Postcards for spring and Easter

I have already shown you this lovely postcard

that I received from Jeanneke  in  Sheila's Spring/Easter postcard swap.

Here is the card that I sent to Jeanneke

one of a series of 4, this one is called Forsythia.

The other cards are

Crocus

Tulips

and Japonica

These were fun to stitch on a piece of hand dyed cotton (darker than the photograph shows it) with some of my own dyed threads.

All but one has now arrived at it's destination.

Also this week I have completed my second BOM in my pink series.

and I have an almost finished turquoise crazy block which should be finished any day!

Damp and dreary here today but at least the daffodils and blossom outside my window cheer things up. Have a good weekend.

FNSI - better late than never!

Once again Wendy hosted us for our  Friday Night Sew In. Go to Wendy's blog here and follow the links to see what everyone else got up to.

A few months ago Maria very kindly sent me a skein of delightful Cottage Garden thread.

The colours are so gorgeous and I wanted to save it for the right project to come along.

Last week Jenny released her new stitchery club designs for the month and included was a delightful little stitchery using her new alphabet and I knew that this was THE project. So out came the thread and here is how I got along on Friday.

I love the little details in this stitchery - the ladybirds and the flowers and the thread is working out beautifully.

I have now finished stitching and here it is.

So thank you to Maria and to Jenny. I plan to surround this with patchwork to make another little mini quilt to go on my hanger.

Hope everyone else had a good evenings stitching.

FNSI is this Friday

Sign up for FNSI here. Your opportunity to catch up with what everyone is up to on Friday night ( we are talking stitch here!) and share some virtual time with stitchers around the world.

Wendy usually has a delicious chocolatey recipe to share too!

Wendy also has a giveaway for some lucky person who signs up. Last  month I was that lucky person! and here is the lovely package that Wendy sent me.

A lovely Jenny of Elefantz pattern with a pretty fat quarter of fabric and a skein of thread to make it with. I love Jenny's designs (you may have noticed!) and the fabric is gorgeous - just perfect to go with the pattern. Thank you very much Wendy.

Looking forward to linking up with everyone on Friday.

Mothering Sunday

Happy Mothering Sunday to all my readers!

Here is the little Jenny of Elefantz posy that I embroidered for my Mum.

Enjoy your day.

CQJP block for February and a Swap Card

So first of all this lovely card arrived in the post from Jeanneke in the Netherlands.

Jeanneke is my swap partner in Sheila's Spring/Easter postcard swap. Thank you Jeanneke for swapping with me and your card is finished and will be in the post first thing on Saturday!

Thank you also to Sheila for organising another swap.

Now, my CQJP block for February is finished and here it is!

A few close ups including explanations for some of the symbolism incorporated.

The pink /orange colour scheme has been a favourite of mine for a while and it seemed appropriate to be stitching it in a hot (sort of) country.

The Mudejar star in the bottom left corner I added as we travelled on the Autovia Mudejar from Zaragozza to Valencia. The bridges along the motorway are decorated with these stars in various forms and there are some interesting sculptures along the way too.

Shells that I collected on the beach (I have masses of these!)

Hearts for Valentines and we saw some early butterflies too. The little silver Indalo man is the symbol of the province of Almeria. He is seen everywhere naming business's, hotels, restaurants, on fridge magnets, jewellery, postcards etc etc.

I did enjoy stitching this block.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Piece Yourself Together - EPP Tuesday

Many thanks to Anthea for hosting this linky. Click on her name to take you to her blog and then look for the linky on the right hand side to see what everyone else is doing.

Late last year I joined a hexie swap group which means that each month I swap a hexie flower with my partner for the month. Here are the flowers I have received so far.

Well, it's not going to be a quilt any time soon but wheres the hurry?

It occurred to me that I have not kept a record of the flowers I have sent off to my partners and so, as these are so quick and easy to do, I have decided that when I cut out a set of hexies for my partner I will cut an extra set the same for me.

So here are my hexies cut and ready to sew for this months swap.

I am travelling again next week so I shall be sewing these while I am away.

I have also cut a stack more 1/2" hexie papers also to take away with me.

Well, that is all for now. I shall be posting about my February CQJP block later this week. See you then.

Friday Night with Friends....

.....was last night, it being the first Friday of the month. Many thanks to Cheryll for organising us.

I spent my time - afternoon and evening sorting out my next CQJP block and the beads, threads, ribbons etc that I am going to use with it.

Here is my basic block.

These are some of the threads and embellishments that I have sorted out.

Of course I did not have enough of the right colour silk ribbon so I have had to order some! Luckily Hearty Craft are very quick to send out orders so the ribbon will be here in a few days.
I also thought that I would dye some ribbon myself to  add to my range and added some lace as well and some pieces of silk and velvet to add to my stash.

Here are the ribbons and laces that I dyed - I did a bag of marine violet at the same time in anticipation of Aprils block.
I added a dash of emerald to my turquoise dye and on the laces it has given me the colour I wanted but the ribbons have come out far too green. Well they will find a use I know but I don't think that they will be right for this project.

And so by the end of the evening I had started stitching and here is my progress so far - just one seam treatment and a piece of braid pinned in place.

Today, Saturday, has been another warm sunny day spent in the garden. Late this afternoon we had several skeins of cranes fly over - always a welcome sight as it means that spring is on it's way.

Hope you all had a great evenings sewing - those of you who were not eating pizza in Brisbane!

Until next time.

Post!

Coming home after a month in warmer climes is not necessarily pleasant but there is always a pile of post to cheer one up! There were some very nice things in my pile of post at the weekend so I am going to share them with you.

First of all Jenny of Elefantz swap - I showed you the items I sent off to my swap partner here - so it was lovely to come home to a parcel from New Zealand! The mother and daughter team from Baa's Amazing Adventures had sent me these lovely things.

This pretty 'Jenny' bird design beautifully stitched and hoop framed. And they kept the bird theme going with a lovely Kiwi teatowel and gorgeous Pukeko bird card.

I had never heard of a Pukeko bird so I have learnt something here!

Thank you both very much Hannah and Karen for lovely gifts.

Maria from The Next Stage had a giveaway in January and introduced me to Susan and her 

justbesensiblesusan blog. Susan takes lots of beautiful photographs and her blog is full of fun. She also is a great artist and produces a range of beautiful cards under the name Susan...sometimes. Maria was giving away two of these gorgeous cards and I won! Here are the two lovely cards I received.

Simple designs but so so effective. Thank you Maria.

And last, but by no means least was this gorgeous vintage inspired card from Susan which I had admired on her blog.

It currently has pride of place on my easel! Thank you Susan.

And talking of postcards, Sheila is organising another postcard swap. This time the theme is spring/Easter so if you fancy joining in then click on her name and it will take you straight to her post with all the details.

Well that is all for now - there is a big birthday here tomorrow (someone will be 70) and I have been busy in the kitchen this afternoon. Looking forward to seeing friends here tomorrow and I will be back soon to share my finished February CQJP block.