A finish and an eventful fun lunch!

I have so enjoyed making this little quilt designed by Jo Colwill at Cowslip- it came together so well, but can you spot the "deliberate - I think not" mistake??!!

In fact in this photo you can hardly see - but I broke my golden rule - measure twice, cut once.  I cut the middle piece of linen for the applique too small - just by an inch on the width - so, I sewed the piece needed back onto the right hand side, and to cover the seam I inserted some white lace.  So in fact it looks absolutely lovely, but I was very mad with myself until I thought of the solution - a seam would not have looked good.  And here is the quilt now on the chair on the stoop:

The garden at Ward Cottage is looking so lovely in the sunshine:

Today is my friend Lyn's birthday so off we went to Plymouth and I had booked us a table for lunch at my VERY favourite restaurant - the River Cottage Canteen.  There we were sitting in the glorious sunshine eating the most delicious food (the crab main course and then the apricot pannacotta were out of this world!!) when this very smart Bentley parked up outside.

When we were having coffee we asked our waitress if she knew whose car it was:  oh yes, it is for Prince Charles, he is here today at the Royal William Dockyard and will be coming through here soon! Well - how good was that!  And sure enough he walked through the restaurant and then out to where we were sitting:

He turned to Lyn and asked if she was having lunch, and she told him it was a birthday treat - so he shook her hand and wished her a Very Happy Birthday!  She was so thrilled.  We met another lovely Swedish girl and he spoke with her too - and here they are in this picture as HRH passed by.

And then he got into the beautiful Bentley and was gone - but what a surprise and such a treat to see him up so close.  It was all very relaxed, just a few tourists and onlookers but no heavy police presence, it was just great.  I could not have planned it better for the Birthday Girl.

Dot had her Baby Shower last Sunday - Fran (eldest daughter) organised this wonderful tea-party and I want to share the photos with you all:

Here is Dot wearing her beautiful flower garland headdress:

and eating one of the best cakes ever, made by Hemsley & Hemsley: (their new cook book "The Art of Eating Well"  is amazing - take a look!!):

And here is Dot with Maarten looking radiant and happy after her afternoon of fun:

So not long to go now - I will update with news - as and when!
Next week I am driving up to Nottingham for a couple of days with my dear old Mum, before driving down to London for the weekend.  Fran is doing a 10 mile charity run for Cancer Research on the 27th and I shall be there cheering her on.  She has been training so hard - I am so proud of her.  And I shall of course be seeing Dot and Maarten, along with my son Robbie and Nisha. A chance to catch up with my wonderful family, and maybe see some friends too if time allows.  Then back to Devon - until "Little Miss" arrives!!

I am about to start a new quilting project, and am cross-stitching every evening.  But tonight I must go and water the garden - my hanging baskets are looking thirsty.  I do so love these warm light evenings.
I trust all is good with everyone - thank you for popping into My Quilting Life.  Have a good week.

Quilted Saints in Truro

Last week I received my birthday gift from my dear friend Lyn:  she has sewn me this gorgeous Family House, and it is now hung in our kitchen so we can see it constantly - I LOVE it:

On Friday Lyn and I drove over to Truro Cathedral in Cornwall where there was an exhibition of quilts which represented the Saints of Cornish Churches.  What a wonderful setting for some beautiful pieces:  here are just a few of the 35 quilts on show:
St. Stephen made by Jo Colwill from Cowslip:

Saint Martyn made by Di Wells:

St. Cohan made by the Group Quilters Dreckly:

St. Budoc made by Falmouth Quilters:

and St. Piran made by Jane Hawkins:

All 35 quilts were amazing, this is just a random selection.  Much research went into each quilt and the size of the quilt was strict but the design was open to many ideas coming from the individual information for each Saint.  Truro Cathedral was a wonderful backdrop for these quilts:

The Exhibition runs until the 14th July, and I understand from one of the Stewards that it is possibly going "on tour" - so keep a look out as it is well worth viewing.
I have been busy making 8 cushion covers for my God-daughter Ginny - here is the end result, and she loves them which is all that matters!

We have had friends from Australia visiting for a weekend - the young girls decided that playing with my fabric was such Big Fun, bless them!:

It was lovely to catch up and a good excuse to go back to the River Cottage Canteen in Plymouth - this time for Sunday lunch:

This is one of my favourite recipes from the River Cottage cook book "Fruit":  Fridge Flapjack - highly recommended!:  you can taste the goodness:

I ordered 3 new cross-stitch patterns from Niky's Creations, and they arrived this morning:  I am so looking forward to sewing these:

 And I have just started this lovely quilt which is one of Jo Colwill's designs:

It is available as a Kit from Cowslip if any of you are interested - just love the colours.  I shall be sewing more of this later, and will probably get on really fast now the tennis from Wimbledon is over.  What a wonderful Mens Final yesterday - couldn't take my eyes off the TV.  I shall miss it.
Well I wonder if when I next update my Blog I will be a Grandmother??!!  Dot is keeping well and looking forward to finishing work in 2 weeks time.  Fran moved house last week:  here is her beautiful cat MiuMiu keeping guard of a shoe box! - packing up was obviously just too tiring:

So all in all another busy time and much more to come.  Thank you for visiting My Quilting Life - I hope you all have a great week.