Visiting and a Visitor

Perhaps should be the other way around, but doesn't sound quite right.  Weekend before last we had a visit from my daughter Sarah, who was taking a break from her studies (she took an exam yesterday) to stay with us.  We went on a shopping trip to Leeds.  Not much shopping done, but nice to have time to browse around the shops and a lovely sunny day too.  On Sunday David, Sarah and I visited the National Coal Mining Museum near Wakefield and had the chance to have a tour in the mine itself which was really brilliant.  On the surface there was a lot more to see and think we may go there again sometime soon to see the bits we missed.  Anyway before going underground we had our photo taken just to prove we've been there, taken by museum's photographer.

As for the visiting, we went to stay at my brother-in-law's in Surrey last weekend as David, Peter, my son Alex and a few friends went to Farnham for Beerex on the Friday.  David and I also visited my sister, other brother-in-law and nephew on Saturday in Burnham, near Slough.  The skies were very quiet due to planes being grounded, really unusual.  We enjoyed a barbeque in the warm late afternoon sun, which was lovely.

Before heading back up north again on Sunday we all got together for Sunday lunch in Chandlers Ford to have a late celebration of my son Jamie's birthday (which was on the 16th).  Here's a pic of Jamie with his wife Carly, not liking having her photo taken as she's usually the other side of her camera. 

It was a lovely weekend but work beckoned (shame :o(( ) so had to go back. 

As for sewing, there hasn't been none of late, so must get back into practice.

A day of sewing

It's great to have a decent slice of time to sew and today, weatherwise was not supposed to be a nice day, but although cloudy it stayed dry (I was hoping for rain!).  I set to with a quilt for Freddie as the other 3 grandchildren have got quilts and I saw February's Popular Patchwork which had a quilt called "Woof", named after the Makower fabrics that the quilt was made of and here's a photo of the magazine article.

Having mislaid the magazine a while I then phoned the supplier who made up the kits and it was no surprise that they had sold out.  To buy the quantities of fabrics to make it cost so much more - so I bought the panel fabric from Hobbycraft when I went to the branch in Leeds and chose fabrics from mine and my Mum's fabric stashes that would go.  To my surprise I managed to get 12 blocks done and are now arranged on the bed before choosing the final arrangement. I'm quite pleased how they turned out so the magazine was the starting point for making my own version of this than following the actual kit.

I also made some postcards for a charity that is raising funds for a Teenage Cancer Unit in Norfolk.  Another BQL Postcard group member asked for some postcards a little while ago so here are some more to go, mostly made from the scrap bag pieces. (Not that it's made a dent in it!).

Yesterday being a better of these past two days, David and I ventured to a steam railway in Leeds, Middleton Railway in Hunslet.  There was a short line with a small terminus, just a platform, in Middleton Park a large wooded parkland.  So really it was a case it just went there and back again.  There was quite a good little museum with locally made engines, including one made in the year we were born, nice to know we're old enough to be museum pieces, even at our age!!

We then went on to Temple Newsam in Leeds, a large hall with vast grounds and a farm.  We visited the house but not allowed to take photos so here's a link to find out about it.  The house itself took over an hour and half to get round and that wasn't all of it and we didn't get to see the farm either, but that can wait for another time.

So that was it for our Easter weekend, back to the grind tomorrow.

This and that

Last weekend we went down to Dorset to stay with my parents while we caught up with friends and family.  It was great to go down south and after so long (since Christmas!).  David and I visited our sons and their families and went to a soft play centre near Chandlers Ford and 3 of the little ones enjoyed it and the youngest, Freddie slept through most of it!  We gave Isobel (who recently celebrated her 1st birthday her present which included a little rabbit with a quilt and pillow.

Above is a photo of the birthday girl with her Dad, Alex.

Carly gave me a photo frame with a collection of photos for Mothers Day.

Back home again things have been busy back at work and now that it's Easter Weekend I ought to get busy on some stuff, including a quilt for Freddie.  Got fabric now must start to get it sewn.  It seems that half this long weekend has been taken up with working :o((.  But never mind, the weather is set to be windy and rainy so I could get down to some sewing.

The past couple of weeks I've received postcards from the other four swappers in the quick mosaic theme.  A lovely colourful selection of postcards and here's a photo of them here.  I won't be taking part in another swap until June.

And finally, the chicken pincushion that I made a the recent Regional Day, but hadn't photographed until now.  Doesn't it look sweet?

International Quilting Day

About 6 years ago my friend, Brenda, and myself started an event in Sturminster Marshall, Dorset, to celebrate International Quilting Day, which we were made aware of by visiting a quilting day in Hartley Wintney, near Basingstoke.   This was run by Doris Dove and Diana Baker who used the IQD as an event to bring quilters together and raise funds for charity.  There are now 4 similar quilting days taking place at the same time around the Basingstoke area.

The four years that Brenda and I ran this from 2004 to 2008 we'd raised money for Julia's House (a respite centre for local children in Poole), Macmillan Dorset, CLIC children's cancer charity and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.  Little did I know with the last one we organised that I would be in Yorkshire by the end of 2008! We both found this too much to organise although other quilters found the day a lot of fun it did take up a lot of time.  However Pauline and Sarah of Pauline's Patchworks of Weymouth took over in 2009 and this year in 2010 they have raised money for Help for Heroes - an organisation that assists our wounded servicepeople from the Afghanistan conflict.  You can read about the day here. Here are the posts about our events in 2007 and 2008

For my part the day for me consisted of going alone as it was a miserable day outside and making a present for my granddaughter who was 1 year old on Tuesday 16th.  I can't show my efforts for now but will share a photo of this in my next post.  (I will, honest.).  That took the morning.

In the afternoon I also made some postcards for the quick mosaic theme in BQLPC postcard group.  I was swapping with 4 others and have received 2 postcards so far.  There is a link to the method that I used on my December Calendar Challenge here but of course the scale is a bit smaller.  It was good that odds and ends with some selvedges that I had could be used, though it didn't make any attempt to dent my scrap bag. Here's a pic on the left of the completed cards, on the right is the reverse of the work in progress. So a great use of the day. No organising anything, just myself.

On Sunday the weather dried up so David and I headed to Keighley and to East Riddlesden Hall, a National Trust site, then just a short drive from there to a model railway exhibition at a community hall in the local park.  After then we headed over towards Hebden Bridge and to Hardcastle Crags, with a mile long walk down to Gibson Mill, which at one time was a cotton mill.  A very popular place with walkers we took a gravel path to the mill then walked back by the river, which with wet weather became a sort of obstacle course, but an adventure nonetheless.

 

 Above is the outside of East Riddlesden Hall and below that is a photo taken from the inside of the house looking out. You can see that window in the top picture above the arch.

This weekend will see us going down south and staying with my parents and catching up with family and friends.  Really looking forward to going "back home".

Before I go though, here's a photo of how our spring bulbs are doing. The previous weekend there were just a few crocuses, this last weekend there were more and joined by a few dwarf daffodils.  During this week the dwarf tulips have made an appearance.  I just love these first signs of spring.

 

A bit of catching up to do.

I've not posted anything recently which means I'm waaayyyy behind in updating my blog.

Last weekend on Saturday I went with Janet to the Quilters Guild Regional Day in Clifford, near Leeds.  The speaker in the morning was Maggie Relph from The African Fabric Shop, describing her journey and the types of fabrics made in West Africa.  It was amazing how much fabric came out of the suitcase on the table beside her.  In the afternoon we had a choice of 3 mini workshops and made a felt pincushion with a chicken appliqued on it.  (Sorry, didn't take a photo). We had a very enjoyable day.

On Sunday David and I went to Brodsworth House and Conisborough Castle, both run by English Heritage, of which we are members.  Both are around Doncaster, so not that far to get to.  A lovely sunny, if cold day and I think a lot of people were taking advantage of the nice weather to out and about as it was quite busy at Brodsworth.

Because of the prolonged winter the snowdrops were still in flower so had a chance to take some photos like the two above surrounding the statues and after some lunch we went on to Consiborough.  After wandering around the ruined castle a chance to go up to the keep, which was recently renovated.

 So as you can see David and I had to take photos of each other just as proof we've been there!  There's a view of the town in the background.

Not quite sure what Blogger is doing to my photos, they're not quite appearing where I want them to! 

Visit to Llangollen

It has been a long time since I last posted and so much to catch up on, where the time goes I don't know.  The weekend before last David and I went for a weekend to Llangollen and Chester as a chance to escape work/weather/whatever and go somewhere different - well not exactly different as we visited the area a few years ago.  Although snowy and cold we found the Llangollen very busy as it was the last weekend of half term and a Thomas the Tank Engine weekend on the railway there.  So here are a few photos of trains.

One is of Thomas (of course)

 In the middle is the lovely scene of the River Dee running alongside the railway.  The last photo is of a tender engine just coming into the station.


We'd also visited the Quiltfest there, which took place at the local museum and at Plas Newydd, just a short walk out of the town.  I managed to take a few pics of the quilts shown at Plas Newydd, which housed quilts of the Contemporary group of the Quilters Guild.    Here are some photos of a few of the quilts that I took.

 

The metamorphosis of a frog by Joanna O'Neil - David liked this one and wanted me to take the photo.

This one I liked by Gillian Travis of her studio (I remembered taking photos of her shoes and the flowers in the Festival of Quilts which are to the right of this photo).

 

And this quilt made us laugh.  Its in 3 layers with holes in it made by Irene McWilliam, inspired by "Hole in the Ground" by Bernard Cribbins, and trying to remember how the song goes.  After getting home David downloaded the song. Next to the quilt is a stained glass window placed over a hollow in the wall.

As we made our way towards Wrexham and the hotel we could not resist stopping at Thomas Telfords Pontcysyllte Aquaduct, where you are so high in the valley over the River Dee with just a narrow path alongside the canal and things look so small, like the football players in the field below, they look like Subbuteo footballers!

And there's a barge along the canal. (See there's still some snow in the distance)

So that was our day in Llangollen, we went onto Chester on Sunday before going home.

Last week was my last week at Wakefield Council and also received cards from the latest postcard swap which I'll post very soon.

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.