Hot Breath in the Night

Now, now, keep those thoughts to yourself. 
On Monday night I was unable to sleep, my mind was going over all the things that I had seen and whirling with the ideas that I want to try. I finally dropped off sometime after 3.00, but only had a few hours. 
Last night I crawled in to bed at 9.30, already 3/4 asleep, at some point in the night I was dragged to consciousness by hot breath on my neck and a weight on my shoulder. I froze, while my senses analysed the noise and then it struck me, Ben was on my pillow with his head on my left shoulder,(I sleep on my front with my head turned to my right side) snoring gently and breathing hot air on me. I was so tired that I then went straight back into a deep sleep. When I woke this morning, he was in his proper place, all innocent and curled up in a ball.

Back to quilts, a few random photos as promised.

Of course I went here, and it was a lovely set up, no freebies though. I was too excited to think about asking, DUH but I did make a purchase.

I want to try some landscape quilts in the future. There are some wonderful views in my valley and in Ceredigion that would make a fantastic quilt.

The detailed stitching is glorious.

I like sampler and block of the month quilts. This may not be in my go to colours but it is a lovely work of art.

Some of my purchases.

These scarves were £5 each or 4 for £15, Francesca and I, for the sake of economy, had 2 each. Bargain. I have a bit of an Owl thing right now.

The one thing that I wanted to find was Kate Spain,s new collection. Here it is There is a quilt in my head using this, but it is for next year. You have to plan ahead as fabric this lovely will be sold out fast. 

I bought yardage of this print from the collection and will be making a pillowcase for Francesca for this year with some of it. Her quilt for, the C word, is made from Flurry and Joy, two of Kate,s other C collections and this fabric will compliment it.

This is the white on white from Jingle, it will be the background in next years quilt. The one that I saw used a solid white, but I felt that this would be more sumptuous.

I looked all over for Clover quilt clips and they were a horrendous price, £9 for 10 on one stall.

Then I found Purple Stitches and got 40 for £10, bargain. I now have enough clips to have 2 large quilts ready to hand sew the binding down at one time.

I have my second cuppa at my elbow and Ben at my feet waiting for a walk so I am off now. There will be more photos during the week.

Remember the giveaway, all followers, wherever you may be, are welcome to enter. I have 2 goody bags and a few extras have dropped in so far.

I will not show the extras, let there be a little surprise for the 2 winners. I will close this on Friday night local time, and get it drawn over the weekend. The winners will be announced on Monday, if you have email linked to your profile I will email you or if you have a blog I will post a comment there.

      TTFN                                                                   Pam

Quilts and Cakes mmmmmmmmm

There were quilts galore and cakes glorious.

Rooms oozing colour.

Cakes oozing cream. Whose hand is that? Oh yes, that would be mine, he he.

Now now,let us be serious and get down to the important stuff, yes I know that cake is very important but to tell the truth I am a bit "caked out".

This quilt caught my eye and tantalized me so much that I snapped it on both days.

I know, it is a bit frivolous, but good frivolity is a serious business, it requires order, concentration and cake. Oops that just slipped out.

The small hotel that we stayed in, Heath Lodge, was only a 5 minute drive from the NEC, but as we were treated to a splendid breakfast we thought that it would be wise to walk it. 30 minutes or so ambling along country roads for most of the way.

We spotted this little gem,

It looks like a faerie door, but as it bears an unfortunate number we thought that it might be a marker for an accident.

Then there were,

Canopies of wild plums.

Oodles of blackberries.

Garlands of roses.

Skeins of slowly ripening sloes.

An abundance of apples.

You can tell from these how strong the sun light was, we were so glad that we brought our sunnies.

I took over 100 photos and will put a few up each day so you do not get overwhelmed. Tomorrow I will share my purchases, now for the giveaway.

A tote bag containing a set of templates, and an instruction sheet for Dresden Plates from Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

A decoration pattern from homegrown textiles.

A Candy pack of a new collection called Ink, from Moda bakeshop.

A pack of pretty and strong pins from Sew much to do.

An orphan Owl from one of my personal favourite people, SusanClaire, The Gourmet Quilter. From her New Zealand studio she produces some so easy to follow tutorial videos and also designs patterns and sells them through her website. Pop over and have a look.

There will also be a leaflet, from a very good shop, with a 20% off code that is valid for multiple use until December, not to be sneezed at, and I have one for myself. Rubs hands and chortles with glee.

I am not promoting these for any gain, I am just happy to be able to share this bounty with 2 of you. I only wish that there was more.

There might also be an extra treat or two that fall in the bags from the piles of stuff teetering on my own shelves.

You know the drill, all followers are cordially invited to drop me a comment saying that you are interested and sometime over the weekend I will pop names into a container and bribe ask someone else to pull one out. It is amazing what folk will do for cake. There it is again, it just will not behave.

Francesca and I did a plaited rag rug making workshop with the very clever and crafty Jenni Stuart-Anderson. 

This was completely new to Francesca and I had not done it since I was knee high to a grasshopper. It was fun and we visited Jenni's booth and I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase her book. There are some full day courses on various methods of rag rug making, later in the year, that are not too far from me so I will be deciding which to try.

Here is the lady herself in her room of crafty treasures, still very lively after 4 busy busy days teaching, encouraging and interacting with all of us fans of all things crafty,fabricy and stitchy. Those rugs have to be seen in the flesh to be appreciated. 

That was a marathon, I am all photo'd out for one day so.....

     TTFN                                                                    Pam

The Eagle has landed

Well maybe not an Eagle but this bird is back in her nest. I had a wonderful time, it will take ages (if not longer) to load all my photos. I will be back tomorrow with a proper post. 
I met some wonderful people including the Ab Fab Zandra Rhodes, got her book, signed, and a big hug.
There were not too many freebies floating about but.......I managed to snag 2 goody bags and some goodies ( NO not Tim Brooke-Taylor or Bill Oddie) to put in them for a giveaway, and certainly not Black Pudding Bertha.
I have to go and shower now, it was a hot and sticky journey home.
 See you all tomorrow.
     TTFN                                                      Pam.

Woo Hoo Sunshine again

I woke to another dark grey wet morning, managed to walk Ben without getting drowned and settled down to finish my Cathedral Window cushions. I was going to put a concealed zip closure on the back but did not have long enough zips.

The eagle eyed among you will have spotted that I used some of the Tee Pee fabric for the cushion cover backs. I want to make 3 more for the other sofa and I have more than enough of the fabric left. Unfortunately that is the last of the ditsy floral used for the middles. I have had it for so long that I can not remember where I bought it, never mind what it was called. I am sorry to see it go as it has brightened up many of my makes.

Fingers crossed that I can find something as good at the weekend.

My clothes are all laid out and I will pack them first thing in the morning. I am meeting Francesca just after 13.15 and we can check in to the hotel at 14.00, just time for a quick cuppa first. 

Then we will explore and look for a likely place for dinner and possibly, weather permitting, saunter up to the NEC and suss it out. I chose the hotel for it's proximity, don't want to waste time and money on endless taxi journeys.

Ben watched me sorting out my clothes and retired to his bed in disgust, it is a long while since I was away from him but he still remembers what a suitcase means.

I went shopping with Maggie this afternoon and just as I got in the car the clouds rolled back and the blue skies came out of hiding. The sun is now scorching hot and you can see the steam rising. My visitor cat,s owner is at home this week and the cat is spending even more time sitting on my windowsills, I have rigged up a reasonably sheltered spot for her/him but as soon as the rain stops it is back to the sill.

I do not intend to take the lap top with me so it is good bye till Monday evening from me, I hope to be able to take lots of photos and if so will post loads.

Now I am off to have a quick walk round the garden and check for damage.

                  TTFN                                                      Pam

More random witterings.

On this gloriously wet and windy day I chose to put 2 loads through the washing machine. In my defense I have to say that the sun was shining at the time, I got the first load pegged out and 20 minutes later the heavens opened, hey ho, it is all on the horses now.

I have sewn the third cushion front, I used a different construction method and am much happier with the end result. Now it just a question of perfecting the method and hoping that it gets even better, practice makes perfect,  better will do).

The points are closer together here and almost line up, when I make another block I will see if this was a fluke. If my new (to me) method does work I will be sharing it. I am enjoying this block, and any way to make it simpler is well worth sharing. I am still unsure of a full sized quilt, the many layers of fabric make it fairly heavy without batting and backing. I am thinking of trying a few blocks with solid colours for the background and a very bold pattern for the middles.

I have started to load another quilt onto the frame, it is very big. This may be too big to sew on the frame, I have only pinned the lower edge of the top so far and am not certain that I can wind it onto the rollers with the 1600P on the slide. If that is the case I will pin baste and sew it on the table.

I have another top that is,at least, as large and then another 3 to quilt yet.

My neighbour has made a good start on the jungle, he has cut most of the undergrowth down and at least half of it has been burnt, the rest is too wet. The rampant growth has put so much pressure on the fence that it is leaning well over my side, we will be dealing with that asap. The idea is to cut it down from 6' to 4', then put in some more supports once it has been hauled upright. This will let so much more light into my garden that I am quite happy to help.

I am getting well excited about my visit to the quilt Festival, I had a long chat, via text, with Francesca this morning. She is almost as bad as me, and she can barely thread a needle never mind sew.

I cadged a lift into Swansea yesterday and paid a visit to the Grape Tree, a shop that sells nuts, seeds, dried fruits, whole foods etc. Their prices are very good and the quality is excellent. When I got back I googled them and now know why. The company is run by the founders of Julian Graves, the chain closed a few years ago, I used to use their Wisbech store on a regular basis. I stocked up on lots of goodies and will make a point of going back, probably on a monthly trip.

I am still dithering over what to grow on the house side of my arches, I may plant 2 pears and 2 apples, I did this at Tydd over a run of 6 arches and it worked well. I borrowed the idea from Geoff Hamilton. I also need to do a soil test to see if I can put Blueberries in the soil or will need to have them in pots.

I went down to the local library earlier, but it was not open, I will have another try tomorrow. I have a book to go back and want to find a couple to take with me.

While I was down that end I popped into the local shop and found 2 large packs of Chicken Tikka, ready to cook, reduced to 75p from £3.50, each will do 2 meals. I do have to eat through what I already have but that was too good a buy to miss.

Now I am off to put the kettle on.

                  TTFN                                                      Pam

Random snippets and an apology

Firstly, an apology to all my new followers, I usually click on the, little pictures and pop over to see you but now all I get is a big fat nothing. Less than nothing as the followers list compresses and you all disappear, spooky. Anyhow, you are all most welcome I hope you find some entertainment here.

My breakfast is a moveable feast, eaten sometime between 5:30 and 9:30 depending on what time I get up and how busy I am or what I have planned. What I have varies from toast and marmite/peanut butter/marmalade to muesli or porridge. On Sunday I decided to have a real treat,

Toast, scrambled eggs and mushrooms, lush. Then I was full all day, I made  Cottage pie and had that at around 7.00.

On Monday I took someone to Neath for an appointment, while I was waiting for them I had a stroll round the shops. I popped into Wilko to look for a new lead for Ben and picked up these,

Retail value £8.48, I paid 60p, nice. I have tucked them away ready for next year.

In the afternoon I took Ben for a ramble and found a small handful of berries, these are now in a box in the freezer.

Sorry it is a bit blurred, my first blackberries this year, all 4 of them and some yellow raspberries growing wild.

A few strawberries, I am picking every day, to chop and add to the freezer box.

Today it has pelted down with strong winds on and off all day, I have hung new curtains in my bedroom, tidied some books up and made these.

My second flirtation with Cathedral Window Block, a little better. I have to experiment with the pressure on the foot, the seams are thick there are 6 layers of fabric there and the top layer is moving slightly. These will become cushion covers, hopefully there will be another one to join them.

Dinner tonight was a very lazy pizza, a cheese and tomato thin crust from Lidl with extra toppings. Naughty as I had time to make it from scratch but....... My freezers are full and I am going to eat my way through them. I want to start tucking away some hearty winter warmer meals, I stocked up on half price beef from Lidl ready for casseroles and some bargain chickens from the village shop. I like to fill the oven when it goes on and the slow cooker will make 6 good portions at a time.

Now I am back to my hand stitching, the single quilt that was on the frame is all but finished, I am about a third way round slip stitching the binding down.

               TTFN                                                       Pam

24 Hours Later

My day yesterday was nothing like the planned one, in fact it really did not happen at all.
 I woke at around 6:00 with a stonking headache, a cup of tea and a walk with Ben seemed to make it worse. So more tea and 2 Parrotseatemall and an hours lie down ...................No good, nothing, still had a blacksmith pounding on an anvil behind my eyes.
I had to wait 2 hours before I could take one of my strong painkillers and then within 15 minutes it was sweet oblivion.
I woke late afternoon, feeling groggy but no pain, and saw that it had been raining. Ben was curled up beside me, also feeling no pain, in fact he seemed to be in 7th heaven.

We hauled ourselves off the bed, I had a run through the shower while Ben had an amble through the garden. A cuppa and a walk, dinner for Ben and a dish of rice salad from yesterday for me. I livened it up with some chopped up cold sausage and some chilli sauce.
More tea and another walk and we settled down on the sofa for some mindless telly. Then off to bed where I slept like a bump on a log. 24 hours gone, nothing to show for it, nothing achieved and I am not going to angst about it at all. I was very busy all week, it was very sunny for most of it and my body sent me a message that I listened to.
Today I feel great, Ben is still on the bed, pretending to be asleep, and all is well with my world.
The garden looks freshly washed and polished in the sunshine. I am going to look for a workbench, the old one was not worth bringing from Tydd, as it will be needed for the wood work planned for the back garden. Raised beds, a bench, some fencing etc etc.
The rain has made the new plants look very perky and of course I am impatient to see the beds filled with roses. I will just have to suck it up, they are coming as bare root plants in the autumn, along with the perennials. Not forgetting the  free bulbs, all 300 odd of them.
That's all for today, I am off to shower and then winkle Ben out for a walk.
                         TTFN                                        Pam

Just a note to say that while enjoying my breakfast I had the telly on BBC One Wales. They showed the marvelous Tom Daley winning his place in Rio, then the idiot commentator said " Try this at home on your sofa" Did he not realise that at 8:45 young children would probably be watching with parents. I could just see Junior leaping on to the sofa to try it out. I went straight on to the BBC Complaints site and sent my grievance off, I asked for a reply 
which can take up to 15 days, I will be sharing it here.
What do you think, was it irresponsible or am I over reacting?