Saturday 31 March 2012

I'm Fortunate

We have just had an absolutely beautiful weeks holiday in Scotland - there is no better place on earth to be when the weather is good.
This past week has seen the highest March temperature in Scotland since time records began. We were in Perthshire and had a great week of walking and golf (well the walk around the golf course was good... the play wasn't)
Really loved the opportunity to spend time watching Mother Nature putting her Spring coat on.  We spent 4 hours in a RSPB centre bird watching.... sadly we just missed the first Osprey of the season but were entertained by a hungry Red Squirrel. Lovely little thing... reminded me of Tufty the road safety squirrel... thats not from my childhood.. I used to work in Road Safety.


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Monday 19 March 2012

Sunday Sewing

A lazy Sunday... A lovely day at home after a pretty busy week and time to sew...
Today I've been trimming Ruby's quilt, sewing in ends ready to put the binding on.. I haven't sorted the binding fabric yet. Then finished adding borders to a Jelly Roll quilt I am teaching a class on. And I made an iPad case for my brother in law... He is a hairdresser and I had some great scissor fabric to hand... From Half Moon Modern by Moda...

Saturday 17 March 2012

Off to the smoke

Had a fabulous day out on Thursday ... Ventured up to London on some special offer tickets that were bought weeks ago.... How lucky were we that the weather was lovely...
London is wonderful for people watching, it has such a massive mix of weird, individual, stylish or just plain daft people..
First up when we reached Oxford Circus was the sight of tents on the pavement..... I thought they had moved there from St Paul's.... But these were outside Niketown and the queue was for a pair of Nike Air Foamposite Galaxy trainers.... Particularly ugly if you ask me....
Further on up the street another camp was outside the Apple store.... Far more understandable, this queue was for the iPad 3 .... But you still wouldn't tempt me from my bed just to be the first with a new product....



 
We were off to see the David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy... Still had to queue but then we fast tracked by joining and it will make us go back for the Summer Exhibition and more..
The exhibition was stunning... The pieces he had created for this venue were huge and we drowned in colour.. He has a very simplistic style but in the main his work is colourful and happy.... And his paintings on an iPad are wonderful, especially when you think that he has to take in the changes in scale when the picture is enlarged... Very clever and very much worth a visit if you can get there before Easter Monday.
Our £5 each way tickets were great value especially as both of our trains were on time....

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Ruby

The world was joined by another little miracle last week. Ruby made her slightly late arrival into the world, a cherished daughter for our friends. I have had her quilt top made for a few weeks. Which is pretty good going for me... I am Mrs Last-Minute.... via Mrs Procrastinator - I like to think its because I work best under pressure of a deadline.


So today while I should have started to do the quilting.... I decided to make a Ruby Rabbit..... all because of a new book that plopped on my mat recently... 123 Sew by Ellen Luckett Baker. Quite simple projects that help you build skills as you progress through the home based projects. 
There is a sweet section on items for little people and the softies took my fancy - I started off with a little mouse pincushion.... I called him Mortimer but he was abducted by one of my workmates. Sadly I don't have photographic evidence.... perhaps if I get a ransom note I could ask for proof that he is still alive and hasn't been murdered  eaten by her dog...


So I made sure to take pictures of Ruby.... here she is as a mystery bundle.....


And here she is all finished.... She is made from brushed cotton and is lovely and soft.


But I had a slight problem..... just as I was sewing up the opening after stuffing... I pricked my finger..... Blood everywhere... argh..!! All over Ruby's back.....
Never fear.... I have a trick up my sleeve..... Did you know that if you 'spill blood' on fabric the only think to do is spit!! Well I do that anyway in that sort of situation but literally you spit on the fabric to wet the blood and blot it away with a piece of clean soft fabric - only your own spit will work on your own blood. 


This tip is highly popular with small boys..!!


So Ruby got spat on... it cleaned up well but I don't fancy giving her away when she has been spat on... I know worse things will happen to her when owned by a baby but I have standards.....
So I decided to use her as a prototype..... there were improvements and tweaks I would make for future Rubys - so she's staying with me - for now.






Monday 12 March 2012

Hello World....

I think I have started quite a few blogs but have never got to the 'posting' stage... well here we go.....

A quick 'overview' of me and my life...
Mother of 2 wonderful boys who have brought 2 lovely 'daughters' into our family. Wife of 32 years to my gorgeous husband, who spoils me rotten... I know it and appreciate how lucky I am.
My 2 main hobbies/passions are Quilting and Golf... sadly I can't do them at the same time but they both give me the opportunity for a 3rd love... Travel..
I currently work for a local quilt shop and love the opportunity to teach workshops on all types of quilt projects..... a jack of all trades.

So what am I going to do on here? Hopefully it will help me focus... I am a bit of a Butterfly and always have way too many projects on the go.... If I make it public then maybe I will have to get things finished and posted.

So forgive me a few 'wobbly' posts as I get started and find my way around blogland....  I have followed lots of blogs over the years and have wanted to join in for ages.... I have a son who is a web designer and have made numerous pleas... but you know how the saying goes...." The cobbler's children are always the worst shod.." well thats me.....
So I'm going it alone......