Honest Things

A little while ago Jill awarded me this blog honest award. Obviously as with any blog what you read is an edited version of my life but I do like to think that what I do choose to share is honest. As with any award there are rules which I won't play by... I'm not passing it on but I will attempt to list 10 honest things about myself.

1. My Favourite Film ... I like films, old films, new films, sad films, happy films but if I'm being honest my favourite is still An Officer and a Gentleman. If you have read my profile you'll know I'm the first to admit this is very cheesy... but Richard Gere... on a motorbike... in that uniform... I love it!

2. I am reading... One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Sam bought it for me for Mother's Day so I feel I must read it, but I'm struggling through. The reviews say things like "required reading for the entire human race" and "The greatest novel in any language in the last fifty years" but I just don't get it!

3. I am listening to.. Hunky Dory by David Bowie. Still love it after all these years!

4. My favourite item of clothing... does footwear count? My lollipop shoes!

5. My favourite holiday... I'm lucky enough to have visited some beautiful and interesting places but Stewart and I went to the Maldives for our honeymoon and that has to be the most stunning place. The sea really was that colour, the sun shone, we snorkelled and saw the most amazing sea life and we were just so relaxed... it was fabulous!

6. I am messy... I hate being messy, I wish I wasn't messy but I am as you can see from the following two pictures of my workroom... I am very messy. Maybe this will shame me into tidying up?

7. The last thing I ate... was a raspberry muffin.

8. My pet hate... is sand, especially sandy feet (unless I'm in the Maldives!) This would be my idea of hell. These are not my feet I hasten to add!

Photo from Google images

9. My luxury item... would be freshly laundered cotton bedlinen every day. No photo for this because I don't have freshly laundered bedlinen! In fact my bed is very messy (See no. 6 above!)

10. I'm feeling... horrible! I've got a bunged up head, I'm running a temperature, I ache all over and I'm coughing, so if you'll excuse me I'm off to my messy bed.

Jazz it Up

A little while ago I gave a sneaky peak of some work done by Zigzag, the group that I mentor. The exhibition of their work was on Saturday as part of a larger quilt exhibition at Haberdasher's School in Elstree and now I can show you the pieces in full. This was a group exercise based on a painting by Canadian artist Eric Waugh called Jazz it Up. A copy of the painting was cut into six pieces and each member of the group was given a piece. They were then given free rein to use this as inspiration in any way they wished the only restraint being they all had to be the same size. They've worked in sketchbooks, made samples and developed themes and as you can see they've come up with six very different interpretations.

The first one is by Ann and I think this is called Drum Beat and is incredibly effective... you can feel the drum beat!

The one below is by Lynda and involves lots of stitched metal so has a wonderful rich, sumptious feel.

This is by Joan and has a fabulous embellished background.

This is Bernice's picture which has lovely 3D spirals and a very delicate feeling about it.

Sandy's has gorgeous layers of sheer fabric cut back to reveal glowing colours

And last but not least is Lynne's which was based on the devestating effects of hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans and is full of amazing detail and wonderful stitching.

I think they all did really well in interpreting the theme in six such different ways, the work looked fabulous hung together and I look forward to them exhibiting together again. Well done ladies.

Rhubarb!

What do you do when a friend drops off a bag of rhubarb fresh from her garden...

Make Rhubarb and Ginger Jam! (inspired by Mags) It's not the prettiest colour jam (I won't share with you what one of my lovely boys likened it to this morning) but it tastes wonderful!

And lest you think this is fast becoming a food blog I will share some rather stunning experimental embroidery on Lutradur... not made by me I hasten to add but by a couple of my City and Guilds students.

From Sheila, a gorgeous vessel inspired by seaweed.

And the most stunning waterlily and journal cover from Linda... inspired by Monet of course!

Reasons to be Cheerful

1. The weekend started with blueberry muffins for breakfast on Saturday.

2. The sun has been shining which has meant plenty of time working in the garden... with this little chap for company all day long.

3. British asparagus is in season. I don't like eating asparagus (or strawberries) out of season, which makes them taste all the better when they are!

4. The sun is shining so I can serve up salad for dinner!

5. My wisteria is in flower and looks so pretty.

6. I have finished my first "pair" of socks since joining in with Michaela's sock startitisis club.

Of course I wish I'd just made two the same because now I've got to knit another pair that look like this:

7. My broad beans (kindly given to me by Celia) are in flower... and such beautiful flowers!

8. Inspired by the fabulous Bakewell tart we ate last week, I made one for pudding this evening.

Very good warm with ice cream!

9. My essay is finished!!!

10. Because it is a bank holiday there is still another day of weekend left. Hope you're having a good weekend and the sun shines where you are too.

Derbyshire Dales

Indulge me while I bore you with some of my holiday snaps... we've had three glorious days walking in the Derbyshire Dales.

It was perfect walking weather, no rain but not too hot. And there was plenty to see from flora...

To fauna....

Just occasionally it felt like one stile too many and it required a sit down half way over the wall... although a good excuse to consult the map.

As you can see.. some of us were good at reading maps

While others were very good at carrying things!

I would like to think three days walking in all that fresh air did us both a lot of good. But then I think a few too many of these...

and a slice too many of tradional Bakewell tart may have offset the healthy benefits of our mini break.

But we did have fun! Thank you to everyone who left comments on the last post. I know I won't have time to reply as I really do have to get my essay finished this week. And special thanks to Julie who recommended the lovely cottage where we stayed in Taddington. We'll be going back!

Calorie Free

What a fun day yesterday... I went to Peterborough with my friend Jane to a workshop at Angela's shop Art and Stitch, where we made "chocolates" from felt with Linda Beer (who just happens to be Gill's little sister). It was a lovely stress free, no pressure sort of day and I ended up with a box of calorie free chocolates! My sons were not impressed... they prefer the sort you can eat!


Linda even gave us these little labels to go in the box.

And these are everyone elses chocolates... although it does look as though someone has eaten a couple in the middle!

Continuing with my new stress free lifestyle.... I'm going to be gone for a for a few days. See you next week!

Thank you Ginger

It was a perfect breakfast!