The Lincolnshire County Show

Here in rural Lincolnshire our annual County Show is a big event. Held at our show ground, it attracts lots of visitors each year. The competitions are watched avidly as stockmen display their prize animals with great pride. The Lincoln Longwool sheep have their curls treated with hair spray to keep everything in place. Pigs are scrubbed to a pink gloss and cattle are brushed and combed to look so smart. Horses have their manes and tails plaited and beribboned for the party effect and everyone enjoys themselves enormously. Janet and I sampled the local ice cream extensively, well, it's got to be done by someone.....  Geraldine and her students showed their upholstery skills in the Rural Crafts tent and nobody seemed to mind when it rained a bit. At the end of a long day, exhibitors were tired but happy. We had all met friends, some old, some new. Some of  us were hungry too, chance for a quick snack before it was time to go home. Thank goodness for mum who was close at hand........ 

Visit Lincoln

Lincoln is a lovely place to visit, we have the wonderful cathedral and castle in the up hill part of the city and down Steep Hill are lots more shops and cafes. Elizabeth has opened her cafe shop and crafting sessions business in Guildhall St, called Rock and Paper and Scissors There are lots of great gifts for all ages, in contemporary style and colours. Whilst you drink the excellent coffee from vintage china, sit on the comfy sofa and read the craft magazines. You can do a few rows of knitting for the knit-a-long then leave the needles for the next visitor to carry on and you will find crafting sessions on all sorts of things. I love the crocheted bunting in the window. I didn't try the cakes but on a day when I need comfort, I will be back...

Blossom basket and quilt

This cold and wet spring seems to have done wonderful things to our apple trees. We have never had such lovely blossom and intense colours in the flowers before. After New Year I made a resolution to have 'Sort It Sundays' in the sewing room. Its an effort to reduce the pile of unfinished projects and Mending.... the later at the bottom of the pile and likely to stay there too! So far I have managed to finish something most weekends, but one quilt took longer. But just in time, before the blossom falls, here is my Tah Dah moment, a finished quilt in apple blossom colours, ready for the swing seat when it is warm enough to sit outside... The basket I bought because I have always wanted one....we can eat lentils for the rest of the month..... It came from Maggie at The African Fabric Shop, fair trade and made in Bolgatanga from elephant grass. It was so hard to choose, they are all so beautiful and come in other sizes. Using it makes me so happy!
You can see them here:     http://www.africanfabricshop.co.uk

Going steady

My lovely friend Jo often says as she is leaving ''Go Steady'', it is what her mum used to say to her and has an echo of driving home in the evening, maybe after a party and possible in a horse driven buggy.... Husband's granny sometimes described a young man as ''Not safe in taxis'' , certainly not a 'steady' boyfriend..... Recently I have been knitting daughter a new woolly hat for use in Norway. I came across this wonderful pattern, just right for riding on the back of motor bikes or sledges pulled by husky dogs and it reminded me of Jo's mum. So if you need a reliable woolly hat of going out in style, this is the one for you....and the girl looks so happy too!

Blessings

Blessings in our garden are things which happen by themselves. Every year I attempt to grow vegetables, last year I had courgettes by the ton,  six runner beans, all eaten with great appreciation.... Also three strawberries, gone in a minute, but the sweetpeas and nasturtiums were a riot, pretty but not very edible. But every year starts with great hope. At the moment, the vegetable plot has been dressed with manure, compost and awaits the plants in the greenhouse. In the other parts of the garden, daffodils and fritilaries are so gorgeous and this year is marvelous for cowslips.  So I was delighted to find two blessings.... well three to four really, three with wings, as peacock butterflies arrived from Italy on Saturday and one little primrose, self seeded on the steps.... all by themselves, with no help from me!

 This a spring coloured quilt  I have made for Joss with all the things she loves about her garden. Her frog kite flies over the apple tree, her teddies picnic in the garden and a little owl perches on a branch. 

Travels

Katy is off to Norway for a year. She going on an adventure which involves eighty huskie dogs, many puppies , snow, sleighing, boats and all weather jackets. Those of you who know my Katy will not be surprised, she is a girl of great spirit and we are really excited for her. It will be very cold and at night reindeer skins are the bedclothes of choice. But they only come in a limited palette of colours, so I have made her a quilt. The design is called a sampler quilt and features many different kinds of piecing. The centre square pattern is called Trip Around The World which I think suits Katy well. I have bought my travel guide and can't wait to do some visiting, those puppies look so cuddly too....   Katy is off to Norway for a year. She going on an adventure which involves eighty huskie dogs, many puppies , snow, sleighing, boats and all weather jackets. Those of you who know my Katy will not be surprised, she is a girl of great spirit and we are really excited for her. It will be very cold and at night reindeer skins are the bedclothes of choice. But they only come in a limited palette of colours, so I have made her a quilt. The design is called a sampler quilt and features many different kinds of piecing. The centre square pattern is called Trip Around The World which I think suits Katy well. I have bought my travel guide and can't wait to do some visiting, those puppies look so cuddly too....   

A present for Jo

Last year I went on a course with Janet Bolton, an internationally famous picture maker and textile artist. She makes the most wonderful textile pictures in a folk art style. Her subjects are everyday scenes from life, but she brings a special insight to her pictures which makes them come alive. She is also a kind and generous teacher. So I have wanted to make little pictures for a while. William the Pidgeon  (see below) was the third attempt and now I have made Jo a birthday present. Every morning, she sits at the bottom of her garden with a cup of tea. She wears her mum's old coat and is always joined by Brough the dog and Willow the cat. It is the start of her day. So here is her birthday present, which now hangs framed and in her kitchen. Thank you Janet for your wonderful teaching.