update on quilt

Kate and I have decided that I will do the quilting on my quilt - when I get home.  She was going to quilt it for me and she did a bit of free-motion quilting on it today, but had great difficulty because of the polyester batting that I am using.  She tells me that I should have bought cotton! Too late now. It is too thick and Kate couldn't easily move the quilt around, also the thread kept breaking.  So, it will be up to me.  I will either do a simple wavy line up and down the quilt and possibly across as well, using the sewing machine or I will hand quilt it, using something to tie it (perhaps embroidery floss).  I'm going to practice a bit before I decide on machine or hand quilting.  Since I tend to put off sewing, it may be a long while before it is done.  In a way, I'm glad I will be doing it myself.  It won't look as nice as if Kate did it, but I can say it's my work, almost completely.  I have to admit that she helped me in a few places.

Today started out sunny and lovely, so we went to a park and wandered around, then ate a picnic lunch.  I took some photos, but haven't got them uploaded yet.  The clouds rolled in after lunch and we were glad to be on our way home.  It was actually starting to rain, so our timing was impeccable.  We're all tired, but glad we got out for a bit of exercise.  The daffodils were in full bloom in the park - lovely!

Last night we celebrated Kate and Geoff's 18th wedding anniversary (and my birthday which is next Friday) by eating in a very nice Chinese Restaurant in Wimbledon Park.  Very upscale place - great service.  They put the napkins in your lap and kept refilling the water glasses.  The food wa delicious and we all splurged on desserts.  Actually, Geoff didn't order one, but he got a bite of everyone else's.

Tomorrow Kate and the kids are back at school, so I'm on my own all day.  I plan to go into London and visit Covent Gardens, if the weather is reasonable.  I love the markets there - and on Mondays they have mostly antiques.  I have made a list of places I want to visit in London, but doubt if I'll do them all before it's time to head home.

Kate and Geoff got a new car yesterday.  It's a VW Sharan - a mini-van.  It's a very nice car and they love it.  Seats 7 people!  Seems very comfortable.  Automatic transmission, which Geoff has never driven.  He'll have to get used to not having a clutch.  The car is much wider and longer than their previous cars, but Kate has driven my van, so she had no trouble adjusting to that.  After a month without a car, they are really happy to have one again, even though they had to spend all day at one of those huge used car places in order to get it.  I'd love to have one like it, but my next car will be a smaller car of some sort.  I really don't need one the size I have now.  Hardly ever buying anything big and bulky and almost never have it full of people.  Anyway, I hope to keep my current Mazda MPV going for a couple more years.