Not so domestic goddess

I thought I'd make my own mince pies this year. My mother always made it look so easy.

All the ingredients were in place - so no excuse there.

But once again, when faced with a choice of activities, I choose the one I'd like to do instead of the one that I should be doing.

So today I tidied out my sewing room - sorted stash, put projects into boxes - the whole shebang!

But that has mean that I've just finished the mince pies - and the Christmas cake has only just been marzipaned!!!!

EEEEK.

No chance at all that it will get iced by tomorrow - last year (there seems to be a pattern here) I iced it on Christmas morning at about 6am.

It was

a

DISASTER

The icing was still soft (of course) - but luckily the assembled guests were so full of Christmas lunch that they didn't want the cake anyway.

So here are my mince pies - somehow they really don't look like the ones in the recipe books

especially this rather strange one...

and heres my cake so so far.......

Christmas decorations

Here are a few festive items. I 'drew' the bell in a secret santa type, and I made the star...

Have a good Christmas.

Party Time!!!

I used to live in Nottingham but have now moved about 40 miles away - but I still go back for Nottingham Patchwork Group.

Last week was the Christmas meeting - and the reveal of the round robin.

I didn't take part - I knew that I wouldn't get round to completing it - all participants made a strip 24 inches by 6 inches. These have been passed around in Top Secret conditions - and the strips were revealed...

The challenge is now to sew them together....

Back Again!!!

I have been very remiss in keeping up to date.

Work completely swamped me. In fact, it still is, but with only a week to go until the Christmas holidays start, I'm starting to feel as though maybe there will be a short respite, and a space in which to assess what's really important.

I wanted to post some pictures of the only things that I've manged to do - some teeny tiny tree ornaments - but the camera appears to be in a bag - under my desk - at work.....

So instead, there's a couple of pictures from a workshop that I attended earlier this year with Nottingham Patchwork group.

It was led by Jenny Rolfe, and they are (very small) wall hangings.

These are ones done by members of the group:





... and this is mine.

I was once given some advice about what fabric to choose for a workshop - and the advice was that if in doubt, always use Christmas colours. That way, you may even finish it - and even if you don't want it yourself, you can always use it as a present.... Hence the Red / green / gold colour choice (and my local quilt shop often has Christmas fabric reduced straight after Christmas, which is ALWAYS a good idea).

A few days away...

.. were great!!!

When we arrived at the hotel, they told us that they were very sorry - but they'd had to upgrade us to a fourposter room. Now, I was very excited about that - and then a little less excited to see that in fact, yes the bed did have four posts - but no lovely drapes / curtains etc. Still, it was very comfy, but I think I would have felt a little cheated had I deliberately booked such a room.

Still, we ventured into the cold autumn and visited the local National Trust property:



no problem getting in...

I took a lot more photos - but now my card reader thingummybob isn't working. Lots of green lights flashing, but no sign of work.

A bit like I will be tomorrow - back to school after a week off.

A depressing day today - very gray and overcast. The plasterers who came yesterday have very kindly left plaster over every available surface - including the stairs / carpet /door handle - so today has been spent in cleaning up after them.....

BUT

a quick faff about on Google revealed a new quilting product - 'turnovers' - apparently they are 6inch squares cut into triangles........

Hooray

Something to look forward to....

chickens

This is what I worked on yesterday. It's called 'rennende Hühner' (running chickens), and I purchased the pattern in Heidelberg, Germany, earlier this year.

For some reason it appears to have come out with a very blue tinge - the background fabric is in fact light green (perhaps taking photos late at night isn't the way to go???).

I found it really tricky at first - the templates were in centimetres, and I'm too used to working in inches, so I had to redraft some bits of it.

It's now waiting for borders, and embellishments in the form of legs / beaks etc.

And what else has been going on?

Let's recap -

1) We have no bathroom to speak of - basic facilities, yes, but no more - and I'm getting fed up of wshing in a small basin. The plumber can't come back until the plasterer has been - he's due this weekend - and then it has to dry out for a few days.

2) Because the bathroom now needs plastering, we will be left with the large hole in the bedroom ceiling until the plasterer can fit us in again - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sometime before Christmas

3) The sewing machine shop didn't send the carrier for my Bernina 440QE yesterday - so it's getting less and less likely that it will be sorted by the end of the week.

We are therefore throwing caution and frugality to the wind .......

.......and running away for a few nights!!!!

Yeah!!!

We're only going about an hour away, but I am so looking forward to being able to have a shower / sleep in a room that doesn't have a (very cold) hole in the middle of it. The only downside is that I've been told I can only take one piece of sewing with me.

Decisions, decisions.

What will it be???

Unhappy

I am SO not happy.

My lovely new Bernina 440 QE (see 25th August for a picture of my pride and joy) has stopped working.

Yes, it's completely ground to a halt.

To be fair, I've rung up the shop where I bought it, and a carrier is going to call for it on Monday, but the fact remains that it's halfterm next wekk (Hooray!!!!) and I had promised myself two whole days of sewing.

I figured that I've been working very hard this term, what with one thing and another, and I need to crack on with my UFOs.

So it looks as though it'll be back to my reliable Bernina 770 - over 30 years old and still working like a dream.

Maybe new technology just isn't worth it.....

Where I've been...

Unsurprisingly the camera turned up - in my bag....

The remains of Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches.

The American cemetery. If you've ever seen 'Saving Private Ryan' - then this is the cemetary that you see at the start and end of the film.

Omaha beach, where some of the American landings took place.
Honfleur

Home again hurrah

I was going to post some lovely pictures of my very sunny school visit - but I appear to have left the camera somewhere.

I don't think it's lost - I think it may be in one of my many bags, which even now are littering the house. How can I have gone for only five days, two of which were spent on a coach, and still have bought more bags...let amone have filled them

I know I had it on the ferry - the crossing was due to take 1 1/4 hours, and actually took 2 1/2 instead, due to the waves being too wavy.

Oh well.

The weather in France was glorious, and the students were fabulously behaved. Sadly there was no opportunity for much fabric shopping - I briefly visited a small shop in Bayeux, but had only 5 minutes, and so bought some lovely French magazines to pore over instead.

Of course, having planned the itinary, we had to visit the Bayeux tapestry, which bizarrely isn't a tapestry at all, but instead a long piece of embroidered work on linen - it's about 70 metres long in total. You now see the tapestry fisrt of all, followed by the explanation, which to my mind is a little bit topsy turvy, but nonetheless, it seemed to be much enjoyed.

Having got back at midnight, and having had to go to work today, I've been in a very grumpy mood all day, which is a bit unfair, I suppose. There were over 300 emails waiting for me, and it took HOURS to get through them all.... I think the real issue though it that there is no time at all for sewing in the next three days - it's all hustle and bustle, meetings and deadlines.

I optimistically took some hand sewing with me for the journey - but spent most of it asleep. Why is the combination of coach and DVD so soporific?

Not a lot accomplished...

So this is what I've made this week.

Six sawtooth stars using some Kaffe Fassett scraps. I'm going to put them on point, but thought I should take a photo to monitor progress this far. I've cut out the pieces for another six, but they'll have to wait until I get back from France next week. I leave early Thursday morning with 31 teenagers, all set for a bracing week on the north French coast, near Bayeux.

Of course there's a compulsory visit to the tapestry on Friday morning (I say of course because I've devised the itinerary.....)

And this is what Jim's done this week. If you're wondering what it is - it's a hole in the bedroom ceiling, casued by him putting his foot through the plasterboard. The hole is about 50 cm across, and I think I may have to ask someone to come round and repair it - I don't think I can bodge anything together

I'm grateful that he only hurt his ego, and that it was the bedroom and not the sewing room that got covered in bits of plaster, and loft insulation, and lots and lots of filthy black bit sof who knows what - but at the same time I'm more than a little annoyed that this incident happened at about 10.00 am - and when I got in from work nine hours later, there was still dirt and grime everywhere - he claims that he 'hadn't noticed it'.

Grumble grumble.

We're having a new bathroom installed, and tonight there is a) no heating and b) no hot water. When I watch the make over shows on television, it all looks so easy!!

No more posts until I return from visits overseas. By then I hope that the bathroom is in - or at least that I can get washed and keep warm!!

And some more bears...

I got a bit carried away yesterday.

I was supposed to be marking a set of books, but was easily distracted into experimenting a little instead.....

Of course this fellow still needs to be sewn up....

I took the blue one to work today - and have now been asked to make two more, to be taken to Germany in two weeks time.

And here are some more that were made at the workshop I went to.....

(I think that's probably enough bears now!!)

Fat 1/4 Bear

What a handsome chap.

Well, I thought so anyway, so I went to a workshop today organised by Nottingham Patchwork Group

As pessimistic as usual, I assumed that I wouldn't get it finished, so didn't take everything I needed with me. But I was pleasantly surprised not just to finish, but to finish with about 40 minutes to spare! So my bear isn't sporting a ribbon (and on the journey home one of his arms fell off, but I think that's due to my poor ladder stitch rather than anything else).

Here's the table of completed bears....

... and some not so completed bears.

This is my effort ...

.. and this is what it became.

He does look very unhappy - it could be because his arm is being held on by a pin in this picture, or it might be because I overstuffed the arms, so that they stick out at 90 degrees instead of dangling in a comfortable manner - or it may be because I sewed his mouth on upside down, so he isn't smiling...... but perhaps he just looks very worried...

I have to say, I actually think I will make some more of these for (un)fortunate small children of my acquaintance (once I've found out where I can get safety eyes and stuffing from).

But one of the best bits was the fact that it got finished.

I know that seems almost pathetic, but at least I was able to come home with a finished object, rather than walking in the door brandishing a collection of what quite frankly looks like a bundle of scraps, and having to describe what they might one day become.....

Progress on a WIP - underground railroad

I started this some time ago, and completed six blocks, both a 12 1/2 and 6 1/2 inch size. I'm using the book by Eleanor Burns

I know there are a lot of dedicated quilters out there who scoff at her books, dismissing them as too simplistic - but you know what? I have a busy and timeconsuming job, and when I've spent all day telling other people what to do, and making decisions, it's nice to come home and simply let someone else make them for me. At the weekend I try to be more adventurous - but during the week I simply don't have the energy to do anything creative in terms of design - making , yes, but not the design decisions.

But then I ran out of steam halfway through the quilt top (s)....

To be honest, they didn't look the way I wanted them to. Added to which, the plan had been to make it up into a single bed quilt for our spare room, and a wall hanging to echo it, but then we moved house - and now have a double bed in the spare room, thereby rendering this quilt obsolete for our house.

Anyway, I got the blocks out last week, and thought 'Well, they're not that bad - someone will like them' and manged to get a few more done.

This one is Wagon Wheel, and I found it almost impossible to get the centre circle sorted. On the larger one, I've sort of bodged it and it's nearly round. For the smaller one, I had to give up and use Bondawab to stick it on with, as the suggested way just didn't seem to work.

This one is a variation on Flying Geese. Fiddly - and it's not the right size in either the 12 1/2 or the 6 1/2 block. I need to rethink this one, and either add a narrow border around them both, or remake them. To be honest, I think remaking is the preferred option - I just can't see how it will look satisfactory in any other way.

And yes, I do know that pressing the blocks before photographing them would have been a good idea - but I'm going out in about 15 minutes, and wanted to get these up as soon as I could - just so that I could prove that I had completed something at long last!!! (and they're photographed on the new sofa...)

UFO challenge update

I have so MANY unfinished projects, so I've signed up to the challenge at Finn's website because I HAVE TO FINISH SOMETHING.

So by December I hope to have finished at least four things:

a) Hallowe'en quilt top - I started this last October, and have done about 3/4 of the top
b) Day lily lap quilt - in the same state as the Hallowe'en quilt
c) triangles lap quilt - this has been basted and I've started to quilt it - BUT progress has slowed since I realised that one block was in upside down
d) nativity wall hanging - the top is nearly done, and I've purchased the backing...

Maybe this way I'll get them finished (or at least a little further along....).

BUT

all the best laid plans go awry.

I went out yesterday with Jim to buy a new bath...

and bought two new sofas as well. Ooops.

The delivery charge was too much, so instead I hired a van this afternoon, we drove to the shop, loaded them up and then unloaded them into the only room with any space in it - which is the kitchen. Even then, not everything went smoothly - the smaller sofa was ridiculously heavy - when we tried to lift it out of the shop, we found out that it was in fact a sofa bed - but the shop told us to go ahead, take it anyway, even though it wasn't supposed to be in the deal. By the time all this was over, there was no time (or space) left to get everything out.

So much for resolutions.

Wedensday evening is my next free evening, and I've now written 'sewing time' in my diary, to make sure that I get some done.

Today's picture therefore, is another one from the Festival of quilts. I think this may have been the one that won best hand quilting, but I couldn't be certain....

Update

I know there are some (well, a few) people who do read this, and so I'd like to reassure them that no, I haven't fallen off the end of the world, although the blog hasn't been updated and emails haven't been answered.

It's been very hectic though.

So hectic in fact that very little sewing has taken place.

The new windows went in, although with my reluctance to let anything go which could come in handy later, several panels of stained glass are now in the shed 'just in case'.

But while they were going in, an awful lot of plaster came off the walls - to be fair, it's because the windows had rotted, and the damp had spread to the walls.

What that means is yet more upheaval, as we now have to peel off the wallpaper in rooms, and then arrange for a plasterer to come round and patch up the gaping holes that have appeared. I though I could do it myself - until I saw just how widespread it was....

Added to which, the new bathroom is (finally) scheduled for the start of October -

and term started again last week.

I always think that I'll be better prepared each September, but no, every year it's the same - rush, rush, rush.

So instead of showing you photos of my crumbling plaster, my lovely new windows, or the forlorn heap of fabric waiting to be transformed, I've posted a photo of a quilt I admired at the Festival of quilts instead - I liked the use of colour.

Quiz

I don't usually do these - but I couldn't resist this one:

You Belong in 1988

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

And it's scarily accurate - 1988 was my second year at university.......

I've been playing with my new toy (see photo from my last post) but alas, there have been many tears and tantrums, most of which were solved by actually reading the instruction manual...

Sadly, we're having new windows fitted next week, and so all sewing has to cease while surtains are taken down and furniture shifted about, so that the window men can get to work. I'm hoping that it'll all be worth it - especially given the 26% price rise in gas and electricity - hopefully I won't hav to put the heating on ever again (I really must finish some quilts before winter sets in...).

I originally decided to get the new windows when we moved in and found that none of them opened at all - immediately my imagination went into overdrive, wondering how we would escape in the event of fire / burglar etc. Jim was more concerned about keeping cool over the summer, but as it's rained non-stop, no need to worry there.

Ironically, I did manage to force a window open a few weeks ago, in the spare room, only to find that the rain made the wood swell up, and now it wont shut (and still it keeps raining...).

Our house was built in 1932, and still has the original wooden frames and stained glass. I got quotes to have them replaced like for like, but it was coming in at over 26 thousand pounds, and uPVC was priced at under 6 thousand, including replacing the stained glass. A no-brainer, I suppose, and I guess it will look better and be better insulated - but I shall miss the look and feel of the wood (even if it was a potential death-trap!!!).

Still, that's a lot of money saved to be spent on other things like FABRIC and new SEWING MACHINES!!!!!!! Oh yes, and bills.....

New Toy!!!!!

Look what I've got!!!!

This was my 'present' to myself at the NEC.........

I unpacked it last night, and made a little wall hanging this morning to try out as much as I could:



I got this from the NEC as well, from Pat Archibald.