FNSI October

 Nothing to show for my afternoon although I was busy. Having completed my Chookshed Challenge I wanted to get on with another project that has long been on my to do list. When my parents died in 2019 I found that Mum had kept all the wedding cards, telegrams, notes etc from their marriage in 1950. Photos too of course. So I thought that I would put them all safely into a book to pass onto my nieces and nephew at some point. I have had the book for a couple of years and had already sorted through a large pile of newspaper cuttings that had also been kept regarding family members.

On Friday afternoon I sorted through the photographs and made a plan for how I want to add everything to the book. Next I need to sort through the cards and start adding things to the book. Hopefully some photographs to show you next week.

My stitch journal contribution for the day was the Feather and Chain stitch on the right. I added the Oyster stitches to it today. These are my additions for the week.

I have been working on my crochet jumper this week. Having given up with the pattern I decided to make up my own based on a knitted tunic I have that I find useful to wear over a shirt. It is a simple boxy shape with three quarter length sleeves. Having made a couple of starts and various errors around the neck I am now safely onto the main body which just involves simple rounds of crochet with no decreases/increases. Here is my progress so far.

Not much else has happened - I have been reading a lot!

We had a nice day out to Dunster visiting the castle as always and having some lunch in the Water Mill tea rooms. On the way we stopped at Watchet which has a great community bookshop, which will close in a couple of weeks for the winter. Picked up a nice crochet jumper book - could have done with that a couple of weeks ago - a novel that was on my reading list and an artist book to add to my collection.

We have lots of autumn colour here - this is a neighbours tree which I look at every day from our conservatory

and these looking to the left from our garden

so I was hoping to find plenty of colour on our walk along the river at Dunster. However, it was all still looking very green, presumably because it is on the coast and therefore milder. However we did find plenty of flowers to enjoy on our walk.

The root area of this fallen tree was covered in cyclamen.

So that was my week - well we had flu jabs this morning and I had dentist and eye apts during the week but that is not very interesting!

Hope you all had a good week and I will be back next week.

FNWFs September

 Many thanks once again to Cheryll for getting us together. Pop over here to see who else joined in.

A dry day after a week of showery weather - and much needed rain - so a day out was called for. We headed to Dunster Castle, one of our favourite places for a walk and some lunch. Although overcast it was a lovely warm day, perfect for walking and with an incredibly clear view across the channel to Wales. Sorry no pics. But some of the gardens. We took the riverside walk along to the water mill. Apart from hydrangeas there was very little in the way of flowers and the river was low but the bridges always fascinate me.

A walk through the water mill takes you out of the main castle grounds and to the Watermill Tea Rooms

where we spent a very pleasant hour in the garden eating lunch and listening to the birds and the running water.

Next we walked around the main road to another castle entrance and called into the Dream Garden which is always quiet and peaceful. This garden was very colourful as the borders were full of dahlia's and it was lovely to have a wander and a sit in the sunshine.

OK, so what did I sew? Well of course I worked on my stitch journal

Friday's contribution was the pink flowers in the pot/basket.

This week I have been concentrating on my Chookshed Challenge which is progressing nice and quickly. The stitching is all complete and on Friday I concentrated on cutting out the leaves. These are backed with something called Steam a Seam which I have not come across before and evidently just need to be ironed into place - no sewing necessary!

I think I will get them positioned and ironed down this afternoon. Then I just need to get the sewing machine out - again! - to get the backing and top and bottom borders in place. Should be a quick finish.

Also this week I finished off the first of my scrappy DK socks and am very happy with the result.

The second one is under way and with an evening of cricket ahead I should make good progress.

Have a good week every one. xx

Quick catch up!

 Getting ready for a short holiday here so just a few pictures of what I have been up to - actually not very many!

I have finished my Chookshed Challenge for the month - a nice easy one really, don't know why it has taken me so long!

This was the quilted panel I had from many years ago.

And it is now a cushion, here shown gracing a couple of new to me chairs that my neighbour had no use for.

Having used hand dyed fabrics for the applique and border I just had to go into my stash to find something to complement them. Procion dyed fabrics all seem to blend together well I find. This piece was the back of an old cotton shirt that I had dyed magenta and was the perfect size. I love the markings you can get from crumpling the fabric into the dye.

The second picture looks like a tulip to me. Anyway, there was the perfect zip in my stash and an hour later the cover was made.

Here is my stitch journal from the last couple of weeks.

My secret stitching is complete and I have made progress on the latest pair of socks and the crochet blanket - sorry no pics.

Just a few pictures from a recent visit to Dunster Castle although we only did the river walk round to the cafe. It is always very noisy by this bridge as the water rushes down from Exmoor. Always amazing to see how quickly the Gunnera grow, and how big the leaves are!

This little robin came for a visit while we sat there.

So that is all my news for today - short and sweet! Have a great weekend.

A busy week...

 ... but quiet on the sewing front.

We have been celebrating Philips 80th birthday this week with family and friends. Starting last Sunday with a family lunch out at Dunster which was delicious and fun.  Philips dessert plate was very tasteful I thought!

Rum and raisin ice cream and that little pot was full of rum!!! Good job I was driving.

It was a lovely sunny day too for a nice walk through the town and part of the castle grounds. You can see my suggestion of the castle in this weeks stitch journal.

I have been working on Wings again this week - down to the last 1/8th of the outer border and it will be finished this week! I need to get on with other things.

After a dry week and now that we have milder temperatures I need to get a few things done in the garden. Lovely to have spring here but winter is such a great time for sewing!

Have a good week everyone.

Another Friday....

 ....another day out! And some more lovely hydrangeas.

This time at Dunster Castle which for one reason or another we have not visited since the spring. We started our visit in the Dream Garden, an enclosed garden on the perimiter of the property. It always looks lovely and yesterday was no exception with the Dahlia's and borders looking glorious.

There is a lovely view of the church from the gardens

and we realised that we have never been inside. So instead of returning to the castle we headed into town and spent a while looking round The Priory Church of St George 

Lots of lovely carved wood in this church which was originally shared by the monks from Dunster Priory and the people of the parish.

This next section of the church is behind the altar which you can just glimpse in the first photograph.

(If I had wanted those pictures like that I would never have worked out how!)

The tiles look Victorian to me - not easy to photograph without the light spoiling them. But they were lovely.

After stopping off at the gallery of Maurice Bishop a regular stop both in Dunster and Lymnouth when we visit, we headed off to the NT shop for some flour from the Dunster Water Mill and then back to the car. We could see the sea from the castle with this lovely clear view of Steep Holm.

So headed for Dunster Beach to eat our picnic. Very clear views across the channel to Wales.

Just a couple of pictures of what I have benn working on this week. First up I finished these socks.

I used the Winwick Mum basic sock pattern with West Yorkshire Spinners Amethyst sock wool and their Winwick Mum Wildflowers sock wool. One more pair to get cracking on now before Christmas.

I have of course been keeping up with my Stitch Journal and the leaves are filling out nicely.

Thanks for sticking with me if you have made it this far!

Have a great week