A very proud moment and happy dances all around!

I have finished my autumn throw for the conservatory settee. It was extremely difficult and I nearly gave up as each part of the leaves were different colours and there were triangles every where!! LOL It is only the second quilt I have made so not for new learning quilters. The border is sewn on but I still have to catch stitch the back. Although it is far from perfect I am extremely proud of it, and it looks lovely on the settee. I think it might have to be a Christmas one too, although by January I should have finished quite a few of my projects so I might make some thing in bluey colours.

I bought the fabric at the NEC quilting show in August, which was very reasonable, all  fat quarters. One thing is I have learnt a lot making this, and it's as I said before, you can read the books, watch videos, listen to other peoples experiences and advice on how to quilt, but you have to have a go yourself to really learn how to sew it!

I am now back to my cross stitching although having seen Hazel's stripy crochet blanket, I have ordered the yarn!!

So its your fault Hazel that even though I have loads of cross stitch on the go, I am now starting a crochet project!

Happy stitching or quilting or knitting or crocheting everyone!

(Just remembered that I have socks on the go too for Christmas pressies!)

A disappointing read.

This book has had me so frustrated, there were too many characters I lost the plot a few times as the characters  switched from one to the other telling the story. Good basic story line of SIDs (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)  It is told from the view point of Fliss who is a TV producer making a programme about three women who have been imprisoned for killing their babies and then years later acquitted.
Having read 'Little Face' by the same author which I loved and was intrigued by the clever plot, I bought this one. But at least it gives me ideas of how not to write as I am determined to hit those Asda book shelves with my own writings!! erum! Asda because it has the highest turn over of books, would you believe and like it was once thought if your record was chosen to be sold in Woolies, you had made it. It seems the same is thought about books and Asda!
I read in bed each night and this book did not make me want to read it, so I didn't feel that excitement I usually do when I am reading a good book and can't wait to get to it. It was a bit like reading a book chosen by my book group that I didn't like, but persevered because it was the book group!
So I was very disappointed, as usually when I find an author I like, I read everything they have written, this means unless Sophie Hannah's next book enthralls me she is off my lists!
Now I am reading Jodi Piccoult (Author of My Sisters Keeper) and many others. This new one is supposed to take a different format to her others, in that it is not a court case, so I hope  I like it! I have read everything else she has written, so I hope I like 'Picture Perfect!'

Autumn Days

I had a walk around the garden this morning just talking photos of the last signs of summer.

I love the nasturtiums they always bloom right up to the frosts so do the rudbeckia. The one shown here is a seedling that wasn't transplanted and has flowered small still in the seed tray . The sunflower seeded itself from the bird seed; mine have long flowered and the seed heads are all hanging there now for the birds. And these are just some of the last of our tomatoes in the green house, although we still have loads outside and have picked about 16 pounds already.

DH has already made some chutney and I shall make more before the weekend.

My favourite lunch is fried tomatoes on toast with smoked bacon!

It seems tomatoes are supposed to be good for your skin so with  the number I am eating I am expecting to go back in time to have skin of a twenty year old!

I am still writing and spent a lot of sunday printing off stories and I finished off my writing course assignment for this month.

Here they are all ready to post and in fact they are at this minute winging their way to various magazines!
Watch out  JKR here I come!! LOL
Lots to do this afternoon I am having a card making session as the ribbons I ordered have arrived.

They look so lovely I could look at them all day and not do anthing with them!

And from my bimble round the garden early this morning I picked these...

And these have put me in the best of moods all day, so I have cleaned and tidy and done a load of washing and the house looks as though it has been cleaned, I feel we look swish!
Happy days all... tra-la-la-la-la I am singing my way through the day!

Winter garden clear up and a ready meal!

I have started the winter clear up of the garden by sorting out the patio pots.

All the pelagoniums and fuscias are potted up ready to go into the green house for the winter and some in the conservatory.

I left the  hanging basket as it is still blooming beautifully albeit set on a bucket.

Mike cut the grass, weeded and sorted the raised salad bed and our herb patch.

We spent a good four hours out there yesterday and it shows, so I am pleased with our efforts.

It was a real autumn day and the sun was quite warm, there was that lovely autumny scent in the air too.

I want to freeze the parsley this year so we'll have some fresh in winter soups.

We finished just as the rain started and then had our Tesco's Indian meal which was delicious!
Just served it out of the containers, bombay potatoes. chicken tikka masala,  chicken korma,with pilau rice and naan bread... some thing I love! It was so nice to have a ready meal after working so hard and no pans to wash!

Not quite the diet but it's a one off!!
Today, Sunday, its dreary and wet, and definitely cooler. Autumn has really arrived. I do hope we don't have another winter like last year I just couldn't face all that snow again, I hardly went out when it was around, as since having my knee op I am terrified of falling over, although I did once, but in the house and my knee was fine, but I worry all the time.
I have had a lot of hip pain and had a Dr appointment just before we went away two weeks ago and he diagnosed bursitis and gave me a cortison injection. It wasn't too bad and the anti-inflatory tabs have helped so I walked a fair bit on holiday pain free!
Today I think a relaxing day and I need to make some cards, which I am looking forward to... hope all you lot are having a happy crafty day too!

A week away in Norfolk

We spent last week in Sheringham, Norfolk and it was a truely lovely week.

Sheringham is a pretty little town with lots of small shops and a lot of fish and chip shops and of course Italian ice-cream!

I think I have put on pounds!

We mooched around the town several days and I bought some very pretty mugs and fudge! Which is my favourite. LOL

One very sunny day we sat and watch the sea front activities and the sea

Then ate a pub lunch outside which was delicious, except DH nearly didn't have his, as we had Nell with us under the table.

We were both slightly distracted and suddenly she popped up between Mike's legs and nearly had his crab salad off his plate. It caused quite a ripple of laughter from fellow diners!

This is the theatre which has a very active rep. We might have gone if the weather was poor but it was much too nice to stay inside.

 

We stayed in a very comfortable and well equiped house which wasn't too far from the main high street so easy to walk into and back eating an ice cream One day I had vanilla and turkish delight, absolutely delicious. Why do all the most yummy things have so many calories??? LOL

Most mornings we had coffee in a little promanade cafe and then after a walk around, lunch back in the garden of the house where we stayed.
When we didn't go out in the evenings I stitched,so my 'ABC' and my 'Golden Gate Houses' so both  have made progress...will show these on another day.

HMS Ganges Navy training Base

Driving back to Essex we stopped at Shotley Gate a small village on the river Orwell which is where Mike first went as a 15 year old in the Navy. We had a super two hours, as there was a museum there with a lot of memorabilia of HMS Ganges which is what the base was called. We met some one who was on one of Mikes Fleet Air Arm Squadrons in the early  1970's and athough they didn't recognise each other, well it was over 35 years ago, they did remember each other. They were both excited to see some one they knew from such a long time ago. Photos were taken and email addys swapped. I loved seeing it all through Mike's eyes. There were all the different unbiforms he wore and photos of their mess huts and rooms. It made his day going back there, first time he has and like a lot of us going back to some where when we were younger, he thought it all looked smaller. A great day for him and me.

Now we are back here in Billericay and tomorrow the carpet cleaner arrives and an aerial man to fit a new aerial.The bath was repaired before we went away so we are slowly getting sorted here and it is beginning to look like home again, after four years of being rented out.

A bountiful and fruitful harvest

We eventually picked 59 pounds of damsons from that little Woolworth's tree bought 5 years ago.

So we have wine nurdling under the stairs (two demi johns!) plus damson cheese (jam) and stewed damsons and frozen damsons too!

As well as that today, I have been very busy processing green tomatoes. Mike picked what was in the allotment which was 21 pounds!! So I have made two different types of chutneys plus some green tomato marmalade which I had never heard of but found the recipe on the internet.
Mike did some pickled green tomatoes so once again our pantry shelves are full of home made produce.

Having cooked all day and I have just  cleared up in the kitchen, I think I will sleep well tonight!

It's been a good day and we have enjoyed chopping up the fruit and measuring and weighing everything together.

At least we will have plenty of chutney for all that cold meat at christmas time!

Thinking of Christmas, we will soon be making our christmas cakes!

Progress....

All the stitching is finished on my Golden Gate Houses I just have the back stitching to do now. I know some stitchers don't like this but when it is just around outlines I think it is easy to do.

I still love this picture and intend  to get it  framed when it is finished completely.

I had a break from it and stitched a bit more of this which is easy and so relaxing.

And now some of my patch work... this  is not easy at all and my unpicker was very busy indeed.

I find every part of this difficult to do, the cutting out of the pieces,( I first had to make the templates in card from the pattern in the magazine) Sewing it to get the points 'pointy' and matched up to other pieces with all seams just 1/4"

It is not going to beat me even though cutting out and sewing each of these blocks took an afternoon each!

I have completed the next and last RR that is Jaclynn's Teddy Bears so I feel I am way ahead. I didn't start the Blackbird Willow House as I thought it would be nice to start with it, new next month.

As well as my cross stitching and sewing  I have managed to write three short stories and complete my Assignment for my Writing Course, this last week, so busy all the time.

The weather has been awful!

Rain, rain and more rain here, we need the sun to ripen about 40 pounds +++ of tomatoes, as this year I have 72 plants! Some in the green house, some in the veg patch and the rest at the allotment. However the rain  is swelling the courgettes and marrows, which we always have a boundiful supply, but my DH has added chopped ones to curry and some to spag. bol so they are going down slowly!

Hope all's well in your worlds.

 HAPPY DAYS!

I must be mad!

Last week was the Exhibition of Quilts at the NECand I had a fabbie-fantastic time! The good thing about living here is that the NEC is just 20 mins away. I went with this photo of an Autumn runner with the intention of buying the fabric to make a throw for the little settee in the conservatory in this pattern.

Of course I bought more than I needed, but you know what it's like you see one that's just right and then you see some more.

I love it all and I can't wait to get started. This chart was in a quilting magazine that I bought in America when we were on our honeymoon four years ago

And this is the BOTM I have signed up for which comes all the way from Australia.  I actually saw this this on saturday at the NEC displayed by another Aussie shop!! And they also had another one so beautiful I could have bought it there and then but........

I have four Cross stitch WIPs  and 2 charts kitted up and ready to go so I need the winter time to stitch and sew!! At least the garden won't need much doing to it.
BIG NEWS
But the most important thing in my life at the moment is that I am no longer leasing out my house.
So we returned to my lovely house in Billericay, we stayed there for five wonderful days.. it's  such a pretty house. The garden is now just trees and shrubs all the flowers appear to have been choked by the weeds of four years. However extra-ordinarily the damson tree was absolutely loaded with fruit. Mike picked 17 pounds and there must be another 17 pounds still there!! I was amazed and delighted as that was a little tree bought one evening on my way home from work from good ol' Woolies! The apple tree hasn't done as well but with some TLC I am sure we can get it fruiting.
This is one side of the garden showing the damson tree. When I bought this house in 2001 there was just some tumpy grass, a shed that was rotten and an old concrete garage. Inside of the house was horrible but when I saw the size of the garden, I could see the potential of the house. It took three years to get it how I wanted and the best thing was my raspberry pink carpet all through the downstair rooms, hall stairs and landing. A very girlie thing!!

Then I had the huge extension built  for my dream kitchen and as it was to be my home for when I retired a

downstairs loo.

We will be travelling back  and fro for a few days each month, so lots of stitching time there although we would like to change the deco it looks clean and tidy, I have a carpet cleaner booked second week of September and the original bathroom fitter that fitted my bathroom suite as well to do some repairs after the last tenants.

So with all this going on I am quilting I must be mad!
But isn't that life and the busier it is the better it gets! I say a prayful thanks each day to God that I can enjoy my life and that it is full of happy days and the love of my DH and family.
Hope this next week is full of happy times for all you bloggers out there!

A good read

One thing I do more than anything else is read. I read all the time. I sometimes don't want to go to bed because the book I am reading isn't as good as I would wish! Perhaps my love of reading stems back from my childhood of the fifties. We didn't have TV and I lived my lonely childhood through books. I didn't have any great preferences then I just worked my way round the shelves in the Children's section of Porthcawl Library , the small seaside Welsh town where I was born and brought up.

Today I like modern novels and greatly admire Anita Shreve and Emily Barr and a host of other female writers.  I want to be able to write like them!

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

When this book first came out for some reason I didn’t fancy reading it but, as it was my reading groups choice this last month I read it and loved it and wondered why I hadn’t read it before.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini explores the nature of friendship, of forgiveness and of redemption, set against the turbulent background of his native Afghanistan.
The son of a rich and popular merchant, Amir leads a privileged life, wanting only to please his beloved but demanding father, Baba, and to play with Hassan, the child of Ali, Baba’s lifelong servant. Both Amir and Hassan are motherless. They spend almost all their time together, playing games and sharing stories in their favourite pomegranate tree. An encounter with Assef, the local bully, in which Hassan springs to Amir’s defence has appalling consequences, destroying their friendship and driving Amir to desperate measures to rid himself of Hassan, measures which result in a puzzling reaction from his father. When Ali and Hassan decide to leave of their own accord, Amir’s relief is short lived; he knows that his cowardice has been detected.
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Threaded through the story is this feeling of guilt by Amir although he was only a boy himself when the dreadful act was commited against Hassan, he still feels that he should have done something. Perhaps he should have told Baba his father, but he as was always trying to receive recognition and praise from him, to allow his father to know he hadn't helped Hassan would have detroyed that.
As the story unfolded I came to like Amir more and more although as a young child he did have a mean streak and teased Hassan to the point of cruelty.
This book is well worth a read and if you don't choke back the odd tear I would be greatly surprised.

WIPs and something to start

The lovely thing about being retired is that I can cross stitch

all day if I want to. I have got on really well with this and am loving it.

ABECEDAIRE

My houses are coming along too and I have done some of the back stitches as well as huge chunk of the trees. Still a lot to do but I still love this and am surging ahead to get it finished.

And something new although the colour of the cashel linen is pale yellow instead of what was suggested in the chart. It should be tobacco so I am going to use one of my dyes and darken it a bit. Hope it turns out ok!

And of course I had to buy the WDWs threads.

And they are lovely!

And this is to stitch Blackbirds 'Willow House' which I have loved for a long time so I am proud of myself that I haven't bought all the materials earlier and left my WIPs !

The sun is shining here today and I am home listening to The Archers although I listen to all the episodes each day in the week.,  but I am a 'Archerholic' and have been following the story since 1960!!

I have laughed and cried with this radio programme over the years and even looked up the synopsis to see what was happening when we were in Australia last year.

When Pat and Tony's son John was killed in a tractor accident I was listening as I was driving to see my daughter and had to stop and pull over I was crying so much.

I am still busy writing trying to get one of my stories published and have had my first rejection slip, I wasn't upset just put out that some body thought it wasn't suitable to be published in their magazine. But it has made me more determined and I am actually now plotting a novel which is the next assignmnet for my writing course.

Watch this space one day I will be a famous writer!!  LOL