Hanger

This is a wire hanger I bought the day I went to Ashbywith bluebell . It cost £9.99 . At the malvern quilt show they were priced £17 ,

showing off

I,m showing my change of header ,my dear friend G C went to see the quilts at the V& A in London , she saw this card while there and thought of me . Isn,t it nice when someone links you with something they see .

Now for something different . While shopping at aldi I bought a tin of corned beef . I haven,t bought corned beef for ages , and i,ve had this in my store cupboard for a long time but the date on the tin said use by 2014 . Tonight I decided to use it . I had jersey potatoes , spring greens , I sliced two pieces about 1/2" thick and fried them , my dinner was really tasty and I so enjoyed it , only thing is I now have to use the rest of it. I have in mind
Corned beef salad or , a sort of cottage pie I shall probably not fancy eating it again for a long time but I can recommend Aldi tinned corned beef

cottonreelsssssssss

When I get organised this will be my new header , My friend of 30 years went to see the quilts at the V&A in London .She said she saw this and thought of me .

Thankyou G C it,s lovely and very thoughtful of you

Front Garden

This is almost all of my front garden . The plants are only a couple of years old so I expect them to spread further this summer . the small tree in the centre is a Malus , that has been in about 3 weeks

Rock Rose

Elizabeth of http French Village life .com put a picture of her rock rose on her blog , it,s a beauty.

The one I,m showing here is the rock rose on my front garden . Two years ago it was a little 45p plant from the garden centre

Lets have a show of rock roses

A friend indeed

I bought an arch to support 3 climbing roses I planted last year ,they now needed a more permanant support than the mish mash they were attached to .

Bluebell suggested we put it together and erect it . During the putting together of the arch , several times we almost collapsed laughing at the unwieldy jig saw .

Eventually all was completed and erected . It was a scorching hot day . a lot of dropping of screws . screwing and unscrewing , it was finally in place and looks great.

I,ll show it again when it is adorned with roses

Gifts from Bluebell

These are gifts from bluebell , 4 scented sachets for my wardrobes, rose perfumed , An oh so pretty label and a satin pouch trimmed with silk flowers and ribbon also rose scented. She is very clever and generous too .

I purchased this little thingy for £2 from the charity shop . Its a sealed unit and contains real flowers , yes real flowers .

These 3 plates were £1 each from the antique stall at Breedon . I have quite a bit of the pink transfer ware . The little ribbon dish , so pretty .

Sorry I put this on twice but hey ! it,s worth a second look

Zip a dee do dah

It,s national writing day today so I must write a blog .

I was merrily mopping the kitchen floor this morning when bluebell came visiting , she brought gifts , beautiful ones . They will be posted after my blog , "would you like to go to Ashby" she ask , well I didn,t need asking twice . out came the curling tongs to give my hair a lift , change of clothes and off we went , no more mopping , a basket of ironing left sulking at me and an unmade bed , it was beautiful weather . what an untidy place I left behind .

Off we went , sunshine all the way, when we got to the main st,. in Ashby I wound the window down , called to an old boy "where,s the parking" he nudged the man sitting next to him and pointed to me , perhaps he thought I was a furriner , the man he nudged poked the woman in the ribs sitting next to him , she looked at me blank , once again I ask about the parking , she just pointed , down there!! we were no wiser . Bluebell remarks "if there are any strange people about how is it you always manage to find them"

We found the parking , cruised around for a while looking for a vacant space , bluebell hijacked the road so no,one could do a nippy and get in before her , off we go .

It is a delightful place well loved by American tourist , several courtyards with quaint shops . Bluebell gives a shoe boutique the go over , tries on shoe,s looks at matching bags with the forthcoming wedding in mind , decides to think about it . We next call at a book shop , bluebell buys a book . We browse more shops, cross over the road and stop at no,.76 and have superb coffee , studied the menu and decided we would go back there for lunch . Off we go again , we stood and looked in the estate agents windows , saw several properties we liked the look of , bluebell goes in and gets details of 2 houses she liked the look of !!!

Walking on down the road discussing all and nothing bluebell goes sideways on her ankle , no harm done but her shoe fell to bits , I laughed at her misfortune , she had to walk down the road and across to a shop one shoe on and one shoe off . A pair of flip flops purchased and off we went again , she only broke one shoe , why did she buy a pair I ask . Well ! I didn,t want to walk hihgher on one leg she said . Mmm!

We went back to no,. 76 for lunch . we sat in the back yard it was magical , bluebell will be putting the pics,. on her blog

More browsing , I bought a wall hanger for my little collectables , it will be on my blog after this post . Then we did the charity shops and found a book for my daughter in law , the book ? The Shell seekers ,

we called at Breedon on the hill as we were coming home and bought plates from the antique stall . The day didn,t end there but tomorrow is another day.

Oh dear!!

I did too much gardening again . Trying too hard to get plants in while the weather is good . I spent at least 5 hours gardening with a break for lunch and a little snooze . That was 3 hrs,. this morning and 2 hrs,. from 4 o,clock . then I decided I would have mackeral salad , I added waldorf and an egg , then fruit and cream for a sweet , result , I feel quite yukky , I,ve had a shower , now I,m going to bed with my murder mystery and a glass of water , I,ll try to ignore the yukky feeling . I think I,ll sleep on an extra pillow .

Apologies

I,m really struggling to keep up with commitments at present . The garden takes most of my time . I,m stripping out the spring stuff to prepare for the summer planting . Bluebell gave me a hand this morning . She chopped out an old root and planted a Hydrangea for me .

After a cup of tea we went to the garden centre for more plants , calling on the way to the hardware store for an arch to train some climbing roses and bean netting also garden string. I would be a wealthy woman if I didn,t have a garden to support , but then I wouldn,t have the joy a garden gives .

My dahlia plants are doing well and the begonias , I bought tomato plants today and 3 strawberry plants, busy lizzies and nictiana and another clematis and another hydrangea , so there is still more gardening but hopefully I will soon be able to sew awhile and do some blogging

EXPLORE

The pics ,. are there under untitled post , I,m really getting stressed this morning trying to sort things . Browse around , please leave a little comment if you have time so I know they are being viewed

Oh dear

Today I have had 2 post disappear and photographs , I dare not spend anymore time at present trying to sort it all out . I,ll see what I can do later

Hexagon quilts

I am showing 3 of my hexagon quilts . I was reading a blog earlier where the owner had proudly finished the top of her hexy quilt . Very nice it is too . They take a long time to do but nice to sit and sew in the evening or to take to your sewing group . I do have another sitting with some quilts yet to be photographed

Hexagon 3

And another

Hexagon 2

Another hexy quilt

Hexagon quilt

This is a hexagon quilt I am working on at present. It is being worked in the English Method over papers . The papers measure 7/8ths across the widest part and 1/2" on the sides .I have made several hex,. quilts . If I can find them on my laptop I will blog them

Pigeon post

My garden as I have said in past post has been absolutely delightful this Spring . The only downside is the pigeons . I don,t dislike pigeons , but , I know they are going to decimate my salad and veg,. when they grow .
There are 3 big fat pigeons and I said to bluebell I now have 3 baby ones too , ever a fount of knowledge "no " said she , " they are collared doves " . What do I know of our feathered friends .

I have sat in the conservatory it seems for the last 2 weeks just looking at the birds, bees ,and the blossom on the fruit trees and the flowers , I did promise myself earlier in the year that if the sun was shining that is where I would spend my days . That is when I,m not tazzing around with bluebell . We are doing the charity shops again at present , we are after mens shirts for shirt quilts . I got a very nice pink one and a mauve check so I,m on the way to a pink shirt quilt .

I haven,t been sewing for a while but I might be able to get enthusiastic after I ,ve been to the Malvern quilt show on Thursday . Money melts like chocolate drops at shows but i have not used what I bought last year so I hope not to give in to temptation