mid week randoms

Miss K and I took a train ride last week. We were gutted not to be able to make toast or style our hair........ We decided a microwave and curling tongs might be ok and will plan our next breakfast and fashion looks accordingly.

J and I drove over to see his mum at the weekend, to check up on the status of the flood damage and to see what progress was being made. We found 3 wonderful layers of oh so stylish wall paper behind where the kitchen cupboards used to be. I can decide if I prefer the fake wood effect or the oh so stylish brown floral with boats and cottages..... I truly can't imagine anyone thinking orange was a good colour for the kitchen.........

To say the house is looking a little sad would be an understatement, but after several hours work there are less skirting boards stacked up in the yard and a satisfying pile of firewood ready for next winter!

Back home there is progress on a new flower bed, this side of the garden doesn't get much sun, this year I may throw several packets of wild flower seed at it, and see what happens, whilst I come up with a creative plan (work out what might possibly grow there........)

and finally more blossom. just because. 

sometimes we need all the promise and hope of spring we can get.

five things

this week I've seen.

1. Rock of Ages - performed as the high school musical.
80's rock - ripped jeans, band t-shirts, leather wrist straps, tattoos (sleeves and temporary!)
Over 200 hours of rehearsals. Well deserved 5 show sell out.

2. Stowaway 
"A Boeing 777 begins its descent towards Heathrow. The wheels unfold out of the belly of the plane.  The frozen body of a stowaway is tipped out and cuts through the clear morning sky."
Incredible production with beautiful choreography, thought provoking story, and a fascinating Q&A session at the end. If it's going to be near you I highly recommend it.

3. Room
An exploration of love between mother and child. Fascinating. Heartbreaking. Inspiring.
Discover your strong.

4. blossom. oh how happy this makes me.

5. The northern lights. no photo. a faint green glow in the sky. the magic of the universe.

joining in with Amy. 

what have you seen this week that's made you be proud, think, be grateful, smile, stop in your tracks and be in awe of the world?

Five on Friday. Five stages of a quilt.

I've just finished a quilt that I started last July. Eight months isn't that long for me. Considering almost all of it is procrastinating about the next stage. To celebrate I thought I'd join in with Amy's five on Friday series, and make a light hearted not to be considered as a tutorial five stages of a quilt post. 

1.Preparation and Design. Spend hours over several evenings, completely trashing the living room with fabric, and then sitting cutting small pieces into smaller pieces. Try to decide what to do with them.

2. Piecing. Once you've selected your design and cut your fabric strips you can endless join them together into squares. And then unjoin the squares, move them round and then join them up again.......

3. Quilting. First spend hours on the internet trying to buy a replacement part for your machine to stop the thread snapping. Order part. Dither for hours about how to actually quilt the thing. Enlist helper who will watch you closely as you work, 

and then quality control all the stitching for you.

4. Binding. Ponder fabric choices for several weeks and then finally ask teenage recipient of quilt who picks out a choice in five seconds. Become strangely addicted to a tv series on netflix whilst you spend hours hand sewing.

5. Testing for comfort and warmth. Put quilt on bed. Set a stop watch to see how long it will be before the cats find it.