Quilting and sweet things!

Well, the Jubilee is fast approaching and I'm getting very excited.  As well as the children being home, we'll also have some French guests from the Hungerford Twinning Association, so the house will be very crowded.  I have great plans which involve a lot of bunting.  Unfortunately the bunting isn't getting made because I am working on the celebratory kneeler Dawn passed on for me to do.  Dawn has finished hers,

- I can hardly believe that this is the same lady who told me she can't do crafts - anyway, mine isn't quite ready to be photographed yet.

Pam, who came on the Log Cabin Cabin workshop in early spring and is currently on the Beginner's Sampler course, brought along her completed quilt for us to see:

Very, very beautiful!












Then, last saturday, Helene came and taught foundation piecing.  We had, to quote Mina in her note to me 'a fab day' and everyone (including Sue and Joan from Devon and Helene from Wales) was really pleased with the blocks they made.  They were all so keen that they had set up and started by 9.50 - now that doesn't happen very often!  Here are the blocks they made at the workshop, though Sue and Joan came to pitch and stitch the following Tuesday and made even more:

They really were brilliant!












Oh - and here's something sweet that Mina brought along:
...even less left by the end of the day!

And here's something sweet that is down our garden (and I don't mean Jonathan) - she was premature and is so tiny, Jonathan has been bottle feeding her three times a day:

Isn't it amazing that I've had to come in now because it's too hot to stay in the garden (I'm getting all my annuals out of the greenhouse) and yet just a week ago we were out in hats and coats!

And here are some sweet little things that hatched

this morning.  Mum and 5 chicks doing very well!

Freedom!

Had a really good Beginner's Crochet class with Amanda Bond yesterday - a real mother and daughter affair.  Clare and Marion all the way from Suffolk - they were staying in their camper on the CL -

and Clare and her mum Marion (the look on her face in this picture probably sums up her feelings on crochet!).  Lots of samples were made and some beautiful flowers.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, it was playtime for the cattle.  Even though it's still not as nice weather as we would like, it's time to turn out the cattle after their winter in the barn.  It's always hilarious when they are first let out - they go charging through the gates and then check out every corner of the field:

Then they settle down a bit:

Now all we need is a bit of sunshine!

Three Little Pigs

So, two great big pigs went to market (as breeding sows, and they wouldn't have gone if they hadn't done the terrible thing they did........) and

THREE LITTLE PIGS CAME HOME!!!

April



Two of the six Beginners and their blocks.

 We had the second workshop of the New Style Sampler Quilt course this week and Sandra and I were amazed at how hard everyone has worked.  They had all done lots of stitchery blocks, and quite a few were personalised, which was amazing since there were only three weeks between the last workshop and this one, and  we had Easter in between.  Anyway, Sandra taught them lots of Applique techniques, so hopefully there will be lots more blocks by next month.





Meanwhile, on the farm, this April weather has been making life difficult with it being very warm one minute and then freezing the next.  We are having to bring lambs in to warm them up:


Mattie keeps guard

Feeling a bit better so having a look around





Let's hope it soon warms up properly.

Lambs popping out all over the place!

It's that time again!

Jonathan and George have been working all hours since we started lambing last Friday.  So far, touch wood, we haven't had to bring any indoors

sweet!

Soooo busy!

We have had such a busy time since I last wrote - and yes, I did forget to wipe up that splotch of milk but there was no need for Sandra to go on quite as much as she did.
The new style sampler course started with great enthusiasm and I know there are going to be five beautiful quilt tops by July.
The Bag Workshop was great fun - loads of Tweedy bags were made and quite a few shoppers - I finally made one and plan to make more: so quick and easy.

I have started a Tilda Easter hanging which I plan to finish (!) saturday morning at the Easter Pitch and Stitch:

Sandra was lucky enough to visit the Tilda workshop in Norway the other weekend - she said it was fantastic and inspiring and is now completely obsessed with Scandinavian interiors.  I'm just very jealous about it.

Then yesterday we had the Medallion quilt day - we (well some of us) are now pretty much half way through (Sandra and I are a bit behind) so here's a gallery of the quilts so far:

Whoops!  That's a picture of our two old dogs sleeping.  I'm not deleting it because it takes so long to upload everything.
So, again, here's a gallery of the quilts so far:

Yes - and that's a picture of George's tractor - he's been rolling and I've borrowed his camera.

Right - third time lucky:

Below is Jan's - she only joined the group last month

 And then here are the two who just aren't keeping up:

Aren't they amazing!  So much work has gone into them.
The class is full now, but as the speedier ones finish there should be some space come September.

And Helene brought in the Mini-Sampler she is doing a workshop on in a few weeks' time-

You wouldn't be able to make the whole sampler in a day - but you'll learn how to foundation piece so you can work on the other designs yourself.  It really is stunning and not nearly as difficult as it looks.

Finally - there has been some extension work going on at Lorne Hill Farm:

A pair of wrens have built onto the swallows' nest that was made last year.  Don't know what the swallows will think of it on their return!

Personal Organiser

I went out to the workshop before Pitch and Stitch this morning to tidy up a bit and practically lost the will to live.  It doesn't take long before any space I occupy becomes a bit of a mess (I always feel a bit like the boy in the Snoopy cartoons who used to have dust or something floating around his head), and I was aware that the workshop was getting a bit cluttered - but it really had got completely out of hand.  I hoovered round, and moved piles to different parts of the room but the final result wasn't much better. I gave up.
Then a wonderful thing happened.  It was a VERY small turnout, and I mentioned to Sandra when she arrived that perhaps the side room needed a bit of a sort out.  Well, Bree on Desperate Housewives has nothing on Sandra.  She set to like a dervish and my half-hearted offers of help were brushed aside and the result is....

It looks so nice!!

All Sandra has asked me to do is wipe up some spilt coffee on the table.

I don't have time now but first thing tomorrow I'll go out and do it..........