Cooling Down

After a very hot June week - here in Somerset we broke the UK record for the hootest June day on Thursday although that was beaten by somewhere else the next day - it is feeling much cooler here this Saturday afternoon. We have hazy sun and a cooling breeze at times which is very pleasant.

We ventured out on Tuesday to an air conditioned restaurant and my Pilates class on Wednesday - in our village hall which is new and has efficient solar powered aircon/heating - was also a pleasure. Otherwise we have mostly been indoors drinking loads of water with a fan trying to keep the air moving.

Although I have done some sewing - and knitting - I have also been reading and got through two of Louise Penny's 'Three Pines' books and have just started a Salley Vickers book called ' Dancing Backwards'. I do love her books and am always happy to find one I have not read.

My Stitch Journal is up to date and records our hot week.

And I have been working into my tea and rust piece.

Sadly the sparkle I added in the way of beads and lurex thread does not show up in the picture. I am at the point of sitting back and trying to decide if it needs more stitch.

Also I have been knitting away and am up to the heel turn on this pair of socks which is using a WYS sparkle yarn.

These are for a much smaller foot than the last pair so coming along that bit quicker.

Looking forward to pottering about a bit in the garden this week as it gets cooler - maybe even having a day out! Happy stitching.

Heatwave Incoming!

 It's pleasant here today, even a sprinkling of rain but from tomorrow temperatures are set to rise to the mid 30's during the week. Thankdfully not the 40 degrees plus that our friends in France will have but still a tad too hot for us. It is going to affect the whole of southern England with London and the East getting higher temperatures. Our new conservatory roof is going to get a good work out.

This last week has been pleasant and some tidying has happened in the garden. I have picked the first tomatoes (cherry), cucumbers and mange tout peas - plenty more to come. I suspect that anyone who visits will be presented with a cucumber (no sniggering please) as there seems to be a glut forming already.

I have been working on my Stitch Journal of course. Here are this weeks offerings.

And the socks are finished.

These were made using Stylecraft's Head Over Heels, Colours of the World, Sacred Earth and I do love these colours. I have completed the cuff on my next pair - there is a lot of cricket and football around!

I have dyed the white panel I showed you last week.

I think I was a little over ambitious and used too much tea and rust but however it's fine and will probably (thanks Julie) fade in time. I dyed it flat sandwiched between some sheets of paper which I had not tried before and found on this video which is excellent.

So, the results.

This piece of paper went on the bottom with a few leaves scattered on

and I will definitely repeat without the rust as there are some lovely prints in there.

Next the fabric and then another layer of paper with the butterfly and a snowflake on.

Then two thinner sheets of paper with a few screws in between.

These will be cut to page size and added into my sketchbook. For the time being though I need to stitch into my panel and have some beads and threads ready to go.

I finally got to the Roger Fry exhibition in my local museum this week. Roger Fry Which I enjoyed very much. I think this was my favourite painting because of the colour and design

but there were many different paintings in differing styles from throughout his life.

I am ashamed to say that after 4 years here in Taunton it was my first visit to the Museum of Somerset but I shall definitely be going back! The gallery where the exhibition was held was excellent, plenty of space and air con (might be worth another fiver to go back for the air con next week). Good lighting and plenty of information about the artist and the paintings. The whole place looks very swish so I will be back again soon to browse their collections.

Well, I think that is all for now, have a good week.

The middle of June

 And just another week until the longest day! Always a bit of a relief to me as I don't like these light mornings although I am happy to have daylight until almost 10 at night! Especially when the weather is good and you can be outside. We have not had much of that this week although has certainly bucked up a bit today with lots of sunshine.

The one day that we ventured out this week turned out to be the wettest, of course. We arranged to meet a friend at Crowcombe Heathfield Station for coffee. Famous for being featured in 'A Hard Days Night', it is a very pretty and quiet little station and would have been perfect for a few photographs. But. Crowcombe is on the edge of the Quantock Hills which were covered in mist and it was cold and wet at the station. We enjoyed our coffee and chat, saw a train come and go - diesel sadly, not steam - browsed the bookshop and then moved on towards the coast to Williton where we stopped at an excellent butcher for sausages and where it was dry and almost sunny! However, we had no plans to visit the sea and headed home to enjoy a fresh pasty for a late lunch.

The Stitch Journal has grown again - here is my work from the last week.

I have been working on my rust pieces this week. This is the sample I showed you last week

and here it is after rust and tea treatment.

I have added it to my original sample and you can see the differentce.

I used stronger tea for the first sample and may have left it for longer although I don't remember keeping notes so can not be sure. I like both samples and it is good to be able to see a difference.

I did a small sample with a rusty butterfly that lives in the garden. It is difficult to see the two butterflies but again, I could have used stronger tea and left it for longer. 

I shall add this sample to my roll and stitch into it I think.

Also this week I have started on another piece which is now ready for some tea/rust treatment.

This piece is aproximately A4 size. I layered scraps of linens onto some light weight interfacing and stiched across the whole thing 1" apart to hold it together.

I have then appliqued pieces of linen to form the flowers and leaves. I plan to dye this flat with some strategically placed rusty items before adding more embroidery, beads etc. Hopefully some progress this week.

A few pictures from the garden. Philip grew some teasel plants last year fron seed and these have shot up over the last few weeks.

I am looking forward to seeing these flower - a blue/purple I think.

And this lovely small tortoiseshell came for a visit.

Have a good week everyone.

Chookshed Challenge and first week of June

 Deana and RNG came up with #7 for June, and on my list that is rust.

Some of you will remember a few years back that I followed a short online course with Deb Cooper who works a lot with rust. I produced this small sample - neutral threads on neutral fabrics, all natural fibres.

The piece was then wrapped tightly with iron nails etc inside and soaked in hot strong tea for a few days which gives this lovely effect. Well, I think it's lovely - opinions differ!

Anyway, at the time I started on another piece to add to this, got so far and then it was tucked away in a box awaiting another day to shine. 

Well. that day has come, so I pulled it out this week and added some more stitching, as below.

I wrapped it all up and stuck it in a jar jar this week with its nails and tea and it is now residing in the airing cupboard to brew. I shall share the results next week. In the meantime I am planning to prepare a fabric background to stitch onto that will eventually reside in a small frame. Hopefully again, more next week.

June's Stitch Journal panel has started nicely - here are the first five days.

Here are the pictures of May's stitching.

Also this week, I have completed the embroidery of the white crazy panel that I put together last week.

You should be able to pick out the heart shape which is stitched in blue. This is now waiting for a sewing machine afternoon.

And finally, it has been a busy cricket week so lots of knitting happening - this is the second sock of a pair and I am at the point of knitting the heel flap.

It's been a damp week here, windy at times, so apart from a couple of appointments we have not been out and about. The big news is that on Tuesday we had the roof of our conservatory insulated which should mean that the room will be cooler when it is very hot and warmer in the winter.🤞Anyway, it looks very nice and has eliminated the nooks and crannies inhabited by spiders so all good for the moment.

Happy stitching.

The End of May - Almost

 Yes, just one more day of May and then we are into June. It's not been a very productive week here - it has been so HOT! Cooler today thank goodness and for the coming week. We may even get some much needed rain.

Just one more day to add to my Stitch Journal - here though are my additions for the last week.

I have put together a crazy background ready for embellishment - this will be a gift for a friend.

And I basted a batch of hexagons ready for whenever Deana pulls out #5 for the Chookshed Challenge.

 These are 1" hexies, my prefered size. I think I mentioned earlier that I planned to do these as part of this months challenge, along with my crochet basket. I am sharing another picture of the basket here so that I can add this post to Deana's link when she puts it up.

Now I am looking forward to finding out which number Deana pulls for June.

Have a lovely week.

The Ups and Downs of the Weather

 Well, it has been one of those strange weather weeks. The beginning of last week was cold wet and windy with maximum temperatures of 12 degrees. Today it is sunny and hot! - 30 degrees and hotter forecast for tomorrow. Nice for those on half term this week - not so much fun for us in Cornwall last week. Still, we enjoyed our week away with visits to a few favourite places and a few new to us.

We paid a return visit to Godrevy which was wet and stormy when we visited last year. This time was a dry sunny day but the wind was strong and cool. 

We battled the wind and walked up the point, hoping to see seals from the cliffs on the other side but unfortunately they had not made an appearance that day. However the view across the bay to St Ives was spectacular. But of course never translates to a photograph.

We visited Portreath which the internet promised was 'Cornwalls hidden gem'. Sadly it lied. Having expected pretty fishermans cottages we were greeted by modern houses, the majority of which looked to be holiday homes. And what was at one time a lovely harbour had been allowed to deteriorate. Although, with fishing in decline in Cornwall, I suppose not surprising. The harbour reminded me of the beautiful one at Charlestown (of Poldark fame) which has been maintained and restored beautifully. The Portreath hardbour has this beautiful curved entrance from the sea.

Outside of Portreath we did find our reward though - a vintage and antiques centre which we enjoyed browsing and vintage tea rooms which provided our lunch.

The only hand work I took with me was my Stitch Journal as I spent any spare time catching up with some reading. Some recommendations next week.

The top set of circles is todays addition.

The crochet basket was completed before we left and now contains my next crochet project.

Very happy with how this has finished - just as I imagined. Sadly didn't make much of a dent in the aran stash though🤣

That's it from me for this week, happy stitching.

Barrington Court

 Yes, garden pictures to come but first my stitches for the week.

More buttonhole and I am using a piece of needlelace as my inspiration - it is a strange shape as well as my incompetent drawing! A bit more work is needed to complete the motif.

After another evenings work on my crochet basket I decided that it was not going the way I envisaged so undone it came back to the base. At this point I was free to make a few changes so first of all I made a few decreases on the first round to help the sides stand up better. I had been working one round at a time and my start and finish point was looking very untidy so this time I am spiralling round which is much better. Before I was using a mixture of trebles and dc to work up the side, but I have changed to half trebles which is giving a firmer finish. I could have worked it all in dc which would have been firmer still, but would also have been a lot harder on the hands. So tadah!

The band above the handles is all dc and I need to do a few more rows - that will be my FNSI this evening.

Now, Barrington Court. And I know I have posted about these lovely walled gardens before but every time we go they are different - they change with the seasons and every year so always something different to see.

First up the vegetable garden which has a purple theme at the moment.

As has the border leading to the white garden.

The white garden was looking stunning - especially this beautiful white wisteria.

This allium was over a foot across.

And then the lily pond garden.

This one is for you Chantal - and anyone popping in from The Netherlands.

And another beautiful border.

We were very fortunate with the weather as it has been cold and showery since Monday, unusually cold for the time of year we are told. But heatwave coming at the end of next week!

I am not around next week but hope you all have a happy stitchy one.