Up to the cottage

We went up yesterday for a fleeting visit to our cottage (our tenant, sadly for them and us lost his rent allowance from the army). This wonderful abbey ruin is just down the road. Tintern Abbey was built in the 12 century. See more photos and a bit of it's history here


Still no stitching but I am getting very very organised with the help of Steph.......
It's become a revelation how much easier life is once there is a place for everything.

Did I get sewing done?

No, I still have no firm idea as to what to do with that final border. So I've started a sewing room clear out.
I have two sisters both much older than me. One lives on a Greek island, the other in London. The London sister is going over to the Greek sister next week and Greek sister needs a sewing machine.
I'll send over either this Elna Stella or
this Elna Lotus. I'm just seeing which works the best for her.


And these are the ones I'm saying goodbye to forever. The black box at the back has an Elna Grasshopper. (I'll post a photo later) And the two which look like old fashioned school bags are Favta Darlings.

Take a good look at these babies as you'll probably never see one again, let alone two of them. They are very small German made machines. That isn't a knee lift, it's the drive you use instead of a foot control.

The north wind doth blow....

and we shall have snow, well sleet anyway.
And it's time for warming foods. In the steel pot are chicken bones and vegetables simmering away. This stock will be used for a risotto tonight.
The other two are simmering in the oven. The blue pot has Hungarian lamb. I was very pleased to see bones for sale in the supermarket this morning as they add so much to the flavour (I'll remove them before serving) The white pot is a beef stew. This will have dumplings with it on Wednesday night. Both of these will benefit from being cooked today and served a day or two later. I don't know why this adds to the flavour but it does.

And this afternoon I am doing the ironing. This will leave me Tues, Wed, and Friday with a clear run in the sewing room. Yeah!!!!

And whilst I'm ironing I shall be further pondering the quilting for this current quilt and it's next border. The quilting is worrying me as the fabric is so busy and I do like my quilting to show.

Decapitation, a lost eye and some good news.

I went through a bear making phase many years ago and this chap is the only one I had left. He was getting grubby so I put him through the washing machine. I've done it before, but perhaps not on the 1400 spin speed. I've given all the joints away so perhaps I can do some sort of fix but I'll have to remember he's not safe for children any more.
And then I found Paddington with his eye out.... I expect there's some way of fixing his sight.

The good news is I have the last side of this border in place finally. I am very pleased with how it's looking. I think the next border shall have swags and I'll place another narrow strip of the navy dot between them.

So silly

Shopping is a dangerous sport. All I had to do today, was a quick whizz round the supermarket, visit a friend in hospital, and stitch the last border on the quilt. Somehow I've managed to trap a nerve in my shoulder so I can't sew nor drive.
I saw others are putting these jigsaws on their blogs so here's one of mine. It's a quilt I made years ago for a charity raffle.

Fed up with the domestic godess routine

I want to go back to being a quilter!!!

Laugh, I nearly wet myself....

The agent came round yesterday and kept repeating what a terribly house proud person I must be....... ROTFLOL It's amazing what can be accomplished in three days when you try very hard.
In for a penny, in for a pound, whilst the house was so tidy we had two others round. They each came up with a similar value which was around what we thought. So there will be much playing with spread sheets over the next few days.
And we're off to Ikea on Thursday so the books which hurriedly went into the loft can be retrieved.

No more stitching yet

Somehow beyond my understanding of my own life, I have a house valuation being carried out Monday. The stuff I haven't yet found a home for belongs in the bookcases which arrive on Thursday (you see the problem here?) Hey ho.

Thank you all for your comments on my border treatment, I love it too. I'm surprised how many of you think it is the final border. There will be at least one more, possibly two.......

Fliss is home for the weekend and if any of you think I'm getting help, she's not well and is sound asleep in her own bed.

2 and bit stitched down and another of life's little pleasures

Are you like me, old enough to remember when cheese was good for you? Well these from the Truckle Cheese Company are good for your soul.The blue one is so creamy it can only have been made in heaven and the cheddar is creamy but bites you back. OH! Can you hear the pleasure?

So two and a bit borders stitched, one and a large bit to go. I really must do something about the wool batting coming out from hiding under the bed.........

Never Never Never Give Up

I got this lovely stone box a few weeks ago and thought it applicable. I never realised how applicable until this border.

I had problems when I reached the 2nd corner before we went away. I had thought the colours had reversed (which they had) also the direction of the longer and shorter corner pieces (which hadn't). I also hadn't taken into account the fact I was doing a mirror image of the original drawing (big duh! and waste of time) and then I took the 45 degree seam in the striped fabric and got the stripes going horizontally instead of vertically.
But I kept going and now, quite literally I've turned a corner, LOLS.


I've just found the "Never never never give up" is a World War 2 quote from Winston Churchill. It still applies to me in my little way.

container/box thing

Ferret came up with a better method here but I'm still going to Ikea.
Why, because I'm going anyway and it still uses a lot of fabric.

It functions but it doesn't look pretty

Part of the reason I need to declutter is not everything has a place it can be put away. One of the results is we always have tons of stuff out on the counter in our bathroom. Stef has said (she has become our Guru) we need baskets for our things which we put away after using. So as DH has less stuff than mine I made him a container for his stuff.
I'm sure there's a book out there but I just wanted to get started.
So I cut out five 6" squares of iron on (both sides) buckram. I ironed this fabric to both sides. and stitched with two passes of zigzag four of the squares to the base.

I then zigzagged down one side with the base folded outward. This was sort of OK for the first side but it was awkward.
The next three sides I stitched with the base folded inwards. It was a little better but still awkward.

Then zoomed round the top with two rows of stitching to finish.

It works but it doesn't look wonderful and it took ages. So sometime during the week we are off to Ikea to buy some of their ready made containers. (My life is too short to do this sort of thing.)
Did I tell you we had snow last week? Not a lot but it hung round for over 24 hours and it's the first time it has snowed in the south of England in October for 75 years.

Back again-sort of

Did I tell you I got attacked by the shower in the overnight hotel from the flight delay? The shower head jumped out of it's socket and slammed into my wrist. It immediately came up blue and swollen. I applied pressure and then ice for a couple of hours. It's fine now except for a little pain on twisting the wrist.
Then this week I've been bent double with stomach ache. Steph had been booked for Wednesday last week but again because of the flight she re booked for this week on Thursday. I had planned to set her loose on the dining room when DH announced the night before that he wanted the table for paperwork. (He has a desk but that is otherwise in use at the moment). Change of plan meant Steph started on our bathroom. So this means I have nothing to do but the doorbell rings and I had just not checked my calender. A lady I had booked months ago came for some quilting lesson (I don't charge but I did feel guilty). I had to fit her into my sewing room but it took a good 20 minutes to make some space.
Needless to say the house was like a bomb had gone off. Stuff from the emptied airing cupboard, the emptied bathroom, normal maintenance had gone by the wayside due to being bent double with pain....... I want to climb into a hole.
On the up side, a new baby is on it's way and will need a quilt. I saw something like this in a magazine but didn't like it too much as the jigsaw effect was too even. So I've had a little play with QuiltPro and come up with this idea. On one of the email groups I belong to I asked for some baby sayings which I shall use in the quilting.