hand sewing, and inspiration

Mr Christmas has been to sweep the chimneys, and its time to light the logburner again. Lovely to sit in the kitchen armchair to do some hand quilting.

Then just the binding to do, and this one will be finished..

We spent a beautiful sunny day on Saturday at the Weald and Downland open air museum, http://www.wealddown.co.uk/ watching a new old house being put up, and admiring the tamworth piglets

...and how's this for inspiration? A beautiful quilt on a bed in one of the historic buildings, made by local quiltmakers.

It's utilitarian and completely lovely.

...what Mr P does

Meanwhile, in the shed...

Mr P takes bits of wood...

and chops them up...

to put on his pole lathe..

and turn into bowls

Its a miracle of medieval technology!

He went on a pole lathe turning one day course at the Weald and Downland open air museum near Chichester, and was so inspired that he came straight home and took a fortnight to make his very own lathe. 

There's nothing more satisfying than making something with your hands, a quilt or a beautiful bowl.

what I do when I'm not sewing- The Beast!

The Beast lives in my fridge- its a sourdough starter for bread and its been there for a couple of years. As long as I remember to feed it some more flour and water now and then its perfectly happy....

so when we want some bread I take out a spoonful and feed it up for a couple of days in a nice warm place until its bubbling, then its ready to use for making the best bread in the world!

Sometimes I add extra tasty things- the loaf on the left has green olives and oregano in it. Almost the best part is the delicious smell, and the sound of the crust crackling as it cools...

I use an adaptation of a recipe from this brilliant book by Tom Jaine. You can see from the state of it how much use it gets..

.. and what does Mr P do?