Project Linus and Country Living

I have had a wonderful week with a bit of Mother /Daughter time

and spending a couple of days with some wonderful quilters

doing what we love best.

Until recently I had never heard of Project Linus and

for those of you who are also unaware of this organisation here is a short introduction.

It was originally started

in the US in 1995 to make and donate 'security blankets' to 

children with cancer in a local hospital.

It was named Linus after the peanuts character created by Charles Shultz

who gave his permission to use the name in such a good cause.

It was started up in the UK in 2000 and well over 211,000

quilts have been handed out so far. 

The Norfolk branch  will give quilts to  any child 

who is going through a really tough time whether it be 

in Hospital,  foster care, bereavement and premature baby units.

Hundreds of quilts a year.

Sew Creative at Wroxham barns where I go for my quilting group

decided to hold 4 days this week to coincide with Children in need

and create as many quilts as we could.

The fabric was manly given by the shop with 

some of the quilters bringing in their scraps which 

would be suitable to use on children's quilts.

There was about 10/12 ladies there everyday

and we had a little system going on with

a couple of ladies cutting fabrics into blocks

which the next lot stitch into strips ( the strippers)

It was then added to backing and wadding by

a quilt as you go method.

Some for boys and some for girls.

They need various sizes from 20 inch quilts

for the premature babies up to single bed size for teenagers.

With one day to go, when I left today 

they had nearly 25 quilts made

including these pretty little ones all made by one lady.

This was the first one completed.

If you want to find out more then have a look at the

UK website here .

The day in between my quilting days was spent in London

with my little one, her boyfriends Mum and her daughter.

A real girly bonding day and it was great fun.

Sorry if the photos are up to much but I had tried a couple of the

liquors in the food hall by the time I took these. lol

We all caught the train from Norwich and made our way

to the London Business design centre at the Angel Islington

where Country Living Magazine where holding their 

Christmas Fair.

There were a lot of people there as expected with 

stall sover 3 floors.  There appeared to be a lot selling cashmere and scarfs

but also a nice selection of crafts, vintage and christmas decorations.

I did managed to buy a couple of Christmas presents

and got a few ideas for others as well as 

ideas for things to do around the house.

I loved this horse not sure how I would have coped

on the tube with it though.

These boxes were another favourite.

Santa greeted you as you entered on a stall

chock a block with dried fruit and flowers.

Then a nice  italian meal for heading back to Liverpool Street

for our train home.

So a busy but very enjoyable week 

but I am looking forward to a fairly quite weekend.

Hope you all have a good weekend and 

speak again soon.

Gillxx

Oranges and Lemons

 Hello and greetings to you all.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

I have my eldest daughter home with me for a couple of weeks.

She is a teacher in Exeter, Devon which is a long way from

North Norfolk so I look forward to the school holidays

when she comes home for a while.

While she has been home I have managed to get 

my quilt from this terms Patchwork group finished

and it has gone off to her best friend from school 

who has just had a beautiful baby girl.

I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I 

started, I just thought I would go for something really bright 

and summery after having used quite muted colours on the 

others I have made.

The colours are a bit in your face aren't they.

When it came to putting it together I decided plain white squares

in the middle didn't look right.

I tried a trapunto pattern but that didn't go with the style

of the quilt and

 has ended up as a cushion

 Then my friend Lynn and I came up with a solution

that I love.

She has done a workshop in screen printing and has all the

equipment, so, I found myself a design and off to Lynn s I went.

We had a great day matching colours and trying 

different things.

Once it was all put together with my screen printed squares

I was really pleased with it and was pleased when 

it was so wonderfully received by it's new owner.

All my children love making and crafting things

and eldest daughter ( K) has been given a wonderful old 

Frister and Rosman sewing machine from her Aunt.

So I bought her a copy of " love at first stitch"

by Tilly, one of the contestants from the 1st series of 

the GB Sewing Bee. It comes with a pattern pack which you trace from

so I got some tracing paper as well.

Now K loves vintage style clothing and amongst the

stash of vintage fabrics I inherited from my Mother-in-Law

was this pretty cotton print which she has had her eye on.

So yesterday, with Mum around for advice if needed ( the zip 

caused a few choice words), off she went  to my sewing room.

 With the hem finished this morning, she has gone off

to the beach at Cromer feeling very pleased with herself,

in her new skirt.

And so my little one didn't feel left out

I made the draped top out of the

Great British sewing bee book for her.

It takes just a metre of fabric and was so quick and easy as 

there is no fitting etc to do.

She was thrilled with it but it is definitely not for someone with

a larger bust as, although it fitted me, it didn't fall right.

So that is what I have been up over the last week or so.

K is here for a few more days yet so there may be some more

sewing done before she goes back.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and speak soon.

Gillx

A Giveaway Win

A couple of weeks ago I won the Giveaway hosted

by the Lovely Claire at Thriftwood (pop over and have a read)

and my prize was a hand embroidered picture

with a saying of my choice.

My prize arrived this week in a really nice wooden frame

displaying  the saying or mantra that I had chosen.

Isn't it wonderful.

  I picked this as I'm a real worrier and tend to dwell on what was said or done

in the past.  These are things I can't change so I needed something

to remind me of this and thought this sentiment was perfect.

It has pride of place on my sewing table right in front 

of my sewing machine.

So what have I been doing this week--

well I have used some of the beautiful lace I received

recently in my other giveaway win.

Posted about here.

In my stash I had a remnant of burgundy satin and 

the pink lace went nicely with it so I now have a 

fabulous pair of satin pyjama bottoms with lace edging

on the bottom of the legs.  

I didn't have quite enough fabric to make them long enough

so the lace was the perfect solution.

Then,

As you can see from this dreadfully out of focus photo

my desk is 2 tables put together,

and the one in the corner is used to store bits such as

machine cover and camera bag etc underneath.

The problem was it looked so untidy.

The solution is an age old, tried and tested answer--

make a curtain.

The fabrics are the scraps left over from recently made

curtains around the house.  The center panel is the curtain in this room

and the grey is the front door curtain which helps to keep

the hall warm.

Luckily the two worked well together

and it all blends in nicely.

I have  new pattern I'm going to make up next 

with some linen I bought back from Brunei 

4years ago now

so I'll show you when it's finished.

I have a busy weekend ahead of me with a engagement party

  on Saturday and my first Mothers day lunch at my daughters house

on Sunday. It wasn't that long ago when my lovely old Mum

used to come to me and now here I am going to my daughter.

Anyway, Happy Mothers day to those of you to whom

this applies and a great weekend to everyone else and

 I'll see you in a couple of days for this months 

Scavenger Hunt.

Gillxx

Hello From Glorious Devon

I'm having a few days in Devon with my daughter

Just the two of us which is wonderful.

 It's a long drive down here  so I don't see her as

 often as I would like but as her partner is away for a short while

we thought we would have some Mother and daughter time.

She lives and works in Exeter which was my Mothers

home town and  so I know reasonably well from time spent with my Gran.

My parents and I lived further along the coast in Torquay when 

I was a teenager until my Gran died and I went to London for work

but I still feel very much at home here.

Today has been such a sunny day that we went for a long walk

around the city as well as doing a bit of shopping.

(My feet are killing me now)

Exeter  is a really nice old city which

has a lovely old cathedral 

surrounded by the old Cathedral Close

and the Deanery where my Gran used to work at one time.

My parents had their wedding reception here.

 In places you can still see the old city walls.

as well as the old Guildhall in the main street 

which here is called Fore Street. Quite a few Devon

towns seem to have a Fore street and I can only assume

they were the foremost streets in the town but if any of you know 

differently then please let me know.

But it's not all history here, it has it's fun side

like this beautiful Pub sign for the Hour Glass Pub

And the bored statute just watching the traffic go past

although I doubt there was any traffic when he was

originally carved.

These two murals caught my eye as well.

We walked along the River Exe towards the old quay

making sure to 

avoid all the swans there were about.

Then, as we were near by, we walked past my Grans 

old house in the part of the city they call St,Leonards.

  My Gran lived in one house, 

one of her brothers (she had 7) lived next door

and her Mother lived opposite. 

All the other brothers were within walking distance.

On Thursday and Friday while my daughter was teaching

I did a bit of research in to my family history.

I have been researching my family tree for a couple

of years now but mostly online, then I discovered that

Devon has a wonderful heritage centre with a lot of 

old records.  I have had great fun adding to my knowledge

and finding a few skeletons in the cupboard as well.

For a start my Gt.Gt Grandparents both had younger brothers

who were firm friends and

became young tearaways, ended up being

transported to Tasmania in Australia for theft in 1842

 at 16 years old.

Seems a trifle harsh to me for one so young

 but then life was then I suppose.

I also went and had a look at one of the villages

were another lot of Gt.Gt Grandparents came from.

I think they would still recognise parts of it today.

 We are going out for a meal tonight before I head back

to Norfolk

at some stage tomorrow and I will have to wait for

for a few months before I see her again.

See you all again soon and thank you for all the lovely

comments I get , I really enjoy reading them.

Gillxx