Live Augh Love

It's a worry if you cough in the middle of a light aphorism.

It's a QuiltFrolic!

Last night, the heat finally dropped and the evening turned out fine. I was out in the garden attempting to take some photos of the most recent quilts and getting cross with the results.

"Let's grab the camera and go down to the museum!" said James.

What a clever husband I have.


The light was clear and the backdrop stunning. And with big ledges to stand on, no trouble to get those big quilts out and about.

I always thought quilting was a noble art, don't you? (wink)

So the quilts got their very own fashion show, watched over by a eagle-eyed dog, a girl learning to skateboard, three passing ruffians, one of whom badgered James for cash (politely), and several strolling families who watched, bemused, as I capered with my quilts on the steps.


Most of the photos reside on the laptop, and James is writing hard for a deadline tonight, so I am not going to ask to edit and post them just yet. There will be more, and some over at Taccolina, too.

It's a wrap!

Photos in this post by James, of course! Assistance provided by Toby.

Yorkshire sun and rain

Yorkshire hills are green - and that's because they get a lot of rain!

This is what it looks like in the sunshine, and mighty fine the sunshine is, too. Ross and Chris opened the world's largest bottle of pinot grigio, and we sat in the garden until we all froze to death. Because that's how you enjoy sunshine in Yorkshire.... or so we are told.

Do we think we are being wound up?


- Never!

But it's okay, the sunshine didn't last for long, and soon it was right back to normal:


It's been fantastic staying with Ross and Chris, and we're really pleased to have been able to see some of James' pack of half and step siblings, between university digs moving in and out, jobs and lives elsewhere.

We're really glad you made it down to say hello, folks!

When we're not drinking or sleeping, we've been out to York, a favourite town to visit. At York we walked in the rain, visited the Monster, and saw the brand-new, just-opened National Quilt Museum (about which there is much more on Bev's blog, Taccolina...). I think James will be posting more about York soon.


-Now if only the tourists would get out of the way when James tries to take a photo....

(tee hee)

Bev

Sunshine and stitching

Last night we had a Moroccan dinner feast. Partly inspired by the remainder middle-eastern cookbook I bought last weekend, Diana Henry's Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons -- and partly because I saw beautiful pomegranates in the market and took a gamble that they would be perfect and juicy inside.

Aren't they lovely?

We had roast chicken with sumac, lemon, olive oil and pomegranate seeds; potatoes with garlic, lemon and oregano; grean beans; and sauted red cabbage with fennel. Followed by baked quinces and mascarpone. With lemons in season and ripening daily in the garden, the idea was to start with lemons and work from there. Mmm.

There's been a lot of sewing going on lately, most of it discussed over at Taccolina, but here are a couple of highlights.

Picture postcards made from fabric scraps - no plan, no pattern, just whatever comes to mind at the time...


Colourful sherbet blue-and pink baby quilt, all ready to pop in the post on Monday:


Do you like my glamorous assistant?

There are lots of photos over at Flickr, and sewing chat on the blog.

Bev

Colour splash

There are exciting things afoot in the sewing room (aka the front room/guest room/unholy mess) - and there's bright colour everywhere!

I mean fabric on the futon, fabric on the floor, scraps on the table and the sewing machine whirring. Not quite quilting, it's been a weekend of applique delights.

With a holiday Monday and a bit of extra time, I've been working on several projects simultaneously (after all, why finish just one when you can start and not finish a dozen?) The excitement is barely contained over here at my crafting blog. Yes, I've now got a creativity blog, and it's called Taccolina (the little crow - read the story about the name on the blog).

On Friday the little beauties in the photo above arrived. These are actually business cards - slim little Moo cards from www.moo.com, an amazing UK print service. I quickly point out that the designs are not mine! They have a bank of illustrators' work that you can choose to print on one side of your card, and your details on the other. I am ridiculously pleased with these cards, and with the card holder I bought from Etsy to put them in. Colour galore!