Stay-at-home feet (132)

These are my stay-at-home feet, in my completely disreputable slippers. The thing is, I have to wear orthotic inserts and they just won't fit into ordinary slippers, so I stick with these old boat shoes. Sadly they're beginning (!) to fall apart, so I need to look for something else. 

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's funeral, which went very well but, as is the way of such things, was exhausting. Since I was still far from well it was quite a trial. So today has been a quiet, restful day. Thank goodness I'm on the mend now, but I still don't fancy food at all. Still, as Angela (Soscrappy) said, a stomach bug is good for losing a few pounds!!

Just a short post (131)b

This is just a short post, during a moment of 'feeling a bit better'. Merete challenged us to a week of feet photographs, and this is my feet during the last two days. I've been struck down with a stomach bug and spent the last two days in bed (or the bathroom - too much information?). Rosie's got the hump because I wouldn't let her sit on top of me. I think I'm on the mend now, though absolutely exhausted.

I did manage to do some sewing on Saturday, before I was struck down.  I made five tote bags for Christmas gifts. Do you recognise the patches? They're the ones I made for Bonnie's Orange Crush quilt and then didn't use. They're perfect for these bags though.

From Amanda's Musings

(130)

It's been another glorious autumn day today, and when I went out for my short walk I remembered to take my camera with me and take some photographs of the lovely autumn colours. Because we've had such a warm September and early October though, many of the summer flowers are still flowering. We have a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees in the area, so although some are changing colour and starting to lose their leaves, many remain green.

Well, it looks as if our house move might be under way after all. The prospective buyers are still very keen and prepared to wait while we look. So we've booked ourselves three nights at a hotel in Wells next week, following my mother-in-law's funeral. It will do Christopher good to get away and start looking for a new house. I've made about six viewing appointments so far and still have some to make, to look at houses I've found on house sale sites on the internet. We may find some more in estate agents too, so it could be a busy few days. And who knows? We may find the house of our dreams.

And, just to top the day off, I've won a competition. The website for a craft magazine I subscribe to was asking for questions to ask Cath Kidston. My question was chosen and I've won a copy of her new book, Make, which is full of ideas and templates. There was also a plain cotton tote bag included, all ready to decorate. How lucky am I?

From Amanda's Musings

Christmas ornament swap (129)

I've finished my last swap for this year, a christmas ornament swap organised by Jo-Anne at The Carter Clan. I can show pictures as I'm 99% certain that my swap partner doesn't read my blog. The brief was a bit tricky, as she asked for something made with natural materials. All I could think of at first was the sort of thing made with twigs and pine cones and glitter that I used to make with my class of 8 year olds - and I knew it would look as if it had been made by an 8 year old too! So I settled for using unbleached calico and wooden beads, and prettied it up for Christmas with gold sequins and a red and gold tassel. I hope that it will fit the bill. It will be going in the post tomorrow. Many thanks to Jo-Anne for organising the swap, I'm sure that it was a lot of work.

I know it's very early to be posting things for Christmas, but with the possibility of a move I want to get as much done and out of the house as possible, before chaos ensues. We still haven't heard definitely if it's going ahead. My next job will be to make small presents to be used either for Christmas or for leaving gifts for my cleaners and hairdresser, and small Christmas presents for my sisters-in-law. And I've got all our Christmas cards to make too, so I've got plenty to be going on with.

100 posts (128)

Kris, at Tag Along Teddies, is celebrating her 100th post with a giveaway. Now I'm not suggesting you actually join in, 'cos I've never won a giveaway yet and it's about time I did (!), but it would be nice if you could pop over and read her blog!

Sewing fit to bust!! (127)

Well, there's one bit of good news on the horizon, amongst all the gloom - petrol is coming down in price. Yay! Some of the supermarkets have dropped their price to just under £1 a litre (that's about 1.7 US dollars, 2.56 Australian dollars).

The home move saga just doesn't want to seem to stop. Having taken our house off the market we got a reasonable offer for it. We declined, so he upped his offer. We declined so he upped his offer again, and this time we couldn't see a good reason to decline it. Few people would be improving their offers at a time when house prices are still dropping. So we accepted. Then he said that he wanted us to move out by Christmas, for goodness' sake. We said we couldn't agree to that. Now we're waiting to hear from him again. So, we might be moving, or we might not. Who knows!

Today I've been sewing fit to bust. Having finished the Christmas table runner for our Peruvian friends, I decided to make a small wall hanging for their daughter. I made a very similar design to one I made a couple of months ago, as it seemed appropriate. Thankfully, it made up quickly and I was able to finish it in one day.

Now, what will I do tomorrow?

Lost and Found (126)

Many months ago I bought Lynette Anderson's book Friends for Christmas and decided to make the large quilt. I made the first block back in July - and then lost the book and the fabric! I knew that I'd tidied it away somewhere when I was tidying the house up for prospective buyer visits, but I couldn't find it anywhere. At last, it turned up last week, at the bottom of a basket full of fabric. So, now I've finished the second block and, with luck, may get it finished for Christmas this year, or possibly it will have to wait for next year now.

From Amanda's Musings

From Amanda's Musings

I love them, they're so whimsical. I do hope Hugo and Felix like them.

(125)

I made a Happy Village at last (from Karen Eckmeier's book Happy Villages). The Nursing Home who were looking after my mother-in-law asked if I could make something for their Christmas Raffle and it seemed like an ideal opportunity to try one of these. Sadly, my MIL died last Thursday, but it was good to finish this off in her memory.

So many mothers-in-law can be difficult, I know, but mine was wonderful, never critical or interfering, always supportive and interested, and I shall miss her a great deal.

At the weekend we had a Peruvian friend visiting us. He started as a business contact of my husbands, and in due course he and his family became our great friends. On this occasion he was visiting on business, and came alone. I wanted to make a Christmas present for his wife. The table runner I made a couple of weeks ago worked up so well and so quickly I decided to make it for her in Christmas fabrics. I think it's worked out quite well.

Yuk, it's wet and cold, so I'm still in bed! (124)

Yup, that's right, I'm still in bed (mind you it is only 8.30 which I suppose isn't late for a Sunday, but it's late for me). DH is away for a running weekend with his running club (I do so hope the weather is better in Hertfordshire, but I doubt it) so I didn't sleep that well. And I let Rosie sleep on my bed, instead of shutting her in the dining room, and I don't think she slept at all, just kept wandering round on top of me! So, I'm cosied up in bed with some (wheat-free) toast and a cup of tea, catching up with emails and blogs.

I haven't posted any news for a while, just haven't felt like it, so there's plenty to write about and photographs to show.

We've finally taken our house off the market. We've had loads of visitors - and how fed up I got with having to keep the house 'visitor ready' - but only some rather silly offers. And this really doesn't seem a sensible time to sell or buy a house with the financial situation so unstable. Typical though, a few days after we informed the estate agent that we were giving up, someone came up with a pretty good offer. We decided to decline it though, as we'd made up our mind to wait. What a relief! It's so good to know where I'll be for the next six months or so, to leave the washing up if I don't feel like doing it and to be able to make a mess with my sewing!

Even though the last few weeks have been a round of doctor visits, physiotherapy and migraines I have managed to get quite a bit of sewing done.  I've made some heat bags for Christmas presents for my two brothers-in-law and my father-in-law and was delighted at how well they work. I might make the same for my sisters-in-law, or might make them some shopping bags.

There was another Dear Jane class at my LQS and I've been making loads more. The photographs of all the blocks I have made so far are in my side bar. I'm loving the challenge and the hand sewing. I've given in and sent off for the CD as I think it will be easier to print off the templates rather than tracing them - I think I'm slightly accuracy challenged! I've fallen a bit behind with my other hand sewing, though, so will have to get down to it - put the heater on in the lounge and lots of Radio 4 and I'll be away.

Yesterday, as DH was away, I just sat at the sewing machine and sewed and sewed, and made this table runner. And then I sewed the binding on last night whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing. I machine quilted it using a simple meander - still some blips along the way but I'm definitely improving. I wanted something autumnal and had these lovely Thimbleberries fat eighths that I'd bought for £5 for six fabrics. It's just right for my lovely old Welsh Dresser that I inherited from a great aunt.

Number 1 son is coming for lunch today, DH will be home later today, tomorrow is Mystery Monday at The Quilt Room (I've never been before so don't know what it's about) and Number 2 son is coming to visit tomorrow evening and staying over until Tuesday evening. So, plenty to occupy me.

(123)

It seems ages since my last post. Various reasons really. Anyway, I'm here for now. I've just finished my first 'liberated' quilt - Home is where the heart is. 

From Quilts 22/07/2008 06:56

The houses are a mixture - a couple of foundation pieced blocks (the tent and the castle), a pattern using measured strips (the whopping great house) and quite a few free-pieced houses (Lazy Gal Tonya's instructions). The letters are also from Tonya's instructions. There's also a giant cat that I had kicking around. Then I added some trees and a few applique pieces, the sun, some enormous butterflies, some aeroplanes, a flying saucer and an alien. The border is made from left over blocks and strips.

Apart from the sky, everything is made from tiny and not quite so tiny scraps. Now I'm trying to decide how to quilt it. I think I'm going to embroider some words in the plain parts of the border, but other than that I'm not really sure. Does anyone have any suggestions? I think I'll probably hand quilt it as it will keep me warm while I'm doing it. The original plan was for this to be a snuggler quilt for me for the winter, but I'm beginning to wonder whether I'd rather like to have it hung up.