The Pirate has Returned

 You may remember that I had wanted to go to Leigh Art Festival a couple of  weekends ago but the plumbing incident put paid to that.

 Well,  yesterday we were called upon to help out babysitting and who doesn't want a trip to the seaside on a lovely day.  We travel down on Tuesday evening because it was a very early start to T & E and our morning began with a visit to Jo Jingles . Great fun and I knew most of the songs.
 We had a trip along the coast a bit and though the sun was shining, there was a cool, strong breeze ( not unusual for the British seaside) so we headed back to Old Leigh for some lunch as it's a bit more sheltered there.

I was delighted to see that the Pirate crochet had been returned to its postbox outside Chalkwell station  ( cannot believe that someone would have kidnapped him!!)

photo from twitter.com

 so we detoured to Leigh station and had a photo taken with this little lady

photo from twitter.com

 The detail on these creations is superb!  Little Miss O thought they were lovely but wasn't so happy being perched so high on top of the postbox!

 Anyway - today was spent catching up on neglected tasks and took a couple of hours off to get on with June's Mini Mania Challenge

 Tiny pieces had been cut and something must have been going right because I got the whole thing finished before Tea Time! Just the binding to sew down by hand

 Can't show you the finished item because we "reveal all " at the end of the month

Finished block size is 1 1/2"!!!

This little group is open to newcomers just pop over to this site to join in the fun!

A few more chores and we head off to the airport again!  This time we are visiting with Sister3  and we are hoping to see some of this

But if they are not out yet ( we have mis-timed it every visit!) there will be beautiful, peaceful countryside with some great food and quite a bit of relaxing ready to start July off.

Another "What a Week!" -

But not in a good way....

We are redoing our bedroom. This is a very much long awaited project.

So - walls stripped ready for new paper.

A two week long impasse regarding replacing the fitted wardrobes or not.

I give in on condition I get full charge of the new curtains and colour scheme.

Move all contents of (three double and a single cupboard and twelve drawers!!) current wardrobes into spare room cupboards.  So by smartening up our room, we have trashed three other rooms.

It had to be done

Remove current fittings and purchase new ones.

"Shall we remove the artex from the ceiling and have it re skimmed?"  Knew that one was coming.

Our lovely plasterer came ( three weeks later - he's really busy and we had a holiday) and skimmed the ceiling.  "I could do the walls too"  Knew that one was coming too!!  But not till next week.

Flat pack fun on Thursday!!

My contribution!

Fit the new cupboards and remove radiator and wait for the plasterer to return to do the walls.

Call the plumber as the caps on the radiator pipes are leaking. Plumber (angel) arrives and caps of the leaky pipe.  "That radiator could do with replacing". 

Order new radiator!

Plasterer arrives and makes a fabulous job of the walls.  This is quite an old house and there were lots of cracks and repairs that had been done over the years.

So now we just have to paint the walls and move everything back, hopefully before the family arrive mid week to stay for a few days and attend a wedding.

(I say "we" but will readily confess that Mr T has done just about all of the work)

Saturday evening.  Sitting doing a bit of sewing. I have joined a "Swap" and am working on that as well as June's contribution to the Mini Mania group.

can't show too much as it's a "secret" swap

"Come quickly!" - Another leak from the removed radiator pipes that was now dripping through the sitting room ceiling!!

That's the shortened version to my ..... eventful week!

I did get to complete 4 more blocks of my new quilt - only 15 to go now!

I really wanted to get to see the Yarn Bombing pieces at Leigh Art Trails this weekend but that's not going to happen.

So - we await the plumber and there's not much else to do but crack on with a bit more sewing.

Hope that your week have been as much "fun"!

May Mini Mania

We also have May's reveal in our little Mini Mania group. A bit early this month as one of us is off on her hols soon.

We were given instructions to use three colours, Pink, Green and Yellow (chosen by three members)  and any background colour to make 36 Half Square Triangles and arrange as we pleased

I played around a bit but did know which of the designs I was going to use.

Ta Dah!

I do like a bit of asymmetry

This is Lynda's block - my pic is a bit fuzzy so I will get her to send me a better one!

Jo's Block This one isn't bound as she is joining all of hers together to make a quilt for someone special.

 We have a new member- Dee from over the pond has joined our little throng and this is her block.

 Dee has also set us up a Flickr group (thank you Dee - still trying to find my way around!) so if anyone wants to join just pop over there and you will be given the block for June

 So - same combination of units all looking very different!

June's Mini instructions will be issued by Jo  . She has got a head start (which is allowed) as she will be visiting family in Canada for several weeks and won't get the chance to "keep up"

A Fabulous Week!

 That started off with a pleasant train journey, arriving at Gatwick Airport on Saturday afternoon. I had been given an envelope with instructions written on the front, not to open until I got "the call" and not to forget my passport. That's as much as I knew

 I was then told that I would be staying at one of the on-site hotels, as it was an early start in the morning.

Off we tripped across to the hotel ready to check in and await "the call"

Fooled!!!

I turned around to see son "T"  and wife "E" and Little Miss "O" and Daughter "S" and husband "L" all sitting in the hotel lobby with cameras rolling to catch me out!

And the BEST bit?!!! They were coming too!!!

Oh My! I didn't know if I was on my heads or my heels.

Our destination was a beautiful villa in Argaka, a village in (very sunny) Cyprus!

a couple of clowns

It was a bit surreal - its usually me that is in on a plot.
Now - between us - I think there are around 1500 photos.

But don't worry I am not going to put you through that!

There was an awful lot of time spent in the pool

T showing his catching skills

 The temperature stayed in the 30's all week - not something we are used to!

Some great shots taken my several cameras. The young ones having fun doing "action"  and underwater shots with a Go-pro camera

S showing her tumbling skills

There were Oranges, Lemons, Grapefruit and Apricots growing all around the house, and the farmer popped his head over the fence to give us a supply of juicy apricots.

Lots of wildlife around including this cheeky chameleon doing a bit of climbing

The people in Cyprus are so friendly. We had some fabulous food and really good prices at the local tavernas.

swordfish

spaghetti marinara

great sea bass

And before you know it, its all over!

 And the best bit?
Well some would think I will say something about Little Miss O who has kept us laughing, entertained and on our toes all week.

Some would think its the glorious weather that we enjoyed, or the food, or the beverages (if which there were many) 

But for me it was watching my children ( and their partners) enjoying each others company, I love that.

Back to home and it seems really quiet today. And BLUMMIN cold!!!
(16 degrees today!)


Washing all done - post opened ( nice little cheque there thank-you) and a message from Angel Andy at Sew Northampton to say that my sewing machine is serviced and ready for collection, (hope the cheque will cover that!)

I seem to have volunteered myself into a Swap group over on Instagram. Its called Around the World Craft Swap.  No idea what I am doing with the posting bit but have a couple of ideas on the item I am going to make, so will get on with that.  Hopefully I will get a bit of tuition on the technical side from someone who knows!!

Sooo Lucky!!!

I had been invited to visit a local woodland to hear the nightingales  sing their glorious chorus. So we set off into deepest darkest Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Northamptonshire not exactly sure where countryside up a long bridle-path, where we started the walk. 

There were still swathes of beautiful bluebells

And the weather was being nice

These Silver Birch trees looked like they had frost topping them

And some huge specimen Oak trees

Everywhere was so quiet. No noise other than the birds singing.

With the occasional Muntjac deer barking from the undergrowth

The Nightingales were a little shy though we did hear some, they weren't in full voice.

So we headed over to a Badger set to see if there was any movement

The set was HUGE! It had many entrances

Anyway, we settled for a very quiet wait,  and as the last of the light was disappearing, out they came! I was so thrilled to see them even from afar. This was one thing on my "Bucket List" and now I can cross it off.

 No photos of the creatures as the light had almost gone and I was to busy watching to worry about the camera.

I do hope to be asked again.
I behaved very well.
I didn't laugh like a Hyena when I heard a commotion and saw my friend "S"  rolling around on the floor trying to get up quietly from where she had fallen. (though I confess that I did giggle under my breath)
And I didn't scream like a banshee when we heard a rustling in the undergrowth - and we knew it wasn't one of us!!
So hopefully our guide will have been suitably impressed and will set another date.

Phew!!!

What a week!!

All of my lovely family came last weekend to help me "celebrate" my birthday. I have got to the age (or past it) when I don't really want to count the years passing, but they do pass and we just have to get on with it. In my head I am MUCH younger than my birth certificate announces.

They weather was mostly kind and time was spent lounging around the garden after attending a friend's birthday party on Saturday night. Fortunately, I was the designated driver so was able to snigger at the grey faces and wild hair when the young ones got up on Sunday morning.

Monday arrived and parcels were opened

Just what I wanted

And then this .....

 with no more info other than I need to pack ready for a trip next weekend!  The factor 50 and bug repellent are no clue, I use these in the garden at home!  The sun hat is not my normal attire, but knowing my children it could very well be a joke. Anyway - Benidorm or Bognor - it will be nice to have a few days away!

I had lots of other lovelies too, including this rather grand lamp for the garden

it's huge!

 And a rather lovely new watch .....

which is quite a bit bigger than the one I presently wear, so hopefully I will be able to see the dial more easily!!

Little Miss O was her normal gorgeous self and again was quite happy getting wet. We let her just play away transferring water from one place to another then dropping stones and other things into the water. We did draw the line at letting her drink it!

 which reminds me - I have to go fishing for a mug and some measuring spoons!

Not much crafting has been done this week, but I did attend a crochet group on Friday where I showed off the progress of my blanket and began to hook an amigurumi snail but as you can see - there was much talking and not so much working going on!

just the head!!

 Yesterday Mr T was playing golf, so after a quick blitz of the house I did manage to piece another charity quilt top

 And cut and pieced this colourful cushion    I just have to embroider his face and whiskers on.

 

I have finished May's Mini Mania project (can't show you yet) and am delighted to see that the lovely "D" has decided to join in our little group.  So it's official - we are international

I have also got sucked into a swap group over on Instagram and a anticipating an email with info of who I am partnered with! It seems that many members are also in many other swap groups but I have just signed up to this one and will see how it pans out.

Lots to do in the garden but we had daughter and SIL visiting again this weekend and my girl does love to potter about in the garden, so we got more done than we expected. 

Am off into the loft to retrieve my suitcase to get ready for the surprise trip!

Seriously!!!!???

I mean -SERIOUSLY!!  6 hours - SIX HOURS -

Just to sew two blocks. I know that there are quite a few pieces. The first of the two took just over 4 hours. That includes far too much a bit of unpicking. For some reason (probably because I should have been sorting out the chaos in the rest of the house) I just couldn't get the layout of the first block.

So now there are three blocks made up and 22 to go. So that means another 66 hours of piecing before I get to add the sashing. 

And people wonder why you aren't keen when they ask  "make me a quilt" (it's always a king size).

Just work out the labour charges ( I know sewing isn't a labour - I love my sewing machine). No one would pay what your time is worth. And that's not counting the cost of the fabrics, or the quilting time too.

I have recently taken a leaf out of a very good friends book and can say "No" without feeling guilty or making excuses. Don't get me wrong - I am happy to make for others, but now I choose what and when.

Unless it's for family and I haven't got quite that brave yet! 

We have another Bank Holiday Weekend here in the UK and all of my lovelies are arriving to spend the extended weekend with us.

Have a great weekend wherever you are.