Busy at home and fun at the Malvern Quilt Show

I have been busy with cross stitch and patchwork these past days along with lots of gardening as the weather has been so beautiful:
Here is a Scarlet Letter pattern "Circling Alphabets" which I cross-stitched in a variegated thread as an eighteenth birthday present - I was really pleased with the effect of these threads:

I also finished a single quilt for a 9 year old, fun and girly - this now has to be quilted but again I was really happy with how this turned out:

Our Wisteria is fully out now and looks and smells amazing - it is just a pity the flowers don't last long:

On Friday morning I set off with my friend Lyn and off we drove to Malvern for the Spring Quilt Show.  We had an easy drive - 182 miles in under 3 hours - we were parked up drinking coffee in the warm sunshine before 9 oclock!  We had the best of days - lots of great stalls offering great temptation! - and much inspiration with the exhibited quilts.
Here are just a small selection of my favourites:  the talent on show was inspirational:

I could go on and on... and on....they were all so lovely!

On a totally different note, here are our baby Blue Tits:  they are difficult to photograph well, but we know we have 7 babies out of the 9 eggs:  they hatched last Wednesday so this is Day 6, they have quadrupled in size and wriggle about like little martians!

Mum and dad Blue Tit are in and out constantly feeding them, and Mum keeps turning them around in order to make sure they all get fed - it is just wonderful watching them.

Thank you for dropping by My Quilting Life - have a great week everyone and hopefully the sun  will shine over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Progress

I have been busy this week making a quilt for my expected granddaughter - it is fun finding fabrics that are relevant to Dot and Maarten, I just hope that they will love this when it is finished. The backing will be pieced too, so double sided!

I have also been cross-stitching the Prairie Schooler ABC and I am really enjoying this huge sampler - I imagine it will take me about a year to complete!

I am sewing it 3 letters across by 9 letters down - as we are fast running out of wall space I believe (mistakenly??!!) that it will be easier to find a home for this if it is long (60 ins I believe when finished!), rather than wide!  It is on 32 count Antique White Jobelin - so lovely to sew.  I work from right to left hence the C is my first letter!

Our Blue Tit is now sitting on 9 eggs!:

We spend so much time watching her:  there is nothing more fascinating than nature!

She fidgets around, turns the eggs - flies off for some food, returns - and then the male pops in and feeds her too.  Absolutely addictive - the best gift idea ever!

Dot's friend Grace (originally from New Zealand) came over from Paris (where she is currently living) last week - last year I made a quilt for her but she hasn't been to London to collect until now:  she was so thrilled so I thought I would just share a couple of photos of her unwrapping her quilt:

I think she likes it! So wherever Grace travels in the future she will never forget us!

I have planted up my pots this week - I just have the hanging baskets left to do.  It is still quite cold at night so I am keeping a close eye on everything.  I also bought lots of vegetables ready for planting today - leeks, sweetcorn, cauliflower, runner beans etc etc - home grown produce is the order of the day.  Fingers crossed!  I will keep you updated - the Wisteria is about to flower too - this year it is covered so when they are out I will take a photo and show you.

I hope everyone has a good weekend - a Bank Holiday here in the UK so please let the sun shine!
Thank you for popping by and catching up with My Quilting Life.