Easter Break

For the Easter Break we have spent the weekend with my dad up in the Scottish Borders. The weather was wild, snowy and windy, the sea was very rough.



We only ventured out on Sunday to roll eggs down the hill by the beach.




We also called in to Woolfish at St Abbs. I was keen to show Louise my first finished sock and she took a photo of it for her blog too. She has the lovely sock wool in loads of different colours. She has lots of lovely wool throws for sale in the shop and the sock is lying on one in the photo. I am inspired to get on with the second one now.



The black and white quilt is still progressing. I decided to take on a challenge and free motion the whole quilt!! With Kim's help (thanks to the girls at the Fat Quarters Tuesday night class for letting me gate-crash) and guidance, I have now quilted more than half the blocks. Still a long way to go though.

Happy quilting xx

Hold on tight

Hold on tight was the cry on Friday afternoon at The Fat Quarters as Emma helped me layer up Michael's quilt. It was a bit of a pull and stretch to avoid a fault we found it the backing fabric. This was definitely the biggest quilt I have made so far as I did not have enough pins and had to buy some more. I love reaching the next stage when making a quilt, they are like milestones on a journey. The next one is the quilting. I think I will set up the fab-u-motion on the machine and try some free motion quilting. Kim also showed me how to link from my blog to other websites so as a thank you I have linked to her web site at The Fat Quarters (I hope).


Jenny is doing Food Technology as one of her GCSE courses and is quite interested in cooking at the moment so I bought her this book, Muffins Galore. There is every kind of muffin you could think of, from strawberry and cream muffins to muffins with olives and tomatoes. She made these delicious chocolate chip muffins.


I am easily distracted when doing household chores and these flowers caught my eye while I was hanging out the washing. A good excuse to put down the pegs and go and get the camera. These pink Hellebores, I always thought were called Christmas roses but I have just read in a magazine are actually the Lenten rose. Son they are right on cue a week before Easter.

Happy Quilting xx

Stars and stripes

Worked hard this weekend on Michael's quilt and it has all come together quite quickly. The top is pieced now and here is a picture of Michael and his quilt, however he wanted to remain anonymous! I think it is clever the way the star is formed. I saw the same quilt in a book at the Fat Quarters on Friday, made in browns and it was amazing how different it looked. The Book was Strip Happy quilting on a Roll by Donna Kinsey and had lots of different projects for quilts all made from jelly rolls. If I'd used a jelly roll this quilt would have been really quick as it took quite a time to cut out the 60 strips needed. I have the borders to do next but I am starting to think how to quilt it. The sock knitting has been coming on too, the first sock is now finished. (picture later). I got a bit stuck grafting the toe but looked on a web site Socks 101 which gives a picture guide to knitting socks. When they are both finished I think I will frame them and hang them on the wall.

Happy Mothers Day

Yesterday was Mothers day and I was thoroughly spoilt my my husband and my children. I was woken up to breakfast in bed accompanied by presents and a lovely balloon. These helium balloons bearing a greeting are a favourite in our house at the moment. Jenny is always on the lookout for one to buy. My gifts were a lovely plant arrangement, chocolates, and a cute tea pot and mug set. We went out for a lovely relaxing lunch at The Matfen Brewery. The brewery and tea room are in converted farm buildings at High House Farm near Matfen in Northumberland, down a single track road from the Military Road it set in beautiful country side looking South towards the Tyne Valley. Check out their website at www.highhousefarmbrewery.co.uk. I would certainly recommend a visit.






Then today another surprise arrived in the post from Australia, The new Leanne Beasley book, Romancing the Road trip. The kids had ordered it a couple of weeks ago but it did not arrive in time for Mothering Sunday. The book is full of inspirational ideas, 3 quilt patterns, 3 bag patterns and lots of little projects including stitched postcards. The illustrations are in a scrapbook style. If only I could make my blog pages artistic like that! What will I make next?