Hey….I’m here…still…..

Life’s just been getting in the way a bit recently. So much to do and so little time…Nothing major, just the normal stuff…work, family, house, garden and seeing friends I haven’t had time to catch up with for a while. Good stuff. But there hasn’t been any sewing going on. I guess that’s the price you pay for trying to do everything!!

I did have a little late night weakness. This arrived this week.

Gorgeous, isn’t it? It’s Chickadee from Quince & Co in lovely leek and bird’s egg colourways. You might want to check out their website, it’s seriously fabulous!

I’ve started making this….the Lightweight sweater…..

From this pattern book – Knitbot Essentials by Hannah Fettig

Delicious! Fabulous easy vanilla ice-cream knitting. Perfect relaxing stress reduction.

Another lovely little package arrived in the post this week. I won this wonderful box from Lynne at Lily’s Quilts……

Super Aurifil threads – unobtainable in Switzerland to the best of my knowledge!! And I’ve wanted to try them for sooooo long!

Now I just have to decide what to do with them!!

Hard decisions!

Helen

Last week Mel and I finally managed to squeeze in a little outing – this time to Schaffhausen, a little town on the Rhine right on the German border.

Our main goal for the day was to visit the Albert Anker exhibition…a Swiss painter famous for his wonderful portraits. Of course the ones we wanted to see were the knitting ones!

We weren’t disappointed, but I was a little shocked to see that a lot of the paintings were on loan from my least favourite Swiss politician. So maybe there is something good about him after all….

We had some time left over after lunch for a wander around the pretty old town. There’s really something to be said to living so close to such interesting and historical places, but I’m afraid I take far too little time to take advantage of them….

….seeing as how I’m mostly slumped in an exhausted heap at the weekend!

Have a good one!

Helen

Those of you who stop by regularly will know that for the past year or so I’ve been taking part in the Stitch Tease bee – a top secret bee that is a little different from your average bee.

My co-bee-ers are a talented bunch…you probably already know some of them: Annabella from Life’s Rich Pattern, Susan from Canadian Abroad, Hadley from Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle, Di from Quiltova, Danny from Mommy for Reals, Katy from The Littlest Thistle Craft Shop and last but not least the queen bee Di from Random Thoughts Do or Di. You might want to take a look over at their blogs today as they will be showing their quilts too.

This bee started with each of us making a couple of large blocks or a strip and telling the others what we wanted.

I started off with this…

Wonky stars on a base of kona ash

And this is what came home to mama last week….and all I can say is that my photos aren’t great and this is way more beautiful in person!

Isn’t it amazing…..I LURVE IT!!!

Now I’m supposed to show you photos of all the blocks I made, but due to my chaotic and non-existant photo filing system these were all I could find…..it’s even possible that I didn’t make photos of the rest…which is a really poor show, but if you check out the other blogs you will see how wild and crazy some of the quilts turned out!

Here’s what I have anyway!

For Susan…

For Katy…

For Annabella…

And here’s Danny’s quilt, which I sewed together (I made the wonky star stripe in the middle!)

This has been a great bee..the best, really! Great people, huge amounts of talent, people kept to deadlines and we have really got to know each other (that’s the VERY best bit). I met Katy, Susan, Hadley and Quiltova Di at FQR and this year Queen Bee Di will be there too…now I just have to chase down Danny and Annabella!

Round Two is about to start and I can’t wait!!

Helen

Today I really meant to sew. (And maybe I’ll still get there, the day isn’t quite over). I have a project in my head that I’ve been milling over since forever…pattern, fabric, everything. I’m excited about it, I really am.

But whatever the draw of my sewing corner, when the sun is shining after 6 months of grey yuck and freezing temperatures, when it’s hit 20 degrees and you can be outside in cut-offs and a tee-shirt, then pottering in the garden wins hands down.

I had my first trip of the year to the garden centre yesterday and for once held myself back. Everyone else was queuing up with their trays of veg seedlings, but I know from hard experience that even though it’s mid-April it could still snow and it’s a dead cert that there will be more hard frosts at night …..and that those poor little seedings will be HIS-TOR-EEE…so I contented myself with a new pair of gardening clogs, some seeds and onion sets (indestructible) and a plant for a friend.

Today I’ve pottered, weeded and dug over the vegetable beds, planted broad beans and onions, which don’t mind the cold, tied back the climbing rose, weeded and weeded and weeded. That is the story of my garden really, the weeding. It was very overgrown when I inherited it and the weeds were already there to stay. I’ve been fighting them for the last 20 years or so, but I never win…I’m maybe a nose ahead till July, but after that, forget it. Mother nature wins hands down. I can’t help trying though. every year I dream that this will be the year of the perfect garden….

At least this year, with my lack of time and work and everything, I KNOW it isn’t going to happen, but whether it does or not, it does a girl good to be outside, pottering, soaking up the sun’s rays and somehow feeling that all is right with the world. Or at least right now this afternoon it is.

Until North Korea decides to do something bonkers that is.

Helen

Finally, finally, finally the sun shone.

It’s been so long coming. We’ve had the longest winter I can remember. It was the coldest March for 100 years and we’ve had 50% more grey fog days than in a normal winter, which means we’ve basically been living in thick fug for months and the sun has been a very, very rare visitor.

Until today that is. We had sunshine and little fluffy clouds and even views to the Alps, which I’d almost forgotten were there at all. The temperatures are due to rise at the weekend and people are daring to mention the S word.

Today was my day off and the light and freshness of it all filled me with energy that has been sadly lacking for months – so I’ve been rushing about like a crazy woman all day. Isn’t it incredibly how grey blah weather saps your spirit and then bing a little bit of sun and I’m rushing around like a Duracell bunny!

I can even feel the start of springcleanitis coming on.

So I bought myself tulips, which were actually grown here (OK, OK, so they were in a polytunnel, but you can’t have everything) and some herbs and planted up the big tub of herbs that I keep on the patio. And shhhh….I washed a window…..only one because window washing is my most hated job and I’m rubbish at it, but I do now have one clean sparkly window in the house (and 99 grubby unseethroughable ones!). I cooked Boeuf Bourgignon for dinner and I caught up with the ironing mountain.

I think I’m almost turning into a domestic goddess.

I’d better sit down to recover and have a cup of tea!

Helen