Hi everybody,

Well this week has been busy – back to work Monday  – and then friends over for Fish and Chips on Thursday evening – had a good laugh.  Felt rough on Friday – just the normal headache problem and nausea, had a restful day.

Little bit of sewing achieved on Lady Greensleeves and some progress on the back stitching for the Bee Design that is the centre piece of my Bee Quilt.  Finally finished the back  stitching on Sunday Morning and here is the finish.

I’ve now pinned it to some lavender fabric and intend to sew around the design with some lilac thread in little crosses and then maybe fray the ends.  That idea may change.  My intention is to use poppers to secure this part to the main quilt, so that I can remove it if there is cause to wash the quilt.

Knitting – nothing achieved on that front.

6 Quilts cut out and ready to be sewn together.  No pressure there!!!

Well that is all for now.

Bye

 

 

 

 

As this was the last day of my week  from paid work, my husband and I went to one of our favourite bakeries for a lunch time treat and next door is a favourite book shop.  I can never resist going in – I love the smell of books.  Kindle is not for me (at the moment!)

The first new books I bought were both on the subject of reverting back to basics and helping Mother Nature in the best possible way.

Should be interesting and inspiring.

The other books were published as I done the food shop at our local supermarket.  They will be a quicker read – perhaps take to work for lunchtime.  Quite diverse in there subject though.

I keep thinking about going to the Hay Book Festival – never been, but I would probably have to take an empty rucksack because I would definitely buy books.  Maybe some time in the future.

That’s all, I am now going to start reading.  Thanks for stopping by.

Bye

 

Hi everybody,

I feel like I have been telling you about my W.I.P. forever, and what’s more that I have been stitching it forever.  Well below you can see my progress to date.

Around 30th July 2017

3rd March 2019

and finally,

Progress is progress.  I do love all the different greens.

Back to work tomorrow after a very pleasant week off.

Bye

Hi There, Hetty here

You might have guessed from the title that myself and mummy have been snuggling.  Mummy has been very busy this week but she kept her promise that today, Thursday, was my day.  She has cleaned around my part of her room, washed my floor coverings and cleaned my cage.  I am a posh bird!!!!

Then it was time to come out, fly around and settle in my favourite spot on mummy, steal plenty of kisses and even sniffed each other.  Mummy says I smell of ginger and baby powder.  Sweet with a kick (perhaps bite) he! he!

 

Hope you have had a nice week.  Glad weather has improved.

Pip Pip cheerio!

Hi everyone,

Well the item that has gone down is our new stair and landing carpet.  Two men and one hour later it was finished.  It’s so spongy – gorgeous.

Onto other news – I have been busy during my week off work, apart from the subjects in my previous post, and much sewing has been achieved. First up I have sewed the top half and bottom half of the Bee Quilt.  This is my first attempt, and although some seams didn’t match exactly I’m quite pleased with my effort.  Beauty in imperfections will be my stance.  It is also a learning curve – I have learnt little things as I have sewed.

Top Half

As you can see I have also been stitching the centre piece.

Also you know I purchased three storage boxes well I liked the way they held my sewing so much I treated myself to another three.

I have also started sewing together the central area of the Beachcomber Quilt.  They are in squares of four (not to deceive you into thinking it was all sewn together – that would be too adventurous).

I have also finished cutting the squares for the Pirate Quilt, The Sewing Quilt and the Jazz Quilt which will have two cross stitch pictures inserted in the central section.  Quick Preview below:

Pirate quilt

 

 

Jazz Quilt

Scraps of material just show the colours I have used as the surround.

I was thinking of making a surround in black for the pictures and then an outer surround of cream.

What does anybody think?

Also what type of wadding does anyone particularly like using?  The Jazz Quilt will probably be a wall hanging so I know that doesn’t need to be as thick.

Let me know your ideas?

Daisy

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this season – everything beginning to bud and advanced buds swelling ready to burst forth with abundant colours.  Also the very verdant young leaves on trees and the farmer’s fields in all shades of green and yellow in the case of the rape seed.  And then there are the fantastic sunsets with fingers of colour displayed across the sky, turning the fluffy white clouds shades of yellow, ochre and red.

Here are some pictures of the growth in our garden:

Our Rhododendron – shocking pink flowers will burst open in April.

Photinia – Crispy Pink has these beautiful pink leaves which eventually darken and turn into the variegated leaves.  Isn’t Mother Nature clever.

I love yellow flowers.  This is Cowslip and the other is the rather dependable Pansy.  They are so cheery.

This is Camellia (who we have named as Camilla).  She produces beautiful large pink / red blooms.  We have her in a pot of ericaceous soil which is immersed in the raised bed.  Our soil is not kind to these plants or Rhododendrons.

Last but by no means least, the Pieris -Forest Flame, which I am so proud of –

It is the first blossom in our garden and she is totally cloaked in these tubular or bell like cream flowers.  The Bumble Bees – we saw two large bees on these flowers today.  I like Bees.  Look how blue the sky was today.  I have just fed the Forest Flame with some Sulphate of Iron as the leaves looked a little tired after this magnificent display.

Well hope you like this little view of my world.  I am a Virgo so maybe it helps with all my tender care.

Bye!

 

 

This is something new – nothing on a Sunday but now I have some news.  I am off work this week and what a gorgeous week it is at the moment.  Two things are happening – we are having new stair and landing area carpet fitted on Wednesday, so had to remove the old one with its underlay, which my husband and I done on Sunday.  We also took it to the local tip.  Monday, my husband and I removed a huge amount of elder and ivy which had become top heavy in the hedge at the back of the garden.  My husband had worried that it would fall across our garden, ruining the fence and shrubs, in the recent strong winds that battered Britain.  Having gained permission from the local farmer as it is his hedge to his field, we chopped and sawed, unfortunately had to remove the pidgeons nest (1 cold egg in it).  Before and after pictures below.  When it was all bagged up my husband took them to the tip as well.  Job well done.  (now we both have aching backs).

 

The large picture is the before ………. and the other 2 pictures reveal the trees in the distant gardens and the shape now.  We had 8 bags of clippings.

 

Celebration – It is our 10th Wedding Anniversay on Wednesday.

 

I will post again about sewing etc.

Bye for now.

 

 

Hello

Well I have finished another book.  A small achievement, I agree but it pushes me closer to my goal of 19 books.   The book is by a new author for myself, Liz Trenow.  It was a most enjoyable read, not taxing on the brain but very informative.

Well that’s it for now, I’m still busy sewing and will write another post on Sunday about that.

Bye

 

Hi

Well I have been busy planning and cutting out new quilt designs, my mojo is buzzing at the moment.  I really need to sit at the sewing machine and start piecing them together.

The Pirate Quilt

Above is the centre piece and then below are shown the two colours for the surround.

Next I cut out all the pieces for The Beachcomber Quilt

Close up of the material designs ………

On the knitting front – zero effort.

On the cross stitch front I am busy stitching the centrepiece for The Bee Quilt, see below …..

 

Doesn’t Bertram Bee look lovely.  (Sorry …. I always name things/items).

Well busy me is of to sew.

Bye

 

 

Well Hi everybody

At last a day to be cheerful – the sun is shining but the wind is still cold.  We are fortunate in this area as to not have flooding.  Yorkshire looked terrifying, with the water so high  and flowing rapidly, on the BBC News last night.  I hope it starts to recede soon.

On to more cheerful things – I have taken some pictures of our spring garden and my Pieris Forest Flame which I am very proud of.  We are looking at coppicing the back hedge as that top bit looked dangerous in the wind and would ruin plants and fencing if it fell down towards our garden.  Unfortunately it would disturb the pigeons who normally nest in there.

Are not the yellow pansies cheerful.  The other pot plant is a Hellebore Christmas Rose which had a white flower in the beginning and now it is a pale green colour. The cowslip is doing well after we split it last year and the winter pansies are recovering from the heavy frost.  Spring is in the Air!

Bye for now