A Village Quilter

Hello all, I hope you're well and enjoying the beautiful autumn weather at the mo. Today it's a beautiful fresh sunny day. The leaves are spectacular. The flowers don't seem to know what to do. Here's a photo of a poppy that's decided to flower. I attended a Leamington Embroiderers' Guild lecture on Friday. It was really interesting. It was given by Jane Davies and her trip to south west China. She very generously shared all her purchases with the group and explained how traditional dress was reflected in modern dress. She gave a really good lecture. So on Saturday there was a class run by the same group at the same venue. Unfortunately no one turned up to open the hall. Bit of a problem. But being a resourceful lot another hall was found nearby and we managed to run the class only starting an hour later than planned. I've included photos and brief descriptions of the techniques below.  This illustrates 3 techniques...

So - here's what I've been up to. I'm not sure what it's going to be either - but hopefully after my class with Bren next month the pile of fabrics for a mystery quilt will indeed look more like a quilt. I'm about halfway through the cutting - there is rather alot. And below is the tin for the class to. the idea is that we fill a tin and at the class we each take a tin - obviously not your own. I won't way that's in mine until they've been handed over. I had a lovely evening on Thursday at my first Lutterworth Embroiderer's Guild meeting. A really friendly group of ladies. When I've finished what I've made I'll post a photo. I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine - but don't forget the clocks go back tomorrow - oh - an extra hour in bed. Hmmmm

Well - just to prove I did make something last week - here's the broach I made for a very special friend's birthday. I hope it arrived on time otherwise she'll see it here for the  first time.  I really enjoyed making it - based on an article in this months Stitch magazine. It was so nice to sit and stitch and finish something within a couple of hours. I'm really pleased with the finish - it's got a very tidy back with a nice broach pin. What have you made recently?

 So, I've been doing a bit of cooking. A Blackberry and Yogurt cake. I was really pleased I found a recipe I can use my frozen blackberries in. The fruit looked really pretty in the cake - and tasted good too.  And then a bit of batch cooking. It's amazing how far a kilo of minced beef can go. So from the top: Chilli Cottage pie Spag bol All for the freezer.   I had a very nice trip out to the Garden Barn . It has some great things for the garden - all very reasonably priced. And they have a great coffee shop with fantastic cake. Well worth a trip out.  And finally this is the view from our church spire. DH and I walked up the narrow, steep, spiral staircase and got a great view. It was a shame it wasn't a little clearer - but we still had a great view. I have been sewing - but can't show you the results until next week as it's a pressie for someone... Take care and have a great week.

 To the seaside on holiday - back to Southwold in Suffolk.  Yay.  And there was sunshine - well for 2 days anyway. We were very brave and went for a paddle - it was rather warm.  So here's a photo of the sun reflecting on the sea. It was really good.  Here's a view from the pier to our flat - just to the left of the lighthouse. I may have had a glass of rose in my hand at this time LOL Some cheeky seagulls. I saw some great art too. Some interesting mixed media art in the Buckingham Gallery. And some very funny characters by Samantha Bryan . They make me smile soooo much. So much fun. I also managed to get out last night to the Leamington Spa Embroiderers Group meeting. A really friendly bunch of ladies. The thing I'm finding so appealing about embroidery is the variety of work produced. The speaker was Kathleen Danswa n - she gave a great talk on the influence Venice has had ...

Hello all. I had a very nice e-mail yesterday telling me I was in October's British Patchwork & Quilting magazine as their featured blog of the month. And yes I'm there on page 68. A very nice surprise as I had no idea my little old blog would make a national publication. So if any of you are looking at my blog for the first time please do leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you.

Hello all. Hope you're well. Aplologies for taking so long to blog. Thought I'd show you what I've been up to. Well one thing is baking. I treated myself to the new Nigella book, ' Kitchen ' and I tried a new recipe - a Banana and Cherry cake. Hmmm nice. What do you think? Have you cooked anything new recently?