We were at Castle Cornet last night to celebrate Lynne Ashton's 60th and retirement - that's Gerve's (Liz's brothers)wife . Everyone was there and were asking after you both (gemma and Antoinette)- liz, michael, and all family that you met at Anna's wedding. Here are a few photos! Below are ?, sam, auntie cathy and michael. self explanatory!!

A general view of the party"

Gerve, liz and Antoinette's husband, Pat (sadly antoinette died last year)- Pat remembered you both and sends best wishes - his daughter, natasha is working in brussels and son, pascal is in london.

Sorry, must have pressed button twice!!

Liz posing for camera!

Gerve giving speech - with Lynne on his right in white cap - it was come as you are or in historial costume - Lynne worked in that area so had friends with costumes.

Sam, uncle philip and auntie cathy.

We had a lovely evening!! Sam and i are off to france on thursday - can't wait. will take more photos there!!

a few more photos to look at!!

This is Daine's brother, Dave. doesn't he look like amie and sophie's grandad. He plays by ear - anything but enjoys jazz i think. He and his band played in the evening and everyone enjoyed the dancing!

Another view of the lovely table setting colour scheme.

Uncle stewart giving his father of the bride speech!

The bottom of the garden in France - just beyond is a stream with bluebells and primroses growing all around. very pretty and we're going to make a walk through - eventually!

Gemma and Tim at Chatsworth.

Hope your foot is feeling better, Ant - enjoy the photos!

A few photos of our trip to Chatsworth House- we had a walk around part of the garden - it's huge so Gemma couldn't manage it all - neither could the rest of us!! We'll go back next time we're over to see the house itself.

some photos of Amie and Jonathan's wedding- it was a lovely day and Amie looked beautiful - so did Diane and Sophie!! I tried to get details of the wedding dress for you both (Ant and Gemma) to see - it was very beautiful too!! Colour scheme was very pretty - greens and whites - very tasteful!!

This is the floor quilt i'm stitching for the baby - almost finished!!

I've just finished stitching another sea inspired piece to give to Amie and Jonathan as a wedding present next week. Here is a selection of some of my sea pieces - there are another half dozen or so - some still waiting to be framed/mounted in some way!! I have hand dyed most of the fabrics myself using procion dyes but some pieces are silk painted using dupont steam fix dyes. The one below is a silk painting based on the works of Victor Hugo - he uses these colours in his paintings. I used wax resist to get the effect of waves and added hand stitching. This silk painting was done for Gemma to give to one of her uni friends when she was married 2 years ago now. It was hand and machine embroidered with added sisha glass.

This is the piece i have just completed - i used my embellishing machine to piece the back ground and added hand embroidery and sisha glass. I decided half way through that it looked too 'solid' so decided to cut it in bits so that it hangs as three panels. I do hope they like it and that it brings back memories for Amie of summers spent on pembroke beach as a child!!

I did this piece about 4 years ago - based on a photograph taken of birds swooping around our boat on a lagoon in Mexico!

Another layered piece - i just enjoy working with layers of colour and this represents a local Guernsey beach.

I gave this to Gemma and Tim last year - i made it a couple of years ago and took it to a workshop where wrapped cords and driftwood were added. I was quite pleased with the effect but never considered it totally my own work as i was influenced by the tutor's style.

Perhaps the time has come to change theme - i still have a lot of mexican inspired works to do - and if we do go to Vietnam next year, i will have even more to think about!!! I'm busy making quilts for Gemma and Tim's baby at the moment - not enough hours in the day!!