Explaining Horrible Harvest

What's horrible about the harvest is that it isn't happening.  Everything's too wet so we are at the end of August and only half way through!  I did watch Jeffrey loading the corn trailer George was driving a while ago, and then George took me for a ride in the tractor but that seems like a distant memory now!

Anyway, things are ticking over in the workshop.  Sandra and I are sewing the seeds of the Autumn Schedule and there are some good things coming up.
Sarah has finished her beautiful Double Wedding Ring Quilt:

Obviously it is for a wedding gift and Sarah used the hearts and flowers design on the wedding invitations for the quilting.  A lovely idea. 

Beautiful music.....horrible harvest!

Well - what a morning we've had!  Dorina and Brian stayed the night on our CL, and it turns out Dorina is a violinist who has led practically every Symphonia (Scottish, London, Los Angeles) we've ever heard of.  Anyway, she came up this morning to give Jonathan a lesson and also played some pieces for us.  What a joy!  And Jonathan's Happy Birthday is coming along very nicely.

Went to the Festival of Quilts the other week and saw some beautiful quilts.  A few of my favourites were:

Wrapped in Gentleness by Hiromi Yokota - wow! 70,000 beads handsewn to quilt!

In Memory of my Mother by Patricia Fitzgibbons.  This quilt incorpoated old pieces of embroidery - something I've had in mind for a while.

Julia's Venetian Travelling Quilt by Michelle Holmes of Ashby de la Zouch.



ammendment

Belinda's right - it is a Puss Moth.  It was wrongly described on the photo I found. 

Grub's Up!

Had a very nice morning at Pitch and Stitch and we all admired Marie's tapestry cushion she is making.  Marie's husband was a Hungerford man and they come up from Devon each year to visit old friends and family - this is the first time she's joined us at Pitch and Stitch though (although I've admired her crochet in the past) and we look forward to her coming again.
Anyway, it was midday and as we were all starting to feel peckish and our minds were turning to grub - look what started coming through the door:

Ummm.  Good appetite supressant!
I'm trying to find out what it is.  It was about 2 inches long and very fat.  One suggestion is a Hawk Moth caterpillar but I'm pretty sure it's a Pine Hawk Moth Caterpillar.

Help in the garden

Clare and Pauline joined us at Pitch and Stitch this morning - they came up from the caravan site.  Clare was escaping her husband and children for a couple of hours (not really, I'm sure) and brought up some cross stitch and Pauline started on a the little heart kit we have.  It's always so interesting to meet people from other parts of the country.  Obviously, one of the main topics of conversation was how well we are doing in the Olympics and both Sandra and Jackie are lucky enough to have actually  gone up there - Jackie on super saturday so she was still wallowing in the excitement and I was quietly very envious!
This afternoon I was sitting staring out the window, doing nothing and thinking about everything I should be doing, when I saw I was getting a little help in the garden:

This young hare was munching at the water thistles in the rose bed!!! - very helpful!

Summer Break

Wow!  Olympic Fever has hit Lorne Hill Farm!  I'm glued to the TV and loving it all!  I'm keeping everyone informed as to where we are on the medal table and I watched the gymnastics so avidly whilst doing Japanese folded patches that reality has become a little blurred and I'm not sure which I'm best at, the Japanese folded patches or the Japanese handstand.  I've been so inspired by it all that I'm determined to master touching my toes with legs straight by the end of it all.
Now August is here it's time for our summer break.  Although Tuesday morning Pitch and Stitch continues as always, we don't run any workshops in August, although Sandra and I are putting our heads together to work out the Autumn schedule which will recommence in September.

We had the last of the Medallion Quilt Days from the Spring schedule on what was one of the hottest days of the year - the workshop was more like a sweatshop!  A few of the ladies have finished their quilts now - and they look tremendous!

Some are coming along nicely

and some are forging ahead on their second Medallion!

So - there will be spaces on the Medallion Quilt course in September so new people can join. Thanks to the brilliant Lyn Johnson, our teacher, we also have a fantastic new method for basting the quilts - no more crawling around on the floor or taping to tables, using two 4x2s we can baste a whole quilt, in comfort, in a morning:

Pure genius!













We also had a Mariner's Compass workshop recently with Anne Jervey.  It was hand stitched and I used Pauline's fabric and am making it the centre of a quilt for her granddaughter.  I am surrounding it with Japanes patches so the whole quilt will be hand-stitched.  Very girly but quite pretty, I think.

Right, got to go now - I think I'm playing handball next.