New Blogger on the Block

Fancy reading about living next door to a chocolate farm?

How about coping with monkeys yelling at you while you are trying to sew?

If we are very nice to her and say nice things she might just show us how she machine quilts using monofilament thread.

Click here to read more. Mary has only written two posts so please be patient.

More soon

Summer Dayz

In the Pool

Outside Living

Evening Spectaculars

Family Celebrations

Children's Voices

Yesterday Was a Busy Day

No words - just photos - as a lot of you asked for close ups of the batik cabins, which, thanks to Julie,  is now called "It's a Jungle Out There".

The backing

Music is Magic

The backing of Music is Magic

More soon.

Catching Up

At long last a bit of breathing space after all the rushing about taking The Young One to various exams at various times.  Now all we've got to do is sit back and wait for the results!

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I headed off into deepest France for a 48 retreat with Pippa. She lives north of Limoges, in a very rural part of France. More rural than here I can tell you!

We had a great time. We talked quilts, read about quilts and she got out her Grace Quilting Frame and quilted my batik log cabin quilt. We had a few hiccups with the thread, but in the end made quite a good team. Photos to follow as soon as I done the binding and buried hundreds of threads.

However, this is the thread we used on the top

It's Aurifil variegated 50wt thread and is a lot greener than in the picture. It was a perfect match.

When we finished that we got out our sewing machines and Pippa gave me a lesson in FMQ'ing on her Janome.

First thing she told me was that it isn't necessary to drop the feed dogs. The subject has since come up on Facebook and I didn't realise there are so many people who FMQ with the feed dogs up.

Her next tip, which she picked up at the Fat Quarter Retreat in London at the beginning of June, was that instead of using quilting gloves, use this instead.

It's that rubbery stuff that is used for table mats and things and really cheap. Just cut off chunks and you can get a really good grip on the fabric. You learn something new every day!

Just as I was leaving to go to Pippa's, the postman arrived with my winnings from Katy at I'm a Ginger Monkey. A gorgeous bundle of 12 FQ's from The Village Haberdashery.

7 Thomas Knauer Flock FQ's and 5 Kona Solid FQ's. Yum!

And whilst we're on the subject of fabric, I have been doing some personal stash building too.

I've fallen in love with the Summersville range of fabrics.  Pippa said she was ordering a Charm Pack from her and I just couldn't resist!

Just so luscious!

So I've got a million and one things to keep me occupied over the coming months and I can see the batik log cabins taking an age as there are zillions of threads to hide. I might just have to cheat!

And to round  this post of, a photo taken of a Day Lily last week.

More soon.

Currently Reading

I read a lot of non-fiction. Most autobiographies, biographies, letters and diaries of my favourite authors.

I read and reread and, unlike most people, the books I buy are kept and read and read again and again.

Some people think I'm nuts!

Luckily my darling mother agrees with me. We talk about books forever on the phone and if one of us thinks we have mislaid a precious tome, its "look on the bottom shelf. Second in from the left". Or wherever.

Then there is the time when I go through phases.

I'm currently going through my 1930's phase. This includes a book which was read on Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 years ago. And I mean years!

In my previous life when I worked as a PA to a lovely lovely man, he used to ask for my book list for Christmas and birthday.

In December 1991 this was on my list

Photo courtesy of Google Images

and I'm reading it again for the umpteenth time.

I love it!

I laugh with her. I cringe when she cringes. I sympathise with the trials and tribulations of running a household  on a tight budget (though, of course, we don't have "staff" ROTFLOL!).

I can thoroughly recommend it. And if you are American and reading this, you'd love "The Provincial Lady in America".

You can read more about E.M. Delafield  here.

More soon.

Wordless Wednesday

Bit busy at the moment - sorry for not posting much.

Gossamer