The cooker arrives

Firstly I must point out I have a very small kitchen.
My cooker was really old and needed changing, so I decided to go for a double oven, ceramic top, free standing version that would fit my small space.
It arrived this morning and I was thrilled with it, but then as soon as the delivery men left I realised that the main oven door has hinges on the left and opens to the left which is no good in my kitchen. There is no way to change the door, and it is impossible to tell from the look of it. Marks and Spencer were very good and tried to find me one that either hinged to the right or had a drop down door.. no luck.  A visit to two local retailers showed all the cookers now hinge to the left.. so I'm stuck. Surely I cannot be the only person that needs a right handed door?

Strange requests!

My son phoned asking if I still had a hood hairdryer and a box camera [the sort with a cloth that goes over your head]! Now I know I am getting old, but that is ridiculous!
It seems my Granddaughter's ballet class are putting on a production and need 3 hairdryers and the camera! Any one any ideas where I might find them?

Birds and their home

Yesterday I attended a machine embroidery course at BSK Bedford. I managed to embroider all of the birds and the house, today I have put them together and as soon as I get a few minutes will make it into a cushion.
I really like this pattern and may make another.

Bags of bags

Bags bags and more bags... Having worked out how to make bags in the hoop [ on my embroidery machine] I have gone mad making them. They will mostly be used for gifts in the Samaritans Shoe Box Appeal. Hopefully some little girl in a far off country will enjoy them.

Grandad celebrates his birthday

It is all birthdays around here lately, starting with Chris on the 22nd. The grandchildren had fun dressing up for him!

Owls, Robins and Frogs!

I have made a few more finger puppets, this time they are all frogs, which I love. Also made two little owls and two little robins [ well I think they look like robins!]
I am still experiementing with making bags with zips in the hoop!

1600 quilt with a twist

This has been one of the quickest quilts I have every made.
Using the method of joining a jellyroll together into a long strip and then sewing the end to the top, cutting the fold and repeating until the required length/width the main area of the quilt was made. Next I cut off 4 strips from the sides and added cream borders and then the coloured strips.
Finally after long arm quilting by a friend, I heat-n-bonded letters of the alphabet and randomly sewed them to the top as this quilt will be for my granddaughters 4th birthday present.

The Visit

 Jessie, my niece, Richard and their daughter Mabel made the trip up from Cornwall to see Mum in her apartment. We had a nice fish and chip lunch in the restaurant. Mum is always very pleased to see her granddaughter and Great Granddaughter. Mabel is now just over 2 years old and a real sweety. 

Where does the time go?

My eldest granddaughter, Abigail, started her new middle school on Tuesday. She looks so grown up in her new uniform, what happened to the last almost 8 years!

Bedford Quilters Workshop

Saturday 3rd September I attended Bedford Quilters Day and ran a workshop on making a notebook with flowered cover. I had 15 chairs set up for the group and when I looked at the sign in sheet found I had 19 names on it.. panic! Luckily I had made 4 extra kits so with a little shuffling of tables we managed to fit everyone in. Using flowers and leaves from artificial arrangements, lots of beads, sequins and glitter everyone made a book cover and they all looked so different. Even the three children that joined the group had fun. In the afternoon we had a talk from Marion Maule on Samplers. A most enjoyable if tiring day.

Extra Stash busting challenge

Well here we are in September, and Judy Laquidara has challenged us to review our stash busting. I did quite well last month [ except for the fabric I bought!! ]
I am going to challenge myself to use 30 yds from my stash before the end of the year..
Apart from anything else we hope to have a nice holiday travelling around the USA next year and that means buying more fabric, so I will need the room.