Bookworm

I don,t really know what I,m getting into here ,I,m following instructions of Michela--http://littlesecretsfrommygarden.blogspot.com/

1--take a book you have nearby

2--go to page 161

3--write on your blog the 5th sentence

4--ask 5 others to repeat the exersise

I have close by abook bluebell has left here,it,s called --The eternal city

Page 161 chapter15.

Then the taxi stops at the lights and I see a poster on a bus stop: loopy writing against a garish picture of a big wheel.

Now I have to nominate 5 people to do the same

I know bluebell reads a lot as does Silver sewer . perhaps they will do a carry on or they might give me an earwigging for involving them.

I was doing a final check on my laptop before closing down for a month,s holiday,so if I go looking for readers I will most likely miss the plane

Be in touch end of August ,earlier if I get near a comp,. Bye for now

Stranger in the night

I sleep very easy,head on pillow,zonk , I,ve gone. Last night 3 times something woke me up doing zzzzs around my face . I have searched but cannot see anything resembling an insect. We had a lot of rain yesterday so perhaps it was a mosquito. I,m told we do have them in this country. I,m paranoid about them,I,ve had some really bad bites in the past . My husband used to say they like English blood. I,m well prepared for when I go to Cyprus , stuff to plug in the wall , more stuff to spray the room and my body, and a pen to dab on bites if they do get me .

I think the creature of the night had 2 direct hits , I have a itchy forehead today , I probably need de,lousing,

Alittle something

I cannot bear to think there are friends out there that feel missed out on the friendship award so if you feel inclined please take this little heart and don,t feel blue

Friendship Award

Every day for about a week I have been mulling over this friendship award. I read many blogs and also leave comment on many . I could have passed it to lots and lots of people . If your name isn,t here it doesn,t mean you are not in my thoughts, I enjoy all the crafts I see , I marvel at the dexterity of the people who must sit for hours creating beautiful items . I love looking at the quilting sites, I,m a patchwork/quilter myself . I particularly remember seeing an orange quilt many months ago, the lady who made it had two delightful children, but I cannot find her these days , to all craft people everywhere , thankyou ,

For the awards

http://bugsandfishes.blogspot.com/
http://vintagegirl-heatherjean.blogspot.com/
http://beedeebabee,blogspot.com/
http://athomeinthecountryjill.blogspot.com/
http://frenchvillagelife.blogspot.com/
http://gypsyluludelights.blogspot.com/

I would like to be partial and also include my two friends -bluebell and Silver sewer.

I hope you all collect this award, it was passed to me by scrappy quilter . I love this lady

Right this Time

I was going to show the bargains of the Monday shop that bluebell and I do and for some reason I showed 3 photographs of my village . They are not the best but still part of the photo file of my village file so I left them

These towels and face cloths are our bargain of the week, We do our grocery shopping at Asda (part of the Walmart empire) towels 66p each , facecloths 4 for £1, 100% cotton, amazing

Today we did shopping of a different kind , we had a trip to the hairdresser for haircuts. I have a new style , very short, but lovely, I,m very pleased , I love to vary my hairstyle

Hometown

These pictures came up by mistake, but it,s the village where I live ,so hey,take a peep

Vintage girl

I have tried to contact this blog , the young ladies name is Carol, she left a comment and joined me as a follower, when I try her blog it says I have to be invited to read it. I feel like a gatecrasher

New girl to me

Tonight while browsing I found a blog I hadn,t visited before, her name is Michela, she has beautiful flowers on her blog. Two of my blogging friends share a love of flowers and gardens, so I hope they take a look here, and also all who love flowers. This dahlia is on her blog, it looks similar to one I gave as a present this year. http://littlesecretsfrommygarden.blogspot.com/

Also I came across another interesting site at the weekend,take a look http://calscosycorner.blogspot.com/

Pressy

These are the goodies my friend blubell brought back for me when she went to Devon. 2 charm packs, abeech house that now stands on my bathroom window, it,s lid can be lifted, a pretty little blue bird , a tin fish, a tin shell ( I love tinwear) and a pack of cards to put fabric in . What a bounty, and she is so generous, spoils me .

Goldfish

These are my latest aquisition to the garden, my lovely goldfish, They have just come to the corner where I feed them , the bits on top of the water are the flakes on which they feed .I love these little creatures and love to see them gobble gobble

So Much Happiness

Scrappy Quilter sent me this award ,I have to pass it on to 8 others. If it hadn,t already come from Carol she would have been top of my list . She inspires me to think of others before myself .I would like to ask other bloggers to visit the blog of Scrappy quilter ,her life is all consuming with the needs of others .
Right now I have to do my Saturday stint of collecting the newspaper for myself and my neighbour. I shall publish my awards later.

The begonia is the most vibrant orange, It has excelled itself. Just imagine , this greets me each time I come to my home from the road . I go away for a month starting next weekend . I,m going to fret about my flowers and plants, and also my latest aquisition of the goldfish in the pond. I feed them each morning approx 9 am, they make me smile with their big mouths, gobble, gobble .

The Black one

This is a grandmother,s garden quilt with a black background

Grandmothers flower Garden

I have just been reading a blog --http://sherimhoward.blogspot.com she was commenting on grandmothers garden quilts, this is mine. I,m now going back in my files to look for one with a black background . they used to be known as widows quilts in black.

Hydrangea

On the photograph this hydrangea looks pink but it is almost red and,very striking and ,the lavender hedge you can just see is absolutely alive with bees . someone,s honey must have been good this last 2 yrs
This is bluebell stroking the fabric we bought today from Kisco-also known as the fabric guild. I needed stuff to send to my daughter in law, bluebell is making a quilt for a friend and needed sashing.

The fabric guild do have a website now and if you live anywhere near middle England and you are a quilter it is well worth the journey.

We were sitting having a coffee at the fabric guild, idly chatting and browsing through a magazine. I came across a page in Homes and Gardens showing a beautiful garden with a statue .Quite unconcernadly I said to bluebell "thats what I,d like in my garden now, a statue of a tall lady" before I could finish the sentence she said " I,m a tall lady, if you give me a jug to put on my shoulder I,ll get my kit off and stand out there"---well I nearly fell under the table laughing , I,ve got a very lively imagination but I ask you, what would the neighbours think, she,s not a bad looker but a greek goddess!!!!

Normal Service resumed

My dear friend bluebell returned from her holiday on Sunday. Monday we resumed our usual activities. Monday is the day we hit the shops.We went browsing first ,checking in case there were reductions,not that we intended buying but it,s good to keep abreast of things. We really enjoy our coffee break so that came after the browsing, plus a pastry and a sit down to gossip and do a little people watching . Energy levels replenished so phase 2, more checking the rails and a bit of serious shopping,bluebell needed toothbrush heads for her electric toothbrush, I needed catarrh pastilles. Then into M/S for a pot of tea, sandwiches and scones with jam and cream . Now we are really charged up and ready to go so it,s off to do the grocery shopping. So boring grocery shopping !!

I cannot remember what we did Tuesday,but today off we went again to collect my flight tickets .We decided to go off to Dunelm, another of our favourite haunts . That was a waste of time, they are being refurbished . We went into Mcdonalds for coffee and a do,nut .then into TK Max .I got a super pair of slip on sandals, leather tops and insoles, £6.and a jar of top quality spanish honey £2.99. bluebell bought a pretty little cream jug shaped like a cockerill £2 99.she has a theme of cockerills in her kitchen . On the way home we called at the supermkt,. to stock up on ice cream. Now that really was a bargain .

Thursday we shall be off sewing in the afternoon and maybe a call into the charity shop on the way home .

Friday we have planned to go to the Fabric Guild, my daughter in law wants me to get a cot panel . and bluebell needs fabric !!!

I,d like to mention when bluebell came back from holiday her computer had given up.She will be in touch with her blogger friends eventually

Bird house

Isn,t this cute, I paid 20p for it off the sewing table at a quilt group . when my son came to visit ,he being a carpenter, cut some pieces for me, I am now going to paint them(not today) and have a row in different colours. It has a label saying Paducah on the back. I love it, simple things please simple minds,some say.

Pins

211 safety pins that held the donated quilt together for machine quilting

Quilting

Reading other peoples blogs, I always think -why do people send their quilts off to be quilted. Admitidly it takes patience to learn to machine quilt. I do mine on a Brother sewing machine , not a top of the range one, and on the kitchen table . perhaps it is cheap in the states, but it is very ,very expensive to have a quilt done in England . Do it yourself and buy more fabric

Memory quilt in stages

This is the memory quilt rolled at the sides ready for machine quilting, it is such a sombre looking thing

As it is placed on my bed perhaps it is coming alive,the colours look brighter,it is quilted hereThis picture is showing the back

The quilting is more visable from the back, it is lost in all the colours on the front, it could be used either side.

Donated quilt top

This quilt top was given to me by a friend. I feel sure she made it a long time ago .She said it was a memory quilt ,or a calendar quilt. Several years ago they were quite the thing to make. She passed it on because she said a lot of the memories were now sad !. None of it means anything to me but I do recognise bits,.you will see 2 squ,s in the middle that have yellow bows . They came about when everyone was singing -Tie a Yellow ribbon round the old Oak tree- that might help date how old this top is , perhaps someone will tell me ,it has only an odd squ,. here and there of proper patchwork fabric. This evening I have machine quilted it . I put the batting and back on this afternoon. I have not put a border on it, it seems to be made from recycled materials, it now needs binding. This person only makes quilts of squares. I wonder if she will change her mind and want it back now it is quilted, she doesn,t do quilting herself, Ah, could have been a ploy,!.

Jelly Roll reverse

This is the reverse side of the Jelly roll quilt

A jelly roll quilt , I was given this jelly roll at christmas ,I think .

I started it about a month ago , it,s hand quilted,I still have the stars ti quilt in the ditch, they still have the pins in I have quilted 1 star,on the main piece I quilted my own pattern . I make my stencils by folding paper, drawing a design on 1 section then cut and, unfold, if I ,m happy with the design I then stick it on to cardboard.

I cannot remember having 3 quilts at once on the go before and I hope I,m not foolish enough to do so again. they seem to take ages.

I still have to put the binding on this quilt

Baltimore info

The baltimore quilt was 16 panels I bought at the fabric guild, I quilted it intensly and,joined it in the quilt as you go method.
you may be able to see it still has tacking in the sashing, I intend to quilt cables on the sashing.
When I say I bought the panels at the fabric guild, I should say they were printed panels . It would have been almost as quick to have appliqued them in the traditional way.but it pretty non,the less .

Baltimore reverse

Just the back of the Baltimore . you will be able to see,it is well quilted,but there will be more

The dresser

My oak dresser with my collection of blue and white pottery.I was 18 when I married, I bought this dresser when I was about 22. I was the eldest of 6 children and couldn,t wait to leave home . when I was a girl you could not just leave home and get a flat . It now seems frightening to think of being married so young but I was well schooled in housekeeping so no problems, and a big bonus ! 2 sons .

There is always blue and white pottery in the charity shops in England . I do have more , some I use ,some I have tucked away.

close up

A close up of the fabric, some of it has fishes. I thought this jelly roll was a no,no, but it was an ugly duckling turned into a swan

About turn

This is the reverse side of the quilt, it could be used either side .it is machine quilted .

Blue and white quilt

This is a blue and white quilt. The blue was the first jelly roll I bought. I must have had it at least 8 months,every time I looked at it I wondered why did I buy it . I didn,t even unroll it. Then a few weeks ago a friend ask if I had any blue that she could use for sky ,she was going to a workshop." Take what you need out of this" I said. When I saw it unrolled I thought , potential ! This is the result . It is Freedom Fabric , it had India on the tag, and it appears to be hand printed or blocked . I realised the fabric really is beautiful and it is strong cotton .I almost gave it away as a bad purchase.

Swoosh

This morning, washed the bathroom floor, then the hall,put the bucket on the kitchen floor intending to change the water ready to wash the kitchen floor, Whoops ! knocked the bucket of dirty water over, enough said

Shopping

Today I went off to town.a long trek to the bus, and a long bus ride, I needed shopping not available in the village, like a new kettle. Does 4 yrs daily wear sound about right for the one I have discarded ? The new one is black and metal, looks smart enough .

I sat quilting for a long time yesterday, I seemed to have 3 quilts on the go . not my style of working,one at a time is how I like to progress . Too many quilts on the go and they seem to take ages to complete. Two are now finished . I,ll put these on tomorrow,the 3rd one needs redoing in two places . It,s not quite flat where 2 points meet, a little bump of material that would not have been there if I had put the quilt flat on the table when I was putting it in the hoop instead of doing it on my lap while watching Dr Zhivago on t,v, mmmmm Omar Sharif and Julie Christie , a good combination and Rod Stieger as the baddie .

I also did the dresser that I display the blue and white on . I do have a lot of blue and white pots . I like to wash them by hand . I did them in the d/washer once and they left the odd water mark where they were unglazed underneath .They should be done every month but I had to spend more time on the garden this summer,it,s looking after itself pretty well now though , plus we have had enough rain so I do not need to water.

While I was in town I went to the market (cannot resist saying dot com,. like the advert) I got 4 beautiful shiny purple egg plants for £1 and a pound of button mushrooms 80p, I really enjoyed my dinner tonight, I made muosaka ,mushrooms and cauliflower cheese,

I think it,s bedtime, Ive packed enough in for 1 day . Bless you all

Where ,O where

I have the name niki who put a comment on my last blog . I have tried to look at her site but it comes up no profile .

I don,t know where I read her, if any one else knows the blog url of niki please tell, thankyou

Lots of happiness

Iv,e had a really good weekend. I haven,t been anywhere, but, lots of happy moments came my way.

Saturday, Silver Sewer called, she brought veg from her allotment ,we swopped plants , recipes, magazines, and a very pleasant couple of hours passed by.

Today, Sunday, my neighbour called with Poldark dvd,s she has been recording for me,and, said she will feed my fish when I go to Cyprus .

Iv,e spent the last 2 hrs reading blogs ,many are so inspiring ,all the craft things that can be done with buttons!!

I managed to get my blue and white quilt to the final stage, I just have to sew the binding down , and I am quilting a lap quilt that I made with a jelly roll ,I really like to choose my own colours for my quilts but the jelly roll was a present last christmas,The wide range of fabric in these rolls do open your eyes to new colour combinations .

Best find of the week! When I revamped my front garden I emptied a centre bed of plants , I dug out and split between friends a large clump of day lilies . I put 2 pieces in my back garden. When Silver sewer and I were looking at the various plants at the front garden we found a couple of pieces of day lily coming through . I,m so pleased. I remember years ago when I sent for these plants they were little pieces of root about 2ins,.long . I could not identify what they were,these little shrivelled bits but they have surpassed themselves, they are orange, I shall get another colour for next year.

Water Feature

My son came to visit for 3 days ".Anything you need doing while I,m here mum " ? "just a few odd bits" I replied. He looked around , decided to put fresh sealant ruond the windows . We sat chatting about the garden, " I shall be looking at a gold fish pond sometime " said I. no sooner were the words out of my mouth than he said "lets go , I,ve all my tools with me" . By the end of the day he had achieved this .

With the sewing machine, my blogging, staring at the golfish , will I ever get any housework done? I think it will be a case of open the front door , and the back door and let the dust blow through.