Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures - in stitch and otherwise! And I hope that you will leave a comment so that I know you have visited.

Thursday 26 November 2015

It's EPP time again

Anthea is coping with builders and extensions but has still found time to set up the linky for EPP Tuesday and so we are Piecing Ourselves Together again!





Secret stitching here on the EPP front so I am just showing this sneaky peak which regular readers will have seen already!


But there has been some lovely post and these hexie flowers have arrived from my swap partners this month.

These from Australia


and these from the USA


Ooops - just remembered this birthday card for a special young lady!


Many thanks to Anthea for setting up the linky - I am off to see what everyone has been doing.

Saturday 21 November 2015

FNSI for November....

...... was very productive but involved secret stitching so this is all you get to see!







Many thanks to Wendy for hosting us again. Pop over to Sugarlane Designs to see what everone got up to.

Have a great weekend.

Tuesday 17 November 2015

WIP and a couple of small finishes

It has been a sad weekend for France as you will know. Thank you to all those of you who sent messages of support - they were very much appreciated.

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So, work in progress is on my November CQJP block and here it is.


There are a couple of TAST stitches in there. Crossed Buttonhole





and Half Chevron.




When I was at Ally Pally last month I was looking out for a small project to work on while I was away and found a sweet little scissor keep kit on Sue Hawkins crowded little stall. I finished the scissor keep a few weeks ago but have only just got around to photographing it. Not an easy task for something so small and oddly shaped!


I do love Sue's kits - always such a lot of lovely little details.







My other finish will be a Christmas present and it's another pattern that I found on the Popular Patchwork site. The Simple Sewing Companion is a free pattern.




There are three little pockets so space for a tape measure too which I shall buy in UK so that it has inches as well as centimeters! I should have put a little ruler in one of the pictures - the folded case measures between four and five inches.

So that is my news for now - don't forget that Friday night is FNSI, sign up here to join in with an evening of cyber sewing fun!

I am linking this up to Anthea's CTTY post.

Tuesday 10 November 2015

It's Piece Yourself Together Tuesday

Many thanks to Anthea for hosting the linky to PYT Tuesday. Click here to pop over to Hibiscus Stitches and see what everyone has been doing.


 I have finally got myself organised and have been photographing the swap hexie flowers I have sent and received so here are some recent swaps. First pictures of the hexies I have sent.



And these that I have received.


As you can see I am collecting blue flowers. Apart from my swaps I have been too busy on other projects to do any EPP.

I have a couple of finishes to share in my next blog post so see you soon.

Saturday 7 November 2015

November FNwF

Thanks to Cheryll for hosting us again this month. Follow the link to see what everyone got up to last night.





We are still having an exceptionally mild autumn here - it is 25 degrees outside as I write this! We did have some rain Thursday night/Friday morning so I got out to the garden early yesterday to rake up some of the damp leaves. It's a job I enjoy doing - lots of thinking time! Also it is satisfying to see a nice tidy garden and to see a large compost bin full of leaves which will rot down nicely to spread on the garden next year.


I love looking at the leaves on the ground - lots of lovely colours and patterns just waiting to be stitched!



I especially like raking up the walnut leaves as they have such a gorgeous smell - there are usually a few walnuts lurking under the leaves too, to add to my collection. Walnuts are a cash crop here in our part of the Dordogne and it's highly illegal to nip onto anyones land and help yourself! On Mondays in November at our local market you can see people with their sacks of washed and dried nuts delivering them to the lorries that take them away for processing.

And now, what did I get up to sewing wise - well, I put together my November CQJP block ready to start embellishing.


Black and yellow this time although I am sadly short of yellow fabrics! I did pick up a nice piece of spotted, crumpled black and yellow silk at the K&S last month which I intend to add to the surface. I also stocked up on some yellow threads which I  seemed to be lacking as well. I have just been sorting through my buttons and beads and ribbons for yellows - same story. Still, I think I will have enough.
I finished a sock on Thursday evening so yesterday evening I made a start on it's mate while we watched a film on TV.


A very satisfying day - I hope yours was too.

Thursday 5 November 2015

My crazy block for October and a couple of reminders!

First of all tomorrow night is Friday Night With Friends

Pop over to Cheryll's to sign up for an evening of fun.

Sheila from Sheila's Quilt World is organising a Christmas Postcard Swap - read about it here and if you have never made a fabric postcard before then maybe now would be a good time to start!

And now a few pictures of my CQJP block for October. First the whole block.


Then a few closeups.





Hope you are having a great week.