The end of September

 Yes, the end of the month already and so of course my Stitch Journal page is complete. It's always an exciting moment when I turn the page over after pressing, and see all my stitching without the blue lines. Another page that I love and all in black and grey.

A couple of other finishes to share today as well. First my Boro Flower Panel which is now waiting for me to devise a method of framing!!

In case you missed my first post about this panel, all the recycled fabrics and threads were solar dyed when we lived in France. I used leaves and flowers from around the garden as well as coffee grounds, onion skins and black bean soaking water. So for me it contains lots of happy memories of our garden and life in France.

I also finished this little pair of baby socks using the leftover Vintage Tinsel yarn that I used for my own socks.

Many thanks to Kate from Arts & Socks for her pattern advice - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-socks-23 for the socks, with her own addition of the twisted cuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y2epfNAYoM. I think the twisted cuff is a great addition especially in the two colours. Thanks Kate.

So, a new month and a new RSC colour - I am using brown which I have been looking forward to! It also means Friday Night with Friends and I look forward to seeing you there.

FNSI September

 Friday Night Sew In has come around quickly again! and the end of September is in sight. Thank you to Wendy for organising our Friday night again this month.

As usual I started my afternoon with my Stitch Journal which is growing nicely.

Then went on to work on my Boro flower panel. I am filling in the gaps now and waiting for inspiration to strike regarding the top left hand corner - that ricrac seemed like a good idea at the time!

Apologies for poor lighting on this one - it is raining this morning and the light is not good.

I cracked on with some knitting in the evening and this morning I finished the second Vintage Tinsel sock.

Again, sorry about the poor light!

We had some lovely weather earlier in the week and took the opportunity to visit Barrington Court. Always a lovely visit and something different to see each season. The borders were looking stunning and the White Garden full of lovely frothy white Cosmos.

I have also been distracted this week by some good reading! We found a new to us author and I have been whizzing through these books. If you like murder/detective stories then I can recommend these which are set in The Lake District.

I plan to spend what looks likely to be a wet afternoon, knitting some baby socks with the last of the Vintage Tinsel wool. Hope you are having a dryer day.

End of an orange month

 And I have enjoyed my oranges, lovely to play around with some different threads and how warm and cosy orange is! Probably not appropriate for some parts of the UK which have seen high temperatures but here it's been in the low 20's. Very pleasant it has been too. Dry though and cracks are appearing in the garden and the grass is browning in places.

Anyway, back to orange and here is my Stitch Journal orange page completed and pressed ready to go away.

It is nice having different shapes to work in each month - next month is ovals but no RSC colour yet, hopefully it will come by tomorrow so I can make a start!

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on my Boro flower panel and it has progressed nicely.

I have finally finished the blossom on the tree

and added some flowers to the right hand side.

It's filling up just as I imagined. Going to start on the left hand side next. 

I have had it in mind for some time to make a table runner for some friends. They are keen Magic Lantern collectors and I thought a lantern would make a great design for the runner. This week I finally planned out my design on squared paper and have most of the lantern put together using EPP. I just need to get to an LQS for some brassy gold fabric to make the lenses that need to go on the front. The doors also have 'portholes' which need the gold fabric too. Anyway, here it is so far - I plan to applique it to a cream background.

I have been busy knitting in the evenings whilst TV is on - football is back! Two pairs of socks on the go - I may have a finished sock or two next time I blog.

In the meantime

Happy stitching!

FNSI in August

 And here we are, half way through August! Many thanks to Wendy for organising FNSI every month. You can pop over here to see who else took part.

My day was quiet. After a morning in the garden it was nice to sit and stitch for a while in our conservatory which, as temperatures have dropped, is now a comfortable place to sit in the afternoon.

First up of course was my Stitch Journal which is filling up far too quickly!

Friday's segment was the pointy one top left.

Then I pulled out my Flower Panel which I hadn't touched since my last post. I set to adding some flower stalks and leaves ready for a few flowers. This was fun to do but I need to add flowers soon otherwise I will have forgotten what my plans were!

And I think those leaves are going to need an outline!

This week I have been finishing off a few more Field |Journal blocks. These are very quick to sew but the preparation takes me some time.

So that's it from me for now, it was a lovely afternoon with cyber friends and I would say that I am looking forward to next month but I don't want to wish the time away!

Have a good week.

FNWFs August

 And a month has gone by since my last post! More on that later but first of all thank you to Cheryll for hosting our Friday - as usual you can pop over here to see who else took part.

My first job for the afternoon was to work on my Stitch Journal. Into August now which is an orange month and a new panel to work on. Here are days 1 and 2.

My next job was to prep my RSC log cabins which didn't take long - not many orange fabrics in my stash to procrastinate over! Anyway here they are all cut and ready plus the little stitchery traced out and ready to sew.

Next I amused myself by adding the pieces of lace and ricrac to this panel which has been in hiding since at least last summer I fear.

I have been working this week on the French knot blossom and have run out of thread now - fingers crossed that the batch currently dyeing in a jam jar in the greenhouse will come out a similar colour!

Finally I had a leisurely knit while the TV was on in the evening - this yarn is knitting up very nicely I feel.

So what has been happening this month? Well Philip went into hospital for a 'routine' gall bladder removal and should have been home the next day. But due to complications ended up spending 11 days in hospital. So lots of visiting for me, books read and this pair of swallow socks got finished.

I also made this cute little pair to use up some robin yarn from a pair I made earlier in the year.

And finally my RSC aqua for July. These log cabins were finished

and my aqua Stitch Journal page.

So that is me, all caught up and hopefully I shall be back with you again soon. Have a great weekend.

Friday Night with Friends, June

 June already and summer is here. Well at least it feels like summer as the sun has been shining and it has been several weeks since we had any rain.

Good to join in with Cheryll and friends again for FNwFs - pop over to Cheryll's blog here to see who else took part. Thank you Cheryll.

I spent an hour in the afternoon working on my Boro panel which I have started embroidering onto. I finished adding the twigs to my tree and started adding in some blossom.

There will be leaves added and possibly more twigs as I go along. The plan is to fill the rest of the panel with lots of flowers but I can see that I could be some time working on this tree!

Earlier in the week I needed something simple to work on during a zoom chat and wanted to start on my RSC hearts. However, Angela's suggestion of dark and bright blues I have already made this year so I decided to go for red. In the end she suggested adding in some green for teal but I will do that when the red month comes along! Anyway Friday evening saw me watching T20 cricket - Somerset are doing brilliantly so far this year - and sewing down the second heart. So here they both are.

Nice to have these done early on in the month and I can press on with a few other projects - I may just have been led down the garden path to another new project!! More next time.

Have a great weekend.

FNSI May

Yesterday was Friday Night Sew In - many thanks to Wendy for hosting us. You can see what everyone got up to here

A few weeks ago I came across Jennifer Clouston's Boro Inspired Sewing Caddy and I immediately thought of my solar dyed fabrics from a couple of years ago.

I pulled out my box of fabrics and had lots of fun choosing the fabrics for the outside of the caddy, working the little embroideries and then 'boroing' it all together. Sorry - no work in progress pics! On Friday afternoon I was able to sew the drawstring bag into position and add the ribbons. So here it is.

The yellow side - fabrics dyed with rosemary, walnut husks and onion skins.

The blue side - fabrics dyed with black bean soaking water, morning glory flowers and elderberries.

The inside

I still need to find a suitable cord to cover and then attach around the outer edge of the bag - it also makes the loop for a button closure. So far everything was from stash but I think I am going to have to go out and buy some suitable cord. I love this little bag and - it goes beautifully with the log cabin pincushion I made last year which sits very neatly inside the drawstring bag.

I have also recently acquired a copy of Anni Downs 'A Gardeners Journal' and have been looking forward to starting on one of the embroideries. I am not planning on making the quilt but the designs will make super minis for gifts - and me! I decided to start with the Dovecote and here is how much progress I made yesterday.

The sun has been shining here for the last few days which has made a pleasant change - last weekend was awful! So I am off outside with my embroidery - hope you have a great weekend.