Hello all

 So, I've been doing a bit of cooking. A Blackberry and Yogurt cake. I was really pleased I found a recipe I can use my frozen blackberries in. The fruit looked really pretty in the cake - and tasted good too.

 And then a bit of batch cooking. It's amazing how far a kilo of minced beef can go. So from the top:

Chilli

Cottage pie

Spag bol

All for the freezer.

 I had a very nice trip out to the Garden Barn. It has some great things for the garden - all very reasonably priced. And they have a great coffee shop with fantastic cake. Well worth a trip out.

 And finally this is the view from our church spire. DH and I walked up the narrow, steep, spiral staircase and got a great view. It was a shame it wasn't a little clearer - but we still had a great view.

I have been sewing - but can't show you the results until next week as it's a pressie for someone...

Take care and have a great week.

Another sunny Spring day

Before I get onto my views of another sunny April English day I'll share something I've been trying to master. It's a combination of techniques learnt at Brenda Boardman's class at the Bramble Patch.
I made a calico sandwich as a practise piece. I then painted a pattern on photocopy paper with transfer paints and then, when dry, iron this onto the man made organza. As you can see I used 2 coloured pieces and a white, more opaque fabric. I cut the fabric out to shape, pinned it to the sandwich and then (tried) to free machine the pattern painted - using the lines painted as a guide it was so much easier than it being completely free - I must say I'm rather pleased with the result. You may notice if you click on the photo that I embellished the white one with a few beads just to see what it would look like (and to justify having bought them in the first place).



Now to the sunny day photos. The first one is of my cup of tea I treated myself to at Whitemoors. The gardens are really nice and there's nothing that my husband and I love more in the summer than to sit in the sunshine and have a cup of tea - and sometimes a piece of lovely cake. Next along are Dennis and Fluff enjoying the sunshine. And finally my purchases from Woodlands Garden Centre. I have tried to plant them but hadn't realised quite how hard the ground was due to lack of rain. So now I'll now have to water the garden for a few evenings to try to soften it up a bit.
Nothing much planned for the weekend.
Thanks for the comments about the blue and orange - I'm going to take the samples to quilting on Moday night and I'll let you know what they think.

Another sunny day...

Yes it's still April and it's still sunny.


Had a very nice outing to Staunton Harold today, as you can see from the photos.

I'd like to say a big thank you to all of who have sent words of encouragement to me about my blog. It's so nice to hear from you all and I hope you'll keep an eye on my site and see what I get up to. In the future I can promise loads of photos from the NEC Festival of Quilts (we're only about a thirty minute drive away - I'm lucky enough to be able to go for 2 days), details of the Quilting 5 day holiday at Quorn, updates on my classes at The Bramble Patch, details of the Market Bosworth Festival and general updates on my attempts at quilting and other 'things'. I hope you'll enjoy it.