and the winner is.............

A grey wet day and I was almost ready to avoid going..hah..no chance.

So this is the after..can you remember what we looked like before?

The boys take a well earned rest.

the boys were really very well behaved given how bustling and busy it all was..They did well..1st and 2nd..best male in breed and reserve breed champion.

I was so darn nervous but they took it all in their stride and rather fancied the girls next door, who as it happens were looking for a nice boy friend...The boys may have their real reward soon..

There was the usual lovely things in the fair, and I bought a small drop spindle and some carded fleece, not much but enough to have a play.

The judge was very helpful, as were many members of the Ryeland flock society and I have to admit now that it is all over..Phewwwwwwwwwwww glad thats over..LOL..All that primping was hard work but they looked good and I'm glad to say I didn't let them down.

I even got to bring the rosettes home.

one of the lovely hangings by the Bradford spinners society.

primp!

primp primp primp wash primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp primp worried face primp primp primp primp primp primp wash primp primp primp primp primp primp.........

meh lets see how the day goes, there should be prizes for just showing up!!!!

bathing beauties

As if all the flooding and rain didnt make things wet enough........the boys home came for a hose down wash shower. Anyone who ever bathed a dog will know that a soaking wet coat that gets shaken will ensure the bather and the bathed end up equally as wet as each other.! The boys have heavy fleeces when dry, when wet they are a ton.

No pics of a drenched me thank god!

The boys did come up quite clean but still need a hell of a lot of washing carding and clipping if they are to be presentable by Sunday. I only washed 2 out of 3 and was absolutely knackered by the end of it all. Plus the weather forecast for Sunday is not good :(

They were so good at going into and out of the trailer.

But I think they were as glad to get into the warm as I was.

River bed or road?

No sewing today.

actually most of the road down to the sheep got away with only losing the top inch or so of aggregate, it has been much worse in the past.

most of the local sheep looked like they had been washed clean by the rains, the boys of course were contrary.

Apparently the price of pedigree ryelands has risen with shearling rams recently fetching an avg £550... not sure what the boys would think of that but its nice to know.

doodling

My machine was in pain! and it was all making me rather fraught so having taken a day off from the machine I returned today and we had a bit of a talk. The outcome being that sometimes we sewists just ask rather too much of our little machines. Once I had conceded to the machine that it had a valid point it let me sew!

Rather wet.

Its a bit damp here

helping paws

They swore they were helping! and as it wasn't a very nice day, curling up with some hand quilting is just the ticket for  two industrious cats....no?

"I see how this works...I will help you pull the thread"

This is going to take some thinking about.

well that wore me out, time for a cat nap I think.

In the end I think it was all just too exhausting! All those adverts I see on ebay for stuff from pet free homes.. How do they ever get any work done with out helpers?????

100 not out

So my 100th blogpost, I had all these random thoughts, a celebration of all the quilts I have sewn perhaps? a new look to the blog maybe? A little self congratulation on having reached a milestone possibly?

 And what do I end up with???
A RANT.

 That's what, a big fat, you are only as good as your last quilt style rant!

Woe is me in full sail!.

First off I thought yeah a little sewing to get me going..rightttttt so what happens?

Spot the difference!

If there is one thing I hate it is having to change needles..the second thing is WHY I have to change needles so one needle bent, maybe time for a little defluff and general tinker?

The tension was shot the thread kept breaking in short a sewing nightmare...

After yet another broken needle and a mess of threads on the back side I just gave up. In my desire to make this one tough as old boots its kicking me with its boots on :( I think it is most likely a case of the fabric is too heavy weight, the thread too nasty, remember I ran out of white? and may be a little bit of sewists fatigue :(

SO there you have it Blog post number 100 and true to form I am whining and feeling sorry for myself. You know what they say, want to give God a laugh? tell him your plans.

Oh well maybe 101 start of the next century of posts .

irish chain mini

Okay so 2 posts in one day is probably cheating but what the heck! the irish chain scrap quilt top is a baby! it measures 27" and I think it is so cute! I may even manage to hang this one on a wall if the quilting part goes okay

Would you believe I ran out of thread? I was sure I bought a new reel of white!!!!!

Meanwhile for some unknown reason the lap top is limping along on battery ..:( Im not sure if it is the cable or the mains socket so fingers crossed its fixable !

Hand quilting progress

Days may be spent at the sewing machine in my sewing bed room, but nights are the time for hand quilting! I must weigh the Starbucks quilt, because I swear it weighs a ton! it does however keep me nice and warm while I am sewing since I still haven't quite mastered quilting on a frame and this one would be too large even if I had. I am however having another go at using a thimble, with debatable success.

Its getting there!

little bits

I tend to only ever have a very small amount of scraps left over from any quilt. maybe I am frugal or remarkably accurate at ordering the right quantities? Heck NO its because I grow quilts more than plan them, and besides as Kate can attest some times I run out of crucial colours! Still I do have a few scraps left from each not a lot but a few, I have challenged myself to do something with all these scraps. so for those who remember the zigzag quilt here are the remnants of the Kaffe fasset fabrics I used in that. Each little 9 patch measured 3 1/2 inches. Its cute or should be when its finished.

Sorry the picture isnt very good I was too lazy too busy to go get the camera so used my phone.

lines

lines and lines

I will machine quilt this little qt, see if i can make it tough as old boots..

peek into my sewing room

I am enjoying having a whole room just for sewing...well very almost a few odds and ends are stored in here and Rocky is making himself useful as a clothes horse.

Last night i got the Harlequin finished, so it is now draped over the staircase. I need to live with it a while before I know where it wants to live.

I also sewed a few a few scraps left over from the Starbucks quilt, together.

It left me wondering what to do next, and after a short while prowling about like a caged polar bear I decided that Id sort through my other scraps and bags of fabric. I came across a couple of heavy linen upholstery weigh fabrics and so started cutting!

I had help sabotage attempts from Sweep and Lulu

eye eye eye

Having completed ~all bar one side of the binding~ the Harlequin quilt and not sure if I need to get black batting for the liquorice alsort quilt top, I decided to play with some scraps...et voila

The fabrics are more yellow than red so not sure whats going on with the camera ... but I enjoyed playing and next time I will draft out a papper pattern and do it properly..Since I know what Im aiming for I may as well do it properly.

mean while just arrived in the post...Kona Ash and black, cute spotty envelope it came in too

batting

The batting for the harlequin arrived so guess what I have been doing much of the day!

I quite like how the liquorice alsorts top has turned out.

Painted quilting?

So when I wasn't sewing or sheep washing (or generally lazing about) I was doing a spot of painting. My old friend Jane had donated a pine corner cupboard to my daughter when she got her first house, after a brace of house moves the cupboard came to me for storage and well, you know how these things go, it worked its way into my dining room during a furniture rearranging session.

Since Jane and her DH was heading over for a catch up over wine I decided I'd camouflage paint the cupboard.

By happy accident I happened to have the same green in a tester pot as the green in the childhood quilt made up of Aneela Hoeys Little Apples fabric, that was already sat on a chair right next to the cupboard.

I did confess to Jane that it was her cupboard when after about an hour or so she admired it. Big mouth that I am I even confessed as to WHY I'd painted it! I'd make a hopeless spy :(

A small version of the quilt is about to make its way via the post to William.

Meanwhile back in the bedroom sewing department I have been at the other end of the spectrum to the brights of the Harlequin QT.

There is a liquorice allsorts feel to this one. Unfortunately I have run out of black, a gross under estimation on my part about how much black would be needed to balance to shocking pink. OOOppps.

Glimpse of my sewing cave!


Huge thank you to Kate who had some black in her stash and very kindly let me steal borrow/beg some of it. Its great having quilty friends locally! Thank you Kate.