Tuesday 7 April 2015

Lazy Easter Monday

As promised some photos of the finished wallhanging - it was a mystery quilt for my Thursday Night Ladies at High Street Quilting.






There are more - not quite finished - Ann is on her second one!  I really love the different colour choices and the decorations and embroidery which make each quilt unique.  From beginners to experienced, each quilt has a special quality. I'll be gathering the the six sheets of pattern together into one over the next week.  I already have the next one in my head and partly on to paper. Designing ~ I love it!

I've been washing - here are some more quilts on the line and the first one is my all time favourite- Flying Geese:
 I love the bright sunlight filtering through the Lady of the Lake quilt.
The sunshine has been glorious again today - Scott (next door but one) has brought his self built car out for a run - seen here with Will. Scott is very sad as he will be selling the Westfield to pay for his wedding. Boys and their toys eh?
John is spending the day in bed with a virus. We need some good weather, solid rest time and some fresh fruit and vegetables I think. Although I have to say John is very good with his diet. He always prepares everything from fresh ingredients - he won't eat ready meals. I think his problem is the lack of sleep and the long working hours.  Balance - my father used to say. Perhaps we should pay more heed to his words.

I've been watching 'Kew on a Plate' with Raymond Blanc (his accent and passion make my knees go weak but that's another story). It's inspiring me to get out in the garden. Will dug over my veggie beds bless him. They have been getting a bit of chicken manure over the winter thanks to his moveable hen-pen. Steph and I will be going to the garden centre tomorrow (avoiding the main Easter rush) to stock up on plants and maybe have a little coffee. The hens are back to full laying after the winter lull. Loving the fresh bright golden egg yolks. 

Talking about weak knees I have just watched the latest episode of Poldark. How handsome is Aiden Turner? Makes an old woman very happy and of course I am a sucker for a love story. Sigh.

Please excuse me now as I am about to watch Raymond Blanc massage some tomatoes with olive oil. Oh my.

Monday 6 April 2015

Easter at the Strawberry Patch

A peek at the week in pictures:

 Ben in his work gear - he won't have help to get his goggles on!
I decided to unpick the yellow hexagon - it looks ok here but the yarn is different and shines too much - it stands out like a sore thumb.
 Making Easter Egg Coasters for the class on Thursday
 Special request from Will - his favourite cake - plain old Victoria Sandwich.
 Did I really choose to make broth on the hottest day of the year so far?
Yay! I made macarons that worked (thank you Edd Kimber) Raspberry and White Chocolate - but they take ages to make.....


Putting the final touches to the wallhanging.

School broke up just over a week ago. Why is it that I often get ill at this time?  Does this happen to other people - it's as though your body says "okay this is pay-back". I started feeling poorly last Saturday, sore throat headache etc. By Monday I was feeling really low but still had three days at work.  Luckily hardly anyone was there so I could be get on quietly and not pass too many germs. Thank you whoever invented Paracetemol.  I just crawled into bed each day when I got back home. By Thursday I felt a bit brighter so I made some tiffin for the class at High Street Quilting and prepped some little gift packs of Easter Coasters for the ladies,


On Friday morning I woke up with not one, but two cold sores.  Time to slow right down, really really. I had enough shopping to last the weekend. So slow down I did. We had Easter Lunch at John's   (delicious - pulled pork, asparagus and dauphinois potatoes with a lovely pea-shoot salad) but  I'm ashamed to say I had an easter egg for my tea - no wonder I can't fight germs! I'm feeling much better now and ready to do a bit of Spring Cleaning. I'll start slowly today with some curtain washing and then get going properly tomorrow with cupboard clearing.

Today is Easter Monday- my pottering day.  I'll be marking up a quilt top which I did ages ago for Quilts for Comfort. Tonight I will have a few more pix of the finished wall hanging and some of the ones that the ladies have done.