Doll Quilt

Wow, take a look at this beauty, I am so impressed, its stunning. I adore the colours, they are so not what I would pick and yet I love them. I think this is one of the things I like about this swap as it really does open you up to some new things. My beautiful quilt is made by the very talented Sara from Odd Dotty Dollymaker. Her work is really good and it was all wrapped up with a lovely matching bow. What I am very impressed with is the fact that she bothered to take inspiration from my own blog. My love of tea...so she really thought this one through. I love the hand stitching for the steam of the tea. Their is a funny story about this quilt. I was reading the update on the Doll quilts and saw this one posted (click over there and check them all out) I went over to her blog and commented on the fact that the recipient should be a very happy person, it must have made her giggle as it was on its way to me!!! So I think it was all meant to be.
I understand my quilt has arrived as I have been eagerly checking out her blog as she is in the middle of moving and I was scared it might get lost between addresses. Anyway I am very happy with mine and I think I will be popping over to Sara's blog more as its got some cool stuff going on. Thanks Sara, your a star!!! Go and log on to her blog to see the full impact of this quilt, I was to eager to photograph it before I unwrapped it and put it in its place of honour in my sewing room! Its worth it I promise she has lovely pictures of the back and the beautiful bow...
Well we are still soaking over here, the rain just keeps on coming. Here is a snap shot of all my lovely summer dresses which I am not getting to wear!!! This is the first year for many years I have been able to wear dresses, having breastfed both my babes for a long time, this is the first year of not doing so, so I have really made the most of wearing dresses...I would just rather wear them with summer shoes and not boots or worse yet Wellies!!!
Oh for some sunshine, everyone I know is in a real moody groove, when the sun shines things just seem so much better...it is summer after all!!! The mad thing is we still have water shortages!!!

Eye Candy-lots of words-you pick

Woosh and the weekend is over, my how quick it goes. Only a couple more weeks then its long lazy days with no school runs or time restraints. At the moment I am busy with lots of appointments, sorting out school bits and pieces and a few medical appointments for me. Then its time to relax and get the summer rhythm going...yippee! I have been giving school a lot of thought, I would so like to home school, being dyslexic though fills me with lots of worries about my children's education, I know, if your reader of this blog, I do make more errors than most. I am a believer that this is communicating and it's only recently that it became so important to communicate properly rather than just gets yourself understood. As a mother we want to give our babes the best start in life and that's usually a priority. This weekend I have been reading the blogs of a few favourites who home school, and I have found it fascinating. I have come away with the need to research some literature on the subject. Thanks to Soulemama's recommendations. I met a Mom in a thrift shop recently and we had a really long chat, she talked about her children, they had been removed from school as they had been told they could not be taught and the disruption they caused was not fair on the other children. So with an independent spirit as a single mom seems to have, she moved away and lived in a farmstead in the local hills near by. Numerous years on her children are all in amazing careers, from Doctor to Preacher, she believed in her children and let them just enjoy life and go with their own thirst for knowledge without a timetable or classroom. Amazing story, an amazing women, I wounder if I will ever meet her again. Its parents evening for us tonight and I have so many worries about my child's school and education, his hearing issues have held him back and his report says he is a quite student. Then I think about all this stuff 'Why am I worried, he is a fantastic character, he is kind, caring and such fun to be with, and a great thirst for knowledge and adventure'. I have mentioned previously that a lot of my friends are teachers and if you mention school to them in Mom talk it is difficult to get an unbiased opinion off them as they stick up for one another, I guess if you have worked so hard to become a teacher that's only right, but then I am left feeling worse. (In case your reading Caroline this does not include you, your cool). I think it must take a huge amount of inner confidence to home school. Anyway that has been my thought process for much of the weekend.
So on to the weekend, what goodies and delights have I to share, well first of all I took the boys to the local patchwork and thread shop as it was sale time, I planned for some threads and the sashing fabric for my large quilt, I did buy lots of threads, just too good to resist. The country embroidery machine threads by Brother, half price which made them an even better buy than day to day thread, so I went a bit mad and spend all my birthday money on them. (Thanks Mom , you did say treat yourself to something for me and not the kids, I know she will be horrified I spent it on thread, but it makes me happy). I did not buy the sashing fabric, instead I bought two fabulous fabrics that I have had my eye on all season just not been able to justify the cost. So with 30% off I made the investment.
We returned home to brighter weather, NO RAIN for at least an hour, would it stay off for our school PTA Treasure Hunt around the village...YES!!! The kids really enjoyed this and then we settled in for a BBQ and wore the kids out on the bouncy castle. A great time was had by all, and we won the booby price for taking the most time for doing the treasure hunt!!! Hey we won a bar of chocolate the kids thought it great!!!
SO after a good nights sleep and a bright start to the day, the garden was looking promising, just as some of the work got going the heavens opened. This was tragic as in the afternoon we had friends coming for a little birthday celebration. So in true British style we went ahead with the plans but did get rained off and had to come inside. It was Champagne and strawberries, after all it was the Wimbledon finals so we watched the end of the match shouting at the telly having had one to many glasses of champagne!!! The kids had a great time, the adults became a pile of hopeless giggles and we ended the get together with birthday cake. Now I usual make a cake for my friends birthdays, but I bought one, the reason being it was an operation cake (remember the 70's game) well it was cool, my Friend is a GP, that's Doctor not animal! So it was a joke really, but we dutifully played the operation game before we all dived into the cake with shouts of 'I want the legs' or 'I want the heart' LOVELY!!!!
So we start a fresh week, the Doll quilt has been finished, I have found out I am allowed to show the picture, also the person I am sending mine to does not read my blog as far as I am aware so I have posted the full pictures, so all my swaps are up to date...wounder what I can do next...

Pictures...
1) EYE CANDY...the new threads
2) CHAMPAGNE AND STRAWBERRIES...a little birthday nibble
3) COW HILL...one of the views from my home, cow hill, the children spotted the calf having Mommy milk and wanted me to take a picture, I love this hill, it makes me very happy!
4) DOLL QUILT SWAP...Front of finished quilt
5) DOLL QUILT SWAP...Back of finished quilt

Back in the swing of things

Things are retuning to some normality after the much need break, I still have so much to share with you about my special week, watching my son painting a landscape, decorating cookies, some great photography by my babes, endless amounts of origami, we all enjoyed playing with paper this break. For now though I am still thinking Doll Quilt Swap, I have seen a few people post pictures of their quilts before they have sent them out so I thought I would show you the WIP...Here is the label I did on the new 'LOVE OF MY LIFE'... Here is the front of the quilt, I have tried to incorporate different techniques to keep the interest going for the the receiver. That's the first hand embroidery I have done in years, I mean years...since I was a child I think! The weather here is still raining and gloomy so all pictures need better light, if I waited for it though you might not see any pictures for ages.
So as I mentioned yesterday I was off to buy the binding and some thread, I went with a friend who at the time of leaving had to feed her little one so I called into a garage sale on the way to waste a little time. Oh joy! I am so glad I did, look at the yummy goodness I walked away with, and I have to confess this was not all of it! Just look at this lovely bowl set, its very kitch and very ME. I can not wait for the summer weather to be dipping into a bowl of strawberries or cherries or better still home made trifle, my Mom says it has to be made with sponge not jelly to be a real trifle!!! I especially like it if the sponge has been soaked in Madeira. This beautiful cake stand said 'BUY ME', but it weird as I am sure I have seen this before as if I have already owned it, very bizarre, but how sweet it is and even better as the glass cake stand I had got broken being washed up after the babes birthday party.
Of course I need another tea set, I really must show you my collection...I just can not help myself and whats a girl to do when it was only a pound. My tea sets used to be displayed on my kitchen window sill for me to enjoy looking at, I got asked once did I not have any cupboard space for them, I was devastated, I could not understand how people could not get the joy out of them like I do, it seemed odd. I was adamant it was not me in the wrong, BUT sadly the joy of looking at them diminished as worry took over that when people visited did they think me slightly mad. So they are now all stored in my glass fronted cupboard, I have to say the kitchen does look brighter and the the cupboard looks real 'eye candy' so once this lot has been scrubbed up and shiny it will join the others.
Garage sales are not big around here so when I saw this one I had to have a poke around, the ladies that ran it could not have been nicer to me and so happy to see my little babe, they even offered me a drink in their kitchen, sadly I had to decline as I had my shopping date at the thread n fabric store.

I took my little helper to his nursery today only to find it was the open day for the new intakes and we had to come home, I was delighted, so as soon as I have finished this and made the beds we are 'Baking Cookies' the apron is already on and I have a little person wanting my attention...

Making me happy!!!!

Look at the new love of my life, Slim, Strong and Multitasking, racing through jobs with a creative flair and endless possibilities. Is there a new man in my life? don't be silly its my new Birthday gift! I can not tell you how thrilled I am with this. I have thought about an embroidery machine for about nine months now, not really looking into it too much because of the cost of them. I happened to mention my interest to my local patchwork shop owner and she let me have a go at her machine that she was looking to sell. I was hooked, although due to the cost I had to hand it back and say 'Yep I am in love with it, but I need to give it more thought' It was a luxury, it was not going to change my life as my normal sewing machine had, it was, I had to face it, just an expensive toy and we are talking of the basic model here. So can you imagine my joy when I got this for my birthday, I was over the moon, the MOON I tell you!

I have been desperate to have a really good play with it but as I was away and then working on the Doll Quilt Swap it sat there just teasing me... Tease me no more...I got my hands on it yesterday and in a productive way too. I designed my Doll Quilt Label on it, it took a couple of goes to get the size right and colour, but I am so pleased with the result and just having the time to play. We never stop enjoying playtime no matter what age we are. Can you sneak a peek at my quilt for the swap, I am not going to want to give it away, all the hours of work I have put into this and then I am sending it off to someone who does not know me, say it gets lost in the post...worry worry worry!!!! Worst of all 'Will THEY like it'.
I am off to the store today to pick the fabric for my binding. I have a little birthday money off my Mom so I might get some threads to fill this up with...

Oh magic how did that happen? Well I already had invested in the brother threads when I started doing embroidery on bags with my other machine, I had a few commission cheques to play with (yer OK I should really bank them) it coincided with a sale in my local sewing shop, they down sized (sadly! I thought sewing was getting BIG again) and most of their stock was reduced, I mean BIG TIME reductions!!! So I indulged and spent every last penny of my earning!!! Oh and I also scored a few brother reels on ebay, five new reels including covers forfor a couple of pounds. It was so worth it, best ornament in the house at the moment, those pretty jewel colours. Oh look a couple of spaces and I am off to the store later, wounder what I will be buying...

Just a person not to my friend Caroline who gave me the stand when she up sticks and left me to the promise of a better life by the beach (how exciting is that).

Your stand is getting a lot of love at the moment, it was a great gift...thanks.

A note to our friends across the pound HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, I hope you have a day full of nice things...