I got a Valentine card from my sponsored dog, Bobby Blue. It is a bit of nonsense but a way of keeping me up to date. I choose to sponsor a "special needs" dog and therefore I can not go and visit him, I can see him from a distance but he is too nervous for close contact.

I made a quick trip to the library and grabbed a few books, I was in a hurry so was lucky to find 2 more Baldicci books. He is a new author to me and I am enjoying him.

Two of them are "chewing gum for the brain" and I picked up the self sufficiency guide out of curiosity, I can not think that Seymore left anything unsaid.

I have sort of finished the 9 patch quilt top, it was finished till I decided to add 3 rows to make it bigger.

It will not take me long as I have several 9 patches ready made and a stack of part made blocks, I sew these as leaders and enders and they grow at an alarming rate.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. We may have wind and rain, but no damage or flooding.

2. Ben and Greg have had their walks, mostly dry, every day.

3. I am busy crocheting squares, each one is quicker and easier than the one before.

4. I have enough wool for the weekend.

5. The refrigeration equipment was moved into the village shop today. one step nearer to opening.

I have sewn 4 quilt tops from my stash, mostly from scraps, and there is still a small mountain to sew through. I have lots of large pieces to make backs from and just about enough batting. I quite fancy backing at least 1 with fleece fabric, I will have to buy that but I do have a couple of vouchers that can be used.

I plan on having a crafty weekend, the shopping is done, there are fakeaway meals in the freezer and I only need to go out to dog walk. The laundry is up to date and the ironing basket is empty. If I get sewn and hooked out I have my new books and I have several things on the sky box. Oh and the most important thing, I have plenty of tea.

I intend to do a good bit of blog reading this evening and make an inroad into the tea supplies. 

Have a good weekend everyone, keep warm and dry if you can.

My thoughts will be with those who can not relax in their homes because of the weather.

                     TTFN                           Pam

Busy Doing Nothing, Working the whole day long.

I have been pottering around all day, in and out of the garden, pushing the vacuum cleaner round the whole cottage, picking things up and putting them where they belong, walking Ben in the sunshine and the rain. Sorted out a few things to take to the CS, and filled a recycling bag with very elderly magazines, all glossy so no good for compost.
I am sure that lots of you have days like that, butterfly days when you flit from room to room and job to job. Perpetual motion without doing much of anything. It does not feel as though I have been working but looking round I see more space, empty flat surfaces, nothing glaringly out of place.
By 3.00 I was starting to feel hungry, I had taken a bacon chop out of the freezer (Cooking Bacon from Mr S), I diced it small and poured boiling water over it to take out the salt and put it to drain after 15 minutes or so. I had a dish of homemade chunky veg soup and I strained the veg out and mixed with the bacon. That was the filling sorted, now what to wrap it in? Ding! I have some herby dumpling mix from AF. I put a pan of water on to boil and got busy. I made the mix up and rolled it out to a rough square, spread the filling over and rolled it up like a Swiss Roll, wrap loosely in baking Paper then foil and drop into boiling watere onto the trivet from my pressure cooker. I let it simmer and steam for nearly 3 hours. Now I did think about using the pressure cooker but I like the crust to be brown and a bit crisp and that needs time.

Served with cabbage, 3 hungry servings, it,s a good job that I have 2 neighbours, I turned the stained soup into a tomatoey gravy and it disappeared at an alarming rate.

I put an old fashioned steamer basket on top of the pan and in that I put a basin with around 3/4 pt of water and a chopped up chicken carcass. That gave me some concentrated stock and a dish of meat for Ben.

I had boned the chicken out a while ago and put the bones in the freezer, there was not a huge amount of meat left on the bones, I use a very good, very sharp boning knife.

I think that dinner worked out at around £1.50 including the electricity, not bad for such a good dinner.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Lots of little jobs added up to a good days work.

2. Good food, great cost, minimal work.

3. Bones is on TV tomorrow.

4. Bright sunshine for most of the day, heavy rain was forecast.

5. Mr T has sent me some very good vouchers, I haven't been to see him for months he must be missing me.

Needless to say I will be shopping there this weekend, I have a £6 off a £40 pound shop voucher and some money off coupons for various items that I often buy, I may not need to buy them this time but I will as the savings will be worth it.

I am going to start cutting the next quilt top tomorrow, there will not be too much to cut as I will be using my scrap stash to make Courthouse Step blocks.
I am off to the wool shop this week to get some yarn ready for when my crochet hooks arrive, they have to come down the Amazon, delivery date is next Monday. I have decided on my first project and will share it however it turns out.

I feel a cup of tea is called for, then I am going to get my fabric boxes out and some fat quarters ready for the morning.

                 TTFN                                    Pam

Quilt in a Day, Very Nearly.

A warm welcome to 2 new followers, Jozzie and Caryl W, I hope you find something to interest you.
An apology to those who commented yesterday, I like to reply to each but Blogger had other ideas, words were transposed and replies put in the wrong place so I threw the towel in.

Another Announcement.

Quilt top number 3 is finished. I was reading my new book from  Camille, of Bonnie and Camille, and I saw her "big block" version of Churn Dash. It has taken an old block and made it thoroughly modern, I fell in love there and then.
I slept on it and remembered that I had some Savanna Bop in my stash, I bought it ages ago at a really good price. So I made a block and used some bright Turquoise for a bold splash, then I made another with a different print, they looked so good together that I made 2 more and a quilt was born.
I have 2 more prints from the collection and a plan is fermenting for number 4. 
There is a great deal of white space in this and I am thinking of using a bold cotton for the quilting or a little applique here and there.
If I had only spent the day sewing I could have made 2 like this with no problem, I normally make quilts with lots of small pieces so this was very new to me. I would not want to make every quilt with big blocks but a fast finish gives you a feel good glow.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. One step nearer to my donated quilt total.

2. A gift of an old Randolph Scott film on DVD.

3. Sunshine this afternoon.

4. The viral video from BBC Radio 2 today is brilliant, I have only watched it 3 times.

5. I thought that I had to have an external door replaced, but the nice man who came out to look at it found that it was any easy fix and charged me £10.

I don't watch the Radio 2 things usually but was listening to Steve Wright and he played the sound track, I logged on to Facebook and watched it and watched it and watched it. Ben was watching as well but was not impressed.

An easy dinner tonight, minced beef cobbler with roast root veg. At less than 90p a serving and very tasty I am happy, and very full.

I may have a day off sewing tomorrow, I have sewed my way through 3 quilt tops and want to do some other bits and bobs before I start the 4th. I also want to vacuum all the threads up, they have trailed all over the cottage, it is also time I washed all the paintwork down. I do not like housework but equally I do not like being in a muddle.

In my quest to learn to crochet I have bought a set of hooks from up the Amazon, I now have to get some yarn, I have a "how to" book and have found some tutorials on You tube. I will not give in, I have seen some truly gorgeous crochet on some of my blog list and I want to do that.

Oh My, it is gone 7 and the sink is full of dishes, I need to shake my tail feathers.
       TTFN                                                                  Pam

Peace out of Chaos, Thanks to Dreamer.

Welcome to 2 new gang members, Fearless Life ( I would love to know the reason behind that title) and Claire from Thriftwood who like me is rather fond of Afternoon Tea. When Fran is home we do a proper tea, Royal Albert china, scones, jam and clotted cream, little sandwiches, the full monty. I do use my china every day but if I ate tea daily I would have to be wheeled around in a barrow.

An Announcement. 
The second quilt top for donating is finished.

I used a stronger range of colour and pattern in this one, making it more suitable for a boy, although it would be fine for a girl.

2 down, 2 to go, I have masses of strips of various length and width ready cut but will use a different layout for the next 2.

I asked my butcher for a bone for stock, just look at it. That pan is 20" across, I got lots of lovely stock and Ben looked at the bone, then looked at me with a dazed expression. He did however take every scrap of meat and tissue off it and slurped just about all the marrow out, I scooped the remainder out with a long spoon handle for him.

I read Dreamer.s blog and when she first started this off I did not really take it in.




Then after reading how others had taken it up I decided to have a go. That was one of my better choices, I have drawn up a list, BTW I love me a list. The first 3 were simple carry on with decluttering,
1, The built in sitting room cupboards, DONE. 
2, My wardrobes, DONE.
3, Take at least 2 boxes of "stuff" to the CS. DONE.
This week, number 4 is to finish putting Fran's bedroom to rights, it should have been simple and done this morning.....................but I am quite clumsy and while moving things around I managed to stand on the overhead light shade. It broke and I spent 5 minutes picking up bits of coloured glass with one of those sticky roller doodads. I will be visiting said CS on Monday to look for another, possibly a material covered one that I can revamp with one of the fabrics in her quilt.
Number 5 is to empty the little conservatory and give it a birthday, it tends to get used as a "mud room" in the winter. I know that winter is not over but I have to let my eyes go out of focus when I go in there it is in such a sorry state.
I digress, drawing up the list has galvanized me into action, I knew these things needed doing and writing them down was just the shove that I needed. So far I have got 25 listed, when I am nearly there I will look again and finish the list. 
A few things that were going to require money being spent have been put on hold. 
Wonderful news, Francesca has been accepted to sit the New York Bar and it will start with a course in early March at a cost of £How Bloody Much!!!, Then in April the exam fees have to be paid, More of the same, Then she has to go to New York for 2 weeks, the exam is in 2 parts and they are 2 weeks apart.So flights, hotel etc. etc. and there's more gone.
She has her student loan and her LPC loan to pay off and is ploughing through those. I do not want her to cut back on those and another loan would be a stupid way to proceed. Her Dad and I discussed it and we will each lend her half the total. It must be a loan, albeit interest free and payment will be organised by monthly transfer from her bank.
Obviously she will need spending money and probably definitely some new clothes, she is going to New York after all. That will be covered by early Birthday and Christmas money.
We all thought that it would be next year before this happened but really the sooner the better, just think by mid August (fingers crossed) she will be fully qualified.
Reasons to be grateful.

1. A wet, wet wet day. What doesn't come down as rain could come down as snow.

2. Fran's wonderful news.

3. The fact that the money is there for her.

4. Being half way through my destash quilt project.

5. Finding enough quilting fabric in my wardrobe to back at least 3 of the quilts without joining bits together.

I have a reasonable sized piece of Minky and will use that for 1 quilt, the last time I tried it was very hard work, I have read a tutorial about this and picked up lots of tips so I feel quietly confident. The wadding is ready to use, I buy it by the box as I use so much and it gives a saving, thanks to the lovely Ladies from Button Up and Stitch. Oops that reminds me I have signed up to do a class in Foundation piecing and can not remember when it is, must pop in and check.

Sausage casserole Ding for dinner with some cabbage I think.
My pills seem to have done the job, no more pain and running up stairs every 10 minutes, phew. 1 more to take today and that is it.
I only took 2 books from the library Friday, because I have some from Christmas to read, and found that I had read 1 and could not get into the second. More time for sewing then.

Ben is huffing and puffing around my feet so I better find our coats and go take the air.
         TTFN                                                          Pam