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So where to start?

I've now spent far too many hours working out how to load the photos up. Part of the problem was the fact that the manual was electronic.

Call me old-fashioned - but I like to be able to read a manual - and by that I mean carry it about with me, read in bed, flick backwards and forward through it when I feel like it - not after I've turned on the PC, booted it up, and then looked at a flickering screen.

Would it more economical to have a print version? Possibly not to make - but certainly to use....

Now, if I update you with everything that I've been doing - this post will last for several days - so best to pick out a few highlights, I think...

Firstly - today. I went to a workshop on stack and whack. The tutor provided us with some fabulous fabrics - okay, they may not have been to everyone's taste, but the idea was that you went from this:

to this...

These aren't the same fabrics, BTW - but you get the idea of what is supposed to be going on here.

I'm so unhappy with my final blocks that there is, at present, no picture to show you.

All was going really well, and I was getting quite carried away - until we came to sew it together, and the pieces just wouldn't fit smoothly. No way. Even with pinning, resewing, and pressing. So time to re-think, I feel...

I'm determined to get this one cracked - I KNOW I can do this - I just need to work out where it was all going wrong. I sneaked a peak at the book that the tutor was referring to - and the book seemed to indicate that some triangles should be cut 1/4" larger than the diamonds in the pattern. I'm going to scout about a bit more in my own books here at home (because I seem to have rather a lot - so hopefully there will be something in one of them) and then try again with a slightly larger piece.

Last weekend was Grannie's 94th birthday party, which she held in the Cotswolds. Well, my aunt and cousins orgainsed it, and those of use from the frozen North drove down for the day.

To be fair, I do often argue with people that Yorkshire isn't the north - to me, the North of England starts at Newcastle - but I think it's really a matter of perspective. I grew up in North Yorkshire, in a small market town between York and Scarborough, but had to move away for university and then for work. I was very pleased to be able to move to Sheffield, as at last I felt that I was getting closer to home - it's Yorkshire, albeit it South.

But I digress.

Grannie had a fabulous time - lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren there.

I'm hoping that grannie won't mind me posting a picture of her blowing the candles out on her cake, ably assisted by small children:

And finally - here's my contribution to the BQL perpertual calendar challenge for March:



I read about this in P and Q magazine, and thought it looked interesting - so signed up.

I have to say - it really has been a challenge for me - but hey, I got something finished for once - it's 12" square - but at least it's a project completed!!!

No posts now for about 10 days - I leave for Stuttgart tomorrow - 20 hours by coach, for a school trip - and although internet access is possible, it's not always easy.

I'm taking some hand appliqué with me - I should have plenty of time at various points to get on with that - and also some needlepoint (nice big holes to poke a needle thorough - no worries about stitch size there).

Last year I overdid it on the shopping front - this year, the strength of the Euro means that I shall be reduced to windowshopping only.