The Quilt Room

Couldn't resist showing you this!

Just a few more photos which I know you will love. This is Ursula having her coat taken off. Keith, the guy who came to shear my small flock,thought I was totally mad as I insisted on separating the wool from each different sheep and labelling it with the name of the sheep!  It is going to be so amazing to knit a pair of gloves or a hat with wool from one of my own sheep and to know whose wool it is.

Ursula here is one of the sheep with lambs and she is very friendly. She eats quite happily from my hand and her lambs are equally friendly. One of the lambs looks as though she is going to have four horns which will look very impressive - occasionally they have as many as six horns.

Here I am looking like the proud mother with one of my Hebridean fleeces. This one is from the very greedy Vivienne and her fleece was one of the heaviest - definitely a pair of gloves AND a hat.

I am heading up to Dorking tomorrow morning to get ready for the quilt show at Sandown. The quilts from our new book will all be on display there. Come and say hello.

Our Summer Festival was a great success and I will post the names of the winners of our Quiz and Prize Draw as soon as possible. Nicky has a well deserved day off today so I can't get the information from her to tell you now. However, if you haven't been notified, I am afraid to tell you that you have not won - sorry. It was lovely to see so many people who came and everyone was so interested in the longarm quilting machine. I have to say it does look impressive and only JUST fits in to the new studio.

Sorry More Sheep!

I absolutely promise that after these photos I won't put any more on the blog. You just have to put up with me for the moment as I have never had sheep before and they are so..... beautiful. They are just getting used to their new surroundings and keep heading up to the top of the field - yes up a very steep slope so if nothing else I shall be getting very fit. I'm told I should check them out twice a day so I head up the hill armed with two margarine tubs of sheep nuts. Apparently they are used to getting their treats from margarine tubs.... not spoiled sheep!

The very distinguished black sheep are the Hebridean - apparently favoured by Prince Charles whose interest in the breed has greatly increased their popularity. They don't seem quite so friendly as the Manx Loaghtan (I shall have to try and get that spelling right!).

I should tell you that tomorrow I am meeting the lovely people from Fowlescombe Farm (where our sheep come from) at the Devon County Show. They will be there exhibiting their award winning sheep and I might be allowed to help. I am really looking forward to it.

Last photo - this is Ursula and Tilly with their lambs. They are the only two I can name so far.

Anyway - you might think I'm not doing any work at all but I really am. I've got most of the quilts for the Jelly Roll Challenge here and am just finishing the binding on the last two. Nicky still has one more winner's quilt to quilt which has just arrived in from America and that is it. Phew!!!

The new Workshop Programme is just about finished and we're trying to get it out in time for our Summer Festival starting 3rd June although we might be being a bit optimistic there!

They grow so quickly!

Remember when they looked like this ..... 

Look what beauties they have grown into. For those who have not followed their progress - these are my guinea fowl and I have reared them to deal with the tick problem in our valley. Apparently on the east coast of the United States they are well known as being kept for tick control but it is not so common over here.

I had this vision of them wandering about the valley eating all the ticks in sight but so far they have kept very close to the chickens and and have not strayed far from the house. 

Not quite what I had in mind but it is early days and they may become more adventurous. The chickens seem fine with them although the cockeral is keeping an eye of them - I think he fears the competition. In fact the cockeral keeps me in my place and I certainly have to watch my back when he is around - he can get a bit aggressive.

Nicky and I are immersed in the Jelly Roll Challenge. Together with the other judges, we have narrowed the field and are busy testing the patterns of the possible winners. It is SO..... exciting. The book is going to be great - full of your quilts - there is so much talent out there. I believe the winners will be notified some time in April so not long to wait now.

I'm off to plant my broad beans and snap peas now. It is a beautiful day with the sun shining - spring is certainly in the air.

Winter!

Happy New Year to everyone.

I hope you are all surviving the chill of winter. In Cornwall I think we have had slightly milder weather than in the rest of the country but as you can see from this photo our swift running stream into the river has started freezing up which we have never seen before.

The night before last dropped to about -7 degrees and our tiniest guinea fowl who has always been only half the size of the others didn't make it. We had covered their house with rugs to try and protect them from the cold but in the morning she didn't look right and she died during the day. We are now down to eight. Our chickens however seem to be thriving and have become very adventurous. They can now find their way over the little bridge, across the road and up to the house.

This Christmas present from the girls in the mail order department has been much appreciated - by us and by the birds. We put it out on Christmas Day (as you can see it still has the Christmas star on it) and the birds have loved it.

This photo was meant to have lots of birds feeding but every time I tried to take the photo, the birds all flew away. I didn't have the patience to wait around as it was just too cold so you will just have to take my word for it! Actually you can see the level of the peanuts - that's how much they have eaten.

Nicky and I have spent the last week going through the latest proofs from the publishers for Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts. It is very exciting seeing it all come together. They have had quite a job fitting everything in as we have 17 new quilts for you which is ......a lot!

The deadline for the Jelly Roll Challenge is looming on the horizon so don't delay. Don't forget you can enter from the website jellyrollchallenge.com or you can just send a photo of your quilt with notes on how you made it through the post. Either way is fine.

Anyway, hope you are all keeping warm. At least it is a good excuse to stay snug inside and do a bit of quilting.

Inky the Fishing Dog

 

I've told you before how much my dogs love to go fishing with Nick but this morning Inky decided that she didn't need Nick to catch a fish!

I was walking along the river with the dogs running around having a great time when Inky came trotting towards me with something in her mouth. At first I thought it was a pheasant or rabbit but when she got nearer I realised that she had this large salmon in her mouth.

I couldn't believe it as it was obviously just out of the water and it didn't have a mark on it. I decided to carry it home for her and then thought she should have her photo taken with it just like any other fisherman would expect! She was so proud of herself.

Now how about that for a fisherman's tale!

Enjoying Autumn!

Autumn is the most beautiful of seasons and on a day like today it is difficult to be inside. This is the view from the window of my computer room so it makes it just about bearable!

All the quilts for our next book Layer Cake, Jelly Roll & Charm Quilts are finished and most of the text is with the publishers. So a time to relax just for a while - the dogs have been for a long walk and I have been having a chat with the chickens on the way back.

 

 

 

Here is a picture of my increased family. We have one white cockeral and three speckled hens plus my three brown hens. Only one of the speckled hens has started laying eggs so the other two are being a bit lazy as they are well past 'point on lay'. I shall have to start speaking very sternly to them.

I must also put a photo here of the guinea fowl. I did have 18 eggs but only 9 hatched out - that will teach me not to buy the eggs from ebay! I have found somewhere locally where you can buy day old guinea fowl chicks and that is what I will do next time. It was very exciting watching them hatch out though. They are now two weeks old and growing fast.

Incubating Eggs & More and More Binding

Here are my guinea fowl eggs which I've just put in the incubator. I read an article about guinea fowl being used as tick and pest control in the United States and as we do have ticks in our valley I thought I would give it a try. They are not a big problem but as we have sheep on the hills and deer in the woods we do get ticks, although there is no Lyme's Disease in this area. Apparently on the east coast of America they control ticks by breeding either guinea fowl or quail who apparently eat their body weight in ticks per day. I'm not sure I believe that but if that is the case then it sounds like a brilliant idea to me! They take 28 days to hatch and once reared I shall just let them loose in the woods with some strategic feeders.

I shall keep you posted as to the success. I should just say that my chickens are brilliant and keeping me well stocked with eggs.

The new Jelly Roll  book is having a name change. The publishers I think are changing the order of the title and calling it Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts so I'm not quite sure how to refer to it. Anyway, whatever it is called, it is coming along really well.

We are just finishing the last quilt project which makes 17 quilts plus a large pillow! I am determined it is going to be great value. Nicky was down at the weekend with lots of the variations newly quilted and which all needed binding. We are making variations of all the quilts as they look so different in other fabrics. I think it really helps to have different variations to inspire you. Our fingers are really sore. I have bound a couple on the sewing machine but I just prefer the look of hand binding. Here in this rather odd photo (very hurriedly taken) is our variation of Hexagon Hip-Hop showing the binding waiting to be done. It might have to wait a few more days for my fingers to recover as we bound six over the weekend.

Arrival of my new chickens

While Nicky is busy organising her new longarm quilting blog which I think looks great, I am taking delivery of my new chickens. Cheryl, Nadine and Kimberly are still laying an egg every day which is great but not quite enough.

My sister-in-law Kelly keeps chickens and she and my  niece Helena have reared nine from eggs. They have kept two but delivered the other seven to me yesterday. Here is Helena with two of them - I have five of the speckled ones and two white ones. I am having to keep them apart from the big girls until they get bigger as they are only 5 weeks at present. If the truth be known we haven't managed to work out the boys from the girls so I am just keeping my fingers crossed that there are at least 3 or 4 girls.

...and I couldn't leave out this photo of Nick with a 6lb sea trout which he caught yesterday. He had the dogs with him and they get so excited when he catches a fish. They leap into the water and he came back to the house without a voice as he had shouted at them so much. Apparently even little Dot was in the water and normally she is very timid.

I honestly do some work when I am in Cornwall and I really am working on the new Catalogue which we are hoping to get out in time for the NEC.

Also I am working on lots more quilts.......but that is another story which will be told at a later date!

Meet my chooks!

I did promise to introduce you to the new members of my family. Here are Nadine, Kimberley and Cheryl - named after members of the girl band Girls Aloud which seemed appropriate! Cheryl has the black tips to her tail and the other two have white tips. Cheryl has the habit of pecking at the others' tail feathers so they are looking a bit raggedy at the moment. I hope she grows out of this as I don't know how you start discipling a chicken. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Never having kept chickens before, I am amazed at how friendly they are and they all have been as good as gold and left me an egg every morning.

And look how the ducklings have grown. They are now nearly six weeks old and we still have all 13 of them. I think it must be nearly time for them to fly off but they seem very happy at the moment to stay around the pond - Nick says I am making them too comfortable!

They don't like to be herded into their house at the end of the day now so maybe the time is right for them to fend for themselves.

I would like them to come back and visit us now and again - maybe they will.

Dog Blog

Nicky has now returned to Surrey and is back at work and I should explain that I live most of the time in Cornwall now. My husband Nick and I have found a little piece of heaven in Cornwall and it is getting more and more difficult to drag ourselves away from it. Nicky's role in The Quilt Room has become even more important as she is there every day making sure everything runs smoothly. Here is a picture of Nick with our three dogs Inky with her two daughters Penny and Dot. You'll be seeing a lot more of them I'm sure.

It is lovely when friends come to visit and the past few days have been really interesting. An old friend David has been down with his lovely new girlfriend Gillian and what has been so interesting is that she has a seizure alert dog called Harvey. I had heard of guide dogs and dogs for the deaf but I hadn't realised that dogs could be trained to alert their owners when a seizure is approaching and to look after them during the seizure.

I really need to learn more about this as it seems such a good cause to support. Thought you would like to see a picture of Harvey - he never leaves Gillian's side and is such a perfect dog. He made my three dogs seem very naughty!