The good - The bad . . .

Not sure about the ugly - lol !


Life is running away with me just now and I am a bit behind on lots of things. Behind on blogging and answering emails. Behind on ironing - but I can live with that. This week I'll be playing catch-up I think.


Anyway first the good. It's a great feeling when your son asks " Mum - are you expecting a bloggy parcel because the postman is coming down our path with a box ?" And even nicer when that parcel is a complete surprise from a lovely lady called Karol-Ann. It was a slightly belated birthday present and is absolutely the best bag I own.


Here is son very kindly modelling it for me. ( No of course your face isn't in the photo Patrick - just keep watching The Simpsons - lol - bad mum ).



I cannot tell you how lovely and gorgeous this is in real life - so well sewn and I'm very impressed with the magnetic fastenings. Thanks KA - you are a star ! There were also some sweet little candles in the box and some fantastic threads which are very beautiful and unusual.



Now onto the bad... I mentioned last post that I am working on something NOT fun. It is this.








It is not mine and I don't even know the lady who owns it but here's the story. Two of my friends from my small quilting group ( who happen to be sisters ) first discovered quilting 15 years ago when they did a sampler quilt for beginners along with another lady they know. My two pals duly finished their quilts and made others and joined our quilting group etc,etc. The third lady however got so far and abandoned her quilting career in order to take up other hobbies. So this poor quilt has been sat in a bag for almost 15 years waiting for some unfortunate soul to take pity on it and finish it. Yes - that some-one is me. I was persuaded to take it home and finish it off. Now the lady whose quilt it is had started hand-quilting it and although my friends said that finishing it off by machine would be fine I just thought it would look so much better finished off the way it was started. So hand-quilting it is.


I have umpteen projects myself that I would love to hand-quilt but instead I'm finding myself working on this. A bit musty-smelling ( well wouldn't you be if you sat in a bag for all that time ? ) and absolutely not my colours. I'm doing my best quilting on it but my heart isn't in it - in fact I can't wait to get shot of it. I'm trying to do at least an hour a day on it but there is still a way to go. Lesson to self - Just Say NO !! One day I will learn. Meant to say my friends have assured me she will pay me for my time but not sure how much. She is quite an elderly lady and would love to see it finished. You know the saying - There's one born every minute - lol !







Quick last photo - there were no cats in sight when I got this opened up to take a photo - quilt magnets !!





I have been doing a bit of fun stuff too but have no photos just yet. I got shut of some quilty stuff on Ebay last week too so that was good - made a little room for more :-)

See you soon.

Quick update - Patrick came in and rumbled me - he saw his photo and said I was a terrible liar - lol ! He doesn't mind really...

Small quilts.

First of all do you remember that batik quilt I made for my friend Jacqui's birthday ? Well she phoned me on my birthday last week full of aplogies for not letting me know earlier that she had received it. She is a TV producer and has such a busy life it makes my head hurt so I told her it was fine. Anyway she absolutely loved the quilt so much etc. She opened my parcel as well as her other presents during a dinner party - she said she cried so much that some of her guests started crying too - lol ! Wish I'd been a fly on the wall !

She can't post my present apparently but will bring it to me in person in the next few weeks but in the meantime she sent me these as a sort of birthday present but not - lol ! Beautiful. If you click on the picture for a close-up please avert your eyes from the dust - must do that !!

Anyway Kate and I had arranged a little swap in honour of our 40th birthdays - hers is next month. Here's what I sent

and here's what I received.

Now Kate couldn't have chosen better colours for me as blue and yellow is my favourite colour combination. The fabrics are SO lovely and the quiting is brilliant. I love it and it was a great swap. Are you on for another for our 50th birthdays Kate ??

I've also finished my little quilt for ALQS round 2. I need to label this and get it off asap. It has a LONG way to travel. I will be sad to see it go.

Here is a close-up of the quilting.

I was a bit unsure about what colour thread to use and was dead brave and went with blue instead of playing it safe with white. I like how it came out. It is hand-quilted except for the borders.

Here's my new quilty notice board I recently bought. All sorts of bits and bobs on there. Some I have plans for and some I don't.

Next post I will show you something I'm doing that I'm not enjoying. I want to do other stuff but this is weighing heavy on my shoulders - it needs to be done. All will be revealed - sorry can't help teasing a bit.

See you soon.

Winners

Thanks all for your good wishes and for taking the time to tell us all your favourite bits of this fantastic hobby/obsession.

Patrick picked 3 random numbers and the winners are Anne who gets the 8 fq's and pincushion and the 2 runners-up are Country Mouse and Gene. And yes Gene I will send you the blue one - lol ! I have your address Anne but if the others can email your addresses please.

For the people who asked for a pattern - there isn't one. I just drew around a CD for the base and cut some flower shapes and leaves out of paper. I can't draw for toffee so that tells you how easy this is.

Because I have limited space to sew now I had a good tidy-up yesterday and have dug out an old UFO to work on. I should have pictures next post.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend. Our clocks went back an hour last night so that means an extra hour of quilting time right ?

Another candle on the cake !

Yes tomorrow is my birthday - and its a big one. I will be 40. Crikey - how did that happen ?

Anyway I am doing this post now as I'm sure I will be busy tomorrow. I think Jason has booked George Clooney for a couple of hours for me and no doubt afterwards I will be wined and dined - lol ! Actually we have nothing planned except for a nice family meal out - nice and quiet - just how I like it. I have ordered some quilting books from Amazon too.

Last year I started a new quilt on my birthday and I am going to make this a tradition. Here is last years effort just dug out from a dark, dusty drawer.

Yes as you can see I didn't get very far with this - lol ! After cutting out a zillion melons by hand and drawing the seam allowance in in pencil and then piecing by hand I didn't like it. I could not get the middles to lie flat and it had lost it's charm. I still plan to do something with the bits I have cut - maybe some machine applique. Anyway whilst flicking through a mag late last night I saw something that got me going. Armed with Patricks compass and protractor and a sharp pencil I've been fiddling. This is my template. Keep tuned...

I've also finished a top but will show you that soon. I've been messing about with felt and made these. Great fun and nice to do in the evenings whilst everyone else is glued to the gogglebox ( as my mum used to call the TV ).

I have plans for more

What shall I do with all these ? Well as it's a special birthday tomorrow and I'm feeling generous - not to mention my fabric drawers will no longer shut I'm having a little giveaway.

For the winner I will send one of these pincushions plus this

2 yards ( 8 fq's ) of autumn colours for the taking. Also 2 other winners will get a pincushion and 3 fat quarters each. Sounds like a plan.

You know the rules - the main one being I must be able to contact you if you win. I will follow the example of Linda who had a giveaway recently. Anyone is welcome to enter but if I recognise you as a regular commenter I will put your name in twice. Fair ?

For a bit of fun and because I'm nosey please tell me which part of quilting you enjoy most. Is it the searching for inspiration, the choosing of fabric or indeed the BUYING of fabric :-) etc.

I will choose winners on Friday 24th October.

Take care xx

Kitty update !

You are all so lovely - I knew you would understand. The latest on Tibbles ( as we used to call him when he visited our garden ) is this -

I phoned the vets on Friday afternoon and he had been operated on and had his eye removed and was doing very well - bless him ! The vet had managed to get him a place in a local animal sanctuary only 2 miles from my home. They do great work here and I know he will be well looked after while he recovers after his surgery.

If we want we could still adopt him and I have talked myself in and out of this no end of times. A couple of things I forgot to mention in my last post were that he has already been neutered so he has belonged to some-one at one point. And the other thing was the injury was not terribly recent so he had been suffering for a while. This tells me he has been neglected by some-one very badly or perhaps his owner has passed away or something. I'm kind of thinking he will be better off away from this area with a new start with new owners that will look after him and love him as he deserves. Not that we wouldn't love him - if anything we love our cats too much and are slaves to them - lol ! But I think after all he has been through he needs a quiet life for a while and I don't think he would get that here with our other cats. Our youngest cat Tizer is the equivalent of a hyper-active toddler and poor Tibbles would never get a moments peace. It is a lot to ask for 4 adult tom cats to all get along together I'm thinking. My other big fear if we take him in is he wanders back to where he came from and we never see him again.

Anyway we plan to visit him later in the week and see how he is. We will take some food and stuff for the centre. I'm sort of thinking that if they don't find somewhere for him soon then maybe we will have a re-think. Not sure that will happen though as he is so cute and friendly people will be falling over themselves to provide for him. If possible I will try and get a photo of him to show you. I think this is for the best. I have shed so many tears over this cat you wouldn't believe. I'm so glad I spotted him out of that window that day and I'm glad we persevered and got him sorted. We could not bear to think of him suffering.

Next post will be back to quilty stuff. I have a little something planned too...

A Cat story

Well I'm back - not that I've actually been anywhere - lol ! A bad dose of flu had me wiped out for a while but I'm all better now.

Before I go any further thankyou all so much for your fabulous comments on my new quilt. You are all lovely and I appreciate so much the kind words even if I don't always get round to answering every comment. I do try but sometimes it is just impossible. I can confirm that it is now in use on our bed and is doing us very well now the colder nights are coming in.

I have quilting news to share but that is for another post. The next tale is cat-related so if you're not interested look away now - lol !

The story starts back in April when we had a little visitor to our garden. the link to that post is here. The visitor is in the bed.

Well on Tuesday this week I was sewing upstairs when I looked out of the window to see the same little cat walking down our path. My stomach sank - the poor little thing was in a bad way. He literally had his left eye hanging out of his socket - aww. I shouted Jason and he came and had a look. We were both horrified. I very quietly went out the back door of our house and tried to get to him but he ran away down our road. We quickly grabbed a box of fishy treats that our cats love and followed him. He had settled under one of the neighbours cars. We then tried to entice him out with the treats. He came out so far and then shot back under. He was eating the treats so was obviously hungry but he was very scared too. Jason was then despatched back to our house for some roast chicken and one of the cat baskets. Oh yes he liked the chicken and got a bit braver coming out a little further but the slightest movement from me sent him scurrying back under the car. I almost had him a couple of times. Then some of the neighbours got curious and came over to see what we were doing. Well that blew it - with all the commotion he got spooked and ran. We were gutted !

Since then we have been looking out for him. I called all our local vets and animal rescue centres hoping he was being taken care of but no luck. We didn't know if he had a owner or not but we were thinking that surely if he had a home he would have been taken to the vets by now.

Anyway last night ( Thursday ) my daughter Jess and her boyfriend were leaving our house to go out. A few minutes later Danny knocked the door to say the cat was back down the bottom of our street. I was in my PJ's so quickly chucked on a coat and some shoes, grabbed the cat basket and treats and off we went again. It was dark at least - I must have looked a right loony. We weren't sure exactly where he was so started peering into peoples gardens. One of our neighbours has a security light and I kept triggering it off. He came out to see what I was doing and after I explained he went back in and got me a torch - bless. After about 15 minutes of searching we were about to give up as there was no sign of him. Then Danny saw a cat go under another car but we didn't know if it was him or not. A quick flash of the torch confirmed it was. I settled down again to try and get him out with the treats. Same again - came out so far and retreated. So Jess nipped back home for a tin of sardines. I thought if I could get him eating out of the dish I stood a chance of catching him. Oh the scent of that fish did the trick alright. I laid a trail of chunks of the fish right to the cat basket and waited. He was starving and followed the trail just great. As he started eating from the bowl I very slowly moved my hands and grabbed him and shoved him in the basket. Hurray - I was so pleased I could have cried.

Got him home and phoned the emergency vet. Up close his eye was far worse than we thought. Absolutely awful. We took him to the vets - by this time it was nearly 10pm. She confirmed that is is so bad he will need to have his eye removed. We got him out of the basket and although he must have been terrified and in pain he was an absolute star. He started rubbing up against my hands and even began purring. What a little love !

Now we are faced with a quandry. The vet asked if we are prepared to take him after his surgery. We already have 3 cats and have always said that is enough. Our house is not big and we don't want to overcrowd them. Also it has taken us almost 2 years to get to this stage where they all happily live together. It has not always been this way - it took alot of time and patience to get to this stage and I am worried that introducing another adult male to the mix will really throw a spanner in the works. If we do have him obviously we will have to pay the vets bills too which are shockingly high. Jason has just returned to work after being made redundant and money is very tight. What to do - what to do ? If we don't have him they will try and get him into an animal rescue place where the vet said they will have no problem re-homing him as he is such a sweetheart. If they are unable to get a place for him he will have to be put to sleep but that is a last resort. I can emphatically say that will happen over my dead body. We left the vets and I broke my heart. My other worry if we have him is that after all this he leaves us and returns to where he came from. Perhaps he already has a home - we just don't know.

I will phone the vets later today and see what they say. My head is telling me it is a bad idea to adopt him but my heart is telling me otherwise. Trouble is I love him already.

I will let you know what happens.

Oh Yes !!

I have a quilt !

Finished binding this on Tuesday just as our new bed was being delivered.

This is my version of Bonnies Carolina Crossroads quilt. I started this Boxing Day last year as a mystery. You may remember once all the blocks were placed together I wasn't sure if I liked it as it was too pink. Now I love pink but I decided to add the striped green sashing to break it up a bit. I'm so glad I did as I love it. These pictures are not brilliant as the quilt is just draped over my settee as there is no-one in to hold it up for me.

It was put together quilt-as-you-go and worked very well.

It is such a great feeling to have something done completely. I am definitely hanging onto this one as most of my other quilts seem to leave home - lol !

Thanks to everyone who emailed with suggestions for helping with the dreaded migraines. They are much better this week although I am still sooooo tired.

Have a great weekend. I have a quiet one planned so may just have a play with my stash and see what happens . . .