Athens time

Saturday 29 June 2013

Well hello again ! (and pudding in the fridge..)


Thank you everyone who pondered and responded to my previous blogpost. We are all being very good and rather than always having pudding first, are conscientious and doing at least some of the bad stuff first before letting ourselves have fun! Personally, I am quite strict with myself (lol, who would have thought it, finally your parents no longer tell you to eat your greens first, and now you are doing it yourself, and to yourself, ironic really :-) and consequently there hasn't been pudding for a long time. Which translates in no sewing (as I wouldn't let myself till all was done).

However I have seen the error of my ways and I have got some pudding waiting in the fridge!(so to speak :-) so watch this space!

The (FQ) powers that be have very thoughtfully provided a linky party for those of us who are hopefully going to meet up soon and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to say "Hi" to old friends and to introduce myself to new ones!

My name is Marguerite, aka Rafael's mum. Rafael is the dog and not a son! Although I have two of those as well.

 I live in Ramsgate by the sea,



 which is in Kent (UK) and about half an hours drive north of Dover which is the place where the English Channel is at its narrowest (connecting by ferry with Calais in France).



This is a photo taken last year with my friend Dee, who cannot come, but as she is on my blog, she is sort of part of it anyway. Hi Dee ! (It's me on the right with the glasses and Dee on the left.. she is from all over yonder the pond, Virginia, USA so I suppose she cannot come every year - what a shame!)

I have been quilting since 2009 and then also found the online community, but since then I have had a lot of pockets of great absences as my elderly mother (who is not in England) required more and more care and hence more and more of my time. It is clear that my "return" to blogging and sewing is also going to be patchy (mother is bound to need more time the older she gets as well as some other factors that demand my time) but I promise I will do my utmost best to keep in touch with dear old friends a little more and am looking forward to making lots of new ones!

I love snapping away with my camera and no doubt will bring it along and have it happily snapping away!  Don't worry, I always take millions of photos and the good thing about that is that you can happily discard the ones where someone is just yawning or scratching his/her head or the like :-)  If you feel strongly you don't want your photo on the blog or the FQ site (and as such in the public domain) please let me know and I will be happy to make sure I won't publish yours.


(This was last summer...what happened to this summer?  It must be postponed....)

Mmmmm, what else can I tell you...On the patchwork and quilting side I like to make big quilts (why I am always so attracted to those enormous ones? they take ages!! but then again they ARE lovely when they are done!).





 I also make little things, like play balls for babies. They are fantastic and parents who have bought them have said to me that that ball was the first thing their baby played with!



Are any of you interested in a pattern or a kit for these?

They do take a bit of time to put together but in principle it's an easy construction and quite satisfying when you finish one. Some people also use them as pincushions.

Lately I have been interested in FMQ (Free Motion Quilting) and am really excited to be able to learn the basics from Trudy (quilting prolifically) who knows all about that!

Still, I think my heart will always be with the big quilts...



Come and say hello when you see me and remind me of your name (my brain is like a sieve, honestly, I tell you now ! so don't take it personally when I look at you with that "omg, I know her, I know her, who is she again..." look in my eyes and please, just help me out of the dream!! :-)

Looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones !

25 comments:

dolores said...

Haha...thanks for the shout out lady!:) Wish I could be at the FQ retreat this year but since I can't give everyone a big hello and hug from me!:)BTW...I live in Virginia!;)

Glad you are having some pudding and I hear you about forgetting people's names...been happening to me FOREVER!:)
xo
ps...love the photos!

Ann @thequiltingcats said...

I'm glad you are making a presence in the blogging world again. I missed you and your photos. Althougth with lots of medical stuff going on in my family, I understand.
I love big quilts too! I found myself this past year wanting to "Keep up with the Jones" yet I realized they were always making small, quick quilts. So there was not point in trying to keep up.
To help with everyone's memory out there in blogland I have added the name of my blog behind Ann. Thank you for the idea. :)

www.randomthoughtsdoordi.com said...

Nice to meet you. Now I will have a face to put to your name. I have also met Dee.She's a fun lady.

Nicole Follow the White Bunny said...

You don't have to remember my name, I'm wearing a name tag! The one from last year actually :D See you in a couple of weeks!

Indianna said...

I'll see you there.....and a pattern for the 'balls' would be lovely.....why did that make me smile???

quilthexle said...

Glad to see you posting again - I love your pictures (but you know that already)!
I'm so with you about the pudding issue - most of the time, I have my greens first, of course. And than I'm silently sad because I never got around to have pudding ! Sometimes (like today - I LOVED it !!)I ignore all the greens (or at least most of them) and dig into my pudding. Big time. The result? Some of the greens may taste a bit more bitter tomorrow ;-)) but I'll be refreshed because of the hours I spent sewing !
So, I'm happy to hear you have some pudding in the fridge !
Take care - and have fun at FQ !

Dianne Neale said...

Hi, I remember you from last year. Looking forward to seeing you again very soon!

Susan said...

Nice to see you again Marg- that's a lovely photo of you! I was only reading my old blogposts the other day- you were my first follower back in April 2010!!! I hope to get to meet you at FQR .....one day!

Cat said...

so blessed to have met you irl last year and you can be sure if we ever make it to the northern hemisphere again we will be knocking on your door!
Having just learnt I am a descendant of British and Irish convicts I have another holiday/research trip planned 'one day'

Di said...

Hi Marg. I think that you will find that Trudi and you both love big quilts! Di x

Julie said...

Hey, looking forward to finally meeting you! Juliex

machen und tun said...

is that the quilt from Danas quiltalong ca. 4 years ago you are showing?? I think so, and i think that was the time we met online for the first time :-) How lucky we did meet in person, too, i can´t wait to see you (another tall woman, yay!!) again in London!! Safe travels and see you in a few weeks,

Claudia

Jo said...

Glad to hear you are making a little time for yourself. I certainly want to hear all about your antics at the retreat as I myself will not be there. Enjoy yourself x

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

I hope that "pudding" is a great big expensive pavlova type affair, not some little diet yoghurt!

Kelly said...

Looking forward to seeing you there :)

Justine said...

Hello lovely!! Looking forward to a catch up and the lovely ball you made Hunter - it's his favourite toy just like you said it would be!!

Pink Stitches said...

Look forward to meeting you at the retreat!!

Joanne said...

What beautiful quilts!!
Can't wait to meet you at retreat!

Sarah Lou said...

Lovely to meet you! Hope you've been enjoying the summer which has finally arrived :D I'd love a pattern for the balls, will you have any for sale at retreat?

Nilya said...

So let´s meet in London :)

myBearpaw said...

Looking forward to seeing you next week roommate!

Strawberry Patch said...

Wonderful quilts and photos and those little balls are just great! See you next week.

Tammy said...

I recognise those wonderful beach shots! We spent every summer of my childhood at Broadstairs, I worked out that 5 generations of my family have enjoyed visiting Thanet! See you soon!

pennydog said...

Just popping by to say hi, it was nice meeting you (and of course being in your winning quiz team ;) ) at the retreat. I'm just about to add you to my blog reader!

Rafael's Mum said...

Thank you for your comment Hani, I cannot reply to you by email because you do not have your email on your profile. Maybe you can email me? Thank you.