Just Thinking

Sorry – no photos – just thoughts.

Life is getting tough. Our income has dropped by a third thanks to the “crunch” and quilting and all that it involves is, unfortunately, going to have to take a back seat for the moment.

I’ve said before how expensive my favourite hobby is in France and I can tell you it ain’t getting any cheaper. In the LQS the other day I noticed that fabric has gone up by about 1.50€ a metre and thread is not getting any cheaper either. I’m hanging on to what I’ve got – in fact I’m hoarding it!

To this end, I’m afraid I’m going to have to pull out of Project Improv and both the quilts for the bush fires projects.

I will keep going on Quilts 4 Leukaemia until the blocks run out, but please don’t send me any more unless you really really want to. In most cases the postage is more than the fabric is worth and in this day and age it just isn’t worth it.

As the saying goes “look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”.

I may not be blogging for much longer either. That decision has still to be made. After all, if there’s nothing to show what is the point?

You all take care of yourselves and hopefully I’ll be back soon.

Love and hugs to all of you.

Clare xx

In Summer Mode

I really don’t know what’s happened – just a little bit of tie quilting going on – other than that rien, zilch, nada, nothing!  I suppose its got something to do with the fact that we’ve been doing a lot of entertaining over the last 2 weeks, with more yet to come.

9th August Summer Bash was brilliant – best one ever.  Lots of food, wine and great company.  Oh and archery!

Just after that D-SD and her partner arrived for a few days.  A lot more alcohol, food and laughs.  Everything went flat after they left on Tuesday.

While they were here we managed to fit in one brocante and 2 vide greniers.  For once we came away empty handed.  These were at Riberac Brocante.

Very 1950’s don’t you think.  I love the hat stand.

I love the pattern round the base, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it so it was left for someone else.

Now what on earth do you suppose this is for?  I thought sewing leather.  It’s in full working order – the stall owner was working the treadle for the onlookers;  a flick of the foot and it was off!  I would have loved to own this, but way out of my price league.

More guests arriving today, more tomorrow and then hoping that Mum and sister Soph will arrive sometime next month.  Keeping everything crossed that they will.  I haven’t seen my Mum since July 2007.

On the sewing front, I’m tying Quilt No. 10 and also the Crumbs quilt.  I’m not at all happy with it.  Half is quilted, half is tied and it looks a mess!  I’m going to tie the red border and hope it looks a bit better.

En soleil encore, donc A+

Naughty Me !

What did I say? 1st September was going to see me being a good girl and Not Buying A Single Centimetre of Fabric.

How long did it last? 13 days!

Seriously, I needed purple fabric for Tamzin’s quilt and black for The Latest Idea, some black bias binding for the wallhanging/abstract fabric project and a delve in the remnants box for white cotton for dying practice.

So this is where we went yesterday afternoon.

I wanted to take a photo of the brilliant mural on the wall outside, but chickened out.

And to round this post off – I think I’ve taken the best photo of Alex of all time (except for one cross cat!).

Meet the Speckles

Mum breeds Bantams. Well not actually breeding them like most breeders do. They have replaced the various horses, ponies, dogs and cats which we have loved and cherished over the years. Poor Mum is not getting any younger and I think finds Bantams a lot easier to look after than an Arab horse!

Each breed has their own enclosure surrounded by a very powerful electric fence to keep Mr Fox out!

So meet the Speckle family

This is Niggs. He is the latest addition to the collection, born and bred on the premises so to speak. He had just been let out into the run with his mum when this photo was taken last month.

This type of Bantam has got long woolly knickers and finds it a bit difficult to walk (or strut) with all those feathers so they tend to waddle.

Mum originally had some that were like tiny black Hovercrafts. You couldn’t see their feet and they used to “hover” over the lawn. They were a joy to watch.

These photos are really for Sophie who has been uploading some fantastic photos onto her blog. She has also shown some pictures of the Bantams and we were chatting about Niggs so I decided to upload some photos for her and you too.  If you are interested in seeing more photos of where Mum lives, let me know in via Comments.

@+

Saturday was a Sad Day.

Alex has lost her pet rabbit Nutmeg.

She suddenly seemed to give up on Thursday and by Saturday morning we decided that it was time for her to make the journey to Rainbow Bridge to join up with Saki, Jet, Purdey, Poppy and Smirnoff and all the other animals that we have known, owned and loved over the years.

Wedding Pics

These pictures aren’t brilliant. Sophie has some better ones to show, but I think she is tinkering with them at the moment.

Walking back from the church. The house is behind those huge trees in the background. About 10 minutes walk if you aren’t wearing stiletto’s, the most beautiful dress ever made and being hugged to death by your husband.

 

 

 

Two beautiful bridesmaids.

One of Mum’s greatest friends is a gardener/flower arranger extraordinaire. She also did the flower’s for Sophie’s wedding in 2005. She uses the most unusual flowers and her arrangements are stunning. Tom’s mother helped her do the flower’s in the church and we all helped out with the flowers in the marquee on the Friday. Whilst she was doing the pedestal arrangement for the marquee, the wind picked up and we all thought the marquee was going to take off!

Not the most brilliant photo of Tamzin. I have fiddled about with it a bit so it looks a lot less blurry than it did.

 

More as and when – done enough fiddling for the day. Time to get some stuff done.