New beginnings and gratefulness

I have just moved my blog from my website to Blogger. It has been a sharp lesson in tidiness. Finding the old photos has been a long process as I hadn't filed them properly....or tidily....or in any order at all. But it has been fun. Reading old blogs, remembering happy times with Barney the dog, at last I can look at photos of him with a smile rather than tears. Here he was emptying my waste paper basket when he was bored...

 I remember when I first started my business Green Star Quilts, you can read about it here I had just stopped work as a community nurse and thought I would like to start making quilts for children. Now I have lots of returning customers who have become firm friends too. I know about their children and rejoice over new babies with them too. There is a lot to be grateful for and I am looking forward to 2014 and its quilting challenges. Here is the first quilt of the year, nearly finished:

I will show you the whole quilt when it is finished. In the garden the blackbirds are still eating the fallen apples, we are all apple crumbled out! 

Those of you who are reading my blog for the first time, I hope you enjoy it, do leave me a message, I will be adding buttons and lists when I have learnt how to do it!  

Happy New Year

Now all the commissions have been made, everything has been posted and has arrived safely in time for Christmas. This week I have been cooking and I don't want to sound smug, but my freezer is full. We have a minimalist Christmas here, a £10 limit on presents which can be supplemented with things homemade.... lots of biscuits, jam and scurrying about in the garage by husband who makes tablemats from corks. They are very fine and very much desired by friends, I can't think where he gets all the corks... And then there is The Cake.... a winter spice cake made with star anise and white chocolate. As for the decorations, well everybody deserves a chance, so Snow White  meets Bambi and Father Christmas amid holly leaf candles! So Happy Christmas everyone and thank you so much for all your support, your lovely generous and kind e mails, your encouragement and enjoyment of my designs and many repeat orders. I hope you all have a lovely holiday and a peaceful 2014 too.

Looking up

Sometimes I forget to admire the city I live in. I focus on my sewing, scurry to buy groceries, whisk to the post office and forget to look up. And when I do, I realise that there is so much to enjoy. So here is a little walk around our cathedral close. Here sits the most patient dog.... with an expectant look that us dog owners will recognise... the ' I am sitting just as you asked, now hand over the biscuit' look....and the man holds his hat, reading his book, will he notice his obedient friend? This is Tennyson, (sorry about the blurry photo) just on the cathedral green....

and look to the left....

and if I look up....

Now back to the sewing room and today I have finished this quilt for Louise to give to Sam as a Christmas present. It is big enough for his first bed and , as he lives on the coast it had to be a seaside design.

I do love a rolled quilt too.....

Lonely boys

I have two lonely boys here, looking for love, young and handsome, they are just waiting for the right girl to come along... They sit around in the garden all day and regularly at about lunchtime, they call out rather sadly..... 'Whooo Who....' They are our teenage tawny owls and they need girl friends! In the evenings they are out on the town, well the common actually, casing the joint, looking for a date, but not much luck yet it seems. A few nights ago I heard a rather saucy 'Weeeek' from lady owl, out in the evening, checking out the boys, but I haven't heard her since. Maybe they were too shy to ask, looked a bit bashful, who knows? But they were back the next day with a lunchtime hoot, so still single I suspect!

In the late autumn garden I am counting. Husband has been growing Turkish Hat squash. With no care or attention he has seven and three which don't look the same..... I have been growing Butternut squash. With every care, feeding, watering and a daily chat. I have three very small ones.... Humphh!!! The  courgettes appear to have gone into overdrive but my biggest triumph are the sunflowers. The seeds were sent in June with a request for Granny to plant them. It was very late to start, but here they are, six fine sunflowers, providing a late autumn treat for honey bees and bumbles in the vegetable garden. We all raise our faces to the sun and enjoy the beautiful weather here!

It isn't over yet

It has been a glorious summer here. We are still enjoying the garden, coffee outside, the late flowers and a  sudden burst of energy from the roses. I am determined to catch every moment before it is sock and woolly jumper time. So I am passing on to you a little piece of pure summer. This lemon cake recipe I read about on Lucy's blog  attic24.typepad.com and it is delicious. Close your eyes and sit in the sun with a frothy coffee and you will be back in July......

Lucy's Lemon Cake
125gm Margarine
175gm castor sugar
Grated rind of 2 lemons plus the juice saved for later
2 beaten eggs
175gm self  raising flour
a little milk
50gm granulated sugar

Whizz the margarine, sugar (175gm), lemon rind until fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Fold in the flour and 2 tablespoons of milk. Tip into a greased 2 lb loaf tin. I use a paper case here for loaf tins. Bake at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Heat the lemon juice and 50gm sugar in the microwave for 2 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved. When the cake is cooked, take from the oven and stab the top all over with a long kebab stick then spoon over the lemon juice mixture. Let it cool in the tin and absorb all the lemony liquid.

This is delicious with plain yogurt, ice cream, as a pudding, or with hot coffee and fruit. I hope you enjoy this sunshine cake. Oh and the mug is my favourite and comes from Alford pottery on the Lincolnshire coast........ Thank you Lucy for giving us this lovely recipe.

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...