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Showing posts from June, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

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A fascinating sky on my morning walk. More pics can be found here.

Some finishes...

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Above are my latest projects . The top photo is a picnic cloth, after piecing the blocks were appliqued onto the rust fabric. This , I thought would be easy but not for me. I know a poor worker blames his tools, well I found it difficult to stitch the correct size of zig zag stitch so consequently the edgings weren't very neat hence the green binding around each block. Anyhow the quilting went well and I machine quilted around each part of the blocks and the dresden plate in the centre. I do love that dresden plate it was my first attempt at that design but I don't think it will be my last. The bottom photo is a few little bits I have made for a W.I. craft stall , this is taking place amidst a garden party at a member's home(hope the sun shines). The squares are quilted coasters and the long designs are patchwork napkin rings waiting to be sewn up and I am then going to join them in a ring with a covered button. These designs were taken from this book, which I received fro

On the farm in June.

Well another month is nearly over and it has proved to be very busy. Mostly busy for my husband as he has sheared 400 ewes singlehanded. It is very hard, backbreaking work, but there are only a few left to shear and they are not ready for the shears yet. My daughter and myself 'wrap' the fleeces; this comprises of removing any soiled wool and folding the fleece so that the outer side is enclosed in a 'swiss roll' type of shape. They are then stored in large sacks till the British Wool Marketing Board collect them later in the year. Once sheared the sheep are then marked with our own unique symbol in case they wander onto other land. When the time is right for shearing the fleece appears to rise off the skin a little and then the farmer knows it's time to start. The 'rise' can be affected by the temperature of the weather and the general condition of the sheep. Luckily the weather in the last week or so has been perfect for shearing . The few sheep that are

Wordless Wednesday

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More pics can be found here.

Teaser Tuesdays

Can't believe another week has passed. We have been busy shearing sheep(more about that in a later post) and working through the usual household chores including gardening. The weather is beautiful at the moment which is wonderful but boy does it help the weeds to grow! Anyhow Teaser Tuesday --- 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! 'Six motherless children to be educated and provided for; five of them girls, with no money to entice husbands. A dark lake of future, and sailing we cannot see the banks.' page 16, 'The Taste of Sorrow' by Jude Morgan. More teasers can be found here.

The Guilt of Innocents.

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The Guilt of Innocents by Candace Robb. Set in the winter of 1372 this novel follows the travels of Owen Archer. He is the Captain of Archbishop Thoresby's guard. The Archbishop has great influence in York, being connected to the Minster and St Peter's School. When a lowly river boatman is found dead Owen Archer is called to investigate. The boatman had been in possession of a St' Peter's schoolboys purse , but would this be sufficient to cause his death... Owen is brought on the scene to find both the killer and the importance of the purse, and more precisely it's contents and these are missing. In this book , which is no. 9 in the series Owen is helped by his adopted son Jasper and between them they need to solve the crime quickly as the captain's wife is due to give birth to their third child any day. A harsh winter is experienced in York that year and as Owen needs to travel to find the murderer another crime is committed and he fears for his family, will t

Ladies Day and the World Cup

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Yesterday was Ladies Day at Royal Ascot. I love to look at the fashions both hats and outfits. There were some weird and wonderful sights, but the above caught my eye. As I am watching the England v Algeria match at the moment the hats in the photo seemed the most appropriate ones to publish. More photos can be found on this site including one girl wearing 'Big Ben'on her head, that will give one terrible headache as the hour strikes. I would have published this but the comp. won't let me . Apologies.

Booking through Thursday.

Thursday's question for discussion is the following ---- Do you prefer reading current books? Or older ones? Or outright old ones? (As in, yes, there’s a difference between a book from 10 years ago and, say, Charles Dickens or Plato.) At this present time I am drawn to current books, I have just started reading The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan. This is a fairly new book about a much older story, it is the story of the Bronte sisters, and although I have have only read a few pages it is proving to be a powerful read. However I digress , I can't say I have a preference between 'old' or 'new' .My choice is usually exactly what I feel like reading at the time. More discussions and choices can be found here.

Teaser Tuesdays

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 tease for this week, ''Master Nicholas is so discouraged by the threat of excommunication, and now the charges and suspicion that hound him, that he spoke to us and withdrew all the brave and inspiring things he'd said about the Church so that they could not be used against him. He's a coward.'' from page 223 'The Guilt of Innocents' by Candace Robb. More teasers can be found here.

Musings Monday.

Here is this week's topic ---- Who in your family (both immediate & extended) are readers, and who are not? In my immediate family , ie, husband and three daughters all are readers but at different degrees. My husband reads nonfiction, he has read many books on WW11, his favourite genre. I often try and persuade him to delve into fiction but it is all to no avail. All my daughters are good readers, although Martha's Mum doesn't have much time now . My oldest daughter seems to prefer fiction but my youngest girl is the greatest reader reading great tomes . She has cultivated this habit since childhood , when she read with a torch under the bedclothes. Did I tell you she now wears glasses, lol! Extended family is on my husband's side only and here one sister and brother in law read but the rest have young families and time is of the essence so reading is not a priority. More book 'talk' can be found here.

Martha and ...

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...Spike. Martha 9 months, Spike 2 years. Watch out for her walking soon , Spike!!!

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my trust in Thee.

1920's farmers' wives...

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I have just bought this fantastic book. As you might already guess I am passionate about quilts and quilting at the moment and as I am also a farmer's wife this book was perfect.All the blocks were similar to quilting the farmers' wives completed at this time. As well as 111 quilting blocks , named and templates numbered it also contains a CD with all the piecing templates. Receiving it yesterday I eagerly started my first block , namely 'Peace and Plenty'. If this turns out well I will include it in this tablecloth. Quilting, however is only part of the book's appeal. As a farmer's wife myself the title intrigued me. On the cover was written' letters from 1920's farm wives...' On close examination it contained letters written to an American magazine ' The Farmer's Wife'. This was published in the 1920's (perhaps in other decades too) and in one edition it asked it's readers the following question, 'If you had a daughter of ma

Material Obsession.

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Yes, I sometimes think this is an obsession... When your daughters buy you(among other things) metres of material for your birthday --- we are probably bordering on the obsessive. After saying that I am most grateful for all my gifts and I adore the fabrics. The photos are my attempts at a quilted picnic tablecloth. I have decided to try and make it reversible . The sunflower fabric on the back of the couch will be cut to about 24" square for the 'first' side and I will then use scraps of the other materials used in the 'Dresden plate' design to make blocks to frame the square. The other side will be as you see but I have only used bondaweb (at the moment) to hold it in place . The centre flower is cut from the main fabric.I'm about to start appliquing it all soon. When both sides are complete , with wadding inbetween I'll quilt it altogether. I loved the colours and the sunflower fabric is just perfect! All we will need is the sun to come out again. After

Wordless Wednesday

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Cambridge. More pics can be seen here.

Quilting in a concentration camp.

There appears to be a great revival in patchwork and quilting these days. Perhaps this is due to the recession that has brought to the fore the 'make do and mend' attitude or perhaps it's due to people wanting something that they have created themselves, something unique. I have always loved sewing and found all types of stitching to be very therapeutic. When I came across an article in a national newspaper proclaiming the same benefits to prisoners during the second world war I had to do a little research. Women and girls imprisoned in Changi camp were hungary, threadbare and lived in appalling conditions , but out of all this fear and pain they formed a group to learn how to quilt. Their inspiration was Elizabeth Ennis , a girl guide leader who formed her own guide pack in the camp and encouraged the girls in simple tasks . The pieces for their quilt were scraps torn from their own clothes and they undid seams on old clothes to reuse the thread. The quilt in question is