A Village Quilter

Hope you're all well and have had a good Christmas.  I thought you might like to see what greeted me when I left for work last Wednesday morning. Mmmmm - it was snowing. Lots. Some of you may have seen our village on the BBC 24 hour news or the BBC One O'Clock news. I did shout at the TV a bit as they kept saying it was the first snow we'd seen. But why let facts get in the way of a good story. I did get to work - despite a bit of slipping - but then we all got sent home due to the continued heavy snow and worsening road conditions. I'm very happy to say at long last the snow has now melted and we can all get out and about. I hope you've all had a good Christmas. I had some great pressies - very nice books that I'll share with you soon. I've also almost managed to get rid of my sticking cold - was a little rough but am feeling better as each day goes by. Anyway - I'll leave you there now and hope to hear from you all soon.

 Well if you have a look at my last posting with the beautiful sunrise - you can see it looks a bit different today.  Yep - the snows back - and boy is it back. I'm very bored of it now and would much prefer to be able to get out and about as normal. The trouble in the UK is because it's not cold enough we get rain that turns to ice and then we get snow - whereas in the Scandinavian countries it's so cold it just gets snow - with no rain to turn to ice. The picture below is what my budlia looked like after the freezing fog lingered for a few days. I've been lucky that all the items I ordered on line have arrived - and I've only got fresh stuff to get in for Christmas dinner now. I do realise that we've been much more fortunate than many. How are things with you all?  Keep warm and hope to hear from you soon.

 Hello all, Apologies for my tardiness at posting. No excuses - I'm rubbish.  I thought I'd start by sharing a scene from my bedroom window this morning. Spotted by DH.  And here's a cake I've baked this afternoon for Christmas. It's getting packed onto the freezer very quickly otherwise we'll end up eating it now. It's a pear and ginger one from the BC Good Food magazine. And here are the 'yellow squares' that members from the Leamington Embroiderers' Guild have made. Mine is is second in from the right on the second row from the bottom. very simple - but I like it. The variety and skill were great to see. Anyway I left the weather until last. I'm sooooo bored of it now. It's become very slippery underfoot and I'm such a coward as I'm terrified of falling over. I have managed to get to work every day last week and do appreciate there are lots and lots of people much worse off than me - but I'm ready for it being cold and ...

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.