Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Summer hols

We just returned from our summer hols - visiting family and friends back in the UK.  It was so good to be back.  And Naomi, well, she had the best time ever:  "I love England, Mama".

My family live in a coastal town in the north of England, not too far from the Lake district.  It was nice to be back by the sea, and also spend time in the beautiful countryside.  The highlight of this trip was a hike to where my Dad's ashes were scattered.  My Mum, sister and I all took the walk up there.  It was beautiful, with a funny story thrown in - my mum had lent me some hiking shoes that she'd had stored in her closet.  We'd barely started the hike when both soles fell off the walking boots!  :))  Well, did we laugh!  Thankfully my sister had a spare pair of sneakers with her, otherwise I would have been making the hike in my ballet flats!  I know Dad would have rolled his eyes and had a good laugh at that one.  

Nicky Nook
Sheep at Nicky Nook

We also took a trip down to London to visit friends there.  My little trooper did amazingly well walking her little feet off, and navigating the underground with me.  We got to visit some of the major sites including Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster... before spending a fun afternoon in St James park with friends.

Buckingham Palace Guard

I also visited Liberty London. Oh my!  I could have spent the entire day here.  Naomi of course had other ideas.  But the store is oh so lovely and well worth the visit.   (I made it up to Naomi with a trip to Hamleys which was just down the street - so we both got to visit magical stores filled to the brim with things we love :)

Liberty London

Liberty London

Needlepoint kits
No trip is complete without some crafting.  On this trip I was working on some 'tiger feet' socks, and a Halloween cross stitch from the gals at the frosted pumpkin.

Tiger Feet

Halloween

I hope you have had the chance to do something fun this summer, and spend time with loved ones.
Sam x

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Quilt Retreat

I recently attended a quilt retreat with the lovely ladies from the Denver Modern Quilt Guild.  It was a fabulous weekend that gave me the opportunity to work on the Stained quilt.

My station
This quilt started as a quilt swap with the ladies from the quilt guild. We used the Stained quilt as the inspiration for the blocks, and the fabric I provided came from the Sarah Jane at Play range. I've since added fabrics from the same designer's Wee Wander line.
Layout

In progress
I'd received a good number of squares from the swap but still needed a good bunch more to make it large enough for Naomi's new big girl bed. Over the retreat I was able to remedy that and the quilt top is almost complete now... just needs a border to bring it to the desired size.
I am really excited to have this one near completion and looking forward to sharing a finished project soon.

Stained glass quilt top
I hope you have had a lovely weekend,
Sam x