Hello All, 

After a hard days couple of hours sewing last week, interspersed with the Cream Tea (and other goodies!!) at CTQ I finished the little incubator quilt from last weeks post, before moving on to my newest hobby, OK I know I Don't need another hobby but this called out to me when I saw it demo'd at Malvern last year and I bought a small kit plus the pad and felting tool but was then left wondering what else to do with it (the kit lies untouched!!)

Then on a well known TV craft channel one wet Saturday afternoon a few weeks back I saw some more 'in depth' demonstrations on needle felting by Jennie Rayment and I was off!! Obviously the sales pitch worked and I went online and bought the 'gear' at once and here is the result so far

I am quite pleased with it, and think I may make it into a brooch. One of the girls at CTQ had bought a new workbox for me (which I had been trying to get for ages) its just right for keeping all the felting stuff in so I guess I will now have to make a few more things.

See how well it all fits in, for my next 'trick' I'm working on an elephant design. So watch this space..but don't hold your breath!!!! LOL

L brought her daughter along to CTQ and she spent the day making a patchwork chicken, while Mum got on with some hand quilting, she did really well and I have her permission to show you folks

Didn't she do well? She asked for craft materials for her birthday back in March and looks like she's developing a talent for using them too.

H (the elder) has been staying a few days and yesterday was the summer Region 5 Young Quilters workshop, this time they could make Bit bags, Owls, bean bag juggling sacks or bean bag creatures, here are some of the girls at work.

sewing Owls

unfortunately at this point my camera batteries died so I don't have any pictures of completed projects to show you but when H's Froggy bit bag is sorted (it needs 'tweeking') I'll  post a picture. H has been here since Wednesday but has gone off to a BBQ with some of her friends tonight, is going home overnight then will be back tomorrow morning and staying till Sunday, when DS and partner will join us for lunch and take her home after to prepare for school  on Tuesday.

Tomorrow (Sept 1st) I am going to enter a few things in the local Flower Show, I decided to enter Rennie's Rose cushion, (May 2011) the Colour Wash Wall hanging I made last year,( June 2011) a cross stitch picture, an embroidered picture and a couple of photographs, I haven't entered anything for several years as I have been involved in judging the crafts but decided to have a year off from that so I could enter.

I'm going to sign off for now but I'll be back soon.

Nighty Night

L

NEWS !

Well not really news but a catch up on my goings on over the last couple of weeks... where does the time go??? I have every intention of posting here regularly and then suddenly its been 2 weeks and I still haven't got back to you.

I saw this the other day and thought if this be true then I must be VERY experienced!!! Quote - Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde.

So where was I, Oh yes! I remember, I was just off to Lunch at the home of my good friend Laura. Having remembered that her partner has a nut allergy, I carefully decide on a lovely strawberry trifle (Guaranteed nut free by the company), Having fended 'im indoors' off said trifle the night before (it's his all time fave pudding!!) I set off with plenty of time, because a few days previous it had been Laura's Birthday and I plan to stop en route to get some flowers. After buying the flowers, I suddenly realise that the Trifle is STILL at home in the fridge :-(((( I'm already half way to Laura's so no going back! OK I think, lets pop into another supermarket and buy another trifle, big mistake - this particular store cannot guarantee nut free trifles (or anything nut free and yummy for that matter!!) so after much hunting around the store I finally find some prepared fresh fruit which I deemed to be pretty safe. By now I am over 1/2 hour late for lunch, so decide I better phone and let her know, at this point I find the mobile is outta credit (Oh >*^>£") I finally arrive with many apologies. Lunch was wonderful, but after all that we 'forgot' to eat the fruit!!! We had a great catch up from both families and from our respective sewing lives too, plus Laura and her daughter regale me with stories from their all girls trip to Disneyland in May (lucky ducks!!!). After a lovely time I set off for home and get big grins of delight when I inform DH he can eat the trifle after all!

The following Saturday saw me off to a sewing day with 'Les Girls' at SVQ, great I thinks another Sport free day! However I had not bargained for two friends who talked of nothing but attending the Paralympics, I forgave them both of course, Sheila's daughter is attending her 3rd Olympics so look out for and support Karen Butler in the Shooting and someone called Ben ? in the 100 meter's, who is a friend of Heather's. Sewing wise I got another incubator quilt almost complete, I used the same fabrics as before, (see 9th June) and I would have completed it if I hadn't broken the needle on my machine at the last minute while doing the quilting. I added in some squares to 'eak' out the sashing fabrics and it turned out OK. I just have to finish the quilting, which I hope to do tonight.

 I can finally reveal my piece for the WPQ banner which I told you about last time, apparently I got it all wrong and they don't have to be kept under wraps till September so here it is.

This was my 'blueprint'  I downloaded the jug photo and Logo  from the BB website

these are the fabrics

and this is the finished article...

It measures 8"high x 6 1/2" wide. I machine appliqued the jug and the word blue, the embroidered the other 2 words. it's hand quilted. The stitching line across the top will not show as this is where the strip of Velcro is stitched on, this (the Velcro) will attach the piece to the main Banner and will be hidden under a narrow 'flap'. Difficult to explain but  I will post a picture of it on when we get to see the finished Banner.
Last Saturday (18th) I went off  to the FOQ, WOW!! what a show, I'm sure it was twice as big as last year, unfortunately I did not pick up a show guide so I cannot attribute most of my photos to the makers and for that I apologize, here is a selection of the quilts that really took my eye. The first 2 are from a series of quilts by Kate Findlay these were inspired by the Large Hadron Collider and were stunning examples of Contemporary Quilts, Sheila and I had a long chat to Kate who filled us full of inspiration.

These are from the large collection of Miniature Quilts which were equally as good.

A general View

1st prize Truly miniature. Approx 4" wide by 8-9" long. my picture does not do it justice!

Mariners Compass to die for!!!  approx 24" square

Beautifully pieced and quilted Celtic work, approx 24" square

and finally this one, beautiful, in monochrome colours, it had some lines of poetry in the centre which were from The Book of Love by Rumi. Which I am trying to find, if anyone knows where to find the full version I would love it if you can let me know.

We have a new Knitting shop in Thornbury, (Yaaaay!!!) Tina (the owner) is very forward looking, you can sit on a comfy sofa to knit during the day or peruse the patterns while having a coffee.  Last Monday evening she  arranged a 'Knit & Knatter' group in a local hostelry, were about 15 ladies turned up ranging from an absolute beginner to a lady who last year knitted the 'Royal Wedding' which gave us all a good laugh. I had such a good time I decided to send Tina a little card to thank her for her efforts so there I was late Monday night sat up in bed knitting this...

I decided to change the 'knobs' on the needles to pink, I used a pale pink single fold card and with the addition of some glittery card (recycled from a used birthday card) and I completed it like this.

I do hope she likes it.
Today DH has just announced he would like to take me out for lunch so we'll be off in a few minutes, then on Saturday its our anuual Cream Tea at CTQ so guess there may be an overload of Calories this week. TEE HEE:-)))

Well as they say in the Movies - That's all for today folks, thanks for visiting.

Lorraine.

So! here we are again!!

Its been a busy few weeks 'down on the ranch' so to speak, I have packed and unpacked my Mum's antique china and most of her other belongings I might add! DH made multiple trips to the local tip/recycling yard. We laughed as rediscovered old photos and bits and bobs which brought back memories from our earlier lives, with lots of exclamations that we had forgotten all about 'that item' or 'that incident'. I cried a bit on the day I dropped an unopened bottle of red wine on the pale green carpet, I almost wanted to get down and suck it up but thought better of it and instead rushed off to borrow a friends carpet cleaner, (Thanks Jim!!) after much vacuuming there was a considerable amount of wine in the tank BUT there was also a large quantity still in the carpet and the room smelled like a brewery:-((( All this after I firmly warned Mum NOT to push the door back as there were 2 bottles of wine on the unit, whereon I turned, pushed said door firmly back hitting both bottles clean off, I did manage to break the fall of one with my foot but missed the 2nd which hit the deck with a loud smashing of glass. Plus I spent hours on the phone making sure all the various agencies and utility companies knew about the move and arranged for new carpet to be fitted before the move. On moving day (22nd) everything went smoothly, the sun shone, DD, Little H and the boys came and looked after Mum for the day, the removers turned up on time and very cheerfully completed the job with an hour to spare, nothing got broke and Mum is now installed in her lovely bungalow. The sun shone for another 2 weeks so Mum sat on her little patio while we cut the grass and tidied the garden. Now for the first time in 7 years my darling Mum can go out into her own garden and sit in the sun or hang out her laundry without having to negotiate a flight of concrete stairs at the flat... BLISS.

So what else has been happening in my neck of the woods during the last month, well as I said last time our darling little GD celebrated her 1st birthday on Sunday 8th. All that weekend DSIL and his Dad worked on a DIY project in the garden, while the 'girls' (Grandma, Mum & Aunty Susan) baked lots of super cakes shaped like Butterfly's, dragonfly's, ladybirds etc all iced in nice bright colours, there was a lovely chocolate birthday cake with pretty sugar sprinkles and a candle. (the adult food was super too!) Little H was on good form with lots of Oooohs! as she opened her many presents (ooooh! is her favourite word at the moment and is used for pretty much everything LOL) after successfully blowing out the candle, little one burst into tears until it was lit again several times. Then Grandma (I's Mum) suggested holding the cake very close to H as she sat on DD's lap, thinking it would make a good photo if she grabbed a good chocolaty handful, we waited with camera poised.... but no, H obviously has very good manners for a 1yr old, she simply reached out and picked off the sugar sprinkles one at a time and delicately ate them, to everyone's amusement. Me being me I forgot to take my camera :-(( but here is the Thank you card we received a few days later and as you can see H had a really good time

The DIY project was in fact Little ones Birthday present from Mum and Dad in the shape of some decking, now this may seem a strange gift for a 1yr old but the garden at DD's is gravel and with 2 large dogs using the garden it is easier to keep clean that way, so the deck which has a little fence around it is so H can play safely outside, you can see here how much she likes it.

I think the chair should go here Mum!!

I'll just try a spot of gardening!

On the sewing front not much has happened, well actually nothing at all has happened, after spending days packing boxes, I  came home in the evenings and collapsed in a chair in front of the TV. Though I have done some knitting, but more on that later! Thankfully I finished the little project I was making for the new WPQ banner just before the move started in earnest. The new banner is going to be lots of little quiltlets made by our members on the theme of things, people and places around Bristol, we could choose what we wanted from a list of suggestions and I chose Bristol Blue Glass I can't show you my design yet as its supposed to be kept 'secret' till September when all the little quilts will be displayed before being made into the banner, from what we have been told so far it sounds really great!

Tomorrow I'm off out to lunch with a friend, whom I haven't seen for several months, I'm looking forward to that, it will be good to talk to someone about topics that are not Sport related, so far this year DH has been glued to the Football, the Golf, the Cricket and now the Olympics! Now! I'm all for supporting our Olympic team and I am really pleased that Team GB are doing so well, and we do have a local Olympian (our neighbours GD was picked for the Judo and I have know Sally all her life and was disappointed for them all when she got knocked out, but really there is a limit to how much I want to see on TV or hear about from DH. After 37 years of married life he still can't get used to the fact that I am not into sport. Never mind I'm going for a days tuition on my new (sadly neglected) sewing machine next month, so practicing all my new learned skills will give me something to do

Well Folks that's all for this time, hopefully I'll be back soon.

Happy stitchin!

L

P.S. Is anyone going to the Festival of Quilts at the N.E.C, I'm going with on Saturday 18th, perhaps I'll see one or two of you there?