cobbled quilt

I love vintage curtain fabric with big blousy flower prints like Sandersons and other firms but would not put them up as curtains (drapes) as I like very simple, integral patterns and plain colours for my curtains. Lyn was given some wonderful vintage fabrics some time ago....and I acquired a green base fabric which was the same print my aunt had her suite covered in, in the 70s, but in the mustard base. When she bought a new suite I got the old settee with the mustard print loose covers. So pure nostalgia and happy memories. I didn't know at the time what I would do with the material, except I knew it would have to be cut up....maybe cushion covers etc to show off the print. The pattern reminded me of the 50s and 60s...and I started to look out for more curtains with a stripe in as I also associate stripes with   50s and 60s....(I think I associate it with a toffee tin decorated with stripes and a picture of a ballet dancer I got one Christmas in the early 60s)....then I spotted more and more vintage curtains with big flowers patterns......
My favourite charity shop is the end of a chain.....donated goods are offered at the shops in the more affluent areas, moved to another area and down the chain to this shop where everything is 25p, 50, or £1and so I got the curtaining that I needed for £1 a pair.
Now real quilt makers look away NOW.....I made no attempt to piece this together....tack or pin....or bond....I just grabbed the front and the back piece and stitched. The top and bottom row is the wrong way round....after spotting the 2nd and 3rd were different to the first I simply made the 4th to match the first.... It's not intended to be a heirloom piece just something of the moment which  satisfies my needs at this moment in time. Just something I could throw on the lawn and picnic on, read, sun bathe...etc

Here it is hanging on the line in my "bus shelter" letting the breeze blow away the fluffy bits from snipping the seams.

and the other side.....I made it 4 panels by 3 and cost about £5. Each panel is a large cushion size. It will be thrown over a settee in a room where the walls are painted a similar green and a dusky plum colour and two walls magnolia. Its going to be MY den.

climate change

What we do to this planet doesn't matter.....right?.......and all this talk of climate change is just scaremongering by the government or the EU imposing some daft policy on us.......right?
These are the last of the trees that lined the school playing field......Poplar, Ash, Sycamore, Hawthorn....in a blink of an eye....they were gone.....The school was built in the 1960s...I have seen these trees for over 50yrs.....before they formed the school boundary they were part of an old farm boundary.........

 

the tree next to the street light was over two foot across at the bottom. 

imagine four photos side by side to get an idea of how much was chopped down....the bigger trunks were were over two foot across.......

these trees over the last five years endured exceptional weather conditions for this location....excessive rainfalls, including flooding, we've had water bans because of water shortages, snowfalls of unusual depth and cold, biting winds, and this time last year..... a....... scorching heat wave.

These trees died off from the inside.... NOT from disease......but because they were unable to cope with excesses... and... lack of water, cold, and heat......for the childrens safety they had to come down before they rotted and became brittle and fell down.

I feel sad that they have gone....I miss them.....their grace and beauty, the seasons displayed in the colours of their leaves and fruits....will be enjoyed no more....and the protection from the ever increasing winds that they afforded this house and my neighbours houses over the last few years. 

Yet it is still widely believed that climate change isn't happening......it's just a myth put about by the Government and the EU to impose their stupid sanctions on us and interfere in our lives 

and put taxes up....................

It's refuse collection day today........and we are still struggling to get people to do a simple thing ....like sort their rubbish......and achieve recycling targets.......which are nowhere near  the set 45% targets.....80% of our rubbish CAN be recycled........ how many floods, droughts, famines, heatwaves, and other disasters will it take before people catch on.....it does matter what we do....and don't do....not just in our local community but the world wide community.................