Greetings from bonnie Scotland

Well we have arrived safely at our destination and kept ourselves busy over the past few days. Thus far we have gotten over our jet lag, found out about trains and buses to various locations, visited Stirling Castle, Dunblane Cathedral, Callander (and the world famous Hamish), done some shopping, watched my nephews playing soccer, and visited family. We have to keep re-arranging our schedule because of the stormy weather. The local streams and rivers are steadily rising. All going well we will be heading off to Glasgow tomorrow.
The Chelsea Flower Show starts tomorrow but the closest we will get to that is watching it on the telly :) The news media is all geared up for the iminent arrival of President Obama.

PIF gift from ........

My PIF gift from Cheryl has arrived. A hand made bag and a sparkly long scarf. I love them both.

I might take the bag with me to Scotland. It's just the right size for my wallet and camera. Hop on over to Cheryl's blog to see what else she has been doing. http://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com/

Hand sewing

I'm teaching one of my friends how to hand sew/quilt. The purpose behind this ....... to repair some quilt tops her grandmother made. They were damaged in a fire a couple of years ago. They have all cleaned up quite well (mostly smoke damage and stains) and now the seam repair work is in process.
This is the one we are currently working on. It will eventually be turned into a summer weight quilt since a lot of the fabrics are quite fragile. Once my friend feels comfortable with the hand sewing, (she's doing quite well) we are planning on having an old fashioned sewing bee :)

The fabrics are lovely BUT they vary from very thin to heavyweight which definitely has caused some issues. The seams are all nicely hand sewn BUT a variety of thread was used (including embroidery floss). We may have to replace some of the seams sewn with floss but that can wait till the others are sewn back together.
I'll share photographs of the other quilts and blocks when I get back from my vacation.

It's hot .......

..... and we have Lilies blooming and 13 year Cicadas emerging. I'm off to Scotland next week and will be back sometime in June.

The Lilies bloomed this morning. I love the color.

The Cicada nymphs are taking over one of our large trees. Once they molt they will turn black with bright red eyes. I'll have to ask hubbie to watch our peach tree and red bud tree since they still have fairly slender branches.

The Peonies are still looking good.

Since I am going out of town I might not be participating in Bloggers Quilt Festival this coming week. I'll have to think about that. It starts on Friday. Thanks to Amy for hosting this again, it's always wonderful. The link is in my side bar.

Beautiful Britain - Westminster Abbey

THE big day in Britain is almost upon us (depending upon which time zone your in) and I for one will be glued to my chair watching THE event :)
I lived in London for a couple of years. Loved it. Such an historic place with many wonderful sites to see.
Westminster Abbey is gorgeous and a must see if you ever visit the area. Get off at Westminster tube station and walk over to see Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, the Abbey, and behind you The London Eye and London Aquarium. If you want to keep on walking you'll find the Churchill Museum, St. James Park and Buckingham Palace. You can also take a bus tour round the area which is very interesting.

Monks have been in the area since the 10th century. Kings and Queens have been crowned in the abbey since 1066. 17 are resting in peace there along with many other famous people. The abbey has been host to 15 royal weddings, though there might have been more.
The current building was started in 1245 and is typically Gothic in style. I love the ceilings, arches and in particular, the stained glass windows.
http://www.westminster-abbey.org/

Blog of the Week - Summerland Cottage Studio

I am currently experiencing internet access issues at the computer I store photographs for my blogs. I tried using my mini pad to create postings but that was a bust.

While I have access come with me to visit Paulette Adams, the creative genius behind Summerland Cottage Studio http://summerlandcottagestudio.blogspot.com/ Paulette finds inspiration everywhere, particularly in nature, and then translates that to artwork that is delicate and beautiful to behold. I love the way she captures that in the photographs at her blog. From Paulette "I believe that creating beauty and harmony in all aspects of our daily living, feeds our souls, thereby enriching and fulfilling our hearts and lives."

Look at the flower vase in the photograph above and take a guess at how she created the roses............. Have you worked it out yet ........ let me give you a moment longer .............



She used 2" fabric strips ripped from an old cotton sheet covered in slip !!!!!! How brilliant is that. The fabric burns away in the firing process and you are left with delicate flowers to then glaze.

Another of Paulette's "ripped and dipped" pieces. This time using a cotton tee-shirt as the base.

Paulette does some very pretty water color painting. Here's one of my favorites which is based on a client's actual house.

I wonder if she has done anything with this photograph from the Hamlet at Versailles?

This multi talented lady also repurposes items. This jewelry travel case is now her ........... calligraphy supplies carrier !!! You will have to find out for yourself what she did with a small antique travel case :)

Shells show up a lot at Paulette's blog. They are used as inspiration for all kinds of interesting pieces of art.

While my blog was originally intended as a place for me to explore quilting and fabric art I'm of the opinion that inspiration comes from all sources and that we each should try out any kind of art work that makes us happy or intrigues us. (More on that in another posting.)
Paulette's thoughts on the same subject "I believe that if we don't break rules there would never be new art.".
And for those of you wanting to know if Paulette has ever quilted - the answer is "yes - crazy quilts back in the late 70's."
http://summerlandcottagestudio.blogspot.com/

Beautiful Britain - Belfast

I'm going to do something a bit different today. I'm going to send you to Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti who is currently in Ireland on a business trip (her husband is doing the business part and she's tagging along). She has done a couple of fabulous postings about Belfast.

http://millefiorifavoriti.blogspot.com/2011/04/beautiful-belfast.html
After that check out the rest of her blog. She shares some great information and photographs about New York,