Guest Bloggers: Polly and (Esther) Wadding

Hello Blog Readers! Esther and I are simply delighted to have been invited to write for Lynne's little blog,  what ever a blog might be - and it is truly amazing to be able to watch ourselves on the computer. By the time you read this, we will be taking a dry sherry at Ye Olde Nooke, Antiques and Bric-a-brac with our friends, Timmy and Claude, in order to view their machine.

I must first of all tell you that my sister Esther and I bear absolutely no resemblance to that little picture at the top there, this is just one of Lynne's naughty jokes. No, to describe us, you would have to imagine me as quite tall and ..er...stately, and Esther as, well, a little on the thin and wispy side. We are very different in both looks and character. It takes all sorts.

Now don't run away with the idea that WE have put this on the computer! Good grief, no; I typed this on the WI typewriter at  the village hall, here at Quiltenham Staithe.

I just managed to get in quick before the awful Hermione Cripps arrived to monopolise it as usual. Then off I sent it by post, and here we all are - reading it "on-line"! I am so vividly reminded of the days when I would type up my "copy" for the  Norfolk Quilters' magazine "Quilters' Quarter" and "Kaleidoscope", the regional magazine of the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles, and dear Mr Pols would cycle across Norfolk to take it away for printing! Ah, happy, happy times! In fact, if any of you are struggling to remember, we began as correspondents in May 1994 - a lifetime away, it seems.

My sister and I reside at The Old Rectory, left to us by our dear Papa, Rector of this village for many years.

Such a shame really as it is a very large house, and much better suited to the current incumbent at St Ethelburga-in-the-Fields who has to make do with the New Rectory.

My sister and I belong to the village quilting group, Dumpling Quilters, and we meet once a month in the upper room at the Plough and Treadle. We like to think we have a sobering influence, but I fear that is often not the case. We are  very tradtional group, none of these 'art quilts' - a misnomer if ever I heard one.  "yes, "I  remember saying to a proponent, when first viewing such an exhibit. "It might be Art, but is it a Quilt??"  We are currently working on a series of quilted hassocks for Quiltenham Abbey, and a small quilt for baby Cosimo, son of Luciano and Arabella Quiltenham-Millefiore of Quiltenham Manor.

Also in the pipe-line are the individual quilts we are preparing for our annual exhibition held with most gracious permission of Sir Eustace Withering-Glance at his stately pile Witheringly-Chilly Hall.

Chilly by name and chilly by nature, but there, beggars can't be choosers, can they? Now then, dears, I fear I must stop now, and hope that the brevity of this article will suit, and that we may, perhaps, be invited to contribute again at some time. I would love to update you on our quilting endeavours, and to introduce to you more friends and other inhabitants of our little village; thrill you with our ongoing cat-and-mouse battle with the ladies of the Womens' Institute, and regale you with tales and pictures of the impending exhibition by our stitching friends The Greensleeves over at Much-Quilting-In-The-Ditch.

Until then, au revoir, dear Readers,

Polly and (Esther) Wadding.


EDITED NOTE FROM LYNNE: If you click on the word BLOWZABELLA in the previous post, the link will take you to some info about the band and a sound bite. Enjoy!