A first sign of spring – finally able to peep out after being covered in snow for what seems like months and probably is.

More snow and -5 are forecast for next week, but for today I’m off for a run to enjoy the blue sky and sunshine while it lasts….and will come home and look at the brave little flowers in my garden (before they have another ton of snow dumped on their heads!).

Enjoy your Friday!

Helen

Things seem to be slowly settling down into a routine round here.

Wednesday is usually a day off work for me and it seems to be the one day in the week when things really get done.

This morning I headed off early for a shortish run in the woods. It’s finally light enough in the mornings for me to do that without feeling like the morning is just about over by the time I get back. I hadn’t run at all for several weeks and hand on my heart I can honestly say that my during my run today I felt like I had never been running in my life before. Boy does the fitness go away quickly. Maybe a run in the hills on trails covered with hard-packed snow wasn’t the best idea – but to be honest there isn’t a lot else available here – and hey ho the sun was shining. I dragged myself up the hills, I walked a lot, I slipped and fell (thankfully landing in soft melting snow) and I felt about 90 years old.

It can only get better from here.

But at least I did something.

In between everything else this morning I managed  to sneak in making some blocks for Danny’s strip for the Stitch Tease bee. Stitch Tease comes to an end at the end of the month, so this is the last push – a 70″ wide strip and then I have to sew everyone else’s secret strips together to send a completed quilt top off to Arizona to Danny. Then and only then will all the secret sewing we’ve been doing over the last year or so be revealed….so watch this space.

Unlike a couple of my other bees, which are frustrating in the extreme, this has been a brilliant bee, with fun, talented women who have the grace not to just disappear off the radar. I met several of them (Katy, Susan, Hadley and Di N) at FQR and next year should see them again, together with bee mama Di. There are also plans afoot to have a little trip to Marrakech to see Annabella….and best of all, we’re carrying on next year, with some new members too!

Anyway, now it’s back to the cleaning and shopping and off on a trip to the dentist (thankfully not for me!)

More anon my friends, more anon,

Helen

Today for the first time in weeks and weeks we actually saw some sunshine here up the hill. Hopefully it might start to melt some of the mountains of snow. (Down the road in Zürich and around the Lake of Zürich the snow is long gone and spring is already on its way). Spring always comes later up here – but a little bit of sun is at least a start….

I managed to find time to catch up on some blog reading this aftternoon – wow, there were a lot of beautiful mosaics of beautiful things people had been making in February…..

…and then I got the giggles….

I thought I might make a small mosaic myself…

…and then I couldn’t think what I’d made last month…other than finishing the toe of a sock…

That would be good, wouldn’t it, a sock toe…an easy mosaic…

I had such a laugh (maybe aided by the glass of White Zin that I had with my lunch). I really sat for ten minutes and just chuckled along. I think the sunshine had just made me happy and today I really felt like the pressure was off. And I laughed and laughed…

….and then I remembered that I did actually make something in February.

My Siblings Together quilt (which currently appears to be stuck in UK customs)

So there you are. I did do something – ST and four bee blocks. Actually, if I’m honest, I don’t know where I found the time.

Hey ho…life is busy, but it’s good!

Helen

Saturdays seem to be a bit of a ‘catch up on everything’ sort of day these days, a hectic rush around to make sure the logistics of family life are running smoothly….food in the fridge, laundry chugging along, schedules synched….and of course end up being the best day to see friends.

Thankfully I managed to squeeze in a most delightful hour to myself between doing all that and starting to cook dinner for the friends who are coming this evening.

My first priority this weekend were Floh’s blocks for Sew Euro-bee-an…

Heavenly! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE wonky stars and I really like the kona ash background. In fact my request for the Stitch Tease bee was the very same….and I should be able to show you the finished result in a month or so. Wonky stars are really easy and such fun to sew…cool and quirky. They always make me smile 😉

Cooking this evening isn’t going to be much of an ordeal because dear husband has offered to take over doing the meat and sauce and came up with a menu that was simple and easy….

Here’s what we’re having…

• Lambs lettuce with mushrooms, bacon bits and croutons and a balsamic vinaigrette (made by husband)
• Veal steaks with a balsamic orange sauce, with pappardelle noodles, roasted carrots and steamed asparagus
• My trusty make in advance chocolate mousse  served with rasberries and raspberry coulis

I think that will do, don’t you? At least nobody will go home hungry!!!

So things are up date, my world is under control, I’ve had enough sleep and even better, tomorrow is Sunday and other than a snowy run in the morning, there is NOTHING at all on the agenda – and I guess you can imagine what that means!!

Hope you’re having as much fun as I am this weekend!

Helen

Today I finally made it back to my lovely sewing machine…..bliss…..er not quite.

let me tell you a story….

When I went back to work last month I pretty quickly realized that I was more than a little lacking in the business attire area. Well after 18 years away from an office I guess that had to be expected.

So I took a walk through a couple of department stores in Zürich. The aim was to find two (pretty conservative) business suits and a few shirts that I could wear them with. Not a big deal, you would think.

But then this was Zürich and not London or the US. And in Zürich, well shall we say that everything is somewhat on the expensive side. Actually not somewhat, let’s just be honest here and call a spade a spade. It’s VERY AMAZINGLY EXPENSIVE!

What I pretty quickly realized is that….

• a) Nothing fits me because I’m a funny shape – waist too small (or bottom too big, but that’s not how I’m looking at it) and
• b) I am disinclined to pay what a small car would cost for two suits and a few shirts.

Thank God for the internet is all I can say.

So I ordered a suit from Boden (which arrived, fitted perfectly and cost a snip in the sale, but is actually made of jersey, so may not wear brilliantly) and two from TM Lewin (in the sale with a massive 70% off), where I have bought shirts since I first started work many, many moons ago. The Lewin’s suits took a good while getting here…but that’s a story for another day…and are absolutely perfect and lovely apart from the fact that I could store my handbag (large) in the waistband with me, no problem. We are talking oh, maybe 6 inches too wide…

Now sending things back is always a hassle and knowing my luck the next size down will probably be great on the waist but straining over the haunches, so I decided that well, I can sew. How hard can alterations be?

Hmm…..tailored skirts..with the most complicated construction at the waistline I’ve ever seen. I really didn’t know it was possible to make a skirt in such a convoluted way. I think I now know why people train for years and years to become tailors. Boy, what a lot of pieces to unpick and resew and unpick and resew..

But I’m getting there….it’s just taking me a while….

And that dear friends is the sum of my sewing afternoon. Tomorrow at work I shall look seriously the business and with any luck I may make it to something pretty and colourful and patchworky before too long.

Have a great Wednesday,

Helen