Woohoo ....

Okay, am I the only one? ...

I've cleaned the house from top to bottom, all the washing and ironing is done, I've changed all the bedding and there are clean towels everywhere,

What's going on?

Well, we're off on a steam train holiday tomorrow, and I always worry that any burglars who broke in might think I'm a really bad housewife if I didn't leave the house looking good.

Handy Household Hints 2 & 3....

.... here is the next in my series (well OK, I have written one before) of Handy Household Hints.

Handy Hint 1
If you are planning to pour some disinfectant down the drainpipe in your shower room, do not leave a dark red bath mat right in the firing line, otherwise you will end up with a two-tone mat like this:

Handy Hint 2

Do not simply turn the mat over and then do the same thing again, 

Bloglovin vs Feedly - part 2

A couple of weeks ago, I told you I couldn't decide if I wanted to use Bloglovin or Feedly to help me keep up with what everyone's up to out there in the big wide bloggyworld, so I said I was going to run with both of them for a while and then make a decision.

I have decided.  I have found that for me, Bloglovin is more convenient for various reasons and here are my conclusions:

Bloglovin

•  It was very easy to transfer the information from Google Reader, but I did lose the groups I had things sorted into although it was very easy to put things back into the groups I had used before
• I liked that I could click on a post and comment on it from within Bloglovin, rather than having to go to the actual blog to leave a comment
• When I had read a post it was greyed out, which made it very easy to see my list and see what I had/had not read
• It was easy to mark an individual post or a complete blog as read
• I found the whole site easy to navigate
• I love the option to have a daily email showing the new posts

Feedly

• It was easy to transfer the information and it kept the groups
• I did not find the site so easy to navigate, although once I worked it out I liked the layout options

So there you have it.  I promised several people that I would post my thoughts (only about these 2 sites, nothing else!)   Now for the small print:  These are only my thoughts and conclusions, someone else might think completely differently about the whole subject.

So, having made my decision, I have now put one of Bloglovin's cute little buttons at the top of my sidebar to make it really easy for anyone who wants to, to follow me this way.  It looks like this,

and all you have to do is click on it,  so go on, you know you want to!

There has also been some confusion about whether you will loose your blog if you don't sign up to one of these readers.  As far as I know, that won't happen, although I am now seeing vague suggestions that our follower lists might disappear, which is why I have put this button on the blog.  I am not sure if my followers will disappear into thin air or not, but I would hate to lose someone, so I thought this might help.

Oh my word ...

... it's already 1 April, which means it's time for the Country Charmer quilt update.

If you remember, the Country Charmer quilt was designed by Lovely Lynn, over at Sew'n Wild Oaks, and this do-it-at-your own-pace quiltalong is being hosted by Laissez-faire Lesley the Cuddle Quilter.

So, what I have been up to this month?  Well previously, I was cutting the pieces for one block, then sewing it together before cutting for the next block as this seemed to work best for me as a non-scrappy quilter.  Then I had a brainwave.  Why not cut one set of pieces from each fabric I planned to use, then use the layout sheet to mix and match them up for a block and put the block in a bag, then repeat for another block and carry on until I had all the blocks I needed.  This is when I had another light-bulb moment.  I remembered that Mr Fixit had made me a cutting table of sorts a couple of years ago which I had not been using cos I'd forgotten about it.  I knew that my back would just not put up with the sort of cutting marathon my plan was going to involve so I asked him to set it up for me, then off I went, wielding my rotary cutter at the speed of light and ending up with this:

which soon became this

then all those little piles went into their own bags.  Now all I have to do when I want to work on the quilt is pick up one bag, and I'm ready to start sewing.  While the table was up by the way I also cut out another quilt and several smaller projects, which is my way of trying to explain why I have not made much progress on the blocks this month.  This is where I am so far though, and I still love the quilt.

Our hostess, Lesley is having a Linky party today, so to see more Country Charmer quilts in progress, just hop over to here.