Finally starting to put my Dear Jane quilt together. I have hand pieced the 169 center squares, but I'm doing the sashing and corner stones on the machine. While I think it would be nice to have the quilt completely like Jane Stickles', I have decided not to do the triangles and corner kites. There will be a narrow frame border of dark green and then another border with the main fabric. I think that it will look really nice that way.
Olympics over and bank holiday over and now its back to normal. Even have to go to the dentist today and have a scan at the hospital on Friday.

Returned exhausted from the quilt festival at the NEC, even though I only attended one day. I really did hope to be fantastically inspired and there were some very interesting quilts there, but due to the sudden, frightening illness of one of our party, we were fairly subdued. All plans for evenings out and exploring Birmingham were abandoned.
I am disappointed with myself that I still haven't really experienced the festival. It is my third visit and I haven't had any workshops or lectures and haven't really seen any demonstrations as the crowds are always so thick it is impossible to see what is going on.
Minimal shopping with only a few purchases, the main one being the double wedding ring templates from Marti Michell and some fabric paints so I can try my hand at that. Saw Ricky Timms for a few seconds, but didn't converse. Martin and I went to Elgar's birthplace and museum and spent a really good day there.
Will post some festival snapshots soon along with Teya's quilt.

I am really looking forward to the Quilt Festival on the weekend. It will be so much better to go with friends and have a night out than to ride the bus all the way there and back.
Also, I have talked to Brandon twice on the phone in one week. He sounds really good, so I hope everything goes well with the new job and the future prospects. And now Amy has email, so I can contact her more easily. I will have to make more of an effort to stay in touch every week with all of them.
Next Monday I should have quilt news from the NEC and hopefully some pictures.

August already and we are just barely keeping up with the garden. The tomatoes are not ripe yet, but we have more zucchini and cucumbers than we know what to do with.
Gardening takes time, but I am trying to get back into the swing of quilting again since my hip replacement surgery in June. This week is Comfort Quiters week at Chelsworth and I hope to finish the hand quilting on Teya's quilt by this next weekend. Photo will be posted when the quilt is finished.