all gone

well we started taking the trees down on 17th dec and now on 31st - day 14 - they are all gone but lots of clearing up to do. 0f course christmas came in the middle of the project to delay us and i had to give up hauling logs by day 4 but have spent many hours cooking providing sustenance for the boys who have worked their socks off and we are very grateful. now its cleared the plot looks enormous just got to get going now with the build!

day three of the tree felling exercise

after some heated debate the boys managed to get both tractors the chipper and trailer down the back of the garden and as you can see great headway has been made with the felling. many thanks to steve parker for coming to give more than a hand - we're all knackered!

o no its snowing

day 2 of the big tree felling exercise and its snowing! tractors frozen and a weekend of hard work ahead of us

hurrah she's passed the test

colin and inca after the gundog test - beginners retrieving -with their friends.

going, going......

well the oak trees are down just 400 christmas trees to take down now to clear the site for the build.

silver thimble workshop

i've been so busy i forgot to add some images from the lovely workshop at the silver thimble near york. 2 happy days spent with a group of lovely ladies doing a bit of melting and burning and a big thankyou for looking after me so well.

happy birthday esther

we met esther a day before her second birthday, she was rather keen to have her photograph taken - with her pig family - and insisted on repeat photographs by saying 'more cheese' (she had obviously been instructed to say cheese when in front of the camera) thank you for entertaining us esther and don't forget that daddy likes his beer juice.

a dog with attitude

on a recent trip to chippenham we met molly - a dog with real attitude - thank you molly for entertaining us and thank you to your owners for their wonderful hospitality.

a bit of new work

i thought i would share this with you, its a new commission i am working on with a musical theme. i think its coming along quite well - a bit more work to do on the border and then the quilting to do.

O what a beautiful morning

i just had to share this with you! driving to bury st edmunds this morning through the woods i had to stop to photograph the autumn colours how amazing is that? it really lifts the spirits to see such a lovely sight on the way to work

students work at la drova

well done girls, lovely work.

my goodness sally

just got back from spain. we had a great week at la drova with sally and billy simeoni - lots of lovely food - and of course the creative side was extremely productive - well done girls! the paella pan and my trendy boots arrived home safely. but what are sally and billy looking for - comments please.

a happy time in tralee

Home again after my trip to Ireland - see the previous post and photos - many thanks to all the lovely ladies i met over the weekend at the agm and workshops also a big thank you to nikki and her team for looking after me so well. big sigh of relief when the technology worked for my talk.ryan air was so efficient that a prompt take off from Kerry meant i was actually in stansted 30mins earlier than scheduled. got to get organised now ready to go to spain next week.

Irish Patchwork Society AGM

here i am printing up yards of felt ready to take to ireland at the weekend providing i can get it all in my bags, i don't appear to have a very big weight allowance - i suppose i don't really need much in the way of clothes.

i'm really looking forward to my trip to tralee but just a little nervous that the power point technology will work for my talk, it will be a bit dull without any images - i can't take a load of quilts on ryan air.

journal quilts

two posts in one day - perhaps i just haven't got enough to do!

just wanted to share this with you, i'm doing the journal quilt project with contemporary quilt, part of the quilters' guild. we have to produce a small quilt (6" x 12") every month and provide notes about why we are doing them. you can see a selection of the quilts at the creative stitches & hobbycarfts show at exeter 24-27 sept

a useful bit of kit

i came across this portable design wall at the festival of quilts, its easy to assemble and packs away really small so its very portable, but its proving to be really useful already in the studio where i'm beavering away on a commission - i'll share it with you when it looks a bit more together.

changes are coming

big celebrations - after two years' of deliberations, planning,paperwork and bureaucracy we have at last got full planning permission to build 2 new houses in our garden!

A massive project which, hopefully, will give us a new house (complete with beautiful new studio) where the christmas tree plantation is at the moment. i am sure this is just the beginning and we have a long way to go but we've now got over the first big hurdle.

the show is over

this was my stand at the festival of quilts, a big thank you to everyone who came to say hello. can't believe it was a week ago now the last few days have just flown by!

cutwork cushions

still running around like a headless chicken trying to get ready for the festival of quilts. i decided to make a few cushions with cutwork decoration so here is an example in gold on silk - quite rich and lucious. it will be for sale on my stand.

only one day left before i have to go so big decisions now on what to take and how to display everything. come and see me for a chat.

an announcement

the very best news of the weekend has been that alex and lynette have announced their engagement - all very exciting!

they are a lovely couple and we all hope they are going to be very happy together.

dog day

the norfolk dog day in aid of the charity help for heroes was great fun on sunday. i've never seen so many breeds of dogs - or so many dogs at any one time come to that. the competition classes were over subscribed with over 120 entries in some! i think there were over 15,000 people there and they made over £70,000 - a wonderful effort.

busy weekend

on saturday we all enjoyed a good chat at a lovely family day hosted by kate and jeff phillips in morden they had even organised a hot and sunny afternoon! a collection of distant cousins sharing stories it was really great - i wonder why we don't do it more often - probably because it takes a lot of organising

little gems

this is what i am doing with the papers and dyed velvet - having fun making abstract designs for my notebook covers. just love the contrast between the texture of the papers and the soft richness of the velvet. i'll have them on my stand at the festival of quilts, come and see me early i think they'll be popular.

just playing.....

well the sun has come out but when there's bits of dye left over they have to be used so here i am sloshing about with pva and colours on to tissue paper i'll be taking some to the festival of quilts but some of it will be used for my studio projects. really nice colours i just love the way the turquoise purple and green merge to make lovely soft greys.........

brighten up your day

well what else do you do to brighten up a dull summers day?

slosh some dye on bits of silk and velvet and hang them on your washing line to baffle the neighbours of course! you'd think i'd got nothing beter to do wouldn't you - they may look a bit splodgy but I do have a plan for these bits of colourful fabric.

little visitor

this colourful little fellow landed on our patio this morning so i just had to get out my camera to record the event. is he, i wonder, an escapee or has he just lost his friends? i think there are flocks of parakeets (i think thats what he is) futher south but i haven't heard of any around here. i hope he isn't living in our christmas trees - we want to take them down in the autumn.

i'm back

i won't even try to explain why we haven't had internet access for a month suffice to say its been extremely traumatic but thanks to a very nice computer man i'm back!

what have you missed in the meantime?

well it was very exciting to be at the presentation of the ordination stole i had been commissioned to make, see photo, the image of the cross was taken from the way of life cross at ely cathedral which was designed by artist jonathan clarke. it was the first time i have made something like this so just a little nervous but it turned out well and everyone was pleased with the result.

presentation of ordination stole

pearls pearls pearls

a funny sort of word isn't it especially as they are so beautiful. i've been working really hard to complete this piece.i'm sending it to the festival of quilts for the quilters guild challenge 'pearl essence'. only the boring bits to do now, the sleeve and the label. my piece is called tahitian pearl reflecting all the luscious dark iridescent colours you find in those mysterious deep sea pearls. it was a challenge for me working with pearls and circles and not making it look too 'twee' - hope it works. i've already got a pearl quilt in the quilters guild exhibition at st anthony's in york - you've got time to go to see it as it goes on to the end of august. http://www.quiltersguild.org.uk