London Calling

We went up to London for a few days. My Dh is starting to say "this is our last chance to..." about every hour! So we took the Bank holiday weekend as a last chance to see a couple of show at the west end (Jersey Boys and Mousetrap) and to get some good Greek and Middle Eastern Food.

Saturday was my day to go to the markets. I went over to Portebello Road early. This is an interesting antique market but don't expect any deals there! It was very crowded and I left earlier than I expected which was OK because that ment I was in time to meet my DH at Camden Market.
The last time we went to Camden was at least 8 years ago. We haven't gone back because my DH was noticeable uncomfortable with the Goth/Punk atmosphere. This time he had no problems - it has been yuppified. There are still elements of the old Camden yard but they seem a bit "Disney-d." For instance there was only one guy there with the shabby leathers, florescent pink mohawk, and torn t-shirt...he was a poser. For a 1 pound coin you take his photo...the Camden equivalent of Mickey Mouse. (He also had not tattoos and no piercings...wimp!) Not just the atmosphere has changed but the things for sale were 80% imports from the far east. Many of the stalls were just repeats of stalls on the other side of the market. The stalls inside the Canal building are much better and the food stalls in the courtyard next to the canal are wonderful. (best to go there hungry!) Interesting that sometimes the prices in the shops along the road are less then in the market...and that is with my DH negotiating.

So my advice for Camden is to go on a Saturday. Hold onto your money until you get to the stalls inside the building. There are some good crafts there but do not expect any antiques like most of the webpostings promise. Also, wonder the small food court before deciding what to have for lunch...there are lots of great choices! (My Dh had Lebanese and I had Ethiopian goat curry followed by a cappachino and French puff pastry! Calories don't count on vacation...)
That afternoon I went to the National Gallery. It was wonderful I love Van Gogh so seeing another of his sunflower paintings is always exciting. They have so much more energy when seen in real life. The paint is so thick and has so much texture. Right now I can see oranges, yellows and greens better than reds, blues and greens so the sunflowers really seemed to glow for me! We had really good Greek food at Jimmies near the theater.

Sunday we went to yet another market! This time to Spitalfields and Brick Lane. These I strongly recommend! Lots of crafts, young designers and vintage clothes. The food at the Brick Lane was again really, really good. I ended up buying a trench coat, a belt, and a pocketbook. I would have bought more if I was about 4 sizes smaller....I did love the red chairs in the photo above. I took about 8 photos and have been playing with them on Picassa.


There was an Olympic handover party we made a showing at but I cut out early to spend a few hours at the V&A. The tearoom there is one of my favorite stops in London. Each of the three rooms was decorated by a famous designer (including William Morris) and are just wonderful eye candy...the almond croissant isn't bad either. (Ok, I have given up on fitting into any of the designer clothes....)

That night we just had dinner at a little place in China town. Then I went back to the hotel too exhausted to see any more...

Today I am home resting...needless to say I overdid it the past few days. Too many "my last chance to...." finally wore me out! Lots of inspiration though. I filled dozens of pages in my dream book and took lots of photos.

Crafty stuff

I took a break this morning to do some crafts with the local kids. It will most likely be my last time since next week we will be shipping my Dh's car and packing out will start to go into overdrive!

We finished up their shopping bags, made some beaded bracelets, some bookmarks and ate Victorian Sponge Cake (almond cake with raspberry jam - may favorite!.) A good morning all around.

The bookmarks were a lot of fun to make. These are still on the kitchen table waiting for the glue to dry. The girls will pick them up tomorrow. They match the book-bags they made for going back to school...though how many books a 5 year old carries I don't know.... I do know that if your give a 5 year old girl glitter glue pens you have to be prepared to cut some of your dogs hair! (And give the poor pup a long time to recover...) I can tell when Mac is really tired - he snores!

Well, off to spend a couple hours sorting and packing...

Forgot what sun looked like...

I had so many plans to work in the house today to get ready for visitors and for the move but there is sun! Real sun with real blue skies! None of the big billowing grey clouds we have lived under for the past month or so. It feels so good. Housework will just have to wait....

Yesterday I put the border on my Orphan/scrappy quilt top. There are so many random bias seams in this I think I'd better get it quilted soon before it morphs into one of those pointy hats...For example right after I put it together I squared it off. The only thing I did after that was hang it on the clothesline for a couple of minutes to take a photo then I folded it up and placed it on a shelf. (I may have taken it out one other time to show some quilters here are the house.) Regardless, compared to the lives of my otehr quilt-tops this one has had it easy. However when I laid it out on the floor I did a quick measure and found that one corner had streatched out almost an inch...back to squaring up this monster. I hope the borders will help.

I know I cut enough of the red fabric to go around the entire quilt but one strip was missing. The gold fabric on the top of the quilt was the first piece of solid 3 inch strip I found in the box so like a game of tag - that was "it." It does serve a purpose - reminds me which side it the top!

I also did some more packing this week and actually found some things that had been missing since we moved here two years ago! How great is that! Some of these were real finds: a footpedal for one of my machines that I was sure was long gone; my Cobb Quilt that I started back in 1997 (!); a box of beads that also had a bracelet I made while on a trip to Florida. You can see in the photo above that I tried to represent Amish quilt blocks with beads. Typical of my projects - all it needs is a button or large bead on the end and it is done! When I look at this it reminds me that not all that long ago I had really good eyes!

Well, off for a walk with Macbeth and to take advantage of the rays while we can.

Vintage Fungly and a plain Fun recipe

I've been packing up some of my vintage quilts and came across a truely vintage fungly! Perhaps we are on the verge of a fungly revival?I love the little panda bears in the yellow fabric! Some of the blocks are frugal pieced and there is one little ninepatch for a center on the far right center row. Unfortunately much of the orange fabric is too delicate to quilt. I think the blue ticking fabric is what holds it all together both design and structure-wise. It will just stay a top forever and give a smile every time I take it out of it's bag/pillowcase! The squares making up the nine-patch are 4-1/2 inch finished...you could easily make this "pattern?" with some charm packs and a couple of yards of fabric.
The little "thief" above was at the boot-sale the other weekend. He ran off with this bone from a stand selling them. The owner was very nice and went back and bought it for him. He doesn't look guilty at all!
Above is another chair recovering project I bought at auction. I love the lines of the mahogany curved arms (very Ralph Lauren-y.) Best of all it is a folding chair! Under the funky gray silk is a thick brushed fabric that is very worn in the center. Part of me wants to get going on this but the rational side says to wait until I get back to the states....we'll see. At least it already has the Brownie seal of approval.

I took a few minutes out from pre-packing and funglies to actually cook. My DH was feeling very bad for himself. Since my eyes have been acting up he has been eating a lot of spaghetti. So last night I made him some Keftaides Tou Fournou just like his former mother in law used to make! The best part - it will feed him for a week so I can go back to sewing!

Meatballs a la Smyrna (Keftaides Tou Fournou)

2 pounds ground beef
2 onions, finely chopped
2 sprigs parsley, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1 egg beaten
salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons tomato paste
8 ounces water
4 ounces olive oil
4 bay leaves

(optional: 1 Tablespoon dried mint and/or 1 tsp Allspice)

In a large bowl, add ground beef, one chopped onion, parsley, garlic, and seasonings to taste. Add beaten egg and knead well.

Ina large frying pan, add 2 ounces of oil and saute second chopped onion until soft and transparent. Dilute the tomato paste in the water and add to the onion. Cook for 15 minutes.

With floured hands shape the "meatballs" into oval shaped 3 inches long by 1-1/2 wide. In a second frying pan heat the reamining oil and brown the meatballs on all sides. Place the meatballs in a baking pan. Add the bay leaves to the tomato mixture and then pour over the meatballs. Cover the pan with foil and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for about 10 more minutes or until the meatballs have a brownish-red tint.

Serve over rice pilaf or with crusty bread and a Greek salad. Makes 20-24 meatballs. (Freezes well)

New Fungly Challenge

Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting and Bonnie at Quiltville are challenging folks to try Fungly quilts...basically using simple blocks with ugly/old fabric.

So here are my first blocks...my favorite ugly block has this animal print with the entomology fabric.
I have been doing a bit of a fabric clear-out. I found the fabric fell into several groups: novelty fabric (like the animal and entomology prints) that I bought for a specific project or on impulse; I must have had a metallic period because there is a lot of it lurking in my stash (and I haven't used it in at least 6 years!); which leads me to the last group, old fabric. If the fabric was made after 1970 and before 2000 then I had to seriously wonder why I still had it. Unless I love it then it was put aside to be used before I leave or leave in the UK. I am not packing and unpacking it yet again.


Besides using for the fungly quilt I have used a lot of it making bags. Here in the UK plastic bags have become a pariah but most of the reusable bags are a bit boring. So I found a super simple pattern on the internet on the All People Quilt site. It basically uses two half yard pieces of fabric and makes a reversible bag that can be rolled up and kept in the glove compartment.
Here is Goldie hiding in the apple tree in our front yard. Couldn't find a good spot for this photo but had to get it on the blog!

Back again...

I know it has been a while since I posted. I'd go through the long explanation of my eyes going wonky, not being able to use the computer...I don't want to be too whiney so I'll just leave it at that. I have found that I see colors better right now by taking photos , downloading to Picassa and then hitting either the color saturation option or the black and white option. I used that laying out the blocks above. There are a couple of not dark but not light blocks (they were samples made while I was teaching new quilters ) that were fighting me. Using the photos I found the "problem" blocks worked best in the corners. Who knows I may even finish this one since you don't have to see colors to hand quilt!


The photo above is from Chedworth Roman Villa in Yanworth. It is one of my favorite sites to bring visitors. On a sunny day the mosaics look amazing and it really gives you a feel for how a villa was laid out. Earlier someone posted and asked for more mosaic photos so as I find them (my photos need organizing again....) I'll post! I'm sure there is a quilting pattern in those floors....


I did make it to the Tewkesbury Medieval festival again this year. The photos are of a Morris Dancer group. I love their costumes. The one with the bright mask represents summer...of course it was rainy and cold that day!

I haven't been doing much sewing...except for bags. I found a really easy pattern on the internet for a medium size tote. You can never have too many of these...ok, maybe I do have too many now but I never seem to have them with me when I am shopping so now I have made a tote bag for my tote bags. This made it easier for me to carry the bags in the car and I am happy to announce I have even run out of store plastic bags! It may be time to retire that funny little plastic-bags-carrier-tube I made years and years ago that hangs behind the kitchen door. So is that progress - I've gone from making a storage bag for my plastic bags to a carrier bag for my carrier bags?!

Happy 4th of July

OK so I am a bit early...that alone should surprise anyone who knows me! We had our ex-pat independence day cookout yesterday. It was typical UK weather. Fine in the morning during set-up and showers when the guests arrive. We were lucky it cleared up later in the afternoon so the tents had time to dry out before we had to take them down.

A typical mail story...the decorations never arrived! The woman in charge of the committee ordered them over a month ago! The tracking system showed they got at far as the military postal system. Oh well! Needless to say there are no 4th of July decorations in the UK stores so we had to improvise. We had some flag banners left from last year. I pulled out all my patriotic fabric from the stash and over the weekend made 12 table centerpieces (30-inch by 30-inch little quilts which hid the fact we couldn't find round table clothes and had crossed over one blue and one white.) We bought red plants and wrapped them in more patriotic fabrics and used mason jars for some red, white and blue flower arrangements. In the end it look very American Country...I liked it better than all the plastic stuff they used last year!

We don't have any big plans for the holiday weekend. I'm trying to rest up a bit. If I am really ambitious I may try to make my first Victoria sponge cake. Our village is having a "Flood Reunion" which marks last years flood then lack of water episode. As part of the festivities they are having a cake baking contest (which of course my DH signed me up for) but you have to make a Victoria sponge. I had to look it up on the internet! I may have to make a few trial runs over the next few weeks...

Too rushed to think

Have you ever heard the comedians who can run through an entire Shakespeare play in about 2 minutes? That is what the past couple of weeks have been like for me...yesterday I spent a couple of hours just chilling by the river. It helped!


Just before I left for Scotland I learned my niece's apartment in the states had burned down. She and my (gulp) great-nephew were ok but shaken up. It is the helpless feeling you get living so far from family that makes you realize it may be time to go home. They lost everything. So I did what I could - pack a box, write a check and quickly start quilting. Today I have to put the binding on his new quilt so I can get it into the mail before the weekend. I'm also sending him this stippy star quilt that a made a couple years ago and Bonnie quilted. I think they need some brights right now.

As I am working on the second quilt I have been thinking of how stress helps or hurts creativity. For writing deadlines and stress help me...for quilting they paralyze me! Maybe it is because I look at it as a hobby or something to spend time enjoying the process...like the 3 hours I spent pulling fabrics in my sewing room! Oh well...the quilt will be finished soon and if it isn't my best it is still a fun quilt and I am sure the little guy will like it.

My eyes are getting better but the slightest thing wears me out. I went to see a medieval dovecote yesterday and have lunch with friends. That was it. (Two hours of entertainment equals 6 hours of sleep.)

The dovecote was part of a settlement of Knight of the hostelers (spelling?) The area was pretty much self sufficient with the dovecote to provide dove meat and eggs, a fish pool that come off the river Coln, and lots of fruit trees. The second photo shows the inside of the dovecote. There is a lot of light and an incredible ladder that swings around the center pole! Amazing engineering! (love to have that in a library!) The holes for the doves are sort of J shaped and alternate directions of the loop by level. There have been several archaeological excavations on the site but few of the original building survived. It is all on private land but a local anglo- american group arranged a visit.

The main gate also still stands and has this wonderful carving above it.

Home again...

We got home late yesterday afternoon from our vacation/holiday to Scotland. It is a beautiful country and the people we met were all very nice. I wish I had gone there earlier so I could make sure of a return trip before going back to the states....maybe I still can?!

We stayed at a B&B in Edinburgh. I cannot believe how many Americans we ran into there. It is a really interesting city. Lots of wonderful patterns in the stonework and very long slightly spooky alleyways going up the hill.

I had planned on taking a writers pub crawl but by the end of the first afternoon I was just to tired. We caught a cab to go back to our B&B and instead got a taxi writer's tour that ended at what the Royal Oak which he claimed to be one of the last authentic folk music pubs in the city. Of course he could have made the whole tour up (who knows if that is really the coffee shop the J.K. wrote Harry P) but I'll never know and I don't know if it even matters! It was fun.

This is me in front of Edinburgh castle. It is a long climb up the Royal Mile to reach the castle. My eyes were still wonky and I'm sure half the folks we passed thought I was a very early drinker...I was wobbling all over the place! (The centuries old cobblestones didn't help either!) This photo is also a great example of how my DH thinks...things must be symetrical even if it means the bottom half of the photo is all parking lot and we miss most of the castle. The body must be in the center! Oh, well.

There were lots of well, interesting things on the pub menus and before you ask...no, we did not try haggis. My Dh is a fussy eater and I was trying new drugs to keep going. I don't know what a Neep and Tattie is...knowing what haggis is makes me very suspicious of the rest! We did do our part sampling real ales and malts though.

I didn't take as many photos this trip because of my eyes but I did get some of the wonderful building decorations. This carving of the woman is one of my favorites.

Well got to run to a local auction. A friend want me to check out some chairs. They may need reupholstering and she isn't sure how difficult it would be. Like I need an excuse to go to an auction...well, I do right now since my Dh is worried about our weight limit going home (he doesn't know I have someone ready to take away his nasty recliner!)

Gardens and sunshine

I have had more visitors which throws my blogging time way off! That and finally having some sunny weather has made my eyes wonky too. If its not one thing it is another no?

Anyway, I ended up spending a lot of time playing with my photos. I am getting a bit better about deleting duplicates and some of the poorer lamb shots! I also worked on my wonky crumb quilt (wonky eyes work well with wonky quilts.) I think I may put a few bands of blue and/or green around the outside and call this a day. It used up quite a bit of my crumbs and several of my orphan "Janes." I still have a bagful or crumbs though (in the upper right is only a tiny portion of them!) I need to do something with them before they multiply...like Tribbles (sorry for the geeky star trek reference...it just fits sooo well.)

I have also gone to a few open gardens. They look so wonderful. The photos on the left was taken in a bog garden. I love how the leaves are draped around it like a basket.

The village we went to Sunday had lots of thatched roof houses. Always photogenic!

What a Sunday

Yesterday I made the most of being in the Cotswolds. First I went on a long hill walk with McBeth and my DH. The weather was wonderful. They both went home to rest and I went on to a 21st birthday celebration for a local pottery! Toff Milway is the potter at Conderton Pottery. He used a salt glaze and makes gorgeous pots. His talk was very interesting. On one table he displayed pottery he has purchased over the past 20 years. On the other table were post he has made during the same time span. He then talked about how what he has purchased - which generally looks nothing like what he makes - has influenced either directly or indirectly what he creates. None of them were copies. It was more like - he bought an icecream dish with a fish on it. The fish idea stayed with him (and he loves fish pie...lots of food references in his talk) so he made a fish plate and a dish for fish pie using a - you got it - fish. (I think you can just make out a fish dish and a fish candle-holder in the photo.) It was a very informative talk without being too academic. I started to think differently of my own quilt and pottery collection.

All and all a great morning...but, there's more!

On my way home I ran into one of my neighbors who owns a flock of sheep. They (my neighbors) have been very patient with my lamb-paparazzi tendencies. To my amazement she asked if I would like to come over to the barn where her husband was shearing sheep. How cool is that! Another thing to cross off my "what I'd like to do while in England list!." I was amazed at the different personalities among the flock. One the ewe fought like crazy and jumped the gate! The next was so mellow she looked like she was going to fall asleep. Isn't it great to have neighbors like this.

I have been spending a lot of time playing with Picassa. Tonya put it on my computer while she was visiting but with company in town I only just started playing with it...what a blast! I've done lots of wild things with my Stonehenge photos. By the way the National Geographic channel has a special on Stonehenge that I watched this weekend. I highly recommend it. Not that I agree with everything they said but they do present some new ideas on the site and have some wonderful cinematography (but hey, it is National Geographic after all....)

So what does this mean for quilting. Uhmmm...I haven't done much with a needle this week. Lot sof ideas though....

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!