Birthday stash for February, spiders, beads and hexies!

First of all I must welcome my two new followers - Annette and Mary Ann. Thank you for joining me.

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It's the last day of the month so time to reveal my birthday makes and linking up with Wendy at
 Sugarlane Quilts for this. Thank you Wendy. Although, as we have been away for most of the month I only have one item to show you. It's an Origami Bag.

It's the first one of these that I have made and I shall definitely be making more. I am afraid I did not make a note of whose blog I found this on (sorry if it was you!) but here is the link for the tutorial on how to make it.

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My Winter Crazy block now has a spider!

So now the block is finished and I have put it away safely to await the other blocks.

In the process of looking for the two black beads for the body I gave my bead collection a complete re-organisation and discovered that I do have rather a lot!

Now that they are all organised into clear containers at least I shall be able to see what I am looking for.

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Yesterday I received an email about a hexagon project for the  International Festival of Extra ordinary Textiles. As I had never heard of this festival I wrote back asking how they had got my email address and got an immediate reply saying from my blog! So maybe some of you will have had the same email? I would be interested to know.

The Festival is to be held in Clermont-Ferrand, France, September 20-28th. The idea is for people to send 7 patch hexie flowers from around the world to be joined together and then quilted at the Festival.

Here is the link to the instructions for the hexies and where to send them. I shall be sending a few.

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And finally, we just had a very sudden and heavy hail storm which was over in less than a minute!

I hope you have a great weekend with lots of time to sew.

Lin

Winter Crazy block and some holiday photographs

I love Spain and have enjoyed our 3 weeks away but it is great to be home, and even though it is raining, of course, it is lovely to see daffodils and primroses flowering around the garden. Spring is on the way.

I have finished my Winter Crazy block apart from a spider in the web and I did not have the right beads with me for that.

Here are a couple of close-ups.

Just a few photographs from our time in Spain.

The beautiful bay of Las Negras

And the unspoilt El Playaza with it's privately owned and inhabited castle.

The rocks by the castle are full of fossils and shells.

In this secluded cove we watched a Gannet swooping and diving over the sea.

These gold mines at Rodalquilar were started by the Romans and only closed in the 1960's -

they have an amazing view of the sea.

Las Sirenas, site of the Cabo de Gata lighthouse. A favourite spot for viewing seabirds and this year our fist sight of a Trumpeter Finch. They are usually found in North Africa but there is a small colony living near the lighthouse.

Flamingos on the Cabo de Gata salt lakes.

The view from Cabrera mountain across to Mojacar bay.

Nijar, famous for it's woven rugs, pottery and baskets.

Back to Cabo de Gata and these colourful toilets caught my eye. We sat at a weathered table with mismatched dining chairs on the beach for coffee.

And further along the coast at La Fabriquilla this tiny bar tucked away at the end of the village was fully booked for lunch.

Lots of lovely memories - I hope you enjoy seeing my pictures.

Lin

Sunshine and some Crazy stitching

My first post from a sunny, southern Spain. We have had clear blue skies since our arrival on Thursday afternoon with temperatures around 18 -20 during the day. It is however quite windy but we are so pleased to see the sun and to have no rain that it really does not matter.
We have a lovely apartment with a view to the sea which we are sharing with bowls friends.
Here is the view from our balcony.

The complex has an indoor swimming pool which is about two minutes walk from our apartment. Easy to pop across there first thing in the morning and the best thing is that we get it all to ourselves!

So far bowls has taken precidence with practise and a club meeting yesterday. But this afternoon there is a match and so I am having a quiet afternoon sewing and catching up with The Archers!

I am really enjoying working on my Crazy winter block. I have decided to go for a 9" square (sorry Carli) but I think it will be more realistic for me to keep up with the stitch along as I can see how much time it is taking me.

This is my block so far.

At the moment I am working on this section - my next job is to add beads or French knots to the centres of the little flowers while I work out how to give a touch of frost to the leaves on this fabric.

I plan to use a little of this leafy fabric (an old Laura Ashley skirt donated by a friend) in each of my blocks to provide continuity.

Tomorrow is a bowls free day so we are planning a trip down the coast to the National Park and hopefully to do some birdwatching.

Hope you are having a good weekend, bye for now.

Lin