Holiday Challenge

A few years back now I was asked to keep a daily journal/sketchbook as part of a course that I was following. I enjoyed the process very much and continued on long after the end of the course. The Journals make interesting reading and my artwork is a useful reference. However, it is now several years since I seriously did any work on a Journal and so I thought that my upcoming holiday to Spain - did I mention we are off to Spain!! - would be an ideal opportunity to make a new start.
So hence my holiday challenge.
I have a small, A6, plain boring sketchbook which I intend to transform with lots of sketches, notes and colour.

It shouldn't be too difficult to fill at least one double spread a day should it?

I have packed my favourite pens and a small selection of paints and crayons.

Of course, the reason I am blogging about this is that I need to be seen to make a commitment - otherwise it will never happen!

Hope everyone has a great month of February.

Piece Yourself Together time again

Many thanks to Anthea  for hosting us again - I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been doing.

Since my last post I have recycled my Christmas cards

and raided my scraps box

So now I have plenty to keep me busy while we are away in Spain!

Did I mention we are off to sunny Spain for a month on Sunday?

Have a great week everyone.

FNSI

Many thanks to Wendy for hosting us again for our Friday night sewing fun - do pop over to Wendy's blog to see what everyone got up to.

It was another grey, wet day in the Dordogne so sewing fun got under way early here.

First up for me was this Jenny of Elephantz sampler panel that I had stitched before Christmas.

I fell in love with it as soon as I saw the pattern!

It needed a patchwork frame to turn it into a mini quilt and it ended the day looking like this.

The rest of my evening was spent working on this UFO from 2012.

I had completed about 95% of the hand quilting and then folded it away and ignored it for 2 years! So it is a high priority finish for this year.

Not a brilliant photo but I think you get the idea. I completed a couple of these curly shapes last night and will crack on with a few more this evening.

Hope your weekend is going well and have a great Sunday.

Linking up with Super Mom No Cape  Vintage Embroidery Monday - do visit and see some beautiful work. 

Dear Jane update

A week of work on my Dear Jane blocks and this is where I am now.

And so my Baby Jane is now ready for her borders - first a narrow navy border then a border of triangles of a similar shape to the originals. But for the moment she has been put away as I complete another project and prepare for our trip to Spain next month.

I am linking up with Heather at Books and Quilts Needlework Tuesday She has finished a beautiful Afghan for a baby so I hope you will go and have a look at her work.

Dear Jane - Your Time Has Come!

My Dear Jane quilt has been a work in progress since 2002 although for most of that time it has languished in a box!
I first blogged about my Dear Jane here in 2012 and for a year there were various updates on my progress, but then I discovered Crazy Patchwork and poor Jane languished again!
Well, 2016 is my year of finishes and Dear Jane has surfaced! However, I now know that she will never be a completed full size quilt and so I have decided to just make use of the blocks that I have already made and enjoy them as they are. Not to mention enjoying the stack of fabric which was also stored away and which can be added to my stash!
So first of all I got out all my blocks and laid them out on the table in order.
Here they all are.

 I had 43 completed blocks.
By consolidating them

into a 7x7 square I could make a decent lap quilt. All I needed were six more blocks and luckily when I delved into the box I found two that had escaped the photo shoot which meant I had only four to make! I chose a few fairly easy ones so they were soon complete.
This afternoon I made a start on adding the the downward sashing between the blocks and this is how Jane is looking now.

Just the long crossways sashing to add and then I can think about the border which will probably be elongated triangles similar to the ones on the original quilt.

It feels good to be doing something positive with these blocks.

PS Linking up with A Quilting Readers Garden

The first PYT of 2016!

Yes, Piece Yourself Together is back and many thanks to Anthea for hosting this linky again. Pop over to Anthea's blog to see what she and everyone else has been up to.

I have been busy with my swap hexies and can show these that have been sent off in the last month.

And these that I have received

I am hoping that there might be a few more in the post on the way to me!

I am getting a nice collection of blue flowers now and am starting to think about a colour for the setting hexies - at the moment I am thinking a nice, sunny, golden yellow but that could change.

For the time being though, back to getting a UFO out of the way - more about that in my next post though.

Happy stitching.

FNWF and a New Year

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to my first post of 2016!

And with Friday Night with Friends last night it has got off to a good start - many thanks Cheryll. Do pop over to Cheryll's blog to see what everyone got up to - just click on the link above.

We only returned from our Christmas trip to UK on Wednesday during which time I did no sewing - just a little knitting - so it was good to be back sewing again last night. I chose to work on my swap hexie flowers for this month as I like to get them sent off nice and early.

The green flowers are complete - the blue ones need their petals sewing together, so that's a job for this evening.

I took part in Sheila's Christmas postcard swap and my swap partner was Annie. I had not come across Annie's blog before so of course I went to have a look and found lots of exciting work. I was therefore watching the post in eager anticipation but nothing came! Poor Annie was on the verge of making another card when it finally turned up - and it was well worth the wait!

Isn't it lovely? The stitching on the snowflake is tiny and amazing. I love the binding - it is the same on the back of the card and just as perfect!!

And just look at all the lovely details on the back (sorry for my scruffy editing) including the lovely postmark.
Many thanks Annie - I love it.

Just a couple of Christmas gifts to show you that I did not show last year.

This little bag went to my great niece.

And this Christmas mini to our grandaughter. The tree design is by Gail Pan.

Well, now I must get back to searching for an elusive piece of embroidery that I put away safely before Christmas!

Have a good week.