Room Box almost done

The fog is so dense this morning I could barely see MacBeth at the end of the leash! A good day to stay in and finish a quilt or make another table for my mini Tudor kitchen. Yes, the walls are up and the "historically accurate" electricity is working! I've finished a chair, bench and table. It is starting to look lived in. Since I took the class near Stratford-on0Avon I am going to make a couple of actors to hang out there (note the tiny tankards are already there waiting for them.) I love the aging process for these minis - lots of "mucky water." A far cry from keeping my hands and workspace clean while sewing!


I've started pulling out my Halloween decorations. My pumpkins are on the steps already...I'm the first in the village but that is OK with me. I put out a bowl of chocolate eyes and fingers on the sideboard (very popular with little boys! Also popular with some big-boys...my DH grabbed a handful on his way out the door this morning!)

Tonya is a bit Halloween-sick. Not a lot of decorations up for this holiday in Paris so I am going to post lots of Halloween photos the next few weeks. Maybe I will even pull out the half made Quilt witch I started a decade or so ago and finish her! Now that would be magic!

I have a niece and nephew who have birthdays on either side of Halloween. I made one Halloween quilt for them but feel like I should make another (sharing a quilt isn't much fun.) The quilt is in the photo below. It was a really quick one to make. I need to start another project well...I can't think of an appropriate finish to that sentence but you know what I mean! I just don't need to right now. I need a finish...mainly I need to finish a baby quilt for a shower this weekend (I work best under deadlines - for that read pressure!) I also need to get my hair cut today...I'd much rather stay home and sew...ah, well what we do for fashion....

This and That

The past few weeks have flown by! Dh has been sick which makes everything more complicated...he is doing better and went to work today so I can take a breather! Also we have been having problems with out internet connection...this morning we finally get a call back from BT broadband and of course the computer is working fine and the tech help barely speaks English and I don't speak "Edward's" language so I can't explain the problem....uggggh.

First, the "E" Quilt blocks belong to one of the members of my Fairford group. They were made by members of her family for her father when he was born! (His initials were EE!) She was home last month and a relative gave them to her to finish. I know I just saw this pattern somewhere on the ring but can't remember. Funny how you don't see a pattern for years and suddenly - there are two within a few weeks on opposite sides of the world!

Next, I have almost finished my Tudor mini-room. Here is the fireplace and the walls drying out. I've already sketched out a second floor. We visited Shrewsbury this weekend (finally) and I found myself taking lots of photos of timber buildings for inspiration. (Shrewsbury is a great shopping town! Lots of fun, funky stores. I need to go back without my DH!) Since I am a huge Cadfael fan we visited the Abbey. Not what I had pictured in my mind but still beautiful. While we were there the organist started practicing which made me feel like my Dad was with me (he was our church's organist.)

Part of our trip to Shrewsbury was for me to play with my new camera! DH gave me my Christmas present early...a Nikon D40. It is a lot of fun but also a lot to learn. Exciting though!

On the quilting front...I finished a baby quilt top this week and am trying to finish another. I feel very behind right now....what is that saying "the faster I go the behinder I get."

Miniature Class...

I spent the last three days in a miniature class with the folks from Gandads Playroom. They are retiring this year so this was their last class. I made a Tudor kitchen roombox with a large "working" fireplace. I learned a lot. I'll post a photo soon.

The cottage the classes were held at is beautiful. Close to Stratford-on-Avon the houses on the drive there gave me lots of inspiration for the work each day. The photo on the left is of one of the "traffic" jams I got into on the way home! I love pheasants but boy are they stupid! I had to get out of the car and chase them off the road! Since they don't have flight feathers yet they would have just continued walking in front of the car for I don't know how long!

I have continued working on my Mile a Minute...that has become more like the Big Dig in Boston (maybe I could blame it on the pheasants?) Anyway, I took some advice and added some larger strips to the off-size blocks. I also added the large half square trianges to make a sort of medallion center to give it a bit of structure. It is now about 32 inches across. I think I like it. I've started the next row...not sure how big I will really make this...it is getting heavy quickly! It is continuing to be fun and I guess that is the important thing!

My Dh is back from his extended business trip. I was able to get most of the house in order before he walked through the door...not a minor feat (the cleaning not the walking!)

Two top finish

My Dh is coming home on Monday so today was final quilting day is today...tomorrow I clean!

I put the final border on my Rose Sampler quilt. I am only putting the brown secondary border on the top and bottom of the quilt. I found it too brown when I put it the entire way around. (That is my story and I am sticking to it!) Now I have to think about finishing up the Cowgirl sampler quilt. I think I am sampler-ed out for awhile...

I have decided not to put a border on the repro star quilt top. I auditioned a lot of fabrics but didn't find anything that really hit me. I also looked at a lot of photos of quilts from the turn of the century and a lot of them do not have borders...also the one that I based this on didn't have a border.

I like how this came out. It gave me a chance to use a bit of my favorite fabrics all in one quilt. Sort of a fabric memory quilt. This may stay as a top for awhile. There is not bed to put it on here and the tops take much less space! Who knows by the time I quilt it I may find the perfect fabric for a border!

Recipe and daily stuff....

Well MacBeth (my scottish terrier) really did it this time. Last night Brownie (my small brown cat) escaped from the house and a few moments later we heard a loud screeching noise. When I opened our front door MacBeth almost knocked me over as he speed past me. In addtion to the cat's screech I now heard loud growling, yipping and howling. Brownie zoomed out of the bushes and ran into the house. When I picked her up she was wet - I looked at my shirt and there was blood.

So I go rushing into the bushes yelling and waving my "CSI" flashlight (you know the big black one that looks like a lethal weapon!) Anyway, Macbeth comes out all terriered-up but bleeding. I get them both in the back seat of the car and race to the vet hospital. Long story short...MacBeth spent the night and came home with one less tooth and a few stitches (and very proud of himself I may add) while Brownie just needed a few scratches taken care of and some antibiotics.

It was a long night and I did very little sewing today.

On a lighter note...yesterday an American friend brought over a British quilter she knew. I forgot how fun it was to pull out the quilts and do show-and-tell. Lots of fun. A bonus...she makes jams and is willing to show me how to make blackberry jam next week! So after they left I put on my hiking shoes and long sleeved jean jacket (works well against the thorns!) and walked down to my favorite blackberry patch. As you can see in the photo I will be picking here for many weeks to come!

In addition to getting the blackberries I get to visit with the sheep and the cows along the right-of-way. OK not visit...but take their photo from a very long distance! (one of those bad boys is a bull and I don't care how friendly the farmer says he is...that is a big, big bull! or should a venture - a lot of bull!) The hills way off in the background are the Malverns.

I am almost finished the last two rows of the repro quilt top from two posts ago...slow going. Seems like the only squares left are the same fabrics...the fabrics I didn't like well enough to use earlier. I know I shouldn't but I went up to the quilt room and pulled some more fat quarters out to cut a few "nice" fabrics. I can't help myself!!!

Bonnie over at Quiltville was talking about recipies using bananas. Here is my favorite recipe for Hummingbird Cake:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

3 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 8-oz can crushed pineapple with juice

1 cup chopped pecans

3 medium size bananas, mashed

Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

in a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separeate blow, mix togter the beaten egg, vegetable oil, vanilla, crushed pineappple with juice and bananas. Fold into the dry ingredients. Add pecans and blend well. Pour mixture into tube pan. Bake for about 45 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

8 oz pakg cream cheese, softened

16 ox powdered sugar

1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. lemon juice

3 Tbsp. chopped pecans.

Blend together the butter and cream cheese. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Stir well. Use th pecans as garnish.

Time for a lottery ticket

I am one of those people who never win anything. I can't even begin to count how many quilt raffle tickets I have purchased in my life and never have I won so much as a block! So imagine my surprise when I got a call from the local miniature club telling me that I won a doorprize at their show today!

I dabble in miniatures. Every few years of so I get the itch to make a mini sofa, room, or library...I have boxes of almost finishes. This box is great since it is further along than any of my own projects! It is a storefront so I have to figure out what sort of store I want to put in there...it is a bit small for a quilt shop. Maybe hats? A tea store? Decisions....

So this weekend I got 2nd place in the chili cookoff and won a roombox...maybe it is time for that lottery ticket!

Well it appears as if my fabric has grown legs. My DH is away on business so my projects have found their way into every room in the house - including the bathrooms! There is red fabric soaking in the downstairs sink, an ironing board in the hallway, a quilttop laid out on the sofa auditioning border fabric, the island in the kitchen is perfect for cutting fabric, the spare bed has a dozen sampler blocks sorting themselves out, and the stair-railings are draped with long lengths of backing fabrics being paired up with lonely tops. I feel less like a quilter than a fabric dating service. Of course all of this needs to be rounded up and herded back into the official and unofficial sewing rooms before the end of the week. I'll worry about it tomorrow....

2nd Prize Chili

Today I went to an Anglo American picnic. The group gets together every 3 months or so. As part of the entertainment they held a chili cookoff. I entered a rather off-beat New Mexican White Chile (made with chicken and green chilis.) I was very suprised to get second place! (There were ten entries.) My friend Maya got first - well deserved I may add...hers was much more traditional and had a real kick to it!

The quilt above is from some very old blocks. They were won at a state meeting by a member of my guild back in Georgia. She died from breast cancer not long after. Her husband gave the blocks to the guild. Now this all happened before I joined the guild. I was given the blocks to put together into a quilt not long before I moved to England. In the move the blocks were packed into a box with fabric. I found them this week and have almost finished putting them together. I hope to have this done before next week.I just have two more corners and a print border. the bright blue fabric used on the edges is from the Quilt for a Cure Collection. Once the top is done I can mail it back to the states. I may be slow but I get there!

Not to be....

Some days no matter how well you plan you feel like just nothing is going to work out...this is one of those days.

Right now I should be quilting in Fairford - a town about an hour from where I live. Last night I packed the car up with my sewing machine, the basket with my projects, a box of books and patterns that I don't want anymore, a folder with directions for a new 12-inch bloock for the group, and a duffle bag stuffed with fabric culled from the shelves of my overstuffed sewing room. The back seat of the car was covered in quilting stuff! I even made a batch of brownies and a Peach Brandy pound Cake and packed them into tins for the group.

This morning I got up early...allowed myself an entire pot of my favorite coffee (friends just came back from the states and brought me a pound of Dunkin Donuts coffee...heaven!) So far I am on target.....

I drove for about 20 minutes...which puts me in the middle of absolute nowhere. The sun was bothering my eyes so I pulled over to get glasses out of the glove compartment. The engine stalled...I turned the key...nothing. No problem - we have towing. I pull out my cell phone and dial the number...nothing. AHGGGGG.

Now why is it I go for walks/rambles across the countryside and love it. Faced with a two mile hike to the closest phone (at the animal park) I get all tense and angry! By the time I got to the phone I was better. A nice farmer gave me a lift back to the car on his three wheeler so I gave him some brownies (at least I knew I wouldn't starve out there....)

My car is now down the local garage...still full of my quilting stuff. I gave the guys at the garage the last of the brownies and walked another couple of miles through the fields home. All this an it isn't even noon yet!!!

We do have another car...my husban's MX-5/Mazda Miata. The problem is that is an american car so the steering wheel is on the wrong side for the UK. My DH acually likes it that way and can't drive my British car...I can't drive his car! I know some folks and jump back and forth but the one thing my DH and I agree on is that neither of us are one of those folks!

So I have all this time to quilt right...wrong! My machine is in the car...both my machines! I told you it was full. So I guess I am destined to spend the day playing in fabric again. Maybe I will cut out a new project or baste a quilt top....

The photos are of a current project. About 5-6 months ago Bonnie showed a vintage quilt on her site. I really like it so have been making half-squares and cutting out 3-1/2 inch squares of repro fabrics. The past fews days put together a few more rows and now am past the halfway mark! I'm really starting to like it again....

The original didn't have a border. I'm debating if I should add one to mine. I generally like borders but am unsure on this one. I guess I have all sorts of time today to audition fabric no?!

sunday boot sales

The sun was shining so I decided it was too nice to stay inside...even to quilt. So I drove over the boot sale they hold every Sunday at the racecourse.

Usually I don't buy much. My major reason for going is to provide entertainment for Macbeth and to stop by the trailer that makes the little fresh doughnuts! Nothing like a greasy fried piece of dough dragged through sugar and cinnamon to start the day out right...I digress - back to the boot sale.


I must have been in a Halloween sort of mood. Maybe it is because I read the new Martha Stewart Holiday magazine the night before. (Now before you rool your eyes...this is a great edition of her magazine. Has a good halloween side and a bad/scarey halloween side. The projects are fairly straightforward and very fun! Again, I diress - back to the boot sale.)

There was a table with lots of bird prints (pages torn from books - grrrr) and I bought the Raven and the Crow. I am going to make a frame this week and hang them in my hallway at halloween! Beside giving me an inexpensive decoration it will insipire me to unpack my mat cutter!

I also picked up a little singer sewing machine for 7 pounds. It is very similar to my featherweight so I should be able to figure it out. This should make my sewing downstairs easier since my husband keeps walking off with the transformer to use for silly things like the stereo or the vacum. The machine just needed a good cleaning, a new needle, and some oil. I'm going to test drive it some more today but so far looks fine!

I bought some lace and buttons from the same stall. I know I am trying to clear out my workroom instead of add to it but these are vintage lace and vintage buttons still on the card!

My final big find was this tiny needle case and thimble! I've never seen one like this before. The thimple fits snugly on the case so it works as the top. It is made of brass but has a sort of rubbery coating on it. The woman selling it thought it was from the 1950's but couldn't remember. The color is in line with the Halloween theme too....

Well off to walk Macbeth again and maybe pick a few more blackberries! There is a blue sky again today and I am learning to get out an enjoy them while you can!!!

Blackberry Quilting Days

Today I decided to take a day off of everything and just play in fabric. I finished two blocks for a group baby quilt, finished piecing a backing, and have two more rows of a quilt that has been in-process for at least 6 months.

I also picked lots and lots of blackberries while I was walking Macbeth this morning. I put three bags into the freezer and with the remainder I made a blackberry and apple crumble. It is fun to use the apples from our own tree and berries that I gather myself. Makes me really feel like I am living in the country! (The pears in the photo came from our gardener's trees...)

I love fall food. One of my latest favorites is making a curried squash soup. I've made it every week for the last month! Maybe I do need to branch out....

The photos of my current project didn't come out very well so you'll get them tomorrow. The photo below is my leader and ender/mile a minute mess! I've kept the small pieces of my repro fabric in a basket next to my sewing machine and sort of randomly sew them together...ok, very randomly. I've started to wonder what I could do with them...it is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to put them all into a quilt top and since the pieces do get very tiny it is even a bit buzy for me! I was thinking of maybe trying to make a bar quilt...any ideas?

Doing something with these is part of my clear out process. I have two bags of fabric that will find new homes soon. I've even put aside some buttons and other "stuff" that I know I will never use. I now have enough space to turn around!

Day at Charlecote Park

Now that I am feeling a bit better I am trying to get back to my resolution of going to at least one new place or doing one new thing every week that I am living here in England. This week I visited Charlecote Park in Warwickshire.

It is part of the National Trust which maintains lots of properties around the UK. Charlecote is a Tudor property, visited once by Queen Elizabeth I, that was renovated in Victorian times. The rooms and the grounds are beautiful. The photo on the top is of the gatehouse going towards the main house. The Victorian kitchen here is amazing. There were at least 5 stoves of varying type...all huge!

The small house below was called a "Wendy House." I loved this little building. It has a thatched roof, randomly put together stained glass windows, and amazing doors and flower boxes made from branches. It was used as a playhouse for the children. I would love to have a little house like this in my garden back home!

I am slowly organizing my sewing room (again!) I hope to be back to sewing tomorrow night. I have a pile of fabric in the hallway that will be either cut into strips of look for a new home...how did I ever end up with four 6-1/2 inch acrylic squares. I think anytime I couldn't find one I just ran out and got another! Either that or they act like rabbit in the quiltig room!

Now a shameless plug for the MS society...Bonnie at http:/quiltville.com and her husband raise money for this cause each year by participating in the annual bike ride. (David rides and Bonnie does lots of support!) On here site is a link if you would be willing to sponsor/donate to this cause.

As a person with MS I am very grateful to the society and to all those who help support it. When I was first diagnosed with MS the society provided me with lots of information. The local chapter held monthly meetings with speakers addressing a wide range of issues from legal issues surrounding disabilities to alterantive therapies like water aerobics. The society also funds a lot of research into new drugs and therapies. Treating MS has come a long way in the past 10 years but there is still a long way to go.

So I am putting my money where my mouth is...the money I raise from auctioning the quilt with Flog It will go to the society. (see Flog It post below.)

Flog It!

Here in the UK the BBC runs a show where folks bring in things to be appraised (like the antique roadshow) then they bring the item to auction to test the accuracy of the appraisal. The show is filmed in different locations all over the UK. During the show the host, Paul Martin, does a segment on something historical or artistic specific to the area. I love this show!

So when one of my neighbors told me the show was coming to a town near us and invited me to come along to the appraisal day it only took me a second to say yes! I have long been considering slimming down the piles of antique/vintage quilts I have been accumulating over the past 25 years. I brought about 25 with me to England so the selection was already limited. In the end I picked out a pyramid quilt circa 1880 made in the Maryland area. It is the quilt on the far right in the photo (taken at the Augusta Museum of History quilt exhibit last year.) I thought it would bother...quilt seperation anxiety maybe...but in a way it is a relief when they selected it to be filmed and to go to auction. I'll let you know what happens when it "goes under the hammer" in October!

Do you think it is possible that having too many quilts, fabrics, boxes, threads, beads, yada, yada, yada....can inhibit creativity? Sometimes I just get overwhelmed looking at all the neat "stuff" I have to work with and as a result get very little done. I'm wondering if paring back could clear some space both in my "studio" and in my head!

Speaking of clearing....here is a quilt top I unearthed. It was folded inbetween two antique quilts. Maybe there is hope of my finding the English paperpiecing quilt that was 80% finished before we packed up back in the states! If my memory serves me this fabric came from a quilt show in Maryland back in the mid-90's!

Off the Grid...

Well I am back. Sorry about the long delay. The short version - the infection got worse, I spent some time in the hospital, my eyes got a bit wonky, and thus I was "off the grid" for a bit. I am much better now and will be back posting from now on....

We drove over Wales today. We visisted a town called Hay on Wye that has dozens of book stores. The photo on the left is of the castle book store. There was a bookstore for science and natural history books, another for mystery books, and another for just about any type of book you are interested in!

The hills around the town are very pretty. I'd like to go back when we can do some walking.

More later...I'll have some quilting photos later....

Sashing and border...

I haven't been sewing very much this week but more on that later. Right now I am trying to make up my mind on a small Halloween table runner. It was a free pattern given out at least ten years ago by my LQS. I made one in homespun sort of colors for a silient auction and then put the pattern in with my Halloween fabrics promising to make a bright one for myself one day. I just can't seem to make up my mind on the sashing and border.

The first one has the pumkin blocks floating on blue sashing with a thin black stipe inner-border and then a wider red border. (I've also played with making the red border orange...?)

The second option is to use the red as the sashing with the think black stipe inner border and then a wider crackle blue border. (There are three jack-o-lanterns on this table runner...)

I'm making it for my sister in N.M. My niece and nephew have birthdays on either side of Halloween. I've made a halloween quilt and pillowcases. So this is my project for this year. I know I should just pick one and get going but I thought taking photos and stepping back may help me....now I'm not so sure!

Anyway, back to the why no sewing. The weather here has turned beautiful. Come Saturday the water from the faucet will be drinkable. Since everything else is working ok it would only stand to reason I would get a terriable throat infection, fever, and generally feel like crap. I'm on my second course of antibiotics but they don't seem to be doing much. There is this horrible MS "thingy" - when I cough or sneeze and move my neck forward quickly then horrible pain shoots through my shoulders and arms like I've been nudged by a cattleprod (not that I've ever been nudged by a cattle prod but I can imagine....) I am so ready for this to be over!

My DH says he that folks from work moved a business trip for him so he could be here for a meeting on Monday (he was to leave tomorrow) but I think he didn't want to leave until I was doing better. He gets hubby-points for that. When I am better that equates to a pan of brownies and some Kung Pao Chicken.

Yellow Egg Plums

First the good news...my copy of The Deathly Hallows finally arrived, though a bit worse for wear, on Friday night. I read it over the weekend! It was really good. It is my second favorite of the series (First is still the Order of the Phenoix.)

The photo is of the craft project I did with the kids at the library during the summer reading program. They each made their own broom-pencil. Quick, easy and inexpensive...oh ya, and the kids seemed to like them. Hits all the major points! (I found the directions on the net and apologize that I cannot remember where?!)

One of the things I love about living out in our village is all the fruit trees around us. We have several plum and apple trees. Growing up in New England I have no problem finding uses for the apples. the plums are a different story. I've never seen nor cooked with this type of yellow plum. My gardener called them "egg plums," which I googled and got very little. I used some to make a plum crunch this weekend. They smell wonderful when they are blanching. The crunch came out OK but how much of that can you eat! Does anyone know of any other recipies for this type of plum?

Life is pretty much back to normal here after the floods. We still have to boil water to wash the dishes and drink bottled water but after all we have been through that isn't such a big deal!

Today I am determined to get back to sewing. I'm putting together some backings to try and finish up a few projects. Boring but necessary. If I can finish those I may let mayself play with the red, white and blue cowgirl blocks!

Dublin trip

We took a few days away from the "no water" craziness and jumped over to Dublin for three nights. I had not been to Ireland for about 12 years...boy has it changed! There is a lot of new money in Dublin. When they say Celtic Tiger they aren't kidding!

I was very impressed by many of the new Irish designers. If you go to Ireland you must go to the Kilkenny design...really nice. I also went to see the book of Kells and the long room at the Trinity library, the National Gallery (love that place,) and took a 1916 Revolution tour which was really entertaining and informative. Finally we drank Guiness at least once a day...it tastes so much better when it is poured in Ireland! The photo at the top left is me in front of the statue of James Connelly (one Irish rebels of 1916...it has a bit of a Leninist look to the statue but since Connelly was a bit of a socialist himself I guess it fits.)

The second photo is of some street signs that just made me laugh...Dublin isn't the best for signs so if you go definately get a map! Note these signs show you can go North, West, and South all at the same time!

On the water-front...we have some water only we still can't drink it! It may be a few weeks before the water is clean. They have done a good job of keep us informed and supplied with water so I have no complaints.

New addition to the village

This morning I made blueberry pancakes with real Vermount maple syrup, lots of coffee, bananas with fresh strawberries and english bacon. The blueberries were from France and gorgeous. The Strawberries were picked yesterday in a field not far from our house...most were consumed during the drive home. Due to the lack of water I hadn't cooked in days. This morning I decided to splurge a bit. It helped!

The photo on the left is our village blueberry...a blue bowzer (in the army we called them water buffalos!) There are four of them within walking distance so we are pretty lucky. They also give out bottled water each night at the village hall. I've been really impressed with how helpful everyone is being. They say we may get water in the lines by mid-week that we can use to flush toilets and clean. That will help.

It is amazing how much water it takes to get through the day! We fill the Folgers containers on the left at least twice a day. We have enough bottled water for drinking, cooking and coffee (as noted by other bloggers the latter is an absolute necessity!) At one point my DH threatened to toss my boxes of empty coffee containers. He thought I was planning on building and earth ship or something with them! The first few days of the shortage we gave out most of them to our neighbors. They are large enough to make a trip to the bowzer worth-while but small enough that our elderly neighbors can lift them. I knew being a pack-rat who hates to throw out anything that could be reused would work out someday!



They say we are going to get some more rain tomorrow. The photo on the left is of our main street. Even this morning there was still run-off from a bit of rain last night. The soil is so saturated that the roads fill up with only a few minutes of rainfall! It is also difficult because the water did so much damage to the road. When the water is across the road you can't see the huge potholes and it can bottom out the car! it could even be worse if you try and walk through it (I did go out and buy my first pair of wellies yesterday! Thought that might stop the rain!)


I am working on some Halloween tablerunners. I wanted to play in the bright colors! I'll try and get some photos later tonight.

Checked my mailbox on Friday...still no Harry Potter book...I love Amazon but they really let me down on this one...

Water everywhere and not a drop to drink

Well it has continued to drizzle on and off today but that isn't the worse of our problems...the local water plant is now under 5 feet of water and the faucet has turned to a trickle. They say it could be a couple of days until we have water. How crazy does that sound!!!

Anyway, growing up in New England I was "trained" to have canned food, bottled water, and lots of paperproducts on hand. I think we can make it through a couple of days OK. I will be desperate for a shower by then I'm sure!

The photo is of our apple tree that was doing so well before the rain. About half of the apples are on the ground and there is a black spot attacking those on the tree. We could use a few days of sun about now. My neighbor lost most of their plums as well. This can't be good for the farmers.

I am spending the day watching the British Open and putting the final border on the sampler quilt. Amazon sent me an email letting me know my Harry Potter is on its way so I have something to look forward to this week!

Time to build an ark...

The last 24 hours have been very, very wet and worrisome. It has rained, rained, and sometimes just poured. My DH left work at 4 yesterday afternoon. It usually takes only 20-30 minutes for him to get home. He walked in the door at 9:30!

The highway was blocked with cars and the road from the M-5 to our village was flooded in two areas. The roundabout about 1/4 mile away was the end of the line for many folks...the road was closed in all directions. We ended up with 3 visitors overnight...the man Dh carpools with couldn't get into his village because all routes into his village was closed and a young women and her 3 year old daughter whose car ran out of gas at the roundabout. The guys took pity on them and brought home. She had been on the road for 7 hour! The little one barely finished a bowl of soup and fell asleep on the couch. It made for an intersting night. The cats and the dog were happy for the company!

It stopped raining for long enough for us to get to them home this morning. It just now started to rain again. Good thing I did lots of shopping this Wednesday! (Wow, just watched two huge rescue helicopters go overhead!)

While it rained and I worried about my DH on the road I worked on my rose sampler quilt. These are the blocks I made with the group up in Fairford. The brown homespun was from an abandoned project. I really like it....wish I remembered where it came from?!

Unanswered questions

Brownie spends much of her day sitting on our front wall. Some people have marble lions, some stone gargoyles, we have a small, fuzzy brown cat. who, as you see below, gets tired very quickly.

Not much quilty to write about today. Yesterday I had some MS problems with my leg which left me gimping and grouchy...not a pretty sight! Today I am doing better so am on my way to the library to help with the summer reading program for the 8-12 year old group (what did I get myself into!)

There have been some question from my past posts that I couldn't answer by email so here goes...

First, the red in the lavender fields are poppies. They look wonderful against the purple. There are whole fields of poppies around here and they are breathtaking. Unfortunately I usually see the field while driving on an impossibly narrow road with a high performance German made car tagging my rear bumper. Tough to get a photo that way....

Second, yes I did get fired for too many chips in the chocolate chip cookies. It was one of those jobs you take for the summer while at university. It was a small "shop/stand" in a touristy area of Boston. (I don't know if it is still there or not.) Anyway, the owner/manager was there all the time. The mixer would dump a huge lump of dough in front of the us and we would put the dough onto the pans as fast as possible. Each time you finished a pan you put it on the shelf over you and moved a bead on the stick. When the lump of dough on the table was finished the owner would check to see who finished the most pans and who did the least by counting the beads(about 5 girls were working on the pans.) Needless to say - I was never the fasted. Then she would randomly take a pand and check the size of the cookies and count the chips (no more than 4 were the rule.) I routinely flunked that as well. Did I hate the job...you cannot imagine how much I hated it! The same day the owner gave me the "do you really want this job" speech I got a call about a summer job at the Department of Education. I think it worked out best for all of us! (except the poor customer who paid big money for little cookies with hardly any chips in them!)

Third, I was diagnosed with MS about 3 years ago though I had syptoms on and off for 4 years prior to that. I decided early on to be open about the conditin/disease for a couple of reasons: with the unsteady gait and occasional slurring of words folks could easily think I have drinking problem (with all the meds I take at most I can have a glass of wine/beer/cider with food,) it is easier to explain the condition when you feel OK rather then waiting until you feel pathetic (in my last job the office was on the third floor with no elevators! They moved me to the first floor and a week later I had an episode...if I hadn't moved I would have taken half a day to get to my office!), and finally, it makes my DH feel more comfortable knowing there is a support network in case he has to travel or work odd hours. I think trying to keep it a secret or avoiding the discussion would only add more stress to an already stressful situation.

Lavender fields

Today I went to visit the Lavender Farm in Snowhill. The weather was a bit iffy but it held off long enough for us to get through the fields and the distillery barn. They usually are harvesting this week but because of the wet weather this summer it has moved out a few weeks. The owner gave a nice talk about the history of the farm, how to care for lavender and how the distiller operates.

I love the different colors of the lavender...makes me want to play in my hand dyed pink and purples! The scent was amazing. The teashop at the farm was packed with people so we went down the road to the Plough at Ford for lunch. It was a nice outing. I am such a wimp these days...just the morning really wore me out.

I worked on another table runner this weekend. I thought the inner border on the christmas runner was too narrow so I added a half inch to the red white and blue. It handles easier and lays flatter. The pattern for this came off of the Fatquarters.com website.

Medieval Festival

The weather here has been nice the past few days so I haven't spent much time on the computer.

Last weekend we went to the Medieval Festival in Tewksbury. It was really fun. I thought this little boy in costume was too cute. My DH got a new walking stick so he was happy.

I did spend some time sewing this weekend. I put together a baby quilt (to be shown later) and a table runner as a sample for out all day sewing event later this month. The fabric was from my stash (I even had enough to kit up another!) I'm going to make a potholder and a tea cozy to go with it.

Sorry so short. Mac is bouncing against my leg begging for a walk (his buddy dogs just past the house....)

London City Break

First, today has been so strange. To start with, I made M&M cookies. The recipe says it makes 2 dozen so naturally I doubled it (going to a picnic this afternoon.) As I packed the cooled cookies into the tin I counted them out....48 cookies. That has never happend to me before. I was fired from a job one summer off from university because I put too many chocolate chips into the chocolate chip cookies!

Anyway...more on all that later. First I want to catch up on our latest visit up to London. Just once I would like to see the city when the police aren't out patroling in bullet proof vests and carrying machine guns! We seem to have the worst timing on our trips. It was still a great trip though. the photo on the top is me in front of the underground near Big Ben. It rained nearly the entire time we were there so the photos are all dark and we both got colds!

Our first day we went on a Harry Potter walk. I had fun but my DH was sort of miserable. There were too many people on the walk so it was difficult at times to hear the wizard leading it. He did as good a job as you could under the circumstances. The photo was taken outside the "ministry of magic." Part of the problem may be the Harry Potter movie primier was that weekend. Hundreds of screaming HP fans in Leis. Square. I like the movies but am more of a fan of the books. If it were not for the crowds, rain and a grouchy DH I may have hung around. I'd rather hear J.K. talk about how she planned the books then see some teenage actors!

We went to see Caberet that night. A bit more racey and political on stage then the movie. It is a great production though. Because of the rain I ended up spending most of the next day in the V&A. I love that museum. Hours just disappear as you sit in the textile study room. It is very quiet and a bit dark - feels like you have gone back a centry or so. I spent most of my time on the samplers but did look through some medieval pieces as well.

What a great place for inspiration. Even walking though the corridors with the examples of metal gates I could see possibilities for quilting designs! I could feel my blood pressure drop as I sat looking at the new exhibit being unpacked (maybe because I wasn't doing the unpacking!)

Got to run. (ps. thanks to all the folks who sent me tips on the hand crank sewing machine...I'm going to try it this weekend!)