On the road again ....

I am off this morning to have lunch with my newly married god-daughter Annie and her husband Barney:  and I will be delivering their wedding quilt:  all done, binding finished and personalised label sewn onto the back:

So good to be able to deliver this personally rather than posting it - I can see their reaction - fingers crossed they like it!
Then I carry on up to Nottingham so I can spend a few days with my dear old Mum.  We will be watching the tennis at Wimbledon so plenty of time to sew whilst enjoying the excitement!  I have just started a new Scarlet Letter piece:  Country Life Sampler.  This is a LONG sampler but I love the design, lots of interesting animals etc. to sew.  I am sewing this on 35 count linen with silk threads:  it should be gorgeous!:  here you can see my start on the border:

The weather has been so mixed, but on Wednesday we met up with life long friends who were down in Devon for a few days R&R:  and it was a glorious warm sunny day! We went to Noss Mayo and had lunch sitting outside in the sunshine:  it is such a pretty place:  I highly recommend if you are visiting South Devon - it is about 12 miles East of Plymouth:

here are Linda and Della - I have known these two sisters all their loves (they are younger than me!) - I love the whole family, they are very special to me.  So we had a great catch-up over a delicious lunch at The Ship Inn - perfect.
Now it is back to a typical English summer - cold damp and murky dismal!

I decided a couple of weeks ago that our dovecot should be moved - the trees have grown completely around it so it can hardly be seen, and the doves are not using it.  Rod agreed - but it was quite an operation:  scaffolding and a winch - it is large and very heavy:  luckily he was in the right mood for all of this, so down it came:

and then up it went down the garden on the right hand side of the deck overlooking the river where we can see it all the time - I am very happy!

Well, I must get my sewing together and get on the road.  I have made a lemon cake for mum, it is her favourite - I have some local strawberries and clotted cream, and a cottage pie for supper - a good start!

I hope you all have a great week - and I should be able to share some good progress on Country Life when I come back, plus Annie's reaction to her quilt!

Noah's Ark sailed home up The Tamar .....

I was so thrilled to collect my framed Noah's Ark this morning:  it is such a lovely pattern from Brenda Keyes at The Sampler Company:

And this sits well along with my other Noah's Ark samplers in our small sitting room:

I have two more patterns from this company to sew:  The Red House and A Sampler Story.  I am currently sewing another 60th birthday gift which you will be able to see before long, and of course I am just longing to start another Scarlet Letter sampler for Nicola's Challenge - The Country Life sits looking at me every evening - not long now!.
I thought I would show you a sampler off the above wall which I completed back in 1988!:  the original is - or certainly was back then - in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

And this one is also quite fun:  I bordered the sampler with fabric which made a great change:

It is a glorious sunny warm Tuesday down here in Devon:  I have planted up my pots, they are full of geraniums etc., I have tidied up the rose bed and inbetween all this I have been watching the French Open Tennis, and how exciting has that been - OMG - Roger Federer has just been beaten!  I shall go now and pour myself a glass of Pinot Rose and sit on the porch and admire the beautiful surroundings and recover from that shock!!.

Thanks again for all your comments - I hope it is a good week for you all.