Thursday, 10 September 2009

Gardens and goodbyes

Life is starting to get hectic again at work and the days are flying by. Last week was very emotional as my friend P. retired after working for nearly 20 years at the University. As a very personal present from her immediate colleagues I made a friendship quilt. I asked all of them to each sign a strip of muslin and then I sewed them together into a quilt. I had to work into the early hours on a number of evenings to finish it in time. As I put the last stitch in the binding just before 1:00 am on the day of her retirement I experienced mixed emotions. I am happy for her as she will get a well earned rest and be able to spend more time with her family. But I will miss her desperately and she has been a valued colleague and friend for the last 6 years. She was almost moved to tears when she saw the quilt. The expression on her face more than made up for all the work which went into it.




My OH and I took advantage of the late Summer Bank Holiday to visit a couple of gardens in Wimborne - The Secret Garden and The Dean's Garden. I am not sure whether I liked the Secret Garden, which was full of quirky things such as a shell grotto, a human skull and an obelisk. The Dean's Garden was much more to my taste with its sweeping lawns, lake and walled kitchen garden.




The Secret Garden



Shell Grotto




Kitchen Garden



Now it is back to working on my beading. More on this in my next post.