quilt Festival , this is a good chance to join in something new -  but what to enter? Maybe the quilt on this post could pass for Christmas with  reds, greens and blues it's all warm and cosy looking just as Christmas should be, but then I settled  for this one.

Only measuring 20" x 18", it's certainly smaller than most I've seen on other blog entries (!), but it is a real 'Christmas' quilt and a little special one at that.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                

 My first attempt at paper piecing, though what possessed me I'll never know as the logs are only 1/2" & 1/4" finished !  Maybe this is the reason why I've avoid PP ever since:-)  No walking foot to Quilt in the      Ditch, just the general purpose foot - well, I didn't know any better then, and what you don't know doesn't

worry you does it ?                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                     

  

Pushing 40 years old, the Starlet is still going strong, if somewhat noisey , and still keeps me company in my sewing room, although these days she just sits and watches whilst the Bernina does all the work!

Don't know what's up with Blogger tonight, but there's a right wobbly happening  to the text around the photos  - guess I've hit to the wrong button again or something and set it off  on one - Ah Well!

Today's Plan!

Right!  Decision's made for today's quilt-a-long!

We're going to practice a bit more of this

on this

Now, this was supposed to  be a sample block  for this quilt, but after one block , no way was I ever going to achive 20 so -  Voila!  One mini!   I think my FMQ is getting better, but a bit more practice will certainly help :-)

With the torrential rain and high winds that we have at the moment, and more forecast for the rest of the weekend, I should be able to carry on the good work tomorrow and make a start on a pinwheel baby quilt out of this

  So all in all rather a full couple of days - and yes Sue, I 've given in and dug out the  Christmas CD  not only to set the mood but also to drown out DH's cries of agony as Wales take on the Springboks at rugby later today  Little bit of a clash of loyalties here for me  having lived in South Africa for 10 years, but I'm sure that  the Land of my Fathers is going have the biggest pull.

Christmas Quilt A Long

With all the excitement of the wedding, I managed to miss the  Amy's  Fall Bloggers Quilt Festival , which was a bit disappointing as I've taken part in all the other 'shows'.  Not too worry though, I am sure there'll be another one come Spring, and in the meantime I've discovered Sue's  Christmas Quilt A Long.

So - today I am going to spend as much time as possible joining in with everyone.  Not quite sure what I'll  work  on  yet  but,  dust bunnies or not, I'm having some 'me time'.  Don't know if I'm ready to put on the  Christmas CD to sing along too (bit early yet!), but I'm sure it'll be good fun in any case, so why not come along and join in!

I'm Back!!

OK - so you're probably thinking ' where's she been??'. Well a couple of days after catching my breath from our trans- France dash to Calais en route to SE England to pick up a new laptop, DSl dropped rather a (nice) bombshell during his routine telephone check-in by saying 'Oh - by the way I'm getting married in 2 weeks'.

 I can only tell you that I was speechless as he has been with the same partner for 15 years and along the way they've managed to present me with two lovely grand-daughters with no mention of  marriage at any time.

'Nothing to fuss about' says he ' Just us and the girls and a couple of witnesses' - No chance!  So nothing left to do but get the suitcases back out, book the ferry and leave for the UK for the second time in 10 days.

In the end I'm afraid DS didn't quite get his own way about a very quiet affair as it all ended up rather more than he expected (blame Mum) but it was a lovely day followed by a great visit which meant I got to spend unexpected time with my two grand-daughters -  including helping them to dress up for Halloween!

Back home and back to reality  - more mountains of washing & ironing and you'd just have to see the dust bunnies to believe the size of them :-)

It was a very special occasion,and one I would not have missed for anything, but I do hope it's going to be some while before I see one of these again!

Pressure's Off!

At last a couple of pieces of good news!  Firstly, it looks like the petrol stations are almost back to normal and we can get out to do some shopping at last!  Like everything else we take for granted, it's only when it's taken from us that we really appreciate it and have we missed our car the last 10 days !

Secondly, Amy  is hosting another Bloggers Quilt Festival  - this one for Fall 2010- so hurry on over and read all about it and get ready to join in.  The Spring 2010 Festival had over 700 entries so lots & lots of eye candy for everyone!

Difficult Times

Most people will know that here in France we are experiencing a period of some turmoil over reforms to the Pensions Act.  Sadly it has been a bad week for the country as a whole, but even sadder is the total disruption to many ordinary lives caused by blocking the supply of  motor fuels.

We, like many others,  live in a small hamlet several miles from any kind of shops,there is no public transport and we depend totally on our car for shopping,the post office, visits to the doctor and so on.  This doesn't mean that we drive every day but our car is not just a luxury.

Out of the 10 families that live in the hamlet we are the 'youngest' and saying that is stretching the  imagination somewhat.  We chose to live 'rural' and fortunately both DH and I are able to drive.  Most of the villiage is not  in this situation.  They have lived here all their adult lives; they are elderly; most are unable to drive and  we have two widowed ladies here also. 

Their children have grown up and moved away to find work. As they don't drive, they depend on their children visiting or mobile shops for their day to day needs - they also depend on the doctor calling or the nurse dropping in to check on them  All these facilities are about to come to a halt as there is no fuel  in our area, all pumps are dry.

As neighbours we do the best we can to help and keep a weather eye on them, but like most of the elderly  I have come across, they cherish their independence and sometimes feel that they are putting on you.

I have no strong political opinions and I don't pretend to understand the rights or wrongs of this current situation, but I do wonder how many other hamlets there are like ours facing the same problems - which at the moment look to go on for some time. I do think however that perhaps it is time to consider those who are already pensioners living in rural areas , and put a stop to  more of this.

Back Again

Well, here I am back in business again and hopefully for good this time!

The bad news is that our PC is still in 'hospital' for another couple of days, but the good news is that I am now the proud owner of a new laptop just for me  - how good is that!

One problem that we have is that whilst I am reasonably happy with the French language, unfortunately DH is not, so a QWERTY keyboard and drop down English menus were a must. Obviously this configuration is a rare animal in France so off to the UK it was - not that I am really complaining as it was another chance to get into the British supermarkets and stock up on all the goodies that we ex-pats miss :-)

It's taking a bit of time to get used to the different configeration on the new toy, but I am sure it'll all be OK soon .Lots to show you, but no photos this time I'm afraid as I am still working my way through all the 'destructions' - and there are plenty of them - but hopefully I will manage a less boring post before too long.

Really Poorly!

Things have gone from bad to worse, so I'm afraid it's off to the computer hospital for my PC and no internet for however long it takes to either get hold of a laptop or get this fixed.............how am  I going to cope in the meantime??

Good news is that my last knee treatment was on Tuesday and from tomorrow I am at least mobile and able to go looking.

Back as soon as.........

Normal Service ....

.will be resumed as soon as possible!!

 Nasty little problems developing with my PC, some days it works  - others it doesn't!  Unfortunately, the not working days are winning at the moment so the hunt is on for a new laptop which will be for my new sewing room (!) providing we can get this one fixed for DH of course, so keep you fingers crossed for me :-)

In the meantime, no long posts with photos as it's taking all my patience to get this far after being shut down 4 times !!

I haven't been idle this week though, in fact I am sure I've got through more without the distraction of the internet.  All 15  Soot & Ashes blocks are finished and now we wait for Cheri to get back from her holiday to let us into the secret of how they all go together !  Also have 2 new mini quilts to show you and my half hexagon quilt is finished too. All in all a very good week if I count the hours sent on my 'practicing'.

Be back when I can with the photos !

Confession Time!

When I first caught the quilting bug, several years ago now, no one was more surprised than I  as to how addicted I became in a very short time - after all I hate 'sewing' to the degree that DH has resorted to replacing  all his missing shirt buttons instead of having to beg and plead with me to pick up needle and
thread ,whilst repairs and alterations to clothing can lie in neglected piles for weeks on end.

Now, my sewing machine has become my most treasured possession instead of being left to gather dust in the bottom of a cupboard and I can't wait to get all the mundane daily chores finished so that I can get into my room - but then patchwork & quilting isn't really 'sewing' is it , but rather a form of expression and enjoyment as opposed to a 'chore', well, at least that how I feel about it .

Having got to the stage where I am reasonably happy with the quality of my work and have even got over the dread of  stipple quilting (let's face it I am NEVER going to hand quilt as it would mean using a needle) I really want to move onto a bigger variety of quilting patterns -  so I armed myself with a whole load of books

which quite frankly scare the pants off me at first :-)  I even invested in the Pajama Quilter  videos which have been great fun to watch, and with the help of the workbook.....

 

........which Dawn was kind enough to sign for me......

 .....and after hours of drawing all kinds of weird shapes on the white board - I still can't quilt!!!  The 4 inch sample squares are fine, but when it comes to a whole quilt everything goes out of the window so its back to a  of scrap batting & fabric and the practice..practice ..practice routine

...and maybe someday my feathers will end up on an heirloom quilt, but in the meantime I'll settle for them looking less of a mess!

Twelve blocks finished for the  'Soot & Ashes' quilt along

Number 13 is available, but rumour has it that the last 2 blocks are appliqué and as that would mean using the dreaded needle - maybe I'll be sticking at 12 :-)

On A Roll!

Managed to get the borders on this one too, not trimmed up yet as you can see, then another one ready for backing!

and a finish!!

My scrappy Irish Chain, which many of you will recognise this as a Quiltville  pattern and a great way to use up lots of tiny scraps!

That's the end of my sewing splurge for the next few days as it's off to the specialist for the next lot of knee treatment tomorrow and the start of another 3 days of boredom :-)

Cat Radar...

...it never fails!!

Work stopped for cat nap - his nap,  my work. Ah Well -  I guess William thinks a having a fuss made of him is more important than trying to get a quilt backed, so who am I to argue??

Keeping Up

4  more blocks from quiltsbycheri

All 8 looking good together, I think this is going to be a nice little quilt in the end .

Out of Hiding

 Well, we all knew those big empty walls wouldn't stay that way for long, didn't we ?

 Still got the basket full by the table leg to go, but it's starting to feel more like home by the minute!

Quick Fix

Part of the grand plan in my new room was to 'sink' my machine down to table level  so that, hopefully, my arms and shoulders wouldn't ache so much particularly when attempting FMQ.  Well, I am now the proud owner of a table with a hole in it complete with sunken machine courtesy of DH and his trusty tool box! We re-designed my extension table to cover the gaps and this is a real help with the 'slide-abillity' factor as well  keeping the table in use.

 

 
I know there are all sorts of posh quilting tables available and also some super swish hydraulic systems for raising and lowering the carrying platform , but I am afraid that none of these are available locally and if they were the cost would be at least twice the price they are in the UK or USA, so this lifting device is worked by Ann Power.  Having said that, now that it's in place there seems to be no need to move it at all - an instant benefit from having more room, the machine can stay put.

Before attempting the dreaded FMQ though, I thought a small project would be just the thing for a trial run, and I found just the one here on quiltsbycheri .  A lovely little mystery sampler Quilt A Long called Soot &  Ashes and these are the first 4 blocks  

The blocks work out at 5 1/2 inches unfinished, but I have changed the  colour scheme as I've been wanting to use this fabric for ages so maybe I should call this one Strawberries & Cream, what do you think? 

Is the low level stitching easier ?  Well, the first half hour was a bit strange as my whole perspective had changed, but I think once my mind accepts this it should be OK.

Work No Longer In Progress

Well, it's actually happened!!  My new sewing room is ready to move into at last!  It's been a long slow process that started way back when and has had every kind of obstruction thrown at it for what feels like forever.  I won't bore you with the list of problems we've gone through in the last year or so, as you'll already know if you follow the Blog :-)

This week has been spent ferrying boxes , gadgets and machines etc etc etc from one end of the house to another.  Up and down 2 sets of stairs, which has been a bit awkward as the old knee is still having treatment. However, its amazing what you can accomplish using a single elbow crutch  needed after being condemned to 3 days non weight bearing again and I've turned getting up and down stairs on my derriere into fine art.

Not a fraction of this would have been finished though if it hadn't been for my long -suffering DH who not only has carried most of the 'stuff' from one room to another but has also been busy with shelf fitting, floor moping  and window cleaning not to mention all the usual DIY that goes with a move like this. Gotta love them haven't you !



 So, its 'au revoir' to my little room (not much bigger than a large cupboard really but MINE) which has been my stitching haven for the last few years.

 Going.........

 .............going...........

 and finally gone today, and 'hello' to my new room which is anything but small

Corner 1

Corner 2

 Corner 3.

Corner 4 is the stairwell, just along from this

 Lots (and lots!) of room, lots of light, lots of unpacking and one big mess to sort out - anyone at a loose end this weekend willing to lend a hand ?

Obviously, nothing is the right place yet, but I am sure it'll get sorted eventually and that I will enjoy working in it, but without sounding  very ungrateful - I am going to miss my 'little' haven as I've spent many happy hours learning lots of lessons there not to mention turning out a few quilts in the process.

Did you know.....

..how difficult it is to become 'Liberated'?  Some months ago I treated myself to Gwen Marston's book 'Liberated Quiltmaking ll',

and out of all the woderful projects in the book, I fell in love with this

It's based on Kathy's Block and even without the lovely story behind the 'birth' of the block, this quilt speaks to me.  I love the colours,the funky tulips,  the layout - well,  I love just all of it !  Before trying a full size quilt, I thought it would be wise to try a mini, and am I glad I did so.  It was really difficult for me to forget everything that I've learn over the last few years and even though my piecing may not always be perfect, I do try to match things up.  Obviously I have been well indoctrinated about accuracy, as I had to force myself to
'liberate' my points but in the end it turned out quite well..

Ending up 17.5 x 20.5 inches, a nice size mini ready for the new wall.   I  managed to catch another of my 'plays' taking the original uncropped photo, which shows my little Union Jack cushion that I made from this tutorial on Lily's Quilts.

               
Really fun to make, the only problem is that I now have orders for 3 more from DGDs!!



But, not matter how hard I found liberated quilting to start with, I must be a quick learner as I managed to loose points on this 16 inch Selvage mini without even trying :-) 

Return to Blogland

 Well, yet another month has passed by in a flash - where does the time go to?  The last weeks have been filled with  all sorts of comings and goings and  lots time spent in the pool during the extremely hot weather we had at the end of July and the beginning of August.  Lots of pool time also means lots of BBQs and sitting around in the garden - but what it also means is just a little time spent sewing and none left for blogging :-)

Unfortunately, it hasn't all been good all the time as I managed to slip and twist my right knee very badly at the beginning of August and wasn't able to walk on it for over a week!  As if that wasn't bad enough, x-rays showed that my kneecap isn't where is should be, which explains the constant discomfort I've had in the knee for some time now. I have to start a round of appointments next week to see what can be done about it  and being a big coward about surgery, I am just hoping that it doesn't come to that ! Ah bliss -  the pleasures of growing old! I've decided that,  having tried this 'getting older' business , I don't like it and want to stop - anyone know how??

On the quilty side of life , I have now managed to build up a stock of 5 tops ready for quilting, but to be honest it's just been to hot to try wrestling a quilt through the Bernina, so anything  finished has been small scale.I had hoped to post a couple of photos, but the camera has gone off with DH to a steam rally, so they'll have to wait for another day.

Have you seen Christina's  new Quilt A Long with a difference?  Worth checking out if  like me  you are really fed up with stippling , and if  you really want to see some eye candy and pick up a tip or two at the same time, have a look at Wendy's  blog, she does amazing quilting  with her DSM .                         

A second newcomer in the side bar , I was thrilled  to have been featured on Karen's Selvage Blog some weeks ago, but have only recently got around  to downloading the button.

As I don't  really like blogging without any photos , here's a couple taken on our one of our recent jaunts. Interesting as they show several different headdresses from around the Province, and don't the youngsters look so cute !

Hopefully life will settle down into a more normal routine for the next couple of months, and then I can get down to some serious sewing & blogging !!