The POOL party



Fun in the main pool



Water fountain in the side pool



fun fun fun



6 & 10 year cakes



Food table




The party starts



Lets eat!

Happy Birthday Abigail and Eleanor

Saturday was the joint birthday party for Abigail 10 years and Eleanor 6 years.
The venue was Rushden Swimming pool, which was booked for the girls to invite all their friends.
18 children aged 6 to 10 and about 10 adults attended. The younger children have to have an adult with them in the pool.
It was great fun for everyone for an hour messing about in the pool, then time for the tea in a side room that we had prepared with lots of food and cake.

Amish Cross Stitch progress

I have been very busy working on my Amish cross stitch sampler.
I just do not seem to be able to leave it alone!

Thought I'd show you my progress since coming back from Spain, where I started it.

Duston Quilt Show

I am just back from a very nice quilt show at St Francis Church Duston Northampton.
These are a few of the quilts I really liked.. although all were very nice.
The cake stall was overloaded with lovely cakes to buy, and an idea place to buy a birthday cake for my son's birthday on Sunday.

Love the blackwork picture

What a fun Christmas wall hanging



The perfect fit for the altar, love the bobbin lace on the bible.



Guess it's THAT time of year again.



A very pretty applique quilt



I bet this quilt was fun to make.

Christmas ideas

A to Z fun for any child

Family Tree Quilt



My tree printed from my Family Tree programme




SIX generations of photos




My first sewing machine!




An uncle & Gt Grandfather

 As there has been quite a lot of interest recently in my family Tree quilt, her are a few photos.

The photos, right back to all eight Great Grandparents were printed onto fabric.

I used prepared sheets mostly but some were made using freezer paper stuck to fine cotton, all went through my cheap HP printer.

As the photos were all different sizes I just added strips of fabric until they all fitted together.. no plan! just luck.

Tiny's workshop

Penny and I set off early yesterday morning to travel to Bedford to drop off my Brother sewing machine for repair. Then across country to Milton Keynes for a workshop with 'Tiny' Carmen.

It is always a lovely day and reasonably priced. Some were working on projects from previous workshops while quite a few of us made the Cow Doorstop. The different colours of fabrics made each one very individual. I finished mine quite early so played with some fabric and made a couple of 'mug rugs' shaped like cups.


What a great idea Zoe had brought along




Cows at the flat stage!




The group busy sewing




Two mug rugs made in the spare time




My red/white & blue cow doorstop



Do you name your sewing machine?

My Brother, called Carolyn [ I name all my machines after the person I bought them from!] is going in for repair early this morning on my way to a workshop to make a cow door stop. My good old faithful Pfaff [only machine without a name] is coming with me.
I have Brenda the Brother embroidery machine, Doreen one of my Featherweights etc..etc..

Does anyone else name their sewing machines?

What happened to the week?

This week seems to have flown by. The blog seems to have suffered from lack of my time.

Wednesday I used one of my Groupon purchases and had a Swedish massage and manicure for £17 instead of the normal £44 it was excellent and I will use the same place again when they advertise another offer.

Thursday was our IAM craft day at my house. It was a lovely meeting with delicious dessert supplied by Dorn. Jenny was away on holiday so another friend, Pauline, made up the numbers as she was in town.

Everyone had lots to talk about and Show and Tell after lunch was really good... pity I forgot to take any photos!

Friday was my third day this week back at the gym [ after 4 weeks absence ] Oh! the pain!!

Saturday was Relief Society meeting at Church and I was asked to bring my family tree fabric picture quilt to put in the exhibition. I received lots of very nice comments about it.

Today the sun was shinning and as Chris had been a bit down during the week we took off for a day travelling the Byways of Northamptonshire in his Land Rover. Six wonderful hours enjoying God's countryside with a brief stop for the picnic lunch I had rapidly put together.

Trees laden with berries

One of the many gates I opened

The local wildlife

An extra day with Grandma & Grandad

Tuesday some of the teachers went on strike, I've no idea why! But it meant Abigail had a day off school.

She arrived Monday evening and after a late breakfast set to work cutting out the letters of her name, tracing them onto Heat-n-Bond and finally ironing them onto fabric. These will be made into a banner for her bedroom when next she visits with her sister.

As it was her birthday we took her out for a meal at the local Toby carvery, which was very nice and made even more special as they brought us all icecreams including candles in Abigail's and a bowl of sweets.

Back at home I worked on my Amish cross stitch so Abigail was quickly beside me with the tapestry she is working on. Notice the chair she is sitting on!! I made it for her when she was about a year old from blocks of foam stuck together and covered in fabric.. I'm amazed it has lasted 9 years!



A special ice cream!



Grandma & Abigail sewing

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABIGAIL

cuddles with Grandad

I've no idea where the last ten years went, but today is Abigail's tenth birthday.

The Right / Left game

Bubbles

More bubbles and fun

Walking the plank in the garden

Ten candles on the cake

I remember vividly the day she was born, our first grandchild arrived by emergency Cesarean and was then in a special care unit, we were all so worried for her and her mother, Jacqueline.
A few days later they were allowed home and she has brought such joy to the whole family.

Yesterday the family came for lunch and after a roast pork dinner, we played parcel the jelly! A version of pass the parcel! with cries of "another game please Grandma" I quickly wrapped 6 more items for a Right / Left game at the table.

Then time for a breath of fresh air and we all had bubbles in the garden and then games of Boules on the side lawn.

Richard had made Abigail her favourite chocolate cake, which we all tucked into.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABIGAIL

Higham Piecemakers Quilt Show

Saturday Chris and I visited Higham Ferrers Bede House, a wonderful old building full of history to view the Quilt show.
The hall was buzzing with people and the displays were wonderful for this small group.


The view down the hall



Busy selling



Christmas display



Months of the year



Love the embroidery



A very pretty quilt



Sampler

Great colours

My favourite

The photos are just a very small part of this Bi-Annual show.

Bags with Tiny Workshop



My bag with handle unfinished



Next months workshop

The view from my sewing machine!

Penny and I set off on a miserable foggy morning to attend a workshop at Milton Keynes [ not my favourite city]. Found the venue without any trouble and joined about a dozen ladies to make a bag with Tiny.It was an interesting workshop and I really like the bag, although I didn't quite manage to finish the handle [ it is made from the scraps left over from cutting out the main parts of the bag and will be shoulder length].
Thanks Tiny for another great workshop. Look forward to the next one in October making a door stop.

Garden friends



Garden friends

Since getting back from Spain it has been go go go, getting things sorted, washing done, shopping etc.
This afternoon was time to sort out 4 weeks growth in the garden and start to get it ready for the Winter. Everything was looking very sad and neglected, so we attacked it with gusto.
While working near the pond quite a few frogs and toads came out to see us, and I even managed to feed one of them a worm I dug up! 

Chris enjoys another birthday

Chris celebrated his birthday today. An invitation to spent most of the day and a lovely mid day meal with our son Richard and his family. Abigail and Eleanor had time to play with the holiday gifts we had brought them from Spain before sitting down to roast beef and all the trimmings. Next on the menu was a wonderful iced birthday cake complete with candles.

His gift from Richard and Jacqueline consisted of a first aid kit and a Space blanket, to be used in his new role of 4 x 4 rescuer for people in need during the winter months

My present was a new clutch for his Land Rover. I'm sure presents used to be more exciting than this!


Abigail & Eleanor enjoying one of their holiday presents




63 candles just would not fit, but the cake was delicious



19th - 20th SPAIN

Our final few days, were spent sun bathing, shopping [ many bargains from a local Cancer Charity shop] working on my Amish x stitch, playing backgammon on my iPad and generally enjoying ourselves.


One of the acrobatic planes that flew over regularly



Outdoor BBQ





BBQ 7 - 11.30 at Cafe Golf

Singer as Diana Ross

Final progress on the Amish X stitch

Our final evening in San Javier was spent at an outdoor buffet with live entertainment by the Caballeros. Four singers performed for 3 hours, dresses as the Beatles, Abba, Sister Act, Buddy Holly, ELO, Andrews sister, Mick Jagger and many others. They were really great.
Our last day 20th was spent packing eating fish and chips [ we just could not resist them] and driving back to Alicante to catch our 7.40pm flight with Monarch, all went smoothly and we were home about 11.30pm very tired but having enjoyed one of the best holidays.