Hibernating and More Quilts

I have neglected my blog of late. I lost interest, preferring to spend time on other activities. Throughout January, February and March I did my usual hibernating and making quilts for Project Linus. Another 12 rolled off the sewing machine production line. All the material was gifted to me. They are all lap quilts approx 36" x 36" for children in hospital. The patterns are pretty and the fleece backing is cosy, providing warmth and comfort, and the children get to keep them.

 Top right and bottom right are the same material, but TR is triangles and BR is half square triangles.

All have the pale blue fleece backing.

After completing this Star Wars quilt above I noticed a small tear in one of the plain orange squares.
I had used all the material so I used the signature label, which I usually put in a corner, to cover it.

Last year I used oddments of fleece for the backing of one of the quilts, I didn't want to waste them and thought they would look nice in a sort of fan of rainbow colours, see here. Well it was very difficult and I said I would never attempt anything like it again. Then I was given these 4 rectangle pieces of fleece above right. The colours matched this material perfectly, they were just begging to be used.  They were much easier to work with though as they followed the lines of the squares.

Courtesy of BeFunky.com

These patterns of rabbits are quite pretty but I think the colours are a bit drab. 

This hasn't photographed very well, they are pretty shades of blue and yellow. I'm not happy with the border though, I haven't matched the patterns very well. I didn't really notice it until I hung it up. I'm debating whether to unpick the border and re-do it!

And finally this one, using strips of all the odd pieces of material left over.
It's time consuming but very satisfying.
I don't use wadding with my quilts, but I have to when I do these because all those seams make it bulky.

Here in the UK we've been enjoying gorgeous warm weather,
I hope it continues into a hot summer like last year.

~Keep warm and well ~
Polly x

Happy Easter

Flowers And Chocolates

A winning combination


I hope you have a happy/sunny/fun/peaceful Easter 

~Polly x ~

A Good Read

The English Assassin by Daniel Silva is a taut, fast-paced thriller confidently rooted in fact - Switzerland's shameful WWII record of profiteering and collaboration with Nazi Germany. During the 2nd World War vast numbers of the world’s great painting masterpieces were stolen by the Nazis and given to the bankers of Zurich for safe keeping. Many of these paintings were owned by the then persecuted Jews. Under Swiss law if an item was unclaimed after 5 years that item then became the property of the person who was currently in possession of it, making it impossible for the rightful owners to prove provenance.

When art restorer and occasional Israeli agent Gabriel Allon is sent to Zurich to restore the painting of a reclusive millionaire banker, he arrives to find his would-be employer murdered and a secret collection of priceless, illicitly gained Impressionist masterpieces is missing. Gabriel's handler steps out of the shadows to admit the truth - the collector had been silenced, and Gabriel is put back in the high-stakes spy game, tasked with recovering the paintings and returning them to their rightful owners. But the Swiss Bankers are not about to give billions of dollars in artwork away and are quite prepared to kill to keep possession of the masterpieces.

Tense, expertly crafted, and with a few twists and turns, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also found the exploration of the secretive world of Swiss banking and the secretive culture of Switzerland fascinating.

~Happy Reading ~

Polly x

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day 

to all the wonderful, loving, caring Mums
My daughter and I celebrated Mother's Day yesterday, and I'm glad we did because today's weather is overcast and chilly. Yesterday was beautiful, sunny and warm. 
My daughter treated me to a day in Canterbury

 browsing, shopping

soaking up the atmosphere

and a scrumptious cream tea at a lovely hotel restaurant

and of course no day out would be complete without a visit to one of my favourite shops!

And today I received this beautiful flower basket from my darling grandson.

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

A Concert and a Bit of Art

Today's concert at the Cathedral was Music from St Cedd's School, an independent day school for boys and girls from pre-school to year 6.  With an extensive programme of string orchestra, guitar ensemble, piano solo, violin solo, a singing group, clarinet ensemble, guitar ensemble, recorders, a beautiful solo singer, flute choir, oboe solo and the senior chamber choir it was a truly delightful concert. We are so lucky having these free concerts. 

Last Saturday I went to an art workshop organised by the art club I attend in the village. 

It was with some trepidation that I put my name down because it was for oils,
and I have never painted with oils before.

I enjoyed it, it was a good experience and I will do more at our club meetings.

Everyone enjoyed the day, and produced some excellent work.

This was mine from early on

And the finished project, which I was quite pleased with. I added the bow later.

I might do it again to see if I can improve on it (the whole painting, not just the bow!).

The following 3 were my favourites

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

Lunchtime Concert

Today's concert in the Cathedral were a brilliant duo, Maya Traikova on piano and Krassimira Jeliazkova-Jones on violin. Their programme was varied and included work from Pancho Vladigerov from their native Bulagaria and our home grown Elgar. 

Afterwards my friend M and I went to a lovely deli and tea room.

It's very pretty

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

The Dolls House Main Bedroom

I'm glad that's finished, well 90% finished, I need to add a few more embellishments, and I need to put a picture on the far wall between the doors, and a full length mirror on the wall at the side of the window. 

It started well

The wallpaper is a sample from a DIY store and the flooring is varnished spatulas again.

I decided to put fake doors in (miniaturists are allowed artistic licence! :-)  because

the lady of this house would definitely have a walk in wardrobe and an en-suite,

especially as her teenage daughter has an en-suite!

Don't look too closely at the bottom left of the fake door, I miscalculated and had to add a piece of wood.

It's nicely painted over now and hidden by the bed anyway!

I knew the furniture I wanted, I bought the bed at a local dolls house shop and ordered the dressing table, chest of drawers and bedside cabinets online. I planned to spray paint the bed to match the cream furniture, however, it wasn't all cream, the chest of drawers was white! Change of plan, I spray painted everything to match the white chest of drawers.

So down to the shed, because the weather was too bad to do it outside, furniture in a cardboard

box and spray away. It only took a few coats to get a good cover.

The bed was mahogany to start with, I used paint stripper to take off most of the colour.

It worked quite well. I thought it would be nice to put some decoration on it.

This cheap frame from Hobbycraft was just right for cutting out some of the swirls.

I tried a few designs

and looking at the photos here I wish I had gone with this one above

but I decided on this one. I glued them in place and spray painted it.

Now this is where it got very tricky. I wanted to decorate this little bed with some gold leaf............. 

dear reader, if you ever hear me mention gold leaf again, take me by the hand

and gently remind me how bad this was.

If you've done gold leafing before you know how fine it is. Oh boy did I get into a mess.

Just a gentle sigh from me scattered bits of gold leaf all over the place. 

I don't know if I bought inferior leaves, I just couldn't get it to cover nice and smoothly.

This is not pretty, but by this time I didn't want to start all over again either

sanding and painting or buying another bed.

THEN.....!!!

As if that wasn't enough punishment I decided to have a go with two ceiling roses!!

This one for the music room turned out quite well. 

The one for the bedroom, well it's a disaaaaster dahling. 

But the chandelier is very pretty and you can see more of that than the rose. 

So onto the curtains. I should have gone with straight forward pencil pleats, but no I thought 

Roman blinds would look nice which they do but what a fiddly job.

I went to a textiles exhibition last year. The ones I liked were out of my price range, but I did find this little package of material for only £5, just enough to make bed linen and curtains with, and I'm going to use that small piece of burgundy velvet to cover a bolster.

I'm currently hibernating making lap quilts.

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

Mary's Meals

My friend M and I recently attended a Mary's Meals Double The Love afternoon cream tea.

The charity provides meals to some of the world’s poorest children every day they attend school. The meals attract hungry children into the classroom. The food fills their empty tummies so they have the energy and opportunity to learn, giving them the chance of a brighter future. The meals also support families struggling to feed their children.

The school feeding programmes are owned and run by community volunteers in the countries where they provide food. And the committees are made up of parents, teachers and volunteers. They also have a long history of providing emergency relief to vulnerable regions around the world. Long term their work encourages community support for education, provides support for smallholder farmers and increases government recognition of school feeding.

We were served delicious scones and scrumptious cakes, tea and/or coffee, and entertained by a lovely group of musicians playing great music from our generation. There were a couple of games with prizes and a raffle. 
It was a lovely afternoon, and good to be helping a very worthwhile charity.

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

A Good Read

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

The year is 1922 and life in a South London suburb has become one of drudgery and tedium for Frances Wray. Single, in her late 20's, and living with her widowed mother, Frances’ life has become a monotonous routine of housework and Wednesday trips to the cinema. She exists awkwardly between the end of the Edwardian era and the beginning of the Jazz Age. She feels stifled by time and culture and although comfortable with her sexuality she has already paid a stiff price for a previous romance with a woman. She could, as her former lover did, move to London and live a far freer life, yet she chooses duty to her mother. Her older brothers were killed in the war and her father’s shady financial dealings left her and her mother in ruin. The Wrays are forced to take in lodgers. 

Enter Lilian and Leonard Barber, she blowsy but sweet, he rakish and flirtatious in a way that leaves Frances slightly queasy. The small indignities of sharing a home with strangers —the trips through the kitchen to access the outdoor toilet; the coughs and blowing of noses, the creaking of floors overhead, the chance meetings on the landing in one's dressing gown — all excruciating, but must be endured, for how else will the bills be paid? But the Wrays have no way of knowing just how disturbing their tenant’s presence will be or what a devastating impact it will have on Frances’s life.

The scene setting is so exact, rich and full of detail, the reader is transported to the place and time. You can smell the scent of cigarettes and sweat, feel the fabrics, the touch of a lover's hand slipping over soft, eager skin, the cool damp of a garden at night, the weight of a body dragged through the ripe mud. The tenseness of trying to remain normal whilst harbouring a dreadful secret was tangible. I was on the edge of my seat.

The Paying Guests is a brilliant crime thriller that also explores a woman’s soul. Don’t be put off by the hefty volume, once you start reading you will not be able to stop.

~Happy Reading ~

Polly x

Noise Stops Play

My grandson's basketball match on Saturday was stopped due to noise coming from the other users of the hall. 

The match was being played in the gym hall of a school, the same hall where they meet on club nights. On the other side of the hall, separated by a curtain, a game of men's volley ball was being played. I think it might have been a tournament, there were a lot of men in various team colours and lots of spectators making lots of noise. It wasn't too bad at first but gradually as more people arrived the noise level increased, they were using drums and something else, the kind of noise you would expect at a football match. 

Just before half time our visiting team called a halt to the game saying they couldn't continue due to not being able to hear the ref and the boys not being able to hear instructions from their coach. The score was 34 to Chelmsford, 22 to Northampton. Our boys were playing very well, almost as one, they did some brilliant passes resulting in good scores. Whilst I agreed that the noise was becoming unbearable the boys wanted to continue, they were amused by the decision of the visitors to concede the match.

Grandson warming up

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

Never Far Away

I think the unrivalled Great Ormond Street Hospital is known world wide for the specialist care they provide for sick children. 

The Hospital Charity will be launching its Never Far Away: Essex Appeal on 29^th January in Chelmsford. This exciting new appeal aims to fund patient and family accommodation at GOSH, helping to keep families from Essex and across the UK together at often difficult times.

More than 53% of the children treated at GOSH come from outside London. Because the care they receive is so specialist, some need to stay for several months. Having a child in hospital is stressful enough without the added pressure of paying for hotels or train fares. So the hospital want to make sure that parents and carers can stay in nearby accommodation free of charge.

The launch is being held on Tuesday 29^th January at 6.30pm at Cedd`s Hall, Chelmsford Cathedral, 
CM1 1EH (a short walk from Chelmsford train station, and car parks are located nearby)

For more information visit www.gosh.org/nfa or contact Neverfaraway@gosh.org.

Lunchtime Concert

Today's lunchtime concert in the Cathedral was Laurence Lyndon-Jones playing the organ, and what an excellent performance it was, ranging from the rousing Music for the Royal Fireworks by George Frideric Handel to the calm Consolation in D-flat major by Nicolaus Bruhns. Organ music isn't everyone's cup of tea. My friend M isn't a huge fan like me, but she did enjoy some of it.
We had our usual cheese and pickle sandwiches and tea, and M had a piece of malt loaf. I stuck to my resolution and resisted the cakes!

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

The Favourite

Sumptuous, funny and deliciously rude, full of lust, jealousy and deceit "The Favourite" is a must see film.

I was pleased to hear that Olivia Coleman won Best Actress 2019 at the Golden Globe awards. She gave a superb performance as Queen Anne, the much troubled last of the Stuart monarchs. Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark was a drunk and a crashing bore. She keeps 17 rabbits in her bedchamber, calling them “the little ones”, tragic reminders of the 17 children she lost, poignantly described as “Some were born as blood, some without breath, and some were with me a very brief time”.

Lacking confidence, overweight and depressed, riddled with gout, and plagued by suicidal thoughts Anne relies upon the advice of her friend and lover Sarah Churchill (Lady Marlborough). Brilliantly played by the seductive Rachel Weisz, Sarah is the embodiment of steely resolve, a fearless presence who keeps her enemies close, on the understanding that she may shoot them at any time. Anne and Sarah are inseparable, and when they were apart they corresponded using endearing fanciful names. Sarah was Mrs Freeman and Anne, Mrs Morley. Lady Sarah more or less runs the palace in harmonious partnership with the Queen.

This harmony is shattered with the arrival of Abigail, beautifully played by Emma Stone, subtly navigating the shift between innocence and determination. Abigail is Sarah's penniless cousin hoping to secure employment in the palace. Sarah sends Abigail to work in the scullery where a practical joke results in Abigail suffering severe burns on her hands. She treats these with a potion she makes from woodland leaves. This potion also soothes the pain of the Queen's gout, and before long the interloper has made her way into Anne’s bedchamber, where she soothes more than the Queen’s aching legs, prompting a power struggle for the Queen's attention.

Meanwhile the politicians are arguing about how to handle the war with France, poncing around in huge wigs and comical make-up, betting on duck races and pelting each other with fruit!

The settings and costumes are rich and stunning. The occasional, disjointed music created a very interesting edgy "What's going to happen next" atmosphere.

My friend M and I enjoyed every minute of it.

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

Buster's Diary

Not much has been happening here, we had a quiet Christmas.
A few social events and catching up with family.

On Christmas day Polly and her daughter took me and Rufus out for a walk wearing these

Santa outfit for Rufy

Christmas pud for me

Thank goodness we didn't see anyone we knew, our street cred would plummet!

It was a lovely crisp frosty morning.

We each got a variety box of goodies and Rufy got a really nice squeeky toy.

I didn't get one, I don't play with them like Rufy does, I only want it when he has it!

Polly's son-in-law cooked a delicious Christmas day dinner, 

Polly made a lovely boozy trifle and everyone ate too much!

We had a few leftover bits.

We didn't wear the outfits on Boxing Day!

And here we are at the beginning of a new year. Polly isn't going to make any new year resolutions,

but she needs to lose the weight she has gained over the festive season!

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2019

~Keep warm and well ~

Buster & Rufus
🐾