Wednesday 13 May 2015

Life (and pain) got in the way.

Life has not been brilliant these last couple of weeks. For those of you who don't know, I have fibromyalgia (please don't send links to wonderful 'cures') and sometimes it gets worse than others, this has been one of those times.
On the quilting front I missed the deadline for entering the quilt this year. A bit of me felt disappointed but another even bigger part of me felt relief. I was pushing myself too far and too hard.
To keep this post vaguely on topic here are a couple of new to me 1980s reproductions of much earlier prints, both are hand printed.



I have been having trouble driving our cars when going round bends I feel like the car is tipping over, it isn't but it feels like it is. Apparently this is yet another symptom of the condition. It is caused by the centre of gravity in taller cars, it was terrible in the 4WD and still there in the little Smart car. I needed to be lower but not so low it would present problems getting in and out. I really didn't mind too much what the replacement would be but I had a few essentials. Automatic gearbox, air con, my rollator had to fit in the back and lower on the road with the wheels on the corners. I got tired sitting is so many cars without even test driving them. The journey ended with me falling in love with a Beetle.

Because mobile phone signal here is less than reliable DH wanted me to have a car which is less likely to break down.  This car is all but new, it has not had a previous owner and has 29 miles on the clock. Dealers here find it works for them to buy extra cars and register them to make their quotas with the makers. These cars are bargains. We're picking it up on Friday.
 
My horrible/lovely cats bought in a tiny bunny. It's about the size of two tennis balls. It was let go in a hedgrerow away from the house. I don't know if it made it or became dinner for some other creature.

You might have noticed we had an election here in the UK last week. I went very early and took this shot on my little walk to the polling station about 100 yds from my house. I thought the mist rolling over the fields looked lovely.
I am sure our little polling station must be amongst the prettiest. It used to be the village school once upon a time.
By the time I had voted, less than ten minutes later, the mist had gone.
Hexagons. Smarties have changed their packaging. This is where the tesselation properties of hexagons comes into play. The circular tubes would have had air between them, these can be packed into a smaller box. I remember the tubes from over 50 years ago, it's silly but I feel a little pang of regret when something from my childhood disappears. On the other hand they didn't taste much like Smarties to me anyway.....

Another little bit of excitment. This little bird house sits indoors on my windowsill in the kitchen. I went to make a cup of tea and a little tiny shrew climbed out of the top window. I don't know who was most surprised. He went out the window when I opened it for him and I have ordered bigger louder bells for the cat collars.
And I came all over in a Domestic Goddess mode and made bread and butter pudding. I prefer it with white bread so bought a loaf specially. It had been years decades even since I have made it so I looked up a recipe. The first two I read had cinamon, sounded wrong to me but hey my memory is shot. It was horrible. It MUST have nutmeg. The birds in the garden liked it.

Happy quilting everyone and perhaps I shall see you at QuiltsUK this week.

9 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear your pain is back-I hope this one is short lived. What a lovely place to vote!

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  2. Oh my!!! You have had a time of it these days. In reverse order......I make my bread pudding with white bread or cinnamon raisin bread or even leftover(?) cinnamon rolls. The nutmeg is an addition on top when all the liquid is poured over the bread and off to the oven. Your photos are "picture perfect" and could be paintings. So pretty! Love the car. We had "Beetles"/bugs when first married (even a convertible!) and one camper bus.....so different today!!! I do hope your fibro is improved with this purchase. I have no personal experience with this ailment but have had many friends who have suffered much with it. Hugs.........

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  3. I vote in an uninspiring elementary school. I want to vote where you vote! Love the new/old fabrics and I hope you feel up to playing with them soon!

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  4. You certainly have been busy. I understand about the car having to be a perfect fit for driving in comfort. I find driving the tractors here in the Farm to be good therapy with all the jiggling and bouncing working out all the kinks and knots in my joints and muscles. Too bad you missed the entry deadline, but doesn't having that deadline motivate you to get the thing done?
    Chris from Canada

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  5. Sorry that you've been so sore recently, Sally. Well done for not trying to 'just get it done', but for being sensible about what you can manage. There will always be other shows! Pleased that you have found a car that might work better for you too.

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  6. I hope you are feeling back to your old self real soon :) Wishing you the best.

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  7. Hi Sally so sorry to read you are going through a bad patch at present it is not a nice thing to have very very painful, hope your wee car gives you lots of joy and makes driving a lot easier. Oh such a sad ending to that jummy looking bread and butter pudding. Love the little birdhouse so glad it has some one in residence????? Those are stunning pieces of fabric love the pink and blue piece. so glad you can still blog if not sew. Cheers Glenda

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  8. So sorry to hear you have been under the weather. Don't worry about missing the show, I'm sure it will look just as beautiful next year. We loved our Beetle and it does indeed have a low center of gravity. In fact, my only complaint about it was that I couldn't go through the automatic car wash as the under carriage was too low. Of course this meant hand washing which of course meant "dirty car". Hope you have a pain free and happy quilting week.

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  9. I missed the same deadline for similar reasons, and I actually have the 2 pieces made and hanging on the wardrobe. But they will work for next year. When it came to it, I was at the point where the idea of going to collect them after the show was beyond what I could imagine coping with, so that sealed it.
    Sandy in Bracknell

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