Happy Christmas!!

Just a quick post to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a very Peaceful and Pieceful New Year!

Just a few pictures to share with you of our brief stay in Brittany on the way to UK.

This was the view from our hotel bedroom in Vannes on the south coast of Brittany.

Having booked through a last minute website you usually get one of the least nice rooms but the helpful receptionist told us she had upgraded us and I could see why when I saw this stunning view.
Unfortunately it was wet so we saved sightseeing in Vannes for another trip and drove on to Josselin which has a very beautiful old centre. Fortunately the rain had stopped by then but it was still very grey.

Since we have been here in Taunton we have mostly been shopping and meeting up with friends and family. Earlier this week we met one couple at Dunster Castle. The castle is run by the National Trust and evenings during December they open the house for a few hours. The rooms are decorated as they would have been in times past, we were given a glass of sherry on arrival and there was music and singing provided by two ladies - one playing harp and the other a flautist. While we were there, there were no children around so all the adults had great fun with jingle bells and clappers!
This is a picture I just managed to get of the castle before it got dark.

You might be able to make out the sea behind the castle - on a clear day you would be able to see the coast of Wales.

Have a lovely Christmas.

EPP Tuesday update

Linking up with Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches again for EPP Tuesday. Many thanks Anthea for organising this linkup all year. You can see what everyone has been working on here

Just a couple of things to show you. I could not resist making one of these little trees that Anthea was working on last time.

It is made from 1/2" hexies and I gave it a blue side and a red/green side so it could be swapped round to suit ones mood! It's already been gifted.

I have also made a start on putting together my hexathon hexies.

We are now in UK for our Christmas break - the sun was actually shining this morning! 

Postcards!

The lovely Sheila at Sheila's Quilt World organised another postcard swap for us - this time the theme was Christmas! Lots of scope for fun. I did two swaps.

First my friend Linda the Scrapmaster sent me this beautiful Angel. Lots of tiny pieces there.

And this super jolly Santa came flying around the world from Maria in Australia.

These are the cards that I sent to Linda and Maria.

Thank you Linda and Maria for your lovely cards and to Sheila for organising our swap.

Sunshine and Solar

It has been a beautiful, sunny day here - warm enough to sit outside after a week of grey, damp weather.
The sunshine reminded me that I have not updated you on the results of my solar dyeing. You may remember that here I told you about the book I had been reading called 'Slow Stitch' which included instructions for slow/solar dyeing.
It's been a lovely, sunny autumn overall so I was able to play with lots of jars of fibres and natural dye.

Each jar contains a half a teaspoon of alum, to help the dyes take, the matter I am using to take the dye from plus an A4 piece of linen or cotton fabric, a skein of cotton or linen thread, some lace and some ricrac. The contents were covered with hot water, given a good stir and then left in the sun for at least two weeks.
I have had some really good results which I have documented in a little record book.

It is interesting to see how the different fibres take the dye.

So here is my collection of fabric and threads - a pleasing variety of colours.

These are my lace's and ricrac.

I plan to start again in the spring trying some different ingredients, in the meant time I want to make a start on slow stitching my collection so far.

EPP Tuesday update

Once again I am linking up with Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches where we are Piecing Ourselves Together. Do go and visit Anthea - she has a brilliant little Christmas tree ornament made with 1/2" hexies which is brilliant for using up all those little scraps of Christmas fabric.

I have been thinking about how I am going to use my Hexathon hexies and had the idea of them falling (raining) down a quilt into a heap like jewels. This is my sort of plan.

I would use the little ones in the border down the left hand side and bottom of the quilt.
I laid all my blocks out on the grey fabric that I plan to use and quickly discovered that random was not going to be an option so I set about trying to organise a sort of wash of colour and this is what I came up with.

I have not started yet so nothing is set in stone - all comments welcome!

Meanwhile I have made a little progress putting together my blue swap hexies.

And some more have arrived - from the Netherlands

and from Australia.

Right - I'm off to find my Christmas fabrics!
Bye for now.

Christmas Through the Year

And this will be my last CTTY post for the year as I think I have completed all my Christmas stitching!

Many thanks to Anthea for keeping us on our toes this year - you can see what other people have been up to on her blog here

I have finished two more wheat bags

and a couple more crazy hearts.

Then I decided that it was time for a Christmas gift for me! I love this Mouse Pincushion pattern by Natalie Bird and bought the pattern last year when I finally tracked down a copy in the UK. But that is as far as it went. Now seemed like a great time to make it.

And here is my completed pincushion.

I adapted the pattern to suit me as I don't do wool applique - instead I embroidered the large mouse and flower on the side panel.

I also swapped the felt ball on the top for a loop - filled with crushed walnut shells this is quite a hefty pin cushion and the loop makes it easy to move around.

I used some of my favourite Tilda fabric and this dusky pink spot which sadly has now all been used up.

The pattern even includes some of my favourite hexies! These are 3/4".

So that's me done for this year - I already have a few ideas for 2017 so watch this space!

FNSI for November

Just popping in briefly with my FNSI report.

We were out all day yesterday but when we returned I got on with finishing off my Christmas postcards some of which are for swaps so no pretty pics I am afraid!

Thank you very much for hosting us Wendy, hope everyone had a great evening.

EPP Tuesday has come around very quickly!

It's Piece Yourself Together time again. Many thanks to Anthea - do pop over to her blog Hibiscus Stitches to see how she is getting on with her super scrappy quilt and what everyone else has been doing. Do link up yourself if you have been working on some EPP.

I can report that the Morris Hexathon is now over! Here is my last block #26 Floating Clouds

I was hoping to get a picture of all of them but I have not had a chance so it will have to wait till next time. I do have a plan for putting them together - again something for next time.
In the mean time I have done a little work on putting together all my blue swap flowers and these flowers are on their way to my swap partners for November.

Have a great week.

EPP Tuesday

Thank you Anthea for hosting us again - see what Anthea, and everyone else have been up to here.

Lots of secret Christmas stitchery going on here so not so much EPP but I am keeping up with the Morris Hexathon.

This is #23 North End Crescent variation - there should have been a curve on each of the three sides of each sixth - a little beyond me I am afraid!

#24 Brighton Church

And this weeks block #25Sussex Cottage

This Saturday sees block #26 and the last block! I have been working on a plan to put them all together. More next time/

Friday Night Sew In for October

Many thanks to Wendy for inviting us to join her again - you can see what every one was working on here

A small package arrived in the post for me yesterday - this little collection that I had ordered from Euro Japan Links. I needed some new scissors and some sashiko thread (it takes dye beautifully) so I
added a couple of little extras - some needles and a white, water erasible pen to try.

The box contained these little snips

which are amazingly sharp and magic for snipping threads. I am not a fan of plastic covers so of course I needed to make a little case for them. I had an odd piece of the decorated felt I made here
which when cut in half was perfect for the job.

While I had the machine set up for this I also machined up the strips that I had cut earlier

 to make some pen holders for my Christmas gift box.

 The rest of my sewing time was spent adding a hanging sleeve to the back of a mini quilt

 and appliqueing some mini hexie flowers.

 Hope you are having a great weekend - the sun is shining here!