www part 2

Oh ladies, thank you so much for all the comments.  They did make me smile.  I stand corrected and want to put the record straight:  I did not buy my first born child - he was bRought home to that lovely little flat way back when in 1986.  No, I didn't make it to Chandler's Ford or Eastleigh (although I did pass through the latter on the train to Southampton) as I only had a short time there.  Lynne, I did shave my legs but only because I thought I might go bare legged - then I decided this wasn't quite proper for church and it was a good job as I ended up sitting next to the priest throughout the reception dinner.  Minded my P&Qs fairly well but could see the look of disdain flicker over his face as I, first, told him I was divorced and second, told him I was the bride's godmother, of whom he had never heard and he'd been her priest for over 15 years.  Yikes, reckon it would be a lifetime of hail Marys for me and I wasn't sure what to think when he asked me if I had ever considered going on a retreat!  The thought crossed my mind that the present would be a good time .....

So, for Winchester fans here's a little bit more nostalgia - the first house we brought Ben home to :)  It is an end of terrace Victorian house which had been rented by an old lady for over 40 years so it was in an almost original state when we bought it.  Bakelite 3 pin sockets, picture rails, dad rails, slate and marble fireplaces downstairs, cast iron ones in the bedrooms.  Lovely tiles in the porch and on the pathway.  It was a labour of love to renovate it, stripping back all the stair spindles and doors to their original pine, honeyed and reddened over time. It broke my heart to leave this house and move to Camberley.  Life all went a bit pear shaped after that.

The Medieval Pentice in the High Street

the Butter Cross

The Museum

One of our old drinking haunts, the Eclipse Inn dates back to 1540 though not as nice as the Wykeham Arms

the Gate, part of the old wall which I used to walk under every day on my way to work or to town

the bank where I had my first 'proper' job, appropriately enough located on Jewry Street

and a little glimpse of Alresford - such a pretty, tranquil little town, full of pastel coloured houses and lovely little shops

one of my favourite's being Susie Watson Designs.  Here's my friend, Gill partaking of an imaginary cup of tea at an exquisitely set kitchen table (almost an ex-friend as she had lost loads of weight and not told me!  My friends seem to have a habit of doing this - I wish I had their willpower).  In the background lots of lovely, lovely, gorgeous, lovely china

and for any cat lovers out there, here's one of Gill's cats having a drink the yobby way - straight from the tap!

We've been internet-less the past couple of days - thought Will was going to have a stroke but all has been restored today with the help of a new cable for the router and resetting the Airport - phew, we almost had to 'enjoy' each other's conversation and company for a while there!

Later I'll show you how much shopping I managed to squeeze in to my very expensive parking time in Winchester - I amaze myself sometimes (and my bank manager a lot of the time).

Happy Wednesday (over the hump day as we call it in our office).

Jules

x

www part 1

It’s been a long and happy weekend with a wedding, Winchester and wishing and hoping galore.

This post will have to come in 3 parts as there’s so much to show and tell!  I had a glorious drive down to Winchester on Thursday – sunshine, blue skies, green fields, not too much traffic and only a couple of minor detours as I got out of synch with my Google driving directions!  One day I must get sat nav but think I may still go wrong and get even more flustered if there is someone other than myself telling me I had gone wrong.

Thursday evening was spent in the company of my friends Gill and Jane – no matter how long it is between meetings (and we’re talking years, not months) we manage to take up where we left off and have to speak a mile a minute to get up to date – with quite a lot of ‘what was I saying?’ as we each break off on tangents of one sort or another.  It was lovely and I felt like I’d come home.

Friday got off to a bad start with this:

 a very expensive 10 extra minutes parking whilst feverishly looking at fabrics in C&H Fabrics!  That'll teach me!

I took a rather emotional stroll down memory lane which was perhaps not a good idea right before going to a wedding alone.  This was where we bought Ben, my first born's home from hospital up the road (not the whole thing - just a little flat on the top floor)

Winchester holds so many happy memories for me.

As I got ready for the wedding I agonised over what to wear, wondering why I hadn’t been dieting rigorously in preparation and why I had been so lazy in keeping in touch with some very special people.

The weather was glorious and the whole day was fabulous – a relaxed service (lots of upping and downing in a Catholic service and my knees were complaining about that as well as the stupid heels I had decided to wear – when will we ever learn that no one cares what you have on your feet – wishing I had enough brass neck to wear flip flops!  Marijke very sensibly had little ballet pumps on unlike her sisters who had heels to rival Victoria Beckham's

Left to right: Saskia (youngest sister), Tony (father of the bride), Marijke, Troy, Nel (mother of the bride), Oma (mother of the mother of the bride, 81 - I have no idea what her real name is as she has always been Oma (grandma) and very trendy), Aniek (middle sister).  The bouquets were white tulips - what else for a half Dutch wedding?

There was a lovely meal, speeches, dancing, eating and drinking (enough drinking that the knees were not complaining at the dancing but I had changed into some flat shoes by that point).  My legs were killing me the next day and I wondered why until I realised that I hadn't had that much exercise in months.

Saturday was spent in Alresford and Winchester before heading home on Sunday via Kingston to see son number 2, Michael to deliver a bit of knitting for his degree show.  More on the rest of the trip later but I was very happy to be greeted by these lovelies when I got home.

I only planted this last year so I am both happy and impressed - it must like this spot.

Hope you all had as fabulous a weekend as I did.

Jules

x

Living in hope...

I'm very excited at the prospect of a few days down south for the wedding of my god daughter in Southampton and visiting with my old friends in Winchester.   The wedding quilt is about to be wrapped and I don't think there'll be any time for crafting this weekend so in the meantime I shall leave you with these gems

In the likely event that no millionaire crosses my path...

and just in the very likely event that the getting rich part doesn't happen ... I do like a good fairytale and Alice in Wonderland would approve of this one..

It would be rude not to, wouldn't it?

Fingers crossed that Marijke likes her wedding gift and wishing you all an early happy weekend.

And thank you to all for the welcome back messages, very much appreciated.

Jules

x

Slaving over a hot machine...

Well, the wind had died down a little but it was, as Pooh would say, rather blustery out there, so I decided to sew instead.  Do you remember I said I had tidied my dining room and was going to use the smallest bedroom as my work room? Well, the tidy dining room now looks like this!

Will was sleeping late so I thought it best not to wake him to the thrum of the sewing machine so I made merry with my fabric, rotary cutter and ironing board downstairs.  Whoever would of thought it possible to make merry with and ironing board?

Inspired by the pomp and ceremony of the Royal wedding and feeling rather patriotic I ran up this little number in red, white and blue which I shall call Britannia...

I had to take photos inside as it wouldn't stay still long enough on the line to take a non blurry shot.

I finished this one yesterday which is also an homage to being British and I shall call it Royal Guards

I'm rather attached to this one as it contains pieces of Laura Ashley fabric I used in my eldest son's nursery 25 years ago - it might have to be an hairy-loom.

After all that blue and red I felt in need of a little bit of girlie pink so put together this quilt top of pinks, white and duck egg made up of 2 inch square 9 patch blocks set on their side.  It remains un-named as yet but will be finished off with a strip of white edging and then a border of pinky something... not sure yet but I'm all sewed out for today.  I did discover that I can neither count properly nor sew in a very straight line so the quilt ended up a bit larger than intended and there was a fair amount of seam ripping going on!  

Before I go I just want to show you this gorgeous little jug that Anne bought me for my birthday.  She sneakily bought it for me from the car boot sale last weekend.  I love it, it's soooo pretty.

Work tomorrow... groan.

Jules

x

Loving family support...

I have been busy with my rotary cutter and machine (don't tell my physio), chopping up little girls dresses from the car boot sales and old shirts, adding a bit of new here and there.  My living room floor is covered in scrappy nine patches, this body hasn't eaten a proper meal in days (cheese and crackers have been the order of the day and night) and I haven't seen much of youngest son.  So, upon his return last night there was no 'hello Mum, how are you' just two comments - 'you're up late' as he hung up the car keys followed by 'more quilts!' as he entered the living room.

The sun is shining again - miracle of miracles and the wind has dropped a little so I might have to retire to the garden with some crochet and top up on vitamin D.

Pictures will follow shortly as believe it or not, the eiderdown quilt is actually Finished!  My mother did remark that there were a few loose ends (the knots I had used to tie each corner to the quilt inside).  Sigh.....

Happy crafting all and Happy May Day!

Jules

x

Easter, Birthday, Royal Wedding, May Day ... it's quite a busy time!

My boys were all home for Easter weekend which is a first since they were tiny as they are usually at their Dad's but this year it was my turn at last.  I was very excited about them all being home at the same time but as always the time whipped by too fast and went in a blur of cooking, washing up and comings and goings.

It was my birthday on Easter Monday too so I was spoilt with both chocolate and lovely gifts.  I find that the older I get the more embarrassed I am about being the centre of attention so the actual day was spent preparing for a meal with friends in the evening and a glass of champers in the sunshine in Anne's garden with Jan and my Mum.

I had some lovely, lovely gifts but the piece de resistance had to be the lovely bag my sister made for me...

blowsy and rosy on one side

cool and ethereal on the other 

and more bag love from the boys in the form of a CK satchel. 

 I'm spoilt for choice!

Jan bought me this lovely felted bowl from the lovely gallery on South Street that Anne posted about here

I have to thank HRH for the extra day off yesterday.  I think most people would agree that it was a perfect wedding and I felt a swell of British pride at the sheer majesty of it all and the understated elegance - what a gorgeous family the Middletons look.  Thanks to being glued to the telly my feet got a much needed home pedicure - don't know what the Queen would think if she knew I had my feet stuck in a bowl of water (rose scented, mind you) during the ceremony - best not tell her, methinks.  Then, still in my pjs I managed to finish the quilting on the eiderdown quilt I started an age ago.  I just tied each corner of the squares.

Now I just have to edge it all and then I can call it complete ... at last!

The wedding quilt is finished and ready for the big day next Friday, edged with Moda spotty fabric all the way round and backed with a king size sheet.   I ditch quilted round each square and then quilted inside the white squares  to add a little detail.  I wanted to keep it fairly simple as there was enough pattern going on I felt, even though it's just black and white

T for Troy, the groom and M for Marijke, the bride and two simple embroidered hearts around the centre square.

I've also used up a lot of my cotton yarn to make this cot blanket.  I scared the bejesus out of my eldest son by telling him it was for his first baby!  

It's just single trebles (US doubles) in lines and edged with two rounds of single crochet to finish it off.  I did enjoy putting the muted colours together.

The sun is shining, the washing is blowing on the line and the garden is beckoning me after a day spent inside in front of the telly yesterday.  

Wishing you all a happy and healthy weekend and more than a little drop of sunshine and mirth to boot.

Jules

x

It's been a while...

... since I blogged but I didn't really have much to say, couldn't do much and was in a bit of a post-op funk.  So, rather than droop about feeling sorry for myself I gave myself a little retreat and took stock.

While I've been gone Spring has sprung, the garden is burgeoning and I have been doing very little - comparatively speaking - as it's a tad difficult to garden with crappy knee knops and added to that I've been having physio for my tennis (er... stictcher's/traveller's) elbow and rotator cuff inflammation in my right shoulder.  I am falling to bits and feeling very frustrated that the experts keep telling me to rest and keep off the knitting, stitching, crochet, gardening ... basically all the things I love to do.

I had three weeks off work, kept my feet up and got ever so slightly addicted to Psychic Sally, DIY SOS and Extreme Makeover - also went through quite a lot of tissues!   Anyway, snivelling over, here are a couple of my current projects...

This one is a gift for my god-daughter who is getting married in .. two weeks ... yikes - better get on and get it quilted!

I've almost finished the quilting but can only do a bit at a time so it's proving very frustrating!

This one has been patched by hand from old shirts, dresses and fabric from my stash.  I had planned to put it on the single bed in my spare room but have decided to turn that room into my home office so I might have to hang it on the wall instead!

I've been following my favourite blogs and am in awe of how talented you all are.  

This past Saturday Anne, Mum and I hobbled off to the Homespun and Vintage fair which was a lovely way to fritter away a couple of hours and more than a couple of pounds!  

Wishing you all well for the forthcoming Easter weekend, may the sun shine on you but not melt your Easter eggs.

Jules

x