Late show photos

Now my posts are a bit wonky in order...I know the show was a few weeks ago and I have posted since then but I've had visitors and my life has been a bit hectic! I also noticed I have been posting about a lot of things that have nothing to do with quilts...what am I thinking!

I will not make any claims to these being the best nor the most interesting quilts at the show. They are however the ones that caught my eye and came out best in the photos. I was my usual disorganized self and did not make notes...I thought I could just enlarge the photos and read the name of the maker...duhhh, the show labels don't have the names of the quilt or the maker only the number! So my apologies to the makers. If anyone knows their names I would be very happy to post them.

I really liked the use of vertical patterns in this first quilt. It has a tribal or aboriginal feel without being too kitsch. I also love the inner borders that are different on each side of the quilt.


The second quilt (bright green) also has an interesting vertical pattern. I liked the simplicity of the pattern and the balance of the colors.
















The theme of the show was architecture. Of course we spent a lot of time checking out any wonky or near wonky houses! This was just a fun quilt. I liked the sunrise at the upper left, the cat at the bottom and the log cabin blocks that seperate the rows of houses.







So totally loved the orange-ness of this little wall-hanging! Beads, buttons, and fuzzy stuff just make you smile!


Woops, off the make dinner...more later!

Visitors in town

I've been off the grid for a bit. The day after Tonya left my sister and her husband arrived from the states. I like having visitors since it gives me such a good excuse for seeing more of England.

Our first day we spent in Cheltenham seeing the regency style houses and visiting a proper English tea room. We then headed out to the country-side to see some Cotswold villages and take lots of photos of thatched roof cottages and roses. Stanton and Stanway are two of my favorite villages.

The next day we drove down to see Stonhenge and Avebury to see the standing stones. Stonhenge is large and some ways more imprssive but Avebury allows you to go right up the stones (plus the bonus of the sheep and lambs...such a weakness I have for lamb photos!) We also got to see the town my Mom lived in for part of WWII, Tidworth.

I took hundreds of photos that day and am tossing around some ideas of what to do with them. The Stonhenge ones I particularly like. I've even considered an "art"quilt!

Quiet House

With Tonya on her way back to Paris the house is very quiet again. Brownie has slept all afternoon...guess all the attention wore the little cat out!

Today I worked a bit on my Santa red-work. I have finished three so only 9 more to go! They are very fun and relaxing. The pattern is from Bird Brain Designs and is aptly titled "Here Comes Santa Quilt."

While Tonya was here we did a lot of tea drinking. I even got into the kitchen and made some Fruit Scones which go very well with clotted cream. (Calories don't count when friends visit - right?!) She asked for me to post the recipe so here goes....

Fruit Scones
3 cups flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
1/4 cup currants
1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange rind
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Glaze: 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon of water

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl; stir well. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Stir in apricots, cherries, currants, and citrus rind. Add buttermilk and stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4-5 times.

Pat dough into a 10-inch circle on a an un-greased baking sheet. Combine water and egg and brush top of the scones. Sprinkle with sugar. Cut into 12 wedges; separate the wedges slightly (about 1/4 to 1/2 inch.) Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm. (Though we ate some for breakfast the next morning and they were still good!)

When I made the scones this week I didn't have currant so used more apricots and cherries. I also doubled the amount of lemon rind because I knew I was going to use some of my quilting friend's lemon marmalade...so wonderful!

The photo below shows one of my favorite gardens. It is outside the village of Doddington and for a few weeks in spring looks like a black and white garden (up close you find out the tulips are really dark purple.)

Quilt Show!

Tonya and I made it to the Malverns Quilt Show and back to Teddington in one piece. Our plans to not buy any fabric were busted 10 steps in the door! The second stall was manned by Kim Porter of Worn and washed reclaimed fabrics. The photo below is of her stall. It so made us think of Bonnie and her new book. Kim has a great sense of color. The rolls were hard to resist...so we didn't. Two of our rolls are in the first photo. We also got some packages of fat quarters in bright plaids, some indigo fat-quarters and some very fun Indian stamps. Not as much damage as I've done at some shows and more than others!

Now we are going upstairs to my quilt room so Tonya can "shop my stash" and find some bits to go with her new fabrics and maybe drink our 100th cuppa tea!
We also have to chase Goldie out of the guest room again...she isn't sure why T has taken over "her" bed!

Sunny Days!

I have been bad about posting, cleaning house, quilting or just about any responsible thing the past few days....blame it on the weather. We have sun. Beautiful, beautiful sun!

We went on a long walk around Snowshill on Saturday. The woods were filled with wild garlic in full bloom. Boy was it fragrant! Wonderful. We had lunch at a local pub. All and all a great day. I just can't bring myself to stay indoors. I have lots of cleaning to do for visitors coming this month and two quilts to finish. Maybe I'll just walk MacBeth....

Jane Austen visit and recipie

I finally made it to Bath where, as my husband puts it, I "stalked" Jane Austen. He just doesn't get it... Anyway, the city was wonderful, the sun was shining, and I ate way too many scones with clotted cream. It doesn't get better than that. Oh, ya, and there is a very cute quiting store...bonus!


Here is some of the regency architecture. There were four crescents surrounding a small park. The photo below shows the detail between the first and second floors. There were hundreds of different patterns. They reminded me of appliqué.
I would definitely like to get back there again. I was able to go to the Abbey but ran out of steam and didn't see the baths (no pun intended!) don't you just love these carved angels climbing the ladder! They were on both side the Abbey. (And check out those blue skies!!!!)

A couple of folks asked for the Blueberry Pound Cake recipe. I think it came from Cooking Light but it may have been Southern Living. If they don't come from my family then 90% of the recipes I use are from one of those magazines.

Blueberry Pound Cake

2 cups sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup reduced fat cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour, divided
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 (8-ounce_ carton of lemon yogurt
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
(optional: grated lemon peel)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat granulated sugar, butter and cream cheese at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla.

Combine 2 Tablespoons of flour and blueberries in a small bowl and toss to coat. Combine remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda and slat. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternating with yogurt - beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Fold in blueberry mixture.

Pour into a 10-inch tube pan coated with cooki8ng spray. Sharply tap pan once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes. remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl (optional: add 1 tsp grated lemon peel.) Drizzle over warm cake. Cut using a serrated knife.

Food Festival

It has been a pretty dreary weekend here. I could do with a full day of sun right around now...I worked a bit on the border for my around th world quilt. Goldie has claimed it as hers - but then she does that for every quilt!

We did go to a fun food festival in Tewksbury this weekend. Lots of organic stalls...though to be honest we only had some Old Spot sausages and some local beer. I think I was overwhelmed by the choices. My main reason for going was to see Paul Rankin, a TV chef, do a cooking demonstration. The demonstration tent was very crowded though and when I went to sit down I was body checked by a young guy who really wanted that seat. Only I could get a twisted knee at a cooking demo!

We bought some lemon yogurt so I can make my blueberry lemon pound cake today. That will make me feel like spring!

Prague

I'll get back to my quilting after this post...I just had to put up some photos of Prague. It is a beautiful city! Lots of museums and old buildings. Lots of old and new art. Even some Dixie music on a 14th century bridge!


I loved how the restaurant below had different fabrics on each of the chairs! There were several outdoor spots like that . Obviously it made me think of quilts!

The next two photos are from St. Charles Bridge. A great spot if a bit crowded with tourists. It has dozens of statues along the bridge with lots of artists selling their works. I wish we had a bit more sunshine but at least it didn't rain!