Big Snow (173)

We woke up yesterday morning to about 6 inches of snow. We haven't had that much snow here in the South East of the UK for well over ten years. And of course, because no-one is used to it, no-one is ready for it. So everything ground to a standstill. All the schools closed - which I'm all in favour of, because snow is such a rarity and children ought to be outside playing in it and building up great experiences and memories. Public transport stopped altogether, so most people weren't able to go to work.

Christopher doesn't work on Mondays, and Oliver had the day off yesterday having just returned home from accompanying a school skiing trip to Italy (he enjoyed it but it was very hard work). So we decided to meet up in the town for lunch. Christopher and I walked down - lovely fresh white clean snow - and met Oliver there. And then we found that every single restaurant was full to bursting. It seems that loads of people had taken their children down to the park, where there's a great slope for tobogganing down, and then topped off the fun by going out for lunch. And of course, the restaurants were all short staffed because so many people had been unable to get there. We eventually found somewhere and had a very pleasant lunch together.

I haven't done much sewing for the past few days, though I have got going again today. Instead I had great fun spreading all my paper crafting supplies around and making cards. Not for any particular reason, it was just fun. So here's a few pictures of my cards.

 

I wish I could claim the credit for designing these cards, but I can't, the inspiration all came from a magazine I take called You Can Craft. It's a real cheat because it comes with papers and embellishments for the cards, but you still have to trace the templates, cut out all the shapes and assemble it, using your own ideas to tweak the designs if you wish. It's all very satisfying though when you see the end product.

A Final Flourish for January (172)

I really do need to get a life! I got up at about 6.30 this morning with the urge to do something different, so I found this pattern in one of my patchwork magazines. It's simply a calico quilt sandwich, with machine embroidery. It was great fun using so many of the embroidery stitches on my sewing machine, and using lots of different colours, some plain, some variegated (is that the right word, it reminds me on ivy) and one metallic. And I worked at it all day until it was completely finished, binding, hanging sleeve, hanger and all. And just squeezed in to the final day of January, another finish.

(171)

Yesterday morning was Class 2 of my Intermediate Patchwork and Quilting course. We put the borders around the mariner's compass block we made last time and then made a Le Moyne Star, learning how to set the background blocks into the star. I was really pleased with how my first attempt turned out and I so love the colours, they're so spring-like.

I seem to have chopped off a few of the points when I cropped the photograph, but they are there - promise! Getting all my gear, the sewing machine, fabric, etc, to the class was a lot easier this time, thanks to my new granny trolley that Christopher bought me. I had been saying that I would prefer to walk to the shops to do my shopping, but it was just too far to carry stuff back home. I thought a trolley would be useful, but not a tartan granny trolley. He found this one in a local shop and I love it, it's so funky and snazzy, not at all 'old ladyish'. Now I won't have to take the car out for small amounts of shopping, and when I go to classes I can park in the cheaper, further away car park.  Today I made the other three Le Moyne stars. Next time, in two weeks, we are learning how to make a vine and do applique. Although I've done quite a bit of applique now I shall be pleased to learn how to do it properly! On the food front, it's all been a bit hit and miss recently. I've tried a couple of new recipes which weren't all that successful. Christopher, bless him, eats up manfully and is always encouraging, but I do feel a bit guilty. So tonight, it's simple. I've bought a couple of fresh trout, which we'll have with loads of fresh vegetables, and some mashed potato for him. I have tried a new recipe for gluten free bread today, and I hope it works. I'd do almost anything for a decent slice of toast!

Some mini-finishes (170)

It's been a hectic few days, with various odds and ends to keep us busy. On Saturday we went to visit number 2 son and his partner in Brighton. I took a picnic lunch with us to have in their flat - cheaper for us and definitely cheaper for them! It was good to catch up with them both.

On the sewing front I've been slaving away finishing all the blocks for my BOM that I started doing last year and gave up after about seven months. Quite a lot to do, as some months had more than one block, and there were filler blocks to do as well. I'm still not sure about it, the colours mostly, but it's growing on me. I've decided to quilt it in 4 quarters and then join them afterwards. Here's the first lump, layered up and pin basted  (the pale colours are a bit washed out in this photograph)-

I've decided to hand quilt this as I have no idea how to go about machine quilting it. I haven't any thoughts for hand quilting either, come to that! Any suggestions?

I've also finished a couple of stitcheries BOMs - Once Upon a Time (Capricorn Quilts) and Veranda Views (Willowberry Designs).

My Rapunzel has red hair, since I didn't have any yellow wool! I've made a couple of small things too - a water bottle cover,

a camera cover (sorry no picture, but it's the same design as the one I made on Boxing Day and in the same fabric as the water bottle cover). And on Saturday morning I was feeling a bit jittery before our journey and so launched into making this little bag to match the colours of the clothes I was wearing.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last posting, it was great to receive so much encouragement. I'm now off shopping to buy some ingredients to try out a few new recipes. Let's hope they work out, there've been too many less than average meals lately. Next time I'll show you a picture of my new 'granny trolley' that Christopher bought for me!

Missing from Blogland (165)

I realise that it's been over a week since I last posted. No reason really, just nothing much to write about. I've made a couple of small things - a water bottle carrier and a camera case - and been beavering away on my BOM that I started last year and then stalled. I think I lost interest because I wasn't keen on the fabrics they sent, but then I decided there was too much money tied up in it to let it just sit in the drawer, so I'm going to finish it. If I don't like it I'm sure someone else will. I've just got the final month to do now, then it will need assembling. Pictures to follow.

I thought I'd broaden my blog to include another big area of my life, apart from sewing. As some of you will know, I've been suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for about two years now. I've also been unwell for many years with extremely unpleasant abdominal/digestive problems, which were labelled as Abdominal Migraine; and then there's been the regular migraines and sinus problems.  As I've got older the problems have worsened. About six years ago I realised that I was having problems with wheat, and giving that up helped to a certain extent. Then, over the last year, I worked on finding out what else was causing me problems. As a result I have given up gluten, dairy and foods in the solanaceae family (potatoes, tomatoes, capsicum, chilli, aubergine).

As you can imagine restricting my diet so ferociously has been difficult, even though the benefits have been obvious. It's not been helped by the fact that I've been vegetarian for some 35 years. I've been happy to start eating fish, but just can't face eating meat again. 

All of this has meant learning to cook again, and to be honest, I've just lost interest. Poor Christopher has had to suffer some very average food! It's easy for me as I'm feeling so much better, but food has ceased to become a pleasure. So, the time has come to do something about that. I'm tracking down other gluten-free bloggers and I'm going to stock up on suitable foods and look for some decent cook books. And then, I'm going to try and revive an interest in food and cooking.

Do you know anyone with similar food intolerances? 

Mariner's Compass block and my new room (164)

Yesterday was the first day of the Intermediate Patchwork and Quilting course that I'm taking - it lasts for one full day and five half days, every fortnight or so. And the first day was quite a challenge, and pretty tiring, making the mariner's compass block for the centre of the quilt. I wasn't very happy with it in the end, neither the construction or the choice of colours, so I remade it today. It was helpful having had a first attempt yesterday as I knew where I needed to take more care. It hadn't helped yesterday that my needle position was a bit out and so my quarter inch seams weren't accurate. I took it to be serviced and sorted this morning, and sewed on my old machine. It's worked pretty well. The slightly mismatched seam in the middle won't matter as it's still to have a circle appliqued over it!

Well, my sewing and craft room is nearly there. The window still needs painting, as do some shelves, and there's still a bit of sorting out to do, but it's useable now and lovely to have everything together in one place. I've ordered some inserts for the sewing table, so that I can lower the machine and have it sitting flush with the table, and another which fills the hole up, so that I can use it as a desk or cutting table.This is the door going out into the corridor, with my fabric stash to one side, and some cork tiles on the wall with some of my stitcheries on. As you can see, my fabric stash is still fairly minimal, most of those pieces are fat quarters or smaller, with just a few half yards hidden in there somewhere ready for the Angel's Story quilt.Woops, just noticed the bits of paper on the floor, waiting to be read. The bag in front of the fabric is full of scraps waiting to be cut and sorted.This is the trolley we found, the top is exactly the same size as my cutting mat and just the right height for standing at. It just squeezes in between the open door and the end of the bed base. I've got to make an ironing pad to go on it so that I don't have to keep running up to the second floor bedroom all the time. You can just see the side of the bag of scraps on the right there.This book shelf fits neatly between the radiator and the airing cupboard, and houses all of my craft and sewing stuff. You can see the wall with the stitcheries on there on the left, so that finishes the tour of my little room. It's pretty small as you can see, in fact I've had to press back as far as I can to take each photograph, so there's no room for many more purchases, either fabric or craft goodies. I need to get hold of a chair for the sewing machine though, and I may squeeze a Lloyd Loom wickerwork armchair in there too. No room to swing a cat once that's all in there! Not that I could even lift Rosie to swing here if I wanted to (which I don't of course) she's so fat.

 And just to finish off this post, here is Rosie - can you spot her? She must have thought it was cold yesterday, as I found her not only under the quilt, but under the duvet as well!

Bed Base Cover (163)

I've just finished making a cover for the divan bed base that is remaining in my new sewing and craft room. We've found a home for the mattress, but aren't able to move the base out, so it will be stored on its side - the top will make a useful shelf. I've incorporated the Quilter's Blessing blocks from Capricorn. I chose the colours because I wanted to use an old duvet cover of my mother's for the top and back. The first picture shows the colours better, the second looks very washed out.

Do you think this will count as an extra finish for the One Project a Month Challenge?