Thank you's

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who left me 'Happy Birthday' messages here and on Facebook.  I felt really spoilt having so many lovely messages.  That is one of the wonderful benefits to participating in the network of blogging and communicating via Facebook.  

I had a lovely day on my birthday.  My friend Ann and I repeated last year's birthday visit to the Quilt Museum in York.  The two exhibitions on at the moment and until 29 August are 'Celebrations' and 'Made inYorkshire' and both are interesting and stimulating.  Sadly no photography is allowed but do go and see the exhibitions if you get the chance.  I was particularly struck by the work of Carol Coleman who is a textile artist and whose work defies belief.  You can see an image of the piece displayed at York here.   If the link doesn't work just check out Carol's gallery.

The work of Caroline Dunn also impressed me.  Her mixed media textile pieces are layered and include stitched detail and have a beautiful atmosphere to them.  If you follow the link and scroll down you will see some of her work including the piece with crows which is in the exhibition.

As you might expect birthday outings call for a little retail therapy.  My dear DH gave me some money to treat myself with and it would have been churlish of me not to make the best effort for him ;-)

I didn't go too mad, did I?  I couldn't resist the batiks and I am planning to use the postbox fabric for a pennant for the Olympics.  If you haven't heard of this idea yet there is still time to join in.  I will be adding a link in my sidebar to the Quilts 4 London site where you can find full details of how to make a pennant which will be given to one of the competitiors in the London Olympics 2012.  I haven't decided what I will do yet but it is top of my to-do list.

My dear friend Ann thoroughly spoilt me with her birthday present:

She made me this beautiful sewing pouch which will be a pleasure to take with me whenever I want to take a portable sewing project.  It is so beautifully made and has some beautiful beaded details.  I believe the pattern came from a Popular Patchwork magazine.  And what about that gorgeous batik?!!!  The piece on the left is so vibrant and  I will have to find a special project for it.  Maybe another Round Robin, which is where I used the last piece Ann gave me.

The crowning glory of my birthday was a very special card from my mum.  My DH made her one of his lovely photo cards for me and expected that he would have to write it for her but she took the pen and wrote me the most beautiful message.  I have to admit it brought me to sobbing tears as the last time she wrote a card, for her brother, she got the words all jumbled but this time everything was in the right order.  My DH tells me the only word she asked him how to spell was 'my'! 

Since last week we have been busy clearing some of the things from my friend Grace's house so things have been very hectic.  I have found quite a lot of vintage linens and lace so I will show you those another time.  It is a sad task but we keep finding things that bring back happy memories amongst the sad moments and I have found some wonderful photographs dating back more than a hundred years.

I can't resist showing you this beautiful embroidery

Sadly I don't know who the embroiderer was.  Grace would have been 27 at this time and busy working but maybe she stitched it.  Funnily enough we never really discussed embroidery when she was alive so it may have been her mother's work.  More to come next time!

Happy Post

I've had some lovely post since we got back from Wales and thought I would share it here. Just before we went away I had a phone call to say that I had won a raffle prize at the Moulton Mill Quilters Exhibition that we went to in April. By the time we got back from holiday I had forgotten all about the phone call and wondered what on earth the parcel could be that was waiting for me at the Post Office.
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I had been told to expect a bag but when I opened the package there were 2 bags! I hadn't expected the lovely drawstring bag with all the extras. Aren't I lucky?! Unfortunately there was no contact address with the parcel so I can't thank anyone so if anyone out there knows the Moulton Mill Quilters please tell them I am delighted :o)

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The second piece of happy post was my order from Moo!

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Don't look too closely at them as there's a (not) deliberate error! Oops! I got the address of my blog wrong! Duh! That apart I am really pleased with the cards and they are a great way of carrying examples of my creativity around with me. I have to admit I wasn't going to bother ordering anything from Moo as I don't really need business cards but they made me an offer I couldn't refuse and now I've received them the quality is really good (no affiliation).

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Finally, I had a wonderful letter in the post today which gave me a lovely boost in a yucky week.

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My very sweet 4 year old niece has sent me a beautiful 'Thank You' card for a little present I sent her before we went away. It's far brighter and more sparkly than my awful photo shows it and I love the butterfly she has drawn flying above the flowers. I am ashamed to say that we haven't seen Evie since she was quite tiny and it's not as if she lives in another country! We will have to remedy that!

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DH is in the bath

Oops! I didn't expect to get on here so quickly but DH has helped me get my pics onto his computer and he's now snoring in the bath so I grabbed my chance!

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This is the very sweet toy chair that I won in Trashalou's raffle. The artwork is Moogsmum's.
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And below is the back of the chair.

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Isn't it lovely? The chair is about 10" tall.

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Underneath the chair was a parcel wrapped in the loveliest tissue paper and look what the very naughty Lesley aka Moogsmum has sent me! All the loveliness above. The gorgeous fabric with the fish has come from Hong Kong and I will have to use it for something special. The butterflies are fusible and there are various crochet and cotton doillies and traycloths and a packet of mixed organza. Add to all this a great wodge of tissue paper that the chair was wrapped in, some venetian blind fabric which has intriguing possibilities, and I have a bumper bundle.

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A certain person in the house has already collared the chair for her own use and is now surveying the room along with my favourite pieces and pebbles.

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Thank you, Lesley, so much, for your generosity. :o)) It arrived just at the right time as I had my gastroscopy yesterday and was feeling under the weather this morning. I had sedation for the test and I felt as if I was moving through treacle this morning. My throat is pretty sore too but that should wear off in a day or two. I've been told I've got a hiatus hernia so that probably explains the symptoms I've been getting. Keep taking the tablets!

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Anyway, enough of that. Thank you Lesley. You have a heart of gold.

A Pwincessy present

A few days ago I had a message left in my comments from the lovely Dilly, the very princessy dragon, that I was to expect a parcel through the post. Well today, when I got in from a workshop in town, a parcel was waiting for me.

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This pink ribboned tissue wrapped parcel was in the envelope.
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Inside was this lovely card of a sleeping dragon which Dilly had helped to make.

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The tissue held a lovely purple gift bag with pink yarn attached to it and inside the bag was a pretty pink wrapped package (have you seen there's a theme here?)

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Wow! What could be better? Gorgeous scrummy chocolate with a pink ribbon! So much pink! And a very special card from Dilly. The chocolate is handmade in Derbyshire and is a dark chocolate with Marigolds and Hibiscus flowers. I think I shall have to hide it away from my DH!

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Dilly, thank you so much for such a lovely thought. As always you have brought a big smile to my face and I will enjoy the yummy chocolate and all the extra tissue and ribbons. You are a very generous young wagon and a really speshol fwend who always cheers me up with your adventures and the byrds and flowers in your garden!

Of presents and dwagons

I had to nip on here quickly (I'm supposed to be practising FME today) to show you what the postman brought me this afternoon.

My friend Dilly St George sent me a parcel and as she is a princessy croco-dwagon she decorated it with princessy stickers! I knew Dilly was sending me a present because she blogged about it here but I didn't go and look because I wanted a surprise.

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When I opened the envelope this is what I found,

A lovely sparkly box and a very pretty, sparkly pink card - well it has to be pink from a princess, doesn't it? The box is decorated with skeleton leaves and glitter but it was hard to get a good picture in the bright sunshine today.

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Inside the box, wrapped in a tissue which I think maybe Bob T Bear had isshooed was this lovely soft, pink, pwincessy brooch,

It is absolutely lovely, Dilly, thank you very much and thank you too to Mummy for helping you make it. If you'd like to see how Dilly made the brooch please do have a look here. Dilly's mummy had a great idea to get the shape!

Inside the card Dilly had written me a special note. I'm glad to be your friend, Dilly, you are a very special 'wagon :o). Oh, and, I love your self portrait Dilly, it's great!!

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On the subject of dwagons, we did see one or two on our travels thro Austria.

These chaps were waiting to be adopted and taken to their new homes (some of them were only babies and were having a little nap!).

If you look very carefully at this photo of a beautiful Austrian house you can see one of Dilly's friends peeking in at the bottom.

I think this beautiful rusty sculpture is just pretending to be a dwagon. (Oh, It's got a bit stretched, oops!)

And, unfortunately, these dwagons are being a bit rude as they are spitting water everywhere in a fountain in Innsbruck!

Oops! This is a better pic, the previous one was blurred. Well I was in a moving carriage at the time!

Well, I had better get back to my sewing. See you all later and thank you again, Dilly for my lovely present. I am going to wear it when I go to the Festival of Quilts next month.