The Cheesemaker's House

I have just finished reading The Cheesemaker's House by Jane Cable.  Ms Cable is a new author to me but I was interested to read this her first book.  After the first two chapters I was drawn into the story.  I was hooked.  I couldn't put it down.  I liked the character of Alice Hart, who moved to the coutry after the breakdown of her marriage.  I was intrigued when she met Owen Maltby, a charmer and cafe owner who she seems to see in different places at the same time, strange.

The book is very well written so much so I really had a clear image in my mind of the main characters, Alice, Owen, Richard and Margaret.  Margaret sounded like a lovely lady who, like me, loves gardening but only had a small one of her own but helped to tend Alice's garden at the cottage.  There was an air of mystery about Owen from the beginning.  Stear clear of him I thought, but she didn't.  When Alice starts to renovate the barn next to her cottage the mystery deepens. Is that where the strange. crying is coming from?

I highly recommend that you read this book Jane is a wonderful story teller. I am sure like me you too will get hooked.  I looked forward to reading Jane's next book, I am sure there will be one.

Quilt top Finished

This is the quilt top finished.  I hope my ladies like the look of this quilt.  The finished measurements are 55" x 55".   A lovely technique full of surprises.

Because of time constraints I am considering having it professionally quilted.  I usually have my larger quilts quilted professionally they are 100% better than I could do myself on my home machine.  

Summer inspiration

A long break

This was a very long blogging break...
Here are a few pictures taken last month during a short trip to France.

I've been back in the studio for several weeks already. I've been writing, drawing, journaling, and (mainly) weaving.

I've put a 3 meter warp on my loom. I'm testing Cottoline yarn (by Venne). Tabby weaving at the moment.

I always like to take a picture of all the knotted ends right after threading the heddles.

In other news, I've sent my Twelve by Twelve 2012 quilts to the States. And I'm so glad they made it safely!
They're going to be shown in Oregon next month, at the Northwest Quilting Expo, along with the other Twelves' 2012 quilts of course.

I took lots of pictures before shipping the box. It was very nice handling the quilts as they had been sleeping in a drawer, out of sight, for 8 months.

I'm almost ready to start a new little scrap quilt. I've chosen the fabrics already. But this will be for another post.

After a long and lovely summer I am back in the studio.  It took a while to get myself psyched up to get started.

I ws judging at the Festival of Quilts this year and thought I might get fabric for one of the projects I am teaching there.  I am glad I didn't in the end. I bought a couple of books, one in Oxford on gardening, and another at FOQ which I put in my case for the flight home.  Can you believe my bag was overweight with just that? I took them on board with my hand luggage so I was glad I didn't go to town buying things at the show.

Anyway I popped over to Kaleidoscope and bought the above fabric for the project.

I made a start on Friday and got as far as cutting and piecing the strips and piecing the centre four blocks.

Yesterday and made great progress and got the whole quilt top pieced, most of the blocks are now joined and I managed to get the border strips cut. 

It is looking good.  Great progress I think.  Seven fabrics are required for the project (just to give any of my students a heads up).  The very dark navy fabric is a William Morris fabric which is gorgeous (took me a while to cut it as it is so lovely).  The others are various shades of blue with blue on cream and one white on white. However ay colour would work it doesn't have to be blue!

I have a load of housework to do together with a pile of ironing (it never ends does it).  However I am off out to the studio to get this quilt top finished then I can ponder how I am going to quilt it as I get the housework done. 

The photographs aren't great as it is quite difficult to photograph in the log cab studio I have. 

Allotment looking Good

Well it has been hot hot hot here.  We had many days of sunshine which is most welcome but it meant hauling water to the allotment which wasn't so great.  However the heat and lately the rain has meant we have a very fruitful allotment.

 The brassica bed is doing well.  We are so glad we put up the mesh when we planted the plugs as other allotment holders have had their brassicas eaten by the birds.

 Hubby has picked 7lb of blackcurrants already.  He is making wine from some, I have made jam with some and a cheesecake was made with the remainder plus some raspberries.  Very nice indeed.

 I planted a nice variety of lettuce which makes for an interesting salad.

 The inions this year are huge.  Both red nd yellow onions are doing well.  This is the first year we have had so much success with the Red Barron onions.  (This being our 3rd year on the allotment last year was a washout).

 My first attempt at growing Pac Choi.  They were delicious and a good size too.

My favourite potatoes are Salad Blue and this is the first plant I picked.  Not bad for an early is it?

This is a bit of the plot at the moment.  Everything is coming along nicely.   Water butts are full so no more taking up gallons of water - arms are thankful.