Westward Ho! to Eastward home...

Hi everyone! I'm back from my summer holiday with the family. Did you miss me? :o)
After years of camping and having wet success, we decided this year to stay in a static caravan...and I'm so glad we did...with the summer that Britain is having I wouldn't want to be in a tent!!! We stayed right on the beach front in Westward Ho! (North Devon) which is a beautiful place in the UK. It was an adventurous holiday starting with our drive early last Saturday morning (the morning after the big storm that flooded many parts of the Midlands) I knew we were in for a long drive as the M5 was closed in parts and was just starting to move after being jammed through the previous night. We opted to drive down the A429 which ended up being a fairly decent route..though we did drive through some pretty deep water and we were holding our breath as we sloshed through. As we drove we saw cars that were abandoned on the side of the road...some right in the middle of the road! And we also saw a group of holiday makers with caravans all parked up on the grassy area in the middle of a roundabout. Once we were just north of Bristol the chaos of the night before was less evident, but the M5 still seemed like a bad choice so we continued down using A roads...a very very slow process, but eventually we arrived.
We had some nice days out with the children and lunch on the beach on a couple of occasions which makes for all the ingredients of a lovely holiday. We had two really bad days of rain and took the opportunity to visit Atlantic Village just outside Bideford. Right in the middle of this mall was a knitted house...which I took pictures of..with my family saying..."hmmm is that blogging material?" "Sure is!!" Enjoy!

Activeight!

Way way back in January I told you about how my 13 year old daughter was making a quilt for Project Linus as part of her Activeight challenge at school. In March we had the top completed and in the eleventh hour (literally) last night the finally stitches were put on, the quilt was washed and dried ready for her Activeight presentation at school this afternoon. I think she did a great job and she's already thinking of her next project.

We have a winner!

10 comments, 10 dames
5 fingers on the DH who selected 1 name!
Congrats Karol-Ann
(send me your snail mail address and I'll get your book in the post)

Thanks to everyone that played.

Fancy a giveaway?

Last month I placed an order with Gail Lawther for her new book Stain Glass Stitchery Bowls. As you can see from her note, I was the first order she opened for her new book and as a result she sent me a second copy to give to a friend. Now as there are too many of you to choose from I'm going to have a draw. Leave me a comment on this post for a chance to win. I'll choose one name at the end of the weekend.

Here's this afternoon's efforts

The blocks are 12" finished and the pattern came straight out of EQ6. I printed the pattern pieces onto freezer paper and the ironed it on to the fabric, layered up the four layers, pinned and then cut them out very carefully with scissors. It was very easy to piece them and I wouldn't mind having another go as the secondary patterns would be quite interesting.

Life is quite busy at the moment as we end our school year in a couple weeks time. Plenty of end of school productions and award ceramonies to attend...I'm going to need a vacation to recover! :o)

While the rain pours...

I've been sewing. There has got to be a silver lining to all this rain and that is that I'm getting some sewing done. Normally life is full to busting with outdoor activities at this time of year, but alas with all this blooming rain...it's like winter all over again.

So..or "Sew" this is what I cut out and sewed yesterday. It is part of a larger project which I'll show you in due coarse.
Until next time...and for those with water...hope you are keeping dry and those of you without...send us your sun!!!

Playing catch up

I've been so busy the last week or so I just haven't had time to write a proper post. I've been busy taking pictures, but before today I just didn't have time to upload them and write something sensible to go with them...ok I still might not write something sensible..but at least you've got some pretty pictures to look at :o)

On Sunday, June 24th my family and I dodged the raindrops to visit the Market Bosworth Festival. Of course, part of my motivation to venture out in the wet weather was to see the quilts by the Market Bosworth Quilters and to meet Sarah Jayne...anything to meet a fellow blogger! Their exhibition was fantastic with a very high quality of work. There must be some very talent people living in that beautiful part of the country. If you want to see Sarah Jayne's post about the festival click here.

While visiting the Festival we also got to see this beautiful fox...

...and on the way home my husband and I were compelled to take a picture of this abandoned tractor...

...that's us waiting in the car!

This past weekend we went to Stoke-on-Trent to visit the in-laws. While we were there we visited a local school fête and I bought another sewing machine! (That makes 3 ...one for each girl in the house) This time my purchase was for my youngest and I paid a whooping 50p for this toy sewing machine. It took some fiddling and an old sewing machine needle to get it working. It does a chain stitch which is useless for any real sewing, but at least she can have fun and sew side by side with me.

Weather...everyone's favourite topic...too much rain, not enough rain...well I wanted to share with you some spectacular pictures I've taken of the rain in the last couple of days...and it is set to continue... (click the image to enlarge it..can you see those raindrops bouncing off the picnic table!!...and look how dark the sky got today!)

And lastly...some pretty flower pictures...cheery aren't they.