Spa day ...

...   woohoo.  Today Mrs Nomad and I are off for a mother-daughter day of pampering and being spoilt at a local hotel's luxury spa. Massages, facials, manicures and pedicures are all on the agenda.   I am soooo looking forward to this.

We'll also have lunch in the Champagne Bar there, and to heck with the diet, even though it's weigh-in night at my slimming club later.

Two weeks,

a fortnight, 14 days.  However you want to look at it, I can't believe I abandoned this poor blog for that long.  Where on earth has the time gone, and what ever have I been doing with myself?  Well, I think the truth is that I've been going through a lazy patch, which means I haven't really been doing much, so there was nothing to blog about.  However, that's all changing now.

One thing I have been doing is making these cute little 9-patches.  I have joined a swap being organised by Barb, and she has a wonderful tutorial here showing a great way to make these blocks which will end up being 3" finished squares. The idea is that we will each make everyone in the swap a pair of blocks. There were originally 24 of us in the swap, but we needed 25, so I said I'd go in twice - after all they're only small blocks aren't they - which means I need to make 100 blocks. No problem, they're only small aren't they? Then someone said why didn't we all make 4 blocks for each person.  The majority thought that was a good idea, so now I have to make 200 blocks - but they're only small, aren't they! I have realised that it takes almost the same amount of time to make a block, whether it is a 3" or a 6" or even a 9" block.  Next time I decide to volunteer for extra duties, please someone gag me so I can't say the words.  Mind you, I love the blocks I'm making and think I am going to have a problem when it's time to send them off to Barb to be redistributed.  So far, I have 110 made plus 16 almost made.

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Group that I belong to.  Unfortunately, Scrappy couldn't make it this month.  I was late, which meant there was no space on the table I usually sit at, so I joined the so-called "naughty table".  Oh boy, I now know why it's called that - there was far more talking, joking, and most importantly, laughing than sewing going on round this table.  As one other person said at one point, "I have just spent the last half-hour or so laughing instead of sewing".  That summed up the day.

On the domestic front, Dad is now the proud owner of a shiny black mobility scooter.  He bought it on Thursday, after checking that he was happy "driving" it and that I could dismantle it and get it into the car, and we had our first outing with it on Friday when he had optician and audiologist appointments.  It all worked well, and will at least mean that he can now get out of the house rather than being stuck in all the time.  Since he was ill, he has not recovered the strength in his legs and can barely walk now, so this will make a big difference to him.

After a few weeks of glorious weather, it's all changed this week and has gone to being wet quite often, windy most of the time and relatively cool all the time, with temperatures well below average.

So now, I think I'll take myself back to my sewing machine to make some more 9-patches.

Hello ......

.... I'm still here, but are you still there?

Dad is well on the way to recovery now, and this morning he even got up, showered, dressed, downstairs and had his breakfast on his own and is intending to do his own lunch too, so I think he's on the road back to independence.  I have recovered from my laryngitis, and also from the bronchitis which followed it, so I think I too am on my way back to what passes for normal around here.  Thanks to people who have emailed me to check on me since I've been so quiet.  Talking of quiet, there was a funny side to Dad being ill and me losing my voice.  Dad is pretty deaf and wears hearing aids in both ears usually, but not when he's in bed, so just imagine the fun and games we had trying to communicate when he had no ears and I had no voice. Also, one day, I had to go round to Mrs Nomad and forgot to take my mobile phone.  When I got there, their front gate was locked although I could hear them in the back garden, but I couldn't make them hear me.  I went home and sent her a text that went along the lines of "why the bleep, bleep, bleep is your front gate locked?"  She rang to say it wasn't locked, but I needed to have pushed harder, but why didn't I just shout? Hmm, ever tried shouting with no voice?

On a different not altogether, remember this quilt, made by Vicki when she was pattern testing Tubix for me?

Well, just look at it now

all bedecked with pretty ribbons.  Vicki decided to enter her quilt (now called Orange Slices) into her county fair and won a blue ribbon and also Reserve Champion award for it.  Well done Vicki.  In fact, she entered 13 items across various categories, and won 10 blue ribbons, 2 red, 1 white, a Grand Champion, 2 Reserve Champions and an honourable mention.  Obviously a talented lady.  If you go to her blog you can see all the items and loads more eye candy too.

So, what's my excuse ....

... this time for being absent from the blogiverse?

Well, last weekend I went down south to stay with my son's family for Mr D's 8th birthday.  We had a good weekend, but I must confess that pizza, birthday cake, chocolate brownies and cheese sandwiches did not do my diet any good!

When I got home I found that my father was not well, and Mr Fixit and I had to help him to bed.  He had a pain in his chest, and could not stand up or walk.  This happened about 10 days earlier too, but that time he fell and couldn't get up.  We called an ambulance that time who took him to hospital where he was kept overnight but they weren't sure if it was a heart attack or not.  This time, I called the doctor out.  It is still unclear what the problem was, but it was possible that he'd had a heart attack, but it was by no means clear.  Anyway, long story short, Dad has been in bed all week with the doctor coming in every day.  The doc now thinks he has had a virus or an infection of some sort.  I've been going in and checking on him, making sure he is drinking water, etc, all week.  Yesterday he felt better and got up for a short time, and Mrs Nomad cooked him some pasta and a light sauce, and he managed to eat some, so she is now taking credit for the fact that today he managed to get up and come downstairs, He is obviously on the road to recovery now thank goodness, but still needs a lot of looking after, so that's why I've been quiet again.

Oh look ...

... I'm at it again.

Why do I never learn?  If I think  I don't like it after a couple of rows, why do I think I might like it when it's three-quarters finished?  So here I go again, busily un-quilting!

Proud grandmother post coming up ....

.... I have 3 grandchildren, The Professor, age 16, his brother, Chatterbox who is 12, and their cousin (who used to be known as Little Person when he was young, but he's too grown up for that now, so I think I'll refer to him as Mr. D.) who will be 8 on Friday.  Recently they have all made me feel very proud.

The Professor recently came 3rd in the whole of Britain in a maths challenge that all schools were involved in.  The funny thing is that he hadn't even told his parents he was in the challenge, let alone the results.  His mother only found out when she saw the award certificate in his room and asked him about it!

Chatterbox was selected by his school, along with a couple of others, to represent his school in a literary project, where they were going into other schools and talking to younger children about literary things. Afterwards his headmaster wrote to his parents to praise how well he had acquitted himself and to quote some wonderful comments from the other schools about him.

Mr D., pictured here

recently won a Leadership award at school. Doesn't he look pleased?  I know he was very excited about it. It is his birthday on Friday and I am going down for the weekend, which I am really looking forward to. 

I must be getting old ...

... there is no denying it any more.  For years I have needed glasses for reading and glasses for driving but last week I had my annual eye test and found that really the time had come for some all-day-every-day ones and I had to give in and get some varifocals.  To me, that means I am now, officially, old.  How has that happened when I know I only turned 30 about a year ago!

There is one good thing about it though - the world is far more detailed than I had realised.  Trees have individual leaves rather than just a green cloud round the branches, small flowers have petals, etc.  There is also a bad side to all of this and that is that I can see the dust on the furniture!

At last ...

... here is my finished Tubix.

and a close-up so that you can see what Big Bertha did to the flimsy,

and just to make absolutely sure that you're bored with it, here's the back.

I used all Kona plains for this quilt, and love how I was able to get the 3-D effect of the tubes/cubes with them.

Colette's Tubix

Oh look, here's another Tubix.  This one was made by Colette, who blogs at What About Rheema who was another of the great people who tested the pattern for me.  So, without further ado, may I present Tropical Shores

I can really see why she has called it that, and if you click to enlarge the picture, you will see that the turquoise border even has little bubbles on it.  I love This version and think it's a great colour combination for a summery tropical quilt.  Thanks Colette for doing a wonderful job for me, even if you did have a few (unnecessary, as it turned out) worries about colours running when you washed it 

I finished sewing the binding on my own version of the quilt this afternoon while watching today's matches at Wimbledon ( Go! Andy) so I've just got a few more ends to bury and then I can show mine too.

Sue's Tubix

Today I wanted to show you the Tubix quilt made by Sue who blogs over at Sue W Sews.  Sue is another quilter who lives in the UK, and for a while she lived quite near me, although we never managed to meet up. When I asked for some testers for my Tubix pattern, Sue was actually the first person to volunteer.  A couple of days ago I received an email from her with a picture of her finished flimsy

I think it looks great, and I love the red binding that is pinned on just to check the length. I also love how the colours she used just makes her Tubixes (I just made that word up as the plural of Tubix) jump out from the background. You can read Sue's thoughts on the pattern in her blog, here. Now she is trying to decide about her backing and also about the quilting.  Thanks Sue for doing a great job of the testing for me.

Time for Tennis ...

Wimbledon Fortnight started yesterday, and as you can see, I'm all ready for it.  A quilt binding to handsew and a bowl of strawberries. Strawberries and cream are traditional when you are at Wimbledon, although I did hear that they are charging a small fortune for them there.  Personally, I'd rather be sitting in my comfortable armchair eating mine and watching it all on TV than on a hard bench, possibly in blazing sun, or, more likely, this being England, in the rain, eating them.   Go Andy!

On another note, remember my worry about this quilt not being acceptable for the Tour de France challenge? (You can read it here, if you are interested.)

Well it seems that what I had interpreted as a "rule", ie using a light background, was only a suggestion, not a rule.  I must therefore offer my apologies to QuiltHaze for misinterpreting things, and also to Margaret, for misleading her.  I am truly sorry both of you.  I am also delighted that Wheel of Fire will be in the Challenge show after all.

Tour de France challenge

 Ever heard of the Tour de France?  It's a cycle race round France (and part of the UK this year) and will be starting in Yorkshire for the first time ever.  It's quite a big thing for us, so there's all sorts of exhibitions and activities connected with it and our quilt group has been invited to exhibit quilts.  The challenge is that they all have to be on the theme of "wheels" so this is my contribution. 

I drew this up in EQ7 and it is paper pieced and machine quilted.  I was feeling really smug that I have actually finished this before the due date which is next Saturday, but just now I went back to the group's blog to get the link address for you, and read the instructions again.  There are four rules to this challenge as shown below: 

1.     The theme is Wheels, and can be interpreted and made however we want.  

Yep, I'm OK here, cos this has got round bits in it and spikes, just like a wheel.  Hey, Lynn and Gail, just check out my pointy bits there!

2.     The colour s should be bright with a white or light neutral background.  

Oh heck!  I've used bright colours, including yellow to represent the winner's yellow jersey, BUT, my background is not exactly white or light.  Mind you, it is a colour called charcoal, which is lighter than black.  Do you think that'll count?

3.  It should have a hanging sleeve.  

Yep, done that too.

4. The deadline is  June 21st which is the date of our June meeting. 

I'm ready a week early.

Hmm, three out of four isn't bad, but I have a feeling this might not be accepted.  I'll keep you all posted.

Tubix testing ...

... Not long ago I asked for people to test another pattern for me, and I sent the instructions to these brave volunteers at the end of May. Vicki contacted me to make sure it was OK if she made a smaller version of the quilt by using less blocks, which was fine with me.  All I asked was that the testers have the flimsy complete within four weeks

Well, imagine my delight when I heard from Vicki just a week later that she had not only finished the top, but it was quilted and bound and had even been out into the big wide world for it's very first photo opportunity.

 If you go to Vicki's blog, here, you can see more photos, including close ups of her fantastic quilting. Vicki, it's beautiful, and I think I love it more than my own version!

Why is it ...

That I can sew eleven curved seams without using one single pin,

but the twelfth seam had to be pinned into submission after I tried, and failed to sew it properly three times?

If at first you don't succeed ....

.... try again, they say.  So I did.  Remember all my woes over not getting a decent mock piped binding?

Well on Monday Scrappy and I got together and had another go.  Actually, Scrappy had one go, and I had four.  You wouldn't believe how many different ways I found of getting it wrong, from catching a piece of the piping in the wrong place, to twisting one end like this.  Oh, and see all those stitch rippers?  They started the day sitting neatly in a little bowl next to Scrappy's sewing machine, but each time I went wrong, I picked one up and moved to the table to unsew, so by the time I'd finished there were none by the machine and 3 rippers and 2 pairs of scissors on the table where I was working.

Finally I did have something that was almost acceptable look, but I'm still not happy with it, so guess what I'm going to do later today?

And here is Scrappy's version, looking all beautiful, elegant and perfect.











Perhaps that saying should be "If at first you don't succeed, give up"?

I also want to say Happy Birthday to my father, who is 90 today.  We are going out to lunch today, but I have been told in no uncertain terms, that I was not allowed to organise a birthday cake with candles and all the staff gathered round singing Happy Birthday.  Spoilsport!  Then on Saturday we are having a family dinner at home.

Please Miss, I've done my homework ...

... the other weekend Scrappy and I went to a meeting of the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Group.  One member was demonstrating how to do a mock piped binding by machine which looked very effective, and easy, and would be a wonderfully quick way of finishing quilts.  Hmm, not so.  Or at least, not in my case.  I'm not even going to show you a photo of my first attempt.  So I tried again the next day, and I'm not showing you a photo of that effort either.  Anyway, a few days later we got together and had a sewing (and chatting, and eating) day and we'd decided to have another go. I was still not happy with my efforts and we think it was because we were tucking the ends of our binding in to finish it, and that was making for an awfully lumpy, bumpy bit.  So we made another decision.  The next time we get together, we are going to have another go, but this time we will try joining the tails of the binding instead.  So, I've done my homework and have a little mug rug all ready to go, together with the mock-piped binding and I'm actually ready early cos we're not meeting up till next week.  Here's the one that's ready to go

I know I said I'm not showing you my 3rd (or was it 4th) go from last week, but here it is, just for a laugh

By the way, why is it that when you look at something, it's fine, until you look at a photo of it?  Can you spot the deliberate mistake?

A bargain ....

... or was it?

A couple of days ago I was in the supermarket with my father.  Amongst the items on his list was butter and it turned out that the brand he wanted was on special.  Buy 2 for £5.00 the poster shouted.  Only thing is Dad didn't want two.  So he picked them up anyway, and said he'd give the other one to me.  About five minutes later it suddenly dawned on him that his one packet of butter had just cost him £1.40 more than if he'd just bought the single one.  Hmm, maybe not a bargain after all?

And that, Dear Reader, is why you might have seen a middle-aged lady and her father stopped dead in the middle of the bread aisle of a well-known supermarket the other day, laughing their heads off like a pair of fools.

Sylvia's quilt ...

Today I am turning the spotlight on a quilter called Sylvia.  Sylvia is a friend of Gail, and Gail is the sister of Lynn.  It seems that Sylvia fell in love with Gail's version of my pattern, 3D Noughts and Crosses and decided she had to make her own.

Apparently, Sylvia started quilting at about age 9 or 10 in Zimbabwe where she used fabric from old, worn out clothes.  She learned to sew in school and it was all done by hand!  She learned more from the missionaries at the mission hospital in the bush when she was there at about age 17 but didn't have a sewing machine until she came to the US in 1988.  Gail asked Sylvia about her colour choices for her quilt and apparently purple is her favourite colour and if you enlarge the photo you will see that all the fabrics have purple in them to some extent.

I think this is a stunning quilt, thank you Sylvia for making it and also for allowing me to show it on my blog.

I have a question ....

... and I would really like to hear your opinions.  If you are buying a pattern, do you like to see a pretty, "posed" photo of the quilt on the front like this

or would you prefer to see a flat shot such as this

Finally, just because I can, here's a photo of a lovely azalea in our garden.  In real life it is actually a much deeper pink, but I am a useless photographer, and this was the best I could do.

I'm back again ...

... (did you even notice I was missing?)  We had a super holiday, travelling round Britain on one of these

(only kidding, we were on steam trains, but I saw this at one of the stations and thought it was great fun) seeing wonderful scenery and eating wonderful food. We've been from London, down to almost the tip of Cornwall, up through Wales to the top of Scotland, over the sea to Skye, back down the other side of Scotland and then down to London again. We went with our friends from Cornwall again this year, and as an added bonus Scrappy and her husband were there too.

We got home yesterday, and now the diets start and the washing machine and iron are working overtime. Soon I'll get back to pattern writing and then I can get Big Bertha out and start quilting things like Coloured Boxes and Tubix.