Katie Bo

Today's post is dedicated to the game old bird who is my Mum.

 

Having always viewed her all my life as not a  woman to mince with, I have realised over the past few years that underneath there was a vulnerability lurking hidden that I never really knew was there. Perhaps getting older shows up these facets of our personalities. Ones we cannot keep hidden, like we can when we are younger and more in control of our lives? I am not sure. It took me a long time to see this vulnerable side of my Ma.

Growing up I thought she was invincible . She kept me from harm. She made me happy and she could rustle up anything needed for a school costume at the drop of a hat !She would never let me out of the house without looking like a shiny new penny, despite her own sometimes embarrassing tendency towards the Mrs Bucket approach to life ( before Mrs Bucket was ever thought of). In short ,she was star. She had a strength and tenacity to deal with a whole host of poo that life threw at her and battled on regardless and I knew nothing of how hard this all was be for her. But now, I can see through the facade, as her physical frailty gets the better of her. And it makes me sad that I never realised.  

 With my dear old Dad at her side now for the past 63 years, they make an amazing couple. Still holding hands as they sit and watch the TV together, you feel you want to pick them up and put them in your pocket to keep them safe. That's not to say we haven't had the odd moment of disagreement in the past. We wouldn't be mother and daughter if we hadn't. The level of negotiation that was required for me to have my first "midi" coat at the age of 14  was unbelievable and as for me sobbing after being stoodup as a broken hearted teenager, well lets not even go there. But through thick and thin she has done everything she thought was right to keep me safe, make me a happy bunny and let me make my own way. And I love her for all of that and more.

 

She will of course not be reading this ramble, as she is a complete techno-phobe and afraid of the Internet. Did you know porn actually leaps out of the screen at you the minute you a computer on? No, well it does according to Mum... But that's another reason why I love her. She drives me batty, bless her.

 

I hope you all have had a wonderful Mother's day today.  I am off to spend the voucher for The Village Haberdashery my brilliantly trained daughter bought me. Hurrah.

It's all in the planning

Scraps at the ready

The weather is going to be pants so that rules out my other Beloved free weekend occupation which should be starting about now. That is my gardening. Such a shame as the place looks wrecked at the mo, but hey ho, no use stressing because I am no cold weather gardener me.  So that means I have no option but to sit and sew today. Oh dear , what a shame.........

Even the postie called with a parcel to give me a hint that I should be stitching, so what can a girl do.

 

I have an absolute shed load of things I need to get done so the food shop is done, the laundry is laundered (stuff the ironing- that can wait ) and the hoovering is hoovered. Well, sort of. And so I am off and running.

 

 My hit list for this weekend is so vast I know I will not get through the lot but with no distractions I am hopeful for an extremely productive weekend.  Lets see, we have

• make a small crib quilt for train buddy, (promised back in February before body failure)
• finish the Dresden Plate cushion from week 1 of the Bear Paw Classes
• finish the Low volume quilt started in February
• make my Mo' Stash March blocks
• practise a few more double wedding ring blocks from this week's Bear Paw Class
• Pull some fabric for Modern She Made 2 swap
• oh yes, breath

The groups work from week 2 of the Bear Paw classes. Mine is top centre, the wonky one - hence the need to practise more

Lets report back here sharpish Monday to find out how many of those have moved from the list. Of course if I fail abysmally, I will just leave the country and shut down the blog in shame.

 

see you soon

 

February round up

 

All in all a bit of a strange month for me really. After near on three weeks away from work with an ailing body I am back in the saddle again and raring to go. My blog has been a bit neglected as you probably noticed so this is by way of a quick catch up on swaps and bees.

 

The February Modern Stash blocks have winged their way off to Linda in Texas care of her daughter so I hope she  likes them and that they fit in well with everyone else's. We also finished the Pretty Little Pouch Swap, which was terrific. Hadley came up trumps with my beautiful wee bag filled with all sorts of goodies and I was really chuffed with the comments I received from everyone for the pouch I made for Indianna Dreams. She tells me she is off sailing again soon and it will be going on its travels with her so the pirate theme was spot on. I have signed up for two more swaps starting in March , but haven't been able to down load the buttons yet so will write all about them next time once I have my techy brain in gear. Of course I also started the low volume quilt I wrote about last time but that too is work in progress, still to be shared once I have made it look a bit more interesting. Not bad really then ,in a shortened poorly month. I am quite surprised now I have recapped.

 

This week I started a lovely little modern techniques course over at Jo Avery's Homestore in Edinburgh which was fun ( but freezing!). It will be 6 sessions of new ideas to have fun with and this week she showed us a great way of making a Dresden Plate. Her examples were stunning but as I packed my bag in a bit of a hurry at 6 am in the morning, before leaving for work, my fabric mix was a little stressful, but by placing the circle on the red fabric I have pulled it back  a bit and I have a plan for the middle which I will show you once its finished. I had hoped to finish it this weekend and take it along next week for a bit of show and tell but today has disappeared too quickly and tomorrow we are off to the family for lunch and stuff, so it may have to wait till next week. If you are interested Jo is selling kits to make these great cushions which you can find by clicking here. They really are beautiful.

 

 

This afternoon I have knocked up a batch of chilli jam to take with me tomorrow as a little thank you and given the look on the beloved JB's face after tasting it, I think the heat factor will hit the spot for the chilli loving Greg and co. It was featured on saturday Kitchen this morning and I couldn't resist.

That's my lot really for reporting today I think. We're off to the theatre in Edinburgh tonight to see Mike Leigh's "Abigail's party", so it'll be cheese and pineapple on sticks and listening to Demis Roussos all round. Cracking play- can't wait.

 

Keep well everyone and and pop by again soon.