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.

Finishes and New Beginnings

First up a few finishes from the beginning of the week and my final stitch journal page is complete!

I have really enjoyed working on these pages over the year and look forward to putting them all into book form later this year.

I also completed another Field Journal embroidery - this was the one with bullion knots which actually turned out OK I am pleased to say!

And now for the new year. I have started on my stitch journal roll which I shall be working on every day this year (and posting daily to Instagram, link in sidebar). This is how it looks three days in.

A flower to brighten a few chilly days, but at least the sun was shining. Grey again today and possible snow later.

Another new start for this year is this Hatched and Patched tree skirt that I fell in love with last year.

I plan to embroider one of the little roundels each month and then put it all together in October. Here is the first embroidery complete and waiting to be trimmed and turned ready for appliqueing later.

Since the New Year another Field Journal embroidery was completed.

I wonder why that corner is missing!! This is my last FJ block for now as Wings and Pretty things will be coming out again soon.

I think I mentioned before that I had started some crochet but had no pictures. Well the crochet has progressed over the Christmas period and this is how it is looking now.

I bought a skein of this gorgeous handspun yarn in a local craft shop while searching for Christmas presents and just had to have it. I love those smoky sunset colours. I had no idea how far it would go so started out with the premise that it would at least make a cowl but that I would carry on with it as far as it would go. So I am pleased that I am going to have a reasonable length scarf. Just a little more to go but I do love how this pattern is working up - just simple chain and little picots which are easy and quick to work. I got the pattern from this delightful book which is full of lots of simple craft ideas.

So far I have not got around to my No 6 from the Chookshed Challenge which is to make something/s with the swap hexie flowers I have received over the last few years. I shall be getting them out for a play this week.

Well I think that is all from me for now, I hope you have a great week and I shall be back again next Saturday.
 

Your lucky day!

 Yes! two posts in one day from me, what ever is going on!

So this one is just a catch up post with what I have been up to this week.

Christmas was quiet but pleasant and we are now in that twixmas period. I have been enjoying a little hand sewing this week along with a few Christmas specials on TV although some of the repeats are getting very tired now. And no, we did not watch Gavin and Stacy!

I have of course kept up with with my Stitch Journal - and look - just three days to go! and that includes today which I shall work on as soon as I have finished this post.

Not a brilliant photo but the next one will be all pressed and looking lovely.

I have also finished a couple of Field Journal embroideries

These were straightforward - the one I am working on now involves bullion knots and I am slowly working up to them!

My next post will be in 2025. My thanks to everyone who has followed me over the last year and for all your lovely comments, so very much appreciated.

Happy Stitchy 2025.

FNSI December

 

First of all many thanks to Wendy for organising our Friday Night Sew In's again this year.

As usual I started the afternoon with my Stitch Journal and Fridays star was the middle one of the bottom three.

Sorry for poor photograph - another grey damp day here.

I then walked to our nearest coffee shop with a neighbour and spent an enjoyable couple of hours catching up. However, when we left it was tipping down and we both arrived home looking like drowned rats!

I have completed the quilting on the first outer border of Wings and Pretty things.

Sooo good to have reached the edge. One down, three to go but I have now folded it away until after Christmas as space is at even more of a premium at the moment!

So yesterday evening I pulled out my Field Journal folder where fortunately the next few are already drawn up. This sweet little plant was very quick and easy to stitch up and I am looking forward to working on another one this evening.

I have started on some crochet this week - sorry no pictures but oh is it gorgeous! Some beautiful handspun yarn in a lovely colour combo. Pictures next time.

Meanwhile, I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and I hope you have time for some quiet sewing in amongst all the busy festivities!

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.

It's the end of June

 So time to share my completed Stitch Journal page for the month.

I have really enjoyed working on these narrow bands, lots of possibilities. After my play with blanket stitch I moved on to chain stitch for a few days - bottom left. Again, so many possibilities and new variations to try out. Looking forward to a new month now and it is looking very floral!

I have completed two Field Journal stitcheries this week.

After visiting a couple of websites showcasing new Christmas fabrics, somehow this little Gail Pan chappie appeared on a piece of fabric! He is destined to end up on a cushion cover but I am NOT buying more Christmas fabric! Even though I have spotted a few lovely ones....

In my embroidery folder I have another little Father Christmas embroidery - completed some years ago. Maybe I will have a pair of cushion covers. We shall see.

That's all from me today, looking forward to Friday and Friday Night with Friends and at last 'that election' will finally be out of the way!

I am off to swap my blue embroidery threads for Aqua - have a lovely week.

FNSI June

 Well it was a busy day of sport in our house with two cricket matches and a football match on TV. Needless to say lots of time to sew whilst keeping half an eye on the action!

First up was my stitch journal. 

I have been playing with different buttonhole/blanket stitches this week. Todays is that spiky one on the right which according to my stitch dictionary is German buttonhole stitch and which I like very much. Could be a great crazy quilting seam treatment with the addition of extra stitches and or beads. If you click on the picture you should get a larger version so you can see yesterdays which is a sort of knotted buttonhole and then the legs have been wrapped with different threads. Also very effective I think. Note the buttonhole semi circles, I will come back to them.

Next up yesterday were my swap hexies for the month. I had already cut and basted them so it was just a matter of sewing them together.

Earlier in the week I had made up these little Field Journal blocks into their hexies.

So it was time to pull out some more patterns to work on. I am very strict with myself and just take the first 6 that are on the top of the pile so imagine my surprise when I found I had not one but two of these lovely hexagons with Buttonhole semi circles! What a coincidence. This is the one I worked on last night while the football was on.

I love how effective those buttonhole hearts are.

Many thanks to Wendy for organising our evening again - pop over here to see who else took part and some lovely pictures of Wendy's recent finishes.

That's all from me for now, have a great weekend.

Grim...

 ...and that is all I have to say about the weather.

It's been a busy week. Two curtains have been shortened - but that is boring and you don't want to know!

I finished my RSC log cabins and they have been safely stored away.

I finished the second of the Rum Paradise socks and they too have been safely stored away waiting for the recipients birthday.

I do love these and may need to knit another pair for my man. I have started on the second of the easy lace socks I was working on earlier in the year and put aside for the commissions. No photo as I have only just passed the cuff so nothing much to see.

Another Field Journal embroidery is complete - another one with a lot of stitches! Love it though.

And this is goodbye to the lovely fine white linen sheet that I bought for £5 many years ago and have used for all of these blocks so far and lots of other projects too. The next blocks will be marked up on a white linen (I think) pillowcase that I found in a local junk recycling store.

Last but not least my stitch journal - I know it looks a bit wobbly/not square but it needs a good press!

So that's my update, back next week and I hope you all have a good week.

FNwFs June

 Well, summer put in an appearance for a weekend but has been AWOL ever since! It has been a chilly, windy week although warm when the sun briefly shines!

Friday was just that sort of day. We drove up to Weston-super-Mare to see some friends and after a pub lunch we went on to the Barley Wood Walled Garden for a wander and some coffee. And what a delightful place it was too. You can read the history of the garden here and lovely to see that it has come full circle back to it's original state. My photographs do not do it justice but here we go.

This is the central path running down to the bottom of the garden with lovely wide flower borders on either side, which were stunning and full of colour.

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On either side of those hedges are large vegetable gardens.

The next photograph is taken from the arch you can see in the picture above.

with more vegetable growing and an apple orachrd. There are apple trees espaliered around all the walls and any spare space. All are labelled and they are used for cider.

Through the next arch are more flower beds for cutting, two old railway carriages which have been converted to a cafe and some artists workshops. Only one workshop was open - this one - with some beautiful pottery to admire.

By the car park there is a van full of vegetables from the garden with an honesty box, which was lovely to see. Well worth a visit and I hope we get back there sometime.

So not much time to sew but I did get my Stitch Journal done for the day. In blue now of course as we are in to June and long, narrow channels to fill in this month.

In other blue news, I have started work on my RSC log cabins for the month. One down. First I embroidered this lovely little teapot picture from Jennifer, perfect for blue as I love blue and white china.

Now made up into a log cabin. Two more log cabins to go which I hope to finish this weekend.

Also making a reappearance are my Field Journal embroideries. These two have been completed this week.

Such a lot of work in the red one! Good to have it out of the way finally as I started it months ago.

Well, I think that is quite enough for one post. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else did yesterday and many thanks to Cheryll for getting us all together for another Friday Night. See you next week.

September catch up

 I thought I would keep back all my sewing and crochet progress to make a separate post from our Cornish travels.

First up some completed Field Journal hexagons and the latest embroidered one.

My RSC hearts for September

I am going to have to lay them all out again to see what colour I need for October because light neutrals does not excite me!

The crochet blanket has come on a lot quicker than I thought it would - that's because I couldn't face all that satin stitch on the FJ panel in the evenings!

However, it has now been put away for a bit as some balls of sock wool arrived this week from West Yorkshire Spinners so now I am knitting socks. The first pair I am knitting uses this lovely Green Woodpecker colourway.

Very appropriate for a birder I thought.

So that is it for now and I am all caught up. See you soon.