Spring and Finishes

Well this week I have collected three framed pictures, and dropped off three more to be framed - I think I am their Number One customer at the moment - lots of Noah's Arks!  This one is for William whom I will be meeting for the first time next week, very excited about that. 

This one I think I shall keep, I just love it and it can be part of my Noah's Ark collection. 

I have just finished this one for Ida:  looking forward to seeing it framed.

 

 I have had quilts out on the washing line for a freshen up, and have been moving various pictures around which is always good fun:  they get a new lease of life in a different room.

This is one of my favourite quilts made with oddments and bits from various patchwork classes - it all came together so well, I just love it.
Spring is well and truely here in  Devon - when I awoke yesterday I found I had new neighbours in the field next to us:  they are so gorgeous and it is always good to see the cows back out in the field!

And I think our 14 year old Tabby cat - Reg - thinks he's a plant!  He is such a "human" cat! - our dear friends Lyn and Bob came for Sunday roast last weekend, and Reg sat with Lyn throughout the meal.  She is luckily very fond of cats!  You can hear him asking:  Where's my plate of roast pork?!

I am now about to totally blitz my sewing studio - and hopefully that will inspire me back into my fabric pile - I feel that I have lost my patchwork drive, but with luck a couple of hours fondling some of the glorious fabrics I have in my stash will bring it all back. 
I am currently reading the wonderful children's classic "Pollyanna" - I am now playing the "Glad" game. I am so fortunate in many ways and hopefully it will help me banish away - even if only on a temporary basis - the huge amounts of stress that have filled my life in the recent months.  There is nothing I can do about the stress - so I will be "glad" that I have a wonderful family, good health and amazing friends.  Thank you Pollyanna for this reminder.

Sewing and cooking!

Just before I drive up to Nottingham tomorrow I thought I would write a quick update.  I realised that I have not shown any finished quilts (apart from baby ones) for some time - so here is the quilt I made from the fantastic Debbie Mumm fabric which I purchased at the FOQ last summer - it was a design I had never seen before and I just loved it:  it is warm and cosy as it is flannel and perfect for cold winter nights:

I have found it difficult deciding what to give my Mother for her birthday this year - I sewed her a gorgeous sampler for Christmas:

but this time have chosen a book all about our Queen's 60 years on the throne - lots of pictures and easy for her to pick up and put down!
I have been excited about finding started but unfinished Noah's Ark samplers, and have already completed one of them which can go off to be framed when I return next week:  it is lovely and I had such fun sewing the animals:

Meanwhile we have played much Scrabble by the fire these past days - I am ahead on the scores so far! - and have been enjoying the new issues of Vogue, with some lovely photos taken at Elizabeth Taylor's childhood home which my eldest daughter Fran was involed with, and also the new French magazine Simply Vintage - although my French is poor it is really quite easy to understand the projects - I want to make almost everything, it is just lovely!

 I hope to be able to share some photos of my trip next time, plus I will take some pictures of the quilts I have made for my Mother over the years.  This morning I have made some delicious and nutrious soups to take with me plus some yummy lemon drizzle cake and a fruit cake, I hope these will tempt her small appetite.
Have a good week everyone.................

Log Fires and Marmalade!

As it has been very cold and damp this week I decided to sort through my cross-stitch patterns and projects, and I found several half finished pieces - why did I not complete them?!  There are two Noah's Arks and a gorgeous half finished Quaker design - so I have promised myself not to start anything new until these are finished!  I have also had a major sort through of all my threads - DMC, WDW, GA etc. and now have them sorted by number and/or make - so finding my colours will be so easy - I should have done this a long time ago.
I have this week finished a sweet little Noah's Ark - this is for William:

and I also have sewn the bonus pattern from BBD Loose Feathers Winter, and made this into a small memorial sampler - a neighbour from my years in West Horsley Surrey died last year on his 85th birthday, so when I next go to Surrey I shall visit his wife and take this - it will last longer than flowers and I know she will love it:



So no new starts now until my half-finished finds are done and with the framer!
As it has been so bleak I decided to make Marmalade - the Sevill oranges are not in season long so I need to make the most of them, although I always freeze some each winter in case we run out before next January:  the smell is always so good and the larder shelves look happier full than empty:

I was watching BBC1 Breakfast this morning, and Don McLean (American Pie) was on:  he made me smile as he was commenting on the fact that we in the UK make so much fuss about the "small" amount of snow we have had - compared to Maine USA - he apparantly has a snow plough on the front of his vehicle so he can get out and about - horses for courses as they say!  We have had no snow down in our part of West Devon, but we did have minus 10 degrees on our front porch the other morning:

I am off up to Nottingham next week for my Mother's 92nd birthday, so this weekend I will do some baking and make some nutrious soups for her:  hopefully it will be a chance to catch up with my sister and her husband and also some long-standing family friends - and I will be able to do much sewing too as she is not able to get out these days. 
I will now go and light our log fire, and maybe a game a Scrabble this afternoon?  Sounds good to me!

2012 Projects

I am determined not to slow down this year, and already have two completed projects to show you.
I have finished Loose Feathers from Blackbird Designs and picked it up from the framers yesterday - very pleased with the end result, and maybe will put some small handles on the sides of the frame so it can be used as a tray as we are running out of wall space! - meanwhile it is propped up in the window looking lovely until I decide:

Some time ago I decided that a patchwork door curtain would look good over our kitchen door, so I had fun picking out novelty fabrics from my stash and making it - however, it has sat in my studio since before Christmas as I am no good at putting it altogether with the lining, inter-lining etc., so I found a lovely lady in Tavistock who was happy to do this bit for me - and I picked that up yesterday too. We found a curtain rod with finials in the workshop so Rod put that up, and now we have a door curtain, just in time for this bitterly cold weather - it looks fantastic - should have done it years ago!

So a good start to 2012 - have taken "Gingerbread Cottage" (Country Cottage Needleworks) to be framed, and I am now busy cross-stitching a sweet Noah's Ark sampler for one of the new babies - plus have two baby quilts to make for expected babies, and then I will move on to one of several UFO's which are lurking in my Studio - I am determined to finish these off before I start something new - I wonder how long that resolution will last?  Watch this space!

A busy two weeks

Two weeks ago I needed a boost, so I drove over to "Cowslip Workshops" just outside Launceston in Cornwall and spent a peaceful afternoon catching up with my dear friend Jo Colwill who runs this idyllic patchwork haven.  Some of you will have seen Jo on Channel 4 when she helped Kirsty Allsopp with her patchwork on the recent TV series.  "Cowslip" is just one of those wonderful places where you can forget all your troubles and just revel in fabric and inspiration!

This is the view of Launceston castle from Cowslip - if ever you are down in West Devon or Cornwall this is a "must visit" place for all patchwork lovers.  And there is the added bonus of superb food in their organic cafe.

I have finished Ida's quilt using lovely bright flannels - Carole at Butterfly Quilters long-arm quilted it for me, and I found a fun alphabet panel for the backing.  It looked great and I gather it has "hit the mark" with Ida.  I even managed to get her name down the middle - "Ida" is so easy to insert being just three letters!

Little Ida will be flying off to New Zealand next month to meet her Grandparents, so I have just finished a very little cotton quilt which I hope her Mum and Dad will find useful whilst travelling - although the flannel quilt is lovely, it is too big and bulky for long distance travel so I am hoping that they will find this little treasure fits in and around their luggage and daughter a treat and becomes invaluable.  Name in the middle again!

This past week I have been in Cobham, Surrey staying with my dearest friend Lise - she had to have her 5 year old hip replacement replaced again - one of those faulty ones we have been reading about - so I have been her Chief Nurse!  We have had such fun - much reminiscing, entertaining all her visitors, coffee and cakes and wine, etc. etc. - I left her walking so much better and hardly needing her stick at all.  She is just one of those extra special friends that mean the world, true gold - she taught me patchwork 31 years ago, then cross-stitch - so she is my "teacher"!  She is so proud of all my creations now.   I sewed her this sampler many years ago which says it all: 

Now I am back home - it is cold and wet and bleak and there is snow on Dartmoor!  So - we are off down the pub for a pint of cider!  Meanwhile the roses are still blooming in the garden even in January - what a strange world we are living in!

Thank you for reading - I love your comments, so keep them coming!







Just another day in the Tamar Valley.

It is a beautiful day in Devon - it started off misty, and we could only just see the River Tamar at the bottom of the garden:

But as the day has gone on, it has just got better and better:

The Tamar Valley is so beautiful and is looking at it's best today.  It feels as if Spring is just around the corner.

I have just posted a baby quilt off to little William, who was born on Monday morning to a very special couple - new babies are such a joy to make for:

It has a lovely Winnie the Pooh backing, so hope he will love and enjoy kicking his little feet on this one!

I have also contined with my major tidy up of "Ward Cottage":  another reorganised bookcase, and the kitchen dresser is looking good too.  My favourite cookery books got sorted - so Mary, Delia and Jamie - along with Susan Branch - are all neat and tidy and easy to get to!  What would I do without Mary Berry in my kitchen - she is the Aga Queen.  She taught me to cook -  I just love her.



The sun is shining into my studio, making it very warm and inviting, so I am now off to give it a major make-over, and then I will start on another baby quilt, this is for Ida who was born just before Christmas.  I bought this gorgeous fun fabric at the Festival of Quilts last summer - and cannot wait to get started.  My first start of 2012 -  I am a bit late with this one - so hope Ida will forgive me!

So a new blade in the Rotary cutter, a new needle in my Bernina - and away I go!

Noah's Ark

As some of my friends know well, I have a love of all things "Noah's Ark"!  I just love the story - the concept of two of all God's creatures entering the Ark and being saved from the flood - it is a wonderful biblical story.  Around my home there are many little Noah's Ark gems which I will share with you.

This is a beautiful hand made Noah's Ark which I bought in the "The Old Country Store" in Intercourse, PA, USA, real Amish country.  I also purchased this gameboard on the same trip from the Quilt Museum shop in Lancaster, PA.  I went on this wonderful holiday 3 years ago with my two closest friends - Lise and Lyn - run by JJN Amish tours (the best quilting tours ever I think!) - we stayed in Lancaster, toured around the many lovely villages where the Amish live, we even had dinner with an Amish family, saw many quilts and bought many yards and yards of fabric!  I took an empty suitcase and filled it till I could only just lift it!  Worth every penny!

My dear friend Lyn made me this wonderful Noah's Ark cushion .....

Many years ago I cross-stitched this gorgeous Noah's Ark sampler.........

Between Christmas and New Year Dot (youngest daughter) and I were inspired to rearrange the bookcase in the snug - we were on a mission to make it more interesting - and tidy!  We decided to put some of my Noah's Ark treasures amongst the books - this was inspired by the addition of some gorgeous folk-art bookends (a truely inspired Christmas gift from my dearest friend Lise) - showing the Ark and animals, which you should be able to see in the middle of the middle shelf!

I love using Noah's Ark fabric in children's quilts too.

I have several Noah's Ark patterns that I want to cross-stitch this year, so watch this space!  I will keep you updated on my progress.

Angie's Homemade Christmas - and Happy 2012

I was so busy sewing and patchworking before Christmas that I just never had the time to Blog - which is a shame because I love updating and showing you what I have made.  So just to finish off 2011 I will show you the end results of my hard work!  I ended up cross-stitching 7 stockings for "little people", and I even managed to sew a fun Christmas sampler in red variagated thread for us!

 I made a huge floor cushion for Dot my youngest daughter - it started off with a cross-stitch sampler "warm winter woollens" in the middle and then just grew and grew, and eventually I stuffed a 36" cushion in on Christmas Eve - was such a laugh!

I made a smaller dog cushion for Robbie, my son - only 26" - I used the pattern out of Lynette Anderson's book, adapted it a bit for the small amount of time available but it looked fabulous. 

Robbie and our Goldie "Ben" off for a walk.

I also made a cat lap quilt from the same book which was a HUGE hit.

Our 14 year old cat "Reg" decided that this was the best book in the house for him too!  I am also very excited to learn that Lynette Anderson will be visiting and teaching later this year at Cowslip Workshops - the wonderful patchwork haven run by Jo Colwill just outside Launceston in Cornwall - www.cowslipworkshops.co.uk - what a treat to look forward to. 

My biggest decision was what to make for Fran, my eldest daughter - she has very distinctive taste and I knew I had to come up with something out of the ordinary.  Suddenly a genius idea came to me - shoe bags!  Fran wears the most beautiful amazing shoes, and has many many pairs - well she is now the Fashion Editor of British Vogue (proud Mum boasting here!) - so she is allowed!  She was so thrilled - I made three bags, and will make her more.  They are fun to make and I know she will use them when she zooms off to all the Fashion shows in NY, Paris, Milan etc . -   just need to make about another 100!

Christmas was fun - much food, much wine, much laughter.  All good. And Santa came to Ward Cottage, I guess we must all have been really good!  Here he is with Dot and Robbie.

I hadn't seen Fran since her birthday in November, and it was her partner Angelo's birthday on Boxing Day so again I had to think of something unusual as a joint birthday present - and I discovered this great poster:  it is every word from the classic book "The Great Gatsby" printed in size 4 font, so just about readable!  I also gave them a copy of the book for easier reading, and the DVD.  I think it hit the mark!

Fran and Angelo on Christmas day with Ben watching Robbie eat the "Pigs in Blankets"!

The house is now quiet again, and I have started packing away the decorations for another year.  I always wonder what will have happened by the time the Santa's make their appearance again next December.

This past year has been extremely stressful for us, due to circumstances outside our control.  And 2012 will be difficult too - but we have our health and each other - and I luckily have much fabric waiting to be made into quilts so that should keep me occupied.  Life can be strange - I have always believed that everything happens for a reason, but I'm not so sure at the moment, the reason is beyond my grasp.
One of the things I enjoy most on New Years Day is opening up the new calendars.  My absolute favourite each year is the Susan Branch "Heart of the Home" calendar, and this year is no exception.  Her watercolour illustrations and the quotations contained within are so uplifting.

So here is to 2012 and what it will bring for us, and all my blogging friends across the world. 
Let's hope it will be a Happy New Year.