Out of this World - BritQuilt Swap done!

My quilt for the first BritQuilt Swap is all parcelled up and ready to go in the post tomorrow.  As you know this has been an interesting challenge for me.  Lime and purple are not really "my" colours but my partner likes colour and so I was happy to give it a go.  I enjoyed foundation piecing the background cloth and then going a bit mad with the embroidery stitches, beads and buttons to decorate the quilt.  It grew out of a postcard swap I did to represent the piece of music by Gustav Holst called The Planets Suite and so I've called the quilt, "Out of this World". (It's much more square than it looks by the way)  Here are some close-ups of the details:

Today I received this most wonderful quilt, from Plum.  She offered it as a giveaway on her blog after making it in a stay at home round robin and I was the lucky person who has it to stay at my home.  I've taken a few photos to show some of the lovely detail.  Look at that little girl and the hill she has to climb, it speaks to me.  Thank you Plum.

I had a very excited phone call from DD this morning to say she's got flowers on her French beans.  She is so enthusiastic about her new garden and I'm delighted that she's having success.  To be able to go and harvest something you've grown and then eat it is one of life's sweetest pleasures.  She's blogged about her gardening here and is doing a happy dance!
I'm doing a happy dance too as I had a meeting with Tina today (I met her at the Quilters' Guild AGM in Exeter in April and discovered we live about six miles from one another) and we are going to start a new quilting group in Sibsey in Lincolnshire.  The first meeting is going to be on Tuesday 20th September so please email me if you're local and interested.  All the quilt groups nearby are full and have membership waiting lists and so we hope there is room for another group.  It's early days of course but we have lots of ideas for workshops and activities.  We're hoping to have a trader at our first meeting, and cake!