new post alert

A new post is waiting for you at my new site..http://fredsworldblog.com click to go there now!!!

I’ve moved to here………

As you know ive been trying to sort this blog out so i can add more features….im going here now..

fredsworldblog.com……click here to find me

if poss please could you ammend your links to me, dosen’t that sound vain!  thanks see you in a click

another request…

I must be going senile, i looked at an American blog, the post was a picture of a little girl in black and white with a coloured background, there was a link to the free software that let you do this, on route to the software i lost the site and now cant find it!!!!!!!!   …i dont suppose anyone remembers seeing it?

I need your help before i throw it out of the window.

After watching happys blog, morph into a cascade of colours and ad ons, I thought i would jazz my blog up a bit, now i wish i had not started, as anyone with wordpress.com knows you cannot access the html code, so i refer to wordpress who say i need a domain name hosted by a third party, i buy this!!!! you get a host, i get one! you download wordpress.org, i did that!..you then go off into geek speak land where they talk about ftp , file hosting etc etc..HELPPPPPPPPP. I dont know what im doing, someone out there must be able to help,,,all i want is to be able to use some of the plugins and features that most bloggers do……I ve been at it now for 12 hours, ive created more passwords than i know what to with…oh and ive also got the book WordPress for dummies, that must have been written by someone on an LSD trip, the only dummie was me for buying it. It offered salvation when i needed it and alas like viagra, never delivered it!!

Thus, if anyone lives near chatham in kent, i can travel if you could sort this out or if anyone in the world can do it for me i will love you forever.

My PA has her fingers crossed.. after all look what happened when she bought the book “Botox for dummies”

Marie Claire idees and me!!!!

Firstly, many many thanks for all the words of encouragement, they really helped, Happy said i was fishing for compliments, well you know what us men are like we need our egos boosted every now and again.

One comment yesterday from Stephanie at mysweetfairy suggested i send the candlestick pictures to Marie Claire and they feature the best in a gallery on their blog….i submitted mine and got an email the same day, they have been selected!! fame at last!

The pictures on this blog seem possessed! This one wants to be this size no matter what i do.

Well i hope you all had a great Easter….Im a little puzzled as to how such an important date is so flexible, if a certain thing happened on that day surely it will always be that day! This year i think it was moved to fit in with the 3 day DFS sofa sale! Happy and I had the misfortune to be in Sainsburys on easter saturday afternoon, the churches were all full, so we had to go shopping! How great it was that jesus loved chocolate,especially Lindt bunnies, do you think he had some when he was a boy!

.

..however, when shopping fredsworld style life is never simple. As we attempted to decide what size egg to buy Happy hears over the tannoy that all eggs are now half price!!!Yippeeeee, we grab all the big ones and scarper to the till before the masses….however our joy is short lived, it was FISH that was half price not easter eggs!!! and by the time we put all the eggs back and got to the fish counter, it looked like the sermon on the mount, the crowd was at least ten deep all holding their hands out as the fishmonger offered his wares!

The following day, Easter sunday, the big man upstairs got his revenge, he fooled us at 6am that the day was going to be nice, so Happy and i set of to what will go down in Harris history as the shortest car boot sale ever……we arrive at 6am, the sellers about 80 of them pull on the field and begin to unpack, the sky turns grey, and then this happens! we were back home by 6.25 am!

well not quite as bad, but you get the idea. Still i did manage to buy these old kitchen stools for £1 each, once painted and recovered they look great.

also bought 2 cookery books for 80p, the titles do seem to compliment each other dont you think? NUTS and book of OLD TARTS!

My mother in law treated Happy to this vintage vegetable rack instead of an Easter egg , a fair swap i do think!

its funny how things work out as i first saw one of these racks in Cath Kidston’s outlet shop, and the lady said it wasn’t for sale , and now we have one.

One last pic and then im off, going to watch the repeat of last night’s apprentice! How many of you want to punch Raef, what a pompus prat, with a pompus prat hairstyle to match, let’s hope this moron dosen’t choke on the basket of plums in his mouth…..calm down fred, I hear yo cry, the bp is rising!!!!!

oops, I got so carried away i forgot the last pic, here it is, the flag collection is growing, time to get the machine out to make some more cushions.

Once again, thanks for all your comments on the last post, feel free to comment today as well.

Happy Easter..well it is now…..

Its funny how things work out, after what seemed like forever , your comments seem to be few and far between, it even got to the point when i decided that if no comments arrived today i was going to stop blogging and delete it all..however i got a couple of comments today and my faith in you all has been restored.Thank you.

As it rained nearly all day sunday and all the bootsales were cancelled i decided to get motivated, i painted the dining room chairs i had collected over the past few weeks, not one was more than £2!

and whilst the paint tin was open, the candle stick got painted and the glue gun was whipped out and hey presto!……

i looked around for a nice ornate stick but they seem impossible to find, so i know you shouldnt but emulsion and metal does work.

These eggs are organic free range and have been hand blown by vegans! well thats what the gypsy at the door said, she also said id be a lucky heather, strange when my names Fred! and a bargain at several pieces of silver…well if i never bought them she said she would curse me! …curse me, when im so cursed already, what with the pressure of dieting and Delia starting a new cookery show on how to cheat!…and before you ask, yes i did buy aunt bessies ready mash, i did buy a mini chopper, and yes the salmon in cheese sauce fish pie was fab!…it only took 3 hours start to finish! 90 mins of which was locating the mini chopper…sold out everywhere, it was worse than the free range chicken run.

After popping to the country living spring fair a new cushion, made from a vintage flag appeared here…

why the picture is this size i do not know!!! still im not resizing it now.

Bought this Babuska coffee pot cover today in Oxfam for 99p…

shes guarding the rose pyrex.

Hope you all have a great weekend, feel free to comment, thanks Fred x

P.S all the pics have been taken by my lovely wife Happy, check out her blog at Happy loves  Rosie!

Pipped to the post…

I have a small torn page from Marie Claire Idees latest edition , it is my next project.

I was going to blogg about it but alas ALLSORTS, got there before me, still i suppose as we are all similar minded people we find the same ideas appealing. However, like most artistic / creative people my to do list is very long. Ive got kitchen chairs to paint, a quilt to finish (sorry Mary) and a sofa to cover just because i saw a patchwork one in living magazine!! and then its Easter, better start blowing them eggs now!…did someone say eggs, dont get me started on the chickens again!!…just heard on Richard and Judy, ( or as we call them , the liver spot and the fringe)..say that battery hen sales have fallen in 2 months by 10 million!! I know ive been on a diet since Christmas but i can assure you its not all my fault!

Yes im still alive……

Hello all, where did that month go! Well ours was trawling Europe for stock for Happys store…2000 miles, 5 flights, 4 trips , 4 hotels and 72 arguments!!! We finally made our last trip this week and the pressure was mounting, so one snide remark monday morning in the hotel room resulted in a long silent drive home across 3 countries!!! Still all is ok now and we celebrated by trimming the dog ( sadly not a new bedroom activity, but actually trimming the dog!) This morning he looked like Cher now he looks like a pipe cleaner, its shocking how little dog is left once the matted, stinking fur has gone.

Time for a few pics…

New charity shop shelf..£2

Car boot granny square blanket..50p

Her majesty has a new book out..its called her spring catalogue……nice new prints and these jugs…an of course one somehow ended up in our kitchen!

A tea towel cut up , made great curtains for the dresser..

You all know i have a weakness for enamel, well i nearly  crashed the car when  saw this for sale outside a junk shop in France, its the biggest one ive ever seen, and at 15 euros it would have been rude not to but it.The only thing is its so big, I dont know what to do with it or where to put it, at the moment its propped in the hall, i do believe if i turn it north i may get sky tv on it!!

We are at that point where we are running out of wall space to hang things, so im now putting hook racks on the doors, this little French one, once painted in Cath Kidston blue greets you as you come up to the first floor.

…if your wondering about the quilt , its coming along slowly but surely, ill post some new photos soon .

Does anyone out there know of a way to upload photos into wordpress without having to manually resize them first, it makes blogging such a long process, Happy blogger account does it all for you, am i missing something?

bye for now, Fred.

Oh one last thing..How brilliant is ASHES TO ASHES, even more enjoyable as im 42 and that era was my youth…GOD BLESS THE 80s!!!

yes its you….

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to comment, ive decided to give them all away, and the selection method is the Harris clans birth dates…so comments 2, 11, 21, and 27 (well 26 as i was 27!!!!!) will get a selection through the post.

the lucky bloggers were……..

2nd     knittingtroll

11th     prettyshabby

21st     Jen

27th     AmyWagner

if you lucky ladies would drop me your address, to me email….

fred.harris@mac.com

ill get them in the post.

for insomnia see babuska….

Sunday morning insomnia, the rest of the world seems to be asleep as i wander around like a zombie! Its 5am and i find myself flicking around on the blogs as you do admiring other peoples handiwork and thinking ” if i only had the time i could do that’….Rosehip
had made some wonderful babuska dolls for crimbo, that looked brilliant.

i decided that i would try some of my own, but with paper and card as it was too early to get the sewing machine out, and besides it was quicker!!!! By 7am id made quite a few…

and by 8am i’d made even more!

the only trouble is what to do with them now. So i’ve decided to keep a few and give the rest someone who would like them. However be warned they are very basic, the enjoyment was just making something after the christmas lull! It was nice to force myself to do something rather than just flick about on the internet until everyone began to stir.I love that time when the house is calm and still, after all anything you do before 9am is a bonus to me!…how ironic, as i type this i hear my 18 year old son, on the floor above me has walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, shut the fridge , help himself to some cornflakes , which on planet Darryl equates to getting the largest bowl he can find, tipping whatever is left in the packet into it, and using all the milk to drown it! How smug i feel as i look at the enamel tea pot next to me knowing i will not have to go to the shop for my next cup of coffee.

I’ll draw a name from the hat next sunday, all i ask, as most bloggers do is that you would be so kind as to leave a comment about my blog, criticism is allowed although it will be vetted and only nice comments allowed! after all whats the point on letting people tell you your faults, thats what your relations are for!!!!

Happy Sunday to you all , only 4 days to go and its been a month since christmas! what was all the fuss about….

P.s…..yesterday I saw my first Easter egg in a shop, its so unfair as i’ve just started diet number 42…by this time next year im going to have all my bits where they should be! or at least where Happy remembers them being!!!!!

quick chicken update….

I have been to Tescos today, not a bloody free range or organic chicken in sight!!!…..I think ill have to have a look on EBAY!!!

enough about the chicken already!

I know my last blog was about the tv and, sadly this one is too. ….Imagine a large black leather chair, a dimly lit studio, a handsome muscular figure approaches, and in a rasping voice announces….Fred harris, specialist subject the chicken!!!..yes reader after last weeks tv i feel confident enough to go on mastermind with chicken as my specialist subject.

It was chicken monday, chicken tuesday, chicken wednesday, chicken thursday and the Jamie Oliver foul dinners friday!!

I do agree it has been a great education week for all us chicken buyers with all aspects of free range and factory farming being shown, however i do feel ive had an overdose, afterall do i want all the plebs getting in my way at the chicken counter looking for free range organic to go with their oven chips and mushy peas , no i do not!!! i want to be able to whaft up the aisle in my organic cotton fairtrade t shirt, carrying my Anya “Im not a plastic bag” shopper, select a chicken and go….

Newsflash!.. all the freerange chickens sold out by 10 am! the power of television, Happy and I wandered the aisles in horror, what were we to eat know for we only knew about chicken. Beef was too risky as neither Hugh or Jamie had not mentioned it. Fish was debatable, but we didnt know what was sustainable or farmed or line caught ! and as for pork, has anyone seen babe! how could we. Thus, not being able to stand the glances and smugness of those who had manged to get the correct chicken at the checkout, Happy and i left empty handed.

Sunday dinner was a well informed feast, we knew the origins of all our produce, and all the stages of its life from conception through to slaughter…….

Happy had cheese and onion, and i had ready salted! (organic of course!)

tv live from the star wars bar…….

Hello and Happy New Year to you all!

I apologise in advance as this small post will probably only interest uk readers who happened to be housebound on wednesday evening!!!!!!! Has the tv scheduling been taken over by the lanlord of the Star wars bar? It was probably the most bizzare evening of tv I have ever watched….first we had ” half a ton mum!” a documentary that followed a 64 stone lady who wanted gastric bypass surgery, the show had a kind of morbid freak show quality that sadly finished with her death, however the only conclusion i seemed to draw from the show was , if you eat 8 McDonalds at a time! you are not going to win a gold at the 2012 Olympics in the 100 meters hurdles!

This was followed by Fake Babies!!!!!! even more bizzare, a lady made life like babies and sold them to nutters, ooops i mean other ladies who had more money than sense, who then bought them prams and took them out shopping . One lady made me nearly choke on my pringles as she took her “little miracle” ( no! just a plastic dolly you fool!) to the sea life center!!!!!!and what was even more unbelievable was her husband, whom no way looked retarded, helped to strap this child of chucky doll into a childs car seat for the journey!!!! Still this only confirms what ive always felt, never trust a woman with a cheap home perm! for thats what she had..still the plastic babies did look so at home in her northern council flat..and when she announced she was going to go to America to collect her new baby, all one could do was to shout at the tv,  get a new carpet instead you silly cow!….however, this was not the end, she then went to Harrods with a fake baby in a pram! oh god call security! and bought £269 worth of designer baby clothes for her new arrival. We then follow this care in the community escapee to Washington to get her new arrival…we see her pacing the hotel room waiting for the delivery, and she even says” that this has been a long labor!”.. god someone get me a stun gun. The baby arrives in nice brown box, shes so excited, we watch her peel back the plastic and bring her new baby to life…..at this point Happy and I , burst into what can only be described as hysterical laughter…the baby is so ugly, and i dont mean ugly Betty ugly i mean Nigel Lawson ugly!!!!…….still our laughter was an omen as a few days later as ’straw perm lady’ begins to bond with her baby she notices a crack in its head, she is devastated and feels she needs to reject the child as she only can accept perfection!…we on the other hand roll about on the floor unable to breath through laughing!….

Next i kid you not was another documentary about some Asian jail where the inmates for punishment are forced to dance on mass to make you tube videos! one of which, there version of Micheal Jacksons thriller has had over 7 million hits and is you tubes most watched video…not bad for a group of some thousand plus murder’s, rapists and drug dealers. What ever happened to real punishment like sewing mailbags and working on a chain gang…after all when they are released the world will be over run with what could only be described as failed Asian X factor contestants….and when they all donned nuns habits and started on a Sister Act medley, it was time to reach for the remote, turn of 16 sets of christmas lights and go to bed, or was i already in bed and this was all some kind of bizzare dream……….

This year were having dog!!!!

Today, i got up early, put Nigellas ginger ham on to boil, 4 hours! its supposed to be express!!!!!!! wrapped some presents, ran out of sellotape, resorted to using luggage labels..not in a country living style but more blue peter!!!…then the hoover decides to stop sucking!!! unblock tube, empty bag, and still no joy!!! put hoover in room 101!!!…..you know where today is going!!!!children request toilet paper after they are at the point of no return!!.. 4 bathrooms and yet no paper left, oh but we do have enough cardboard inner tubes to make crackers for the WHOLE Von Trapp family!!!…dog looked grubby, so I wash dog, no pet shampoo left so use Treseme!..dog is so fluffy now he looks like Cleo Laine!!……time for luch…no bread left! so its good old 7p noodles from morrisons with worcestershire sauce! ooh if Nigella could see me now shed gasp in her cashmere twin set!….dog scratching at back door wanting to go into garden..let dog out….lets put some washing on….the washing fairy has not been and pile is at least 3 feet high…guess what, a thimble full of powder left, still in it goes..perhaps in 3 days time when we remember to get it out again it might be clean..ill worry about that then!…still need to get last food shop before Christmas, its like a military operation, ….im going solo at 9pm on saturday….along with the rest of kent no doubt…as i tpe children are arguing, 18 year old is complaining that no one has made him noodles!!!…oops i forgot teenagers eat, i thought they just walked around in 3 day old pants thinking they were so superior …shes called him a chav now and hes said she is like a satsuma as she has so much foundation on!!….oh the joys of a family christmas….just remembered dog is still in garden, probably now frozen, as hes been out there 4 hours!!!…just went to door to let him in as his cries seem so pathetic…do not worry readers hes got his revenge, hes covered head to foot in foxes S**T!!!!……..still once ive washed him again hes going in the oven!!,…so lucky i bought 2 throw away roasting dishes!……any one got a good reciepe for what to do with left over westie scraps?……….all this and its only 11am!….got to fight the crowds at bluewater yet to return the waistcoat that looked good on the hanger but gave me breasts when i put it on at home…..still not long now until we can all enjoy the turkey and remagel!! Happy Holidays to you all…ps if theres any spelling mistakes, tuff! i aint got time to do it again….Fred x
…

Chrimbo in cologne..

To celebrate HAPPYS 42nd birthday, the mother in law sent us to Cologne to visit the christmas markets…a great way to get in the the mood, although i dont need much encouragement..

there are 6 great markets selling food , food, mulled wine, food and of course decorations by the vintage truck full!

and when you feel like you just cant eat any more, theres the gift shop at Colognes chocolate museum!!!!…i said pick a couple of bits up, but Happy went mad!

still we did have a slim fast shake for breakfast it wasnt all bad!!

I really wanted to buy this vintage santa, but at 200 euros , he was a bit beyond my pocket..

the gluvine, however was more affordable, so we drowned our dissapointment…

that of course is the teenage look for ” I think mums had enough now” …otherwise once you feel too merry you just want everyone to smile, even if you have to force them….

a great time was had by all, if you havent been , do go next year, the markets run from 25 nov to dec 24 and open every day 11am to 10 pm, so wear comfortable shoes and elasticated trousers!!!

more tea vicar?

Last saturday whilst whisking around london before taking Happy to see Hairspray the musical for her birthday, we popped into Borough market, the famous london food market that is frequented by the likes of Jamie Oliver etc…and it is here that we visited Shipps tea rooms. Nice location, nice food but a bit on the pricey side, ie 2 cream teas £15, and the scones were cold! Still it was all presented wonderfully on nice crockery etc, the only problem was that my tea came in this tea pot! I had this same pot once, but cannot find it now, i want it again but cannot remember who made it. Thus blogland your mission if you choose to accept it is, who made this teapot?, and also if you have one , can i buy it.

Ho Ho oh my god!

Remember when i said we had a lot of decorations well here goes..photography by Hayley at Happy loves rosie, although how shes found the time i do not know, shes been busy filling her 2 Ebay shops, Havershams4u and Happylovesrosie all week…

As you can see its red, white and blue this year..

I hope you have enjoyed our efforts, but dont think this is the end, were off to Cologne in Germany sunday for Hayleys birthday, and guess what theres 6 christmas markets!!!

hello old friends…

I cant believe its been nearly a month since i last posted, its the oncoming december madness that has taken over the Harris household!..the decorations are nearly finished, wish i could say the same for the quilt, i think thats going to be a finish in january project..oh, whilst on the subject of the quilt thanks for your fabrics, i had a list of all the thank yous i needed to make but lost it somewhere!! so if you have sent something lately thank you, perhaps you could leave a comment to help me out..i know one was from hawaii, a couple from america and an apron from an australian red cross shop…anyway thank you ladies you know who you are.My next post will be a photo gallery of all the christmas decorations we have put up..so far its…

4 trees

8 sets of lights

at least 200 baubles

half a forest of white twigs

and of course, at the last count 7 empty bottles of mulled wine, marks and spencers is without doubt the best!!i can only drink it in nov dec, it seems so wrong in Jan !

Next we come to the tradition of the christmas movie, and guess what hollywood this year is bringing out one just for me..next friday 30 november sees the release of FREDCLAUS , ive booked my ticket, bought my popcorn, eaten my popcorn! bought my popcorn again, roll on friday!!! ho ho ho

HEALTH WARNING!… do not try CARAMEL BAILEYS, its as addictive as crack cocaine, a friend spiked my coffee 2 weeks ago, and now Hayley and i have a bottle a week habit! I may have to put some of my red and white enamel on ebay to pay for my habit. Still its christmas, and all excess is justified!!

Oh and one last thing, whilst in london last week, my car drove automatically to Cath kidstons, i know , what a surprise! she had these chains, but they were not for sale, so im getting someone to knit me some, that someone has yet to be found, but how good would they look in red,white and duck egg blue…

Christmas 2007, its started…

First I must say I LOVE CHRISTMAS! , from the first decorations appearing in the shops in september to the January sales, I love writing lists, scouring magazines for inspiration, vintage christmas crap on ebay!, I am Mr Christmas…at the last count we had 8 large boxes of decorations ( i mean removal size!) and 3 trees, one which we bought abroad last year is upside down!..Christmas here is like a kid in a sweet shop, its a military size operation but I love it.

Thus , last night when the very boring tv awards were on, i mean who needs to see Ant and Dec thank the public for their support in such a snotty groveling way again and again ,and Trevor Mcdonalds auto que reading was appalling, I dont think he realized some of what he said was supposed to be funny, so dead pan..still I digress…..in my boredom I decided to make this runner for the back of the sofa, id seen one by Caroline Zoob for £235!!!!! now thats a lady with a sewers bottom, if youve seen her you will now what i mean.

all it took was an old linen bolster cover, scarps or various red fabric, one bottle of red wine and some walkers cheese and onion crisps , and voila! three and a half hours later, christmas 2007 has begun.

Next i turned my attention to this book…

some great ideas including the bird decorations on the front cover, i attempted one this morning whilst easing myself into the day after seeing Darryl off to school, i needed a very large coffee to take the taste of his deoderant and aftershave out of my mouth, god help the kids on the school bus, they will need a lie down in an oxygen tent before lessons…even the dogs sneezing!

must go now got to start my high carb diet to fit into my new santa suit, HO HO HO !

more material yippeeeeeeeeee!

I know my blog of late seems to be fabric obsessed, but the generosity of all you wonderful bloggers has really touched me, this weekend saw the arrival of Amy Wagners’s feedsack all the way from Ohio USA, check out her blog, theres a great link that tells the history behind feedsacks, ….

the little paper flowers are what Amy makes for her etsy shop, she included some for as she put it ” a shameless plug” ..I think they are great.

Next it was a ooohhh aahhh package that arrived, I recieved an email from Marian in Holland asking for my address to send some fabric to, however on her blog she shows the most fantastic button shop as well as a brilliant enmelware shop, I emailed her back asking for the shops addresses as I would one day like to visit them, i heard nothing and then this arrived,

not only had Marian taken the time to go back to both shops for their addresses, but she also bought me a gift from each one! how generous . The little enamael bowl above has already been used several times, and just look at the buttons…

Thank you all very much for your support, sadly not much sewing got done this week as my little baby boy was 18! It seems like only yesterday he was being sick in his bed, picking his nose and eating it, getting food everywhere except in his mouth, just leaving his clothes all over the floor, walking around naked except for grubby pants and peeing on the bathroom carpet……..oh my god ! it was, 18 years later nothing has changed, well nearly nothing, Darryl in now a wonderful young man whom we are both extremly proud of. Oh and one last thing Darryl if you happen to read this, confusus says….

‘WHEN CHOOSING A UNIVERSITY, CHOOSE ONE A LONG WAY AWAY SO MUM AND DAD CAN RENT YOUR ROOM OUT!”

postman pat strikes again…

thank you ladies, yet again, for you support..more material arrived this week…first was Marys all the way from Liverpool..

this was followed by Kristys of vintagepleasure parcel, i love the card, she even sent a donation to my ever growing red and white china collection, a vintage salt and pepper set.

another package arrived from Jen Rigg , aswell as 2 great fabric peices , she also included a packet of fab note cards.

the final donation this week was my second from Holland, from Marloes, her piece of material came with a lovely note which gave me the history of the fabric, it had been her bedroom curtains when she was 5years old , 28 years ago! Her parents had saved it in their attic with a crib they had made curtains for out of the same fabric, see picture. How amazing that someone would part with such a piece of their history, thank you, it will be a very special panel in the quilt!

Thanks again for all your interest.

thank you Vicki, your too kind…..

One of the first blog buddies i made was Vicky at Hollyhocks she lives in New York, and is the NY Queen of thrifting, she even won first prize in this months US country living magazine for her apple pie receipe. A few weeks ago she came across a batch of vintage christmas bit, and guess what she sent me a parcel, how generous ….

lots of goodies that i can scan and photoshop, roll on christmas, im in the mood now!

Still Vicki being Vicki, the parcel had to include something extra, and after seeing one of Hayleys blogs at Happy loves Rosie, she included some rose napkins that match some we already have, i think these may become christmas cushions.

Thanks again Vicki, looking forward to your next post, F & HH

if you want to stop drinking……..

If you want to cut down your evening wine consumption start a quilt, if you hand sew, you will be amazed how little you drink…my local off license has begged me to stop as they have a backlog of petit verdot!, after all when you sew and wear glasses you hold the needle in one hand and the quilt in the other nearly touching your nose to see the small stitches! im going to try and find some very very long straws so i dont die of dehydration..i did not know quilting was so risky!

this is how far ive got…..

and closer still, i hope you can spot your fabric if you have sent some, more needed please!

also thank you Tommy for todays fabric, sorry I cant find a blog address for you, let me know what it is and ill amend this entry..

once again i thank you all for your interest in this project, i am amazed as nearly all the fabric so far, even though its come from such different world locations,  seems to go together.

p.s does anyone know where i can get an extra large thimble to fit my thumb, its looking a bit like a pin cushion now if you know what i mean!

quick quilt update

Firstly thanks to all the wonderful bloggers who have offered fabric for my blog quilt, despite the British post office have a backlog of 60 million items! due to their industrial action, some fabric has made it past the picket lines..first there was Annes package all the way from CANADA..

she even sent me a doubled ended needle threader once she realised we were both 42, and perhaps my eyes are not as good as they used to be…what a god send, why have i never had one before, i can get rid of the Thai maid now as shes no longer needed for needle threading!

Next to arrive was this package from Caton Darling and moore ,

I think the pink flowers will work especially well, thank you CDM.

The next bumper package came from Yvonne over at Yvestown , 

of course it was Cath Kidston, plus some wonderful red spot and tulips, well she is in Holland!..but it did not end there…Yvonne also sent me one of her home made sewing machine cover, made from CK spot..christmas came early!

Thank you one and all, im off now to try and get some sections done just incase more fabric arrives tomorrow..fingers crossed.

I will post a progress picture of the quilt at the weekend so you can all go OOOOHHHH!

record the day……friday 13th….. first fabric arrived…

As i watched the postman come towards the house i hoped there would be a parcel for me..and there was..hooray my first blog fabric donated by Jeska at  record the day,   such a talented lady with a unique style of blogging, do pop over and see her site. Look what she sent,

two wonderful fabric pieces and a small gift, exquisitley wrapped , a pin cushion and hand made pin parcel..

with such nice material i got the needle out straight away…a few cups of coffee later..

lets hope royal mail is good to me tomorrow.