Some weeks ago, we lost a very special member of our Friday afternoon patch'n'chat - the lovely Agnes Glendinning. Although Agnes was in her eighties, she was still a prolific quilter, as her daughter Alison discovered, when she came over from Austalia, where she now lives, first for the funeral and then to sort out her Mum's estate. Alison is trying to finish some of her Mum's quilts before she heads back home. Today she had this beautiful teddy bear quilt with her - her Mum had stitched the teddies and made the tiny patchwork quilts, then Alison assembled and quilted it.
When asked what she was going to do with the quilt when it is finished, Alison said it would be going back to Australia with her, where she would put it away in the hope of one day giving it to her first grandchild! Here is a detail of one of the adorable little teddies
There were more teddies this afternoon - Anne S was about to start the blanket stitch round the teddies on a small wallhanging for her (grown up!)daughter
When the post arrived this morning, there was a bit of a scuffle as we both tried to open a card which had arrived addressed to both of us. Malcolm insisted on opening it, as he said the writing on the envelope was that of his younger sister Judith. However when the card was opened, it was from my friend Sarah. She said when she saw the card, she immediately thought of us, as it reminded her of the old telephone box near our house
It was Sarah who sparked my interest in pillar boxes, and when she visited us in the summer of 2009, she brought me a felted pillar box that she had made for me, based on a photo of a Victorian pillar box which I has included in a previous post. She then sent me a pack with stamps featuring pillar boxes, so I had them framed together (sorry for the funny angle of the photo, but it was to try to eliminate the reflection on the glass)
I was sad this morning when I had finally to accept that my African violet had died. This little plant was special to me, as I had given it to my Dad as one of his presents for his 80th birthday in 1999. When he died five years ago, the poor plant only had two leaves on it! But I repotted it, and it then recovered and flowered for months on end. However recently it has been looking a bit sickly, and today I had to send it to the compost bin
It's Friday, which means I have two important things to do to finish the blog. The first, of course, is to show you the Friday cake ....... a wonderful chocolate sponge
And now ...... a fanfare and a roll of drums, as I announce the winner of the giveaway! The 'random number generator' (aka Malcolm) picked a number, and the winner is .......Tinky.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I am hoping to quilt the tractor quilt. Love Anne