Battle of the Elements

The week before last Tonya left France and France has hardly stopped crying since, a part from the odd day last week.

This last weekend South West France decided to have a tantrum because she hadn't visited Carcassone when she said she would!

We've had rain rain rain and rain - torrential rain.  Everything is flooded.  Friday and Saturday we had hurricane force winds.  For once, this part of the Dordogne escaped the worst of it and we actually had power for the whole 48 hours, whilst there are still about 1 million homes without electricity.

We went down to Brantôme to see the state of the river, but hardly expected to see this!





When Jen was here in November the river was so low you could see the bottom.  Now look at it!



The Dronne is like the Dordogne!!

So - not a lot of sewing going on.  There has been a slight problem.  It's called a leaking roof right over my sewing table.  We are in the process of getting it sorted and then hopefully I'll be able to get back to Blackcurrant Fool.

A New Day Dawns

May God keep him and his family safe.

Donation Quilts

My friend Cheri at Jovaliquilts is asking for your help.

Next Monday, 19th January, is Martin Luther King Day.  President-Elect Obama is asking US residents to participate in a "volunteer day".

Now I know from experience how generous quilters are so perhaps you might like to join Cheri and I in a Donate a Quilt Day.  You don't have to be in the US to participate.  Let's make it a world wide event!

Pop over to Cheri's blog for further details.

I shall be starting Quilt No. 16 for Q4L

Whipping up Blackcurrant Fool

Please read the previous post before reading this.

Ignore the white strip bottom left - it's coming out.  Oooopps and the block top left.  It's amazing what you see when you look at the photo about 10 times.

I think this could be IT.

I feel a lot happier with this.  What do you think?

Sorry photo is rubbish - very bad light.

Some Steps in the Right Direction

In between breaking up ice 4" thick on the pool, trying to keep warm and generally trying to keep out of trouble (even though The Young One has been home for nearly a week as the school buses weren't running (and still aren't!),  I have been making strides into various projects.

I took note of most of the comments on the last post and have decided along these lines.

What do you think?  I think it could work, but something is stopping me from actually sewing this together.  Don't know what, but obviously something isn't right.

In between fiddling about with bits of purple fabric and generally creating chaos in the sewing corner, I decided to create even more mess downstairs and have been doing some more sewing.

The Young One went back to school today.  It meant a 7.00 a.m get up as we got nominated to do the school run (well The Old One did :-)).

I'm going to catch up on chores and then knuckle down and get some more quilting done.

Stay warm, or if you are in southern climes stay safe.

Blackcurrant Fool

What do you think?  Its roughly 14" by 17" at the moment.

The Young One says it's fine as it is, but I think the border needs to be bigger.  I'm thinking a very pale lilac and then black to throw the colours out.  Opps - just realise the two not contrasting colours top left.  White and very pale lilac do not look good together!

La neige arrivée

Look what we woke up to this morning.



3 inches of the stuff and more on it's way.

Magic has decided she loves it!



and to while the time away while I'm waiting for it to thaw, I've been practising my hand quilting.



A close up.



Temperature is going down to -6°C tonight and tomorrow is going to be a maximum of -1°C. The schools are closed which is Sod's Law as they only went back yesterday. Don't know when The Young One will go back. It is highly unlikely the school bus will get up the hill tomorrow morning and we certainly aren't going to attempt to drive in this.

Think I'm going to spend the next few days under a quilt in front of the fire. Brrrrrrrrrr.

Happy New Year

and to celebrate I'm making a blackcurrant fool.

You know when you put all the ingredients into the blender and you get the most amazing swirl of colours?  Well that's what I'm trying to achieve with this.

Anyone got any resolutions?  Mine?  To reply to all comments, starting with any comments left on this post LOL.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and are slowly but surely coming back down to earth.

We woke up to the most amazing frost this morning and the forecast for the coming week is lovely cold, clear days.  Great for taking photos.