Eek.... its an EPP

Well we are back. You might have noticed the absence of posts over the past couple of weeks and this is because the beloved JB and I have been dashing about a bit . This started off with a visit to Number One Son, which was wonderful, on the eve of his graduation. There had been a school of thought that my dear lad was aiming for the Longest Student Career ever, but that was just an ugly rumour put about by the pubs of Cambridge and we were all pleased to announce his move to "Grownup-hood" at the grand old age of 27. Well done Tom, we all love you to bits and are very proud of you.

 

Next we headed off to the Emerald Isle, a first for JB and we had a blast. Belfast is a must for us to revisit as we found it a bright and vibrant city and our one night stop off was far too short. The essential pint in the Crown Bar ( the only pub owned by the National Trust) was fun and we even manged to grab one of the highly sought after booths. I did make the fatal error of being too polite though and instead of us enjoying some privacy in the pub behind the beautiful oak panelled door of our cubby hole, I invited in what I thought was a French couple, to share the whole "British" experience but they turned into a whole gaggle, pouring into the tiny space, somewhat spoiling the atmosphere. Ho hum. This episode was however brightened when JB tried to impart to them that he worked for French company, only to discover that none of them spoke a word of English. The sight of 8 middle age men and women trying to mime to one another how they earned their living was pretty entertaining and not your average occurrence in a Belfast pub on a Friday night I am pretty sure. And you will never guess - whilst supping my pint of Smithwick's I spotted that the floor tiling was a brilliant example of quilt blocks so couldn't resist a quick snap.

Anyway, Ulster fry consumed, we headed off to the North Coast and then on all around the Donegal coast for a great four day trip.  A hiccough by the booking agency meant we didn't get to stay where we had planned so my itinerary to head off to find the Fluffy Sheep Company  and the Fennel Shed ( owned by a work colleagues family co-incidentally ) was somewhat curtailed, so when I head back to see more of Belfast again I will have another shot at introducing myself down there too. We loved the whole area and had a great break but a highlight has to be the Giant's Causeway. I have wanted to see this phenomenon ever since I was a child and I wasn't disappointed. We struck it lucky with a bright, nippy but stunning day which meant we were both well in our element snapping away with the cameras. Nature is pretty darn clever and I think we forget that all to often.

 

On returning home I was very conscious of being behind with my piece for the Mouthy Stitches Swap and whilst I had chosen the fabrics I thought I was going to use, I still hadn't quite got a plan together for a design.

However, reviewing my photos I found myself fascinated by the hexagons forged by the elements and this has inspired me to put together an EPP design using tiny little hexies, each about one inch in diameter.

 

I hope my partner will like this. Whilst they are small and I have a long way to go, I am home alone again come the weekend so I am pretty confident at making the deadline of the 25th. Fingers crossed, but should you see a small woman hiding in the corner of the 7.31 to Edinburgh, please give me some elbow room and try not to waft too much as these hexies seem to have a life of their own once laid on a flat surface.

 

See you again soon (and hopefully after completion of swap). Oh, and a planned trip to see Brain and Carole at Beechwood is on the horizon as I still have "Autumn Shadows" to quilt, which I haven't shared with you yet so do pop back  .

Hiding away

Moda bake shop is hosting a "Show of your stash" malarky so I thought this was good opportunity to share Quilty Doings land with you. Its a small and bijou little land, packed with weird, fun and just soppy keepsakes that remind me of my amazing family and my wonderful life .

This looks like a place of chaos but that's because it is mid stitch. Join me on any normal day and you will find order - well if Emily has been home you will . Whenever Em comes home she loves to spend time checking out my latest purchases and sorting them Harry Potter style but without the hat, into colour and designs. 

Once I get into a project, which hardly ever are planned they all get hauled out and end up all over the place. I love my den though and it is my sanctuary when the beloved JB is away at work. On goes the radio or ipod and the music will be load and on the money and the machine or rotary cutter will be going hell for leather.

If you look one way you will see rows of our books, covering all sorts of subjects and styles. Biographies, novels and a huge amount of travel guides which I adore. These are a total necessity before any trip abroad. Love them. Look the other way and you will see old photos of the gang growing up which make my heart smile. Tom beaming on his first visit to The Bridge, aged 15 ( that's his football mecca for the uninitiated), or Emily aged 3 as the prettiest cow at her first nativity play when every other little girl was asked to be an angel. Poor child. 

The room is littered with children's artwork, wedding keepsakes and just generally daft stuff. For the eagle eyed you might spot the odd strange memento such as the Toy Story toy or a Star Wars Man. The pony surprisingly was a Christmas present only last year from my lovely son in law Greg because when asked what I wanted from Santa I replied " a pony" in jest.  Well what do you know ,I got one. Anyway, as you see , I think my stash lives in a very individual place and I hope you love it as much as I do.

PS its looks nothing like the rest of the house.

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)