Merry Christmas

I used a small yew tree this year for my decoration as I lent my artificial tree to a friend who needed it more than me.  I also gave her the lights and the tinsel because she did not have any.  So my good deed done, I had a look around my garden and I had a small yew growing in a pot which I thought might just do the trick and here it is.  I had to buy a pretty little bird for the top because the branch was a bit flimsy and there was not much foliage up there, but I am pleased with the effect.  The photo was taken on my mobile phone so its not completely clear as I turned off the flash but I rather like the way it has an ethereal quality to it.  So there it is a small delicate wonderland inhabited by a very pretty bird.

I do hope I can come back on this blog next year as I had trouble logging on, I think Blogger is sometimes very difficult and it kept giving me error messages, so I hope to blog again soon but would prefer it to be a bit more hassle free.

I am now convinced that this next year will be one of innovation and am looking forward to it.  Oh and my Redpolls are back!  I thought they had forgotten where I lived but no they were just teasing me.  So I hope you have a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Quilt Snuggles

Domestic bliss for some .....

Well it has turned cold in Cumbria so I suppose it was inevitable that Bella would sneak onto the new quilt on the bed and snuggle in.  We have had 3 quilts layered on this week to keep out the cold.  I much prefer piling them on to the idea of a duvet and hate having to go away because we always find thick unwieldy duvet's on the beds at hotels.  We did find one exception this year though when we were in Wales.  Yes, it was a duvet but it was a duck feather one and it was comfy, so there are some which I can tolerate.

I am busy making things at the moment but some of them can't be shown or the surprise I intend will be spoilt.  There is the usual round of sewing parties to attend and most of them require a hand made gift of some sort so it is a busy time for me.  I also bought a new computer today because my DH has been so good and patient waiting for a replacement for his very old Dell which he must have had over 8 years now.  It is on its last legs and beginning to drive us both mad because it keeps doing stupid things and is so slow........  Anyway, the plan is for me to give him mine which is only a year old and for me to have the new one, that way I can help him to familiarise himself with mine because I know how it is all set up and I can customise it for him whilst we wait for the new one to be built and tested.  I now buy computers from a firm where there is an actual man on the end of the phone whom I can speak to and where they are built to order and to specifications I consider to be important i.e. loads of ram. 

Well it seems to me to be a good idea to take him a nice cold beer.....

Oops stung by a wasp on the big toe

Just as I was about to empty the compost bin I felt a pain on my toe......

Anyway, as I now have a swollen big toe my afternoon plans have changed and I am sitting at my computer instead of doing other things...

So how about looking at some photos of Take 5 at our recent Quilter's Guild Regional Day.

Rhythm

There are five members of Take 5 naturally and they are as follows:-

Debbie Wooley, Chris Gash, Margaret Boughton, Carolyn Madden and Sheila Jackson

Entry



Time

Luminosity

Sky

Forest

They made a lovely, stunning display and I presume the idea was that they were sort of Journal Quilts?

Thank you ladies.

Lemon Posset

Lemon Posset and Lavender biscuits

We had been out to dinner last Saturday and the hotel served this delicious treat to us.  So I had to find out how to make it myself.

The posset is easy as you simply buy a 250ml carton of double cream and place it in a large saucepan which you put on a slow heat.  Then I added 2oz of caster sugar and stirred it in, and let it come to a gentle boil for 3 minutes.  Next it was taken off the heat and placed to one side to cool for 5 minutes.  I added the juice of half a lemon and some of the finely chopped zest and popped it all into my Kenwood chef and gave it about a minute on a brisk whisk.  It was poured into bone china two handed cups and left in the fridge for about 3 hours.

The biscuits are a Mary Berry recipe which you can find here http://www.countrywives.co.uk/2013/07/11/mary-berrys-lavender-biscuits/

The decoration is a small sprig of lavender.

Try this recipe if you want to impress someone and want a no fuss simple to make dish, it tastes wonderful and Bella licked the dishes clean too, which is an added bonus......ha ha

Quilting Time!

This cuckoo clock was on the wall at the NEC last week and it was very cleverly made with a mouse on the top left which you cannot see in this photo from the front.  The reason I loved it was because I often place a pink sugar mouse on my kitchen clock at Christmas on the top left too.

I did photograph some of the quilts on show but it was one of those days when my new camera phone and I did not agree.  Some shots worked and others did not and I don't want to post up inferior photos so next time I go to the Festival of Quilts I will take a camera......

I was not helped by the placement of some of the winning quilts in a corridor which was the main thorough fare of the show mind. Every time I tried to line up a shot it was pandemonium and there was not enough space to step back to get the quilts in.  I saw one woman contorting herself with her head actually leaning against a winning quilt trying to line up a shot of a quilt on the opposite wall.

I expect some professionals managed to photograph them but I failed.

Too hot for quilting

Its been far too hot to sit with a quilt on my knee at the sewing machine for a few weeks now.

So I am gardening and looking after my greenhouse produce.  A bit of an odd shape I know but it tasted wonderful and was really crisp unlike those things you buy in the supermarket.  I seem to have other stuff ripening too, yellow toms are beginning to look good.

My first cucumber of the season