A picture heavy post!

I just don't know where the time goes, one minute I'm here talking to all of you lovely people and then suddenly it's June - and what time we have been having! The Big Build progresses, sometimes a little slowly but at other times I cannot believe how quickly it grows. Here are some pictures of the progress so far, I'll only show the views from the back of the house or you would have to settle in for the duration if I put them all up!

It was early April, when things really got going, the materials arrived and the roof of the garage came off

 By Mid April we were up to window levels, you can see the existing landing window, which is where the door will come into the new room.

at this point R had been working alone most of the time and all things considered he did pretty well getting the floor joists in on his own! In May the scaffolders arrived and we now have the help of a good friend (who also happens to be a builder)  so it's going really fast. As you can see from this picture I will still have a view of the back garden!

At the beginning of last week they started on the roof timbers, which is quite tricky as we have to have a 'hip' roof to stay in line with the style of the houses on the street.

but.. before the timbers could go in the Velux window in the upstairs bathroom ceiling needed moving over by about a 12", this is the scene that greeted me when I finally went to look at the progress, as you can see they 'forgot' to cover anything up with some dust sheets :-(((

 While all this has been going on I have not been idle, in fact at the moment I seem to be on a roll. In May I went to Malvern with the lovely Lisa, (who I am delighted to tell you passed her UK driving test last week!! Yayyy!) At the show there were many wonderful quilts but nothing that made me stop in my tracks, here are a  few that I liked, starting with the the Judges Choice by Liz Jones.

 I'm afraid I didn't get names for the others shown here, I just liked them and the techniques used.

Also in May was Yarn Shop day, Lisa and I visited our local shop where we were sustained by tea and wonderful cake while we made knitted hearts to be added to the Yarn bombing outside the nearby bank, and took part in raffles and competitions. I particularly liked the 'Hat' on the phone box

Now for the finishes I have managed since we last spoke, you may remember the BIG Sweater project well I am delighted to say it's done! I am very pleased with it plus it fits DH a treat,

Feeling inspired by my success on that I fished out a sweater project I started for myself in 2006, which was only waiting for the neckline to be done and some sewing up, within a couple of days it was completed (now why did I not do this before I wondered)

I completed my entry for the WPQ Seasons Challenge on time and unusually for me without a last minute rush, this is 'Summer Beach Huts' a design by Kathleen Guerrier seen in a back copy of Popular Patchwork. it involved some curved piecing which I have wanted to try for a while, I think my curves were a bit to shallow but maybe next time I'll feel a bit braver and cut them more enthusiastically!

 Other projects done since my last visit here are 2 cushion covers for the Severn Valley Charity project which was to make new covers for all the cushions at the local church hall, we had a collection of orphan blocks and took home ones we were inspired to use. These 2 were 18" and I had to reduce them to 14" which proved quite easy as it just meant taking off some borders.

Plus a Biscornu pincushion started at Westbury Park Quilters last Monday evening under the direction of Carys

 and a fabric postcard made using wax crayons and some machine stitching on cream fabric.

Well I guess that about brings you up to date, the roof timbers are now almost complete but as yet I have not taken the pictures!

Byee for now

Lx