Just a Couple of Mistakes.....

Well, as usual, feeling under tremendous pressure to get the schedule out, I made a couple of mistakes.

Firstly, regarding Lynne's Scrappy Quilt day on Wednesday 19th April, the three methods you can choose from are machine piecing,

hand sewing,

and the third was English Paper Piecing, which is, of course really popular at the moment.  Not applique which is what I said - although that's very popular too.  And looking at the picture above, can you see the bottom star third from the right - clever bit of piecing there Lynne!

The second wasn't really a mistake, just that Helene hadn't sent me the pictures for her workshop on Saturday the 18th March.  Of course, once she saw the picture I'd put in, she sent me a better one over:

Well, how was I to know it was a selection of purses?!

Anyway, I think that's all that was wrong, so not so bad.....

Classes are already getting booked up - and a couple are nearly full, so don't leave booking until too late!

New Year, New Schedule

It's that time again, when I seem to spend hours working out the new schedule.  I had banked on having a snow day on Friday, and doing it then, but the heavy snowfall that was forecast was a bit disappointing (although Milly seemed to quite like snuffling around in it!).

So I had to go to work instead. 

I was also planning on working on my puzzle on the snow day (Gibsons had very kindly sent me a picture of the puzzle I have, and will be sending me the puzzle I should have) - I could picture myself sitting in front of the log burner, working on the puzzle after a few sled rides down the hill, but, sadly, it was not to be.

So, instead, whilst the rain is lashing down outside, I have spent the morning working out the schedule.

Lots of good things, besides Lynne's lovely Quilt workshops, including a great knitting workshop with Ros on Wednesday 5th April

a Blackberry crochet class with Helen on Wednesday 1st February

I really think it should be called Waffle crochet, it's so warm and snug,

a little zipped pouch with Helene on Saturday the 18th March

 

Felted soaps with Sandra on 22nd March (she didn't want to do it - said it was too mad but I like a bit of madness)

and some great ideas for using up scraps with Lynne

Oh yes - and a bit of Prim with me

I made this for the workshop.  Because Sandra isn't coming out every Tuesday morning, I wanted to encourage the ladies to make their own drinks.  Do you know what they said? - "Will it cost less than £4 a session now we make our own coffee?"

What a cheek!

Anyway, better get on with mailing out the schedule now, and then try not to take it too personally when all the "please take me off your mailing list" replies shoot into my inbox!

A Puzzling New Year!

So - I'm hoping this is not a sign of how 2017 is going to go.

As I do every year, this year I bought a new Christmas Puzzle - a picture called 'Sunset on Snowflake Lake' by Thomas Kincade - very seasonal.

I made a start on it and really struggled.  First of all I searched out the four corners  but they didn't really match the picture - I had expected two to be pink, one snowy and one dark green but three were green and one was blue.

As I started to put the two sides together one was very distinctly blue with bits of cloud, and the other looked like a muddy track.  I decided the picture on the box must have been cropped and persevered.

However, more and more it was looking nothing like a winter lake scene.

Inside the box was a little catalogue showing all the puzzles so, because, by now, I was really puzzled, I had a quick look through.

Unbelievably I believe my puzzle is 'Lovelight Cottage'!!

 

The wrong puzzle was in the box!!  How often does that happen?

So now I have to try and make this puzzle using the tiny, postage stamp size picture in the catalogue.  I'll be lucky if I finish it by Easter!!

Any way,

Happy New Year

and let's hope this is the worst of my struggles in 2017!

In Between Time

What a beautiful cold and frosty morning! 

Perfect for this 'in between time'.  Christmas Day passed in a flurry of eating, drinking and flying wrapping paper; I loved my handmade gifts from Sandra, Helene, Jacqui and Barbara

I had made them each little purses

But I think on the 'home made' front, Victoria won!  She has stitched a beautiful cross stitch of Maidencourt:

It's truly magnificent - what a very clever young lady!

Our present to George, Victoria and Ben was a spot of flying which they enjoyed on Boxing Day morning (at first they thought I'd booked them to go sky diving, so they were relieved when they realised it was indoors!)

 

 

And then the next day it was the East Garston Fun Run and we all supported Victoria:

 

And now I don't really know what to do with myself.... Nearly all the turkey has gone; my favourite way to cook the left overs is make up a bake with onions, potatoes, cheese and drizzled with the garlic infused rape seed oil my sister gave us:

 

I think I'd better take the dogs out for a walk in this beautiful sunshine!

Christmas Eve

So, after all the hustle and bustle, panic, worry, - it's here!  And after an evening of carols, food and drink with family, friends and neighbours

(and that's only a quarter of those present), with lovely music

all there's left for me to do is wish everyone who comes to our workshops, and reads this blog,

A Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas is Coming....

- Well, I suppose it's here, really.  The parties have started, we went to the ballet and saw Romeo and Juliet, sang carols and danced in North Hidden barn, all our animated figures are out and Jonathan is enjoying replacing batteries and today things really got going when I bought the turkey and George and Jonathan went out and bought the Christmas tree.  It's very pretty but does look a bit as though it's been dropped from a great height so there are loads of branches at the bottom and it's a bit sparse on top:

A bit like a great big fat Christmas pud - impossible to get any presents under it:  I don't know how Santa will manage.

Talking of pressies, I've made the first blunder.  Every year I print off this blog with Blog to Print and give the book to my Mum for Christmas - it's a nice record of the past year and, until I introduced her to post-its, my mother liked to write little comments and questions on each page.

Anyway, in November I carefully did the lay out on line so she can see everything we've done in 2016, and sent it off to print.  It came the other day and I was really pleased with it until George pointed out the small error I made on the cover:

Careering from One Crisis to Another

Well, not really but it made me laugh the other day when my friend was here and something was going  on (can't remember what) and she said "Good Grief, I couldn't live in this house, you're always careering from one crisis to another!"

Anyway, I was up early on Saturday morning making the first mince pies of the year.  All went well and the first group of ladies arrived to make their Christmas wreaths.  Linda was showing them how to do it so I could return to the kitchen.  Poor old Reuben was looking very sorry for himself - he's always terribly upset when Jonathan doesn't take him out to work and mopes around giving me mournful looks.  As I was encouraging him to go outside he suddenly threw up!  Yuk.  I cleared it up and went out to see how things were going in the workshop.  The hot chocolate had been drunk and most of the mince pies had gone - a good sign!

And, by the end of the morning everyone had made beautiful wreaths!

Back to the kitchen to make the second batch of 24 mince pies - and I couldn't find the butter anywhere, but, it would be fair to say the kitchen wasn't as tidy as it could be.  I was very pleased when George offered to go and get some more rather than me continue to hunt high and low.

The afternoon ladies arrived, and nine more wreaths were under way.

Reuben was still really down in the dumps and I felt so sorry for him.  Jonathan had hired a man with a digger to clear away all the over grown hedging along the main road on Maidencourt bend (or Rabbitts bend as it's apparently know as in Lambourne)because there have been eight accidents there this year alone so something had to be done, and a collie bounding about would have been a hindrance.

I was just about to carry out the second platter of mince pies when Reuben threw up again - and all sympathy went out the window when I saw, in the mess, the wrapping from the butter!  He'd had it!

Anyway, although three ladies escaped before I had time to take a picture,  everyone was very pleased with their beautiful wreaths.

We have another workshop Wednesday morning and one in the evening, which we still have spaces on.

And earlier in the week was our Snowman workshop

Look carefully as you drive through Eastbury and you'll see one of them has taken up residence in a window there!