FNSI July

 Another week has passed and I have a few things to share.

Friday afternoon of course started with my Stitch Journal - here is how it has progressed in the last week.

The two lavender bushes were Fridays contribution. All plants based - roughly - on what we have in the garden at the moment.

After that I pulled my sewing machine out of it's hidey hole and put together the zig zag book using last years Stitch Journal pages.

I still need to add card to the two end panels and sew them up so full reveal next week.

Thanks to all the football (we won whopee!) and cricket I was able to finish off the socks. Here they are in all their glory.

These were made using King Cole Zig Zag, colourway Dragonfly. A new to me yarn which knitted up well and I am pleased with the result. Will have to hear from the recipient about how they wash up and, as they are a Christmas present, that will not be too soon!

Then because there was more cricket Friday evening, I started a new pair of socks!

Again, another 'new to me' yarn. This one is Funny Feetz (I think - some helpful person stuck the price label over what I think is etz) by James C Brett. Am wondering how this is going to work out colourwise as that looks like a lot of pink in one block. It's wool, polyamide and bamboo and is knitting nicely so far.

Otherwise I have been playing in my sketchbooks this week and looking at some art history. The weather has cooled somewhat and we have had a little rain - more on the way tonight and tomorrow which will be nice.

While I have been sitting in the garden this week I have noticed we have plenty of Peacock Butterflies, they do love our buddleia.  This one posed beautifully on our umbrella.

Many thanks to Wendy for organising our Friday and to everyone who joined it. Have a lovely week.

Saturday Catchup

 And we have another mini heatwave here in UK - clear blue skies and 30+ temperatures for a few days. I have been making good use of the extra time indoors and completed the stitching on the cover panels for my book. My Chookshed Challenge for the month.

I had an afternoon to myself and had planned to trim all the panels and get them stitched together.

But by the time I had them all trimmed I was too hot to think about lugging the machine out of it's hidyhole, so now that is a job for next week.

My Stitch Journal has progressed and I am taking inspiration from the garden at the moment.

I have completed my little stitchery roundel for the Christmas Tree skirt

and have been knitting my way through more cricket and football. Have now turned the heel on my second sock and am on the home straight!

I am off to find the fan again - hope you have a great week. xx

FNWFs July and Chookshed Challenge #9

 Many thanks to Cheryll for our get together last night - the link is here to see who took part.

I of course, worked first on my stitch journal and earlier this week I started on a new one. The fabric I am using is something I picked up from a charity shop and is probably cotton. It was a bag 18" wide and I am not sure of the other dimension however when I got it apart - it was very firmly stitched together -  it is over a yard long. I am wondering if it was a nightdress case. The flap is embroidered with thickish white thread which I plan to work with/over when I get to it. I purchased online another spool - not as nice as the previous one as it has been smartened up although it is old. This one holds a strip of 6" fabric which was convenient as I was able to cut my fabric neatly into three. Anyway, less waffle, more pictures!

and a close up of this week

Bottom right is todays stitching which was inspired by our visit earlier today to the kitchen garden at Knightshayes.

The rest of my Friday was spent watching cricket - test match followed by T20 - and so sock knitting was ideal and I am now making good progress on my second sock.

This months Chookshed Challenge no is #9 and on my list that is to make last years stitch journal pages into a book.

These are the pages

and the plan is a zigzag book. I have it in my mind, and hope it will work in practise! Anyway, I have made a start on the front and back panels. The first one will will have 2024 embroidered on it but so far all I have done is the border using Reversed Buttonhole Bar starting with a fairly random row of buttonhole.

This is as far as I have got with the back panel

I mentioned earlier that we visited Knightshayes today and I will leave you with a few pictures from the lovely kitchen gardens. Have a great weekend.

Six Months of Stitch Journaling

 As I mentioned in my last post, I am starting to run low on the threads and fabrics that I am using for my Stitch Journal. Also the spool is rather full so I have stopped here at the end of June and am making a start on something new in July. So here are some tadah pictures!

First up my stitches for June.

A nice full spool

All 90" x 5"

And safely tucked away in it's little envelope bag

And the bag incase you missed my last post.

All fabrics (recycled clothing mostly) threads and laces solar dyed using plant material and kitchen waste from our home in France.

This has been such a lovely project to work on, it sits nicely in the hand to work on and rolls up into a small treasure - 6 months of time recorded in stitch.

Thank you for following along and your lovely comments along the way.