Grey days whizzing by

 Yes, another month is passing by at the speed of light it seems. It has been a grey week with the odd drizzle of rain, sunshine back next week evidently.

We have had a delightful little wren singing away in the garden - far too small and quick to catch a photo of but beautiful to hear. So lovely to see everywhere green again, it is amazing how quickly the grass comes back to life after some rain.

This weeks Stitch Journal - note the bullion knots far right

and my Chookshed Challenge note more bullion knots far left!

I think my fear of bullion knots may be a thing of the past! I just need to trim this and glue the edge in place and it is a finish. Very happy with this and I am glad it is on a black baground as I love it.

I have also been knitting and pulled the crochet jumper out again as cooler weather is coming. Not a huge amount more to do on this.

I will look out a white background for my next picture - that red does it no favours.

I have started an online drawing course with Cas Holmes - find it here under clubs - with monthly zoom sessions. She is a lovely teacher and I got a lot out of the first session, so when not sewing this week I have been busy in my sketchbook which has made a nice change.

I also spent an afternoon at my quilt group and worked on some Field Journal embroidery - such an easy project to pick up and take along but as I rarely go it could be a while before you see any results!

And there we are, that was my week - hope yours was a good one.

 It has been a pleasant week here with some rain and some sunshine, a trip out and friends visiting.

First up though my Stitch Journal for the week and I have been playing with blanket stitch variations.

I have given up with the scrappy squares knitting project - having tried various needle variations and not getting the effect I wanted I am not wasting any more time on it. So I have been concentrating on my crochet jumper and my socks in the evenings.

For my Chookshed Challenge this month I am working on this kit that was passed to me a couple of years ago.

When I opened it up I was suprised to find that the pattern was printed onto black cloth and I was not supplied with the calico and pattern to trace as the instructions said. However, the threads are vibrant and I think that they will look good on the black.

And I have been working on this but it does need good light as it is fine!

We had a clear day this week and headed out to visit Dunster castle, however we hit roadworks and a large traffic jam so we diverted to Watchet another of our favourite places to visit. We found a new to us antiques shop and spent a while browsing as well as in the community book shop. Watchet has a 40's weekend this weekend and all the shop windows were decorated with a 40's theme. Then we walked across to the East Quay arts centre for lunch - a delicious bowl of spiced sweet potato and coconut soup. It was not a cold day but it was overcast and a bowl of soup seemed apropriate. Then a walk out along the quay past the marina. 

The tide was out but this lock holds water in to the marina.

I always love seeing this Samuel Taylor Coleridge quote from The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.

Despite being an overcast day you could still see across the channel to Wales and Steep Holm (that black dash to the right on the horizon).

Walking back you get a great view of the arts centre which was opened within the last 10 years and has become a busy local centre with galleries, workshops and paper mill and which runs events and craft workshops.

There are also three accomodation pods - the three units in the middle with sail like roofs. Look carefully and you can see the bathroom of the centre one which has a splendid view of the marina and town.

Happy stitching and I will see you next week.

September - meteorological autumn

 It does not really feel like autumn - more like the summer we should have had instead of all that mega heat. Anyway with schools back it has been nice to get out and about again at a reasonable temperature - even taking a cardi, just in case.

We took our lunch to Dunster Beach one day. A really clear day with great views across the Bristol Channel to Wales. The tide was going out and there were plenty of birds on the shore line for our binoculars to focus on. After lunch I took a walk along the almost deserted beach purposely leaving my camera behind so I could concentrate on the views and the atmosphere. Of course, I picked up lots of shells - there are always lots along this beach although never very big.

The beginning of the month so a new 'page' in my Stitch Journal has begun.

And a few pictures of August.

With no Chookshed Challenge to work on and awaiting a yarn order, I took the oportunity to finish off this bit of crazy quilting I worked on earlier in the year. It is a gift for someone I am seeing next month so nice to get it finished and ready.

And also made a start on a new pair of socks as a back up project for when all else is just too much!

These are for me - can't remember where I bought the yarn but I fell in love.

Once my yarn order arrived I had another go at the scrappy squares knitting. 

The pale pink border yarn is a thicker 4ply than the one I used before and is better but I think my problem is swapping to stocking stitch which is changing the overall tension. My next experiment will be with using larger needles for the garter stitch frame and swapping to smaller ones for the stocking stitch. It's last chance time - one more try and then I give up!

No plans as yet for the coming week but no doubt there will be a trip or two out. I hope you have nice plans as well and a happy stitchy week.

Chookshed Challenge for August - a finish!

 Yes lovely to have all the little pictures finished and framed. Here they are as a collection

and individually

Looking back I should have balanced the colours better - the cowslip instead of the verbena would have helped. Also one of the left facing flowers could have been right facing.

But overall I am really pleased with how these have turned out. Now all I need are some hanging loops - and somewhere to hang them!

All flowers from our garden so personal to us.

Looking forward to next months challenge now.

Rain!

Yes, good to be able to report that the rain has finally arrived. Bank holiday weekend though so shame for those with outdoor plans but great news for the garden and our water butts are filling nicely.

My Stitch Journal for the week. Just two more days of August to add.

I have been busy with the Chookshed Challenge. This coneflower was finished during the week.

For the last flower I had intended to do a cowslip. We have one that comes up every year but unfortunately I dont have a good enough photo to work from and it is not the same using someone elses. So instead I chose the Verbena Bonariensis which is the first thing I see brushing against the bedroom window every morning.

This was relatively quick to work up. Here it is mounted onto card ready to add to it's frame.

I need to work out how to fix it to a backing board to hold it in the frame. But this was my prototype and I am happy now to go ahead with mounting the other three. Two days to get them done! I wonder which of my last two projects will be next.

I have abandonned the knitting for the moment - more framing yarn on the way which hopefully will be a little thicker than the one I was using and therefore more compatible with my scraps. So I have been getting on with my crochet jumper and I now have the four granny square panels put together and last night started on adding to the sides of the back panel. Need to measure this up against one of my existing jumpers to get the sizing right.

And there we have my week. Schools back this week so we shall hopefully be out and about more - weather permitting!

Have a great week.

 

Cooling down

Yes, temperatures have dropped here to reasonable/normal levels and we have even had rain! But nothing significant enough to help the garden although there is more forecast for later next week. We had tickets for the cricket yesterday - our annual meet up with friends - and have had fingers crossed all week that the rain would hold off. Which it did fortunately. It was a cloudy day with sunny spells and perfect for cricket. Even better Somerset had a good day with both bat and then ball so we were all very happy. Great to catch up with our friends too.

Here is my Stitch Journal for the week - cricket suitably commemorated.

I finished the socks earlier in the week.

A perfectly matching pair which is a first!

A finish means a start so I had a new project in mind. I needed to use up some sock wool scraps and spotted a pattern online that I though would be perfect. First though I pulled out all my scraps and selected a pile that would work with a skein of co-ordinating yarn.

I had ordered the circular needle recommended in the pattern - a ProKnit Zing and made a start. Fairly soon I realised that me and the needles were not getting along - the straight bit you hold to knit with seemed too short. So I ordered a pair of 10" Zing needles in the same size. When they arrived I swapped over and soon realised 1. that they were much nicer than the circular and 2. that they felt thicker. So I got out my trusty needle guage and sure enough the circular needle slipped easily through the guage where as the straight needle had to be pushed through. Not sure if you can see the difference in my photo but I can 'in the flesh'.

Anyway I have written to ProKnit and await their thoughts.

So I carried on knitting even though feeling that this would all be coming out as I could tell the tension was going to be out. Plus of course I had not taken into account that not all 4 ply's are the same thickeness.

Anyway, here I am so far and on the point of pulling it apart.

Quite apart from the tension issue I can see that I have not got my 'sashing' even and need to work out precisely how many rows to work and from which side to pick up. Unfortunately the pattern is not helpful on this point. Plus the pattern is all worked in garter stitch and I have decided to use stocking stitch for the centre of the squares. Maybe I will put it to one side and get out my granny square jumper lol.

Meanwhile I have been working on my Chookshed Challenge and have finished my teasel.

I am now working on this cone flower.

Only just over a week to the end of the month so I need to get cracking, fortunately the last flower will be a cowslip which should be quick.

Now, I must mention my Book of the Year So Far! It is this one and I can not reccomend it more highly.

Such a delicious read about friendship, love and loss. Absolutely brilliant and I give it 10 out of 5 stars.

So that is my update for the week. Happy stitching.

Saturday catch up on Sunday

Had a busy day yesterday with a visit from my niece and great niece which was lovely. Over a year since I last saw them at a family wedding so lots to catch up on.

I have been working on my Stitch Journal of course and here is this weeks work.

And made a good start on my Chookshed Challenge embroideres. The first one I worked on was a small flowerlet from my Agapanthus - see header picture. The plant deigned to flower for the first time this year - it's fourth summer and following a stern 'this is your last chance' talking to. So worth commemorating I thought in case it is the only time.

I started by drawing with inktense pencils onto my fabric which I then moistened with a water and fabric medium mix. I thought straight away that the colours were too dark but carried on anyway just for the practise. Just as well as at one point I added too much water and the colour spread outside the petal. Having left it to dry and then ironed I wondered if the fabric medium would prevent any watery background colour encroaching into the petals but discovered not. Here is my failure.

After that I tried another with normal watercolour pencils and almost neat fabric medium which has worked very well. I decided against background colour. Here is the finished embroidery over the painted colour.

And with it's frame. I plan to stretch it over card and a double layer of batting which I am sure will be another learning experience!

I have started on the next piece. We grew teasels for the first time this year - well last year from seed and they flowered this year. This is it so far. You can see where I have used the pencils and fabric medium again to go behind the stitching.

And my reference photo. Strange how they flower in bands.

So that is it from me this week - I have been knitting and have a nearly finish so will show next week. Also a new knitting project - the needles arrive tomorrow so hopefully will share my start with you next week too.

Have a great week everyone.