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We had a lovely holiday and an enjoyable relaxing break in the mountains, we did manage to succumb to very bad colds for our first week and a half but it didn't matter too much because the weather was very snowy and cold.  we relaxed indoors sewing and reading.  We arrived home last Thursday evening after a long uneventful and reasonably comfortable journey.  Perhaps that had something do do with the overnight flight and the extra legroom and I managed to sleep well this time on the flight.  Jet Lag was minimal and I think I only had one night of middle of the night forays to the kitchen for tea and toast.

I am gradually getting back to the routine, of course we saw the family at the weekend and I had lovely Mothers Day treats.  Dad managed fine with his extra help when we were away and is looking well.

This week I am hoping to get back to my quilting, I have all these quilt tops to finish for the little arrivals due this summer.  I have almost finished Harry Hedgehog and it will be gifted soon and I will be able to show the finished result.

As you probably know I am in the process of gradually moving things around and transferring some of my quilting 'stuff' from the dining room upstairs.  This afternoon I spent some time sorting the fabrics I bought when I was on holiday.  This is the result

Did I really buy all that?  Yep! and I know I hear you all shouting - FAT QUARTERS!!  PRE CUTS!!   ah well we all have senior moments.  

I have used some of these fabrics already for the baby quilt tops I have made while on holiday so now they are all ready to go upstairs to be stored in my lovely new unit with all my other fabrics.

The clocks have changed for me twice this spring, its lovely not to have to close the curtains so early in the evenings.  Its great to hear the birds singing, its one thing you don't get in the Rockies until later as most of the birds there are migratory and won't arrive until things warm up. We even have a little Blue Tit looking at the new bird box which has been put up, hopefully we will have new residents and a new family building their nest. 

I hope you all have a lovely week - sewing might be a little slower for some of you now, gardens need tidied, grass needs cut and there are so many other Spring things needing done.  I will continue to sew - I don't know what I would do if I couldn't, and I have so many ideas and projects I want to do.

Snow, Snow and more Snow!

It seems as though it hasn't stopped snowing since we arrived and the temperature I don't think has been above freezing.  We have both now recovered from our dreaded colds and hopefully will be out and about a bit more this week - it is supposed to stop snowing and the temperatures should start climbing a bit hopefully.  The skiers are having a whale of a time with lots of powder!

Talking of whales - this is the next quilt on the table.  Under the ocean was a fun panel which was designed to be made into a story book, I as always buck the trend.  This fabric was in the bundle I bought in Addies at Cochrane.  This of course will be quilt number two.

So what do you do when it's cold and snowy and it's too early to start sewing............ I made a lovely big pot of soup for lunch, sweet potato, cumin and ginger.  Delicious, even although I say it myself.   Then I put the oven on and pulled all the ingredients together to made a lemon drizzle cake - I've never really had much success with baking here, I've been told it's to do with the altitude, well I'm not so sure.  The lemon drizzle cake turned out just fine so I am even more convinced now that the problem with my baking was not the altitude but the old oven!

I'm pleased to report baby number one has arrived on time, Finlay was born earlier this week.  I think Hazel will need to change her name to Harry!

Well we have had hedgehogs, whales and next up on the cutting mat will be bumblebees! Isn't quilting fun!

Hmmm, I was going to say the gremlins seem to have gone for now but although I've managed to get the photos here I'm still not able to do the formatting and size the photos............oh well you just have to make do with what you've got.  Have a quiet week everybody. 

Gremlins

They are still around and causing mischief, however I have managed to add some photos of the near finished top.  Another border has been added - the medium blue, and it's looking good.  I will put it away now and sandwich it up when I'm back home and nearer the due date of the first new arrival.

                               
We have had another snowy day today I guess you could say we've been snow bound with continual  snow falling since early morning.  We have about 8inches lying on the deck now and the trees in the back yard are hanging with soft puffy clouds of snow which remind me of Christmas cards.

I don't think we would have been moving very far today had it not been snowing - we are both suffering from the usual flight cold - hubby was laid low at the beginning of the week and I hoped I might escape it but he has very kindly shared it with me and I'm feeling quite miserable today.  However tomorrow is another day and a new week and I hope I'm not feeling quite so washed out and low tomorrow.  It think too it's true when people say that when you've been so busy and working hard your body just keeps coping and when you relax so does your immune system and all the germs attack. Hmmmm more Germlins!

It's good to be able to cuddle up under a quilt when you are feeeling poorly and I sure have plenty of those.  Knitting and reading tonight - I can't concentrate on planning the next quilt just yet.

Have a good week folks.  I believe you had a nice sunny day back home and hopefully lots of  new shoots and plants will start to appear in the garden soon.

Hazel Hedgehog

I have admired Elizabeth Hartman's projects for a long time and have purchased a couple of her patterns over the years.  I enjoyed making the New Wave quilt which was one of her designs, remember the one with the bicycles which I donated to PHEW.  It was a fun project and turned out really well it was just that little bit different. See it on my gallery page

I also have Fancy Forest downloaded as an ebook.  This is what I call a challenge.  K at class has made a lovely crib size quilt with this pattern and while I enjoy a challenge now and again I didn't really feel up to doing every little animal.  I'm having trouble with photos tonight so here's the link for fancy Forrest  Here

Remember the outing I had recently to Kaleidoscope, well I bought some lovely fabrics to start on one of the baby quilts which had happy little hedgehogs dancing along the fabric.  I thought this would make a cheery little play mat for one of the new arrivals.  The design hat was on and lots of ideas were beginning to form in my head.  The centre block of this quilt will be Hazel Hedgehog from Elizabeth Hartman's fancy forest pattern.  I've made a start and the pieces are all cut out ready to go.  I'm looking forward to piecing this one together!  

Add caption

This blog post tonight is frustrating me, I can't get the photos to load and there seems to be gremlins preventing me formatting.  Apologies I will try again later in the week. 

Happy sewing