After the Storm

Well, after all the hype for the Big One - Storm that is - and after going round putting things away, under cover and battening down the hatches - it was a non-event here.  Instead of sweeping across our part of Wales it turned right, up the Channel, and sweapt across Britain with its skirts around Cardiff, rather than Carmarthen.  Phew.  It claimed 5 lives, including a 17 year old girl at the threshold of her adult life.  Life seems so unfair but perhaps it is destiny.  Who can say?

The photo taken across the paddock corner was Before the Storm, when we had some weather approaching (a gale and a half and heavy rain) and there was that peculiar yellowy storm light.

"Some" cats have taken up their winter quarters already, and don't give a hoot about the weather outside . . .  Here is Alfie, who has decided that the big shopping bag containing quilting material and bits and bobs, makes the best bed . . . though they all know they are not "meant" to go up on the table, they do the moment my back is turned:

Here - well known for her most peculiar choices of places to sleep - is Banshee, who thinks a box of Earl Grey teabags is the place to be!

I have been busy taking my ease, and getting better, and decided as my brain had gone walkabouts and piecing patchwork blocks was beyond it, I would do some of the repairs which had been sidelined all summer.  First, an old (1900ish) narrow loom quilt, which had been torn on the bottom and needed the torn bit removing, and a new hem done.

Here was a little indulgence from eBay, and full of fabulous quilts and ideas.

A while ago I found this little tray cloth, with some unsewn bits, at a car boot sale, so I took pity on it and brought it home.  I finally sat down with it yesterday and sewed the last few leaves and stems.  I am contemplating turning it into a cushion front, to make it more useful.

I began working on this last night.  It is a large tablecloth with a gorgeous pattern on it in just these two colours, orange and deep emerald.  It is 3/4 finished, but then the old lady who was doing it became ill and was never able to finish it.  I promised her daughter I would finish the embroidery, which I will, but then it will probably go on my Fleamarket stall.

It's lovely, but I know I wouldn't use it here.  I have a lot of smaller cloths which get used over little tables and this one is too big for that and too small for the big tabbles we have.

I wish I could say, here's one I did earlier, but no - this is a tablecloth I came across in my travels and will be listed on eBay later today.

We had a stroll along by the river yesterday afternoon, now my legs seem to be working again!  Water levels are dropping, but it is still pretty fierce.

Having mastered a fiddly recipe yesterday without too much trouble (Spiced Pear Bakewell Tart), I think my cognitive powers may now be restored too, so I am off downstairs to my sewing machine and the star quilt . . .