And then there were two

 I have finished the second little quilt - the fabrics were not what I might have chosen had I been buying them and not had them given to me and yet when mixed in a random fashion like this they don't look too bad at all do they?  I machine stitched the patches together but did the quilting by hand and I tell myself that the childlike stitching enhances the naive effect of the random patches - that's my excuse and I am sticking to it! 

I used an old sheet to back them and for the wadding an old cheap duvet which we had bought for peanuts in France and then discovered that, as always, you get what you pay for and it really wasn't much good but folded and fitted into a cover I made from an old flanelette sheet it provided a comfy bed for Thomas in the days when he liked to sleep on the window sill in the sun.  I removed the casing and inside was a thin layer of fleece; it wasn't of even thickness but for these covers it won't matter. So none of it cost me anything - I like that!  What shall I make next?

Now all we need is a nice warm day to sit out in the conservatory with a cup of tea - just now it is only 8 degrees out there so you'd have to wear a coat and be quick about drinking a hot drink!

Now for something completely different - earlier today I read an article here about food waste which really insenced me - I wonder what you think.  The supermarkets throw away tons of food every day which is past its sell by/use by date - it seems that Tesco, the only supermarket to publish their figures for waste (for which Brownie points to them) threw away 28,500 tons of food in the first 6 moths of last year!  That's approximately 57,000 tons of food in a year by one supermarket and to think there are people starving in the world!  Why do they stock so much more than they can sell I wonder it doesn't sound like very good business practice to me.  I can't imagine that we wouldn't be able to find a substitute if we happened to discover they were out of stock of an item occasionally so where's the problem?

The whole business of sell by/use by dates on things annoys me - we have become passively dependent on the manufacturers and stores to tell us what we once would have known for ourselves.  Did our mothers or grandmothers have such dates on the food they bought?  Of course not - they knew by looking at it, smelling it and feeling it whether or not it was safe to eat but we seem to have lost the ability to trust ourselves when it comes to this.  Why are we told to keep jam refrigerated surely the whole purpose of jam is that it is a way of preserving fruit.  If you keep it in the cupboard it might after a while get a little mould on the top but does that mean it must be thrown away?  No of course not just remove the mould and it's fine to eat - I also sniff mine and if it smells wine-y I might dispose of it but this is unlikely unless it's many months since it was opened.  I have a pot of yoghurt in the fridge which is past its use by date by about a week but I smelled it and tasted a wee bit and then plopped a portion on my stewed fruit and it was just fine.  No wonder we are told that we throw away 30% of the food we buy if we follow the manufacturers' and supermarkets' guidelines.  They of course have a vested interest in selling us more!!  I suppose they are afraid that if we are left to trust our instincts (whatever happened to those?!) we might eat something harmful and then sue them. 

Now I am not advocating that we eat meat or fish that isn't fresh and maybe if you purchase ready meals it is difficult to tell if they are OK or not done up in all the packaging but surely we can see if fruit and vegetables are OK and by that I don't mean perfectly shaped and polished and all exactly the same.  We know what is acceptable and what is not and if we don't then maybe we should.  I can see future generations who have no idea what food really should look and smell like and which will be in total thrall to the supermarket who will tell them what they can and can't eat.  How scary would that be?  Bah Humbug I say!!  What about you?

Voila! Or Nearly!

Ages ago I mentioned that I was making a patchwork quilt - I really, really don't know how you quilters manage to make so many quilts in such a short space of time as it seemed to take me forever!  Anyway as today is a bright and sunny day and thus the light was right to photograph my effort I decided to take the photos even though the border isn't quite finished.  I almost left it too late as the sun had gone from the washing line and the only place that was still in full sun was the hedge!  That's Mr M's hand you can just see bottom right holding it down as the wind was trying to blow it away!

  This quilt is the first proper quilt I have ever made - the one I made for the wanderer was simply backed with fleece and not layered like this one.  I was determined not to buy anything to make it and the fabrics are all bits I had - some were given to me by a friend of a friend who was downsizing and getting rid of some of her crafting stuff, some was from projects I had made in the past, and the backing determined the finished size as it was amongst the fabrics I was given and this was its size - 104 cm x 120 cm or 41" x 48" approx.  I was aiming for a completely random effect but now I see that I seem to have finished up with 3 orange squares together bottom left.  Oh well never mind!

 I machine stitched the patches together using reels of thread which I chose when a friend - one of a group of friends with whom I did the City and Guilds Creative Textiles course back in the late 80s and with whom I have stayed in touch - died and her family gave our group all her bits and bobs to see if any of us wanted any of it and I chose her tin of sewing threads along with a couple of skeins of her hand spun vegetable dyed wools.  So apart from the wadding which I originally bought for the wanderer's quilt and then didn't use I have made this totally from what I had.

The blue inner border is made up of strips joined to make a length and I am now wondering if I should perhaps quilt that in some way - maybe lazy daisies or crosses at intervals perhaps or maybe I'll just take the tacking stitches out and leave it.  I hand quilted the whole thing using Perle 8 thread in different colours - thread I already had.  I probably should have done it in both directions or done several rows of stitching but I'd lost the will to live by the time the first single row was done!  I can hear Madame le President, at the Patchwork group I used to go to when I lived in France, tutting at the stitching but then I thought perhaps it added a sort of naive look which went with the random and childlike effect of the patchwork - well that's my story anyway!  As nobody other than me will see it guess it doesn't matter too much anyway and I am quite pleased with it.  I won't be going in for quiltmaking in a big way any time soon though as however much I want to enjoy doing it patchwork doesn't seem to be my metier at all - as I said to the French friend who first encouraged me to join the patchwork group in France I am not accurate enough and I now know that I am also far too slow and I get fed up before I am halfway there!  I am in awe of people who can make quilts on a regular basis and those who go to their patchwork groups every couple of weeks with yet another one finished. 

Bonjour - c'est moi encore!

I got back from France yesterday having spend a lovely few days with my friend there and visiting the patchwork exhibition I mentioned here  When I arrived there on Wednesday the sun was shining and the sky was blue and we were able to sit out on the terrace with a drink in the warmth of the sunshine.

 I promised some photos of the exhibition so here are some in no particular order.  I wasn't able to get some of the quilts as many were hung where the light wasn't good enough and some of the ones I have taken were rather too high up to get a really clear photo but here goes...

 The theme was stories, myths and Fables so these first ones are on that subject - I think this one was one of the stories from the Arabian Nights.

 This was based on several stories and you can see the Pied Piper, Red Riding Hood, Aladin and so on - this was my friend's submission.

 This one I thought very good as it took the idea of a book and the pages were different stories - I loved the back ground which was like books on a bookshelf and the writing on the pages was all hand embroidered - such patience eh?!

 All my photos can be enlarged if you click on them so if you want more detail try doing so.

 King Arthur and Excalibur - made by one of my British friends

 The Pied Piper.

Upstairs in the building were displayed other quilts made by the group such as these table mats with pockets for the knife, fork and spoon (not sure what that hand is doing from the other side!)

 I loved this one made using lovely monograms from old linen and hanging so the light filtered through - the needlework on the patches is beautiful and the border fabric picks up the wonderful vintage feel.

 Here is a detail and that bottom tiny rectangle is a couple of initials which I take to be a laundry mark.

 The Guest of Honour was Lucile Dupeyrat who made these lovely quilts using old lace and trimmings.  If you Google her name you can see more of her work.

 Detail of above.

 Another of Lucile Dupeyrat's quilts

 and detail.

 I said that my work wouldn't be displayed as I hadn't made a quilt - but it was!  Here is a piece I made whilst a member of the group - we all made a square to give to a member whose 80th birthday it was and she then made them into a book which was on display at the exhibition and here is the page I made!!

 The exhibition continued in another venue across the road and these are some of the quilts displayed there.

 Same pattern but how different these 3 look.

 Needless to say this one took my fancy and gave me inspiration for something of my own. 

Close up of above.  I loved the colours and the luxurious fabrics used in this one.

The friend with whom I stayed is a prolific quilter and she had made this one which was on my bed there.  Sadly she didn't show me all the lovely quilts which I hadn't seen before until about 11.30 the night before I was due to leave so the lighting wasn't good enough to take any photos and in the morning there wasn't time but her work is lovely and nearly all done by hand too!

 Saturday dawned bright and clear for my return flight but gosh was it cold at the airport which is situated high up and is always colder when it's cold!  Last view of the Limousin on my way home.

 And here's the isle of Wight so nearly home!

Southampton looking lovely in the clear bright sunshine but it was freezing on the platform at Southampton Airport Parkway station waiting for a train to take me home and today it's cold and grey and wet.  However that won't spoil the lovely colourful memories I have of a wonderful few days with my friend when our tongues didn't stop wagging except to eat and even then the conversation round the table continued!  How do the French manage to produce 4 or 5 course meals twice a day I wonder? Anyone for tarte au boudin noir?

I hope to catch up with reading your blogs and getting back to commenting soon!

Sunday Scribblings

Sunday and another new month - half the year already gone it's frightening isn't it?  Thank you all for your lovely comments on my previous post - I am not sure you should encourage me though as I get the bit between my teeth and then there's no stopping me!  A  little posy picked from the garden this afternoon - I always wished for a picking garden and have planted seeds to this effect but so far the slugs seem to have polished off anything which raised its head above the parapet in my picking garden so this is what I found instead.

Thanks for your comments on my bees - I will of course be honoured to have them living so close to my back door - last year it was wasps outside the bedroom window!  We were told that they never re-use the same nest and that if they weren't causing any bother to let them be so of course that is what we did.  I had a word with them and asked them to kindly refrain from coming into the bedroom whose window they had chosen to nest in close proximity to (oops that doesn't sound like very good English "never use a preposition to end a sentence with" or something?!)  You may laugh at my having a chat with them but it did the trick and we had no wasps in the house at all last summer.  It's the same with ants - we used to have ants nesting under the stones on the patio area outside our French windows when we lived in Guildford and I spoke nicely to them and said that as long as they remained outside I would promise never to use ant powder nor to pour kettles of boiling water on them (though I was once too late to stop my mother in law doing just that and then had to apologise profusely to the remaining ants) or to use any other horrible way to get rid of them - we would live in harmony.  Which we did.  I even discovered that French ants understand English as I told them the same and not once did we ever have a problem with ants in the house and none here either I am glad to say.  Now you know why I am weird!

Hasn't the weather been strange - one advantage of the many sudden downpours is that although we haven't had any long walks recently I do get plenty of exercise running in and out to the washing line; plenty of step climbing as the line is on the higher level and lots of bending picking the washing from the basket on the ground and stretching to put it on the line only to have to dash out again a few minutes later to fetch it all in and then repeat the same procedure the moment the sun comes out again!  It is lovely and warm and sunny in between the rain so the washing does eventually get dry and I must be using up calories mustn't I!

I bought this little terracotta tile in Wells recently as I thought it very apt - I really must learn to "seize the day" although I understand that Latin scholars might not agree with that translation.  I took it to mean something like living in the moment and using the time I have rather than wasting it.  Whatever - I like it on the shed where I see it every time I go to the washing line.

Alongside the pebbled washing line area is our boundary fence which adjoins a wood - it is lovely to have nothing but woodland next door on that side although as you can imagine it is not easy to have an immaculate garden with all the brambles, stinging nettles and wild plants not to mention badgers! just the other side of the fence.  Good job I don't care for neat striped lawns and regimented plants type gardens isn't it?  Some of the foxgloves have grown from seeds I saved from plants in our French garden - they didn't grow the first couple of years we were here but when I planted an English foxglove plant, purchased from the market, nearby they realised what they were supposed to do and came up and flowered this spring.  I am hoping they will seed themselves and that we might eventually have many more.

In this little no-man's land alongside the fence I also planted some wild strawberries - a gift from a friend they came as a little book of matches but instead of having phosphorus or whatever it is that matches have they had seeds.  Like the foxgloves they didn't seem to fancy living just there but now they have taken to the area and have even produced fruit this year.

No supersize portions here though this was the number to be shared between two of us - good job the wanderer isn't here now isn't it?!!  I told my husband it was nouvelle cuisine though I hadn't drizzled couli artistically on the dish!!

Isn't lavender meant to be a Mediterranean plant which flourishes in dry hot summers?  Nobody told ours that and it's beautiful this year!

The patchwork group I used to belong to in France is hosting an exhibition this October and anyone can enter their work.  A couple of friends suggested I might like to enter something - the theme to be Legends, Myths and Stories.  My French friend had suggested I did something with an English twist to it and after much thought (and absolutely no action!) I decided to do something based on Glastonbury.  I did quite a bit of research into the various legends related to the town which was fascinating and wondered about doing something like a fabric book as it was to be story based.  I got as far as wondering how such a thing might be displayed - maybe a concertina type book would be best so I could do all the pages and join them afterwards and it could be displayed opened out, each page to be a small crazy patchwork with a picture (printed on fabric) of perhaps the Glastonbury Thorn, Joseph of Aramathea, King Arthur, the Chalice Well and so on as the centre piece.  Today is the last date for entering although the item doesn't have to be submitted till September BUT one must send a photo of the piece even if it is not finished.  Well of course mine is not even started so I think I will have to pass on that now!!  Actually, remembering how wonderful the items were in a previous exhibition which I went to with my friend when we lived in France, I wonder if it was a subconscious wish not to have my work seen alongside theirs which has had me delaying getting started?! The above photo shows how far I had got with it - not a single stitch made!  I truly do need to seize the day if by that is meant get on with it and stop messing about!

Back to Normal

What a fabulous 4 days we've had here in the UK.  I wonder if Her Majesty had a well deserved lie-in this morning!  Although we didn't actually partake in any of the celebrations in person I felt as if we were part of it all simply by being British and being here rather than still in France! How I wished I had been able to be in London though.

Pomp and pageant is something we do so well in England and the colour and joy were apparent in spite of the weather (sixty years ago I remember going to see the proceedings on a neighbour's television but no colour was available then!) What struck me most about it all was the fact that it is possible to have thousands of people all congregating together and there to be none of the violence and arrests which so often occur when crowds get together for whatever reason.  I occasionally feel saddened and embarrassed by the behaviour of some of my fellow countrymen and their thuggish behaviour but the Jubilee restored my faith in the better side of human nature.  It was wonderful to see so many people from all walks of life, of all ages from the elderly to little children (who will surely have memories to tell their own children and grandchildren one day), of all nationalities and no doubt of many different religions or none getting together to enjoy themselves. Just now when the world is in such a parlous state, when Europe is hanging on by its fingernails as the recession deepens, and when so many people have little to be joyful about it was wonderful to have 4 days of happy news on the television!  Long may she reign indeed!

Now the streets of our capital are gradually returning to their usual workaday selves, the nationwide street parties all cleared up and the mountains of washing up done (I wonder just how many cups of tea were drunk over the weekend!) we are left with memories of a joyous few days.  It was certainly something none of us will live to see again!

Meanwhile here at chez Marigold we too have returned to normal as our wanderer left us on Sunday to move on to pastures new - we miss her of course, and so do the cats who had been enjoying extra attention,  but at least this time she is not on the other side of the world but just the other side of London and near enough for an occasional visit.

Yesterday was such a dismal wet day here (I was pleased to see that the rain didn't reach London till later in the day) that indoor occupation was called for and I decided to make a small quilt for the office chair we use at the computer - the cats sometimes sit on it and we are prone to come in to check our e-mails in our grubby gardening clothes so something washable to protect the upholstery was called for.  I probably should have made it red, white and blue instead of yellow since it was stitched over the Jubilee weekend!  I finished off the hand stitching sitting in front of the fire we lit last night as it was so chilly!

By the way there is a programme on Channel 4 tomorrow evening at 9.00 pm about the 50's home to tie in with the Jubilee.  I shall be watching with interest as due to leaving a comment on a blog a long while ago which indicated that I remembered life in the 50s one of the researchers got in touch with me and then after a long conversation on the phone a week later she and another researcher came here to talk with both me and my husband, who probably remembers some things better than I do and had a more typical childhood than mine too.  We were asked if we would agree to being interviewed on film but we declined - we are weird enough as it is without the editing process making us come across as even more strange than we already are so we shall not be making an appearance but it should be an interesting watch for anyone who enjoys a trip down Memory Lane.

Voila!

It's finished!  I can't tell you how proud I am to have actually made a patchwork quilt  - albeit a small lap quilt - I knew I must be able to do it but somehow I also knew I couldn't!

It certainly wouldn't win any prizes but it was made, as it says on the label, "With Love" and it's backed with soft fleece for a cosy cuddle which I am hoping will go some way towards keeping my wanderer warm on her return from sunnier climes!. (the photo makes the fleece look grey but it is a soft pale chocolate colour in reality!)

In the end I quilted it by knotting ties having attempted to stitch by hand "in the ditch",  I also tried hand stitching a quarter of an inch inside alternate squares but I could see it would take me far too long.  I toyed with the idea of sewing a small button on each corner of the squares but it might not have been so cuddly with little hard buttons all over it so I unpicked the stitching and resorted to ties - not sure I like the effect but it does the job and having done each with a surgeons' knot I am hopeful it won't all come undone! My fingers are sore from so much stitching - it was quite hard getting six strands of embroidery thread through the joins - and although I tried wearing a thimble I found that more trouble than it was worth.  I don't think I will be going in for patchwork in a big way though and think I was right and it isn't my metier!! And I am hoping she won't request a double bed sized one as if so I'll have to say "No way!"

Having resolved to use up some of my stash of fabrics and being pleased to have made the quilt and used up some of the fabrics I had I met up with some friends on Thursday for another day of scrapbooking and they passed on to me a bag of fabrics!  I will certainly be able to make good use of them but it doesn't reduce my stash any!!

I think we must live in a micro climate here as having had a bitterly cold but dry few days we had some snow yesterday afternoon which had turned to rain as we went to bed.  This morning we woke to birdsong and sunshine and not a snowflake nor an ice crystal to be seen.  I got some washing out - wouldn't have been able to stand out there long enough without gloves yesterday and it would have frozen rather than dried of course - the sun was quite warm on my back as I pegged it up and this afternoon I have fetched most of it in dry and it's now ironed and in the airing cupboard.  Meanwhile I hear that flights from Heathrow have been cancelled and there are warnings of icy conditions on the roads and pictures of children sledging elsewhere but here the temperature is 10 degrees higher than on Friday and stands at a positively balmy 5 degrees!  I am not complaining though.

In the market at Sherborne yesterday I bought a few snowdrops in the green but wondered how I would be able to plant them as the ground was so frozen and left them in our unheated conservatory overnight - needn't have worried - they are snugly tucked in here and there in the garden where I notice their cousins are already poking through along with some primroses.

Thank you for all your kind comments on my previous post - every one much appreciated.

Antiques and Collectibles at Shepton Mallet

We went to the Antiques and Collectibles Fair at Shepton Mallet (courtesy of some tickets sent to me by The Washerwoman ) Thank you so much Lizzie a little Thank You card is in the post to you - it was great to meet you and have a little chat. I did come back to your stand as we were leaving but you weren't there!

I was amazed at the number of stalls there were, many of which were for serious antiques hunters with wads of money to spend and displayed inside but the most interesting stuff for me was outside and I really felt for the stall holders as it was bitterly cold in the open although the weather did at least stay dry. I didn't spend much but I did buy these tiles (neither antique nor collectible) which I thought I might be able to make into a casserole stand perhaps.

These pretty vintage cards,

and this lovely bowl (pity I didn't dust it before photographing it eh?!)

It is Havilland and made in Limoges - I don't know why it is but every time I spot a piece of china I like it turns out to be Limoges and more often than not Havilland. This little bowl was very slightly chipped so I got it for £1!!! I don't care about the chip - I just love it for its pretty delicate design.

I didn't buy this but wished I could have done - isn't it fabulous? I was going to save it for the Monthly colour post as it is so bright but decided not to wait. It was hanging over the balcony and many of the patches were torn and damaged but the workmanship in it was amazing but for £200+ I had to leave it behind and just be inspired to have a go at a quilt myslef using crazy squares. Don't hold your breath though will you as I have the little jumper to finish first - am just sewing it up now and hope to get it in the post before the 24th as requested. Hope to do a Ta da post very soon!!