NEW YEAR IS NEARLY HERE

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ME AND MY GIRL

Just a quick post  as I know I won't have time tomorrow . I have friends arriving to spend New Year's Eve with me and staying over a few days. I also have another set of friends coming to dinner tomorrow evening  so its a lovely busy time with dear friends of over 40 odd years that  DH and I have shared so much with in  life.

I also have another couple of belated Christmas presents from my PIC- We just couldn't get to one another before we were blasted with the snow before Christmas . But look what  I have - A  hand dyed wool bundle bought back from her trip to the Buggy Barn and this beautiful stitchery pin keep she made from a pattern from www.stacynashprimitives.com. Isn't it just gorgeous and it goes perfectly with my Swedish wooden Christmas tree. It can adorn this little spot until the season is over . Thanks Suemluvesquilts no blog you certainly know your friend well. .
Hope everyone has a wonderful  New Year  and  thanks for taking the trouble to read my blog this past year  I can now safely say - TILL NEXT YEAR THEN.

Sue

Quilt Gifts & New York

Gifts from Frances at Quilting Owl

I finally got out of the village on Thursday after my drive was dug free of snow. I made a dash to the Nursing home- I know they tell me DH is OK when I phone in but their is nothing like seeing him with  my own eyes to confirm it. 

On Christmas morning I had lots of lovely gifts but these were two special quilts gifts that I adore. My son bought me the BOOK of The History of Dutch Quilts that is now printed in English, I have got to tell you it is the most fabulous book- wonderful pictures of old dutch quilts. I am so glad I hinted to him  in a very small way that I needed this book- It is a joy.

My second lovely gift was some lovely fabric, a pincushion pattern and a wool tree ornament from Frances. She really knew what to send me- would you believe a coordinating range of Lecian fabrics that just happens to have a bit of Toile in it. Thank you so much Frances I love it. You will have to keep reading now to see how it is used.

THREE CENTURIES OF RED AND WHITE QUILTS

The other exciting thing is my PIC and I had been talking for some weeks about going to the American Folk Art Exhibition of Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts . Well she sat on her end of the phone and me on mine while we discussed options . Before I knew it I pushed the button so we are off to New York In March. Goodness knows what we are going to be like. Well I expect you have guessed that we will be like a couple of kids let loose in a sweet shop. Whoopee.

If I have learnt anything since DH has had Alzheimer's is that our time here  is not a dress rehearsal and to make the most of life.

Still Snowed In

I am still snowed in- Its time to get a 4 wheel drive! Things are moving again in the village but only if you have a tractor or 4 wheel drive and since I have neither I am still stuck with cabin fever fast approaching .
Kindly neighbours have been contacting me to ask me if I need anything when they go out. My nearest farming neighbour is coming tomorrow morning to dig my drive way off so I can have a go at getting out. HOORAY.
The house is decorated  so will leave you with some Christmas eye candy and  take this opportunity to thank all  the new friends I have found through blogging and to  wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful , Healthy 2011

The Dining Room

And a festive corner of my sitting  room

Santa has left some presents already.

The Sitting Room Fireplace

My Quilt rack that is in the dining room with some festive quilts on it.

A MERRY Christmas from MERY who you can see is very comfortable thank you very much.

Snowed In

Snow, Snow Snow. 15 ins of it to be precise .This is my box garden , my centre urn has a top hat and my box pyramids look like something out of ghost buster's.  It hasn't stopped snowing here all day and I won't be going anywhere fast. Nothing has moved in or the  village and haven't seen another soul all day.

It looks like a scene from Narnia  with this picture being taken from my bedroom window.

Mery and I did have to brave it  as she had to go out . The snow came completely over my wellies but as you can see she just loves being out in it.
This is what happens when we come back- snowballs stuck to her coat which takes a whole load  of licking and pulling at !
I am stocked up with food , I have even done some  baking and came over all domestic and cleaned the house.
I hope it thaws  over the days  ahead  so I can get to DH at the nursing home. We are snug and warm and might even get some more sewing done now that I have a clean home and am ready for Christmas.
Meanwhile- Send shovel, Send manpower, Send Snow Plough.

Red and Green

 

Lots of red and green on blogs over recent weeks for obvious reasons.

Hope you like the new header that is up for the festive season It had been waiting for it's binding for sometime and the upcoming season galvanised me into action.

My Carolina Lily cushion is a vintage cutter piece I bought in 2007 from a dealer at the Vermont Quilt Festival.
I was going to frame it but in the end it has become a cushion. I really love the Carolina Lily design and would love to know what happened to the rest of this quilt and where else  any part of it is.

I wonder if cutter quilts that are split up into cushion or crib size piece's will ever come together again in blogs or events. I think one such thing happened if you look here Lisa . said that the believed this bodice and quilt were from the same article.

A Walk In The Woods and Nativity Scene

Thought I would show  my first big quilt I ever made. Its my DH's really as he chose the fabrics and its called A Walk in the Woods. Remember Bill Bryson's book. Well I was reading this book on holiday in New Hampshire back in 2000 . We walked a bit of the Appalachian Trail ( well about 5 miles of climbing) With only 2170 miles to go. I can't believe people walk the entire trail but hey ho some do.

We even walked a few more of the AT when in Virginia some years later and  decided then to make a quilt to commemorate the bit of it DH and I hiked together. Its a Thimbleberries pattern and I even put a bear on the back as we really did come across one whilst walking on the trail. He just sat there -  we froze and then decided to make a lot of noise and he thankfully ran off.

So now the quilt is covering a table and my Williraye Nativity Scene  is out. I do love his work-I ordered it and to save on postage my cousin  was in the USA and just happend to be in the right place at the right time carried it home for  me . Little did we realise how big the box was!  This was before 9/11 and all the restrictions that has brought about - I owe her big time as this is one piece of Christmas I love to get out each year.

Saint Lucia Nr Annelund Sweden

The White Lights at Liseberg

I normally get to Sweden to stay with my good friends around this time of year and a couple of years ago I happened to be there on St Lucia day which for those who are not Scandinavian is the 13th December. On this day throughout the country young girls dress in these white robes and a girl with a garland of candles on her head visit hospitals, schools and anywhere you can imagine singing the song Saint Lucia.
I was lucky enough to see this traditional event. We went to a restaurant near where my friends live and in came the girls. I hope you enjoy the video I took- Its a bit dark but that adds to the beauty of the whole scene. I even have my own ST Lucia girl , so today the candles are lit and I think of my dear friends in Sweden who I love and miss.
We also paid a visit to LISEBERG in Gotenburg . Its and amusement park but all done with the utmost taste. Completely white lights everywhere an ice skating rink and shops to buy gifts. We had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the skating rink - what a lovely sight seeing the young children skating around. I haven't been on skates for years and would have quite  liked to have a go, BUT just couldn't put myself through the embarrassment of making a complete ass of myself.
Enjoy
P.S. Not sure what has happened with YOU TUBE but a follow on video comes up when mine is finished but nothing to do with me.

Sewing and Christmas Lunch With Friends

The Dining Room set for lunch

My Folk Art Bird that Claudine made.

We had a lovely day yesterday with Sue's original sewing group coming to sew in my studio and have a Christmas lunch get together.
I managed to get the dining room decorated and prepared lunch whilst they were in the studio beavering away - some making Christmas presents and some with their on going quilting that they are trying to get done for a certain deadline(SUE) .
Claudine finished her applique block .I had to show it as it has been made in such unusual colors. Lots of repro fabrics. I like the different background she has gone for - a brownish colouring . I think it is a Kaffe Fassett . I like the mix of old and new.
Claudine also made the little folk art bird for me which I have to say I am thrilled with. As I said at the time It doesn't take a lot to make this girl happy. Just sewing and spending time with nice friends and getting a present to boot.
Thanks ladies I enjoyed the day enormously.

It's Done

 
 

As you can see my quilt top is finished so its off to the Rosemary to be quilted.
I spent the day sewing in my garden room looking out over very white fields, No snow just a real haw frost. I was snug and warm and look who payed me a visit- Mr Robin Red Breast.It was such a cold night with my outside thermometer telling me it was -10 .So I must keep the bird feeder topped up so that this little guy keeps on coming back. Maybe he had his eye on the quilt to keep him snug.

Christmas Is Coming

First Advent candle lit

My MERY dog wallhanging

The weather has been very snowy in most parts of the country but for some reason it seems to be all around us but we have only had a smattering so it hasn't stopped me getting out and about.
I am now thinking Christmas and don't have much in the way of Christmas wall hangings so decided to make one of my own with Mery my dog as one of the characters. It would be so HER hanging on to the reigns stopping Santa's reindeer's from doing their work. I made a pocket at the bottom for Santa's letter's. I don't have grandchildren yet, but hopefully one day a little person will be able to pop their letter off to him and their wishes be granted. AGH. Maybe I should pop one in there. Well A girl can dream can't she!

Now do you remember the kit I bought in Paducah this year that I had to revamp as the cutting instructions didn't work. Well I decided to get it back out and although have now made good progress if I had followed the original pattern their is no way their was enough fabric for those outer edge setting triangle. The original quilt was bigger.
I felt totally frustrated with this kit and am glad I now have my own stamp on it. I still have a couple of borders to add but with a bit more snow in my neck of the woods so I that I can't get out it will be done before to long.

Pin Box Pincushions

I thought I would show you how I make these little pincushion boxes.
I use the brown papier-mache boxes that you can buy from craft stores. I paint them with a water based paint and leave them to dry.
You will need 2 pieces of fabric for the top and bottom of your pincushion, Filling, A button and a glue gun.

Using lid as pattern draw circle on one side of fabric

stitch on line the two pieces of fabric and trim back to near sewing line.

Slitting the back stuff with polyester filling

sew button onto pincushion

Glue the pincushion to the top of box using a hot glue gun

Hey presto a lovely gift for any of your sewing buddies.

If I haven't explained myself very well just leave a comment and I will get back to you.
Happy stitching.
Sue

Like Minds

Do you have a friend that seems to have a like mind. Well I do and I often refer to her as my PIC on my blog. Which means my Partner In Crime.

I meet PIC when she walked into my quilt shop the second day it was open and we didn't stop talking as we realised we had so much in common.

As we got to know each other better we found out we had both made a quilt and a needlework sampler the same. Well almost the same as we both put our own little twist into them .

Sue's made in 1992

Mine made in 1996

Sue's Quilt

My Quilt

We drove down to Cornwall yesterday and she even started picking up my mobile phone and inspecting it- yes you got it- it is exactly the same phone . It was cheap as chips. Were not into to much high fangle techno stuff as long as we can make and receive a calls on them then that's good enough for us.

We went down to Cowslip Workshops as it was Jo's Christmas Fair. It was jam packed but made it through to Linda Clifts table which is full of wonderful little goodies like buttons, and piece's of antique textiles. At one point I dived down to see what was in the boxes under the table only to find PIC under the table at the other end rummaging through a box of french antique linens. We just looked , laughed and said might have guessed who I would spot even at ground level and between all those legs.
Linda also has a nice  Blog here

The Soldier Quilt and Poets

Part of the Exhibition in St Marys Church , Dymock
This is Mery walking on Poets Path 2 on our way to LITTLE IDDENS where Robert Frost lived, Little Iddens in the background.


I didn't really know how to start this post other than a Quilt came out of it.

It started in Vermont some years ago when I visited ROBERT FROST'S home in Shaftesbury, who at that time I knew nothing about. I was reading the poetry going round the room and the poem The Road Not Taken caught my imagination . When I read on it said that this poem had been started when Robert Frost was living in Gloucestershire. I asked the lady on the desk if their was a Gloucestershire in the USA she said it was when he lived in England . She showed me a picture of a black and white house and all it said was Little Iddens.
On my return I started some research as I didn't know anywhere called Little Iddens. Turns out it was the name of the house he rented whilst living around the Dymock area which is only 40 minutes from where I live.
I have always loved the area its very gentle rolling countryside and in the years leading up to the first world war literary history was being made by the Dymock Poets.
Whats this got to do with a quilt you may well ask. Well we made a soldier block at my local quilt group one evening so decided to make it into a quilt with all the 6 Dymock poets names in and centering the poem THE SOLDIER by Rupert Brooke who was one of the 6 poets as the centre piece.
Its timely I show this quilt as it Remembrance day on Sunday and we should never forget our past soldiers who gave their lives for us and those that are on the front line right now.

I passed Dymock church today and called in and took some photos as they have an excellent exhibition in the back of the church on all the Dymock Poets and their works plus lots of other poets who were living in the area including Eleanor Farjeon who wrote the children's hymn Morning Has Broken.
When I was in the church today I read that The Road Not Taken was occasioned by Frost's choice of a path in Dymock Wood. From America Frost posted the poem to Edward Thomas whose wavering over the best route to take had amused him when they walked together. The poem plumbs deeper levels too and, Its English provenance ignored, has become an American favourite.
Funny isn't it that I had to go to America to find out about something right on my own door step. Thank you Robert Frost, I also love Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
The Quilt still has to be finished so it seems its a reminder to get on with it.
Sue