The Weekend Already?

Good morning/evening wherever you are!

On Wednesday I managed to get some sewing done and made a new bag...I think I might make some more like this one. It has four handy pockets on the outside and I have added a set of pockets on the inside.

On Thursday round two of the Stitching Around the Block arrived from Fiona. This time it is Carol's stitchery which Fiona has added to...now it is my turn. I do hope I can do it justice as it is a lovely piece of work. Fiona also sent a Crazy Lady to look after my scissors...that is if I can keep her on track...she is a bit of a Wild Thing!

Oh look I also spy a something yummy to eat! Thank you Fiona for your lovely gift. I think she is just great.

I have now been jogging for just over two weeks and am up to running just over a mile. I know it isn't far, but for me it is a huge achievement. I do have to open and close my right hand a lot to try and keep the pins and needles at bay, but hopefully I will see some results soon, even if it just losing a few pounds. Have I lost any weight in these last two weeks? NOT ONE MEASLY LITTLE POUND! Oops, sorry for shouting, but it is rather disappointing... Still it gets me up and out early in the morning ready to face the day with a spring (or a hobble) in my step.

I have quite a lot I need to get done this weekend so after this cup of tea and update I had better get a move on and stop dilly dallying over the computer...

So my really 'exciting' list for this weekend is:

Clean out guinea pigs - Done

Stock up on hay, valley grass, bran and carrots - Done

Finish programme and email through to printers - Done

Catch up on this weeks photography course

Finish Advent Swap

and the usual Boring Stuff...

Trying not to think of what is going on with my body and trying to ignore the pain...

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Not even the rain stopped play...

On a cold, wet and windy November morning much activity was underway...

Down goes the base...

A back wall...

The first window... oh the excitement builds...

Taking shape...

The second window...

A doorway...always a good idea...

The roof starts to go on...

That's better in this weather the whole roof is required...

Even better a door!

Can't forget the window boxes...

Ta da! Will be even better once DS2 decides he no longer needs his trampolene.

The electrics go in today, the shed is lined next Thursday, then the electrician comes back to put the fronts on all the switches and power points. Hubby is going to varnish the interior for me and then voila! I can start to move in. Aren't I a lucky girl?!

Yesterday I also received a lovely totally unexpected surprise in the post...

This lovely cross stitched heart which will be perfect to hang up in my new studio.

Thank you so much Sue, it really is lovely.

The wonderful world of Quilt Fairs.

Do I have a treat in store for you? I think I do...well for quilt and patchwork lovers I do.

On Sunday I mentioned and gave a sneak preview of the Quilt Show I attended. It was fabulous, so many gorgeous quilts, many of them hand quilted. Different styles and patterns and so much imagination and skill! You may notice a theme running through the photos of the quilts I have taken...

Flowers...bright and colourful.

This quilt reminded me of the current season, the lovely colours and leaves of Autumn.

Now these quilts really caught my eye...

I wonder why?

I especially loved this Pukeko quilt.

That's right New Zealand, by a very talented artist. I really loved the spirit of New Zealand she has managed to capture.

Do visit her website if you are interested in knowing more.

Greens...

Yes, another NZ inspired quilt!

Oh what a surprise...butterflies! Couldn't resist the butterfly quilts either.

So amazing...

Just look at this one, gorgeous view, hexie flowers, so lovely.

Bright and colourful.

Just look at this, all these shades of blue painstakingly planned out and pieced together.

Just gorgeous.

Well will leave it at that...

Need to go washing machine hunting as ours has given up the ghost.

A Gorgeous Giveaway

My friend Eli is having a giveaway to celebrate both her 40th Birthday and her blog's 2nd birthday. Do go and visit her - she is the most talented person and her blog is lovely.

Manic!

Just a sneak preview of one of the wonderful quilts I saw yesterday at Chilford Quilting Exhibition. Had a fabulous day and have photos of many more wonderful quilts to show you.

Busy, busy, busy finishing a music programme for the clarinet choir I used to play in. It is their 40th Anniversary this year and I am designing the programme for it. 20 pages!

Tomorrow we have a SEN Review meeting at DS2's school, then the washing machine is (hopefully) going to be repaired. After that I have to dash off to a meeting re the concert mentioned above.

That is just a few of the things that seem to be swirling around in my head at the moment, oh and the fact that I couldn't get through to the doctors today...I need him to do something about this yucky pain!

When am I going to get time to show you my wonderful photos?! Or Sew? Or play with my fabrics?

I have a new friend.

Isn't he the sweetest little thing?

This little fellow arrived this afternoon all the way from across the pond, that huge continent Australia. He came with a packet of other goodies...

A wonderful Australia magazine - Homespun - never seen this one before so was quite excited to notice it had a feature on New Zealand Patchwork and Quilting shops. Would you believe it even has the Patchwork Barn featured where I bought my wonderful New Zealand fabrics earlier in the year. I was amazed to read this as it is out in the middle of the country with the nearest Town (and only a one street one at that) several miles away.

Anyway back to my goodies...

Some lovely fabrics.

Lots of lovely projects...

This DVD looks very useful.

Now how and why did this parcel come about? Well I love reading Kelly's blog: Em ay kay ee and when I saw her asking 'Do You Live in the UK?', well how could I not respond? Kelly was featured in a magazine that I just happened to have so I contacted her straight away and said I would get her one or she could have mine if I couldn't find another one in the shops. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find another one in the shops, however, although I had opened mine and browsed through it, I hadn't used any the lovely fabrics that came with it and still had the original packaging so I parcelled it up, along with a little cosmetic purse and sent it on its way. Lovely Kelly sent me these wonderful gifts and magazine in return. Thank you so much Kelly for your generosity. I especially love my new friend...you must have known I have a soft spot for anything small and cuddly!

I've been keeping up with my jogging, although it is hard work. I find that generally I 'function' much better if I get up at 6am. Yesterday I felt great. Today unfortunately by mid-morning the extreme wave of tiredness hit me with a vengeance and I had to go and have a long sleep only to be awakened by the postman after lunch with the above mentioned parcel. My arm is especially bad today with the hypersensitivity running all the way from my fingertips, down the inside of my arm and then down my side. It feels like it is on fire. Hoping it will be better for the weekend as I have my quilting day tomorrow and on Sunday I'm going on a coach trip to a Quilt Show. How exciting!

I peeled and stewed a load of apples this afternoon (probably didn't help my arm, but it was already sore) and we now have another 11 trays of stewed apple ready to go in the freezer.

We had a little fun guessing how many apples hubby had picked the other day and I was the closest! 163! Both cookers and eaters.

So I will leave you now with this picture of some of the rose red eating apples. Yes, they taste lovely.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mad, bad hexagons!

I've gone hexie mad...MAD being the ultimate word for how I felt last night. My beautiful hexies proved very problematic in the way I wanted to applique them on to the friendship block. So much so that I decided to machine applique them on...HUGE mistake! I hated the result had to cut of the side borders, sew new borders on and start again. Needless to say I didn't do any last night. I went to bed earlier with a book instead!

This morning after having gone for an early morning jog, I had a lovely refreshing shower, popped down the road to get the ingredients for DS2's cooking lesson today and then set to with my hexies. I made sixteen new hexies, sewed them together and then sewed them onto the block.

Much happier with the result this time. I just hope Marina will be happy with it when she gets it back. Her stitching is just so lovely it makes me very aware of my own shortcomings.

With this complete I it packaged up and sent on its way to the next Stitching Friend, Fiona in Australia (so aware that I am the only one in our group the other side of the world so have to allow time for travel!).

More hexies were cut out and I made this flower. Another 18 hexagons have been cut out and basted ready to make into more flowers. I have some ideas for these...

While out I treated myself to this quilting magazine.

Not sure if I will get it again, but it is nice to browse through to get some ideas and also has a pattern sheet for an apron I might make.

I can't believe it is nearly the end of the week already. Is it just me or are the weeks zooming past? I have such plans to be organised but the days just go by too quickly. I have to sometimes remind myself that I do some housework...even if appears like I haven't. For example, today I washed two loads of washing, hung them on the line and when dry (yes they dried on the line today!!!), folded them. The hoovering though evaded me again ;-)

Cheerio for now!