Bit Distracted

 Ok so once again I have been a terrible blogger. 

The only thing that I can say in my defence is that I have been a little bit distracted. Mainly with this young man. I give you Archie George Metcalf born 8th October 2012.

Weighing in at a fairly hefty 9lb 5oz.

Gave us a few concerns at first but all is well.

A lively little bundle he is too and since Mum is now back at work we are seeing a fair bit of him.
I had forgotten how tiring it is to look after a 7 month old and lets be fair the last time I did it I was 26 years younger.

He is a delight and a really happy little soul

ALQS 7

Another Little Quilt Swap.

It's the first time that I have ever entered this quilt swap. I am guessing from the title that this has been done six times before. I am glad that for once I managed to get a challenge done on time. Just.

The  fabrics used are a mixture of African Shwe Shwe and Japanese shibori .The design was fabric led and developed after a workshop with Janice Gunner.

I have quilted it with cotton perle and sashiko thread and have embellished it with small beads. 

This quilt is 30cms square

I now have to hope that someone will like it enough to select it in this round of the swap.

Back to work and ufo

Back to work tomorrow after a week off.
Week went even quicker than usual.
Didn't get much done but........ I have one UFO that is no longer a UFO .Photos at a later date.

Went to Danbury open gardens today.Twice. The first time I could not get parked and came home. Danbury definately has it in for me lately.
Left it a bit and tried again and this time found the car park for the common and parked there. As I was further down the road than planned I visited the two gardens nearest. Two smallish but lovely gardens full of interesting and attractive plants. I would post a photo if I could work out how to get them off my phone( Peeeeeete I need help) 
Third garden was the one I really went to see and it was amazing. A large garden with lots of different areas.Some beautiful plant combinations. The owners must spend all their time out in that garden and it shows. Will have to thank Gil for putting me onto that one. Picked up a small Eleagnus Quicksilver which I have wanted since I saw it in Sally Player's garden oh must be over 6 years ago.  

Just about getting over the disappointment of the Senior TT not being run this year. Was really hoping for another John McGuiness win. Still safety first especially there as it is so dangerous even with good road conditions.

Flaming June

Didn't realise that it had been so long since I blogged. 
Bad me.
Haven't even caught up with last summer's exciting holiday to the Isle of Man. A place we fell in love with and would quite happily move to tomorrow.
Lots of family stuff going on.
Lots of national stuff going on, Jubilee and all that.
Thought I would enjoy all the Jubilee stuff but have surprised myself by being not at all interested.So no feeling patriotic or parties chez moi in fact I am a bit fed up with it all now. Oh but of course we have the Euros to look forward to.........NOT.

Not a lot creative happening. Need  to address that.
Bit of knitting (grandchild on the way) bit of crochet. I think that given time and practise I would be better at crochet than knitting. 

Thats it for now. May try and catch up with a review of IOM trip at a later date.

The Barefoot Goddess Festival

Another image from Barefoot

Summer Holidays

Seems a million years ago since the beginning of the summer holidays and also seems like 5 minutes.
First week went by in a whizz getting ready for Barefoot Camp.
My first time and I was really looking forward to it.
I was not disappointed.
I picked my friend Ruth up and with all our camping stuff piled in my little polo we set off to Wendy's to meet up with our fellow festival goers.
We managed the journey in convoy pretty well but due to traffic issues we took longer than planned and missed the first workshop I had earmarked to go to.
Car park was a bit of a way from camp-site so I hired a wheelbarrow to transfer all of our stuff.
After some negotiation we did manage to set up all together. Our Friday night meal was to be a veggie curry with all of us contributing different dishes. My dish was bombay potato. This worked really well. I think we fed a few extras too.
Friday night was freezing. Nobody slept well. But the two days that followed were truly magical.
I enjoyed the Bollywood/Bangra class the most .
I loved getting a henna tattoo.
The cabaret on Saturday night was awesome.
Everything was so relaxed and the people were all friendly and fantastic.
There were all sorts there all enjoying themselves and getting on.
I can't wait for next year.
PS
The shopping was good too

 Part of our camp with my little tepee

The other side of camp with bottom of flagpole

Was going to post some more pictures but blogger seems to be playing up

The Barefoot Goddess Festival

Some friends came over for lunch today to make some plans for the weekend as we are all going to The Barefoot Goddess Festival. Some have been before but it is the first time for me. I need to get my head round what I need to get ready but I am really starting to look forward to it.
I have bought a flag pole and a pirate flag to fly at our camp as there will be a few of us and I think that a flag is vital. I shall probably forget other important stuff like a kettle etc.
There are so many activities to choose from and I am not sure that I have the stamina for all those I have planned but I will try. I also plan on taking loads of photos but will probably be so involved in stuff that I will forget.
Have been a bit distracted over the last couple of days as we are having a few 'traveller' issues locally.