Sewing, a visit and more quilts.

Life is pottering along here in London. Although I am on holiday I still have to finish up all the paperwork for my course reapproval and that is taking time. However I am timesharing and as a result I have almost finished a dress, and accomplished a little hand sewing. The one thing I have finally finished is sewing the binding onto my tulip table centre. In fact I had left it so long I'd forgotten it still needed finishing. I need to give it some love as it had been folded and had things piled ontop of it.

At the end of July John and I joined Katy, Olly and Aubrey for a visit to the wetlands centre at Barnes. We had planned to have lunch together and then take a walk so that Aubrey could see some ducks. He is currently obsessed with ducks. We started our visit with lunch. It helps to keep both small child and the adults happy. We had been told they would be feeding the otters at 2 so after lunch we wandered around a little before making our way to the otter enclosure. There were two otters and they were happily playing in the water.

The otters are European otters and they weren't the easiest creatures to get pictures of as they do swim very fast. They moved even quicker when their food appeared. Aubrey was fascinated by the otters and it was interesting to listen to the information about them. Otters were close to extinction in the UK in the 1950's and 60's due to pesticides affecting their breeding. Thanks to breeding programmes they are now found in every county in England and Wales, although they are still rare. They are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

After seeing the otters we went in search of more ducks. As far as Aubrey is concerned anything swimming on water is a duck. He was very excited to see so many.

As we were walking back to the main centre later in the afternoon John spotted this little creature.

This is a Common Lizard and they can grow to 10 - 15cm and live 5 to 6 years. It is the UK's most common reptile and can be found in most areas of the country but it is unusual to see them.

On Tuesday Katy, Olly and Aubrey visited Polsden Lacy, a National Trust property and Aubrey decided this was the right time to start walking. All my three children took their first steps at Polsden, It has a beautiful lawn that is perfect for first steps.

So now I expect you'd like to see some more quilts. I didn't take photos of all the quilts, just the ones that took my fancy (and prize winners)

This pictorial quilt was made by Yemima Lavan from Modin, Israel and is titled 'Carried by the wind'. 

The bees caught my attention in this quilt. This is a group quilt made by The Forget me not Sewing Bee from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire UK. The quilt was created by a group of ladies, inspired by the loss of loved ones. They came together to sew, eat cake and enjoy each others company. They raise money for the Alzheimer's Society by making items from predominately recycled denim.

This pictorial quilt was made by Fiona Wollaston from Bridgewater Somerset UK and is titled Beautiful Kernow (Beautiful Cornwall). This was created using Photoshop, commercial printer, inkjet printer, stencilling, precision piecing, machine embroidery and machine quilting. I really loved this quilt and the information about how it was made.

This quilt by Kathleen Matthews from Lydney UK is titled 'Read the signs, Heart attack? Dial 999'. The people were painted with acrylic and were drawn and painted by Kathleen. A humorous quilt with a strong message.

I love these Toucans. This quilt is by Barbora Bartosova from Zamberk, Czech Republic and is titled 'Rain Forest' The Amazon forest was the inspiration for the different plants and the colours were beautiful. Here is a close up of the stitching on one of the birds.

Another quilt from Fiona Wollaston from Bridgwater, Somerset UK. '70 years a Queen' This quilt uses the newspaper clippings reporting on the important events that happened during her reign. I wasn't born when the queen was crowned but I remember all the other important events.

I had to include this quilt. It is titled 'Comfort, The Breast Quilt' and was created by Lois Blackburn from Birch Vale, High Peak, Derbyshire UK and 180 collaborators. The quilt incorporates applique, hand and machine embroidery, raised work, knitting and crochet, beadwork and sequin work. It explores our hopes and dreams, embarrassments, pleasure, pain and joy. The 180 collaborators were women and teens from across the UK.

This beauty was created by Leah Walker/Patchwork Picnic from Plymouth, Devon UK and is called The turning of the Season (The Fox and the Hare) Leah was aiming to create a beautiful and whimsical celebration of the British countryside. I think she succeeded.

I still have more quilt photos to share with you and some more sewing, but now I need to go and collect my care which has been having its annual service.

Take care

Lyndsey