Hooray, I'm back (191)

Just a very quick note. We finally got broadband connected today, so I'm looking forward to reading the hundreds of blogs that I've got backed up! Then, I'll soon be able to start sharing some photographs and telling you about the last ten days or so. The move went well, though it was extremely exhausting and I've done nothing but unpack boxes ever since - at least, until Saturday, when I sprained my ankle!! So, not so much has been happening since then. Christopher worked really hard yesterday to get the study sorted out for my new sewing room - I deliberately left it till last as I knew I wouldn't get much else done once my craft, fabric and sewing supplies were at hand again. I've so missed my sewing machine - thank goodness it has a manual stop/start button, as I might find the foot pedal a bit difficult with my poor ankle.

Until tomorrow,

Showing up - and shutting up! (190)

What a glorious week we're having. I've been able to sit out in the garden with my cup of tea every day this week. Let's hope it lasts for a few more days.

I've been thinking how nice it is to be able to attach a face to a name, and always enjoy those blogs where people have their own photographs. So I've been brave and attached one of me. I'm not very photogenic, but this one's not too bad. Alexander (Number 2 son) took it on Brighton beach last summer.

Well, this is going to have to be my last post for a while. Tomorrow the removal vans come to pack us up, so I don't know what I shall be up to, and then on Friday we set off on our adventure. And then, once we arrive and get our new telephone line activated we shall have to sort out a new broadband provider, and that will take several days. By then I hope to have quite a lot of things to tell you and photographs to show. Don't forget to visit my new blog (there's a link on my sidebar) to catch up with our move.

Have a great few days,

Packing up (189)

Well, I don't think I'm going to have much sewing to post about for the next week or so. I packed up all my fabric and craft supplies yesterday, though I did leave the sewing machine out and the bits of fabric I've cut out for the corner squares in my springtime quilt. I would really like to get these stitched together and then put all the bits together for this quilt before we move, and then to get it sandwiched and basted. Then I'll have some hand quilting to be getting on with in the evenings. I'm going to miss the last two classes of my course, but would like to be able to email the finished quilt to the class teacher before the last session.

I have finished three very quick projects though. I made some small table runners for the ladies who have been cleaning my house for the last four years, and one for my hairdresser. They're very simple, just charm squares stitched together and quilted, but I hope they like them. I just didn't have time to do anything more complicated.I imagine that my next sewing projects will be to make curtains for our new home - though we might cheat and buy blinds for some of the rooms. I don't know how to make anything very fancy or tailored, but can manage basic curtains with ruffle tape or tab tops.

Well, my week is likely to be pretty hectic, and I hope that your week is good fun.

And the BIG news is... (188)

that we're moving house next Friday!

I haven't said anything before this, just in case it didn't happen, especially after the disappointment we had last year.

Having given up the whole idea of moving just yet, we were beginning to make plans for some home improvement work - as you probably remember, we had decorated my new sewing room in early January. Then, quite out of the blue, we had a letter from the people who had made the offer on the house last year, and then dropped out. They couldn't find anywhere they liked better and were still really keen, and in a better position to move forward now - were we still interested? Well, yes, as long as the house we wanted was still available. And it was - so that was that, action stations.

And the upshot is - after all the usual frustrations attendant upon this business - contracts were exchanged this afternoon.

So that just gives us one week to get everything organised! For goodness sake, how are we going to manage!

I'm really quite excited about the move now, and look forward to sharing photographs with you once we actually arrive. For anyone who may be interested, I've started a new blog, On Moving to Somerset, to write about everything to do with the move and the new house and the new area.

So, my one year anniversary, 200 blog, give-away will be waiting a little while now, until we're settled into our new home - and I don't think I'm going to be able to do much sewing for the next few days either!

Steady progress (187)

I've not been signing in all that often recently - life has been pretty hectic combined with a period of poor health, so I've been resting as much as I can. I've just realised that it's exactly a year (well, all but a day) since my first blog, on 10th March 2008. I've met so many lovely people and learnt such a lot about quilting, and about other areas of the world. So, it's time for a giveaway - but not quite yet! I'll soon be coming up to 200 posts, and if I combine this with something else that - fingers crossed - will be happening in the next week or so, I can see a really special giveaway coming up.

From March 2009

Meantime, I've been making steady progress on my spring quilt - no exciting name for it yet I fear - and have finished the applique. I've also stitched the flying geese borders but not yet attached them. I'm trying to decide what to do in the corners - whether to settle for straightforward squares (I'm trying one out in this picture) or to be a little bolder and make some star blocks for the corners. Any suggestions.

From March 2009

And then I went and forgot my sister-in-law's birthday, so put this little wall hanging together rather quickly. I'd just finished the mini cross stitch sampler and had a fancy for some prairie points in the border - very fiddly, using one-and-three-quarter inch squares, but worth it.

From March 2009

First finish for March (186)

I made this little wallhanging for Alexander's partner, as a birthday present. It was based on a design in the March 2008 issue of British Patchwork and Quilting and measures about 12" square. And, this is the card I made. Oops! I hadn't realised until I looked at the photograph how wonky the writing is - perhaps it's the angle of the photograph!!Today I'm off to the next class in my patchwork and quilting course - we're making the flying geese border I believe. I had great fun with the applique section, and I'll try and take a photograph to show you later. I'm having to take a taxi, as our car's in the garage for the third time in as many weeks. We keep having a problem with it not starting, but the garage can't find anything wrong with it. As it's an intermittent problem it is, of course, starting perfectly every time the mechanics try it!!!