Busy, busy, busy!

March has been a very busy month in this neck of the woods! It started with Paisley Patchers meeting on the 1st with a great evening listening to and laughing with Claire Tinsley's with her talk  "You Paint your Quilts?" and oohing and ahing over her quilts :-) Next day was an all day workshop with Claire which was such fun and had us all thinking out of our little boxes! The end of that week saw me at the Sewing and Craft show at the Glasgow SECC where I had planned not to spend much or even any money..............why do these plans never materialise ( grin).

The next week saw another all-day workshop on Thursday with the Kilbirnie Sew and Sews, where Bonnie Mc Kerracher had us making a bag with a Crazy patchwork front...........I have never done Crazy patchwork before and if the truth be told I am not a great fan of it, but I did enjoy the class. The Saturday of that week was up to Perth for the Region 16 of the Quilters Guild regional day. Two great and inspirational speakers in Christine Porter and Sheena Norquay with great examples of their quilts.

The next week was the AGM of Lochwinnoch SWRI and an interesting talk on Mauchline ware. Thursday a concert with the RSNO playing the great Mahler 6.

Last week I was at a two day workshop on Goldwork Embroidery where we learnt such a lot and I thoroughly enjoyed, also trying to fit in loads of baking and sorting out stuff for the Paisley Patchers Quilt Show on Saturday. The show seemed to go very well with lots of wonderful quilts to enjoy and visitors being very complimentary about them.

This week finds us back to winter weatherwise and me hunkering down recovering from all that buzz and trying to shed a cold! Quilting-wise getting back to tackling some UFOs and hoping next week and over the Easter weekend getting some work done in the garden, if the weather will allow!

Spring Quilt Festival Ingleston

Yesterday was spent happily at the Spring Quilt Festival at Ingleston near Eddinburgh. I, of course, spent way too much, and came home happily clutching new fabric and a delicious selection of threads. The quilts on display were, as usual, wonderful . I drooled over the section of quilts by Roy Dickinson "Engineering Quilts" they were just awe inspiring....."The Venetian" in particular was amazing. Pat Archibald's quilts were, as usual, so interesting and enjoyable.

Because of the weather, I rather suspect the attendance on Saturday was down but it did give those who were there room to see the quilts and the traders stands without too much of a squash.

I enjoyed two demos workshops, one from Maggie Davies on the use of Abaca paper and that was most interesting and something I must try. The second was a workshop by Claire Tinsley which was fun, I will also hear her at Paisley Patchers tomorrow night ( Monday) and am also attending a full day workshop with her on Tuesday........really looking forward to that!

Still the winter goes on in this neck of the woods..........I just wonder if spring will ever arrive, snow still lying on the ground and falling slightly as I type and a bitter wind blowing today.......ugh!!

A day at a Cookschool!

I had the most fun, if tiring, day yesterday at Nick Nairn's cookschool at the Lake of Menteith (www.nicknairncookschool.com). I can well recommend a day like this! It was a birthday/xmas present.
We arrived at 9.45 for coffee and the most delicious short bread and just after 10.00 we started our day. It was called "Kitchen essentials-- a mini masterclass". Not taken by Nick Nairn himself but by his head chef...........great teacher and communicator John Webber master chef!
The description of the day was
"A class for those who'd like to improve their cooking skills by mastering some key techniques and picking up a good few trade secrets! White chicken stock becomes Thai Broth with coconut milk and lime. Fish preparation and roasting techniques in halibut wrapped in parma ham with a red and yellow pepper stew with capers and garlic, classic creme brulee covers custard and we'll demonstrate making pastry for a lemon and lime tart."

We started off by having a talk on how the day would work then a demo on basic white chicken stock and just how to use kitchen knives properly and how to look after them, then a demo on basic custard making with eggs and cream. Then on to our first practical in chopping the vegs for the stock and getting it under way, then on to make the custard for the creme brulee with lots of tips on how not to end up with scrambled eggs in stead of velvety smooth custard. A short break then for coffee and scone..delicious. Next a demo and talk on how we would use the stock for making our Thai Soup. A demo on making Green Thai curry paste from scratch and then onto the Broth and how to get all the flavours to mix and meld...............wonderful! Then on to preparation of the peppers and getting them on to cook slowly with garlic and rosemary and then finishing off the Broth and through to the dining room to have our soup and the first of several glasses of wine!!
Back to the kitchen for demo on the pastry and prep for the lemon and lime tart we would be having for dessert and how to finish off the creme brulee ( we did not have this for dessert as it really needs a night in the fridge before adding the brulee bit, but we did get the one we made home with us!) then how to cook the fish and finish off the pepper . We then ate our main dish with glass or two and then they served the lemon and lime tart.........by this time it was 5.00pm!!! It was a tiring and intense day's work but such fun and we learnt such a lot. We did have someone to come and drive us back to Glasgow!! I was there with a friend.

Would say to anyone contemplating a day like this.....go for it you will have a ball!!!

B-r-r-r-r its cold!

Stating the obvious really but it is the coldest we have been since moving here and coldest I can remember for such a protracted period for many years! Still with the brilliant sun we have had to accompany it it is magical. The loch is well frozen and skaters and ice hockey players are enjoying the experience.I am not so sure the swans and ducks are enjoying it however!

Our avenue has not been gritted at all, as we are on the flat it is not causing too much of a problem, the pavements in the village are awful though!

Time really to do some sewing!

Christmas Greetings

A very Happy Christmas to all and may 2010 bring all you wish for!

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

The heading says it all really................snowing steadily since 2.00 pm...........maybe a white christmas after all as long as it clears to frosty sun for the day so our guests can get here and we can pick up the turkey on thursday!

Christmas already!

This is a wall hanging I did some time ago from the book "Cutting Garden Quilts" by Melinda Bulah this and various other projects seem to have taken up time that could have been spent blogging....!! A certain lady who also goes to Greenwater classes urged me to post a photo of this to the blog.............so here it is!!!!

However Christmas seems to have crept up and overtaken me! I am getting there.............soup made and in the freezer, presents all bought and the majority wrapped and other food shopping will be completed on Wednesday with only the turkey to be picked up Thursday and then it is cooking on Friday morning ready to welcome family for lunch....................I love christmas and this year looks as if it might just be white as long as the slight thaw we have today stops!

A Very Happy Christmas to anyone who might read this and I promise to post more in the New Year!!