Every Quilt Tells a Story

Some more Longarming.... 

This time a gorgeous quilt, that has a sad yet beautiful story behind it... 

This quilt will be raffled soon to raise money for a Hospice 

where the initial blockmaker was cared for in her final days. 

The unfinished blocks were put together to make this lovely quilt 

at a later date by a very kind and wonderful quiltmaker 

and she asked me to longarm quilt it.....

I borrowed the quilt back to photograph it

and I hope I have done it justice.

Sometimes I do Quilt...

I have been so busy of late...

I changed jobs to focus on my photography

and ended up doing more than I planned!

Hopefully that will all calm down soon

and I can just take photos and make quilts...

In the meantime...

here is a photo of a quilt 

that I longarm-quilted for a friend. 

I took the photo on the patio of another friend.

One has to love sunshine and good friends!! :)

Sheep Quilt - Baby Shower Gift

I was very pleased to be able to give this quilt

to a special work colleague today 

as a baby shower quilt.

That meant that yesterday I had to dash out 

and take a few photos to remember it by :)

I am also very lucky to have an amazingly helpful 

(and wonderful) friend

who after a quick plea-full phone call offered her sheep, 

her fence... 

(and a bucket of food to call the sheep!)

The wind was blowing an almost gale,

but I wanted to capture the backing fabric too

so no problem with a bit of wind...

The backing is a piece of fabric 

that I have had for a LONG time!

 I liked it so much that I never wanted to use it.

Crazy!! But using it for someone special was worth it.

(No point saving my favourite fabric for best!

As I have probably said before, 

if I don't watch out and use my stash,

 my husband will send it to the charity shop!!)

The backing is a sort of American Country Fair print

with a 'Quilt Show' tent and Fairground attractions

as well as farm animals and red barns.

I thought it worked well as it is fairly neutral.

The recipient doesn't know what her baby will be...

But boy or girl, 

all we hope is that it is healthy and happy

(and feels free to use and abuse this quilt!)

The Day Le Tour de Yorkshire came to Town

 The end of Stage 1 of the Tour de Yorkshire

ended in our local town...

With the finish right on our doorstep 

it would have been rude not to go,

So we took the children down to town

to see what was going on....

Some were more enthusiastic

  than others...

*****

We positioned ourselves with friends

away from the mass of spectators

to a less densely crowded part of the main street

to see the throng of bikes

and cars 

go whizzing past! 

It was a grand day out -

despite the weather's best efforts to soak and freeze us all!

Wordless Wednesday

Friend's with Farms have...

... lambs 

and sheep... 

And beautiful views...

And it's just such a privilege 

to be able to see what happens at lambing time.

 Indoors (and out!)

Beautiful Mum's and babies... 

Little ones who need some extra help...

And hard working (and hungry) Mum's!

Happy Easter from Yorkshire!

And thank you to my lovely friend

who allowed me to snap some pics on her farm today xxx

Handwork Walk

My daughter and I went for a little walk today.

The sun was shining and I thought it would be a good excuse 

to take some photos of my current handwork.

Why yes, I am appliqueing tractors again...

We can walk straight out the house 

and do a very scenic walk that takes us 

via a great cafe operated out of a lovely lady's Living Room.

I used my little camera

and Miss Kalico used my phone

(she took some great shots!)

*****

I like having small bits of handwork

to stitch on in case there is ever a spare minute to sew...

*****

I am enjoying being in love with taking photos again...

I do feel a bit limited by my present camera 

as it has far too many automatic features,

but it does the job

and the obligatory sheep photos are still to be seen :o)

*****

It was such a lovely long walk.

 Long only because when you are 4, you are not necessarily fast,

but you are great company!

Happy New Year

I confess... I did lose my blogging and quilting mojo a bit...

last year....

even as I write this I am yearning for my bed :(

This is not like me at all.

It's like the last year of grief and action 

has suddenly caught up with me and I am tired.

So so tired...

(Morecambe beach walk....)

(...one evening after Christmas shopping)

Usually people ask how I manage to do so much

and I usually scoff that anyone thinks I am managing much at all,

but who knew that 3 children especially a certain lovely 

(yet boundlessly energetic and incredibly demanding) 4 year old

would eat into my sewing time so much LOL.

(our usual homemade hot chocolate 

after a cold walk or cycle for the older Kalico kid's) 

(Christmas baking with Miss Kalico - age 4)

Anyway, a new year looms

and unfinished projects call,

as well as new ones begging to be started!!

(A colleague's birthday cake I made this week - it had smarties inside!)

Ideally, I would like to get my house and sewing studio

super tidy and organised and then I could sew guilt free

(while the washing, cleaning and cooking sorted itself out!!)

(a coffee mat for my boss's December birthday)

The holidays are over and it's back to work!

My nephew and his girlfriend stayed with us for a few days 

so we crammed a bit of action into his visit 

including a trip to the local cheese factory,

a visit to Bolton Abbey.... 

and a brief walk to the waterfall: Gordale Scar:

then they went off to to the Forest of Dean 

where they got engaged!!!!

Clearly DH and I did not sufficiently put them off the idea of marriage LOL!

Anyway, I think that sums up me, for now.

No mega New Year's resolutions,

just an attempt to keep my chin up and my fingers full of fabric 

Happy New Year y'all! :)

SSCS2015 - Thank you!

Thank you to my Secret Santa Swap partner

for the parcel that arrived today! 

The poor postman was absolutely soaked, 

the parcel was exteriorly super soggy 

as we are having the most dreadful rains and floods,

but thanks to a super mailing envelope my parcel was safe and dry on the inside!

And what was inside!!!!:

A beautiful Cross-stitch ornament, 

Some very kind ornaments for the Kalico kids,

and a very interesting feeling gift...

(yes, I had a good feel!! ;) )

Thank you Secret Partner!!

I got the impression that I wasn't allowed to open the card,

so I shall have to wait until the big day to open my gift.

Thank you xx

And here...

the rains...

non-stop!!

The field in front of our house is flooded,

the small river behind the wall appears to have burst it's banks.

Storm Desmond has hit several areas really hard,

so we are lucky that although there is just a huge amount of water,

we are all ok.

Wet, windswept, but ok!

Hopefully, it will be over soon!

In the meantime, I will be tucked up inside

trying to be fit in a bit of stitching here and there,,,,

Tractor Quilts

So we were on the patio

and we saw this small tractor mowing the grass

in the field out front

and it reminded me that I really should have photographed

(and gifted) the 2 tractor quilts that I have had completed for a while now...

Of course photographing them

with the tractor in the background

was another story!

so I tried another few options...

In the end
on the grass, seemed the only way to see them properly...

I had some 'help' as always...

One 'helper' even climbed on the wall

to help secure a quilt.

I caught him in action as he jumped off....

I love the blue cloud-filled sky....

Some close ups....

The whole design idea of the row quilt

was the blue sky,

the fields,

the tractors,

the sheep...

More close-ups...

And while I photographed.

Some gardened...

and some played....

and some bloomed...

(at last!)