Posts

Showing posts from April, 2010

Busy day.

My daughter and her family are arriving for the weekend tonight as the baby is being baptised at our church on Sunday. Tomorrow will see the family complete as my youngest daughter is arriving. So , the point of this post is to say that today is full of preparing bedrooms and shopping plus a thousand other things. Therefore blogging will take 'a back seat' for a few days. I will reply to all your lovely comments from the past week after the weekend. As it is a bank holiday soon I wish you all a lovely weekend with (fingers crossed) plenty of sunshine.

Wordless Wednesday

Image
A familiar sight on our farm. More pics can be seen here.

Teaser Tuesdays.

Image
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! So here is my teaser --- 'My dear Miss Raisin,' he said,'I gather from my wife that you overheard me referring to some Agatha creature. I am so sorry. We have a mangy stray cat around the church-yard called Agatha and my wife will feed it'. Page 48, 'Agatha Raisin and the Day The Floods Came'. More teasers can be found here.

The Rose Labyrinth.

Image
The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie. A novel set in 2003 but one which also follows events of 1600's. Two brothers Will and Alex Stafford inherit a strange legacy from their mother. An ancient script and a key to be exact and they plan to solve the mystery that these items contain. Will's life is cut short by suspicious means and his brother Alex, a doctor, intends to find the reason for his brother's untimely death and in doing so he is drawn into a web of intrigue for not only can he trace his brother's last steps he solves the mystery of the inheritance. However, none of this happens till he has travelled across Europe with Lucy, a heart transplant patient whom he cares for and they have both tasted danger head on as riddles and puzzles block their paths. Narrated alongside this story is the extract from 1600; here the Elizabethan spy and astrologer John Dee is keen to hide his latest findings in a way that will not be found by his contemperaries. His wooden box, c

Saint George's Day

Image
Saint George --- the patron saint of England. The cross above depicted on the flag, is known as the flag of England.First appearing in the middle ages and during the crusades it is thought to be one of England's earliest emblems. From the 13th century Saint George was accepted as the patron saint of England and the slaying of the dragon dates from the 12th century. More information can be found here.

My Grandaughter's bonnet.

Image
My sewing class recommenced on Monday night so I took along a little project I'd been working on and off over Easter. It is a bonnet for my grandaughter's baptism which is taking place in a couple of weeks. I used a McCalls pattern , no 4478 as seen in the photo, and copied the design at the top right of the picture. I say copy , as it was loosely copied--- I made a few alterations. I wanted a 'smocked' look and as I am not very neat in that area I let my machine do the work. The main body or crown I cut 3 times the recommended length and gathered it firstly on the machine about 3 inches from where I wanted the brim to be placed . Then the machine did some rather loosely called 'smocking' stitches. After that I added a row of beads all around and then stitched some randomly around the crown . The brim is doubled to accentuate the fullness and I finished by adding beads to the ribbon ties. I am thrilled with it and I'm sure she will look lovely. Photos will f

Spring flowers and good books...

Image
It's been a beautiful sunny day here in Teesdale, just the right day for a spot of gardening. Hence the photos, pansies are some of my favourites and they really looked their best in the midday sunshine. So the afternoon was spent doing a spot of weeding , this was after my trip to the library. I was looking for non-fiction sewing books but they seem to be scarce so the crime novels it had to be---- 'August Heat' by Andrea Camilleri. A new author to me but the sleeve sounded good --'A secret apartment and a grisly find in an old trunk are just the beginning...' 'The Guilt of Innocents' by Candace Robb.Here is a good storyteller. The year 1372, York, a drowned man but was it an accident. Owen Archer, the Bishop's Captain solves the mystery. 'Day the floods came' by Agatha Raisin by M.C. Beaton. The body of a woman dressed in a wedding dress is found floating down the river. Agatha to the 'rescue'. I also got an audio book, 'Agatha Rais

Wordless Wednesday

Image
York Minster. More pics can be found here.

Teaser Tuesday

Tuesday again, so here are the 'rules'--- Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Here is my teaser---- 'What happened in the Campo de'Fiori ---- the so called Field of Flowers ---- in the late sixteenth century?This was only the very first reference on the document and, quick as he was at crosswords and anagrams, he had no idea how it might fit in with the key. 'page 21, 'The Rose Labyrinth' by Titania Hardie. More teasers can be found here.

The Eternal City

Image
The Eternal City by Domenica de Rosa. A novel of three sisters-- Anna, Maria and Gaby. All married women , all very different characters. Anna the oldest is very responsible and pious. Maria is very beautiful and Gaby , the youngest is a bit of a tomboy. The story is narrated by Gaby. It begins as she gives birth to her first child, Kitty. A happy day, you may think but her happiness is overshadowed by the death of her dear father. His wish is that his ashes be interred in Rome, the city of his childhood . So the three daughters travel to Rome along with husbands, children and their mother to grant their beloved father his final wish. The sisters grew up in and around Rome and this journey brings back memories of their childhood and teenage years. Extended family members are revisited and 'old' boyfriends return to the scene. Gaby, in particular is confused on meeting an 'old flame' and the certainty of her marriage seems to be shaken from an unexpected source. I bough

My First Quilt.

Image
This is the sewing project I have been working on for the past few(4)months. It is a bed quilt measuring 84" x 84". My youngest daughter asked me to make her a quilt 3 years ago and I'm ashamed to say it has just got finished. The actual sewing and piecing was only started in earnest around Christmas last year when I had visited a quilt exhibition in a nearby town. Talking to one lady who was displying her wonderful work of art , she asked what pattern I was following. Up until that point I had no idea of a pattern or anything else for that matter . So hot foot from the exhibition I borrowed a library book and there found something that seemed to be for beginners. The hardest part was the free-motion stippling (seen in the white squares)on the machine . After watching demos on 'you tube' and lots of practising I finally put needle to material and the rest is history. For any eagle-eyed quilters out there --- I am aware of mistakes in the piecing and stippling -- b

Wordless Wednesday

Image
More pics can be found here.

Easter Sunday.

Image
Wishing you all the joys of Easter.

Good Friday

Image

Holy Thursday.

Image
'This is My Body'.