Friday Natter!

The days are just whizzing past and I seem to be in a permanent rush at the moment. The Quilting class is tomorrow. I took Kate’s advice and re arranged my blocks.

Much better. I took my time I sewed carefully, and the blocks became rows. Then I went on too long and Big Mistake. I stitched row one to row two . Then I saw what I had done. I should have stitched the bottom of row one to the top of row two. But I stitched the bottom of row two to top of row one. Oh no.

I couldn’t face undoing the whole row, as I was scared the fabric would fray too much. So hasty re-arranging employing row nine to the top to become row one. It’s ok but I prefer my original arrangement.

Lesson learned, and I guess when the border is added no-one but me will ever think it was better before. I have gone with a dusky blue for a border and a cream for the back.

It seems I can concentrate for about two hours and then I need a big break.

Mr B and Ms G are to be married in three weeks time. They safely survived their hen and stag dos, always a bit of a relief to know your son didn’t get left tied to a lamp-post somewhere. I have my dress, so just a hat, shoes and bag to go, unless I wear the same ones I wore for my other sons wedding, but it seems wrong to not have a special hat at least for each. I think I used the same bag for both, and I reckon I could use the same shoes as I wore for Mr J’s nuptuals. It seems so wasteful to have all these different outfits, which I know I may wear again but probably not much. And certainly not the hats. I can’t see me in a headband though. And I shalln’t wear that fascinator again that I wore for Mr J’s.

The garden is doing great. Thanks to the stirling work of the gardening chaps we are still on top of it all. The bluebells were wonderful but are just finishing now, I leave them to die right back which means lots of other wild flowers get a chance. Mr E seems to think they are weeds, till I pointed to some goldfinches enjoying the chick weed. We have a bluetit family in the nest box by the honeysuckle, gosh the parents work hard to feed the babies. Papa is looking quite scrawny and rather tatty at the moment- he could do with a good bath.

I am knitting a bit but not much, the knitting urge seems to have left me for the moment. No idea why.

I am trying to think if I want to continue at the quilting class. I tend to think not. I will have been shown how to do the things I wanted to learn- rotary cutter, adding wadding, binding, borders etc. The teacher is less good on  the quilting side, but in conversation with a lady at the psychology group I go to, she kindly volunteered to help me…. And I have several projects for which I bought materials etc but never tackled for lack of knowledge and I am inclined to think I should get on with those first. Oh decisions, decisions.

So , what are you up to this weekend. I really should spend some time cleaning the house, well maybe not..

Do please join in the natter. Your comments are the best bit.

Be Happy,

Cathyx

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May Books- 2019

I appear to have read a lot this month, and some very very good books indeed. Heartily recommend them all. Here they are.

Joanna Cannon- The Trouble with Goats and Sheep- I am probably the last person on the planet to read this. I found myself miles from home and in urgent need of a book, so a dash into the nearest charity shop turned this up. I really enjoyed it. The long hot summer in the Uk in 1976, two girls looking for God and Mrs Creasy, and secrets behind every door. The story was good but it was the language I absoloutely adored.Picked entirely at random..” the room…looked as if someone might have served it into the house with an ice cream scoop. Even things that weren’t pink had a mention of it…”.Or ” When Harold became annoyed he could fill a room with his annoyance”. If you haven’t read it, then do. it’s good, and if you have read it, what did you think?

Kate Ellis- Watching the Ghosts- another who dun it set in York, with fictious place names, and Detective Joe Plantagenet. A most enjoyable read.

Jojo Moyes- Me Before You- I am probably the last person to have read this good book. Essentially a poignant love story between a severly disabled man and his rather unconventional carer. Tissues were needed.

Ian McEwan- Amsterdam- This book is a Booker Prize Winner which the Sunday Telegraph describes as “A Psychologically brilliant study of heartlessness”. Indeed the two main characters are not likeable at all- one a journalist who stoops to the gutter and the other a selfish composer. They get there come uppence! A good read.

Lucy Clarke- You let me in- wow this really is a page turner and lots to get your teeth into. Some twists I saw, some I didn’t, I found myself thinking about the whole plot days afterwards. I shall think very carefully should I ever be tempted to rent my house out on airbnb. It would make an excellent book group book. Loved it. Very skillfully crafted and written.

Rose Tremain- The Colour- I really enjoyed this book. So good, I took my time and savoured every part. The colour refers to the colour of gold. Set in the 1860s in New Zealand the book tells the story of a migrant family from Norfolk, England. Their attempt at farming and the pull of a gold rush. Now this will sound totally ridiculous but it had never occured to me that people who emmigrated to New Zealand faced the same life choices as the early pioneers in America- how to build a house, provide warmth and food, care for animals, learn about the natural world. Nor did I know of a gold rush. Totally recommend this book.

So these were my books in May. Have you read any of these, what did you think. Have you read any good books you can recommend please? I love the ones that are recommended to me through this blog, you have come up with some real corkers, so thank you.

Wednesday Walk

I did this walk last week with a friend. It’s a walk that must be done in May for the most wonderful display…

Head off down the lane past the little church called St Gregory’s Minster in Kirkdale, between Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside.

Cross a couple of fields and into some woods alongside a beck.

Beautiful bluebells await you in a wooded valley called Robin Hood’s Howl. But what we came for was

This absolutely incredible display of wild garlic. I reckon there is 1/2 to 1 mile of this wood. We were lucky enough to spot a deer run through the trees just in front of us. I had been hoping for unicorns, but a deer was nearly as good.

And a quick question, can anyone identify this flower. My friend thought it was know as Granny’s Bonnet.

Have you been a walk through woods full of wild garlic?

Friday Natter!

I had a five year health check courtesy of the NHS yesterday. Apparently I have shrunk, and not in the way I would like. I am now officially 1 1/2 inches shorter than I was . Who knew you shrink as you get older, due to wear and tear? Did you know? I shall get over it , eventually.

I really enjoyed the quilting workshop a fortnight ago. I refused to allow myself to rush, and got my jelly roll strips joined and chopped. I had a busy afternoon this week, laying them on a bed to put them all back together again.

The design is rail fence, not certain I have got the hang of it properly, as my design seems more like a maze than anything else. I am off shopping for a border and a backing fabric. Original thought had been to go dusky blue , but after looking at this I reckon on a creamy lightly patterned fabric.

I am also looking for an outfit for youngest son’s wedding which is now approaching fast, like about a month off.

Knitting wise, the little bundle of white fluff now looks like this.

A little unicorn- it’s newborn which is why it can’t stand up yet!! And the sweetest face.

Of course I now have some leftover tinsel yarn…

The garden is keeping me busy again, always some weed to pull it seems to me.

Weekend plans include sewing the quilt blocks together ready for the next class, some baking and some gardening. Just nice puttering around the house.

Love to know your weekend plans, do please join in the natter.

Be Happy,

Cathyx

 

Scrap Happy Day- May 2019

Linking with Kate and others to share projects made from scraps. This month I completed another blanket made from left over yarn. The first one I dispatched earlier this year to a homeless charity was too short, and other squares were added to it to make sure someone could wrap themselves up in it. Whilst I appreciated that a bigger blanket was needed it did rather spoil the effect.

Anyway I decided the best way to get a usable blanket was to make two large granny squares and join them together, so I did.

It’s the length of a king size bed and the width of half a bed. Do you reckon it’s big enough? I have nearly used all my leftover yarn now, can’t believe it.

Do check out others projects, using the link above, some are amazingly creative and utterly gorgeous.

May windows- 2019

Linking with Wild Daffodil’s window challenge . I took pictures of these lovely windows in Alcester which is near Stratford upon Avon.

Some lovely black and white buildings. Bonus is the old telephone box!

Look how these bow- formerly almshouses and now in the care of a housing association- what lucky tenants to live here.

At the end of the row are the windows of the town hall. Inside there is a plaque of names of people who served the town- in what most people would think of as the role of local mayor. Anyway I am very proud as my Grandad’s name is amongst them.

I rather think that this lower row of windows were once arches open to the elements, there was probably a market held there. The upper storey would have been where the town’s business was held- courts/ town meetings etc.

Hope you enjoyed my window selection this month.

 

 

Friday Natter!

It occurred to me that if I renamed this post I wouldn’t need to fret about the lack of knitting, which of course meant I did some..

Bet you have no idea what this is. Not certain I do and I have the pattern.

Life has gotten chaotic recently- too tedious. Not helped by the tablet – the old tablet given to me by Mr E when the last tablet stopped working has now decided it doesn’t like any of the 1000s of chargers we have in the house. So I am back to using my trusty laptop, which explains, I hope, why I have been rather absent recently.

I did go the Spring into Wool event in Leeds a couple of weeks ago. It was most enjoyable, and I did get some yarn for socks, but it will be Autumn and long dark nights before I tackle them.

I went to the surface crochet workshop. I got a bit lost from the tutor’s instructions and just did my own thing and chatted to my neighbours.

I think it’s possibly more use to someone who can’t embroider. I have put this in the bin.

We had Easter and I had a lovely weekend with

Master H on the beach at Scarborough along with ten zillion other people.

And a rather nice walk with Toddler J.

This weekend is the next quilt class. I have my jelly roll ready packed.It just so happens that The Tour de Yorkshire will be going my way in both directions tomorrow. I shall leave home at the crack of dawn to get there before they do, there should even be time to cheer ahead of class.

And it’s another bank holiday weekend too. Hoping to catch my breath a little, I am exhausted , too much going on at once.

I hope you all have some nice plans for the weekend. Do please leave comments and join in the natter.

Be Happy,

Cathyx