The Quilt Room

Make the most of the summer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the hectic past weeks of judging and then sewing the variations of the gorgeous winning quilts for the Dream Challenge I'm taking some time out to enjoy the weather and the garden. The weather in Cornwall has been fantastic and the veggie patch is looking pretty good - that is more than can be said for me in my stylish garden shoes!

 

I've never grown carrots before and I can't imagine why. We have had a bumper crop of them and of course courgettes always do well. Any recipes for courgettes gratefully received - I always run out of ideas on what to do with them.

... and notice those lovely blueberries.

 

 

 

 

 

And now to impress all you golfers out there.  Playing with my friend Lesley at St. Mellion this week I  drove to about six feet of the flag on a par 3 and then not to be outdone she drove and landed right beside me. However not so impressive is the fact that we both missed our birdie puts!

It's lovely not being attached to the sewing machine or the computer for a while although there is still so much to be done both with the Challenge book and also the Antique to Heirloom book which we are working on as well. However, you've just got to make the most of the sun while it's shining. Hope you are all enjoying it as well.

Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter to everyone. The weather couldn't have been better and I hope you all had a lovely holiday.

We have had one of those rare holidays when all the family managed to get together. Our sons Robert and Mike managed to get down plus Jack a family friend who is studying in Plymouth.

Nicky, Rob and Freddie came down with Wendy a good friend of Nicky's now living in Australia.   Nicky didn't know Wendy was arriving as Rob had planned it as a big surprise.We had such a lovely time.

 

Nicky managed to get just a few quiet moments to herself to sit and read her book - notice the book and bottle of beer on the ground!

It was a glorious weekend and we still have another long weekend to look forward to with the royal wedding next Friday.

Lambing Live!

 

 

 

As if on cue when Lambing Live starts on television our girls suddenly realise it definitely is time.

Vitalia is the first this year - one of our friendliest Hebrideans. She has given birth to twin girls Bella and Blossom. Mother and babies are doing well and I will try and get some better photographs.

Forget the snow and ice!

The icy weather has been with us too long and for the last couple of days we have been totally iced in with treacherous roads. So I have been going through my summer photos trying to remember what it felt like to see green everywhere instead of white. Also I have lost the lead which connects my camera to my computer so although I've taken lots of pictures of the sheep covered in frost I can't get them on to the blog yet. Nor can I get to the shops to buy another one!!

Here is the gorgeous Freddie not being quite as impressed with Nick's salmon as Nick would have liked. Freddie is far too interested in the dogs who are trying to jump up and lick the salmon!

 

 

At least I've managed to do a lot of sewing and the latest book is coming along well - the publishers will be very pleased to hear that. My panics are over and I actually believe we might get it to them on time!

Herding Sheep!

Here are Nicky, Rob and Freddie who were down in Cornwall for the week. They spent a few days in a magnificent apartment overlooking the sea at Newquay and then came and spent a few days with us. They came at just the right time as we had to move all the Hebridian sheep into another field in readiness for the arrival of two very handsome rams - one a Hebridian and the other the Manx Loaghtan.

 

 

 

 

Here you have a nice picture of the pole barn which Nick built for the sheep at the beginning of the year. My husband is extremely clever and I know the sheep really appreciate it!

Anyway with lots of energy spent we managed to split the flock and we now have the different breeds in two different fields. The fact that we have three dogs doesn't help at all as none of them have a clue how to herd sheep. We keep threatening to trade them in for proper sheep dogs - only joking - I don't think they read my blog anyway

Now you might think that herding sheep took up all our time but no. With the help of my son Mike we have been working hard on our new look website. It's looking really good.

Fingerless Gloves from My Sheep

  

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT..........A QUESTION.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THIS.............................................   TO BECOME THIS?

   

AND THE ANSWER...

It takes as long as you can order your Fingerless Glove Kit from us which contains a ball each of my Hebridean wool and my Manx Loaghtan wool together with instructions for each of the above designs. Click on to our web site www.quiltroom.co.uk and you will see our Glove Kits there for sale at £10.95.  How great is that. To think of you all out there wearing gloves made from my very own sheep. The Hebridean pictured is Vivian - yes they do all have names because they are pedigree sheep - and the Manx Loaghtan is Ursula.

It's Bluebell Time Again!

   The Malvern show is over...... Quilt Market in Minneapolis is over...... and I arrived back in Cornwall to find the my newly planted orchard looking spectacular with the bluebells providing this astounding blue carpet. The sun is out - the dogs have just had a long walk - Nick, the chickens and the sheep were very pleased to see me. Travelling is great but how nice it is to be HOME.

Quilt Market was a great success and Chris took lots of photos which I am planning to show you. However I have come home with her camera but no download cables so photos will have to wait. Just to say we found three great new Blocks of the Month which you will love, some gorgeous fabrics and exciting new books. In all it was very successful - more to follow.

New Arrivals!

  Lambing is well underway and here are our first Manx lambs with their mum Valda. They are only a few hours old but already standing and looking quite sturdy - well okay a bit shaky on their feet.

Nick has been working furiously to get the barn finished in time with a lot of help from neighbours but in the end Valda just couldn't wait! Luckily the sun has shined most of the day and no rain so they are none the worse for their outdoor arrival.

 

 

This is the state of the barn so far. It has turned out to be much more of a mammoth task than we had envisaged - not helped by the amount of rain we have had recently.  By the end of today the roof will be finished but as you can see we've still got a little way to go!

Now this is a picture I meant to post last week after the Exeter show. Exeter is such a nice show and of course it is my local show now.

These ladies are the Quarterjack Quilters from Wimborne, Dorset. It was lovely to meet them all and hear about their Jelly Roll Day. They hired their local village hall and armed with our jelly roll books and lots of jelly rolls they spent the day making jelly roll quilts. It seemed such a great thing to do I just had to share it with you.

I believe they all finished at least one quilt so how about that - and I suspect they had a lot of fun as well.

Such a beautiful morning!

When I am driving on the A.303 for four hours back to Dorking I sometimes need reminding why I now live in Cornwall. Other people also think I am quite mad to have such a long journey. The other morning the light was so beautiful Nick took these photos from our bedroom windows. These photos are to remind me and to show you why I live here. These views our worth a lot more than the inconvenience of a four hour drive.
 

Everyone needs feeding in the cold!

Well I know it's not a very good photo but long tailed tits are so beautiful and not that common I couldn't resist showing you this.

You just have to believe me that there were twice as many all feeding at once when I got the camera out but they were a bit shy and disappeared pretty quickly.

The snow and ice are beginning to disappear down in Cornwall but the south east has had another snowfall today. So please don't forget to feed those poor little birds.