June in review

It's July already ..... wow!  I just looked back at my May round up post and it states:

There were definite signs of Spring and a few days of glorious sunshine, which could have fooled us into thinking the weather was improving, she says typing this looking out a cold, grey, wet first day of June!

which is somewhat ironic because today is the second day of July and it is a cold, grey wet day aswell - oh the joys of a English summer!!

Yesterday I posted about my Quarter 2 finishes which goes a good way to seeing what I have been up to in June.

Bee News

Annah in The Bee Hive, Swam Anneliese, requested Wanta Fanta blocks in blues and white and so I made her these ....

The mini bee for Siblings Together has now finished in terms of monthly block making but I did manage to get my blocks pieced into a lovely top.  This is now near the top of the pile for quilting and sending on to Nicky.

I was Queen Bee in the Stash Bee, Hive 5, and was very excited to choose this block.  Checking the post throughout the month has been such a wonderful thing and what lovely blocks landed on my door mat in June.  I am soooo in love with this!!  It is definitely not going to languish on the shelf and I hope to be sitting underneath it when we light our first fire of the season!

Making News

The damson gin made last September was almost finished ....

whilst this year's elderflower cordial was made!

I took part in the Rainbow Rose QAL ....

and now have to consider how I am going to finish and quilt this ....

In Home Ed news we have:

:: visited a Hindu temple - which was amazing and so colourful

:: meditated with a Buddhist monk at a Hermitage - which was the most at peace I have felt in a very long time

:: visited the National Trust property at Packwood House - which was cold that day!

:: continued with piano lessons - which the girls are loving and it is wonderful to hear them play

:: saw an Oddsocks production of Much Ado About Nothing - which was fantastic and very funny

:: learnt about the history of the EU - which was fascinating (and did an old jigsaw of Europe!)

It was my turn on the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop aswell which was great.  There's still another 2 weeks to come so keep an eye out and try to get to meet some of these lovely new bloggers.  I asked people for their book/author recommendations and got loads ...... I compiled a list and yesterday started reading the first of many from this list.  Which leads on to the books I have read in June ....

 

July, yet again, will be busy.  As well as the usual things we get up to we will also receive our shipping that's been heading over the seas from New Zealand.  It's supposed to dock in Tilbury tomorrow but quite when we can expect to see it I am not sure.  It's going to be wonderful to see all our things from NZ but quite where it's all going to go I'm not sure .......

I have also signed up for another mini swap and a round robin style travelling quilt bee which should be great fun.  I am in the middle of compiling my new Finish Along list too which will hopefully be up tomorrow.  Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and to those of you in the States enjoy your Independence Day celebrations! x

Goodbye May ....

where did May go?!!! 

 

The top priority in May was to get my quilts finished to enter into Quilts UK.  If you are a regular reader you know that I achieved that, but by the finest margin!  You can see the final results here, here and here.  The other quilt I entered was already made, thank goodness!

Bee Blocks this month included a Christmas tree in the Stash Bee ....

 

two Quatrefoil blocks for the Bee Hive ....

 

and two yellow and grey blocks for the mini bee for Siblings Together ....

There were definite signs of Spring and a few days of glorious sunshine, which could have fooled us into thinking the weather was improving, she says typing this looking out a cold, grey, wet first day of June!

 

One of our monthly Home Ed groups was somewhat late running their World Book Day meeting, but it was definitely worth the wait.  Cat Weatherill came to do a morning session with the middle group and we had a wonderful time.  She is a storyteller who became an author and her storytelling had children and adults alike captured in the tale.  There were books to be signed and my youngest was delighted to have another signed book by an author she had met after meeting Cathy Cassidy last summer - the book also made it onto my reading list!  My eldest went as Raven Queen from Ever After High, for which I made this collar.

 

Science involved learning about smoking and alcohol!  For now, I don't think I have to worry about my eldest smoking.

 

We were also involved in Rocket Science, more about that in a future post ....

My youngest was working on her Hostess badge for Brownies and so held a Morning Tea Party ....

.... she is the Master of Victoria Sponges in our house!

Another Home Ed parent has also arranged a series of visits to various places of worship and this month we had a presentation from a Rabbi (synagogue visit to happen later in the year) and a visit to a mosque.  These two events have given us lots to talk about and investigate further.  Next week we visit a Hindu temple and Buddhist Hermitage, which I am really looking forward to.

 And last, but definitely not least are the books I read ....

 

I am always amazed when I look back at the month and realise how much we fit in.  Quite often my life seems to be a very fine juggling act to keep everything running smoothly and sometimes all the balls fall to the ground!  But taking a few minutes to reflect on the month has really helped me see that ebbs and flows and that in the end we are all on the right course! x

 

I am linking up today to Let's Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts.

April in review ....

A third of the year gone already - how can that be?  I remember as a child a year was forever, in fact from Monday to Friday was a long time but my daughters were talking with friends the other day about how the year has gone so quickly.  Is this the speeded up world we live in?  Or is it just Home Ed children that think this?   Does time still go slowly for children in school?  I've no idea just rambling now!

 

So at the beginning of the month I signed up for Quarter 2 of the Finish-Along.  Sadly I have nothing yet completed of that long list!

 

Onto Bee news - I continued to receive some more blocks from my hive in the Bee Hive.  I laid them all out last night and love the way this quilt is going to come together.

 

 

For April's queen bee in the same Bee there were Wanta Fanta blocks - just slipped in under the month deadline and these will be posted on Tuesday, as we have a Bank Holiday here in the UK tomorrow.

 

The queen in the Stash Bee hive I am in requested a block in a combination of mustard, grey, navy and chartreuse.  I have no navy in my stash but she was happy with the other colours.

I liked how this made up so made an extra one for me.  I decided at the start of the year to make an extra block each time I made a bee block and by the end of the year I will have some lovely blocks to play with.  I still have a couple to play catch up with but that's OK!

For the Siblings Together mini bee I was queen and asked for 16 patch single colour blocks, which I will sash with white to make up a lovely colourful quilt.  The two I made below as an example were quick and easy to make.  I haven't received any yet because most of the members had holidays booked this month.

I learnt some new things like removing a square from a complete quilt top and replacing it so that no-one would ever know ....

 

 

and foundation paper piecing tiny little scraps of fabric into stars ....

 

 

The majority of the month was spent without my husband who returned to New Zealand to oversee the winding up of our life over there.  That has bought up so many emotions that I'm not sure I have fully dealt with yet ......  We tracked his flight over there ....

 

 

and we'll be welcoming him home in two more sleeps!

 

I spent a lot of time interlocking seams ....

 

 

making up these ....

 

 

and writing a pattern for them.  Watch this space for a release in the very near future!

 

On the Home Ed front there have been the regular activities, an end to ice skating lessons for now, the start of athletics and netball, a visit to nearby Coughton Court where the lambs and bluebells were doing their best to tell us it was spring, although the snow, sleet, hail and freezing rain told us a different story!

 

 

And, of course, there has been reading, although not as much as usual I see now ....

 

 

 

And welcome May!!  The hawthorn is in full bloom, although I didn't wash my face in its dew this morning, we may get to make elderflower cordial early this year and with luck the weather will soon get warmer and sunnier.  Can't wait for some lovely days spent outside and exploring!