Thank goodness for FNWF!

If ever I needed a good sewing session in the company of friends it was last night.   I know I've just had a week of sewing fun and frolics and I am so grateful for that .... but.... I've had a bad case of post retreat blues this week.    Chris... Sally and Kitty have all been feeling the same way.  Guess that's what happens when you have too good a time.   Turns out fun is exhausting... who'd have thought! :o)

FNWF got me sewing again......

I sewed together all 26 rows of the Pom Pom de Paris freebie quilt.    It really has been a nice quilt to sew... once you get over the headache of laying it out.    I made sure I kept my rows organised....

it might look like a jumble but all the rows were labelled with the letters of the alphabet which helped make the sewing session a very relaxing one.

Of course a lot of sewing meant a lot of.......

the dreaded pressing!       Am I the only one who has to concentrate hard on pressing not ironing?   I use steam.... so much steam that my glasses fog up and I'm ironing pressing blind.  Overall I think I made a pretty good job of it. 

Job done.....

I have to say It's taking me a while to get to like this quilt.  I love the pattern.  As for the fabric....with hindsight I think it would have been better suited to a different pattern.   Maybe I just can't love Spam pink and Custard yellow!   Too late now!  

I didn't stop there.......

 I cut the strips for all three borders.    I did intend to carry on and attach them but hunger got the better of me.   So I chose to end my evening with a nice meal.... some vino and an e.mail catch up session.  I'm still not up to date with that but I'm trying hard.

So..... now you know what I got up to on my Friday Night With Friends.    Hope all you girls who joined in are happy with the progress you made.   I'm ecstatic!

If you didn't join in the sew in why not pop over to visit Cheryll   (who coordinates FNWF) and follow the links to find out what everyone got up to last night.   You might just be tempted to join in next month.....;o)

Went to Kirkcudbright this morning to take Licky Lou to the vet and thought you might like to see a couple of snaps I took .....

the whole fleet of Scallop Dredgers were moored in town today... 

how about that.... our very own castle!

Small boat moorings further down the river.  Ok that's enough.   I don't want you thinking I'm being paid by the tourist board.

OK...   I'd better get going.   I'm hungry again!!  

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend.....   I'm decorating the bathroom tomorrow... enough said!

See ya soon

Hugs

Josie

Some folks.....

are born to be slow.     I know this because I'm one of them.   No matter how hard I try to beat genetics and work as speedily and efficiently as the others I always end up like this......

reverse stitching!     I prefer to call it constructive deconstruction..... sounds a lot more positive don't you think.

Next day I got up with the larks and got down to business early.....

figured it was best to try to work out how to mitre my borders before my brain got bogged down with more important tasks.... like deciding what to have for breakfast.  

Success!

  

My mitre worked first time and I chose fruit & toast for breakfast.    Just go's to prove I'm a morning person.     Unlike these two.....

The things you see when you haven't got your gun.    Looks like I'm on retreat with a couple of weird cult members..... Mutant Ninja Turtle Quilters! 

Back to my quilt.....

with one more border and three mitred corners to go I got distracted by this.....

Yes!    I have pieced (almost all) of the blocks for another quilt.    Cutting hundreds (seems like) more pieces for this one took quite a while.   So did figuring out whether I could get a quilt designed for fat quarters out of this layer cake.....

 I did it!  Maybe a new career as a mathematician isn't out of the question after all.   Can't promise it'll look as good as the original pattern but I think it's going to look good to me... and that's what counts eh!

Sally finished piecing her second quilt......

she's resting on her laurels in the conservatory.... so smug you could just punch her.   She's done a great job though... can't deny it.   

There were quilts everywhere at one point......

the two on the left both belong to Chris.   She's been a woman on a mission all week.   You wouldn't believe she's started a third!    Somehow I didn't get close up photos..... silly mistake that had nothing to do with jealousy at all (!).  Actually I did get this snap of her trimming the blocks for Grandmas Garden.....

Clever eh!

Did we have a fun time or not!     Sally decided to do some floor exercises to ease a painful shoulder and neck and I thought I'd keep her company.   Chris stopped laughing long enough to snap us both rolling on the rug helpless with laughter.

All because I thought it would be a good idea to try to spring upright from the floor in one fluid movement.  We tried....... it didn't happen!   It doesn't look that difficult when street dancers do it  but then.... they don't have the gravity problems associated with (in my case) a fuller figured physique do they.

Remember I told you about the little cove where 2000 Acres of Sky was filmed.... well I just had to go and take some photos.....

Isn't it gorgeous....

Here's the little hamlet right on the edge of the beach where the main action took place.....

discovered the farmer whose cottage we were renting was actually an extra on the show too.   I really have to buy the DVD box set now don't I. 

Now.... I'm going to leave you with a cautionary tale.

Remember the bout of Norovirus (gastroenteritis) I had a couple of weeks ago?   Well.... it left me with a delicate little problem in the derriere department.    A problem which the girls (my so called friends) christened Henry and talked about constantly..... just to make certain I didn't forget my affliction.    Chris did stop laughing long enough to pick up a tube of salve for me though.   Now for the warning part.......

do not leave hemorrhoid cream next to your toothpaste.............

Hope you are having a great time and sewing up a storm.....

See you soon

Hugs

Josie

Today's feature......

Is me.... making a bum job of marking the placement of my all new fresh off the sewing machine quilt blocks.

Remember a while back I told you I'd lost 12 kilos.... well I reckon this might be the right time to tell you that I've found quite a few of them... oh dear!   I'm doing other stuff too.   I'm sewing these blocks together using the last five strips of the Pom Pom de Paris quilt as leaders and enders.   How about that for not wasting a stitch.

Chris has been busy working on her Charmalade quilt......  

it's coming along nicely along with the Granny Squares Quilt she's already started

Kitty has finished one quilt top....

  
 and started another....

this is her dealing out mini charm squares to make up blocks of 25.   At one point I thought she'd fallen asleep on the job.

Sally has finished her first quilt top.....

and is working on the applique for another......

I'm swithering over this one.   I love the quilt.... just can't decide on fabrics.

We did take a little break yesterday to visit a cafe at the most southerly point in Scotland.   Right at the end of the Mull of Galloway.    Personally I think the girls were looking for a cliff to throw themselves off.....

they have the look of Lemmings about them don't you think.   There was a suitable cliff.....

let me tell you that pic doesn't come close to showing how far it was to the bottom.  I had trouble getting close enough to take the shot... even though there was a metal railing at the top.  Did I mention I suffer from vertigo!

Fortunately they decided that one or two unpointy points wasn't worth leaving this world for.....

and happiness reigns again.  Course it helped that they'd just eaten!

More neighbours came to visit.....

these two were 'courting'....

we won't discuss what happened next... it's X rated!   Honestly some couples have no shame.

Heck.... I have to go.   Dinner is ready and I'll be in deep trouble if I don't vacate this table pronto.....

Hope you are having half as good a week as I am.....
Hugs
Josie

The fun has begun......

How about this for a room with a view.

Loads of natural light and views to die for. Can you imagine a nicer place to spend a week sewing  Took this pic right after we'd finished setting up our sewing stations (sounds really posh doesn't it) and before the mayhem began.

Meet the neighbours.......

they've got us surrounded.    This is cow country.... dairy cow country!   There is something so calming about cows don't you think.

Just as we were about to get down to the serious business of stitching Kitty surprised us with a gift....

she made us all a lovely little thread basket and heart pin cushion.   There's wine and chocolates and a mug for tea and some lovely hand cream to soothe our work worn hands when we finish sewing for the day. I reckon she's a star!

Here's what's going on at Chris's table......

She's been busy cutting up a jelly roll of a new range of fabric from Aneela Hoey called Posy.

Sally sliced up a jelly roll of Origins by Basic Grey (it's an old one).....

she's busy here trying to persuade her blocks to expand by 1/8".    Funny... we didn't have her pegged as the 'anal' type!

Kitty has already made and pieced half square triangles from no less than 2 layer cakes of  Fig Tree Fabrics. Buttercup and Buttercup & Roses.   She's ahead of the game because she didn't have to cut  540 pieces before she started... like I did!  I'm only saying!

Strewth.... it's only day one and she's already got a quilt laid out on the floor.

Thought you might like to see a pic of quilters in action.   All those heaps and bit of fabric in the foreground are the 540 pieces I cut and sorted into blocks.   Just so you know I wasn't slacking.   Finally found a pattern worthy of my prized Verna jelly roll.

Started stitching too....

more on that another day.

Trying hard not to spend too much time looking out of the windows.....

Did any of you watch the BBC TV series "2000 Acres of Sky" a few years back.   I loved that show.  Cried when it ended... how sad is that!    Anyhow..... the village it was set in is actually nestled in that little cove below.    Pure magic for me!  Icing on the retreat cake.

More neighbours

That feint shadow on the horizon there is actually the coastline of Ireland!!   Cool eh!!

Well.... I'd better get going.    I can here the busy buzz of sewing machines in the conservatory.  I bet they are sewing their socks off trying to leave me further behind..... they seem to think it's funny to do that.   Don't you just love friends!

Hope you are all having as much fun as we are this week.   I'll be back to bore you with more news, views and interviews from our country retreat very soon.    Just when you thought you'd got rid of me....... no such luck!

Behave yourselves
Hugs
Josie

Happy Spring!

I think Spring might just have sprung here.......

 

the snow has finally melted and so has the ice on the loch.  Looks like the perfect spot to enjoy a take out latte and double choc muffin doesn't it.    Wrong!    Unwrap a muffin here and you become an instant bird magnet.    Dignity goes out of the window when you find yourself sprinting back to the car with a honking mob of chocoholic swans hot on your heels.    They may look serene and beautiful on the water but  those birds are huge and when they get a whiff of baked goods they are evil personified.  Trust me. 

I made it back to the car by the skin of my teeth.  Thank heavens for the new car and automatic door unlocking.     

Spring always makes me think of lambs and baby bunnies.     The first bunny of the year arrived early here......

isn't it just too cute!     It's stitched on the most gorgeous sewing pouch  made especially for me by Leanne and I love it to bits.  Makes me smile every time I pick it up.    I wasted no time putting it to good use.

Leanne made these for me too....

A lovely note book cover and mini cushion in the same beautiful Tilda fabrics.   I've a matched set  and I'm feeling so 'posh' not to mention lucky to have such gorgeous gifts.   I am debating over the mini cushion though.  I can't decide whether to keep it next to me as a pin cushion or attach some ribbon and hang it as a decoration.    It's so pretty it seems a shame to stick pins in it!  

There's more.....

buttons (I love buttons)... scrumptious variegated threads....  beautiful mini charm packs and some fruity tea bags.  

Leanne and I had our own little swap going on.   I made gifts for her too.  You wouldn't believe but on the way back from posting them I realised I'd forgotten to take photographs.   How about that for dumb!   Leanne's been a little star and sent me some pics after she unwrapped her parcel.  Here's the secret sewing that's been keeping me busy....

A more 'mature' Tilda doll to keep her trendy ones in check.......

A Natalie Bird hanging with a Tilda twist.....

and a little needle book.

Thanks for a brilliant swap Leanne.   I've loved getting to know you.   Friends eh! :o)

It's been a funny old fortnight here.    I've been battling bugs yet again.   Since I talked to you last I caught a horrible head cold then just when I thought it was beginning to get better I came down with Norovirus.  Yep... the good old Winter Vomiting Bug.   It's rampant around here right now.  Hard to find anyone who hasn't got (or had) it.    Honestly... I'm beginning to think that I've a target painted on my back to make it easier for bugs to hit me.    I've never had so many in my entire life as I've had this past winter.

Things started looking up last weekend though.   Kitty came to visit and I finally got some sewing done.....

everywhere was covered with 'bits' waiting to find their place in this....

The hardest part of this quilt really is laying out the pieces.  Can't tell you how much cussing went into this layout.... I'd be embarrassed.

The top rows aren't too short...... they've been sewn.   It's a really easy quilt to make up once you get over the headache of deciding what goes where.

Almost finished a bunny....

loved stitching it now I just have to decide what it's going to be.

OK.... I'd better head up to bed.   Got a busy week ahead.   Want to get the conservatory decorated and the greenhouse mucked out before I go on retreat.    Can't believe it's come around so quickly.... only 10 more sleeps to go.    Heck.... if I don't get get some ironing done I'll be going naked and that's a no go because even my birthday suit needs a good press!

Hope you are all having a good time
See ya soon
Hugs
Josie