Home from France Part 2

I said in my first post that the house was beautiful but it's the finishing details on top of the general decoration that make it a home. For instance, I was particularly taken with the terracotta tiles by one of the stoves.

My personal partiality for hexagons is well known (think Nancy Drew Quilt, Crocheted Cat Blanket and Hand Sewn Cushion {below} among other items)...

...but thinking of them inevitably leaves me thinking about english paper piecing and a visit to nearby Longres and these windows in particular got me thinking of a new project which would be an additional detail to an already delightful home.

A little fiddling in PowerPoint has given me a pattern and the paper pieces were cut out this afternoon while Doughty's got the all important fabric in the post to me. Expect progress soon on that and two other patchwork projects. 

Being away from London gave me a chance to think about how things are with me generally. Walks through this kind of scenery with forgotten train tracks leading who knows where would incline anyone to think about directions and destinations.

My Director has been unwell recently as the result of stress and it reminds me of my own breakdown which I suspect was pretty much 10 years ago exactly. Life seems to have been pretty active since then with boyfriends and a husband coming and going and then, in the case of the husband, coming back again. Things on that front are pretty good but there is still one thing missing from my life.

I've known many friends crave little people in their lives but it's always been the little people covered in fur with a tendency to meow which have been my focus. Sadly, one joining me still seems as far off as the idea of owning my own home which is not helped by being in London. Could it be that I'm finally ready to leave the capital? Wandering down tracks like this have left me with such thoughts.

Which just goes to show how dangerous it is to go on holiday. Especially not one filled up with gruelling sight seeing and endless 'experiences'. Not that I didn't have those too. For instance, tinned sprouts? Who saw that coming?

And who but a true tourist takes a photo in the supermarket?

With travel and including audiobooks I have an enormous nine books to review so that will be coming soon, along with an update on my miniature quilt and latest knitting.

Home from France

I am back after 5 blissful nights in Colmier Le Bas, about an hour's drive from Dijon. I was at my cousin's house, staying with her and her husband and their two cats, Sam and Maisie. This is the house from the back when I was on a meandering and aimless walk around the vicinity.

They are pretty isolated but the town is 15 mins drive or so and they have lots of friends in the area. There are no cars passing though and at night it is pitch black. Idyllic. I got a lot of knitting and patchwork done when I wasn't being distracted by these two...

Sam, the boy, was a slightly buffer version of Maisie and had lost most of his tail when a kitten. He was rather timid so I only got occasional strokes from him. Maisie however was not backward in coming forward.

That is her on my bed, as she was every evening and for which I was very grateful. She mixed affection with extreme playfulness and I spent a lot of time flinging toy mice and pieces of wool around for her to chase.

The house is like a feature from Country Living magazine - absolutely beautiful and modern despite being traditional and also extremely comfortable. I slept sooooo well and also ate the most amazing meals - my cousin is an amazing cook! Now why couldn't that run in my bit of the family? We spent some time discussing it though and how it relates to other crafts and I can understand where I am going wrong. For instance, as a new knitter you don't start a pattern and then immediately start free-styling. Or if you do you are highly likely to end with a mess. Baby steps is what is needed with the cooking. Although I feel I may be jumping into her cheese and ham pie and apple crumble with calvados fairly soon. Seriously divine.

I have lots more photos to share but will save those for another post so I can go and jump into a nice hot bath. I leave you with a group shot.

From left to right, yours truly, mumsy and cousin. It was Mum's birthday yesterday and Deb outdid herself with the meal so by this point we were all feeling rather lazy and sitting in front of a wood burning stove listening to vintage recordings on vinyl. It was - and I believe I may have already mentioned it but it's worth repeating - idyllic!

Terribly Remiss

After the excitement of SkipNorth last weekend I've been 100% working or sleeping since I got back and head off to France and an internet free existence for a week at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning. A few SkipNorth photos though...

Not a sofa, but possibly the largest yorkshire pudding ever seen by a southener. The Bronte Hotel in Haworth leaves no customer hungry.

One of the amazing sheds at Wingham. Every year I have to convince myself I don't want to start spinning. Or weaving. Nope.

The Steam Train pulling in, about to disgorge 27 over-excited knitters onto the platform.

Illusion knitting on display during our pop-up yarn fair.

I will be back to blog again in a week. In the meantime - have fun!

Nancy Drew - We Have a Winner

Using random.org I picked a winner from the comments on my Nancy Drew post. Congratulations to Stephanie who said

"I love the hexagons. My favorite is the disappearing 4 patch, I am planning one now.

And I love the little purse!"

I have emailed you for your address and a purse kit will be on its way to you this week. I'll be doing a post shortly about all the amazing suggestions I got - thanks to all of you for making them!

Nancy Drew! And a Giveaway!

Finally I get to reveal my quilt. I am quite shockingly proud of this. Expect a mother-load of photos. But first - welcome to day 5 of the Nancy Drew is a Clue bloghop! Please be sure to visit the others taking part today, listed at the end of this post, and thanks to Carol for cheerleading us all!

So.....here it is!

Admittedly a slightly odd size - dictated by the layer cake I bought plus a couple of half yards of one of the book spine prints and the red faces one. I've only got scraps of the cake left and about half a fat quarter of the other two.

The backing is some delicious grey polka dot flannel which, with an old blanket sandwiched in between, makes the most huggable quilt you can imagine.

This is absolutely perfect for snuggling on the sofa with my knitting handy and an old mystery on the tv.

This is the first time I have properly quilted a quilt. I've tried it before but always a bit haphazardly and without great results. This time I think I've got it sorted.

I used a stencil (blogged about here) and used my beloved water soluble marker to get the lines drawn on. After that it was easy to use some nice shiny blue rayon as the top thread and just a plain white cotton as the bottom. I adore the effect. Then I used a charcoal bias binding to link the black on the front with the paler grey on the back.

Seriously - I couldn't be any happier with this quilt!

Nancy Drew was my gateway to what is now a serious mystery habit. As soon as I saw this bloghop announced I stalked the Sew We Quilt site until sign-ups opened. Sew much fun! Here are my fellow day fivers:

Marjorie’s Busy Corner

Kris Loves Fabric

The Slow Quilter

Accio Fabric!

Sew Many Yarns

Betty at That Other Blog

Marcy M. at That Other Blog

Pigtales and Quilts

And finally...the giveaway! This is open to everyone regardless of location. All you need to do is leave me a comment telling me your favourite quilt pattern. I am on the look out for a pattern for my next quilt so would love some inspiration! You can link to a picture or just describe it in a few words. I'll be using fabrics all with a sewing theme in case that influences you. And what do you win...? Remember the U'R Priceless bloghop a few months ago? That was my first time with a sew-in frame as I much prefer the ones you glue. Which is what you'll be making if you win!

Up for grabs is one of my Fabric Purse Frame Kits which will shortly be joining the Stitchmarker Kits in my etsy shop. It includes everything you need (including a tutorial booklet) apart from thread and either a needle or your sewing machine.  Giveaway closes on Sunday night at midnight UK time.

Now go and visit everyone else in the bloghop - hoorah for Nancy Drew!

Gurgle Gurgle

The title of today's post is partly a homage to Dad's Army (a favourite of one of my Dads and a phrase he frequently shouts at random) and partly a homage to my stomach which is making a noise like the percussion section in one of those orchestras who make their own instruments from plumbing equipment.

This weekend has been a frenzy of activity. The Nancy Drew Quilt is finished!!!!! So fricking exciting. So where are the pictures? Nope - not until Tuesday which is my day on the blog hop. I absolutely adore it. Can't wait to show it off. Apart from that I have a friend who will be popping one out in two weeks time and I have been pondering what to give as a baby welcoming gift. I have a little onesie and hat but wanted to make something too. So...

It is a lined pouch with a zip using this tutorial. It is rather nice because the ends of the zip are covered so it looks neater. I used the flannel from my Nancy Drew quilt and brightened it up with some ribbon scraps.

I am told these kinds of things are always useful either for toys or medicines or dummies or something else. Not knowing the gender I go with the colours the Mum likes. I plan to make a bigger oilskin box version for my sis although I've got 8 weeks grace before needing that one.

And in between all this sewing there has been masses of knitting. It's just that 60 rows in with 600+ stitches per row looks much that same as 10 rows in with about 200.

I am looking forward to blocking the bugger and seeing it in all its glory.

Long Weekend

Yikes - I meant to put this live at the weekend but clearly forgot. So here it is, 3 days late!

I've ticked a fair few things off my "to do" list this weekend.

1. Stencil quilt design onto quilt.

- Done and quilting 3/4 done. They grey cotton flannel is really lovely. 

2. Tutorial for frame purse kits written.

- All done except a bit of formatting. Pictures all taken and two examples made. Although I did manage to put the tag in upside down on this one. Dur. It's sashiko on this side and leather on the other - rather lovely. 

3. Review collection of sewing fabrics for next quilt.

- Here they all are. I've actually managed to keep them all reasonably similar colour-wise.

4. Choose colours for the Pop Spots Shawl on Ravelry.

- Fail, but then you can't win them all. I'm just not sure whether to go for two greys (I have madelainetosh sock in two lovely ones) or a red and white one. I've also only just realised that if you go for the small size you can get the spots and edging out of one skein, so I could just go for it with the grey. Mmmm...decisions...

I also did some more of my clock face. 

I really am rather liking this, and it's fun to do. 

Nancy Drew Love

The blog hop starts today and even though I am not featuring until next week I am deeply engaged already. These are the people who have posts up today:

Michelle’s Romantic Tangle

Life in the Scrapatch

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Selina Quilts

Meadowbrook

Hilltop House Creative Works

My Sister Made Me Do It

Whims and Fancies

Pieced Brain

Just Let Me Quilt

It always amazes me - the variety of techniques and finished creations. Plus I inevitably find new blogs to add to my reading list which I now keep on Google Reader instead of on the side of this blog. This morning brought me to Life in the Scrapatch in particular and I saw the cat in her sidebar. Now also resting in my sidebar...I couldn't resist. When you hover your mouse on her stomach she purrs and can also react in various other ways. I won't keep her long but she cheers me up for now since I've been struck by one of these vomiting bugs. Bleh.

Templates and Tutorials

Taking my inspiration from tortoises such as Charlie...

...and others...

Source: google.co.uk via Alex on Pinterest

I have decided to quilt my Nancy Drew Quilt hexagonally. So I made a stencil.

I've never used one before so time will tell whether it works out.

In the meantime I've been taking photos for a tutorial going into my new kits. Guess what the kits are for?

And it's definitely not my photography! The kits will premier at SkipNorth and then afterwards go onto Etsy.

Books 2013 #4 - #9

Since the Kindle arrived chez byrne I have turned some of my nefarious attention away from downloading american crime series and towards downloading books. This means that I recently started reading such titles as "No Cooperation from the Cat" by Marion Babson and "The Chocolate Moose Motive" by Jo Anna Carl not because they were on my wish list but because they were accessible. Shame on me. I read about ten pages of each before coming to my senses - drivel. Fortunately it is not all bad in the epub world and so you'll see one below which I got from the Guttenburg Project as it is out of copyright and was really rather delightful. They have 42,000 free ebooks so I feel a return journey there is definitely in my future.

#4 Death from a Top Hat
Clayton Rawson

Sadly out of print but available either as an ebook or, as I received this one, as an audiobook. The reader was Gregory Gawton who has a good voice for this sort of thing and brings the characters to life. This is the first in the series which book 56 from last year is part of. These stories are complicated so you need to pay attention but it is worth it. I love the former magician who now runs a shop and helps the police solve these crimes. The solution to this one is a little unfair but that hasn't discouraged me from procuring the next in the series. They are set in the early part of the 20th century and describe a calmer side of american life than we often get. I guess in terms of genre this is almost a 'cosy' but isn't as homely as that. 

#5 Die Laughing

Carola Dunn

As you might have guessed from the lurid cover, this involves a dentist but this need not put any odontophobes off as apart from mentioning his profession there isn't much further discussion of drills (eek) or other elements of their macabre arts. These books are definitely cosy's. Daisy, for it is she, is now married to Alec and sharing the house with her disapproving mother-in-law. Much to her husband's annoyance Daisy finds her dentist deaded and is asked by the widow to get involved in uncovering the truth. This particular book was from the Library - but it is a ebook. Borrowing ebooks from the Library. How awesome is that? I'm very happy about it. And anything else that makes me less of a criminal. 

#6 Hilda Hopkins: Murder She Knit

Vivienne Fagan

You all know that I am big fan of JB. So when I saw a free kindle book on Amazon that linked my Fletcher love with my knitting love I was in like Flint. This is more of a novelette than a full blown book but it's actually rather funny. I feel sure we all know someone like Hilda, who kills her lodgers but then knits 18" dolls that resemble them to ensure they are not completely forgotten. Her evading capture by lurking in a charity shop gave me ideas for when I eventually have to live the life of a fugitive and her eventual taking by the police os clearly a scene written by a knitter. OK - it is machine knitting - but that still counts. The rest of the series are an ungodly £1.27 or so each but I dare say I might be getting a couple in time for my holiday to France. 

#7 Glimpses of the Moon

Edmund Crispin

Not to be confused with the Edith Wharton novel of the same name, this is really charming. Gervase Fen is another hero of mine and featured in the books I read in 2012 but this was an audiobook and something I loved coming back to (I have read it before several times). The voluntarily bed-ridden pub landlord with his happy wife, the cavalry major with his distrust of horses, the vicar with his...everything, the tortoise, the pig's head, the pisser...it's all vintage genius. This is late in the series and I've read complaints that Gervase has gone soft in this one but I think he's entirely in character still - just getting on a bit and taking it easy in an english village during the summer. I wouldn't suggest this as a way to start Crispin's ouevre but if you have read Swan Song or another one and liked it you'll enjoy this too. 

#8 The Adventures of Inspector Lestrade

MJ Trow

Awful cover but interesting book. A series of murders follow a children's story book. But that's not the core here - the point is that Lestrade is the much besmirched policeman in the Sherlock Holmes books and here he is as our leading man with both Watson and Holmes coming into the story as side characters and around whom fiction blends with reality. This is one of Liz's recommendations and another audiobook. I found myself intrigued and thinking about the story in between listening to it so I've happily downloaded the next book and will continue to listen with interest. 

#9 That Affair Next Door

Anna Katherine Green

Published in 1896 so well out of copyright and available free and pre-kindle formatted or through the Guttenburgers. This started a little frostily as I was relating the protagonist to someone who I am currently finding very annoying. But once I got over that I really got into this. A very proper lady of the period clearly spends a lot of time thinking about how correct she is and how incorrect others are. She happens to see a man and woman entering the house opposite hers late at night. Improper! She goes over the next morning to see what's what and finds the body of a dead young woman. The plot thickens to the consistency of treacle and doesn't clear until pretty late on. The solution isn't new - but then it probably was when this was written - but it is clever and well written and well worth a read. This is the first in a series so I will, and I seem to have said this a lot, be reading others when I get hold of them. 

Now for some knitting on that scrotum.

 

Me-ow

My newest buttons have arrived.

Squuuuuuueeeee! Could not be happier. They got here amazingly quickly from Australia AND free postage AND half price. Her Etsy Shop is here. She has other buttons, earrings and lots of other very beautiful stuff. Definitely to be recommended.

It has made me think again about making the most of my most precious and loved buttons which otherwise live in a storage box. This would be a good way to display singles:

Source: blog.luulla.com via Alex on Pinterest

But then I am thinking more like this kind of thing except just with carded buttons.

Source: baltares.blogspot.com via Alex on Pinterest

Ah - the craft we would do if we didn't have to work!

Speaking on which, on my way in this morning I noticed a block I pass twice a day had added a flag.

"So what?" I hear you ask. But look what it says.

Hello!

Wrung Like A Chicken

Thirty minutes after meeting a man (whose name I can't now recall) for the first time I was semi-naked, oiled up and he had both his arms around me. Then he wrung me by the neck like a chicken. 

Another day, another medical professional. This one is an osteopath and has just caused me the most pain I've experienced since the days before my back operation. Then he cracked me, vibrated me with what felt a jackhammer and then zapped me repeatedly with a laser. 

On the other hand I do now feel considerably better. Plus having been subjected to that much pain I am obliged BY LAW to comfort myself. 

Current favourites are Cherry Deluxe, just in case anyone's buying...

Having not been able to look over my right shoulder properly for two months now it genuinely does seem to have eased after just this first session. And as knitting seemed to aggravate the problem I really had no choice but to seek a solution. Fingers crossed this does it.