When is a Sari not a Sari?

I decided today to make bags from a cotton Sari my daughter in law brought me back from Thailand.

I managed to get eight bags with a small pocket on the front from the fabric, all look a little different from each other.

Washing Quilt #5

Looks like it is going to be another very hot day, so quilt number 5 went in the washing machine early this morning.  

This is a quilt we always use on the bed in the winter [plus 2 others!] at the moment a sheet is all we need.

The fence in the background is gradually being painted but Chris has run out of

paint, hope he can get some more of the same colour.

Postcard making

It is SO hot I have not felt like doing much, but decided I would try and get some sewing done today. I need some postcards for up and coming birthdays, so decided that would be a nice project sitting letting my embroidery machine do most of the work! I have signed up for a Christmas postcard swap, and no idea how many people will be in it so made three Christmas postcards and then ran out of Rufflette Pelmet card that I like to use for making the cards.

Washing Quilt #4



A single bed size quilt made with Judy Laquidara sew along some years ago.



The ASHBY family gathering

John Thomas ASHBY married Annie Georgina PERCIVAL on 2nd August 1909 so it was decided to have a family reunion. My cousin John PRIDMORE, the oldest remaining direct descendant of the family, organised the gathering at a restaurant in Littleover Derby. The weather was glorious hot sunshine and in the usual fashion of John's get togethers it was "dress optional, hats compulsory !" 57 members of the family arrived all wearing hats and enjoying each others company. I prepared the family tree from my records which was handed to the heads of each group. Many stories were told, one cousin even used a cooked book to make macaroons for everyone [ the cookbook having been partly written by Annie.

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John Thomas ASHBY



Annie Georgina PERCIVAL

Memory Lane

Church St, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire

Stanley Douglas SIMONS [Dad]

The remains of 52 Church St, Burton Latimer

Home from 1945 to 1954

Debbie taking photos in the cemetery

Due to a family reunion on Saturday 13th July my sister Debbie came to stay and we went to visit the family graves and old haunts at Burton Latimer. It was a lovely sunny day and nice to spend time together.



Catherine Mary SIMONS nee ASHBY [Mum]



Annie Georgina ASHBY [nee PERCIVAL]
and the grave of John Thomas ASHBY
[my grandparents]



Washing quilts Number 2 & 3

Kings Size one of my favourites

A sampler quilt, mostly hand sewn from years ago.

Eleanor,s Sports Day Videos

Eleanor's Sports Day

This morning was spent watching Eleanor's School Sports Day. She was brilliant and amazed both of us. She was the only child in her group that could use a skipping rope, and it was hard to stop her even when the whistle blew! She was always first with her hand up to take part and looked like she was really enjoying herself.  A BIG well done Eleanor.

Skipping

Jumping

Running

Quick Stepping





5 Jumps

Enjoying the sunshine

Hello Grandma and Grandad

Wash Day

At last the weather is hot enough to wash quilts!  I thought I would start with the quilt from our bed, one of my favourites.  It is very large and I only just managed to get it into the washing machine.  Made in large strips I joined the pieces together with the Quilt-as-you-go method.

The Weekend

What a weekend!! Abigail performed Friday evening and a Matinee and evening performance on the Saturday she arrived Sunday morning in her PJ's and Onesy to crash out on the settee. Meanwhile her parents and Chris moved her other grandparents from a house to a bungalow, on the hottest day of the year. Sadly her other Grandmother fractured her hip a couple of days before the move so is in hospital for 10 days and unable to help with the packing and moving.
I prepared lots of food for when everyone arrived back early evening dirty, tired and starving hungry!

Meanwhile Andy Murray won the tennis at Wimbledon, a very exciting match.

Boogie Wonderland

Programme & tickets

Last night Grandad and Grandma [me] attended the Lighthouse Theatre at Kettering to see Abigail [9ys] performing.
We were lucky to get front row seats and applauded until our hands hurt every time Abigail was on stage [5 times]. She performed so well with amazing cartwheels and  splits.
Mention should be given to Richard [our son] as he was a stage hand and had helped to make all the props and put in hours of prep work. Jacqueline also took part behind the scenes dressing the children and keeping them safe [ not an easy job with SO many children ].


Abigail is 5th from the right holding the hoop



Green Laning in the South of Northampton

Page 1 of the route

Overstone Byway!



The many gates of Strixton



Beautiful Flax fields



Cannon's Ashby




Pretty Northamptonshire Thatched houses












Another days trip planned by Chris, took us to the South of Northamptonshire, past pretty iron stone thatched cottages and very large homes, including Cannon's Ashby and Sulgrave Manor.  We started with a trip down a very narrow Byway, that looked more like a path through the woods near Overstone Scout Camp. At Strixton I got fed up opening gates so took to the wheel while Chris opened gates.  A picnic lunch went down well overlooking a pretty flax field. 120 miles round trip, with an average speed of 19 mph!

Tennis and Sewing



On the Horn cabinet

 Today was a "Wimbledon Day" for me, I just love the tennis.
As I have a TV in my Happy Room I spent the morning machining and the afternoon watching TV and cutting out more purse parts.

Later in the year I will be giving a workshop on finishing these purses but first I have to make the fabric part... all 30 of them! and the class will attach the fabric to the frames and sew on the beads.

Each purse has 4 pieces for the front, 4 pieces of Cushion Soft [wadding] and 4 pieces of lining fabric.. this is all a bit boring, but went well with Andy Murray winning through his heat of the tennis. Sad that Laura Robson was knocked out, but she had done well.

Progress

Since attempting to change my eating habits, mostly NO white sugar [ I use honey instead], and everything brown! eg. Brown bread, rice, pasta etc... I have felt so much better.
My eating is based on The Eat Clean diet.. and today on my weigh in at the gym I lost another 5 lbs.  4 lbs last month.
It has been really easy and not a "diet" as such.
The friend that told me about the Eat Clean gave me a couple of cook books today so I will have some new recipes to try.

June Postcard Swap

The BQLPC yahoo group I belong to have just had a Naked flower Swap, where postcards had to be send "naked" through the post.

The five I have received starting from the top left reading clockwise, were from Lesley, Jan, Heather. Miriam and Jacquie. They are all so different using different techniques.

Only Miriam's bead work got a little damaged in the post and lost a few beads, but I love them all.

The two day retreat

A friend from Church,  Rachael, and I have just been on a two day visit to the London Temple.

The trip down was much too long, as the Sat Nav decided to play up, but we got there eventually and signed into our rooms.

The peace and quiet and friendly faces were a real blessing and we had a very nice time.

This photo was taken at 8am when the sun was warm and everything looked calm and peaceful.
Thankfully the trip home was quick and uneventful.

Summer Tree Sampler

A stitch sampler Summer Tree

This is a picture of my Summer Tree Part 1, 2 & 3.. I am trying to get upto date with the SAL, but only joined the StitchSpecailist yahoo group a few days ago.
So far I have used the wrong even weave fabric .. I only had 22 count so used that! [Should probably have been 26 or smaller!]
 I have a zillion DMC threads in every colour so have been using those, three strands for everything except stage 3 when I used two strands. I also started the tree in green and thought half way through it should be brown, so mixed green and brown for a while and then changed to all brown !
It has been a real learning process but I so enjoy doing it. Will start stage 4 this afternoon while watching Wimbledon Tennis!

Bag Day

My bag

Just home from a great day at Milton Keynes making a bag with Tiny.

I can see this bag being quite a favourite, as it's small enough but with a pocket on the outside and two on the inside it will be really useful. Great Day.

The Die Cutting Machine



The Sizzix Big Shot

 After much deliberating I have purchased a Sizzix Big Shot Machine.

A trip to Snettisham on Saturday to collect the machine and buy some extra dies and plates etc., plus some wild bidding on Ebay means I have a very nice collection of items to play with.

My main reason for wanting a cutting machine was to cut 5 inch squares and 2 1.2 inch strips, this machine does both.

My final choice of machine between the Accuquilt and the Sizzix was the fact you can use Accuquilt dies on the Sizzix but not the other way around.

BSK machine Embroidery day

Spent today at BSK Bedford working on a flowerpots in a window scene.

The day was great as usual and I managed to sew out 6 of the 9 flowerpot pictures, hope to complete it tomorrow if I get time.

Naked Flower Swap

The June BQLPC swap theme was Flowers that had to be posted "naked" in other words .. no envelopes.



Six of us signed up for the exchange, and my five will be in the post this afternoon.