a present for J and a present for me.....

hurray another present finished ! this one is for J



with just a little reminder that if we ever manage to move house then we need some chickens....

it's amazing that any sewing has been done at all, as we seem to be the plague house at the moment; first both children and I were ill, then they got better, but I didn't quite seem to, then Miss K was ill again, and I ended up with a sinus infection, and then after 2 days back at school Miss K is poorly again, and has spent most of today in our bed asleep............ and now I'm wondering why I didn't just get in with her, and do the same.........

yesterday I was feeling almost human again, and was due to go and volunteer at the quilt museum, so in the interests of getting some fresh air, and because it's actually a real pain to drive into town (traffic, finding anywhere to park, environmentally unfriendliness, cost of parking) I decided to go on my bike

not such a great plan, all the main roads were fine, but the side roads which make great short cuts from all the nasty traffic were rather icy, and I ended up in a heap on the road/pavement with my bike on top of me, and my face on the concrete........
a passing cyclist stopped and picked up my bike, and helped me up, and made sure I was ok, for which I was extremely grateful.
one grazed knee, one bashed shin, one scraped chin, one cut lip, very sore mouth/teeth, nothing broken but completely injured pride..........

the lovely people at the quilt museum found me the first aid kit, and then I spent a happy morning making sure no-one stole the quilts, answered a few questions (nothing hard thankfully!) and spent lots of time watching a fantastic machine quilting demo by Philippa Naylor, who I'd seen give a talk several months ago, and it was just fabulous to watch her work, and ask questions, and realise how much I've been doing wrong - ok so that's not soooo good............

In the interest of cheering myself up I found myself unable to resist buying her book, as a Christmas present to me, and I only had a little peep before putting it away till next week.
It's just gorgeous, the colours here don't do it any justice at all, it's vibrant



and the layout of the pages is refreshing



and the examples of her work outstanding



look at these feather shapes, just fabulous and all stitched freehand, no drawing involved.



even this photo of an iron is inspirational!



and this colour on white is amazing



this might well be the book I spend the whole of the Christmas holidays curled up on the sofa with!