Lovely lovely summer days . . .

Young starlings trying to keep cool

This is better!

Hurry up it's my turn!

It may be late - but spring has well and truly arrived . .

Lots of colour

Ring neck doves waiting for food

Black bird feeding its young - can just see baby in bushes

Here it is - young blackbird

And again

Young starling

Young sparrow

Pigeons waiting to pounce on food

And here's their relatives . . waiting . . .!!

Made matching hat this evening . .

Latest 'ugly jumper' - number 23!

23rd jumper knitted since Stephen died!

Same pattern for all the jumpers - just use different coloured wools.

Got a bit adventurous with this one - added a cable down the front. Have wool for 24th waiting in the knitting basket. 

Perpetual knitting gives me something to do in the evening when watching telly. Makes it less lonesome somehow. 

I quilt in the early morning - paint in the afternoon - bit of light dusting and washing up between times - followed by mindless knitting in the evening.  That's my day, folks. Every day. Sad ain't it!

The spine operation on 12th February - up to present time - is not proving a success - leaving me in pain and less mobility.

Calamity! Lost without my Juki . . .

needle bar thread bracket

I snapped the needle bar thread bracket on my Juki - see above. Now have to wait until I can obtain a replacement. It's only a tiny gadget - but without it threads continually shred.  A bloomin' nuisance to say the least.

Thought: "Oh, no matter, I'll use my trusty old Bernina while I'm waiting for the part!"

This mechanical Bernina 1015 is a great machine - no doubt about it  - and has served me well over the years but since taking up free-motion-quilting with a vengeance I find the Bernina fine for ordinary piecing and appliqué - but no good for the speed and accuracy I require for my work.

I set the Bernina up for fmq and started quilting.  My goodness, how s -l -o -w  and what a palaver!
Not only the smaller 'harp' which means having to push and shove the quilt around, plus without the automatic thread cutter it made quilting ten times harder than using the Juki and I did not enjoy it one little bit.

Bernina 1015

I've decided to set the this UFO quilt aside until the spare part arrives - soon I hope - for my beloved juki. (Angie, please note.)

Anchored and ready to go . . .

Winter Singing Garden Quilt

Sat  at my kitchen table at 7 am and stitched for an hour. I usually spend the first hour of the day at my sewing machine - in my dressing gown - with a cup of tea beside me. Gets the creative juices going and a good start to the day. I paint my pictures in the afternoon and knit in the evening while watching TV. Keeps me busy and prevents me feeling lonely.

Back to the quilt:  have anchored the blocks and appliqué - now ready to begin quilting. No idea - as yet - of how I'm going to tackle the design - so will make a start in the centre of a familiar block  - 'Square Dance' - and just hope inspiration will descend upon me as I quilt.

Failing inspiration I shall have to fall back on good old 'vermicelli.'

Stolen Quilts . . . please help!

Rosy's sampler quilt

Yvonne's quilt

These are just two of the 40 quilts stolen from Empress Mills last weekend. They were to be part of Empress Mills Exhibition.

The sampler quilt was made by Rosy at my heirloom sampler workshops at Bilsborrow, and Yvonne made this lovely scrap quilt for her daughter at my home quilting classes, so I know the vast amount of time and work they put into creating these lovely bed quilts.

If anyone sees either of these quilts or obtains any information regarding their whereabouts please contact Empress Mills in Colne, Lancashire Tel: 01282 863181 - or leave a message here.

Blossom abounds . . but no bees . .

Lots of blossom this year - 2013 - but no bees

Bees nesting in birdbox last year -2012

Am surrounded by blossom in the garden - but not a bee in sight, whereas last year they settled in one of the bird boxes. Very worrying.
Does this mean I have to go round dusting the blossom with a soft paintbrush to ensure an apple crop?

Autumn Singing Garden quilt finished - now for the Winter version . .

Autumn version of Singing Garden quilt

Thought it would never be done . . 

I was fed up of seeing this quilt under my Juki - thought it would never be finished - what with my spine operation coming in between start and finish and unable to quilt for a couple of months. However, here it is in all its final glory and I quite like it tho it was certainly not my favourite of the 3 Singing Garden Quilts of Popular Patchwork fame.

My favourite is next on the starting block - already under the Juki - ready to start . . . . not sure how to begin or the style of quilting or which thread to use. Hoping inspiration will raise it's head whilst I'm anchoring the quilt and trying different threads for the fmq.

 Winter version of Singing Garden Quilt

My favourite of the 3 versions

original spring/summer version featured as BOM in Popular Patchwork magazine.

Polly Parrot says to Polly Swann . ."aren't we just two pretty pollys with our golden plumage!

My Fast Diet. Will this really work?

Ate 'fairly' normal yesterday - Tuesday - and did NOT eat Magnum choc bar as planned. Found I was cautious (sort of) in what I ate even though it was an off-diet day.

From what I can (honestly) remember I ate the following:

Tea - 2 bananas - toast - prawns - salad - tomato soup - small tuna/pasta salad - 5 Rich Tea biscuits - numerous cups of tea - one large coffee - 3 boiled sweets. Ah - just remembered - 2 slices of homemade cherry and walnut cake I baked last week. Still edible.

Perhaps with hindsight it wasn't  'cautious' eating. More like eating non-stop throughout the day, but ate NOTHING after 6 pm!

Had cup of tea and a banana this morning (Wednesday) followed by a large cup of coffee with single cream and one slice of buttered toast.

If I lose weight on this diet it will be a miracle.

The Fast Diet - starting point . . . .

13stone in old money/82.55kg metric

Breakfast

Lunch

what do I do with these?

Was ravenous by 6 o clock so had a boiled egg. You all know what a boiled egg looks like - hence no pic.  Had cup of tea at 8 this morning followed by coffee at 11am - another cup of tea at lunchtime followed by one in the afternoon. Had last cup of tea at 8pm.  Drank tap water between hot drinks.

Have based this eating regime on Dr Michael Mosley's book - 2 fasting days in each week. Book makes interesting reading - makes sense.

Hoorah! Tomorrow I can eat anything . . . . definitely a Magnum on the menu . . .
No point weighing myself in the morning - tho I probably will - for curiosity.

Starting The Fast Diet . . . .

Starting The Fast Diet tomorrow.

Weight loss = less pressure on spine since operation.
Sitting - watching telly - knitting 22 jumpers (just started a grey 23rd) whilst convalescing - not helped.

Plan to stand on above scales tomorrow morning . .  photograph the scales whilst I stand on them so you can see the numerals  - hoping I will not fall off or include nude bits in the process.

Will tell you what I eat - and when.

As a Girl Guide and Cub Mistress (Baloo) in a previous life will do my best to follow the Code and not tell porkies!

Tune in tomorrow evening for first episode.

Mindless knitting . .

These are my 21st and 22nd jumpers knitted since Stephen died. Same pattern - different sizes - different wools. Have to knit these jumpers with my eyes shut - pattern having disintegrated after 20th creation. I call it mindless knitting!  The wool stall is running out of different coloured 'chunky...'

Family think of them as my 'ugly jumpers' so most of them have been given to anyone who showed the least bit of interest and remaining jumpers sent to charity.

Having said that I was knitting the gold one for Polly -  (matches her hair)  and then -  blow me - she won a gold medal at the World Cup in Sydney so it was most appropriate. Whether she ever wears it is another matter. It is a bit 'bright' but so then is her hair. She'll be glad of a big warm (woollen) jumper when winter arrives. On second thoughts - has it ever left?
It will be useful to slip on after training. Or slouching around watching TV when the CH is off.

I finished the blue jumper the other day.  It's for my sister-in-law, Pamela - to wear when she's gardening. Had some extra blue wool so knitted a bobble hat using leftover gold wool to make the bobble more interesting.  I doubt she will ever wear it  . . but I enjoyed knitting the cap one evening when watching telly.

It's an interesting life folks, 'ain't it?

Am back to (limited) quilting which should perk up my life a bit more.  Hmm . . . .

TTNF.

Quilting the Singing Garden borders on my Juki - 9 weeks after surgery . . .

 Singing bird in corner of Autumn Singing Garden quilt . . . .  random quilting.

FMQ nests of squawking chicks around borders of the quilt . .  well, it's bird song ain't it? Know lots of people who squawk and call it singing - so why not my little chickadees!

It was quite scary starting to quilt again after so long. Luckily my Juki stitched like a dream. I oiled ithe machine thoroughly before going into hospital so it was ready to go . . . . and so was I . . .

MBE's for rowers and trainer

Olympic Gold medallists Helen Glover and Heather Stanning together with their trainer Robin Williams awarded MBE's yesterday at Windsor Castle.

2013 World Cup 1 Womens Coxless pair race . . .

Click on link to watch the above race on World Rowing website. VERY exciting.
Scroll down and click on W2- . . . (womens coxless pair)

http://livemanager.eurovision.edgesuite.net/fisa/site/index.html

Helen, Polly and Robin after the race . . .

Some good news that made me feel better.
Watched Helen Glover (2012 Olympic Gold medallist) and my grand-daughter Polly Swann, win the coxless pair race at the World Cup in Australia a few days ago.  Polly has learned a lot from Helen who has been an inspiration to her.  They were coached by the fabulous Robin Williams. Helen's previous partner was Heather Stanning who returned to duty in Afghanistan - taking a year off from rowing.
It was a tremendously exciting race and thrilling to see Helen and Polly win.
A first gold medal for Polly at World Cup level.
The W2- race can be seen on the 'World Rowing Live' website. A real treat. Do have a look.

Rowing at this level has been Polly's dream and here is a picture of Polly and Jen - medical students at Edinburgh University - winning Gold medals for Scotland at the European Championships in 2009  coached by the great George Warnock.

Slow recovery from spine operation...

Recovery has been slow from operation last month. Never known such pain. Had 2 babies without pain relief and passing kidney stones was not a joy, but the pain for first 2 weeks after the operation was relentless. Narcotic  drugs given to relieve pain caused withdrawal symptoms of nightmares, sweating and feelings of fear when I finally stopped taking the medication.
Must be ghastly for people who take drugs long-term. Cold turkey is NOT pleasant.

Not allowed to lift anything heavier than a carton of milk for time being - no bending - no machine sewing - no driving - no sitting for longer than 15 minutes at a time. Have started knitting my 22nd jumper since Stephen died.

I can tell you that, with hindsight, I would have thought twice about having this operation. They tell me it's early days and I will feel different in 5 months time. Hope so. Will be glad when the sensation of a stick of wood in my back ceases.

Some of the finished quilted blocks - only the borders left to do . .

Square Dance

Autumn Blooms

Honey Bee

Dahlia

Birdsong

Just the borders to quilt. . .

Go into hospital tomorrow afternoon . . . not sure I can finish quilting the borders before I'm admitted.
Wish me luck!

Machine quilting last block of Autumn quilt . . .

Rushing it a bit but desperate to finish this autumn version of the Singing Garden Quilt  before I go into hospital next week for operation on my spine. Have to do a bit of tidying up on the quilt - filling bald patches etc.,  which will have to wait a few months I'm afraid. You'll find no definite pattern to my quilting here. With this particular quilt it's a case of filling the spaces ASAP.
I just hope the finished overall effect will be OK.

Following the op I've been told not to lift anything for a fortnight - and only  lift the weight of a kettle for a further 4 weeks.
Not thrilled about that . . .

Meanwhile having a good look at my Jinny Beyer book "Quiltmaking by Hand" which I bought years ago. A great book with lots of ideas and information.   Jinny stitches all her fabulous quilts by hand so I'm having to follow suit for the next few months. Good for the soul. . . .

Wish me luck!!