The Postman has been busy!

It has been a busy time for the postman recently and here are some of the lovely things he has brought me.

First of all this super Dragon fabric and pattern - a giveaway from Karen of KaHolly

Then I treated myself to another of Monika's http://mysweetprairie.blogspot.fr/
miniature threadpaintings that I fell in love with when I saw it on her blog.

Difficult to get a good photograph without a reflection but I love those Black Eyed Susans.

I have been seeing many links to the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe because the very generous Nancy is always having giveaways! Her hand dyed threads look beautiful and so I ordered a few packs of perle cotton and they arrived today.

The colours are just as gorgeous in real life and I am looking forward to using them in some of my crazy blocks.

I hope you have had some interesting post this week.

A New Knitting Bag

Having completed my CQJP block for September early in the month, instead of getting on with next months which would have been wise, I decided to have a play and do some patchwork.
A friend who visited in the summer had a very nice bag that she had purchased which I sussed was made from charm squares and having a few squares from a French General pack hanging around I thought I would put them to good use.
I had made a sketch of the bag and a few notes - easy I thought!!! Mmmm, well, not as easy as I thought. But a quick search around the internet found this pattern which was just what I needed. It's on the Popular Patchwork site and is called Sweet Sixteen.
The pattern is for a reversible bag although I made mine with a lining as I only had enough squares for the outside. Here is my finished bag.

I added a deep pocket on the inside to hold my hussif with various knitting related bits and bobs inside.

It's perfect for holding my latest project - another pair of socks!

Wishing you all a great weekend with lots of sewing time.

It's Piece Yourself Together time again..

.. over at Hibiscus Stitches

Thank you Anthea for organising this. Do click on the link to see what everyone is doing or to link up your own EPP project.

Last time I showed you this UFO from the dim and distant past.

Well now it looks like this.

The brown outer triangles are now all basted and ready to add. It could be a sort of sunflower. Not sure yet where I shall go from there but will keep you posted.

It has been grey and damp here today but we had two days of warm sunny weather at the weekend and I spotted this tree frog 'hiding' on one of my elephant palms!

Have a good week everyone.

FNSI for September

Once again many thanks to Wendy of Sugarlane Designs for inviting us - just click on the link to go and see what everyone has been sewing.

I have been sewing this afternoon along with my Australian friends as we are going out this evening - there is a certain World Cup about to start and a big screen that is calling to Philip!

So I have spent the afternoon finishing off my CQJP block for the month - finished nice and early so I can get on with some more projects and some Christmas sewing.

So here is my finished block

and of course a few close ups.

During my coffee break I watched the first lesson of Edyta Sitars new course on Craftsy which I treated myself to earlier in the week. Looking good so far.

Hope you all had a good evening.

What Was I Thinking?

In the folder where I keep patterns that I use or want to try I keep passing over a plastic sleeve with some partly worked EPP.

I was looking for a small handwork project to do in the car while waiting for Philip to have his physio (thank you all for your kind wishes) and rather than start something new, always a temptation, I decided to get out this UFO.

So this is how much I had done

and here is the plan!

The rest of the papers are here too.

I have no idea when I did this (more than 20 years ago at least!) and most puzzlingly why? Those fabrics are from way back and I probably don't have any more of them so my first job is to go rummaging through my stash to see if I can find something that will work with them. It will make a nice table centre or the start of a small medallion quilt depending on my enthusiasm when it's finished!

So I am linking up with Anthea and her Piece Yourself Together linky. Thank you Anthea.

I have completed my swap hexie flowers for the month and remembered to photograph them this time but will show you on the next EPP linky in case my partners are reading this!

Hope you are having a happy stitchy week.

The Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade!

This linky for us to show off our pincushions is being run by Ida and you can see all the lovely and interesting examples that have been entered HERE. Many thanks to Ida for hosting this parade and having such a good idea.

Here are the pincushions that I use regularly.

But I am just going to talk about the two that I really enjoyed making.

First of all this Anni Downs pincushion.

I can't remember now if I made the bag first or the pincushion but I love them both and they are perfect for taking with me when I take sewing out for the day.

This set I made some years ago.

The design is my own using perle cotton on canvas. They live in my sewing basket and are used nearly every day.

There are some stunning pincushions in the parade - I do hope that you will go and have a look.

Throwback Thursday!

Throwback Thursday is a new linky organised by  'J' of A Quarter Inch from the Edge.

 We are asked to show something from the past that we have not blogged about before. So here is my first something from the past!

A few weeks ago a friend here in France posted on facebook this picture.

Which rang a bell with me.This is known as the 'Battersea Shield' and is a Celtic bronze shield covering from around the 1st-2nd century BC which was found in the River Thames in 1857. You can click on the link to find out more about it.

In 1988 I used the design on the shield as the basis for a cot quilt design for my niece Kate and this is it.

Apologies for the poor picture - it is a scan of a photograph but I think you can see the design. All hand quilted. Sorry I can't tell you the dimensions but it is a cot quilt.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else links up with.

August Crazy block

Hello everyone - well I think I have finally caught up with all the blog reading that I was behind on, firstly because of having no internet for a week and then having family visiting. The house is back to it's normal state and my dining table back in action which means I can get on with some larger projects again.

Firstly though I finished my Crazy Quilt Journal Project block for August last night and here it is followed by a few close ups.

 

 

 

 

It's the first of the month and I am looking forward to finding out what my new BOM is and my hexie swap partners. I have joined up with a new hexie swap group and am looking forward to more hexies flying around the world.

In the meantime there is much to do here - Philip has hurt his back so I am chauffeur and chief gardener (as well as everything else!) for the time being. At least it is cooler today - we had a storm last night which has cleared the air nicely.

I hope your week is going well.

Oooh - just spotted that my 200th post is just 4 posts away - shall have to find something for a little giveaway!