Saying Goodbye

 In 1981 I started a City and Guilds Embroidery course and after a few weeks working with different techniques we were given our first assignment - Something to Delight a Child. Christmas was coming and so I decided to make an Advent calendar. Until about 10 years ago I used that calendar every year, but then we started travelling to UK for Christmas and it was too bulky to take with us. So a couple of years ago I made a more portable calendar.

So my original calendar has sat in a cupboard for some time - but now it is going to a new home and so I thought I would share a few photographs before it goes.

The numbers on the pockets are worked with perle thread couched down with gold which doesnt show up too well in the picture sadly.

The pockets each contain a little charm most of which are hand worked and they hang on the silver baubles. The pockets are also big enough for a small square of chocolate or a sweet. I have also been known to hang shreds of lametta on the tree..

Just a few pictures of the little charms. The tiniest cathedral window pin cushion I have ever made - 1" square.

A little chain stitched stocking.

The candle which always goes into the first pocket.

Some bargello.

And some blackwork.

Hnadmade cord and tassels to finish it off.

This is now going to my neice and her daughter and I hope they enjoy it as much as I have.

And a couple of pictures of my final exhibion showing the calendar and my other two years worth of work.

Friday Night with Friends

 Our last FNwF's for 2020 - many thanks Cheryll for organising us all of this year and hopefully we will all be back again in January. Pop over to Cheryll's blog here to catch up with what everyone was working on.

With a change in the weather here I am no longer able to sit my sketchbook outside for 5 minutes in the sun to dry paint or glue. So I have pulled out some older books and am now working in four books in the hope that at least one is dry enough to work in at a time! So my Friday afternoon was happily spent painintg, drawing and sticking.

I have moved on to the Irish Chain border of my Red Manor House and am quilting round each block. This is my least favourite part of the quilt and my least favourite quilting so it may take some time to get this border done!

As I mentioned, the weather here has changed and it is now cold and wet although at the moment the sun is just peeping through. We have been out for a few walks now that we are allowed to go upto 20K from home and for up to 3 hours so it has been nice to see some different scenery.

My Christmas decorations are out and mostly in place. My tree is decorated - sadly does not photograph at all well! - and we have demolished my first batch of mince pies! And I am enjoying again the Advent Calendar that I finished last year.

I am off to catch up with everyone from yesterday - have a good week all.

Advent!

December 1st! So now I can get out my decorations.  And the Advent Calendar made it by the skin of my teeth. My makeshift day marker (modelling foam painted with gold acrylic) dried just in time.

Another finish for me this weekend is another round on my 1797 Revisited and if I am counting correctly then the next round is the last complete one!

I had nearly enough ultramarine fabric for this round so I have been able to get on with cutting and basting some of these while a batch of fabric dyes. However...

...today is the 1st of the month - BOM day, so decks have been cleared and my box of fabrics found all ready for the off later this afternoon following a visit to a Christmas market.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Where have I been?

Well, nowhere really it's just that there has been a lot of secret stitching going on, so not a lot to post about!

However, time for a bit of a catch up. First up is this little lavender sachet which I enjoyed playing with. Hand dyed recycled fabrics and hand dyed threads.

I needed a boxy bag and had not made one before. I found this tutorial by Pink Stitches which worked perfectly for me. I shall be making more of these.

I dyed some fabric at the weekend for the next round of my 1797 Revisited quilt and have made good progress - one side added, another to do. There is football tonight so I should be able to get plenty done.

Starting to think about the colour for the next round now.

A couple of weeks ago I started another little watercolour but soon had to put it away to concentrate on the SS. When I pulled it out of the drawer to work on again I was surprised at how nice it looked - well to me anyway!

It is now finished and I am not so happy with it. But it was not meant to be a masterpiece, more about learning to use the paints and so from that point I have learnt a few lessons

I am mostly happy with the flowers except in a couple of places where I learnt what colours don't layer well! And I am not happy with the background which looks a bit lighter in this photograph than it is. Backgrounds need to be worked on I feel. I plan to cut it down a bit so those legs don't dangle in mid air and pop it into my journal with a few notes about where I feel I went wrong.

Now though I NEED to finish my advent calendar as eeek, it is the 1st on Sunday!

Nearly there. I have been looking out for a buckle to use as the daily marker but have not been able to find anything the right size. So am going to have to try and make something! Watch this space.

Thanks for popping in, see you again soon.

Friday Night with Friends and Rainbow Scrap Challenge for October

Many thanks to Cheryll for getting us back together again on the first Friday of the month. Pop over to Cheryll's blog here to see what everyone was working on.

On Thursday evening I completed my RSC block for October. The colour this month was 'darks'! brown, black or grey. I chose brown so pulled out my brown box from the back of the cupboard and found some lovely browns! Anyway back to FNwF and my first job on Friday was to photograph my RSC block.

I am very happy with this. In fact I am very happy with all my blocks. I allowed myself the treat of putting them all together to see how they looked.

It's not the best photograph I am afraid - it was wet out so I had to do it on the sitting room floor. My aim is for 20 blocks altogether so another year of RSC to go.

I have been thinking about getting my 1797 revisited out again so next up I pulled out my fabrics to see which colour to go for next.

I have decided to reverse the colours back to the centre from the green row so searched my supply of mixed turquoise and emerald for the next row.

Not quite enough so then I searched through my supply of white recycled fabrics for suitable pieces to dye and enough for the next turquoise row. That will be my next job after finishing this post.

After popping out for a couple of hours to visit a friend who is recovering from an op, by the evening I just wanted some quiet hand stitching to work on while we caught up with a few TV programmes.
I decided to crack on with my Advent calendar and added all the red and silver cross stitches separating the numbers.

Which means that I am now ready to add the backing fabric. Maybe a job for later this week.

I am very happy with my progress yesterday - thank you all for your company.

September FNSI and our last day away

Thank you very much Wendy for getting us all together again for our virtual sew in. Pop over to Wendy's blog here to see what everyone was working on.

This week I have been on a mission to complete two Christmas projects that I started earlier in the year. So for FNSI I spent the afternoon at my sewing machine dressing the second of my little Santas for my Santa Garland. Here he is.

All he needs now is his beard! Santa no 3 is coming along nicely too so hopefully a completed garland to share with you soon.

In the evening I worked on my new Advent Calendar inspired by one I saw on Sheryl's blog - Sheryl's is gorgeous, I shall be happy if mine is half as nice! The numbers have been worked for a while now and so for the last two evenings I stitched the chain stitch border along the length of the calendar.

Tonight I plan to whip the chain stitch with a silver thread.

And so to the last day of our trip away. The friends we met up with on Saturday were staying on the mainland nearby in Brouage a beautiful old walled town. If you click on the link you will see a picture of how the town looked in the 17th century.
We decided to walk all around the walls which are still intact although restored in places. They are also thick as you can see in this picture.

With regular lookout points.

 

The town was heavily defended - this is one of the two gunpowder stores in the town, which I think looks more like a church!

 

One of the gateways into the town had a large amount of graffiti worked into it's thick walls by soldiers on duty, but bored!

 

 

We found a tunnel that took you out through the walls - presumably a secret entrance at one time.

And this beautiful building was the entrance to the ice house.

Here is a picture of the main street running through the centre of the town.

Our friends were staying in and Air B&B on the main street and we had a delicious lunch in the Breton Creperie next door. Forgot to take a picture of my main but this was my delicious Café Gourmand dessert!

I had half eaten the apple tart and started on the coffee when I remembered to take a picture! There is also chocolate mousse, banana crème brulee and icecream. Yum!

On our return to the island we took a short walk from our apartment to Les Salines where the evening light was making the countryside quite magical. We saw some restored salt workings and the warehouse where you can buy salt during the day.

And more restored fishermen's cabins used as cafes and small shops.

It has been another hot week here but it definitely feels like rain is on the way. Enjoy your weekend.