The Winner of my Grow Your Blog giveaway

Hi ladies

I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Vicki's Grow Your Blog party, I have met many new friends and have increased my followers. The bonus is I have so many new blogs to read, it has been fun and I haven't finished visiting them all yet.

A huge thanks to Vicki for organising the party and her helpers who gave their time in making sure we got it right :)

I put 86 in the generator because I had replied twice and Tammy posted a PS.

I've used the random number generator and the number chosen is........drum roll.......................................

No 35  Thea http://gizzimomosstitchyplace.blogspot.co.uk/  so if you send me your address I can get your winning present to you.

Thank you to everyone who took part it's been a pleasure looking through your blogs

Keep safe and enjoy your weekend

Peg x

Is the half term holiday off?

No not mine, poor Mr B's, every year at half term he joins 10-14 of his climbing friends from all over Britain. They hire a beautiful cottage in Glen Co and hope the snow has compacted to ice so they can do their ice climbing. It's quite amusing, over the years they've spent their week in a rough and ready 'hut', a small cottage where it's first ones to arrive get a bed the others bunk down on the floor. Now they're all over 55 and going for the comfort factor :) this particular cottage has enough rooms, utility/drying room, 2 sitting rooms, large kitchen, it's not cheap at almost £700 but shared between all of them it isn't much.

The problem is my poor Mr B has a chest infection that is making him feel pretty rough, they sent him home from work yesterday morning. It's pretty much expected he'll be on antibiotics before the end of the week. I'm keeping everything crossed for him he really deserves this break, it's been a tough few months for him too.

I really enjoyed our main meal today, I don't eat fish much at all but decided to give it a go for once. I used cod fillets from Farm foods, not expecting them to have much taste. In all fairness it was delicious, I poached it in a small amount of milk, this is what I made for Mr B to accompany his. I really wanted to use tinned chopped toms but they're in the store cupboard and I can't reach them, Mr B was having a sleep.
I chopped up
3 medium fresh tomatoes
2 cloves Garlic
1/2 Courgette
1/2 Onion
8 Black olives
2tsps Capers
Tsp Parsley
Olive oil for cooking
Salt, pepper
Tomato purée
Boiled spuds
Spinach
Home made parsley sauce












Mine was minus the tomato concoction I don't like capers of black olives, I had the spuds, a small piece of fish and spinach and really enjoyed it. Everything was from the fridge, freezer and cupboard and it cost very little.

There was a good sized piece of fish left over so I put that in the bottom of this dish, put the remainder of the tomato mix on top, a layer of grated cheese and topped with the remaining mashed potatoes. That's in the freezer for another day, he'll perhaps enjoy it with a green salad and roasted peppers the long red ones I can't remember their name.


There was also 2 loaves made in the bread maker today, 1 white & 1 wholemeal mmm delicious.



We got up to it snowing this morning, it was very cold and wet so it didn't settle and the promised sunshine came through at lunch time for a couple of hrs.

I managed to do a little sewing today, I have a lot of blocks made up and left over from making this top.



The blocks are 9"sq so I used 5 across and 6 down I'll add a border, it will make a nice sized lap quilt, I'm hoping to get the border on tomorrow. I really love these autumnal colours and may just make a few patchwork cushion covers. I had my first dabble at FMQ yesterday on a small amount of fabric I thought I may just have a go on a cushion cover. I'll let you know whether its success or disaster lol. The quilting will be simple 'doodling, I'm not being modest honestly when my family were in the artistic queue I didn't quite get my full quota like Dad and sisters! I make matchstick men un identifiable :).

Take care

Peg x



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We're back to the cold, windy and very wet weather.

Hello lovely visitors, thank you for popping in despite being so busy. Continuing on from the Grow Your Blog party I've met so many lovely new blogging crafting friends. I'm really enjoying the party and a big thank you to Vicki for hosting it. Don't forget to leave a comment if you'd like to take part in my give away, there's no pressure to become a follower to take part.

It's been a bit of a busy week both on the health and crafting front, I am having tension problems again with Betsy I checked my invoice from the repair shop and according to them the machine was serviced and repaired with :
clean out hook and race
remove damage from driver
reset all timings and tension units
reassemble and lubricate

new parts:
shuttle driver/stitch cushioner

She was having a hissy fit after one seam was sewn, Heather very kindly had a look at her, but she went curly underneath threads again. Mr B suggested the obvious, why not contact the shop who carried out the repairs it was only a month ago and I haven't been sewing on her. I did and all credit to them they replied straight away and asked me to take it into the shop and they'll have a look at it for me.
These machines were the rolls royce of machines and I don't want to not use her so I need to get it sorted.

My freezer is nicely stocked with cooked chicken and chicken stock, the first lot nicely cooked now to strip and use the bones to make stock.

All the chickens yeilded 6 1/2 pts of stock, I also cooked some apricots I'd bought tinned, Co-op's own brand, they weren't very nice very sour and hard so I poached them and later add some crumble mix we had in the freezer baked it and topped with home made custard delicious.

Mr B made the first course Aubergine stack with ham, green salad and new potatoes that he had grown in tubs which we froze when harvested. Well Mr B had spuds I didn't not with having a dessert afterwards.

I managed to cut some of these and am in the process of making 4 patches using Lori's method at http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.co.uk/
 Sorry for the dark photo I took them on my iphone.

 After sewing 2 sq's together down both sides cut down the middle.

I still have more to do of these.

I have a few quilt tops to back but am suffering some unpleasant side effects from the Letrozole so am doing things when I have the energy and when the joint pain is at it's lowest. I didn't think the latter would affect me much already having arthritis, joints replaced but it has and it's not pleasant. I'm not complaining there are a lot worse off than me.

Well that's all for today, I've been popping into some of the blogs on the list for GYB still many to go but I'm enjoying meeting new people and seeing what they're about.

Thanks for popping in

Peg x

Catch Up Saturday

We've had sunshine today yeahhhhhh, after 4 solid days of torrential rain, it tried to rain earlier but the sunshine came back. Thankfully we haven't been subjected to the awful flooding some people have.

Why not pop on over to Lily's Quilts here  and showcase what you've been working on and visit others to see their creations.

Still on enforced rest I've not got a lot of quilting done  but have managed some. I've been able to finish off some socks I had on my needles,

I  made a new bed for the munchkins who are now not happy there isn't room on it for all of them so need to make a couple more. Nemo won first dibs lol

I managed to get another row added to this quilt which is now ready for the border and backing.

I love the autumnal colours in this

I treated myself this week to this little treasure,

 I need to bite the bullet and get some FMQ under my belt. I've started reading it and I'm enjoying it no complicated destructions as my grandson used to say :) Now it's time to dive in.

I've met some lovely new friends through Vicki's Grow Your Blog party and hope to do the same with this sharing. I love reading about the amazing talent out there.

Enjoy your weekend

Peg x

I'm linking with lily quilts

Grow your blog and a give away!

Hi
 my name is Peg and I am married to the wonderful Mr B, we have 3 grown offspring, 8 grandchildren and share our home with 4 Shih Tzus and 4 Lhasa Apso's, all rescue dogs. Along with my crafting I am one of the directors of a small rescue for small dogs. I am taking time out at the moment due to ill health.
This is my daughter and I on a girly weekend at our holiday home and a very young me knitting :)

The ever patient Mr B on a break from work with 4 of our munchkins.

I have been blogging since about 2005 and although I've gone through barren patches when I've not posted due to the demands of having a family and running a rescue I have thoroughly enjoyed my blogging experience.
I absolutely love making these

I have only been quilting for a few years, I've always enjoyed sewing and began in earnest when I was about 13yrs old. I was the 4th daughter in a family of 5 daughters, the sewing bug grew in all of us apart from the youngest. My Mother was a very accomplished sewer, curtains, cushion covers, clothes were always homemade and lasted a lot longer than shop bought. I did the same with my own children making theirs and my own clothes unless it was something that I definitely couldn't make. Quilting came about after I had taken part in a xstitch stitchalong I chose small samplers from the designer Lizzie Kate. When the samplers all returned to me I decided to make them into a wall hanging which included quilt blocks and borders

 I liked my wall hanging so much I decided to make this Prairie Schooler Autumn sampler into one also.

I love cross stitching also this is a sampler I made for a friends anniversary 

My lounge walls are covered with samplers which were my favourites to stitch but I also love to stitch the Mirabillia and Lavender & Lace beautiful fairies.

Mid summer nights Fairy

LL Celtic Noel

and I enjoy making these

I have rather a lot of stash for cross stitching, knitting/crochet and of course my quilting, some ladies collect shoes I collect stash :)

Why do I like blogging, well I enjoy talking to people, I enjoy spending time on my computer, I have learnt so much from fellow bloggers who have shared their talents in tutorials both on their blogs and through You Tube. Yes I've had the odd spammer but I just press the delete button and they're gone!

I have to be honest and say I've met some pretty awesome people out there in blogger land, I have had so much support and encouragement from them and have been able to give it back. They make me laugh, they make me cry when they're going through tough times, they inspire me and I am so glad I've come to know them.

To say a huge thank you for visiting my blog I am having my first GIVE AWAY

it is open to all bloggers new, old. Included in the give away is a  copy of Mollie Makes magazine, a pack of 15 new 18" x 6" pieces of Shirting all pressed and ready to cut out plus a pack of 2 Needle Grabbers for the hand quilters amongst us. All you need to do is leave a comment here on my blog saying you'd like to be included in the drawer. I will leave this open until February 15th to allow everyone the chance to be involved, all names will be put in the hat and then the winner picked out.

MY GIVE AWAY

I am so looking forward to visiting the blogs in my group and getting to know new friends, I hope you have enjoyed your visit and enjoy the blog party arranged by the lovely Vikki at 2bagsfull.blogspot.co.uk

Take care and enjoy your weekend wherever you are.

Peg xx

What a variation.

The day started out with the ground covered in a very cold white all over frost, visibility was down to a few yards due to a thick icy fog. By lunchtime the sun was showing her face and the temperature had risen. I even tried a few items of clothing on the line but they weren't impressed and asked if they could please have 1/2hr or so in the warm tumble dryer and promised to be quick. I gave in and credit to them they were dry under the 1/2hr time, folded and put away.
Later in the afternoon the weather decided we needed a smidgen of rain, for all of 2 mins, if you blinked you missed it! The other day it was extremely cold Mr B only works three days now he starts at 6am comes home at 9.30 am then goes back at 2.30 until 6pm. Some of the munchkins had been sleeping on his chair because its near the radiator and I sit well away from it lol.
He came in, removed them and sat down to drink his cuppa, this is what happened the other 4 decided to stay with me lol.



I have actually done a little bit of sewing, paper piecing without the papers using Heathers tutorial which you will find here at www.itssewthisnthat.co.uk


There are still quite a few to do as you can see by the pile on the bottom right of the photo, once these are added to those already sew together then the top will be ready for sandwiching and quilting. All the hexi's are handstitched so it's not a rush job but the colours are so pretty. The part sewn top and remaining fabric was for sale quite cheaply a few years ago on ebay, I was a complete novice then thinking ooh I'd love to complete it. I must admit I can't hand sew for long at the moment so it's not going to be finished in just a few days. It is an ideal project though as a change from crochet when Mr B enforces the hospitals rules about resting.
I'm not really sure yet what pattern the original quilter was aiming for as its a bit higgledy piddly. I need to lay it out on my bed I think to see if I can work out what her thoughts of pattern were. Whoever she was she has put a lot of patience and many hours sewing them together. She used newspaper to piece the others and I'm hoping when I take these out there'll be at least one piece with the date on. If I remember right it was the sellers Mum who'd passed away.
I have another one which is hand sewn but that's in diamonds and darker fabrics all cut from clothing worn by family members.

I was looking through some boxes the other day and found some socks I've knitted so will post about those tomorrow.

Well its 3am and I've got a hospital appointment tomorrow, or later today so I'd better try and get some sleep.

Take care

Hugs

Peg xx





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Another week gone

Gosh I don't know whether it's because I'm getting older or the world is moving quicker. Last Friday only seems a couple of days ago.

I haven't been very active this week, I've felt fluey but no cold or cough developed so I've been catching up reading blogs I like to visit.
Nothing better when you're feeling under the weather, home made Potato and Leek soup with home made bread.

I love making my own bread, so much better for you, the only downside is it gets eaten so quickly :) Since my op I've not been able to carry on doing it, we don't like shop bread very much so Mr B took over the mantle. He's not very fond of making it by hand. We have bought bread making machines but tbh I don't like the taste and it goes dry to quickly. However just before Christmas Mr B treated himself to this baby below. She's the Panasonic SD 2501, we waited eagerly for the first loaf to be baked wondering if we'd made the same mistake as before. The timer pinged and she was finished baking, friends I have to say this bread machine is absolutely great and well worth the money!!!! With the other machines you had to add milk powder and butter to the mix with this one you use only water for liquid and butter but it tastes just as good as a hand made loaf. We're very pleased with it and we would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of getting a bread machine.

 

We don't like using supermarket flour for bread so when we're ready for stocking up on this  

We head off to Cauldwell Mill near Bakewell in the Peak District, not far from where we live, the mill is the original one that has been there for over 600 yrs. you can find details and what is also there if you click here
More photos,
the shop from the doorway

the car park

Mr B just leaving the shop

Well worth a visit if you're ever in the area, their granary flour is wonderful also, no additives!
One more thing before I go:

I recently mentioned Heather Bradley a lovely lady who I exchanged machines with, please do click on her name and go visiting. She has a couple of recent great tutorials on there, Heather is a registered Craft Teacher and I wish her the very best in the future. She's one very clever lady and available for teaching. Below is a beautiful bag she made for her daughter to keep her PE kit in. I love it!

Enjoy your weekend

hugs 

Peg xx

A New Badge

Hi Ladies

If you look to your right to my side bar you will see a new badge, this is an invitation to an on line blog  'party'. The party starts on January 25th but for now if you click on the beautiful badge created by Karen Valentine especially for this party you will be able to read all about it. Today is the cut off date for signing up but in USA time not UK.

Our weather has sadly gone back to dull, wet day again which means using the tumble dryer but this being outside means popping on a coat and boots. It's not as cold though so that's a bonus a new neighbour has decided to have the hedge around his front garden cut really low, they were at 7'. The shredder machine has been going none stop since 8.45am this morning, not a pleasant noise!

Wherever you are and whatever you're doing enjoy your day.

Hugs
Peg x

Brrr it's a chilly day today.

A day to sit by the fire, or in Mr B's case by the radiator, :) All the munchkins are clipped down as you can see in a previous post so they're feeling the chill too. I brought a quilt down earlier to put over my legs, I foolishly moved and when I came back I had lost my place and my quilt!

A short time ago I found, curtesy of Wilkinsons and Morrisons some really pretty cups,
from :Morrisons just click on the name

From Wilkinsons click on the name

I already have the large tea tray to match these, I think they're so pretty, love them.

Some purchases this week also, one of the blogs I follow is owned by Lynne Goldsworthy and I have been lucky enough to book to go to one of her classes she's holding in March at Cromford. She along with Kerry Green have written a great little book called.....

Its a lovely book that is keeping me entertained in wonder at so many different blocks. I also purchased the rotating mat behind it. I have the larger size which is a bit big for the smaller blocks. This one is only 12" x 12" just right.

I've also made more progress on my ripple blanket 

slowly but surely and I'm really enjoying myself. I think this one will have a home in the sun room it will go with the cushion colours in there.

My daughter drove me over to the van on Wednesday so we could collect the large sofa seat and back cushions so I can recover them. I recovered the dining area ones and wrote about it  here.

These cushions are a lot bigger and there are more of them so it's going to take some time to do but it will be worth it when they're done.

I have added another new member to my sewing room,her name is Florrie and she's a beautiful Brother XL 4050. 

She goes very well with Maisie my Brother PE 150 embroidery machine 

They go really well together don't they :0) I just need to get a better photo of them both but being truthful I'm slowly sorting my fabric out and have some boxes of cut fabric on the floor so couldn't get back far enough. That will teach me to get things put away.:)

Florrie didn't cost me any money, you may remember I posted recently on how I had answered a request for an overlock machine on freecycle. A very lovely local lady who's serger had burnt out just before Christmas made a request on freecycle. I was very surprised when she offered me her older Brother machine to take to the van with me. She was a very lucky lady receiving a new quilting machine for Christmas from her hubby.

I picked Florrie up the other day and she is lovely, I put the wrong bobbin in so had a problem with tension BUT Heather to the rescue and the problem solved. If you'd like to visit Heather's blog please click here

she's just made some beautiful tops she designed the pattern herself and she has a tutorial for a wallet/purse which I intend trying this coming week. Heather is also a prolific knitter by both machine and hand.

Until next time take care

hugs 

Peg xx