Finally- a quilt of my own

In between all my friends having babies I have never had time to make a quilt for Hubby and I.
I decided to change this about 6 months ago, and bought the fabrics but never really got round to making the quilt. About a month ago, inspiration took over and I started cutting and took over our living room when Hubby was away on business. Last night, I finally finished piecing the top.

(Sorry for the bad quality photo-taken with Iphone this morning in my excitement)

We have decided that this is not going to be a quilt for our bed, but will be a HUGE wall hanging as we have a large white wall we have never found the right size picture for.

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew as it is so large (Floor to ceiling square) and I only have a tiny sewing machine, but I have decided on a nice simple straight line quilting pattern which should compliment the piecing nicely. I'll save that for a rainy day though =)

My favourite... So far

My grandad is a wonderful person and treats me like a princess.
We have always been very close and when I starting quilting I really wanted to make a quilt for him. He is in his late eighties and since my nan died six years ago, has adapted to do everything for himself.
I saw moda's range 'twiggy' and thought this was very apt for him as his surname is Wood. So two jelly rolls and some yardage made this...

I love this quilt and he likes it so much it is in his guest bedroom where everyone can see it.
I can't always be with my grandad as much as I would like but it is nice to think that he can have a visual reminder that I do think about him a lot when he is not with me.

I'm still here

Sorry for such a long absence.
I have been unwell for many months with a suspected stress related illness and it has really knocked the wind out of my sails. I am now working with doctors to find a way to help me and I am so grateful to have a caring GP who seems to understand that being unwell is severely affecting my life.
Crafts have still been going on in our house and I will report back with pictures later.
Back really soon (I promise!)

A re-found love

I am nearing my winter exam session and so my sewing machine was packed away in it's cupboard to stop any temptation. I would have gone crazy if I wasn't able to do any crafts and so I started this cross-stitch for our spare room.

As we lived in norway for two and a half years I loved this cross stitch but I have had it squirrelled away for about a year. I had fallen out of love a little with cross-stitch in recent years, but I have loved doing this so much and just a few stitches a night is enough to stave off my cravings for crafts.

It is only two weeks until the exam so hopefully I will get time afterwards to finish it.

A great day was had by all :)

Yesterday was the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra palace in London which I went to with my mum. We have been before and this is by far one of my favourite exhibitions. It has such a beautiful setting and the exhibitors are so friendly and helpful.

Needless to say we both came home with bags of new projects (and I did break my rule about buying fabric) but it was so lovely to get caught up in the day.
I'm not a knitter but I was so tempted by all of the beautiful yarns and the fabrics and projects could have kept me going for many many years.
And then afterwards we sat down as a family to lasagne (my favourite) and then mahjong which I learnt to play when we were in China. Now the whole family is hooked and I hope that it can become something we can do more often. We don't often sit around the table as a family and it was so enjoyable. Hopefully soon my brother will return from his travelling in Australia and we can be a proper (complete) family as we definitely all missed him being there.
Such a lovely day and I was quite sad to go to bed last night knowing it was over.

Summer is fighting off the autumn

This week we had a wonderful addition to our house-something we have being looking forward to getting since we bought our house last year:

And of course now that we have our working wood burner the temperature has shot up. We have a predicted temperature of 27 degrees this weekend. Now the decision is what to do before the autumn arrives soon. I think maybe a trip to London or a wander around Cambridge would be nice. Decisions, decisions...

China!!!

We have just got home from the most amazing trip ever!!
Hubby and I ventured to China for a 2 week sightseeing tour which was absolutely fantastic (although shattering)
We had a few days in Beijing, Shanghai and then onto Wuhan for a 3 day cruise down the Yangtze River. Then onto Xi'an to see the Terracota Warriors and then back to Beijing to see the Great Wall.
It was the most fantastic experience ever and I loved every minute of it.
Not much sewing was done (despite my cute little bag I made) but I think that was a sign of a good trip.
So much to talk about and show, but I will just give you a hint of a few of the photos.

This trip was so overwhelming in the sights, sounds and smells. Everything was so foreign, but not in an unpleasant way. I would recommend everyone to visit China as it is such a beautiful country with lovely people and we could not have had a warmer reception everywhere we visited.
And of course, we couldn't miss seeing the pandas while we were away. We had a couple of hours at Chongqing zoo which is the homeland for pandas. Zoo is really the wrong word as it is more like a garden with a few animals tucked around, and despite not normally enjoying zoos very much, I really felt sad to leave Chongqing with its peaceful surroundings.
Now we have to pick where to visit next year... any suggestions?