Hardwick Park

We had a flying visit to my parents last weekend - a 600 mile round trip! But lets not dwell on the joys of the A1......

Whilst nothing much of note happened other than my father celebrating his 83rd birthday, we did have a visit to Hardwick Park  near Sedgefield in County Durham. It's only a 15 minute or so drive from their house, but I've never been there before - it obviously never entered the radar as a possible trip when I was growing up - though to be fair I don't think there was anything much to see until relatively recently.

The sun shone, the daffodils looked beautiful - as did the cakes in the cafe , but we resisted (sadly it was too close to lunchtime).

The coots were building their nests on the large lake, and I was impressed to see that Mr Coot had obviously brought Mrs Coot flowers as part of his nest building offerings!

Entry is free, and if you're in the area it's well worth a visit for an hour or two.

Pink Castle fabric contest!

Well -Katy's too - you can see it here.

I like to think I'm fairly computer savvy - but I saved my selection and promptly lost it! So I have just spent the last 3/4 hour or so painstakingly creating a new (and as it turns out mostly different!) bundle The previous one is showing in my downloads but won't open! No doubt it something blindly obvious I should do, but I can't for the life of me figure it out.

Anyway, here is my latest choice:

I'm calling it "spring evening"
Sea Garden in Ocean by Cosmo Cricket
Marquis in Jade heirloom by Joel Dewberry
Seeds in gray by Khristan A Howell
Heath Metal Pink Alexander Henry Fabric
Wildflowers in Blue by Heather Ross
 Pie Basket in New Day Hope Hope valley by Denyse Schmidt
Woodgrain in teal by Khristan A Howell
Songbird in Teal Bonjour by Diane Kappa
Fly a kite dot in green by October Afternoon
Freespirit designer solids in Nugray gray
Frog Prince by Tula Pink
Hop dot in sky Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey

The only other crafty news is I have finished my second swoon block - the USB doesn't count (and it hasn't even got any votes - obviously not ugly enough.....)

Right I am off to continue cutting out blocks 3 and 4. It's my relief from the end of March madness that happens every year at work.

A trip to Eastbourne

We had friends to stay over the weekend and we decided a trip to the sea was in order on Saturday afternoon. We had a pleasant stroll along the promenade (well there was some scooting by the children) and rewarded ourselves with a trip to Fusciardis before turning back.

As expected the children opted for ice creams (show here is Child 3's choice - coffee ice cream and bubblegum and raspberry ice cream. Hmmm)

The adults opted for coffee - which was very good. It has a nice atmosphere, a little quirky and is very popular.

I did spot a shop I wasn't aware of on the way in - Cotton Coast Haberdashery. Having toyed with and discarded the idea of dragging everyone for a visit, I made a beeline for it in my lunch  break on Tuesday.

I think it is fairly new, but the owner seems lovely and although the stock range isn't massive as yet, there are some gems - I found Aurifil thread! I have wanted to try some for a while so was really pleased. They have some knitting yarn, fabric on the roll, and some quilting cottons (including a selection of fat quarters of the Birch fabrics. )and quite a lot of haberdashery and "tools" (heart pom pom makers and butterfly yo yo makers anyone?) as the name would suggest.

The shop window is nicely done and they have put together some of their own kits - for example a bunting kit, and a child's "start sewing" basket. Really well thought and very tempting. I'll definitely be back.

(Hmm - sorry for the lack of photos - I took them on my phone and have never downloaded any before - so no prizes fo guessing I haven't worked out how to...will edit and add them in once I (hopefully) have)

Presenting the Ugly Swoon Block

Ta Dah! (I've always wanted to say that - in a blog sense!)

One completed Ugly Swoon Block:

what do you think? Is it ugly enough, or should I hunt out a worse fabric combination? (I thought that the original choice was awful - not sure how I could come up with soemthing to top it out of my stash).

I leave you with a close up (er - just ignore those stray threads please? I couldn't wait to share my "masterpiece". Lol)

 

 Edited to add a photo taken in daylight:

I'm worried....

about my ugly Swoon Block. Having sewn together all the HST's and flying geese and pressed all the seams open, I laid it out. Unbelievably it isn't looking as ugly as it should given the dreadful fabric combination.

Perhaps its true - you can't make a truly ugly Swoon Block.

Workshop Day

I took a day off work, arranged for my husband to pick up the children from School and went off to a quilt workshop yesteday- it felt very decadent. (I can't remember when I last took a day off other than to look after my children - I felt almost wicked!)
I'm a member of Ouse valley Quilters, who organise regular workshops - I've not been to one before, but this really appealed to me.
So I spent the day cutting and sewing to make a Oakshott City Lights Quilt
with Jo Baddeley of Puddle Ducks quilts.

 I managed to make 44 of the 64 blocks, and although the Oakshott cottons fray a little more than ordinary cottons, they are so gorgeous, it's worth it - photos do not do them justice. Some simple quilting and a plain back are called for I think. Can't wait (once I've finished the Ugly Swoon Block of course)

It's in the Bag!

Here you have my fabric selection for the "Ugly Swoon Block" - it is going to be truly awful isn't it? I'm sure nobody else has a chance now........

Excuse me while I go off and cut my fabric - I am ridiculously excited to see how this is going to turn out (and can't wait to see my husband trying to find something nice to say about what I'm making!)