Monthly Archives: June 2014

Day on Quilt Retreat!

Jayne and I have had a great day on our Quilt Retreat, although I didn’t realise how tiring it is to teach! Jayne was an excellent pupil and loved making the block and I even got her to quilt it and start the binding, she has taken it home to finish. We had tea and some of my Birthday cake this morning and we then started on the Log Cabin Block but on scrap pieces from my stash, not the nice material I had bought her for her Birthday.

Here is Jayne working on her block

Starting to quilt the block.

Jayne also said how tired she was after concentrating all day! She is now going to go home and practice some more on some scrap fabric before cutting the fabric I bought her! Our next trip will be to my favourite quilt shop!

I just hope Jayne’s husband, Steve, doesn’t know how much this wonderful hobby of ours is going to take over the house and finances!!!!!

Have a Wonderful Quilty Weekend. I am going to be busy cutting the Picnic quilt out and trying to finish the four other quilt tops sitting on the side! The Boys and DH are having a “Boys” Weekend away but more on that next week.

Susie x

Quilting Retreat In A Day!

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This is the weather forecast for tomorrow, I knew it was too good to last this lovely warm weather we have been having. However it won’t matter tomorrow as I am going on Quilt Retreat for a Day and teaching my good friend, Jayne, how to quilt!

Quilt games and puzzles.

This, of course, may be the blind leading the blind! But Jayne is willing to have a go! I haven’t been quilting too long but do know the basics so we will start there.

Jayne’s Birthday is eight days before mine and for the past few years I have made her quilty things for her Birthday and she has said for a while that she would like to learn to quilt, so this year, for her Birthday, I gave her some material, a book on the basics and an invitation to my home for her to come and have a go at cutting and sewing a block. I decided to do the Log Cabin Block as it makes sense to me and it also grows quickly and looks good (I also made her a log cabin pin cushion!). It also doesn’t have any points! Points need to be mastered and I am still having issues occasionally!!!!!

This was Jayne’s present last year.

So Eldest is taking Youngest to school for me tomorrow and Jayne is coming round after she has taken her Youngest to school and we can start. I have also said, for her Birthday treat, that we will be having drinks and cakes in the morning followed by lunch! A perfect Friday!

Whilst Jayne is busy with her blocks, I am aiming to cut out the pattern for the Picnic Quilt by Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy so I can make a start on sewing that, as one of her test quilters.

I think it is going to be a great Quilty Day!

Happy Thursday

Susie x

A Flat Rainbow!

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Youngest has just been outside playing with Treacle and looked up and directly above our home and garden was this! A Flat Rainbow! However it is not that at all but actually called a Circumhorizontal Arc. Here is a detailed description of it :

“A circumhorizontal arc is an optical phenomenon – an ice-halo formed by plate-shaped ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds.

Other currently accepted names for the phenomenon are circumhorizon arc or lower symmetric 46° plate arc.The misleading term “fire rainbow” is sometimes used to describe these phenomena, although they are neither rainbows, nor related in any way to fire. The name comes from its appearance as a rainbow taking the shape of flames in the sky.

The complete halo is a huge, multi-coloured band running parallel to the horizon with its centre beneath the sun. The distance below the sun is twice as far as the common 22-degree halo. Red is the uppermost colour. Often, when the halo-forming cloud is small or patchy, only fragments of the arc are seen.

How often a circumhorizontal arc is seen, depends on the location and the latitude of the observer. In the United States it is a relatively common halo seen several times each summer in any one place. In contrast, it is rare phenomenon in northern Europe for several reasons.

Formation of the halo requires that the sun be very high in the sky, at an elevation of 58° or greater, and that a cirrus cloud or haze be present and contain plate-shaped ice crystals. The sun’s altitude determines the visibility of the halo; it is impossible to see at locations north of 55°N or south of 55°S (although a lunar circumhorizon arc might be visible at other latitudes). At other latitudes the phenomenon is visible, for a greater or lesser time, around the summer solstice. Slots of visibility for different latitudes and locations may be looked up here. For example, in London, England the sun is only high enough for 140 hours between mid-May and late July. Contrast that with Los Angeles, with the sun higher than 58 degrees for 670 hours between late March and late September.” (Copy from Wikipedia)

Closer pictures of the arc.

It only lasted for a few minutes and then was covered by more cloud, but as it says in the above information very rare over here in the UK. I feel very honoured to have seen it. It also makes me think of God smiling down on us.

Susie x

Wednesday Wag!

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Wimbledon

I am starting to feel better after my few weeks of being poorly and I have been banned from jumping up to reach the kitchen cabinets!!! I just can’t help myself when butter is around!!!!!

Whilst I have been recuperating I have been watching all those marvelous tennis balls fly around the television screen and Moms says it is because Wimbledon is on, whatever that is. If only I could get my paws on the tennis balls!

Wimbledon running out of balls with 50 being pilfered a day by spectators

I have been enjoying the warm sunshine over the last few days outside although Mom says my coat is getting into a right state and she will need to give me a good brush at the weekend as next Monday is the Dog Show for the Village Carnival and I am entered!

This is my football which I play with outside and run in and out of the bushes with it, which is why my coat is messy!

This is my favourite plant of Mom’s at the moment, lavender, it smells really nice and I keep sticking my nose in it! Mom says that if I keep doing it there won’t be any lavender flowers left!!!!!

I hope your Wednesday is going well. After my post I am going to lie down in the grass and have a snooze.

Woof, Treacle

A Lovely Birthday!

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I had a lovely Birthday, despite the 50!!!! I want to thank everyone who sent me lovely emails, especially the ones who agreed with my view of that big number, they made me laugh.

This is the cake which Girlfriend made me, isn’t it wonderful! Despite doing French at Uni I think she will be going into the cake making industry, it tastes as good as it looks.

On Friday evening we all went out to dinner at Mans Chinese Restaurant in Nottingham. We have all been before and the food is great. Saturday morning I was woken to be told that I had half an hour to shower and wash my hair as my hairdresser, Rachael, was coming to the house to do my hair!

I was then told to pack as we were going down to London for the evening for dinner and to see The English National Ballet Company perform Romeo & Juliet In The Round at The Royal Albert Hall.

It is a wonderful venue and the performance was amazing, I had a great evening. We stayed at The Royal Garden Hotel. DH has stayed here in the past for business and it is a lovely hotel and just next door to Kensington Palace. We had travelled down by train with no delays amazingly!

It was a lovely Birthday and with love and thanks to DH, Eldest and Youngest for making it a Birthday to remember.

Hugs, Susie x

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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This is what today is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to spend the day in bed with the covers over my head ignoring it, but DH and The Boys have dragged me out and made me face it!!!!!!!!

To be honest I have never liked turning the “0”, except perhaps when I was 20, as you were no longer a teenager!! 30 was not good but then at 31 I had Eldest and by 35 I had Youngest, so that was great. 40 seemed even worse, that was old, middle aged you know all the cliches!!

Well 50 is just not possible!!!! Sorry its a mistake, I am really only 25. Well that’s how I feel anyway.

Have a lovely weekend everyone. I am going back to bed to hide now!

Susie x

I Get To Be A Test Subject!

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Mary has the Schedule for our PICNIC hop...

For any of you who follow my Blog or other Quilty Blogs you will know of the wonderful Madame Samm who comes up with great ideas for Quilty Blog Hops. I have participated in quite a few and love doing them and of course visiting all the other ladies taking part.

Over the last few months it has been really busy with us and so I have not felt able to take part, but I have, when they have been on, visited the various hops. The last one before the summer by Madame Samm and Mary from I Piece 2 Mary was the above “A Perfect Picnic Blog Hop“. I duly Hopped over to all the ladies taking part and not only did they have to create a picnic quilt but go on the actual picnic and take pictures and tell us about where they went! Each day was fascinating to see all the wonderful quilts and the various places the ladies had chosen to have their picnics.
One of my favourite cartoons when I was little was Yogi Bear, Boo Boo and their Pic-a-nic baskets!

Of course I wanted to make every one of the quilts I saw, but one in particular I was really envious of was Amy’s at Sew Incredibly Crazy (http://sewincrediblycrazy.blogspot.co.uk/). In my comment on Amy’s post I asked if she was going to do a Tutorial for it, as I would love to make it if she did. Anyhoo she contacted me after the Hop and asked whether I would be a Test Quilter as she was going to do her Picnic Quilt as a pattern and wanted people to try it out! I was so pleased, as no one has asked me to do this before but I did say that I haven’t been quilting for too long and wanted to do justice to her quilt.

Silly person that she is said that she didn’t mind at all and would I still like to do it. Would I? Yes Please!!!!!!! So she has sent me the pattern and I am going to start next week getting it prepared and hopefully done quickly so Amy will be able to see if her pattern worked (keep you fingers crossed that I won’t make any huge mistakes!!!!)

This is Amy’s Picnic Quilt – Isn’t it great? Amy did say that I didn’t have to use the same fabrics, which is a good thing as we can’t always get the same fabrics over here in the UK, it just depends if my local Quilt Shop is carrying any of the Riley Blake fabrics. So I will be looking through my stash this weekend and doing some planning.

I will try and post at each stage to show you how I am getting on. Also a Big Thank You to Amy for trusting me with her first pattern!!!!! I hope I do you proud.

I hope your Thursday has been a lovely sunny summers day. It hasn’t been too bad here, its warm but not as sunny. Treacle is feeling a lot better today and almost back to her usual bouncy self. I, however, feel like a wet dish rag!!!! I have had quite a few late nights trying to catch up on work, ironing, house jobs! Tonight I am determined to be in bed early with my book and a lovely cup of tea.

Hugs, Susie x

Quilt Club

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Well Youngest is fine this morning, but I did manage to get him into bed by 9.00pm so he has had a good night’s sleep. Treacle is still moping about so I have banned her from Wednesday Wag today and told her she has to rest!

I did manage to get to Quilt Club on Monday and it was great to go. After a very short show and tell of two ladies (unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures) we had a lesson on 3-D quilting. Something I realised I had seen on quilts but not appreciated as being 3-D.

Picture from Delaware Quilts (http://delawarequilts.com/) This site is brilliant if you need help with a block. My block sort of looked like this after I had finished but we did not have any irons on to press them. But I think once you get the hang of it, they could be quick to make.

Finished 3D Flying Geese quilt block 3-D Flying Geese was the other block we got to have a go at. This picture is from http://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com where there is a tutorial of how to make them. Mine turned out really well and I think this would be a great project for your scrap bin. There are lots of You Tube tutorials as well, if you are a visual learner.

It was great to do something creative without the phone, children or dog interrupting!!!!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday.

Hugs, Susie x

Poorly Sick People!

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It always happens as we all start to get busy and towards the end of Term, people start getting poorly sick! This is Treacle today!

She was at the Vets this morning as she had been sick again and looked extremely sorry for herself! The Vet thinks she has eaten something (!) which was probably dead (!) and it has made her throat sore and upset her stomach (!) so we are all suffering the consequences!!!! So after two injections we came home. She refused her breakfast so she has been confined to just fresh, clean water and not the water in the bird bath (!)

I had to go out for a couple of hours this morning after we got back from the Vets and Eldest was busy revising for his last exam tomorrow, when I received a frantic call from him “Treacle’s been ill and it is everywhere” (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Can you come home? (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Got home to find that although we have over a 1000 square feet of tile she was ill on the sitting room carpet (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Needless to say Eldest and I looked like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid going in to clear up (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I honestly don’t know if my carpet is going to survive! DH said he will have a go tonight at cleaning it again!!!!!!!!

Youngest then came home from school and said he doesn’t feel well! However I think this is tiredness having done so much at the Weekend! So he has missed his last math’s lesson before the summer, although I don’t think he is too worried but he will be missing swimming tonight which he is bothered about. Oh well never mind.

I have a huge basket of ironing to do tonight and then tomorrow I am going to help my friend with some more of her files but that will be it for this week as she is really busy.

I hope you are all well and think of me in our sick house!!!!

Hugs, Susie x

Monday Again?!!!!!

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This is what my desk has looked like over the past week! It has been crazy busy here and then I said I would help a friend, who also works from home, to move from her home office to a proper officer with a door!!!! She is a solicitor and has a lot of files which need archiving rather than moving them to the new office, but there is also a lot of paperwork too!!!!! I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with her last week and Monday and Friday trying to catch up on my work!!!! I have got to do the same this week, but hopefully clear it by then.

A couple of weeks ago Eldest took his car up to Preston for a VW Show and his car was in it (the silver one in the left hand picture) DH and Youngest also went up too and had a great day walking round, although it was cold!

We have also had a lot of rain and storms over the last week and the rain was coming down so fast that it was bouncing back off the patio! Here is Treacle having been out last thing and got soaked. She is going to apply for the job of Mary in the Christmas Nativity this year!

A sunnier picture of the garden and my nice new patio and steps! They look new don’t they but this is the result of Eldest and the pressure washer he bought for Dad, which I think Dad has used twice!!!!! However he did a brilliant job on the patio and it really does look like new.

This is what it looked like before!

We are gearing up in the village for the Carnival Week which begins on Sunday June 29th and swimming is really busy too. I had just finished my work the other day and had done all the house jobs and grocery shopping and decided I needed a long overdue cup of tea! It was a really sunny summer’s day and so I took my drink out to our bench just outside our back door into the garden. It was really quiet out there, no traffic noise, no children noise just the birds singing and it was bliss. This is what the sky looked like

It restored me just looking at that!

Treacle was on patrol of course!

Tonight is Quilt Club, which I have not been to in ages due to conflicting events with The Boys, tonight would have been the same as DH and Eldest were due to go to a meeting for Carnival and then Youngest piped up he wanted to do the 5K run in the next village, whose Carnival is this week! But DH has said he can miss the meeting and take Youngest and stay there so I can go to Quilt Club! Although I have not finished anything for show and tell!!! Love you DH!

He had a great day yesterday for Father’s Day! Eldest got him a couple DVD’s of films we missed at the cinema; “Last Vegas”- really funny and The “Monuments Men” which we haven’t watched yet. Youngest got him a Toblerone, his favourite chocolate. We didn’t get up too early and had a lazy day really and I cooked his favourite Sunday dinner in the evening, Roast Beef and all the trimmings.

We are really enjoying the warmer weather over the last couple of weeks, even if we have had some cracking thunder storms. Today is cooler and not as sunny but still warm.

Treacle is in lazy mode today! She was sick yesterday for no good reason but it hasn’t stopped her! She is quite happy at this minute on her back with all four feet in the air snoring!!!!

I hope you all have a good week and I will get back to posting every day. I do miss it. I love all your lovely comments and connecting with everyone. Have a Marvelous Monday.

Susie x