Wildlife ...

... if you don't hear from me again, I've probably been eaten by a bear, or rattled by a snake, or snuck up on by a skunk, or some other horrid fate has befallen me.

Why do I say that?  Cos today Mr Joe and Lynn are taking me up to their cabin, which is apparently surrounded by wild animals.  This is very scary to someone from the UK where the nearest we get to wildlife is a very cross cat who hasn't been fed!  So, if I go missing, please report this to the Society for the Protection of Naïve Tourists, thank you.

Driving lessons, part 2

Mr Joe, Lynn's husband, decided to give me a driving lesson in his pride and joy a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria.

 

Here he is, saying "yes Sue, that IS the steering wheel"

 

"Hey Joe, which one was the brake?"







Oops!



Today ....

... we're up bright and early (well, early, anyway) to set up the booth for In Between Stitches at the quilt show.  We're also going to set up a pop-up tent which is where I will be holding court this morning and signing copies of my book.  I've never done a book signing before, so I'm quite nervous about it - what if no-one turns up?  I'm going to look very silly sat sitting all alone!

On the other hand, there will be about 200 quilts hung between the trees and that should be a spectacular sight which I am really looking forward to seeing.  Lynn is spending the morning working in the booth while I'm having fun with her sister and then tomorrow Nancie-Anne the Goatherd will be arriving with her husband, dog and goats.

Meanwhile, pop over to Lynn's blog, here, to read all about my driving lessons ...

Two Tired Teachers

The last 2 days have been great fun, with Lynn teaching her Patchwork Math class on Wednesday and me teaching 3D Noughts and Crosses yesterday at Quilting in the Garden.  You can see Lynn's post about her class on her blog, here.

I'm not going to chunter on about the class, I'm going to let the pictures tell you all about it. 

After a bit of chatter from me, everyone was keen to get started.  Just look at this cutter moving.

 

Did you notice the lovely quilts that had been hung around the classroom as part of the quilt show?  They made a very colourful backdrop for us.  Speaking of colour, this is an example of what was surrounding us

 

By lunchtime we had some lovely blocks made, as you can see here.

 

Lunch was wonderful, served outside on the terrace in glorious weather

Funny how I didn't manage to get a picture of the lunches that were provided by Alden Lane Nursery for us, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was fantastic.

 

Then it was back to the grindstone

 

This picture should be captioned "Follow me chaps, I've had an idea"

 







And this was the idea.  A picture of the students with the start of their great quilts

 

I just love each and every one of those quilts, and look at how different they all are.

 

I think some of the students may have been happy that the class was over, don't you?

Thank you to Lynn and to Cyndee at Alden Lane Nursery for ensuring that everything ran so smoothly and thanks to everyone for making me so welcome and for making the day such fun.

        

I'm ready ...

... It's now 10 am and I'm ready.  Packing all done and there's still an hour and a half before I need to leave for the airport.

I should be packing ...

... for my trip to stay with Lovely Lynn.  I leave home tomorrow and fly to Heathrow, then I fly from Heathrow to Vancouver and Vancouver to San Francisco on Tuesday.  In my usual fashion though, I will leave my packing until the last minute and do it tomorrow.

Yesterday I went to an all day meeting of the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Guild, where I finished off Red Sprinkles, so here is a photo of it

and a close-up of the bubbly quilting design I chose.

I've never used this pattern before, but I love it and also I used a rayon thread which Big Bertha loved -no skips or tension issues at all.

PS  Thanks Paula B for your lovely comment about my trip.  I'm sorry I couldn't reply as you are a no-reply blogger.

Christmas QAL - a day late

I know I said on Saturday that tomorrow (ie yesterday) I'd be sorting out my sewing room.  Did you notice how quiet I was?  Well that's cos we went out for lunch, and I just didn't feel like doing it when we got home.  I was going to blob in front of the TV with a good old black and white film instead, but then I realised I still had about half of the last series of Dallas to watch, so I watched a couple of those instead.  OK, there may have been a little inspection of the insides of my eyelids too.

So today I set to work.  I didn't take a picture of the before, but here are some in progress photos

After a couple of hours it looked like this:

Then I sorted out some "stuff" for Scrappy:

and started putting things back in the cupboard

Then I ran out of steam so I've stopped for today.

Christmas QAL, part 2

... I've done some sewing, look

and that's all I'm showing of these "things" for now.

I have had a visit from Mrs Nomad and we had a lovely chat.

I've prepared dinner. In fact, I had to laugh at myself about dinner.  Last month on QAL Saturday I made Boozy Beef in Beaujolais, today I'm doing pork in cider. What's with all the alcohol I wonder?

I've also spent far too long looking for a recipe online that I have used before for cinnamon rolls.  It was a simple recipe, which did not use yeast and which had a nice icing on top, but I seem to have deleted the bookmark!  Grr.

It's Christmas ...

... well actually, it isn't, but it IS Christmas QAL weekend, being hosted this month by Hazel.  What's more, she's promised biscuits, so hurry on over there to join the party.

I will not be working on my Christmas challenge quilt this weekend, cos after my disastrous efforts at free motion quilting, and all the whinging I did, which you could read about here if you really wanted to,  my wonderful friend Bilbo just rang me up and said "stick it in an envelope and send it to me".  Needless to say, I did just that.  Bilbo is a fantastic quilter and will work absolute wonders with my entry.

So, what will I be up to?  I will do a little sewing, but the main part of this weekend is going to be spent on giving myself an early Christmas present.  I am planning to tip everything out of the cupboards, drawers and shelves in my sewing studio (in other words the conservatory) and have a good clean up and tidy up.  After all, I have some Very Important Friends visiting me not long after my holiday, so I must be neat and tidy out there ready for them, as that's where we spend most of our time.   I am sure that my friend Scrappy will be very excited to hear about my spring-cleaning, cos guess where all my odd "bits" go? Speaking of Scrappy, she's away this weekend, so won't be joining us to show her progress on her challenge entry.

I'll be back later, but now I must go and do something constructive .... "jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.............."

Who knows what's happening ...

... this weekend?

Well, here's a clue:

Yes, it's Christmas QAL time again.  The partywill last all weekend, and  this month it's at Hazel's place, here.  See you all over there.

The countdown ...

... is really on now.  Only 14 days till I go off to California.  This box left this morning, and contains the quilt and teaching samples, so they'll all be there well before me.  Today I have made appointments for a haircut and a pedicure, so at least the top and toe bit should be looking good, not much can be done with the in-between bits though, sadly.

I'm getting very excited, but I'm sure I'm hiding it well, so you can't tell.

One down ...

... one to go, as they say.  I've completely finished my blue 3D Noughts and Crosses This is the sample quilt for my class at Quilting in the Garden 

I love this quilt,  but it really needs a name.  Any suggestions anyone? I did think of Blueberry Something-or-other, but I'm a bit stuck really.

The other quilt, which will be either be called Raspberry Ruffles or Chocolate Cherries (hmm, funny how many of my quilts seem to have names associated with food isn't it?) is now half made as you can see.

This won't go any further at the moment, as I will be using the rest as examples during the class.  The next time you see this will be when I am back home again and have it completely finished.

The fabrics for both of these quilts have very generously been supplied by Oakshott Fabrics.  They have some gorgeous fabrics, and they also photograph them far better than I do, so you get more of the effect of the colour variations on their website.  Thank you Oakshott Fabrics.

My friend/hostess, Lynn, is also teaching at the show, but her class is very nearly full, so if you are thinking of signing up, don't delay too long or you might miss out all together.

Oh, and just look at this

(I stole the photo from Lynn's blog, hope she doesn't mind).  This bear was spotted out for a stroll very close to her cabin the other day.  I'm going to have to buy some running shoes I think.  Lynn sent me the photo, and I think she could probably hear me screaming all the way across the ocean.  Scary things, big brown bears!

It's time ...

... for the Country Charmer QAL link up.  This quiltalong is being hosted by Lesley over at The Cuddle Quilter, and is just the right sort of QAL for me.  No rules, no deadlines, do as much or as little as you want each month and link up on the 1st of the month to show what we have been up to.  The Country Charmer quilt was designed by the fabulously talented designer, my friend Lynn from Sew'n Wild Oaks.

I see that Lesley has finished her top, (which is now being quilted by Lynn,) so she has decided to start another one, this time in all blues, tans and creams.  I, on the other hand, have not only not finished mine, I haven't done anything to it this month.  Nothing.  Nada.  Nowt.  I'm hanging my head in shame here.  So my quilt still looks like this

What is even worse is that next month I will be on holiday (staying with the fabulously talented designer I mentioned above), so there will be no progress for me to report then either since I won't be able to work on it before I go.

However, a couple of months ago Leader Lesley had a little giveaway for participants of this QAL, and I was the lucky winner of a gift certificate from her.  When I got the email telling me I had won, I had just been window shopping on-line, and seen a fantastic FQ bundle that I put on my wish list.  Well I can tell you that it came off my wish list and jumped into my basket faster than you can say "buy".  This is what I chose, I know just what I am going to make with it too.   Thank you so much Lesley.

To see the progress others have made with their Country Charmers, just go here and scroll down to the Linkies at the bottom of Lesley's post.