What's been going on here at Tea and Toast? Instalment 1

I've been a very sporadic blogger of late and you might be wondering what has been going on here.  Well, it's been busy with family and with work so I thought I might just try and update you on things generally.  How about we start with Mother's day?  Remember we have daughter no.1 living with us just now and when I got up on the Sunday morning she had set a delightful breakfast table for me as above.

It was a lovely surprise.  She is an artist and always inspires me with her creativity.  Last evening when I had been working late and it was getting on for 10.30pm, she said to me "Come on Mum, let's paint in our sketchbooks". So we put the wonderful bunch of lillies she bought me for my birthday (last weekend) on the dining room table and she brought down her gouache paints and we set to.  It was a real joy.  She will be moving out next week, not far away, but I shall miss her terribly.

So back to mother's day, after church daughters 3 and 4 came for lunch and then we took a ride into Kent to one of our favourite tea shops.  We were quite a crowd walking in for a cup of tea and piece of cake (there were 7 of us!!).  It was a happy time, walking in the Spring sunshine, breathing in the cool air and listening to the birds and sheep.  I love being with my family and their friends, each one brings something different, dynamic and enriching to our mix.

Then it was back home and some went on their way and some stayed to watch the wonderful photography on the programme about Yellowstone National Park.  It was a lovely lovely day.

Thoughtful Friday No. 38

"Your power to choose the direction of your life allows you to reinvent yourself, to change your future and to powerfully influence the rest of creation. It is the one gift that enables us to elevate our life to higher and higher levels. " 

Stephen Covey (The 8th Habit)

Thoughtful Friday No. 37

"I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."

William Wordsworth

Thoughtful Friday No. 36

"Be an everyday creative person, creative in everything you do".  

Eric Maisel

The day of the disappearing nine patch!

I had  a wonderful day last Saturday at my first ever quilting course.  It was run by a relatively local shop called ThreadBear  and Sue Parker was the teacher.  There were 8 of us right at the back of the lovely shop full to the brim of crafting goodies.  We spent the entire day learning how to piece what is called the 'disappearing nine patch'.  This is where you make up a square of nine 5 inch squares and then cut in a special way to give a very interesting effect.  Here is what I made (virtually all of it during the day itself and then a couple of hours to finish off at home).  It was such fun.

And a closer look at what was a nine patch square:

Unfortunately this is a hasty post as I am just off to run a conference for a couple of days and blogger has not been very speedy this last 30 mins.

Thoughtful Friday No. 35

"Imagination is the eye of the soul"

Joseph Joubert