Small Projects and Samples

Arrived back in the US a week ago last Sunday, nice to see DH and the dogs again. The weather is also a nice surprise really sunny. I hear ware going to hit the high 90’s this week but this will also be very muggy as we are forecast to have high humidity. Anyway enough of me proving how British I am by discussing the weather !

I have been out running a few times last week and thanks to some of the residual jet lag, I have been able to go early in the morning. Friday I met Sara for lunch in the town, we had a very nice time and really must do it again soon. Friday night I decided to try out one on my new John Deer embroidery designs. It is a fringed flower, very pretty and stitched out nicely. What do you think?

Saturday morning I went down to Quilters Attic for a class on 5D software, very good but I really need to keep working with it as I am not really using it enough to get the full benefit of its features. So with that in mind I went off to Homegoods and bought some nice towels and then designed an embroidery to go across the band – I am pleased with the results.

His and Hers towels for the hot tub. Buoyed by my new renewed enthusiasm for smaller projects and made myself a shop card holder with my serger

Quickly followed by a quick serger case to hold my mouse and 5D dongle

I was now on a roll so next decided to tackle some of my orphan blocks and turn them into cushion covers.

Then I rounded the afternoon off with trying out another of the John Deer designs, I think I will turn this into a small wall hanger.



Phew !! that was fun. This week I get to work from home and then next week I am off to Baltimore.

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England to Wales and back again

Sunday I had to move into the pub as the cat managed to make a small hole in my inflatable bed, good job its only 200yds down the road. Monday Alana went to nursery and Sarah and i went into Reading for a spot of shopping and sorting some of my bank stuff out. I was blown away at the cost of parking over 10 pounds and we were there just over 2 hours. I have got so used to not being charged to park anywhere in US.

Tuesday we had a little bit of drama, my daughter was supposed to be staying with her fathers girlfriend but at the last minute she decided to ban me from dropping Sarah off at her house. Must have heard of my prior life as a cat burglar ( Joke ) actually I am at a loss to understand, been divorced nearly 20 years and she has only been on the scene for a year, I thought that we were passed that sort of nonsense. The only good thing was it made me feel like I was back at school again!

Anyway on to plan B Sarah stayed at my ex in-laws and thank goodness we have maintained a healthy relationship over the years. I stayed with my Mum. Wednesday I took mum off to Mumbles for the day ( after we had a little bet on the horses and a visit to my Aunty Hazel and Uncle Dave) it was so lovely to finally see the sea. We had a nice lunch up at the pier then walked into town and joy of joy found a quilt shop. I bought some beach themed charm squares so I make a quilt for the little bedroom at home.

We rounded off the trip with a visit to Joe’s for ice cream.

Went to pick up Sarah at the outlaws but had to drive around the block for 5 mins so as not to upset the girlfriend who hadn’t left yet 🙂 see I really am a sweetie. We went off to Porthcawl and had a fish and chips at the Atlantic and a good long chat.

Went back for the two of them this morning and then collected my mum and off to Ewenny to Crazy Kids. Couple of hours for Alana to burn off some excess energy and then the drive back to Berkshire

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Family here I come

The car came to collect me at 10 o’clock and the first 10 miles took nearly 45mins welcome to London and that’s not even rush hour. On the way we passed many of the the well known sights but one I thought might not be so well known is this one,



the locals refer to it as the gherkin. I bet the poor architect who slaved over this design is mortified. As we swung around the palace we were lucky enough to pass the changing of the guard.

At last I arrived at Heathrow ready to pick up my car from Avis. In order to for everyone to follow the next bit – british version will be in brackets. They upgraded my Ford Focus wagon (estate car) for a BMW version, very nice. It was low and narrow (normal) and took a bit of getting used to. Especially the stick shift ( gear lever) and driving on the other side of the road ( normal side of road). Roads were busy (normal) and as I got closer to Sarah’s the roads were very narrow (normal) but I arrived unscathed. They were both really pleased to see me and I think Alana liked her back pack

and the denim dress

and her sundress



Sleep now thats an interesting word — I think I remember what it used to feel like. Ho Hum! Saturday turned out to be a nice sunny day so we drove off to a Waterfowl Sanctuary on the outskirts of Banbury. There were lots of chickens, ducks, goats llamas and donkeys. Alana had lots of fun feeding them

She was also able to pet a few of the smaller animals, she had a rabbit, baby chick, hamster and a gerbil on her lap (not at the same time)

The evening was rounded off with home made chocolate puddings with runny centers and fresh strawberries – Sarah made them from scratch and they were delicious.

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Canary Wharf so near yet so far

So here I am, working in Canary Wharf London. I arrived here late Monday morning and on the way in from Heathrow, passed my favorite windows, just imagine how great the light in those rooms



I have done 6 training sessions in 3 days, my feet ache like crazy. it’s been interesting, especially trying to make sure that I cover everything in each session without repeating myself in the same session. Wednesday night I went out to dinner with a friend of mine who works at the company that I was working with last November. We went to Borough Market and a fish restaurant, really good. different menu every night depending on the fish they have. I had a lovely mackerel pate to start and a whole Dorset crab as a main course.

On the way back to the hotel tonight I treated myself to a rhubarb smoothie, it was yummy, you don’t tend to see much rhubarb in the US. Tonight I was too tired to go out so I had room service but as I am staying at the Four Seasons it was served beautifully



So close to family yet too far to visit yet. Friday will resolve that, I will be going back to Heathrow to collect a car and then off to see my daughter and granddaughter yeay!

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Huge catch up

Wow it has been such a long time since I blogged last. I have been really busy wrapping up my project in Florida and also lots of classes and some visitors.

ok lets go back in time ……… April 13th my niece came to visit with us all the way from Scotland – only just a teenager and flew all on her own! She is a real pleasure to have around, very chatty, easy going and prepared to come hiking with us.

On the Friday and Saturday she was entertained by DH as I had already committed two classes by one of my favorite bloggers and authors – Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville.com I took two of her classes, Pineapple Blossom

and Scrappy Mountain



These are both scrap quilts so I was able to finally start to use some of my scraps. Bonnie was a lot of fun and a really great teacher, if ever you get the chance then don’t hesitate to sign up. Bonnie also gave a lecture at the guild on managing and using her scraps and one of the quilts she showed was her own Scrappy Mountain



We had lots of day trips with Caitlin and plenty of trips to the craft store. On the 23rd her mum (my sister)and stepdad arrived and so we had a week of hiking eating and chatting with them, it is always nice to see them and the time passes far too quickly.

Apr 30th I had a class at Quilters Attic in Pine Bush — it was a cutwork embroidery and I had chance to use my cutwork needles — they actually cut out the fabric for you — how cool is that. Just realized I have not taken a picture yet – so will need to do that soon.

On the Sunday we went for a very strenuous 8 mile hike up and around Bald Mountain about 45 mins away from the house. It was a great day and we all enjoyed it

Although we did have a minor scare when we came across a 5ft Black Rat snake. Not poisonous but quite aggressive and moved so very very fast – yuck!

Off to Florida for my final week and then a mad sewing weekend as I found out I was going back to UK and will be getting to see my daughter and granddaughter. So I knitted a shawl for Sarah

A Jersey jacket for me



some sundresses and capri pants for Alana

And this darling back pack for Alana

How cute is this ?

This weekend I made T- shirt dress for myself but I forgot to photograph that as well. Friday and Saturday I was at a John Deer embroidery seminar it was a lot of fun and I may have made a few purchases!

I am now sitting at the airport waiting for my overnight flight to the UK – 4 days of work then some time with the family. Yeay !

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Finally, fun and phew !

Two weeks ago I was in Sioux Falls SD and there was still snow, I am wondering if Spring is ever going to arrive in the north east. Not the prettiest city in the world but one bright spot was the quilt on the wall of the office I was working in, lovely isn’t it.

It’s designed to represent the Native Americans that lived in the area. I was there for a few days working then flew from Souix Falls to Atlanta and spent a few days being spoilt by our good friends Paul and Robyn, plenty of food, martini’s and shopping – it was a lot of FUN. One of the many things I bought were some of those mini wooden pegs. I had a moment of inspiration and thought of a good way to solve the problem of sewing blocks together either in the wrong order or upside down. I wrote numbers on them and then I can use them to identify which blocks I can sew to which, the pegs also identify which way around the blocks should be. As they are so small they don’t pull at the fabric and so not leave pin holes like safety pins can.

From Atlanta I flew to LA spent a day visiting clients and eating at a very interesting seafood restaurant after which I went to the airport and took a red eye to Detroit there was a 4 hour wait at the airport for a connection to Stewart, of the joys of traveling in the US.That weekend I focussed on finishing the top of my blue and white quilt – hurrah that’s an awful lot of squares that I had to match up there were so many squares!

To celebrate I decided to start a wall hanging, I used some batik scraps that I had and took a stitch in the hoop design from my Piece in the Hoop book. The designs from this book always stitch out very nicely. Can’t make up my mind how to quilt it yet? Nice bright spring colors though, which reminds me, it has finally arrived. Daffodils should be flowering by the end of the week.

We had Sunday brunch at the Brotherhood Winery with live Jazz music, it is the oldest winery in US, very nice atmosphere but not as much fun as the other one we went to in Goshen. Wayne and Kathy came with us and we rounded off the afternoon with a trip to another of the local wineries that they are members of. We had a free wine tasting and they bought a box of the wine that they like we all headed back to our place for Pizza.

Wednesday I started running again after a 8 week lay off, man it was hard and my legs ached like crazy for days. First mile was fine it was the next 2 that really burnt. Saturday we went to the local pub for Pizza with Gil and Sara very nice to see them again, hope Gil feels better soon. I spent hours on Sunday cutting fabric for two classes I am doing with Bonnie Hunt and the quilt guild on Friday and Saturday. 72 8.5 X 8.5 squares for one quilt and 180 3.5 X 3.5 squares 72 9.5 X 2, 6.5 X 2 and 3.5 X 2 rectangles for the other. looking forward to the classes – these are stash and scrap quilts. I was able to take a lot of the leg work out of with by using my Accuquilt Go, I used by 3.5 square and the 2 inch strip cutter

I ran 3.5 miles Sunday evening much easier than the Wednesday run, it was good to be out in the fresh air and at lease I was able to keep running this time, I need to keep it up. I am flying to Florida this evening back on Wednesday and also my niece Caitlin arrives, she will be staying with us for just over 2 weeks. Her mum arrives on the 23rd. DH is planning lots of excursions with her and a home made photography course. We are both looking forward to it.

Last day of the week and the first day of Spring

Crappy start to the week again. Newburgh to Detroit and then a 3 hour delay meant getting to Tampa at 2am on Tuesday, yawn! At least the weather that greeted me the next morning was warm and sunny. The hotel was 5 minute walk to the office and there was a small lake outside that had some wading birds looking for fish.

On Wednesday i was on the way into the office and nearly jumped out of my skin when I was greeted by this duck sitting in the planter.

After I spent a full day training two groups of 25 people I left Tampa and drove to Jacksonville over 220 miles and I got to hotel at 10pm. Passed through some interesting towns that may be worth a visit when I have time. Thursday was another two training sessions and then fly home on Friday via Atlanta. At least this went without any delays so I got home at 6, just in time to get ready to go to the dance at the Vets club in town. We had a live band and we were there with kathy and Wayne. A really fun night. I cant believe how much of a social life we have these days.

Up early Saturday morning to go to quilt guild, sat next to a very nice lady called Elaine and we had fun chatting. The block that I did last week got added to the others and then was raffled.

Its going to make a very interesting quilt. As usual all of the show and tell quilts were excellent but one really stood out. It is also going to be raffled on behalf of the Catskill hall of fame quilters.

We were supposed to be going to the Hoot Owl Saturday night with Gil and Sarah but they had a dog issue and had to take Cooper to the Vets for a few stitches. We watched Burlesque on TV instead, very good movie.

Sunday I put Sarah’s quilt on the frame. This is my daughters first attempt at quilting and she hand stitched the whole thing, I think she did a great job. I quilted it freehand and tried to give it a real sense of movement. I hope she likes it.

Just need to get it bound now. Made a pillow case with some of the backing fabric, it’s really cute it depicts fish fishing for cats 🙂

I felt I was on a roll so I used one to the embroideries that I downloaded from sewforless.com. They had them on sale with all of the proceeds going to aid Japan so I feel I have contributed something. its a T shirt for Alana ( granddaughter ) it stitched out very well.

Rounded the evening off with homemade pizza – I feel as if I have really had a break this weekend despite all of the activity.

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Chance to sew again

Arrived home at a decent time on Friday, so was able to catch up normal household stuff so that I could sew Saturday. I thought I would catch up on my BOM’s. First up was the February PB & J blocks – they wanted two wonky squares and the fabrics were great all very bright.

Next I worked on the block for the Wiltwyck quilt guild

Then my PB & J March block – this one was freeform and great fabric again

Then my February Patriot in Petticoats blocks

last but not least — more work on my blue and white quilt but that is not ready to be shown yet.

Sunday we went to a birthday party with friends – great afternoon with good food, wine and lots of great conversation.

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Joys of travel

Today I was due to fly back to Jacksonville, my first flight is delayed 2 1/2 hours which means I will miss my next flight and have to stay overnight in Atlanta. Also means that I will have to change my car rental and will actually end up paying more for it.

Deep joy — can’t wait to see what the return journey has to bring.

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What a week

Can’t believe this cough and cold is still hanging around, 3 weeks and counting. It is very tiring. Friday I had a meeting up in the city (New York) the first 85 miles took an hour and a half and the last 5 miles took 45 minutes, don’t you just love city traffic. I made my meeting with 5 minutes to spare.

On the way home I decided to go via Somerset NJ as there was a quilt show there. I am not sure if it was because I had a dose of the miseries or if it really was a bad show. I was not inspired at all. All the quilts were just bunched together in the middle of the room with 2 rows of vendors either side. I was there less than an hour and all I bought was a book on converting sweatshirts to jackets (for my granddaughter) and a chenille brush. Hope my mojo comes back soon.

Saturday started with my annual pilgrimage to the tax accountant, I left with a long list of follow up tasks and a job offer! hope I get a rebate this year. Later we met up with 4 very good friends and went for dinner at John’s Harvest Inn (very delicious). We then went on to the Paramount in Middletown for a tribute concert, Sam and Dave, Jackie Wilson, Righteous Brothers, Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. They were all excellent singers if I had any complaints at all it was that they tried to pack too many acts into the evening so it went on too long.

Sunday we were thrilled to have a visit from Johan and his wife(Johan worked with me in EMEA some years ago) they were visiting New York for the week from Finland and came out to see us. The only downer to the day was the non stop rain and dense fog everywhere. First stop was Orange County Choppers for a look at the custom motorbikes, then off to Huegenot Street in New Paltz ( original stone built houses from the 1700’s). Lunch was at the Gilded Otter a micro brewery in New Platz. We then drove up to Mountain House in Mohonk. The fog was so dense that even though the photos below were in colour they look like black and white!

Even the outdoor ice skating had fog swirling around it !

We brought them back to the house for a quick coffee and a relax before they went back up to the city — Thanks Both we REALLY appreciated you making the effort, hope you enjoyed the trip

From a sewing point of view this week has been a complete bust !

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