Fun times

A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to have a day away from home to indulge myself in some sewy fun.  Lynz and I met up at Jo's lovely house near Linlithgow.  It's not far from our last house and I got quite nostalgic driving over there - Jo lives in a particularly pretty part of West Lothian. She had invited us over to teach us hand quilting (that was the excuse but we did an awful lot of nattering too!).....that was why I had to make the cushion top, which I showed last post, in such a hurry - I really didn't want to turn up without anything to quilt.

Jo let us have a look at her quilts - she has been quilting for a long time and has made some really individual and quirky quilts made with her abundant skill, and many of them have been beautifully hand-quilted.  We also rummaged in her fabric stash which, needless to say, was lots of fun.

We are, from left to right - Lynz, Jo and me.

After a yummy lunch we got down to the quilting.  Jo makes it look so easy, and I have to say so did Lynz, I think I'll have to work on my stitch length and neatness a little.  But the effect is lovely and I will definitely persevere.  We also squeezed in a trip into Linlithgow, to visit the two fabric shops, and amongst a lot of pretty uninspiring fabrics we all managed to find a few little bits to bring home - now there's a surprise!

My cute pin toppers  - very badly photographed.

It was so much fun to spend the day with such lovely people and to be able to talk about fabric, thread, needles and so on without being laughed at or ignored.  Lynz gave each of us a couple of gorgeous pintoppers made by her clever self and the even more clever Chook (her 8 year old little girl - who I think must be just as much of a character as her mum!). 

We're hoping to meet up again - yay!

The other piece of news to share is that we're expecting a baby.  After my miscarriages, and especially the late one last autumn, I've felt happier keeping quiet about being pregnant until now.  But at 21 weeks things seem to be going well and last week we had a 20 week scan which was fantastic (the first I've had as they've only recently been offered in this area). I was already aware that this baby is a wriggly one and the scan only confirmed that......it certainly doesn't like to keep still. 

Until the last 2 or 3 weeks, when I've been able to feel lots of movement every day and therefore know for myself that all is well, I've been very anxious and quite stressed out.  Which, while I know isn't a good thing and not good for the rest of the family either, I haven't been able to do much about although I have been trying hard to be positive.  I have also been feeling horribly sick until very recently and even on Sunday eating my evening meal was a battle (cooking has been a bit of a challenge too - but not one I could avoid with lots of hungry people to feed!).  I'm also struggling with tiredness but that just goes with the territory for me when I'm pregnant so I just have to get on with it! But I'm mostly much better now and am looking forward to enjoying the last half of this pregnancy and waiting to see who our new little person will be. 

I do feel very lucky to be here at this stage with a new life to look forward to - especially knowing there are so many people out there struggling to have even their first baby or with far more worries that we have had.  I will not be taking my good fortune for granted. 

I have had fun making a couple of pairs of baby trousers......don't leap to the conclusion, based on the colours, that we're expecting a boy.  We have no idea but I'm happy to dress a girl in these trousers.  The bird fabric on the first pair was rescued from a blouse I made that didn't fit well - you may just be able to spot bust darts near the top!  The second pair are flannel on one side and linen on the other.  I used the pattern in Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book.  Very easy and straightforward and I'm definitely happy with the end result - tho' not my photography, but I'm afraid I didn't have time to play around with the camera or the sun (and I really don't want to complain about the sun).