Saturday Roundup

 Welcome one and all to sunny Somerset! No, the weather has not changed - just a brief interlude after this mornings rain. We are told that it has rained every day this year so far. Enough.

My Stitch Journal for the week.

And my crochet progress.

Was getting nicely through week 4 and thought I might have caught up by Friday when the next instructions were released. However, felt a slight twinge at the base of my thumb so thought I might give it a rest for a few days rather than make it worse. For my yarn choice - the Yarnsmiths Merino, week 5 is the last of the main body and next week Lucy is talking about borders. So I will see how I get on and how much yarn I have left.

I have made a start on my Easter rabbit, this is the front.

However I am now thinking I might have gone too high as the scarf will probably obscure the top flower, so maybe it will be the back! Oh well, thats what you get for winging it. Having fun though which is the main thing.

Hope you are having fun too. See you next week.

Chookshed Challenge for February

 Deana has pulled #8 for February. #8 on my list is to use some lovely eco print fabrics that I bought at FoQ last summer. Sadly, inspiration has yet to arrive so I have swapped for #1 which is an Easter rabbit and which might actually be ready for this Easter.

A few years ago I spotted this post on Julie's (My Threadbear Life) blog and fell in love with with Wesberry Rabbit. Julie very kindly shared the instructions and this rabbit has sat in my pattern folder and at the back of my mind ever since. It is made using chenille fabric which I don't have although I have been on the lookout for a candlewick bedspread that I could use but with no success. However, I had also seen this delightful teddy bear by Jennifer Clouston.

I love Jennifer's books and used her Foolproof Crazy Quilting when I taught myself some years back. This bear is made from tweed suiting and beautifully embroidered. I thought perhaps I could do something similar for my rabbit. However, the collection of tweed I had in France seems to have gone missing - no doubt it will turn up when rabbit is finished lol. However I do have a collection of brushed cotton shirting which I salvaged from my Dad's shirts when I cleared out his wardrobe. Destined one day to become a quilt I am sure a few pieces for rabbit will not be a problem.

So there is my plan - hopefully I will have made a start by my next post.

And it's a wrap!

 My Chookshed Challenge #3 is complete. This was my January challenge, the little Sue Hawkins scissor stand kit.

I finished it mid week and am very happy with it. It stands just over 2.5" high and is 1.5" wide.

I had left the veg garden until last and the bullion knots were tricky as I was sewing through the canvas but I got there without damaging my hands which was a miracle!

From left to right - cabbage, carrots, cauiflower, radish and courgettes.

Here are the other four sides.

Now I am looking forward to learning the challenge number for February. In the meantime I have been crocheting away and am now about halfway through week 3 of the CAL. Week 4 arrived yesterday.

And of course my Stitch Journal. We are now at the end of the month and the first section is complete.

It has still been raining. Another storm passed through Monday night and on Tuesday a major incident was declared for Somerset with unusually high flooding in Taunton and the surrounding area. Thankfully it is all receding now but it is raining today and there is another warning for heavy rain on Monday.

I walked down to the river on Tuesday morning thinking to get some pictures of the floods sparkling in the sunshine. However, sods law decreed that by the time I got there (10 minutes walk) the sunshine had turned to rain and all I got were some dull pictures of turgid waters!

I walked along the main road and above was the view from the bridge to my left, below the view across the meadows to the right.

Here you can see the river which is nipping along at a pretty sharpish pace.

Although we are not far from the river we are fortunate that it floods on the side away from our village and out onto the meadows.

So that is all the news from here - have a great week everyone and happy stitching.

Rain Rain Rain

 Well yes, it has been a wet week here and we have just had a warning for heavy rain again on Monday. Today we have Storm Ingrid bringing more wind and rain. As The Levels are already flooded as are many roads around Taunton it does not bode well. However, as an area prone to flooding, in fact The Levels flooding relieves the pressure elsewhere, houses tend to be built above flood levels. But of course the run off from these new developments just adds to the problem elsewhere.

It has therefore been a quiet week at home and everywhere is a little cleaner than it might have been! I would have done a lot more to my Chookshed Challenge and crochet had it not been for the latest Cormoran Strike novel. Having started it I just couldn't put it down!

Here however is my progress this week. My Stitch Journal was worked on every day, there is just one more week to go on this section and I have reached the original embroidery which you can see top left.

My Chookshed Challenge has progressed and I just have the vegetables to add not to the top of the box and the little fob. On track for a finish next week.

And I have been crocheting while watching TV.

I am about 3/4s of the way through last weeks instructions. The new colours arrived yesterday and hopefully I will get as far as them this week sometime.

So that is about all from me today - happy stitching from a soggy Taunton!

UPDATE - I have just been online and seen how much damage has been caused along the south coast by Storm Ingrid. Including the railway line at Dawlish being damaged again - they have only recently completed the repairs from the last big storm to hit it. And sadly the loss of the pier end at Teignmouth, an irreplaceable structure.

FNSI January

 Many thanks to Wendy for continuing FNSI on blogger as well as Facebook. Good to join in with everyone again. You can see who else took part here and our winners from the end of 2025.

We had a lovely day out to Watchet, a favourite harbour town on the West Somerset coast. It was a beautiful sunny morning and we met friends for coffee which turned into lunch. It was then time for a walk by the harbour at which point we had the first of several showers. So popped into the East Quay arts centre for a browse round the shop and the Two Rivers Paper Mill. I was tempted to buy a pack of their paper offcuts for my new sketchbook project. They are between exhibitions at the moment.

It stopped raining so we went for a walk out to the sea wall and got back to East Quay in time to dive into the restaurant for a coffee and miss the next shower. And then it was time to go home. Sorry no pictures - too busy talking😂

So when I got home I worked on my Stitch Journal This is how it is looking so far - half way through the month already!

Friday's addition was the blue flower top left, todays the scroll stitch scroll.

Then it was time to work on my crochet. I completed the first 30 rows of the CAL earlier in the week so last night I made a start on the new colour chart for the next 40 rows.

Also this week I have been working on my Chookshed Challenge and I have now completed the base stitching for all 6 sides of the box.

And started adding the flowers and vegetables.

When I went to my patchwork group this week I was able to show my progress to the lady who gifted me the kit and she was delighted to see it taking shape. She however was working with some Japanese fabrics and her project was looking very tempting!

So that was my week, a perfect quiet January week with plenty of time to sew as well as a nice trip out. I hope yours was good too.

A Quiet week

 It is taking longer to get over this cold than I had hoped. And that, combined with Philip catching it and the cold weather means we have hardly been out this week. Which means one positive thing! - yes, plenty of time to sew.

My Stitch Journal is well under way - day 10 already!

My main focus this week has been my Chookshed Challenge - the Sue Hawkins kit. Having investigated further into the envelope I was given I found this picture of the finished scissor stand - much clearer than the one I posted last week.

Having spent about 10 minutes trying to unpick what the previous owner had started, I gave up and pulled a new piece of canvas from the drawer to work on. I have made really good progress as you can see.

So far I have done the top and two sides. I have decided to complete all the background stitching before adding the raised vegetables and flowers so that I can avoid catching them with stray threads while I work. I cracked on with this project because I knew that with the Attic 24 CAL starting on Friday I would be turning all my attention there for a while.

The first set on instructions for the Wildshore CAL arrived yesterday and I made a good start.

If I want to keep up with the CAL I will need to do about twice this amount before next Friday but I suspect that I will lapse to concentrate on other projects. I am very happy with how it is looking so far, the Yarnsmiths merino is lovely to crochet with and the colours gorgeous. I love Lucy's shell pattern too.

You can find the instructions for the shell pattern on the Attic 24 website under Wildshore CAL if you fancy trying it out. It is quick to work and if you can count to three then you are good to go!

So that is all from me today. I has been a beautiful sunny day but back to the rain tomorrow. Have a lovely week.

Chookshed Challenge 2026

 Looking forward to joining in again with Deanna for another Chookshed Challenge and to following along with everyones projects.

In case you missed it, here is my roundup of 2025 projects and what a great success last year was.

So my list for this year is

1. Embroidered Rabbit

2. Retreat Bag

3. Canvaswork Kit

4. RSC log cabin quilt

5. Swap hexies

6. Gold oval frame embroideries

7. Rust project

8. Use eco print fabric

9. Summer Meadow embroidery kit

10. To be decided?

#3 has been drawn as our project for January and this is a beautiful Sue Hawkins kit. Now I am sure you know by now how much I love a Sue Hawkins kit!

This one was given to me by a fellow member of my quilt group who also loves Sue Hawkins. By coincidence we have identical thimble holders which was the very first kit that I bought from Sue about 20 years ago.

This is the kit that Gail gave to me.

Unfortunately, having made a start on the kit herself, she decided that it was beyond her. So my first job will be to unpick her work ready to make a fresh start.

I also need to give the pattern a good read through and sort out the threads.

I suspect that this is going to take me more than a month, especially with the Attic 24 CAL starting next week. But what I have not completed at the end of the month can be my #10 along with any other unfinished projects.

So my second post of the day, I shall be back next weekend with updates on my progress. Have a great week.