A Labour of Love

This has been a real labour of love, I think it's lovely now it's finished but it has been one of the most fiddly things I have ever done. The window and the door took for ages, all the cakes had to be done and then embroidered and there were lots of pieces, then the door which also had quite a bit of work. The next time I make it I will have a better idea of how to do all this work so that will make it easier. It is a pattern by Gail Penberthy which I bought at Malvern quilt show, you can call it The Tea Room or you can personalise it and as you can see this one is Kate's. I have finished the fireplace and Tony has fitted the fire, I am now going to make some new cushions and then we will be ready to start looking forward to Christmas.

Refurbishing a Fire Surround

I bought an old fire surround for not much money from an antique market, it has pretty tiles and I liked it a lot, I have never had a fireplace in this house just a brick central pillar with a fire attached to the wall which I always disiked. I bought some of this new fangled old style paint in a lovely antique cream and started to paint it I used 5 coats of primer undercoat and then started with the antique cream I have done 2 coats so far and I think one more will do. I can't wait to remove the masking tape and get it fixed to the wall so that I can dress it in pretty things, I have a lovely old oval mirror that I bought from a charity shop and I think that will look lovely above the fireplace. This has been a real labour of love, and whilst I have been doing the fire surround we have also put a few coats of paint on the walls to freshen things up, so my house is a real mess at the moment with dust sheets and covers all over the place but we are nearly at the end. I am now going to hang out my winter sofa covers in the lovely autumn sunshine to dry and then when everything is finished with the paint I will put them on. I am so easily pleased.

Remembrance Sunday

This morning I woke up and looked out of my study window and was faced with this beautiful view of the sun coming through and a mist over the trees, there was frost on the roof of the caravan which made beautiful patterns and I thought of all those young men who would not be seeing this beautiful world today and felt very priveledged. These young men keep our countries safe and sacrifice so much, God bless them and keep them safe.

All in a Row

Hello,

I saw these angels when we went to the quilt show at Malvern they are very sweet, I love the little shoes and the facial expressions. I am quite busy at the moment because I am decorating the lounge and dining room and because our house is open plan it means we have to do the stairs and landing at the same time so it really is a big job. I also bought an old fire surround at a local antiques market which I also want to paint before it gets installed, I am looking forward to seeing how it looks when finished. The weather here has been awful really wet and cold but today it is a little better, frosty and bright. Christmas seems to be galloping towards us so I have started to make lists, I am a list girl I cannot exist without a list I have lists for things I have bought, lists for things I still have to get, lists for meals lists for everything, is anyone else the same?

Labels and More Labels

Good Morning, it's a lovely morning here, very warm for some reason. Yesterday I spent the afternoon making labels, I love doing this fiddly work sometimes. I use the labels on special presents for friends and family and they also look good tied on a door knob in a pretty bedroom. I search everywhere for the small silk flowers that I use and I am sometimes lucky enough to find some in charity shops, the beauty of silk flowers is that they wash well and look good as new when dry.Kathleen and I are off to Fabric Guild now have a good day.

Cup Ckae Cushions

Hello, happy wednesday everyone, I love this little cushion it was so easy to make, I used a fleece blanket I had bought from Ikea for £2.50 and I will get at least 6 cushions from it.As you can see the pattern is by Gail Penberthy, I seem to like a lot of her patterns and I bought another one at Malvern it is a Tea Cosy with a Cafe frontage and you can personalise the cafe name to whatever you want, Lovely! I spent the morning yesterday drawing out a new wholecloth quilt pttern onto white cotton, Kathleen came to help and point me in the right direction, it looks lovely I am looking forward to quilting it. For a reward we had some lovely chocolate pud that I had made from a recipe I got from Cherry Menlove's site it was delicious and simple to make. I am now going downstairs to continue painting the skirting boards and windowsill in my dining room and as the sun is shining I may even do some washing, is'nt life wonderful.

Malvern p- A good Time was had by all.

Hello and a Happy Halloween to everyone. Well, we had a great day at The Malvern Quilt show, there was lots to see and plenty of lovely stalls to spend your money at. The weather was a bit damp but it did'nt dampen our spirits and we set off finally after Kathleen had gone back into the house about 3 times she was finally satisfied that we could go. We had such fun and as you can see Kathleen enjoyed the Pork and Cracklin Roll as usual, we all had one and they were delicious. Our feet were a bit sore and as usual we spent too much money but it was a great day. On the way home I took them on a scenic route as Worcestershire is my home stamping ground and we gave the motorway a miss for a bit and I took them through Worcester and into Droitwich and then onto Hanbury where there is a lovely craft centre called 'The Jinny Ring' you can see them blowing glass and making jewellery and pottery there is a place that is making chocolates as you watch , we bought somethings from there, then there is a delightful shop which sells lovely stuff and I had to drag them out of there. There is also a restaurant and we decided that we would go there for a meal before christmas so that is something else to look forward to. Tony and I have started decorating the lounge today and everything is in uproar but it will be lovely when it's done. Oh and Yippee I have got my 50th follower thankyou all of you lovely people.