Meet Harry!

My parents have adopted a puppy - they've had him for a few months and he's hilariously funny.

His favorite things:

-my parents

-John

-tea towels

-underwear and socks

-cheerios

-kleenex (preferably used)

-stinky rawhide chew things

-napping on your lap

-standing on the seat of a chair with his paws over the back

-the vacuum cleaner

He doesn't like:

-being put in his crate with the door closed

-neighbors coming and going

-being left by himself

Home. Or, far away.

We went to New York. And are now back (and suitably jet-lagged).

More blogging, to follow.

Our plane, at Heathrow, underneath the edge of a wicked weather front:

And Jones Beach Theatre as seen from the window.

Felt iPhone Cosy

The iPhone 5 is so new that there aren't many cases around for it yet. It lives in its own pocket in my bag, but I was a bit worried about it scratching. So, I made a thin felt sleeve for it, using Woolfilz felt (in light grey) from Purl Soho and some red pearl cotton. I measured the phone, added about 5mm all the way around, then sewed the two pieces together with a blanket stitch. Super easy and cute!

My plan for the afternoon was to quilt the rest of the baby quilt that's due next week (baby arrived on Tuesday and has a name, which is now on the quilt), but I ran out of thread five minutes after I started sewing. Oh, bother. I can run across the street to the department store tomorrow at lunchtime and get more...it's just that the plan was to do the quilting today.

I think the selvedge on A Walk In The Woods (which is the backing for this quilt) is absolutely adorable - don't you?

Full pictures (hopefully, including Baby!) to follow in the next few weeks.

New iPhone day!

I got an iPhone 3 for my birthday in 2008 (and blogged about it, obviously). It has been exceedingly useful over the last 4 (!) years, but has gradually slowed down and become rather grumpy. Oh, no, you didn't really want to look something up on a map or listen to that podcast, silly! It's much better to just look out the window. Ahem.

So, with the release of the newest Jobsian Fondle Slab (mini), also known as the iPhone 5, I betook myself (and the Husband) to Norwich to wait in the Shortest. AppleStore. Line. Ever. Seriously, I was second in line. And the person ahead of me disappeared into the store after 25 seconds. I waited about 10 minutes, total. And, of course, was handed a bottle of water, lest I die of dehydration. Sometimes, it's good to live in the boonies.

Here's my reservation card, in front of the store:

The happy Apple employees got me all set up and running (surprisingly painless, thank you), and half an hour later, we were ready to go!

We tried to go to Frank's Bar for lunch, but they were running their v. limited Sunday brunch menu (and were quite crowded) so we decamped to Wagamama. Mmmm...Wagamama. I had a spicy coconut soup with noodles and chicken - it was really good. John had my usual: chili chicken udon, and it blew his socks off. Spicy!!

And then, to celebrate, I took a picture on Instagram of my train arriving out of the mist this morning at Stowmarket.

The iPhone 5 verdict so far, coming from a girl with a 4-year-old iPhone 3:

- OMG it's SO fast. Like, it has loaded whatever app before I've even realised I wanted it. Zoom! (This is WiFi we're talking about. Internet speeds in rural Suffolk are...erm...rural.)
- SHINY.
- Thin! And light! And all squared off at the corners!
- The headphones are really good, and the integrated microphone works really well. I walked along talking to the Husband all the way to the station from work, and despite the road noise we could hear each other perfectly well.
- I'm not bothered about the new connector - I have no plug-in-dock thingies (except for the speaker for my extremely ancient iPod that lives at work), and the iPad and the Stepson's iPod both use the standard charger. No drama.

David Pogue says it best, really. If you have an iPhone 4, meh. If you're like me with a geriatric iPhone, you'll love it!

Review: The Thread

I ordered Victoria Hislop's new novel, The Thread, (I've read her first two) from the library. Somehow, the copy I received was a signed copy. Um, what? Why was this at the Stowmarket library? Oh, well. In any case, I enjoyed it.

I found it a little bit predictable, but not in a bad way. It's told with a present-day introduction, before flashing back to 1917, where it progresses through history until the 1960s, and then jumps back to the present right at the end.

A few of the characters were flat, but on the whole, it was historically interesting with a good storyline and immersive writing. I hadn't realised how far back the problems in Greece go...it was interesting to have a historical backdrop for the current economic issues.

Also, Downton Abbey is back. Not that I managed to stay up for it on Sunday night, or anything, but ITV-streaming meant that Monday night was rather good. Just had to avoid Twitter for any spoilers...

Pickles!

We have had a glut of friends with a glut of cucumbers. "Please will you take some cucumbers? We can't eat any more!"

Having seen this pickling recipe on TheKitchn, I was relatively confident.

I didn't have any dill (and made a smaller batch), but these pickles were AMAZING.

So I made more! They're seriously crunchy and garlicky, just how I like them. I can't believe it was so easy...and that I hadn't done it before.

Kanga took us to sea

John has wanted to go to sea since we bought Kanga. I've been...er...slightly more reluctant.

The North Sea. Big, bad, scary, and to be ventured to in a ferry, as far as I was concerned.

Well. We planned and plotted, and picked our day. Reasonable breezes, good tides, and no weather to speak of.

Here we are, going past Felixstowe port - you can see the sea out ahead of us.

We managed to get all the way out of the mouth of the river, and were looking back at Felixstowe. It was odd to be on the other side of it!

Our expert helmsman (with lens flare):

It was startling how all you can see is horizon. I thought the container ships made me feel small...this was MUCH more impressive.

And a shot up at the sail, in the clear blue skies. Was this summer? Is it late? Will there be more next weekend?

Special thanks to Husband (who instigated the trip) and Father-In-Law, who said we should be back by 5 (the winds have REALLY picked up).

Eric Whitacre Prom

I didn't end up going to the Eric Whitacre Prom this week, but I wish I had. 

I've listened to it on iPlayer - if you get a chance, it's excellent. The link is here, but I'm not sure how long for!

Review: Temeraire

I'm normally quite wary of picking up books off shelves in bookstores (I'm reliably disappointed), but when I noticed Temeraire poking out between Neil Gaiman, Trudi Canavan and Philip Pullman at Blackwell's in Cambridge, I thought I'd take a chance.

Essentially, Temeraire is an alternate fantasy history of the Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons. I know, dragons.

Temeraire's egg winds up being captured from a French naval ship by a British ship, where he proceeds to hatch and imprint himself upon a British naval officer.

The dialogue between the two of them is extremely entertaining, and their relationship reminded me quite a bit of the Saphira/Eragon relationship in the Eragon books. I guess there's a fairly standard dynamic between humans and dragons.

I really enjoyed it (and have passed it along to a number of friends who've loved it, too). I'm working my way through the series (2 books finished, 7 to go!), and by the time I'm done, Peter Jackson should be finished with the movie.

P.S. Can I have a dragon? Please?

Might have been fabric shopping

I went over to Quilter's Haven on Saturday after a full day of being the Official Photographer at EAST for the visiting Paralympic torch. They were having a sale (which turned out to be a very sorry collection of unloved fabric), but they also had quite a bit of Summersville and A Walk In The Woods.

I'm going to use the bird & mushroom print to back the chairs and birds baby quilt that I'm working on, to be finished as soon as the baby is born and named! Since I can't do the quilt sandwich until I've finished the applique, and I can't applique the name until the baby arrives. (I have been assured by the Mommy that the baby's name will NOT be Bartholomew or similar and that it WILL fit on the quilt!)

The rest of the fabric is for a quilt inspired by this one by QuiltyCat. It's a wedding quilt for a friend who lives in New York and is a librarian. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I noticed this in the Summersville (which I probably would have bought anyway). SHUT UP. I get to put a library on a quilt for a librarian!

Paralympic flame at EAST

We had the Paralympic flame at EAST on Saturday - no rain (despite the forecast) and a great turnout!

Gone sailin'

Every spare minute of every weekend has been spent in the company of our favorite squib (sorry, EAST squibs, we love Kanga more).

We took her sailing with John's brother, who brought his camera (brave chap). And, yes, I know that my overalls are extremely flattering, thank you for mentioning it!

Happy crew (and it's not raining)!

On the way back in (after taking the main sail down):

The view up the river towards Ipswich:

I LOVE that she's on the water (finally) and is such an excellent boat to sail. Wilful? Yes. Stubborn? Definitely. Runs in the family!

I was actually there

I thoroughly enjoyed watching hours and hours (and HOURS) of Olympic events on the BBC and their website, and on the "red button." I was a little bit sad not to be at the diving, but it was definitely excellent on TV.

I was invited to the Rhythmic Gymnastics individual final (whaaaaat?), and so of course I said yes! Shiny ticket (and included day travelcard):

I even bought a special train ticket:

Hello, Wembley.

It was held in Wembley Arena (next to Wembley Stadium, where Brazil and Mexico were battling for Olympic gold). It had been reconfigured after the badminton from last week.

The volunteers were super-helpful and nice, everyone in London seemed genuinely happy to be there, and even the weather cooperated. Seriously.

Here we are, in just before going in:

We had excellent seats:

And watched the medal ceremony:

Russia won gold and silver, Belarus the bronze.

P.S. As entertaining as it was, I'm still not sure Rhythmic Gymnastics actually counts as a sport.

Olympic Hiatus

Blogging has fallen by the wayside. Team GB are kicking some Olympic butt and the BBC's coverage is absolutely outstanding.

See you after the closing ceremony!

Tutorial: applique baby clothes

I'm making a baby quilt for my friend's imminent new arrival, and I had a few scraps of fabric left after making the quilt top. A few of them will go into making the back, but I wanted to make a few things to give to her at the baby shower, since I won't be delivering the quilt until after the baby's born.

I went to Mothercare and bought a mixed "starter pack" of plain white baby clothes, size 0-3 months. I can't find the link to the exact pack online, but the one I bought had a little shirt, a onesie, two sleep suits, a hat, two pairs of baby mittens, and a bib. FYI, this set should come with a health warning. Caution: may cause irrational "OHMYGOD that's so TINY! And so CUTE!" moments, especially after prewashing and when hanging on the line.

Anyway, be careful.

After my heart rate returned to normal, I fussy-cut some of the Tufted Tweets (I think this one is called Itty Bitty Chairs, colour Sorbet.) I pinned the chairs to the middle of the shirt, then fired up the sewing machine. 

Because the shirt was so small (see issues, above), I removed the cover on my sewing machine's base (I think you're supposed to do this for sleeves). I set the stitch length to 1 (at the long end of my buttonhole setting) and picked the medium-width zigzag.

Off we go! In the corners, I went all the way until the needle was at the edge of the corner on the outside (the bottom right in the picture above), before I turned the shirt with the needle down and kept on going.

Ta-da! All finished. I overlapped the beginning and the end, then brought all the threads to the inside of the shirt where I knotted them and then snipped the ends. I snipped the threads hanging over on the front of the shirt, and it was ready to go. The whole thing took about 15 minutes. I'm definitely going to keep a stash of onesies for quick baby gifts. LOVE them.

I had such fun making it, I made a second one. And then put the first one on Flickr, where Laurie Wisbrun (who designed Tufted Tweets) commented on it. Squee!

And then wrapped them up with a red ribbon and put them in the mail!

Singing makes you happy

I love singing - I always have. My brother and I always sang in the car, and were in choirs as kids...I don't really ever remember NOT singing. There was a period in high school when we were both in band and it was not terribly cool to be in band AND be able to sing...you had to pick one or the other.

Thankfully, college didn't have that restriction. Fairly early on my music theory professor frog-marched several of us to the early music vocal group, assuring us that it wasn't really a choir, more a group of music geeks singing and then going to the pub.

I knew I had to find a choir when I moved here, to give myself a non-work anchor, and I was really lucky that I ended up with the Bury Bach Choir.

We're currently looking for new members, in all voices. Can you sing? Can you read music (sight-reading isn't necessary)? Do you want to come and sing? It's fun - we rehearse once a week (more, the week of the concert), and give 4 concerts a year. There is truly nothing like singing with a choir.

Even Eric Whitacre thinks British choirs are the best...

If you're interested, check out the contact details here, on our website, or email me.

(Picture taken on our last choir outing...Houghton Hall is SO epic that it has its own post box. Srsly.)

The family who sails together...

...drys their sailing gloves together. Also, check out that BLUE SKY! And it was WARM today! SUMMER!

We "pushed the boat out" yesterday with EAST for the RYA's Sail For Gold day, and sailed with the EAST fleet all the way (almost) to the Orwell Bridge. Apart from the wind dying in the middle of the day for about 45 minutes, it was an excellent sail.

Then, today, we raced Kanga with the EAST-ies on the (very busy) Orwell. It was our first time sailing her with 3, and James' first time afloat on Kanga. She behaved very well, and only resisted a little bit when it came to bringing her back to the dock. We need to work on that part. Wet sailing gloves all round.

We took a short walk to Stowmarket, and I brought my camera (much to the teenager's embarrassment) and proceded to take golden-hour pictures of weeds. SO embarrassing (but worth it for the light flare).