I've been doing stuff - honest

Hello all. Hope you're all well. 

Sorry I haven't posted (again). Here are the excuses: I had a really busy week at work after my last post and then was booked on a 5 day residential course last week. So the weekend (when I should have gone to Rocheberie Schoolhouse Quilters) was spent sorting out lots of 'stuff' rather than having more fun.

But in spite of this I did manage to scan in a picture I'd found in a magazine and then print it onto Lutrador and craft vilene (as you can see below). The printer (HP Photosmart C7280 All-In-One) was an absolute dream and just took the different media and printed. I know this is how it's meant to work - but I'm sure many of you will agree how it often doesn't.

Not too sure what I'm going to do with them - but I'm sure my next class will give me lots of ideas.

Thought you might like to see Flo - in her favourite position - on our bed asleep. Can you see the tail is starting to swish - she really doen't like to have her photo taken. 

And I was so happy to come home to my copy of Selvedge. Oh it's such a delight to read and look at the pictures and the ads. The next issue is about quilts - I'm sure it'll have lots of news about the forthcoming exhibition at the V&A. I know sine the sad demise of Borders it's not as easy for everyone to get a copy of Selvedge off the shelf - I think Waterstones might be tsrting to try to fill this gap - so do try to have a look at a copy and see what you think.

Anyway - I'm off now to do all those jobs I haven't been here to do for a week. Have a great weekend.

Exciting weekend

Hello All,

I'm so glad the snow has at long last gone. We have a really big snowfall on Wednesday and I get sent home form work as they were starting to cancel the trains. Bit annoyed as I'd struggled to get in and really had to drag myself out of bed.

Well, as you can see from the photos I've been cooking again. I'm trying to reduce what we throw away and so I had to find a couple of recipes to use up some left over cranberries and some bananas that were a little over ripe. So the result is a fruity tea bread and a banana and walnut loaf. The fruit looks very moist. I've been very good, cut them in half and put them in the freezer - so at the next quilting meeting I host I can offer some very nice home baked cakes.

And the next exciting thing I've been up to is to re-join one of Bren's classes at the Bramble Patch. It was great to be back there doing this class. She is so good at setting challenges and getting you to use your brain. I hope you like the display below of the small collages we made in the afternoon. The idea was to reflect and represent the photos we'd brought in. So now I've got a nice list of things to do for homework - one of which is stocktaking the books I have related to arts and crafts.... oh that could take some time.

Take care.
'The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity'
Dorothy Parker

Snow snow and more snow

Hello again.

I thought you might like to see some views - you may notice a little snow. It just hasn't shifted at all in the last week and it's snowing again.
And here are the poor duck and geese on the frozen lake.

Luckily they seem to have a little bit of water to have a swim in.

And, of course, we had to feed them - here is DH trying to make sure they all had a bit (didn't really work - but we did try).

Hope you're all able to get out and about.

I think I'll curl up now with some hand quilting.

A belated Happy New Year

Hello all.

Hope you're all well and not struggling too much with the snow, cold and ice. It's a great excuse to sit by the fire and hand quilt - not that many of us need an excuse.

Apologies for disappearing - like many of you I was rather busy with the festive season. I must say I had a great Christmas an New Year and booked some extra leave so I only went back to work today. How nice a short week.

Well I've been thinking about what to write - so here we go:

• I must tell you about the forthcoming exhibition at the V & A - Quilts 1700 - 2010 It looks like it's going to be a great exhibition. I've also found the curators blog - well worth a look at.
• Also, as it's new year, I have been thinking about 2009 and how It went and also looking froward to 2010 and what opportunities there are. Alyson B Stanfield makes the great suggestion - 'decide what your year will look like'. Decide that each day will be a good day and that you'll be in a good mood. What a great idea. Life is certainly a lot nicer when you're having a good day. If you haven't listened to Alyson's podcast yet - please do take the time to listen as it's really useful.

And this year I've got a few things to 'assist' with my creativity.

1. I'll be attending the monthly class with Bren Boardman at The Bramble Patch
2. I've also decided to keep a 'Creativity Diary' - this is where I'll note what I do EVERY DAY that's creative - it might be reading a book, investigating submitting to a quilt to an exhibition or actually doing some quilting. LOL.
3. I'm also starting a course with the OU on Digital Photography (paid with Tesco vouchers) as I'd like to improve the skills I have in relation to my digital camera and how to use the software.

So what are you all up to this year? I'd love to hear from you.