Happy New Year

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year for 2008.

I'm going to be brave and set some goals for 2008 (and actually write them down this time). However, I don't think I'm brave enough to share them at this stage - but hopefully as the year goes along I'll let you know what ones I achieve and may then might let a few of the others out.

I'd also like to say a big thank you to all you bloggers out there - I've really appreciated the virtual friends I've made in blog land and have really enjoyed receiving all the comments you've taken time to post on my blog.

All the very best to you

Lots of love

Sarah Jayne

Christmas

Not too heavy a post today as I'm sure some of us may still be experiencing the excesses of Christmas.

Well - as you can see from the photo above I managed to cook a rather good turkey. A combination of a good quality 11lb turkey, good tips from Jane and a quick addition from a Gordon Ramsey cooking programme I saw on Christmas Eve. I'm very proud of my first roast turkey. The rest of the dinner was very good too (even though I do say so myself).

I'm also really pleased with the pressies I got. And I can share a little tip with you all. The reason I got a subscription to Selvedge magazine was because I said I wanted it on my blog and DH read it - what a great ploy - I'll be using it again LOL.

I also saw a great exhibition today at Warwickshire Museum - Gold Thread and Fire. It's not a huge exhibition but very interesting. I wish I could afford to buy a few of the items.

Here's the square in the village this afternoon at about 3.30; it's just getting dark and the lights are on. It looks so pretty.

And finally here are a few pictures I took of the Michaelmas House window. The animals I think are French and sooo cute. Lots of different textures. If I find out what the make is I'll let you know. Oh and their sale starts on January 3rd.

I do hope you all had a great Christmas break.

I'm back...

Sorry about the delay with my postings - but as you know I've been a bit busy - just like you.

I'd like to say a huge thank you for all the kind words of support for me and my mum. I'm pleased to say she's had her op and it went as planned. I visited her yesterday and she was comfortable - which I think is really all you can expect at this stage.

I'd thought I'd share with you a few things I've bought over the last few months. First is the beautiful Selvedge magazine - I'm hoping Santa might be bringing me a subscription.

Next is my Quilting Arts - such a beautiful cover. I'm still waiting for number 29 - I'm sure it's got stuck in the post.

And a copy of The Quilter - which you get as part of your Quilter Guild subscription.

And a treat now - 'Finding your own visual language'. Since my course with Brenda I've been more adventurous with the books I've selected and don't look at the ones with just patterns in now. This looks a great book and hopefully over the holiday I'll be able to have a better look at it. Have any of you got this and used it? I'd love to hear how you got on.


Now - I did get rather excited when Santa and his sledge came down the road - I ran out shouting 'Santa - I've been a good girl'. My husband is still laughing about it now.

I'll have to go now to check on my infamous Jamie Oliver Pork goulash - I'm cooking it for our Quilting Christmas party tomorrow night. I had to miss last week as I got a stinking cold - I've got rid of it now and I'm just left with a hacking cough.
Hope you're all OK and not too stressed with the time of year.
Take care.

Christmas preparation

Hello - I hope you're all OK and not too over wrought with your Christmas preparation. I've noticed blog postings have slowed down - which isn't surprising considering women do tend to have the most to do around Christmas. Honestly I'm not going to moan about it - it's just how it is for most of us. I'm doing OK - so far. I've managed to write out most of my cards and get the presents wrapped that need to be posted this week. I do still need to do a bit more shopping - but nothing too major.

There is a reason why I'm cracking on with things and that's because my mum is coming to stay with us over Christmas as she'll be recovering from a hysterectomy due to a prolapse womb. I had booked two weeks leave to sew - but as my sewing room has been converted into the spare bedroom now - things have changed. I will still be sewing (as otherwise I think I'd go mad) but it will need a bit more planning and I won't be able to leave it out as I would do in the sewing room. But - that's the way things go isn't it and we juts have to try to make the best of it.

More haste, less speed

When will I ever learn. I was so excited that I'd got the top and the back finished from Brenda's class that I completely forgot some very basic quilting rules. Like the one that suggests you should start in the middle and work out - I just started in a random fashion as I needed to ensure the thread was used in a random way across the piece. This meant I ended up with puckered bits. I also think I could have made the sandwich a bit better - a bit tighter. So now I'm unpicking all of the bits I've machined. Bit of a pain but when you know it's not working at the start there's no way it'll look right later on. I did take it to work today and they said 'no-one will notice' - but I'd like to have quite close quilting so the puckered bits would just get worse and worse.
So it's back to the unpicking...
I've also got the job of tidying up my sewing room so my friend can get in the spare bed when she comes to stay on Friday.

What have I been up to...

Lots. I've been rather busy - but it's been great. And I can't believe it's December already.

Here are some photos from the Christmas Fayre in the village Hall. A number of the Bosworth Quilters were involved with this and it's thanks to one in particular that the event has been reinstated. It looked great. It had a good variety of stalls, jewelry, soaps, plants, cakes and of course some very high quality quilted items (very reasonable priced). Unfortunately I was too excited to take a photo when Santa arrived - I was overwhelmed...

And here are my efforts from my drawing and painting class. I think if I post the photos of how I got here you'll see why I'm pleased with it. The journey there was good. And it's not brown.

I'm not going to be attending the class next year - partly because I can';t guarantee getting there every week and partly because my aim was to get over the fear of the blank page and drawing. As I've managed to conquer my demons I don't want to spread myself too thin with already being committed to Brenda's class next year. What I should do is set some time aside to draw. As we all know it's easier said than done.

Part way done...

Finished.