Paper Work Conquered

For the past few weeks I have been battling with a mountain of paperwork. Somehow over Christmas I let everything slip and creative things have had to take a back seat. I'm now back and have a list of UFO's that I am determined to complete this year. As I wanted a small project I joined the Mug Rug Swap and have been sent my swap partner. This is a tiny part of what I have made. I will have to read the rules and see if I can show it all, until then a peek..

DS keeps moaning that he hasn't a quilt that is big enough to cover his body (he is now taller than me). Anyway he has made me feel so guilty that this week I cut up a stack of brown and red fat quarters which will become a turning twenty quilt. The idea is very simple if you haven't heard about these quilts. You cut up the fat quarters in the same way, stitch together and fairly quickly you have a decent sized quilt. The monkey fabric you can see will be in every block. I will post progress soon. When he was younger he loved anything to do with monkeys so they have got to be in his "big" quilt. As he won a prize at FoQ last year I should really get him to make one for himself but he is already starting his FoQ 2011 one. I do have a sneaky plan though that he will help to machine quilt it once complete.

I managed a day out yesterday with Sweetpie to visit Trudi at Quilt Prolifically to see her new Quilt Studio. It is a fantastic space and I know she will be even more creative with her quilts. We have been invited for a sewing day soon and I can't wait. Here she is in her new home. Pop over to her blog and you will be able to see just how quickly it went up.

New Year Update

Happy New Year to you all. I'm not sure where the past 10 days have gone really. At least everything has slowly begun to get back to normal after the Christmas holidays. DS got some jump stilts for Christmas but it has been too snowy and icy for him to use them. In the end he had a little try at home inside. It was tricky as he couldn't really stand up straight due to the low ceiling.  Since this photo was taken we have managed to get outside with them. He was born at 29 weeks and is now taller then I am, on these silts I come up to about his waist!!!

Smocking started back last week and we moved onto using smocking dots rather than checked fabric.

This was a sample that someone did at home over the holidays to try out different stitches.

I have some exciting news. Last Saturday I went to visit an incredibly talented group of textile artists known as Textile Lincs. They are a small group who regularly stage exhibitions of their work. After showing and talking about my work I was later invited to join the group. I was so excited as I haven't really exhibited any of my work before. 

Whilst out and about this weekend I also saw an exhibition by Peter Moss called "Past, present and Future" at "The Hub" in Sleaford. This is only on until 16th January but is well worth a journey if you are near.

Didn't mean to upload these parsnips. DH "found" them in the veggie plot so we had to eat them for Sunday lunch. The theme for the Sketchbook challenge 2011 is "highly prized" and I have done some pages in my sketchbook, I just haven't taken any photos! I did wonder whether or not these parsnips could be considered highly prized as they had been sown last March (ish). They have been in the ground through all the snow and ice yet still were intact when dug up and were very tasty when roasted.

Work and Play

On Saturday I met up with the Expedition Quilt Art girls, Trudi and I are both racing to finish City and Guild courses, Tina (who has done it and got the t-shirt) offered support and encouragement. The carrot on our stick was to have tea at a local cafe attached to Doddington Hall. I worked hard on my sketchbook for my 3D assessed work and Trudi was working on some crazy patchwork. So after lots of work and no play



We went out to have cake, we only stopped at 4.15pm as the cafe closed at 5pm! Despite living In Lincolnshire for many years I have never been there before but look what we got, home made carrot cake and they could offer me a skinny, decaffeinated latte.

The cafe is in a converted barn next to the main Hall and Trudi said the gardens are fantastic. Unfortunately by the time we had eaten our cake it was raining quite hard but we did manage a quick peek out into the courtyard. My favourite colours at the moment are purple and lime green, just look what Mother Nature has done with these colours. It is not a close up as I was safely under the covered area when I took this.
This was the only photo I got of the main Hall. Doddington Hall is a very fine late Elizabethan Mansion, completed in 1600, it was built by Robert Smythson. I was so impressed that I am going to try and go back over the Summer.
If you know Lincolnshire you will probably realise it is very flat but we do have The Wolds and an occasional hill. One of these I drive up and down whenever I go over to Lincoln to teach or see friends. At the top is a small layby which has a great view of the open countryside. In five or so years I have never stopped so as the sun was finally coming out when Tina and I left Trudi we decided to head over there. It was still misty but we got a great view.



These images are going straight into my sketchbook. I love all the cow parsley growing everywhere at the moment. It is such a delicate flower but makes me think of the fens. I even have some in my garden which must have seeded after help from the birds.
After getting home and once I had played Wii fit with DS2 I managed to get back to my sketchbooks so with fingers crossed I might be able to start making up my bag by this weekend.

I'm back and the blog award goes to..

I am now feeling so much better but very tired as I have started back with all my teaching commitments. Two weeks ago I promised to pass on the blog award below (kindly received from Andrea at Indigo Blue) so (drum role) I am going to nominate -

Julie at Mixed Media
Tina at Sweetpie
Trudi at Quilt Prolifically
Sheridan at Fenland Witters
Anna at Quiltmom
Louise at Vintagegiraffe
Carolyn at Love Stitching Red
If any of these blogs are new to you then go over and take a look