Oh I do like to be beside the seaside ....

Thank you for all your kind and supportive comments to my last post - this quilting community sure is something isn't it?!!  To gently ease myself back into a blogging routine I give you very few words today but lots of pictures!

I have a little thing about rust and lichen - so I was delighted at what I saw on Bournemouth Pier!!

My couple of days away was just what I needed,  The cobwebs were literally blown away and the sea air and coastal walks were so good for my soul.  I walked a lot, I thought a lot and I read a lot.  I resolved that I would ensure I booked time away BEFORE I reached breaking point next time so you may see some more coastal pics up here soon!

A week of finishes ....

A bit of a different Finish it up Friday over here today.  Lots of finishes but not all of a textile nature!

1. The finish of my first Quilt Show entry.  I finished the quilt, please take a look over here for the full story, and it was driven up to Harrogate for the Great Northern Quilt Show.  I had planned a couple of days up there, visiting the area and the show.  I was really excited and somewhat nervous about going on Saturday morning and to my HUGE surprise I had won a Judges Merit rosette.  To say I was happy was an understatement - I was walking around like the Cheshire Cat all day!

2.  The finish of another year of marriage.  No, not the finish of a marriage - I wouldn't be quite so blasé as to announce that here, but the finish of our 16th year of marriage.  My niece came and looked after the girls and we got a child free day (which is something of a rarity in these parts seeing as we home educate!) of tiki touring around the Cotswolds.

3. The finish of my eldest daughter's birthday celebrations until next year!  She turned 11 on Wednesday - where does that time go?  She had a birthday party sleepover at the end of August and then we spent the day together as a family on her actual birthday.  We took the girls to the West Midlands Safari Park - it was amazing!!  I had never been before either so it was a great way to spend the day doing something new to us all.  The bunting was finished too in time to hang up and is another item ticked of my FAL Q3 list.

4.  And for the final finish of the week ...... eating the last of the blackberry pudding I made yesterday!!!  It is the season here in the UK for foraging in hedgerows for all things edible.  Yesterday we gathered blackberries, damsons, apples and plums on a gorgeous autumnal sunny day.  The blackberries became this delicious, and very easy, pudding, and were also mixed with apples for a bramble and apple jelly.  The damsons were placed in containers with sugar and gin to slowly become Damson Gin (and I have to say the duck recipe with the damson gin sounds rather nice!) in time for Christmas and I have just finished boiling up the plums with a few other ingredients to become plum sauce.  Our kitchen smells divine at the moment!

I have had very little time in my studio this week but need to getting in there and start starting, and finishing, things that are on my ever expanding to-do list! x

And I am linking up with Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts today.

The last day of summer ....

31st August.  Bank Holiday here in the UK.  And torrential rain nearly all day.  And it was cold - not above 14 degrees.  It certainly feels like the end of summer, although I am hoping for an Indian summer somewhere along the line!

It got me thinking about the summer we have just had and how easy it is to forget the things you have done by doing more things quickly after!  So our summer in some pictures:

The weather in early and late spring was lovely so we made elderflower cordial very early on in June

Home Ed kayaking group met for their second course of the year - the weather was somewhat cold!

Impromptu visit to the National Trust's Hidcote Gardens - truly beautiful and inspiring gardens - well worth a visit

A break on our journey to Bude saw us stop at another National Trust property - this time it was Tyntesfield.  It was the first time we had visited and there was sooo much to see.  Another visit is definitely in order, probably without the children!

We went to Bude for a week and were greatly surprised by its beauty and warm welcome. We quickly fell in love with it and we were already talking about a return visit before we had even left the town environs on our departure!

The lobster pots at the end of the sea canal - that just happened to become my blog header ...

One very happy surf mad daughter - it was hard for her to leave the coast of New Zealand and live in the middle of England

July saw the arrival of my Handi Quilter Avante longarm quilting machine and a glut or Project Linus quilts to practice on, here, here and here.

I attended an indigo dying workshop with Edwina Mackinnon and loved the results

On the Home Ed front things wound up for the summer but there was our monthly group meet up in Snitterfield, a production of Tom Sawyer, sports sessions at the playing fields, a trip to Sulgrave Manor to attend an Explorers in the 16th Century day, a day of presentations on European countries, a visit to the Lunt Roman Fort near Coventry and a lovely day spent at a local farm helping them with hedgerow planting.

August started with a very full to-do list

The Webb Ellis cup, the trophy awarded at the end of the Rugby World Cup, came to Stratford which was cause for great excitement in our household - although we have a divide in our loyalties when it comes to rugby!

August also contained:

- a Flower Show, more to come on that

- lots of sewing on my Straight Line Bow quilt, progress can be seen here, here, here and here

- time spent with family, birthdays, barbecues and sleepovers

- time spent with friends, on the water and in the woods mostly

- lots of reading, magazines and books

All in all a great summer, despite the weather.  I won't be sad for autumn to start I think it's my favourite time of year, but then again I like spring too and I guess winter and summer.  I think what I like is the change of seasons.  When I lived in Tauranga in New Zealand I missed the four distinct seasons we have here in the UK so now I truly relish all that comes with each season and the natural cycle that we move in through the year.  Goodbye Summer - until next year! x

All about quilts ...

The last week has been all about quilts, quilts and more quilts. 

 

I joined my local quilting club, Hathaway Quilters, who meet twice a month in a local hall.  I haven't been a member of a quilting club since I left Feilding, New Zealand, and that was a long time ago.  I was a member of the Feilding Kowhai Patchwork Quilters.  It was such a wonderful group to be part off that I have been somewhat hesitant to join another - ridiculous I know!  It was lovely to be welcomed into the group and I even the raffle - two fat quarters of fabric.

 

And then there was The Festival of Quilts.  I had been before when I was back from New Zealand on holiday but this year was different.  I booked for two days, a workshop and a lecture, oh and I could actually buy things here because they didn't have to go in a suitcase back to NZ!

 

What a show.  So many wonderful and amazing quilts of all sizes, styles and techniques.  I was especially interested in the actual quilting of the quilts this year having just got a long arm quilting machine.  What a lot I have to aspire to!

These details were taken from The Awakening by Annelize Littlefair

 

 

There were 1800 or so quilts on display, both as entries and as exhibitions.  I thought I had been around them all but since returning and seeing peoples photos on FB I realise I missed quite a lot ......  Maybe I was too busy at all the stalls or going at a more relaxed pace because I knew I had two days.  By the end of Friday my feet ached, my legs ached and even my hips ached but I was very happy.  It was truly inspirational to see such talent, ideas, lovely people and, of course, fabric all in one place.

 

 

A great end to the year ...

New Year's Eve also happens to be Mr C's birthday, for better or for worse.  This year it was definitely for worse because we have all been struck down by the flu virus that is doing the rounds so Christmas was really a shadow of what was planned and a week later we were still lacking energy from the bug.  However, two young girls had recovered quicker and were ready and raring to do something for Daddy's birthday.  So on the morning, after the obligatory birthday breaskfast, we decided to go to The Cotsowld Wildlife Park & Gardens.

The day was sunny but freezing, I'm not sure how the animals out of their normal habitats survive in such conditions, even the penguins seemed to be shivering!

A turkey vulture preening his magnificent wings

The meerkats seeking out the sun

A scarlet ibis - captured by  Little Miss C - I didn't actually notice it on the day!

A conspiracy of ring tailed lemurs enjoying the sun on the hill.  It truly looked like they were meditating or doing yoga!

A close up of the two at the back, just love the way that one has its hand on the other's knee.  Later on they were holding hands!!

The otters

The magnificent male rhino on the front lawn

One of the 29 Humboldt penguins - who were sliding all over the place on the ice when they were out of the water.

Such magnificent giraffes

An asiatic lioness - she was truly beautiful.  She had been wandering around outside and then came inside where we were separated by inch thick glass.  The detail with which we could see her was remarkable and when she yawned right there you really could see how fearsome her teeth are!

Whenever we visit zoos or animal parks I am always left in two minds about it.  Whilst it is amazing to be able to see such animals and nowadays they do a lot towards conservation of species it is still hard to see animals and birds in captivity.  There were two beautiful blue macaws, which I had never seen before, but I would much rather see them flying through the jungle canopy.  Again two keas, which are mountain parrots from the south island of New Zealand seemed a sorry sight in a very small enclosure.  But to see how it ignites a passion in the children and lends itself to much discussion of animals, conservation and the environment afterwards tends to make it worth it.  In fact its sparked a fully fledged investigation into the penguins of the world and the gleaning of many new facts.  One of which is that New Zealand is the country which has the most species of penguins in the world - I think that made Mr C's birthday actually! x

A week of celebrations Part 2 ...

It's not every week your eldest turns 10!  It's brought up some strange feelings in me and some very grown up feelings in Miss M.

- Where have the 10 years gone?
- Will the next 10 go so quickly?
- If so will I be ready for the inevitable separation?
- If my eldest is 10 that must mean that I am getting older too ...

Aside from that, we had a brilliant day.  Miss M also shares her birthday with Green, a (not surprisingly) green toy rabbit, who turned 8 and Nutmeg, a toy horse, who has been with us for 1 year!  There was a host of preparations for their birthdays, including presents, games, a magic show and a paper airplane display.

Fishing game, complete with octopus (made from dried glue!)

A selection of presents, both handmade and thrifted

The magician practising her routine

Fantastic book form which the airplanes were made - and they really flew

And no self respecting plane show can go ahead without a schedule!

Then onto the human's celebrations - present opening followed by breakfast at Hoorays.  This is an ice cream parlour and was the birthday girl's breakfast of choice ...

And she thought it was a great choice - waffles with ice cream, cream and M&Ms - good job it is only her birthday once a year!   Luckily if gave boundless energy for the kayaking course they started that afternoon.

Whoops - a little bang right at the beginning

Birthday girl in the orange kayak

And onto the river ....

Another home ed family had done a course in the holidays and organised a 5 week Home Ed Paddle Power course.  It was perfect that it started on Miss M's birthday and all the children thoroughly enjoyed it.  The weather was glorious, the progressed from the 2ft deep lagoon to the river in the first session and then they had popcorn, crisps and the obligatory cake!!! x

What a day ...

Yesterday we had a brilliant day!

I have been very busy the last month trying to start on on-line business so my time has been pretty precious.  How can it be that you want to start something that is all about making things and end up not making much but spending LOTS of time on your computer?

Anyway, yesterday we went over to my Mum's for breakfast with some friends who are visiting from Canada.  Breakfast was delicious - fruits salad, homemade granola, pastries and true Canadian Maple Syrup.  Did you know it takes 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of maple syrup?  Now I understand the price.  They had also bought over maple butter which I haven't tried yet but will look forward to next time I am at my Mum's.

Then it was off to Packwood House.  It's a regular haunt of our but we hadn't been this summer yet and I really want to the house in the woods I friend told me about.  They have some follies in the grounds which were amazing to look at.

The girls had great fun figuring about what parts of the pieces of furniture were used.

I was using a digital SLR for the first time.  My nephew has lent me his and I had so much fun - 200+ photos is a testament to that!  I have a manual SLR which I was really enjoying using before Miss M was born (nearly 10 years ago now) but have since just used a compact digital camera.  Oh it was so lovely to look through a viewfinder again and to have sports and macro modes.  I won't put up all 200+ but here's a few ....

 

 



They both raced up to the lake edge and couldn't wait to feel it.  "It's kind of like a beach.  I just want to go swimming in it!"  Water and the coast is certainly something that has been missing in our lives since we returned to the UK.

I got beautiful shots of Miss C dancing wildly on the lake shore but, unfortunately, I was not allowed to use them.  I was, however, given permission to use the one of the back of her head!