A Week already!

I was so pleased with this quilt but now I have seen how I could have made it even more interesting and used even more scraps from my stash. I saw a fabulous pattern where the pinwheels were the centre and were bordered by flying geese and squares to make a star block! Now that really calls me! I have a thing about quick pieced half square triangles and stars!! As I have just indulged in a new angler it cuts piecing time down!! I think that might just be my next large project.
This week's quilt in day programme finished the tennessee waltz pattern, as it was only a cot quilt Just 9 blocks and 2 borders that will have to go on my to do list as well! Just have to get on with the library star throw, wish I had remembered about the 4patch in the corner, bu tnow have made 4 blocks not going to go back!! Reading other quilting blogs has regenerated my creative juices and I am buzzing again!

Quilting

This was supposed to be a way to capture my quilting thoughts and progress, instead it's turned into a weather report! We live in such an exposed area I suppose it's natural to be completely preoccupied with the weather.
New Year, New Resolution! After watching Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day TV programme on English television I have become re- energised. I was so excited to find a new channel on Sky which carries a quilt programme!! I have got the triangle in a square ruler and have started a new quilt! Only 4 blocks done and I have no clue how many I will need but every journey starts with the first step! My study has a green sofa with a very old, too small and very boring plaid throw, so I have decided to learn how to use my new toy by making green star blocks and putting them in a throw to cover the sofa. It has to look better than now, will use up some of my stash in an organised fashion and teach me new techniques at the same time. With luck it will take my mind away from Paul's illness and give me something postitive to focus on. I think I will machine quilt it as that will also be a step along the learning curve. I have got quite good a getting stitches on both sides of the quilt now! Even without the BSR foot!! I might even be brave enough to attempt a more definite pattern with stippling to create more texture.
My daughter Samantha has requested a sample quilt which includes zippers, buttons and laces to teach Daisy how to cope with fastenings! She is such a poppet and very clever! When I previewed this I realise no one else will want to look at it as there are no photos! Well maybe that's tomorrows problem!!

What a week!

We have had continuous snow now for 3 weeks!
Its beautiful but makes you realise just how tough life would have been up here when the house was built! Everyday I have had to dig out the wash house so Barney can get up, then dig out and feed the hens, then dig out the coal bunker and log shed as well as the car!! That's before the day starts properly. The hospital car came early for Paul on monday so at least I know he is safely at James Cook for the week and will get his treatment. Such a relief and if I could manage to sleep I could have a lie in !!
We decided I wouldnt brave the roads and visit to day as I had seen him in the morning and we kept in touch by phone. I had a lazy quilty day which did me good. I managed to get down to Chapel and put in Paul's prescription and get the odds and ends. I remembered my handbag this time so I paid my debts in Stanhope. Sadly when I got home Barney had blotted his copy book by messing in the front room!!! He hasn't done that since he was a puppy! Oh well by the rest of the week a minor disaster!
Tuesday, defrosted and dug out the car ready to visit Paul in Middlesbrough, the roads arent wonderful so I decided to lead walk Barney to encourage him to eat his breakfast as he is being a but fussy about food, boredom and lack of excercise probably, the same for me too!!
Just as I was leaving for the hospital today's disaster struck. No Power! never mind should be ok by the time I get back!!!!! Famous last words.....
By the time I got to Bishop on the way back it was starting to snow, by Stanhope it was definitely snowing, by Chapel it was thick with white roads!!! Carefully crawling up the Dale, counting off the villages and praying I would get home. Cowshill, thick white roads, road closed signs only allowing a single track and pitch black with a blizzard!!!! What a baptism of fire, I steadily crawled up the hill in 2nd gear, desperately trying to see the side of the road and the drifts. Then at the top PANIC..... the plough was turning out of our fork to come down the hill, I had nowhere to go, fortunately he saw me and turned up Allenheads road to allow me to pass. The snow was even deeper and I was terrified I would get stuck but the RAV just kept on going, the relief when I pulled into the ruts on the drive was enormous.
Slight technical hitch meant that indoors I had no phone because there was no electric but I had no signal on the mobile either! so I sat in the car and phoned everyone to let them know I was back safely if a bit shaken.
The fire was still ticking over nicely and as we have a gas hob I could make tea and hot water bottles, I lit all the candles and enjoyed a candlelit evening. The power still wasnt on in the morning but I managed to get a mobile signal upstairs and kept in touch with Paul, we decided that it wouldnt be wise to attempt visiting as the forecast wasnt good. Eventually at 2pm the NEDL man came to reattach me to the National Grid.
Thursday
No major disasters today, except that my wellies have decided not to be wellies any more and to leak!! Oscar decided to venture outside for the first time in weeks and the hens also braved the elements and hid in the chick hut, I thought I had lost them all!
It was good to visit Paul and the staff waive the normal visiting times as they had seen our house on Look North and were most impressed with how remote we are. It meant I could get back in daylight and before the road froze which was brilliant.
Friday - Paul comes home today so I wont visit. Major wash and clean in preparation for his return. Now I should have known better!!! Barney went out to play in the hen and veg runs, he was gone ages, eventually I called him in and he carefully threw up most of a rabbit on the front room carpet! When I shouted at him he obligingly went into the kitchen and threw up the rest!!!!
Once I had cleaned up inside I had to go out an clear up the rabbit remains so that he wouldnt go back out and eat the rest, needless to say when I came in he was casually eating the breakfast he had left all day!! dogs!!
Paul got back about 5.30pm, he had made good time and is looking great, so much better than that first week Thank Goodness. We had a fish pie for tea and he is feeling so well that he ate with me in the kitchen instead of a tray on his lap and he managed his pud straight away!!
It has rained most of today and the temperature has been about 4 degrees so there has been a major thaw. If this keeps up the white stuff will all go quite quickly.
Saturday- leisurely get up knowing we dont have to be ready for transport, chores much easier with two of us! Three eggs, and pavement paths!! Then the snow arrived! Back to white roads and no paths but hopefully it wont last long, then we are due rain.

Friday 8th Jan
well we managed to get to the end of the week and Paul hasnt missed a radiotherapy session despite the appalling weather. They managed to find someone with a 4x4 and so he has got in each day. Weekend off then in for a week. We had the snow blower and plough up today and Colin & I passed a gritter coming from Chapel. Some of the icicles in Chapel are spectacular, really wish I had taken my camera. I followed the snowplough and snowblower to the main road, that would have been a fabulous picture with the snow arcing over the wall into the fields.
Safely delivered John's birthday present to Eddie and collected the papers he has been saving for us, on the way back to the car I did a superb triple salco with tuck! Cold, wet and fractured dignity! Pleased to have filled up with diesel at Stanhope and felt very clever to have got out with the RAV. Colin was pleased as he managed to get a lift to and from Chapel. He said he hadnt realised how heavy his few bits of shopping would be!
Paul has been delayed coming back from James Cook as his driver had to go and rescue another car, obviously not a 4x4. Still they fed him lunch and he is on his way back now. Sam and Phil have been very complimentary about my photos! she would love to hire a 4x4 and come up for skiing!! it really is spectacular and I feel quite pleased that we have not run out of fuel or food!!
It's set to continue next week so visiting Paul might be tricky. Still at least he will be in and therefore we wont have the daily worry that he cant get there.

Death of a Hen

Sad day. We had about 3" of snow overnight but it must have stopped snowing quite early and the plough has been up and down. The road is clear and Gordon managed to pick Paul up and take him through, just 3 more days now!!Such a relief when the driver picks him up. The sky is so snow laden its hard to tell where the fell ends and the sky begins. I dug out everywhere again today, when I got down to the hen run there was a dead hen buried in the snow outside the pophole. At first I thought it was a goldline and when I got into the house and couldnt find the whitestar who is heavily in the moult I thought I had lost 2. I went back with clean water and saw all the goldline were back so its was just the whitestar after all. She must have frozen as she didnt have many feathers and was down to 'chicken skin'. So sad. The others look quite well, but fed up with being cooped up. I added some more shavings to the droppings board and put some more on the floor to try to ckean up the shed a bit. I added some more staw to the nest boxes as well. We managed one egg today. I am conserving diesel in the RAV as I havent got too much, so Barney will have to content himself with a run round the garden today, if the weather closes in while Paul is at James Cook I might have to venture out and rescue him. It looks like it might snow heavily and I dont want to be caught out at Stanhope. Beef fajitas and rice pudding for tea tonight!! I opened a tin of evaporated milk by mistake yesterday so I will have to use it up today!! Such a relief not to have to think about school, when I went to post my certificate yesterday I saw the Allenhead road was closed. This weather is set to go on for at least another fortnight! It really is like winters from times past, except the gritting and central heating is better. It must have been so hard before they were well established.

deep freeze

minus 4 today, very cold, but sparkly! clear blue skies, but no snow yet. The bright light has helped the hens and we are at last getting 3 eggs a day. Barney is delighted that the hen run gate is open and spends his day chasing down into the veg plot hoping to catch a pheasant! We managed to get a run up to High Lin lots of evidence of rabbits but he wasnt lucky. he didnt appreciate the ride to Stanhope or hanging about in the car while I did the shopping. The ride to Alston was superb, the roads after Killhope weren't too bad and the views were fantastic. Paul was picked up early by the ambulance car and we thought he would be back at a reasonable time. Unfortunately the car was rerouted to another pick up and Paul had to wait till 1pm at James Cook for a ride home. He wasnt too tired all things considered, wonder what the rest of the week will be like, we are forecast heavy snow for the rest of the week. John has volunteered to take him through in the pickup if we need it. As the drivers have our home number I am hoping they will take him from Stanhope if I can get him there! this is the longest cold spell for about 20 yrs, Neville says its like winters used to be.

dug for victory!

Another snowy day!! The plough came through overnight and cleared the road so Boro cars managed to pick Paul up at 8am!!! we were all amazed as it had snowed nearly all day yesterday and we had at least another 4". while he was away I managed to dig out the hens again, and the coal bunker, log shed and wash house. The 4ft wall of snow across the drive was more daunting! I decided the only sensible thing to do was to ask for help, so I phoned Kenny and victoria. They turned up on the quad bike like the cavalry! After a few minutes digging, Victoria went up to Neville's and he came down with the tractor and bucket and made short work of moving the snow out of the way. Kenny, bless him, reversed the RAV back so I should be able to get off the drive quite easily. Paul phoned to say he was on his way home and got back about 12midday. He had just got in safely when the weather closed in again and it has snowed steadily all afternoon. Its blowing too so there is some drifting.
While Paul was away I managed to clean under the stairs where the cat has been weeing!! sort out a litter tray for him, dry the rest of the washing and iron it and sort out the 'green box recycling'
Nice to have a day off tomorrow, although we are due more snow, the long range forecast predicts more snow into next week! Still only 5 more journeys then Paul will be in for a week and we wont have to worry about the transport!
spent a pleasant afternoon quilting and watching Upstairs Downstairs
with luck Cottage Gardens will be finished by the end of January. I am trying really hard to spend a couple of hours each afternoon quilting, that way I feel as though I am making progress.

Happy New Year

January 1st 2010
woke up to deep snow!!!The channels we had cleared to the wash house and hens completely obliterated!So set off with the new snow shovel to clear a path to the hens so they could be fed, Barney thought it was great fun and kept jumping over the channel I cut causing the sides to collapse!!Just finished in time for the next blizzard!
Paul is feeling tired today and his tummy is feeling a bit tingly and burny. The radiotherapy must be having some effect, bit worried about how I will get him to James Cook tomorrow. We are forecast heavy snow showers all day, they think we will get another 4". Once it stops snowing and the plough goes up the road will be fine, getting off the drive onto the road however could be an adventure!! If Paul was well we would really enjoy this weather, but with the transport worries and the knowledge that not having the treatment isnt an option it's really come at a bad time.
Fortunately the chemo seems to have left his system and the new anti emetics mean he is eating for England, he has managed to put on 4lbs of the 10 he lost and the dietician is more relaxed!
In himself he is feeling much better, we just pray we can get through the next 2 weeks and that it works.
I have been getting on with the hand quilting on the cottage gardens quilt it's only been on the frame for 3 yrs!!! I have managed another row! with luck by the time I go back to school it will be nearly finished, I have so many unfinished and even unstarted projects. I made a reasonable attempt to tidy the sewing room, it need a serious sort out of fabric and some kind of organisation, probably making several scrap quilts would help!!
The hens are not impressed with the snow but are managing to lay about 3 eggs a day! Oscar is definitely not impressed, he prefers to lay on the tree skirt in the kitchen, no fool him, the underfloor heating makes it very cosy and because he is under the tree he tends to go unnoticed. It does mean I will have to get busy with mop and bucket under the stairs as I suspect he has made his own litter tray in the spare newspapers we store there to light the fire!!! I havent the heart to turf him out in such appalling weather.We have had snow for 2 weeks now and it doesnt look like going any time soon! I am so glad the boiler has decided to work again!