FNSI January

 Many thanks to Wendy for continuing FNSI on blogger as well as Facebook. Good to join in with everyone again. You can see who else took part here and our winners from the end of 2025.

We had a lovely day out to Watchet, a favourite harbour town on the West Somerset coast. It was a beautiful sunny morning and we met friends for coffee which turned into lunch. It was then time for a walk by the harbour at which point we had the first of several showers. So popped into the East Quay arts centre for a browse round the shop and the Two Rivers Paper Mill. I was tempted to buy a pack of their paper offcuts for my new sketchbook project. They are between exhibitions at the moment.

It stopped raining so we went for a walk out to the sea wall and got back to East Quay in time to dive into the restaurant for a coffee and miss the next shower. And then it was time to go home. Sorry no pictures - too busy talking😂

So when I got home I worked on my Stitch Journal This is how it is looking so far - half way through the month already!

Friday's addition was the blue flower top left, todays the scroll stitch scroll.

Then it was time to work on my crochet. I completed the first 30 rows of the CAL earlier in the week so last night I made a start on the new colour chart for the next 40 rows.

Also this week I have been working on my Chookshed Challenge and I have now completed the base stitching for all 6 sides of the box.

And started adding the flowers and vegetables.

When I went to my patchwork group this week I was able to show my progress to the lady who gifted me the kit and she was delighted to see it taking shape. She however was working with some Japanese fabrics and her project was looking very tempting!

So that was my week, a perfect quiet January week with plenty of time to sew as well as a nice trip out. I hope yours was good too.

A Quiet week

 It is taking longer to get over this cold than I had hoped. And that, combined with Philip catching it and the cold weather means we have hardly been out this week. Which means one positive thing! - yes, plenty of time to sew.

My Stitch Journal is well under way - day 10 already!

My main focus this week has been my Chookshed Challenge - the Sue Hawkins kit. Having investigated further into the envelope I was given I found this picture of the finished scissor stand - much clearer than the one I posted last week.

Having spent about 10 minutes trying to unpick what the previous owner had started, I gave up and pulled a new piece of canvas from the drawer to work on. I have made really good progress as you can see.

So far I have done the top and two sides. I have decided to complete all the background stitching before adding the raised vegetables and flowers so that I can avoid catching them with stray threads while I work. I cracked on with this project because I knew that with the Attic 24 CAL starting on Friday I would be turning all my attention there for a while.

The first set on instructions for the Wildshore CAL arrived yesterday and I made a good start.

If I want to keep up with the CAL I will need to do about twice this amount before next Friday but I suspect that I will lapse to concentrate on other projects. I am very happy with how it is looking so far, the Yarnsmiths merino is lovely to crochet with and the colours gorgeous. I love Lucy's shell pattern too.

You can find the instructions for the shell pattern on the Attic 24 website under Wildshore CAL if you fancy trying it out. It is quick to work and if you can count to three then you are good to go!

So that is all from me today. I has been a beautiful sunny day but back to the rain tomorrow. Have a lovely week.

Chookshed Challenge 2026

 Looking forward to joining in again with Deanna for another Chookshed Challenge and to following along with everyones projects.

In case you missed it, here is my roundup of 2025 projects and what a great success last year was.

So my list for this year is

1. Embroidered Rabbit

2. Retreat Bag

3. Canvaswork Kit

4. RSC log cabin quilt

5. Swap hexies

6. Gold oval frame embroideries

7. Rust project

8. Use eco print fabric

9. Summer Meadow embroidery kit

10. To be decided?

#3 has been drawn as our project for January and this is a beautiful Sue Hawkins kit. Now I am sure you know by now how much I love a Sue Hawkins kit!

This one was given to me by a fellow member of my quilt group who also loves Sue Hawkins. By coincidence we have identical thimble holders which was the very first kit that I bought from Sue about 20 years ago.

This is the kit that Gail gave to me.

Unfortunately, having made a start on the kit herself, she decided that it was beyond her. So my first job will be to unpick her work ready to make a fresh start.

I also need to give the pattern a good read through and sort out the threads.

I suspect that this is going to take me more than a month, especially with the Attic 24 CAL starting next week. But what I have not completed at the end of the month can be my #10 along with any other unfinished projects.

So my second post of the day, I shall be back next weekend with updates on my progress. Have a great week.

Stitch Journal 2025

 This is late as I had imntended to post on the 31st to put the year to bed, so to speak. However a cold knocked me out and although I was able to complete the stitching on the 31st, making the effort to take photographs was a step too far! However, feeling much better today after three days (and several books) on the sofa.

So here is my completed Stitch Journal for the last six months.

No 'arty in the garden pictures' as it is far too cold. Although it is a bright sunny day, the sun doesn't reach our garden this time of year and there is still frost on the ground now, which is mid afternoon.

Finally, a year of stitch all packaged up for posterity!

I have made a start on my SJ for 2026 and will show my progress next week, meanwhile I will be back later today with my Chookshed Challenge list for 2026.

Happy Stitching

A Nice Day Out

 Following on from our cancelled day out to the seaside last week, we had beautiful weather for our re-arranged trip this week. Sidmouth is on the Channel coast of Devon and about an hour from here. Well known for its high proportion of retired residents, it is also part of the Jurassic Coast which sadly is eroding away.

It was a beautiful sunny day, we met our friends for coffee followed by lunch in a very nice hotel with a panoramic view of the sea. We then enjoyed a walk along the promenade and this was the view of the sun starting to set.

I have kept with the Christmas theme on my Stitch Journal this week

and have been making plans for my 2026 journal. I have been thinking that it would be nice to work on something that can be used next year rather than a book or roll that is hidden away. I came up with the idea of a cushion cover as I have a large cushion in my conservatory which could do with a change. I had this linen tablecloth in my stash - can't remember where it came from but charity shop or clearance warehouse.

The embroidery on the tablecloth is all machine worked except for the monogram in the centre which has been worked by hand.

I cut a length from the tablecoth which would fold in half to make the cushion cover with a zip closure. I am left with two nice embroidered lengths from the sides which may be used in a stitch roll another time. Having machined a rough hem all around to prevent fraying I gave the linen a soak in some tea to knock back the bright white. I used Whisper Weft on the back of the fabric to stabilise - I don't want to end up with a strangely shaped piece of embroidery - and then marked out the twelve sections that I will be filling up next year.

Now safely stored away awaiting January 1st.

Mostly this week I have been working on a little Christmas stitchery. I found the pattern and stabilised fabric in my FJ folder when I got it out to mark up some new FJ blocks and thought now would be a good time to stitch it up. It was an Anni Downs freebie from a few years back I think I will make it up into a chair back for next Christmas - it will look good on my Ikea chair with the Christmas cushion that I made last year.

Hopefully a finish later this week. Now I really must get on with quilting my Dresden quilt as I have new projects to work on in the new year.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Chistmas and thank you all for reading and commenting over the last year.

Saturday Catchup

 Welcome and thanks for popping in - not really en enticing title to my blog today so I hope you find something to enjoy.

Nearly halfway through the month already, I have been keeping up with the Christmas theme for my Stitch Journal and here are the latest additions.

I have been knitting frantically this week and now have a finished pair of socks to show.

I think this is the first time I have managed matching toes! Very happy with how they have turned out and they are going to keep my feet nice and cosy.

Also this week I finished up the last of a batch of Field Journal hexagons - there was not much to finish, just hemming over the backing but it has been hanging round for a while. I usually work on these when I go to my patchwork group but have not been much lately.

Anyway, good to have these done and now I can mark up another batch to keep me going in the new year.

It's been a quiet week with a trip to the seaside cancelled due to bad weather - storm Bram. We have rescheduled for this week so hopefully the weather will treat us kindly and we will be able to meet up with friends. I shall be busy wrapping presents this week I expect as most of the shopping has been done. I hope to get some time to carry on with quilting my Dresdens quilt too.

I hope you have a lovely week.

FNWFs December

 Many thanks to Cheryll for organising our Friday night get together. Sadly she is now moving to Facebook only - Facebook and I do not see eye to eye - so I will no longer be joining in but it has been fun over many years.

As usual I started my afternoon with my Stitch Journal and added a Christmas tree as that was what I did next. Here is my SJ week.

And here is my tree complete with lovely new tree skirt!

After that I moved on to some relaxing knitting. Earlier in the year I spotted this ball of yarn in a tiny shop in Cornwall and fell in love with the colours.

Not bothering to read the label I snapped it up. Of course I later realised that it was going to knit up in wide stripes which is not my favourite😢but I still love the colours and with some bamboo in the mix it has a lovely sheen and a soft feel.

And what about the other Ryegrass sock I hear you ask? Well I realised that I needed some new socks PDQ and the Ryegrass were taking too long, hence the new start. I can knit these while watching television and I did all that stocking stitch last night so hopefully I will soon have these finished.

Otherwise this week I have been working on the bag to store my Stitch Journal in at the end of the year. It is now finished. The stitching did somewhat distort the fabric....

                                              

......however the bag looks fine when it has the stitch roll inside and I am calling the slope on the flap a 'design feature'. The stitched fabric has a lovely feel to it.

That is all from me - back to getting out decorations and writing Christmas cards now. Have a great week.