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Monday, April 30, 2012

Another change in the weather!

Yesterday, 3 of my Munchkins and I spent our time in the conservatory, me sorting the quilt out and they just watching me. from left to right is Megan my little oldie girl who recently had a stroke. Georgi girl my little flirt and Dooglebug our baby of the outfit who loves everybody whomever they are.
The weather wasn't inviting us to sunbathe and rained all day not a day for sitting on the swing.
It didn't improve any later on either as you can see in these pictures
The lovely pink bucket you can see was purposely left out to measure the amount of rain we'd had and as of yesterday in 2 wks the bucket is 3/4 full! As you can imagine we have not sat at the garden table for any meals recently lol. Thankfully we are better off than some in the UK who have horrendous floods again, it must be heart breaking because some are only just getting over last years floods.
On a lighter note I've finished the quilt top I was sewing, when we spent 10 rainy days in our get away I used the time to get on with it
I took the photo today thinking the rare appearance of the sun may give me a good picture, here's a close up so you can see the blocks and pretty border fabric. It's called Playmates quilt, designed by Pam & Nicky Lintott. The pattern calls for a jelly roll from the French General range but as this is no longer available I used my own yardage of Moda fabrics from the US. 
I have the cotton batting and backing fabric ready to complete it but I'm not able to stand long enough to pin them all together yet. I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far, I'd never made these blocks before, I made mistakes and there was quite a bit of frogging and restitching but it was worth all the work put into it.

The sun has gone back in now and it's rather overcast again, the forecast is more heavy rain yet we have hosepipe bans in force in several areas??

Take care

Peg x
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A little renovation.

A few years ago I saw and fell in love with this quilt on ebay, I loved it on site. I finally had the winning bid and was so happy when I received it. At first I was a little disappointed that the back was bulky, there was no batting just a rather thick blanket albeit it new.



This is the blanket,


Due to being ill and not able to machine or physically walk about I decided to take off the backing and finish it properly. Once I'd removed the blanket the back was a bit of a shock







As you can see each square instead of being cut to size had the edges folded over anywhere between 1- 2" with masses of threads needing cutting off. It looked a mess, but you know I felt really annoyed with myself for being so picky. The reason for this was that on closer inspection the lady who pieced it had hand stitched each square. The stitches were so tiny evidently taking many hours to stitch the squares securely together.

I've cut the excess fabric off each square and when I put the batting, the backing fabric and binding on I will have the luxury of using my machine, this lady evidently didn't. I think the old adage of not judging a book by its cover is a lesson I learnt this week. I still love it and knowing the work she put in will make me appreciate it even more.

Just a little mention of the weather we're having, if it continues to rain much longer I think we'll all be developing webbed feet :0).

Enjoy your week and please take time to pop over to some of the blogs who's buttons are on my sidebar you'll be in for a treat!

Take care

Peg x



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Making changes

We decided to come down to our little get away for a few days. We both love it here and have had the company of the sun for the past 2 days, the temperature drops in the evening but we don't care there's heating and when we feel like being snugly we have gorgeous chenille throws & beautiful crocheted blankets. Plus of course my little munchkin doglets, they're perfect hottie bottles. :o)

We're making a few changes inside this time, I love terracotta but the curtains seem to look 'flat' so I've decided to change them from this colour


to this colour

I wanted to lift the colour a little so I chose these lovely Latte curtains. Two of the lounge windows are only 3' wide so I bought one pair and made a pr from each curtain. They also needed 10" off the bottom but that won't be wasted because I've earmarked it to cover the pelmet, yes I know pelmets are so last season but I like them and think they finish a window off.  I slip stitched the lining back onto the curtains and have one window dressed with them. Two other windows are over 4' each and the big one is 90" x 42".

When we first bought our get away the windows had plain net curtains, not very inspiring and I'm not a fan of nets so couldn't wait to get rid of them. I chose Ivory slat blinds to compliment the Latte coloured curtains and Mr B put the first one up for me today so with the new curtains they look great, well to me they do. I need to sort the tie backs and the pelmet tomorrow I'll post a pic when they're finished. I'm hoping to do another pair tomorrow. I brought some quilting with me but haven't had the chance to do any yet but I'll leave this project here so it'll get a little more done next time hopefully.

On a none busy note the dogs and I have had a lovely time today I took them 2 at a time on a good walk. I can't walk to far and it does aggravate my back so I use my scooter. It's nice and flat here and the dogs are very proficient at walking to the side of me to avoid the wheels. Megan's the cheekiest bless her she thinks it's her princess carriage and rides between my feet! Just like this, she surveys her little kingdom, thankfully she doesn't do the queenly wave :o)


Well that's all for now take care, keep smiling and thank you for visiting.


Peg x

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Anyone for tennis?




Lol not really, I'd be flat on my face, although I did used to enjoy playing. I just wanted an excuse to show off my lovely Cath Kidson style pumps. They are so pretty and really comfy, if I remember right they were under £10 from Windsors shoe store. My daughter is miffed because we don't share the same shoe size lol.

Thanks to Sue who introduced me to me Blogpress I can now post photos from my iPad. If I've made it work of course! I hope I've done the link correct if I have click on Sues' name and it will take you to her lovely blog.

Just wanted to test the photo insert again if I may. This is Nunu and I having a one to one chat just after tea one night at the van. She's a lovely girl who is slightly shy of strangers but will love you forever if you're one of her favourite people. I adore this little girl she's like a gazelle when out off lead, she doesn't run but leaps.




We had to cover the seating in the van the weather was very stormy and each trip out we were wet through so throws on the sofas was the order of the day! Bless em the little munchkins wanted to be comfy, lol. Want to know how to accommodate 4 Shiddies and 6 Lhasa's in a caravan? Well some at one end...



And 4 at the other :0)



Hopefully this will be successful, we've just enjoyed a typical English Sunday lunch of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and veg. No dessert to full!
It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow, 39 yrs, we've been together 41 yrs and I love him just as much today if not more. I love that we can spend more time together now he's semi retired and can't wait until he leaves altogether. Being able to go to the van whenever we want, I take my stitching and quilting, he takes his camera and the days just drift by.

Enjoy what's left of your day

Peg xx

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Taking time to recharge the batteries.

Hi ladies, I've been a bit absent on the blogging front, whilst away I've mainly been using my ipad and believe me it's no fun using it to write on blogger. You can't add photos through it and things go awry with it, we're back home now and I'm finally able to catch up. I've enjoyed reading through the many blogs I visit, there have been some beautiful creations and I've loved reading about them.
Take a trip over to Hens house share in her Easter celebrations, I love popping in and seeing what she's been creating or what she's up to.

We've been away to the van for 10 days and thoroughly enjoyed it, we went from Thursday to Sunday during which the weather was gorgeous, we were able to sit outside, chill out and enjoy the sun. The dogs loved it and as you can just see on the photos they lapped up the sunshine. Mr B managed to get the borders planted, if they all come up it will look colourful, he also planted up two large pots near the veranda. There are now tiny lights entwined around the balcony rails, post lights along the path and 3 Shepherds lanterns on either side of the patio. They look wonderful at night, it's not warm enough to sit out there in the evening yet but will be soon.


We came home on the Sunday because Neil had some meetings at work but we went back on Monday when he'd finished. Lesley, Andrew and Sam joined us for a few days. They set off in the afternoon so when we got there they had a lovely meal waiting for us. It was lovely to sit down and eat straightaway. 

Not wanting to scare you but this was me at the beginning of the holiday feeling exhausted, not able to sleep and looking like something the cat dragged in!! I was trying to read but when you've got a few little furry ones who like attention you tend to read the same paragraph several times. I promise you as the time went on I did feel more refreshed and looked less scarey lol. Hey if you can't laugh at yourself something's wrong, I do it regularly because I usually get into a muddle. ;o)
When we went back the weather was appalling, like the rest of the country we had horrendous storms. The wind during the night was so loud you'd have thought you were next to a train line. Thankfully no one suffered any damage but I was glad the van is anchored down!
I felt sorry for Sam, he loves to fish and had taken all his fishing tackle down with him so he could fish in the lake, even remembering his licence. Sadly the storms were to strong and taking the dogs had us all wet through and having to change clothes each time, the dogs were dryer than us actually, we don't know how they managed it. Nemo and Dooglebug were most affronted at having to wear coats, if looks could kill lol.

It was fun having them there and it meant we had 10 dogs with us but with 5 of us and 2 dogs each we had walking sussed. They were brilliant bless em and settled down after their walks. Sadly we couldn't take them on the beach, the winds were to strong. Travelling through the streets the day after the worse one we saw how strong it had been peoples gardens and drives were covered in sand and the shops on the front had been close to being flooded by sea water and rain. We all enjoyed it though and had a laugh and celebrated Andrews birthday. Lesley and family left on the Wednesday evening because Andrew was back at work on Thursday, we got up Thursday morning to gorgeous sunshine and warm weather!! we couldn't believe it.

We had a couple of days on our own then on Saturday one of Neil's climbing friends came over with his wife and 22mth old little boy for the day. Thankfully it was lovely sunshine again so we were able to go out onto the beach, it was still windy on there though so we needed to wrap up well. We haven't seen them since Oliver was a few months old and what a delightful little boy he is, he's so cute and amusing. He's very forward for his age and very articulate, he soon had us and the dogs charmed. He thought it very funny when Dooglebug, who had become his buddy for the day, decided to take one of his Bob the builder toys. He was not going to give it up, I had visions of a very expensive op to remove the toy if he chewed and swallowed it! To say he came into rescue as supposedly grumpy and a biter he loved being with Oliver, I did have to open his mouth and take the toy out he wasn't going to give it up otherwise, but he didn't offer to bite once.

During our time at the van I managed to finish my 'Playmates' quilt top, I'm undecided whether to put another border around it or just put the batting and backing on. I'm really pleased with it and will post a picture later. I have to keep checking the dogs to make sure they haven't got pins stuck in their coats, I tend to drop the pins when pinning fabric together I did find one in my slipper one evening, thankfully it was stuck on the outer edge so no blood involved.

Now they've delivered the shed we've taken Mr B's bike and one of my scooters down to the van. Lincolnshire is very flat and a big help to those with walking problems. Mr B enjoys going out with his camera and I can go up to the shops or 'walking' the dogs without getting more tired. Friday was another lovely day, I'd taken Megan and Dooglebug to have their claws clipped then left them with Mr B whilst I had a ride up into town, it was lovely not having to look for a parking space and getting some fresh air.
Our lovely time had to come to an end on Monday evening, Mr B was back at work Tuesday and Wednesday. The traffic on the home run was busy in one section but the end bit went fairly quickly. Our eldest son, wife and youngest daughter have gone down from today until Sunday, I'm keeping my fingers crossed the weather stays fine for them. Paul suffers when it's damp and cold, they've taken their dog Teddy Edward, whose seen here chilling at home and getting ready for his holiday lol. Isn't he gorgeous.

Well folks I think that's me done for now, it's time for bed. 

Take care

hugs 
Peg x



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