Straight off the porch...

Just wanted to share a couple of pictures taken this evening...both were taken using my little tripod and night setting (no flash) leaving the shutter open for 5 seconds.

Happy Halloween!

It's half term...sewing, a day out and another bird...

It's half term week around here and as a result I'm able to spend more time doing some of the things I love..spending time with my girls, sewing and taking pictures. 

My DH bought me Joby Gorillapod a while back and I've been having a great time using it to take pictures that otherwise would be impossible.  I used it to take pictures while I was sewing...

By using the tripod I was about to use the timer and a slightly slower shutter speed to capture the picture using only the ambient light.  I love the way this turned out!  I was working on half square triangles to make pinwheel blocks...for this quilt top which will eventually be for Project Linus.  I pulled these fabrics out when I was at the Linus Day earlier this month.

The weather was superb yesterday and despite the grumblings from the girls we got out and over to one of my favourite places...Coombe Abbey (you might remember it from this post)  The birds were out in full force on the pond and this lady stood still long enough to have her picture taken.  We also saw rabbits on our walk, but you can't get close enough to take a picture...maybe one day I'll have a camera that has a great zoom on it :o)

The colours are just finishing on the trees and most of the colour is now on the ground.  I took the next two pictures in a little area of Coombe Abbey...a flash would have been too harsh, so again I secured my camera, used a timer and a slower shutter speed to let the light do it's magic.  I'm thrilled with the results...

Lastly is a picture I took of the little waterfall.  I had to hold my camera as there were too many kids around, but I managed to slow the shutter speed down again to capture the movement of the water. 

A bit of sewing...and a parrot visit!

What a week...It has been busy busy around here, but I have managed a little bit of sewing. 

I managed to finish the quilting on my Irish Chain!!  Woohoo! I just have to get the binding on and then it will be DONE!

Also this week I put together a Mariner's Compass block for my Flutterwheels group that I attend with Lynda It was paper pieced and then the center was appliquéd.  Every time I have a go at this type of block I keep saying that I want to make a whole quilt of them...but it has yet to happen!

And lastly in the creative department...the makings of a parrot. 
This week at the DD2's school they were having a pirate party.  It was to celebrate the end of that topic as they have been doing everything piratey for the last half term.  The children have loved it and the teachers have been very creative in using this theme right throughout the curriculum from Maths to English.  So last week we got the "invitation" and the suggestion was that all the children could attend school in jeans and a stripey top...of course DD2 being her was not settling for just being a pirate...she wanted to be the ship's parrot!!!  (Lucky ME) :o)  So armed with PVA glue, a bag of feathers and a feather boa...I set to work.  The feather boa was sewn to a red sweater and a beak was made from some cardboard, the hat from more cardboard and then covered with feathers (insert sneeze)  It was very successful and I'm happy to say she was the only parrot..so an original idea.  The only downside to all of this is that I will forever being finding pink feathers..and well I suspect the school will be finding them over the next year too!  Just look at that mariner's block above...I just noticed a pink feather made it into that picture!!!

Cute Overload...

If you like things that are cute, furry or anything that might make you say, "Ah that's SO cute!" Then you have to look at Cute Overload and it's archives! 

And the winners are...

How exciting...we have not only 2 winners but 3!!  The girls and I folded the comments into little squares and put them all in a bowl...I was originally going to have 2 bowls for the two different giveaways, but lost track half way through the folding process as to which bowl was which..so I just pulled names until I had a winner for each....

Well my 5 year old was having so much fun pulling names that she declared she would pull names until there was one name left and that that person should get chocolate! :o) 

Marjay, Susan and Rose Marie  you should get an email from me to which you can send me your address and I'll get your goodies in the post on Monday.

Thanks to everyone that played..I enjoyed reading all the comments and finding some new blogs to follow.

A.R.K.

Anyone that has seen Evan Almighty will know that A.R.K. stands for Acts of Random Kindness.  Yesterday I received an A.R.K. from Siobhan (Scraps and Threadtales) In amongst the busyness of her move and all, she found the time to send me some lovely things for no other reason than she thought I would like them.  She sent me a beautiful mug...which is now my favourite, some fruit teas and some gorgeous fabric!  She thought the blue and white fabric you can see would be perfect for my Dear Jane and she is absolutely right..It is perfect!  THANK YOU!!

So with the momentum of kindness I thought I would put together two lots of things for a giveaway.

Here's what you have to do to enter...There are two choices.  Leave a comment on this post stating which of the two you prefer.  You have to choose..no saying "either would do" ...please only post one comment per person and make sure that I have someway of getting in touch with you (blog or email)...Winners will be chosen on Saturday, October 18th!

The first choice is a copy of the latest American Patchwork and Quilting December 2008 issue (the insert is one of the patterns in that issue) and 4 fat quarters .

The second choice is a copy of the latest QuiltMania issue no.67 (the insert is one of the patterns in that issue) and 4 fat quarters .

Tough decision I know :o)

The giveaway is now closed...thanks to all who played!

The gift for the teacher

As promised the finished quilt that I made for the DD1's teacher.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted with a meandering stitch.  Now, I just have to see that it actually makes it to school before the end of next week as she won't be back after half term..

Do not adjust your set...

I'm playing around with my template...I fancy a change...watch this space for changes :o)

Linus Day 2008

Today Lynda (from master of patience?) as seen above in the green and I with a few more Rocheberie Quilters got together to sew quilts for Project Linus today. Lynda is the Leicestershire coordinator for Project Linus UK. and she brought bags and boxes of fabric, orphan blocks and kits for us to sew into tops and quilts. I managed to pull together a motley group of blocks into the arrangement you see above on the right and I also managed to sew some little quilts for the premature babies which just need to be washed and labelled. My DD1 came along too and she just about finished a little quilt she's working on for Linus. It was a lovely day out especially since I got the spend the day doing something I enjoy with great company.
More pictures can be seen HERE.