I Learned A Bit About Blogger

Mooching around looking at blogs the past couple of evenings I found a few new things about Blogger, one of which I'm using for this post.  The first thing on Mai-Britt's blog was about the Updated Editor, which has more features than the old editor and following the instructions was easy to do.

Another thing that I've found it that pages can be added to the blog and that up to 10 of these can be added.  I thought (initially) that I'd call mine Non Quilting Photos, pretty boring but I can't thing of an original title at the moment.  I'll put some of the pics of when I've been out and about which are, well, non quilty.  (Got me so far?).  It'll be useful to add pages on other subjects without having to create a whole new blog.  That discovery I found on an artist site Making A Mark, when I read this blog Serendipity Patchwork.

There was a bit lurking at the top of my posts on Blogger asking if I want to be emailed with changes on Blogger.  Already I've found the "links" on this post easier to attach and can even test to see if they work before posting. But for now I might try putting a Non quilty photo on my non quilty page.

Postcards sent, received and made

I've recently done a postcard swap with Janet from Barnsley, who hasn't made postcards before and received her lovely card last week with her lovely hand dyed fabric. I sent one to her and here's pics of both our postcards below.

This is Janet's to me
This is mine to Janet
I've made some for a challenge for the BQL postcard group which is Drunkard's Path block and here's a pic of the four though I've only got 3 to send out. So the fourth may go into my sample book as I keep a few samples of postcards I make.
Playing around with the combination of shapes was fun. The two at the bottom are the same combination but the effect of the reversed colourways make them look different.

Treating myself

The past week has been indulgent. There have been 2 books (non-quilting - I do read other books!) and have treated myself - the new Jack Sheffield book - Village Teacher and the latest Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency book - Teatime for the Traditionally Built. Of course I did also have to buy a quilt book too and this was the new Gwen Marston Liberated Quilting book. I said in the new year that I was going to get more liberated, just need time to practice. Oh, yes I also bought a puzzle game for my DS.

Whilst shopping on Saturday at the supermarket, lots of people were buying Valentines gifts, but David and I don't go in for that at all. As there were some lovely tulips there I indulged in buying a lovely purple bunch. They are really gorgeous, love the colour. Later in the day I treated myself once more and bought some magazines (although one was a slimming one - ahem).

I also have some news on the job front. I went for an interview last Thursday at a bakery company in Doncaster and got the job! My contract was soon to finish at Wakefield Council so I was pleased that I could go from one job into another and I start the new job on 1st March. A bit sad to leave the Council as I've been there for 8 months and made a few friends, but I feel this is now time to move on.

Quilty Day

I was looking forward to the second workshop with Phillipa Naylor yesterday and like the last time, 2 weeks ago I was not disappointed. She is a really enthusiastic teacher and again learned quite a bit, this time about free machine quilting and later piping and binding. The photos show the samples of the free machining which I would have happily stayed all day playing with. The tan sample also shows the left edge with the piping attached, although it can't be easily seen because of the patterned fabric. The right shows the attached blue border.The blue piece below was more free machine practice. Once the feathers were demonstrated show how easy they were I just wanted to keep going.

I really enjoyed the day and it's fantastic to get a whole day quilting without other distractions. When I got home I found that the Region 4 (Dorset, Devon & Cornwall) Quilters Guild Newsletter was in the post and it was good to read about what's been going on back home in Dorset.
To end the day, David and I didn't fancy cooking so went out for a fish and chip dinner in Wakefield. A good end to a lovely day, in spite of the grim weather!I almost forgot to post these on the blog. In the BQL postcard group there is a birthday swap going on through this year and those who had birthdays in January, Janet (another Janet) and Lesley were the recipients of the above cards. Janet wanted a pink card and I couldn't think of anything pink at the time other than pink champagne. So there it is with the words "pink fizz" and the fizzy bits with sparkly machine thread and some glitter glue.

Perfection

This is the second time I've tried to post about the workshop I went to yesterday. The first time I accidently closed the tab I that my blog was on and lost it all. I've now discovered there's a preview add-on to Firefox (the browser I use) so I don't need to open another tab and close another by accident. I'll see how it goes.

OK, the workshop. I had a great time, there is always something to be learnt from a workshop and this one, Precision Piecing, our teacher was Philippa Naylor (her website is here), was no exception. The result of the day's work is on the photo above, with a Crown 12" block and learning the techiques used for making perfect piecing.

At the end of the day, we were given a demonstration about mitred borders and armed with a leaflet I spent some time this afternoon giving that a go and below is the finished block with its pink and red borders (the block is laid on top of green fabric). I am really pleased with my efforts on this. Perfect.

Alex Wild is fundraising for Leukaemia Research - JustGiving

Alex Wild is fundraising for Leukaemia Research - JustGiving

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Shopping and Surprise Late Christmas Present

Feel this week my blog should be "Sue W Shops"! I don't often do retail therapy type of shopping, but last Saturday, felt the urge to go to Meadowhall, in Sheffield. The snow had thawed and the weather a bit milder, though was rainy so not suitable High Street weather. By the time lunchtime came it seemed that half of Sheffield was in Meadowhall! But it was nice to have a mooch around the shops.

Because of the bad weather the sales in the shops had suffered so there were bargains to be had. I bought some tops in Laura Ashley and was tempted by some clothes in Debenhams, until I saw the queues at the tills! I also went to Radley and David treated me to this lovely handbag, which comes with its own pink bag to keep it looking lovely.

Anyway, that bit of retail therapy will last me for a while.

On Monday in the post came this lovely surprise from Jamie and Carly. Carly had hoped we'd get it in time for Christmas but it didn't arrive until a couple of weeks afterwards. They ordered a photo album with family photos and the next two photos are a few of the pages from the book, which show photos of Sophie and Leo.

The above photo is from a holiday in 2008 in Wales - we did choose good weather then! The last page had photos of Freddie, our latest Grandchild, which completed the album.

This coming Saturday I'll be going to a workshop with the Barnsley Embroiderers the first one I've done since moving up North well over a year ago and I'm really looking forward to this. I've chosen my fabric (from my stash, nothing new) and got the needs list and I've got everything needed. Let you know how I get on.

Not being idle

Being snowed in was no excuse for not getting anything done and I wondered how I have the time to go to work!

I've recently rediscovered some T-shirt printing sheets that I've had for some time and have started to put them to good use in labelling quilts. Have taken part in the Calendar Quilt Challenge with BQL last year as I finished each month's quilt I added another label onto a Word document. I then printed off the page of labels and it's handy that the printer settings includes a Mirror image setting. Looks odd, doesn't it.
After printing, came the job of ironing onto fabric and sewing onto the backs of all twelve little quilts. That was done while watching television. Above is the back of October's quilt
Another thing that I've made recently are some selvedge postcards. I've saved and friends have given me selvedges and I dug the bag out and put them together on a calico backing sewing on with variegated thread. I then cut them into 3 postcard and an ATC size pieces. Just a bit of fun.

This year I joined a new Yahoo Group, called Liberated Quilters for those who like doing a liberated style, in the style of Gwen Marston, who will have a reissue of her book. Looks like that could be fun too. Look out for me getting more liberated this year!

Snow photos

Above is my little red car which didn't get to work on Tuesday. There was a heavy downpour of snow which slowed down traffic and after half an hour of doing only a third of my journey I decided to return home. I'm glad that I had as the snow was falling much heavier by then. My car didn't move until Friday, but even then it was dodgy getting out of my road onto the road out of the estate and then the main road (which was fairly clear).

Next door's children built a snowman - soon as this was taken the poor thing was decapitated!
The next day cars were still unable to get out of the road. But I was able to make the 10 minute walk to the local supermarket for some shopping and this is the view on the walk back home, looking towards St Helens church and the line of snow covered trees.

And this is the back garden taken on Saturday after another bout of snow on Friday night. The snow on the table is about 8". Some of the snow on the chairs and bench fell of the backs and onto the seats making a thicker "cushion on them.

And today has been getting a little warmer, not much, but just enough to start the thaw and the snow on the table above is half the depth and has slid across the top by 2".

Lets hope the worst is over for this winter, but I don't think we'll have seen the last of it.

Secret Santa

Each year BQL (the Yahoo group that I belong to) runs a Secret Santa and I decided to take part this year, sending my gift all the way to the Isle of Skye to Ann. I did show a sneaky peak on a previous post back in November (shown here). I'd made 4 Christmas coasters, a rotary cutter case and a Christmas decoration (which you might recognise from my October challenge piece).


For my present, which came from someone else I received a Japanese style bag, with a really lovely print on it.As its fairly deep it may be useful for keeping some knitting in.

Visit to Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

We'd got back from our Christmas away visiting family and friends in the South on Wednesday so on New Year's Eve (as we're still on holiday) decided to visit the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway to go on their Mince Pie Special train. We started our journey at Oxenhope, which is at the other end of the line. Going towards the Pennines to Oxenhope there was quite a bit of snow in the hills (we didn't have any at home at the time) and a bitterly cold day. We went into the exhibition hall which houses their engines to get out of the cold where we found a small Christmas scene with a model train running around it, really cute.


Then we warmed up in the refreshment carriage with a cup of coffee and biscuits. They had to be Grandma Wild's, very appropriate, I thought.Even the water tank at the station had festive decoration.
And here's the steam engine. The train service was quite busy so there were a number of carriages. David managed to get this photo in without too many people.
I found this advert with for Stephens Ink with a thermometer....
.....yep, it's freezing, alright.

It was a good day out and something different to enjoy during the holidays.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I would like to wish everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I thought I would just do a quick post on here and replace the Christmassy background on my blog with a fresh new one and over the next few weeks I'll be making a few changes for the New Year.

Has anyone made any resolutions? Mine is the classic one - to lose weight! Seriously I've been putting weight on recently and had a fright when getting on the scales this morning. There will be a family wedding coming up in the summer which I hope will give me impetus to shift at least 2 stone of my excess. Not quite sure where to start though, to go to a slimming group or join an online group, have to think about that one.

I've just joined a Yahoo group called Liberated Quilters who also have a challenge blog here. So a different challenge on the quilting front.

In my next post I'll upload some photos that I've taken at a steam railway that David and I visited yesterday.

Enjoy the rest of the New Year weekend.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

This is my last post before Christmas. Getting everything ready for a trip down south first thing Christmas morning and an anxious eye on the weather to see if it'll be safe to go. There were snow showers last night and this morning, but the weather is gradually warming and is thawing slightly, so we'll wait and see.

Here are some photos of Christmas trees. Shopping trips recently to Wakefield after work and Leeds just this last Saturday and there are some lovely decorated trees out there.

This is the tree outside Wakefield Cathedral. It stands alongside what was the German Market. The market didn't last out until Christmas as it was closed down.
And this is the one in City Square, just opposite the railway station. In the background is the Old Post Office, which now houses restaurants and bars.


And here is our own Christmas tree. Had to buy a new one this year (we only have artificial trees, never real) and this one is said to fool Father Christmas that it's a real one. I say that after several sherries and mince pies he won't notice the difference!!

Last year I bought a snowmen decoration which has multicolour lights and has a lovely glow from our bay window and they are really cute. Here they are again.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME

Christmas Makes and Surprises

I saw this on another blog and I thought, why not, lets be part of a Show n Tell and so I'll share what I've made this month...
The December BQL Challenge quilt and above is the front, below is the back. I blogged this a short while ago but I never showed the back of this little quilt (it's only 12" square).
Those snowmen look rather jolly, don't they. This is the last BQL challenge and will miss what will come in the next month. I'm sure there are more things out there to challenge me.

Another item that I've made has been a Christmas card with my needlefelting machine and stitched onto card. This was for the Embellisher Group and was sent to Pam in Port Talbot. I hope that she likes this. The background is made from white velvet with cream scrim and some Angelina fibre trapped between the layers. The Christmas tree is green wool roving with Angelina fibre and green organza. Then the tree was punched onto the background fabric. I zigzagged around the edge with a glittery thread before sewing onto the card.

Now the surprises

As for the surprises, as part of the same swap I received this card from Janet. A lovely rich looking figgy pudding, with some flames on the top. It really looks lovely.
Another surprise was this wonderful little stocking with this gorgeous little deer button on the top from my friend Chris. In the stocking was a tea bag with a little verse to remember her on Christmas Day when I have the tea. Lovely!

Here's Freddie

After a quick dash down south as mentioned in my last post and lovely to have time to see my son Jamie and his family and have a cuddle of the new baby.


So here he is, Freddie. When we visted Carly and Freddie were still in hospital he could have had an infection so has been on antibiotics to be on the safe side, but they should be out of hospital soon, if not out already, by this time.

Somethings happened now

Today we've had big news - daughter-in-law Carly had her baby - a week late. He is quite a size, weighing in at 10lbs 4oz and his name is Freddie. No pics to show as yet, I think Jamie is too tired but he'll e-mail some tomorrow, so I hope to share then. Hopefully we'll have a quick dash down south to see the new arrival (and his family of course).

Meanwhile I have also managed to finish the last of the challenge quilts and this one below is my December one.


This is a quick mosaic with raw edged pieces of fabric (my choice was Christmas fabrics throughout, pinned and stitched on. For the edging I have some ricrac with gold metallic thread through it. I didn't have enough of either the red or the green to go all around so opted for 2 opposite sides in red and the others in green. I shouldn't have used a green fabric background to place this on as the ricrac edging doesn't show up to well. But I am pleased with my effort and it was very quick to do.

Not much happening...

I hoped to say that I've done sewing and I am in the process of doing the December Challenge quilt, but not finished, nothing to show yet. More importantly I was hoping to say that I have a new grandchild, due 1 December, but nothing yet, my poor daughter-in-law is still waiting.

I did say in my last post that I had photos from our visit to Manchester so here goes. 3 weeks ago we went to The Lowry which is an arts complex with theatre and galleries then over the bridge on the Manchester Ship Canal to the Imperial War Museum north. It was a wet day again - the last few weekends have been like that- but at least most of what we went to see was indoors and it was an enjoyable day out.
And here's another view of The Lowry..

This is the outside of The Lowry, the entrance has this peculiar shovel thing above it.

Going over the canal via a swing bridge across to the Imperial War Museum North. There is a connecting pathway with occasional mosaic pictures in it.
This is the outside of the Museum, looks very grey and gloomy, just like the weather. There is an observation platform the top of the tower.

I hope next time I have some news.

Been further North

Just come back from a weekend away near Bishop Auckland, to celebrate his birthday, my birthday and our anniversary - they are very close together and it saves buying each other presents. Disappointingly the weather was really awful returning home today, hoped to have taken a gentle jaunt home stopping at a few places on the way, but it was chucking it with rain. By the time we returned home it stopped raining - argghhh!

No piccies taken this weekend, but will post some of a couple of weeks ago when we crossed the border to go Manchester later.

Had a thought though. I love making postcards and haven't made any lately and wonder if anyone would want to swap with a postcard with me in January as a bit of New Year cheer. I don't want to be inundated as I'll swap with up to 10 people. If you've never made a postcard then I can give you instructions. Leave a comment on this post by 10 December and I'll get in contact by e-mail.

Knitting & Stitching Show Harrogate

On Sunday I went with the Barnsley Embroiderers to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate. A good place to shop and lots of things to see, but not a lot of photos as the artists there do not want photos taken, but in one of the halls there was this delightful knitted boat with knitted sea life around it. The boat was made as a project between February and September this year by the Customs House Arts Centre, South Shields and is called "Casting Off...A Coat For a Boat". (I was trying to find a link for this on the Arts Centre website, but I can't find one).
Oops! I think this photo is on its side!! You can see various sea life and a life belt.

And this one above shows a couple of lovely little seal pups with a star fish and some sea weed - all knitted.
By the time I left late afternoon it was getting dark in Harrogate and the lights on the trees were switch on. This was the view just across the road from the Conference Centre where the show was held.
And from the green looking up the main street. The Turkish Baths are to the right.

I did buy a couple of books - arty ones about sketchbooks, some magazines and threads, but no fabric or yarn (not sure what's wrong with me). I have found when I bought a new (larger) storage container with drawers in it just how much fabric I have got and I think that may have been the deciding factor in not buying any more, well, for the time being.

It was an enjoyable day out and lovely to have a wander around the exhibits and not feel rushed.