Jubilee doings

I don't think it would be right for any blog writer this side of the pond to the let the weekend celebrations go by without comment. We certainly were having a giggle last week at some of the merchandising that can be seen in our shops at the moment and the ingenuity of the marketing men to be able to add a Union Jack to absolutely anything.  Personally the past 10 years seem to have flown by and Emily and I have been revisiting photos of our Golden Jubilee trip to Scotland, when we bravely left Tom (  my other  name is Tom's Mum) at home alone for the first time. Always a brave move to leave your son home alone for week to fend for himself when he is 17. I of course packed the fridge with food but returned home to find he had been happily fed and watered by everyone else's Mum that week and had a wail of a time without his annoying mother and sister. To be honest we had a wail of a time without him too and he would have hated the trip. Emily and I spent a wonderful week in the sunny and stunning Highlands and it will always be a very special time in my heart.

Now 10 years on, both offspring have flown the nest and I have remarried and taken up residence in my beloved Scotland with my darling JB. Who would have thought it back then. So far as Jubilee celebrations went for me this time though it was always going to be a quiet affair this time around. North of the Border these things are viewed in a different light and I was the one home alone this time, but my southern roots are very strong so it was out with the old pinking shears on Friday night to make myself a string or two of bunting, and very splendid it looked too. I also decided to put together a Jubilee flower arrangement , which was easier said than down as my local florist was not proving too helpful on this occasion. I was all prepared to struggle with blue flowers, but low and behold it was the red that was a struggle with her sole offering being small red carnations, so as you can see, it wasn't that inspiring an arrangement, but never mind.

The weekend could not possibly pass though without a  little quilt to mark the occasion so the following is my nod to Her Majesty's 60 year reign and well done her. It was finished off whilst watching her and the rest of the royal gang freeze and get soaked to the skin on the Royal Barge on the Thames.  Clearly the only flaw in the planning of the event was the omission of a good quilt or two too keep the poor old thing warm. This is Great Britain you know, and it was June . What did they expect? Sunshine?

Anyway, as you can see this is a very simple piece that started out as a Bear Paw, but then I noticed that if I reversed a set of triangles it looked a bit like a crown, so I have named it " Crowning Glory". Apart from the Union Jack fabric, it was made from scraps from my basket.

It consists of 5 x 2 7/8 inch squares and 1 x 4 7/8 inch square of each of the four fabrics. I finally added a 1 1/2 inch plain border and then the 3 inch feature border with the little Union Jack's. I hope you like it. It's ideal for the garden as it just fits on the small wooden table by one of our benches.  And what do you know, not long after completion the sun came out again, so I felt i just had to Christen the quilt with a nice Jubilee cup of tea in the Garden. Job done.

I do hope you all had a very Happy Jubilee and enjoyed fun time with all your loved ones. Keep the flags handy by the way, we'll all need them for the Olympics.

(ps we had two jubilee beacons near us, which was fantastic. Dumyat wins the day for me as a view though so please click the link to see the wonderful photo of the night- copyright stops me being able to show it direct)