A Traveller's Tale - Part 1

Well, as I mentioned before, here's the start of the holiday photos :-)

We left Southampton feeling a little apprehensive as this was our first cruise and we were not quite sure what to expect, but we fell in love with this lovely lady from the very first day!

 

Snapped at our first port of call, El Ferrol in Northern Spain -  not the prettiest of cruise ports, but we were made to feel very welcome by a group of Galicia Pipers who raised a great cheer from the British passengers for their rendition of  'Scotland the Brave'.

At the next port we went in this

to the top of this

and saw these

as well as the most amazing views across to Spain and North Africa. The Rock of Gibraltar is 1, 398 feet high - to give you an idea just see how small our boat looks from the top !

I have to tell you that the ride in the cable car was a personal triumph for me as I am absolutely terrified of highs - I can't even stand on a chair without a parachute !  First half of the journey was a white knuckle job with eyes closed,  but thanks to DH and several other very supportive passengers, I eventually managed to open my eyes and enjoy (?) the rest of the ride.

Shopping in Gibraltar was a great treat as it's still duty free and who can resist that :-)

Next post - Sardinia - if you're not too bored already!

I'm Back !

Well, to be honest it's been a couple of weeks, but what with all the chores waiting for us when we got back, blogging and sewing have both been left at the bottom of the 'to do' list !

Our cruise was a wonderful experience which we both enjoyed immensely in spite of the weather. No actual rain, but boy - did that wind blow !  Strange as it sounds, the Bay of Biscay was relatively calm but once we turned left at the bottom of Portugal heading for the Med it was a different story.  Luckily we are both good sailors so at least no suffering from 'mal de mer' unlike lots of other passengers.  Average blow was force 7-8 but we did manage gale force 12 in the Golfe de Lyon off St Tropez.

Lots of photos to follow, but in the meantime, I've just discovered that in order to register with Bloglovin after the demise of Google Reader, I have to 'claim' my own blog page !  Ah well - that's how it is

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See you soon !

Can't Count

A couple of posts ago  I mentioned that, as well as 2 finished quilts since the beginning of the year, I also managed to up my count of UFOs by 2. Well, latest count is three :-)

Single Irish Chain - just the two colours in this one

Arkansas Crossroads -  obviously scrappy

and a Half Hexagon - just a little different to this one

Now all that's left to do is quilt them :-)

Happy Birthday to Me !

 

 

Another year added to the ever growing total - where do they all go ?

Just a minor celebration today with lunch here in the grounds of the Abbeye de Bon Repo, and I have to tell you I had a dessert to die for !  Goats cheese mousse with kiwi fruit and blackcurrant coulis topped with fresh local strawberries - I wasn't quite sure what to expect but it was absolutely divine , so bang goes the diet again !

Main celebration starts next week with a holiday on and around the Mediterranean in one of these

Well, a girl's got to find some sunshine somehow hasn't she :-)

Finished !

At last enough dry weather to manage a couple of photos of my 2 finished quilts for 2013

Some time back I was given a bag of plaid fabric samples roughly  3" x 4 1/2" which I cut into 2 1/2" squares and made this version of a Log Cabin/ Confetti quilt

The white areas are quilted with one of  Patsy Thompson's Fast & Furious designs, plaid squares are cross hatched and the borders are feathered.  Just about lap top size this will be a donation quilt.

Second finish is an old friend which I wrote about here

 All over quilted with  Pajama Quilter  (Dawn Ramirez)  Wonky Feathers this one was a bit of a challenge, but as Dawn gives you permission to make the feathers as wonky as you like ( and you better believe that there are some beauties in this quilt !) it turned out OK in the end.  I think this will be staying home  - at least for a little while :-)

Little Square Bag

Don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I belong to the British Quilters List in Yahoo Groups.   Recently a member posted a link for a little square bag, and it looked so cute and useful that I just had to have one, and this is it

With 4 little side pockets plus a roomy centre it's going to be very handy next to my machine and might - just might- help me control those bits and pieces that keep disappearing just when I need them :-)


If you'd like to make one, all you have to do is leave Genevieve a comment here and she'll send you the tutorial.  It is written in French, but there are plenty of photos which clearly explain the method making it a quick and easy project.

Still Here !

Its been a long, long time since I last blogged, but here I am again!

Why no blogging ?  Well, it's been a very hard, very long , and very wet Winter with not a great deal to write about to be honest other than boring day to day stuff which I am sure you'd rather not hear about :-)

The up side to the miserable weather is that I've managed to get through quite a lot on the sewing side of life. 2 finished quilts quickly replaced by 2 quilts in waiting  or UFOs in other words :-) I've also been practicing hard at my FMQ and even bought a couple of FMQ courses from Craftsy which I've found extremely helpful. Once our weather settles down and its less windy I hope to get some photos to share.

One really bright light in the middle of  all this gloom was the newest arrival to our ever growing family - please meet Penny, here with big sister Daisy.

Just 3 weeks old and weighing in at 9lbs 3ozs, she is just gorgeous, and I can't wait to meet here in person !

 

 

Dydd Gwyl Dewi

Everybody's Doing It !

My version of the great Scrappy-Tripalong

Another addition for you know where :-)

NB - I forgot to mention that I used Bonnie Hunter's free pattern !

Signs of Spring ?

On the banks of a very muddy canal

Just the one

Small but perfect

Proof indeed that Spring is just around the corner !!

Change of Weather !

We woke up this morning to about 5 inches of snow, and now we have freezing fog!

Well at least it isn't raining :-)

Nature's Oddities

Everyone knows that Nature is a strange and wonderful thing, but one of the strangest things I've seen in a long time popped up on one of my recent walks whilst trying to miss the rain - yes, its still raining !

Trudging along a muddy track near home I noticed that one of the banks appeared to have a white, frosty-looking covering, but only on part of it. 

Very strange, and even though we've had some overnight frosts recently, I just couldn't understand why just part of the bank ?  Now look closer....

Layers and layers of spiders' webs covering the bank for several metres - can you imagine how long it took to create this ?  As we have no monster spiders in this part of the world and the ones you normally see outside are not a lot bigger than a money spider, this is quite a an achievement in my book !

NB - The big, black, hairy spiders prefer to be inside terrorising humans :-)

Just One Word !

If you were to sum up 2012 in just one word - what would yours be ?

Mine would have to be 'WET' as it started raining in May, and it hasn't
 stopped for very long all year.  Every month we heard reports of  the wettest month since records began and every month it continued to rain, but - 'WET' hasn't given up even now in 2013 as it is still raining!

Those of you who follow my Blog know that I spend lots of hours walking along the Nantes to Brest canal, and you've seen photos of still waters reflecting banks lined with trees - well,  now look at it .  White water rafting anyone ?

Last time we were at this same spot we walked along by the trees now growing out of a mini lake, today we had to use the roadway.

 Bear in mind that the towpath is normally some 2-3 feet above the canal.

Bad news for us, but these guys didn't mind !

Thankfully there were no boats around, as I don't quite know what would have happened if these lock gates needed to open as they are barely holding the water back as it is !

Luckier than many people all over Europe,  this is the only flooding we've had to contend with but now you understand why my one word to describe 2012 is 'WET' !

2013 !!

Happy New Year !

            Blwyddyn Newydd Dda !
      
                          Bonne Annee !

Christmas Check In

Isn't it strange how Christmas always seems to creep up on us, one minute its months away and before you know it - here it is and the usual panic sets in !

Christmas at 'chez nous' is going to be a subdued affair this year as the last weeks have been rather unkind to me after being hit by a nasty bout of whooping cough would you believe !  Know as the cough of 100 days its certainly lived up to the name as far as I'm concerned !

Enough of that though  - my reasons for dropping in today are to say 'yes, I'm still here' and to wish you all a peaceful and jolly Christmas however you choose to celebrate !

 

 

 

Merry Christmas !

 

Nadolig Llawen !

 

Joyeux Noel !

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Out of Control

Ever felt totally out of control, frustrated and really, really angry ?? Well that is exactly how I felt on Thursday night !


What happened ?    Well, after driving some 300kms to catch a ferry to the UK to visit our families and do some shopping, on arriving at the ferry port at 10.00pm we were told that the crews had gone on a wild cat strike in the last couple of hours and that our sailing was cancelled.  Stunned does not begin to describe how we felt as the only alternative was another 400km drive away.

What did we do ?     Given that neither myself or DH are in the first flush of youth, another 400kms to an unknown situation was not an option, particularly as we would have to drive back across the UK for several hours to get to our destination over there so - after calming down a little, we decided to turn tail and drive back home.

What happens next ?    Goodness only knows as the 'wild cat strike' has now turned into a full scale stoppage, and the  ferry fleet is tied up until further notice leaving 1,000s of passengers stranded on both side of the Channel.  We are some of the luckier ones , at least we are back safe & sound in our own home and not sleeping on the docks trying to get a boat.

We have cancelled our crossing until such time as the whole thing is resolved, even though the sales staff offered to keep us on a 'short list' for the first available sailing, the uncertaintity of it all is not worth the stress of waiting for a phone call, this way at least WE are back in charge.

The reason for it all?  You can read about it here

So sad when we think of the number of pleasant crossings we have made with this fleet over the last 20 years!

I started.....

...so I'll finish the visit to Les Jardins du Botrains with a couple of photos of the lake

Where  we found this very clever trompe l'oeil

and a garden bench with a difference !

Further on a thriving potager

 and what about this for a greenhouse?

We had a lovely time wandering around these beautiful gardens, and even though the photos don't really do them justice, I hope you've enjoyed the visit
too !
                                        

A Bientot !

After Something Old - Something New

Last post was about something old-ish , this time I have something new to talk about !

I am  great fan of  Karen over on Selvage Blog , which explains why I have this mound of selvedges:-)

and yes, I have used some of them for a cushion,  a couple of tote & gift bags and even  a mini quilt in the past.

Besides encouraging quilters to use up their selvedges, Karen is, amongst her many other talents,  a designer , and I've just fallen in love with  Diamond Dish her latest string quilt pattern,

(photo courtesy of Selvage Blog)

I've often thought about making another one of these, but am not sure if I'd get bored making it a second time, but this pattern is just different enough to make me think seriously about it.

I 've just received a copy of the pattern, and straight away started to freak out as I realised it is made using the dreaded Y seams - something I have managed to avoid so far during my quilting life ! However - thanks to the lovely clear instructions in the pattern and with some help from  Kay Woods, I've managed to make a  few passable sample blocks !

First attempt was with scrap fabric

 then with strings

and another just because !

Maybe not  100%  perfect, but I'm happy with the result, so it's all systems go now for tackling the quilt.  Not quite decided yet whether to go with the white as in the sample block or switch to a bright colour as in Karen's quilt - what do you think ?

Do pop over to Karen's blog, and look at all the great ideas there,  and if you're a lover of antique quilts, check out Thursday's post too !

Granny Squares

There's been a lot of chat in Blogland over the last weeks about Granny Blocks, which I believe started here at Bee in my Bonnet.

No, I haven't joined in Great Granny Along, but it did remind me of something  lurking in the  'Quilts in Waiting' drawer , and thought I'd show you my version of this quilt block.

From a pattern in Australian P&Q listed as a signature quilt, when I can't remember, but certainly a number of years ago.  The top has been waiting to be backed since October 2011 (hanging my head in shame !!) and to be honest, I'd forgotten how pretty it is so - I think it must be time to do something about it, don't you ?

Maybe a good pressing would be a start :-)

William Says .........

........you've got to stop and smell the roses !