Dreich- adjective ( see also Scotland)

My back garden lawn !

Today has been the sort of the day the Scot's invented the word dreich for. It's been grey and damp with that horrid drizzly sort of rain that gets you soaked right through to the bone. When I first ventured north to university I wrote home to my Mum ( yes, that was in the days when you used a stamp and an envelope, but not quite a quill pen) and told her that the rain up here was wetter than down in the good old south. And do you know, I still stand by that daft statement to this day.

Rain in Scotland has a persistence about it that matches the national character. It is strong and unforgiving. But like the Scottish character the land has a warmth and glow about it that I cannot resist and that makes my heart smile. So I will wear wellies and cultivate the biggest umbrella collection known to man.

Anyway all this drivel about drizzle is because today was "Bank Holiday Monday" which translates as "Guaranteed Wet Dreich Day" so I spent the time catching up on some odds and ends and started a new project. You might remember a few blogs ago I asked for suggestions on what pattern to use for a Layer Cake I had bought entitled "Happy Campers". Well I settled on Emily's suggestion of  "You Zig and I'll Zag" , from the Ruby Blue Quilting Studio and have made a good start. I have promised to give this to Pepper Ann, who is a huge retro fan as I thought it would be a great start to her and Scott's home which they have started  saving things for. It used to be called a "bottom drawer" and that probably  sounds very old fashioned thing now , but actually I think is quite sweet. Pepper Ann and her big and wonderful Scott ( who is somewhere around 6 ft 6 I am sure) are the last of our gang of 5 to set up a home and we hope it won't be too long for them before they are all set and find their ideal place. In the meantime, I can start off their nest with a nice big and bright quilt to snuggle under on the dark nights. I have hit a wee snag though, as the pattern requires 41 blocks and as the layer cake only has 40 pieces I have had brain fade trying to figure out how it's meant to work from the cutting instructions, so I hope I hear from Ruby Blue soon. If you have made a similar pattern or any ideas that will help me please drop me a line to rescue me.

I have to confess though that I did get a bit distracted from my task of this quilt as I stopped for a cuppa and a slice of Marmalade cake and discovered a rerun of Sense and Sensibility on Channel 4 and, well you can't beat a bit of Austen on a wet bank holiday can you. Not to mention Mr Rickman in breeches. Three hours later it seemed a bit late to return to the den to pick up the pieces, if you pardon the pun, so I will continue next weekend, as the beloved JB will still be away at work.

Given all this moaning about rain I thought it would also be good if you saw a few of the upsides of all this northern precipitation. You know I love my garden and its been a tough year but these last couple of pictures show  some of the beneficiaries from this summer. I have been trying to grow Agapanthus for years and this is my first ever bloom. I know its a bit on the weedy side, but its a start. As for the Hydrangea, they remind me of our wedding where we had them stacked high in buckets by the entrance to the marque, and they looked stunning in shades of pink and purple. Next year I will try the iron filings trick and see if I can get a similar effect. The last picture is one of the rain laying on the Achemilla which I thought just looked rather cool. Hope you like them .

 

Anyway, that's me off to find a cure for webbed feet and trench foot... see you again soon

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)