~*~ Chickens and Roses ~*~

Margaret, one of the FQ sewing group, had another trial with her incubator. I took 6 eggs to class but we found that one was cracked. 5 were put in the incubator and Margaret made up the numbers with some free-range eggs she bought from the butchers!!

Would you believe it the "butchers" eggs hatched!!! and here they are- Verity and I are having to hand rear them cos my hens won't have anything to do with them but Margaret has done a brilliant job over the last 2 weeks and both are strong and healthy.

The children are looking after me and I am sitting with my leg elevated. I have managed to finish the "Tilda" rose. I had a first attempt with felt but the result I got was not soft and fluid enough, I am quite pleased with my 20's fabric version and Caroline,I pinched your idea of using pinking shears for the leaves.

~*~ Oops I did it again~*~

Friday night found me in the casualty department again. This time with a badly scalded left foot after the kettle, full of boiling water, tipped off the aga.It was completely my own fault, I was making a Tilda rose and had fabric in my right hand and can't have put the kettle squarely down on the trivet.

Calum was marvellous and took control and my leg was immmediately put under the cold shower.
The duty GP advised me to go to casualty and I arrived with my foot in a bucket of cold water.
Back home all bandaged, numerous packets of painkillers and feeling really foolish.
Tomorrow I have to go to the trauma unit in the RVI in Newcastle to have the heavily blistered foot redressed and assessed.

~*~ Kim's New Toy ~*~

Kim and Emma at The Fat Quarters have invested in a monstrous Gammill Longarm quilting machine and are revving up to start quilting customers quilts.

Kim has all the obligatory accessories- a wrist pincushion and a dinky apron which unfortunately she is not wearing in the photo. ( Darren give it back!)

It is a serious piece of kit and purrs along beautifully, stitching a multitude of patterns.

~*~ For My Next Trick ~*~

Don't ask me how I did it? but on Wednesday morning I slammed my left hand in the car door. Much hopping on the spot and cursing under the breath followed.For the rest of Wednesday I watched my thumb turn every colour of the rainbow, swell up and throb continuously.


Friday morning found me in A&E having my thumb "trephined", this involved a hot wire!!, X-rayed, dressed, and a course of antibiotics. My liver seems to have survived the paracetamol onslaught and my left hand is in use again.

You will be delighted to know that I didnt take any photos of the grizzly incident but I LOVE Playmobil.

~*~ Auction at the Mart ~*~

This morning dawned gloriously sunny and warm, just the weather for standing out in a field bidding for old farm machinery.

I find that quilting lends itself to other hobbies. When you have made your quilt, it needs to be displayed, I love rustic, country, & prim "stuff", so I search around for furniture, baskets, trugs, spongeware, kitchenalia and such like to help "set the scene".
My house probably looks like the set of "Steptoe & Son".

My must have at the auction was this Porters Barrow, I actually went for show-jumps for Verity but they were far, far too expensive. Billy, my farmer friend , who cut the hay has given her some and delivered them this afternoon.

Kim,the chick hatched by Margaret, is now a gangly teenager.

~*~ Quilt Show in Harrowgate ~*~

Had a jaunt down to Harrogate yesterday to the Northern Quilt Championships. The standard of work seemed high but not many were to my taste.
The Coneflower quilt was the overall winner.

The retail side of the show was very disappointing.Stalls containing "reduced to clear" fabric and cheap tat.There didn't seem to be anything new at all.People seemed to be buying it though.
Years ago I used to travel down from Berwick upon Tweed and come home with carrier bags full of fabric bundles, patterns, books, and bits and bobs, mostly bought from the wonderful "Piecemakers" of Epsom.These essential supplies would last me most of the winter months until I restocked in the spring. Luckily my local quiltshop "Fat Quarters" is up to date and has a great selection of fabric.

I left this time, after 2 hours, with 2 books and certainly did not get my money's worth,the entrance fee was a hefty £8. I will not be going back.

The weather was glorious so I went into Harrogate and had a browse around the shops, hit "Betty's" for tea and then set off home.

~*~ Back to School ~*~

Verity and Calum went back to school today, years 10 and 12 respectively.

I have just booked tickets for the musical "Mary Poppins" in London's West End.Has anyone seen it?

"Tilda" horse has turned out ok, I have made 4 or 5 small things lately and I now feel ready to start a more major project. I am having a jaunt out to Harrogate on Friday to the "Great Northern Quilt Show".I used to go faithfully every year but was disappointed the last time so stopped going.I don't need fabric,but am on the lookout for a couple of books.

Amanda (anonymous), thanks for all the comments, mum Margaret gave me your email address but I have misplaced the piece of paper. I have emailed Margaret again and will be in touch soon. Incidently we are expecting more hatchings this weekend!!

~*~ Blog Awards ~*~

Thank- you, I am delighted to accept these "blog" awards.I started on my birthday, 2 months ago and really enjoy sharing my hectic but fun day to day life with fellow "bloggers".

~*~ A Pair Of ........~*~

I go to the Fat Quarters in Blackhall Mill most Friday afternoons.We have a chat, drink tea, eat and generally be merry. As we can all multi-task! we are all creating at the same time and what an eclectic bunch we are:-
Yesterday for example:

Margaret was applying the binding to a super floral lap quilt.

Dawn was starting rotary cutting strips for a cosy flannel quilt.

Pauline was working on her seahorse quilt/wallhanging.

Jenny was putting the finishing touches to a "Tilda" mouse.

Kim and Wendy were upgrading an embroidery programme on Wendy's sewing machine.
and moi...
I was making pears !!!

The flannell is for a horse {what else ???}
Incidently the sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that I do all of my sewing and take most of my photos at the kitchen table in front of the aga.

~*~ Anyone For Tea ? ~*~

I love quirky knits etc, I have shared my crocheted cakes in previous posts.
Last week I bought a copy of "Homespun" magazine from the "Fat Quarters", mainly because Leanne Beasley's fete project was included. At home, browsing through more thoroughly, I came upon an article by US designer Betz White, she makes gorgeous articles with felted wool

My "Cup of Jo" arrived a week later from the US, isn't is beautiful!!!!

~*~ Elm Creek Quilts ~*~

Back in June, Leanne Beasley had a competition on her blog and the prize was an Elm Creek Quilt novel. Unfortunately I didn't win but I was intrigued enough to buy the "sampler" which contained the first 3 novels.
I thought they might be very sugary and expected not to enjoy them but guess what? I Loved them !!!. I finished book 10 "The Quilters Homecoming" a couple of weeks ago and can't wait till the end of November till the latest comes out. So all you quilters out there, if you haven't read about Elm Creek, give them a go.

Another lovely picture of Wendy too............

Had a bit of a spend on clothes today as the autumn clothes hit "Fat Face " today.

~*~ Funky Flannel Teddy ~*~

Had quite a creative day yesterday, made the dachshund and then while I was on a roll I made a "Tilda" teddy. One of my fave blogs is Melly and Me, and I love all the "softies" they create in funky fabric.I bought a metre of this flannel at the Fat Quarters recently and thought it would make a cuddly teddy for someone.



Dusted and tidied my plate rack this morning

~*~ Happy 19th Birthday Alex ~*~

Alex, my eldest boy is 19 years old today. Where have the years gone?

~*~ While the sun shines ~*~

It was dark by the time Billy & Co finished the hay baling last night. Over 60 bales were cut from the field. The place looks much tidier and Verity has more space to put Vara through her paces.

~*~ Sew Pretty Wendy ~*~

Finished this doggy this morning, pattern is in the new "Sew Pretty Homestyle" by Tilda.

Tilda has a dachshund too, called Toto.

~*~ Verity and Vara ~*~

Click the video to activate the clip. In this short video, Verity is riding Vara over her new set of Polyjump showjumps.

~*~ Calum's GCSE success ~*~

Congratulations and Well Done Calum on your GCSE results.

~*~Haymaking ~*~

Billy has started cutting the hay in the 7 acre field. Everything is very late this year due to all the rain. It is quite an involved process: cutting, spreading out, turning, turning again, baling and then storing. If the weather is decent for the next few days, we should get the job done.

~*~ Quilters Block ~*~

The whole family was on tenterhooks this week until Alex got his A'Level results on Thursday.
He telephoned me at work and I didn't come down off the ceiling for the rest of the day.
I discovered a lovely blog last week, Knotgarden, and have had great fun browsing through her old posts, check her out, she makes beautiful quilts. She also had a list of her favourite books, many of which I had myself, but I had not seen "Small Quilts with Vintage Charm" by Jo Morton. I decided to take a risk and ordered it sight unseen frow Amazon. I was not disappointed, 8 gorgeous but manageable quilts. I have now so many projects I want to do that I don't know where to start and so I am dithering about doing nothing.

When, or if, you finish a quilt you then have to decide where to display or hang it, I am always on the look out for "props" and today I found this vintage trug which will look gorgeous filled with "bits" and sitting on top of a prim quilt.
Julie also gave me the silver thimble which belonged to her mum, Joan, thank you Julie.

P.S If you are reading this at your Dad's house Verity, do feel free to fiddle around with the grammer, layout etc. as you usually do !!! LOL xxx.

~*~ Manchester 2008 ~*~

Congratulations and Very Well Done to my eldest son Alex who passed his 3 A'Levels and secured his university place at Manchester to study History and Sociology.
He worked very hard and thoroughly deserves his success.I am sooo proud.