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Wednesday 27 August 2014

Halfway up a Mountain

Today I went halfway to the top of the world, at least that is what it felt like. I drove over to see Dawn from "Doing it for ourselves" and saw her new home and the animals. I saw the Alpacas from a distance, they are really cute with their fluffy faces. The ducklings are not so little balls of yellow fluff and the chickens were running around having lots of chicken fun. The pigs are doing piggy things and starting to rootle around their enclosure turning the ground over, although Dawn did say that they made a bid for freedom and she had to round them up.

The views are fantastic but like a klutz I left my camera on the ironing board, I know I know it should be in my bag. Well it was until I turned it out looking for my phone, hey ho that's the way it goes. I will do better next time, I hope to make a return visit. Dawn was showing me the things she makes on her Innovis, I could use a lesson or 3, her work is lovely, I never imagined that you could do so much with an embroidery machine. It has galvanised me into getting one.

I had a quick tour of the house and it is warm, comfortable and reflects the personality that you see on the blog. I could have settled in nicely, there are pieces of Dawn,s work in evidence and show off her considerable talents. There was even a loaf of bread fresh from the Rayburn, the smell did not make my mouth water at all.

Tomorrow is Kaitlyn,s birthday so I will be off to Cardigan and a visit to the ball park is lined up. I hope to have a quick poke round a couple of the charity shops while I am there. I shared the crayon roll with you and I have tried my hand at raw edge appliqué, I am not sure that it is for me, perhaps it will grow on me. I made her a long bolster cushion but I can see her using it as a weapon on Junior.



I got the idea from one of my books, they had the letters made individually and hung from a banner. As Kaitlyn is only 2 we thought that having it as a proper word would help her to recognise her name. I did not stuff it too full because I am sure that she will be bouncing and rolling around with it.
The letter L is a bit squiffy, I ought to have made another but time was running short. I plan on making a rug for her room and will put her name on that as well.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A drive through beautiful scenery.

2. A warm welcome at journey's end.

3.  A visit to the local library on the way home gave me a list of new walks to enjoy with Ben.

4.  The dogs have gone from next door and the new owner moves in today/tomorrow.

5.  I managed my journey without the help of Sat Nav, I decided that as the signal would be iffy I should use the map book.

I am pleased with how the day went, I choose a round about drive and came back by a slightly different route. There are some pretty villages and I stopped a few times to admire the scenery and a few splendid gardens.

Ben is telling me that he would rather like to go out so it is,

                         TTFN                                             Pam


8 comments:

  1. Aww how lovely. I'm glad you had a nice day. I love Dawns Alpacas so I'm pretty jealous x

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    1. And jealous you should be, it was a grand visit and I hope to return, maybe the girl Alpacas will be there.

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  2. It was a pleasure to meet you and Ben he is such a cutie, a lot smaller than I imagained, pleased you got home safe and sound :-)

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    1. I took a longer way home to see more of the area, it is spectacular, but then I love Wales even the flatter bits.

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  3. I love them too and wish Dawn lots of luck in her new life. It must be nice to meet a blogger you have been following for a while, to see if they are as nice in real life. Have a great birthday tomorrow. My grandaughter will be 2 in 2 weeks and I am going to make a crayon roll for her too - bought some crayons today. I have also made her a new dress, using the very popular Geranium pattern and a pair of warm pj'. She is getting a 3 in 1 scooter, as requested. So far in her short life she has had a wooden trike, a scuttle bug, a small car and a hobby horse. She is a very physical child and never sits still so I have also made her a Quiet book, in the hope that she might have some quiet time out.

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    1. I looked at the quiet book idea but the words quiet and still only feature with kaitlyn when she is asleep. She is a ball of energy who seldom walks, she runs and skips most of the time.
      Dawn is very friendly and welcoming, nice is a good word but not enough here. The crayon roll was a big hit, the spare one that I made will go to her cousin Faith, I will pop it in the post tomorrow.

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  4. Sounds like you had a lovely day. I really like your bolster cushion. Did you do use free-motion embroidery on your raw edge applique? I had a go at free-motion when I quilted a table runner at a workshop but just couldn't get the hang of it. My hand/eye/foot pedal control is awful and I just couldn't co-ordinate it all. I either had massive long stitches or tiny bunched together ones. I spent several hours practicing but didn't seem to improve at all. I'd rather use bondaweb to attach the shapes to the fabric and then zig-zag by machine or buttonhole stitch by hand around the edges.

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    1. I did have a lovely day, I look forward to a return visit once I have found my Innovis. I just used a zig zag stitch to edge the letters, I have tried a little free motion but need to practise.

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