We have Lift-Off!!!

When I got in last night from a quilting thing (more later), it was to find that the new PC had been delivered, and that Mr Z&Z had got it up and running (rather than cleaning the kitchen, but hey, I think that's understandable!).

So here I am - absolutely gobsmacked at how much quicker and simpler everything is. Now I sound like my own mother, but I was a little taken aback to turn on the new PC, glance out of the window, and then look back at the screen to see that it was already ready to go!!

Loading photos has gone from a marathon endurance effort to something that is quick and efficient!!

So now that I've downloaded over 1500 photos in the same space of time it used to take me to do 5 - here's what we did yesterday:

These were the class samples that Connie, the tutor, had made up. The idea is that you can either have 6 triangles which you can put together to form a large hexagon, and you can rotate depending how the mood takes you - or you can sew it together as a large hexagon. It's based on 8 colours, and you only need a tiny bit of each.

These are my colours :

Sewing was minimal - Janet had assembled all these without using needle or thread:


I can't remembe rthe name of the lady who had done these ones:

but as you can see, she's started to add the'lead' for the stained glass effect. Some were happy to make their own bias binding - others (like me) resorted to using the iron-on version.

In case you're wondering - yes, I did get some done - but at this stage the memory card on my camera was full - so hopefully some photos tomorrow....

Show and tell was quite brief (there were only 8 of us at this point) - but I really do like to see what everyone has been up to.

Janet had made a quilt for her daughter for Christmas, and Avis had quilted it on her long arm machine:


Sally had bought the kit for this at the Festival of quilts, from Critter patterns, and had made it up:

...although she still had a small amount of binding to sew down....

Connie brought these along - it's about a year's work (I think), and I know the picture is the wrong way up - but I think you can get the general idea. They were beautifully done.

I need to develop some more patience of I'm ever going to be able to make anything like this.

Into the Twenty-First Century

Just spent about a gazillion hours on this PC trying to order a NEW PC. How ironic.

Mind you, the process was held up by painstakingly entering the individual codes from a pile of vouchers - the result of three years of birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries.

Delivery date is Saturday.

I can't wait (I'm out at a quilting thing all day) - hopefully Mr Z&Z will have it all set up by the time I get back. It wil be so nice not having to switch on the PC, wander off for 10 minutes, and then come back to see if there's any flicker of life yet, not to mention being able to use the internet without having to set aside at least 90 minutes for something as simple as emailing....

Third Delivery!!

I was away for the weekend, at Mrs F's house in Yorkshire.

We like to pretend that I've gone to visit her - she is my mother, after all.

But really, this is who I like to go and spend time with:




I think we were watching 'Strictly ' at the time, and so he's curled up on the sofa (forbidden!!) but a blind eye has been turned .....

But just before I left, I had a third delivery, aptly, of three packages:

This one, from Shelly:

and I really liked the bag as well:

(Mr Z&Z wanted this....)

This one, from Denise:

and this one, from Carolyn:

who had also include some extra little things, which was really sweet of her!
Last Wednesday we had a 'Well-being Day' (more to follow later), and I was able to get a lot of my red strips sewn together, as well as about 100 of the half square triangles - only another 360 or so to make..... I've decided that I'm going to use the swap fabrics for the main strips and squares, so that I can really appreciate the variety that have arrived.

Second Delivery!

I had a pleasant day in Birmingham today to learn about this and that in lovely Bournville. I'd never been there before, and wished we'd had longer to look around the area. Bournville was originally built as a model village for the employées of the Cadbury chocolate factory, with 313 houses being built.

Because the founder, George Cadbury, was a Quaker, there is no pub. If you're not British, you may not understand the importance of this - traditionally, a lot of British social life rotates around the pub.....not necessarily involving alcohol, but they tend to serve as the hub of the local community.

In 2003 it was voted as one of the best places to live in the UK

And Bournville chocolate remains one of my favourites EVER - dark and yummy... I know there are those who claim that it is too sweet. Well, that just leaves all the more for me.....

I had this delivery at the end of last week, from Livinia in Florida:

Some more strips for my snowball challenge. I look at other blogs of those participating, and see that they've already got their strips - I think mine have probably got held up in the postal strike and are somewhere in the system.

Hopefully they'll be here soon - in the meantime, I DO need to get on with my red blocks....

Sleigh bells ring, but I'm not listening (yet...)

Yesterday the Christmas decorations went up at work.

So now, if I want to use the photocopier, or get a cup of tea, or get my post, I have to walk into a room with three Christmas trees, enough tinsel to reach to Lapland and back, and a small and bedraggled crib scene.

There are more than 6 weeks to go.

I find it all quite depressing.

The whole sense of occasion and build-up has vanished - I keep thinking 'oh gosh - is that late in year already?', before reminding myself that it isn't, actually.

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Christmas / decorating / baking / wrapping things up / Midnight Communion / the whole shebang - but December is time enough to get started.....

First delivery

When I got in from work today, it was to find a package from Marianne, along with a really cute card, which looks to be home crafted and has some seeds as well - don't know what they are, I'll probably plant them anyway and see what comes up......

Three lovely fabrics - off white, cream and light tan.

Yum!!!

My book also arrived, which was fab. I've never heard of Evelyn Sloppy, and was a little dubious about what it would be like - the last quilt book I bought was a massive disappointemnt, especially as it had only 16 pages - but I have to say that I really like what I've seen of this one so far - and am tempted to make a couple of other things from it as well.

Hopefully some photos tomorrow, all being well.

My packages will go off tomorrow - I've bribed Mr Z&Z to take them to the Post Office in between lectures.

Remembrance Sunday

I took a photo of this quilt at the Festival of Quilts in 2008 - but omitted to record who made it, so if anyone knows, I'll be more than happy to add the details here.

Each of the white poppies is made by photocopying some letters sent back from the front.

I'd planned to put a picture of the war memorial in Kirkby-cum-Osgodby, where I travelled to last week, putting together pieces of the family history. Harry, my great-grandfather, is recorded on here, having been killed on July 1st 1916 in the Somme, aged 26.

But alas - no picture, as my camera is still with my mother.

Today at 11am Mr Z&Z and I were in the supermarket, where the minute silence was solemnly observed by everyone except a family close to where we were.

To be fair, I don't think they heard the tannoy announcement - but you'd think they would have realised that the entire shop had stopped - tills/shopping/conversations - the lot.

This year's commemorations were really brought home to me when I saw my home town (near York) on the news, where local residents were remembering a local boy killed just last week on a tour of duty.

On a more cheerful (but still related) note, I really like this idea - knitting a poppy to wear, instead of (or maybe as well as???) the plastic ones. The pattern can be found here, but is only available until the end of Thursday.

My knitting skills are poor, but I'm still pondering on whether to download the instructions and bribe a friend to knit one up for me???

I have reds (and am reading textbooks...)

thedomesticdiva.files.com

When I looked through my stash this morning, what colours predominated?

Purple/mauve/violet -lots and lots.

Blues and greens - a reasonable amount.

Yellow and orange - a satisfying amount.

Black - ditto.

Red - none.

Nada.

Rien.

Nichts.

Red is so far out of my comfort zone. I asked Mr Z&Z's advice, on the way to the quilt shop (I gave him a lift to the shop, where I think he was planning to get the Guardian and a sticky bun to take back home, and enjoy the peace and quiet while I was out).

'Mr Z&Z', I asked (very formal at home, we are. Almost Austenesque). 'Mr Z&Z, I have no red in my somewhat out of control stash, but I have lots and lots of yummy, delicious, delightful purples. Shall I amend red and white challenge to be purple and white? What do you think? I LOVE purple'

'Hmm', he replied. "If the criteria are red and white, then that's what you should do. And besides which, I think it would do you good to get out of your comfort zone'.

Mr Z&Z has obviously been going to some interesting tutorials at college since he started in September! Comfort Zone? I didn't even think he knew that phrase!! But I was very impressed, and quite touched, that he had shown an interest in my quilting, and that he was making some positive and helpful suggestions.

So off I went, with permission to spend money on fabric. How strange. Almost unsettling, in fact.

I ended up at the larger (but more expensive) LQS about 30 minutes away. It took a LONG time to get to grips with red - I kept pulling out bolts of purple instead, or red with a purplish tinge. I just was not comfortable with the red bolts. I found myself walking past the many red bolts and spending time lookng at completely different fabrics instead.

In the end, I ended up with about 10 different reds, and I can see now how they may just work.
I think I was getting too hung up on getting the 'right' red.

quiltersbuzz.com

These aren't they (I still have no camera), but give you an idea of what I've picked up.

Actually, what was even harder was the directive to get cream/off-white/ light tan for the swap strips. No-one in the whole shop seemed to know what colour light tan is. Including the shop owner.

Is it light brown?
Tan to me is a sort of yellowish orange colour.

Ive had a look on google images, and I think it's the colour I'd probably call taupe.

So I ended up with three fabrics that are all very similar, and all pretty much off white - or they were when they went into the washing machine - knowing my luck, a random sock was in there as well, and has coloured them all pink :-( . I hope they're not too light. I picked up a coupled of other ones for myself as well, but I'm holding off getting any more lights until I see what I get from the other swapees in the group.

So I've come home, laden with fabric, washed it and now it's draped all over the radiators - by 4pm the sun has disappeared and it's getting colder.

(I've always been against having a tumble dryer for financial and environmental reasons - but I don't think I can face another winter of clothes horses up in rooms, and the inevitable condensation on windows and surfaces. Hmm. I need to ponder on this. I think there may be space in the garage to fit one in).

And I'm now up to 2,400 words on my essay. This is NOT a good sign. It means that I've rambled on and on with little coherence. I've chosen to write about José Carlos Mariategui, because I seemed to have a lot of lecture notes on him - but all I've done so far is write up my lecture notes, without thinking about what I'm typing.

Time to prune them back, I think.

And get on with finishing it instead of surfing the Web - I ned to get down to about 1500 words by the time Strictly Come Dancing starts!!.......

sunshine at last

Hurrah!

At long last we've woken up to some sun instead of the constant rain that we've had for the last week. The washing machine is churning away so that hopefully we can get at least some items dry on the line before the heavens open again.

I've spend some time so far this morning looking for fabric from my stash for the red and white challenge - but no luck. So it looks like a trip to the LQS.....

And this is where I have a dilemma - do I go to the small (and friendly) shop which is about 15 minutes away, in the city, but which has a very small range of fabric - or do I hop in the car, leave Mr Z&Z at home to mind the washing, and drive for 30 minutes to the much larger shop which has a stunning array of stock - and which means that I drive through Chatsworth park as well??


gouk.about

The last couple of times I've driven past the house I've been lucky enough to see a herd of deer wandering about.

The other reason for going a long way, apart from the chance to meander through the beautiful Peak District, is because I have an essay due in on Thursday evening, as part of my Spanish course that i've taking at the local university. I have to produce 800 words on the life, work and importance of a Peruvian.

My mind is blank.

The only Peruvian I could think of is this one:

I have been tempted to write about Paddington Bear, just to see what the tutor would say - but have realised that this would probably be a foolish option, and rather than risk failing this module, I'd better get my textbook open (having had it out from the university library for 3 weeks, it's still unopened....) and get on with it.

800 words isn't that much after all, and at least I'm writing it in English - so I think it's a question of gettng my fabric (MUCH more important!!!), coming home, chucking it in the machine and then setting off with my essay, pausing only to scuttle into the garden to hang out acres of cotton...

Time to go and shop, I feel.....

Red and White Snowball challenge

I don't know what on earth possessed me - but I've just signed up for an on-line challenge....

Maybe it was prompted by the picture above, from Nicole's blog, and on Alyson's.....

I now have to get myself to my LQS and purchase some fabric, wash and iron it, cut it into 5" strips and then send three of each to various people around the world.

In theory, I should then receive back 18 strips, with which to make my own scrappy red and white quilt....

In practice, I fear that I will receive the strips, admire them, but then not get on with what I'm supposed to be doing at all.....

Even though it's just been halfterm, I have no photos to post - because I visited my mother yesterday, and have left the camera hanging from her newel post.....

I tried to persuade Mr Z&Z that we needed another camera in the house, in case of such emergencies - but no luck so far....