Saturday Catchup

Is it just me or is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by all the online stuff out there at the moment? There I was thinking that this lockdown was going to be a nice quiet time to get on with ufo's and catch up with things around the house and what I find is that I could be spending all day on the computer!

However, I have managed some sewing - I finished my Basket Case wall hanging with some ditch quilting and it is now hanging in my 'studio'.

I do love it and am really pleased with how it has turned out. It hangs next to a selection of spring/summer flower postcards.

Not the best picture but it is narrow there and tricky to get the camera at the right angle.

Also this week I finished off last weeks stitch challenge which was to fill four shapes with different types of couching.

I enjoyed working on this and it has given me a few ideas of how I can use couching in the future.

I have several flimsys sitting in a pile waiting to be quilted and I thought it about time that I got at least one of them finished off. So out came my Super Scrappy quilt. I put it together in 2018 and you can read about it here -you will need to scroll down a bit.

So first I had to layer it up. Batting was not a problem as I always keep plenty on hand but backing fabric? What did I have. Then I remembered an old yellow cotton sheet that I had found after my Nana died and we were clearing out some of her stash! Nana was very good at stash. There were two sheets and two pillow cases still in their cellophane wrapping and were 'Made in England' which will give you some idea of their age. Anyway they have been well used and are now nice and soft. One of them I used to back my hexagon table cloth and the remains will be used on the back of some secret stitching that I am working on. The other one was sitting in the cupboard and looking at me so out it came!

The flimsy is full of memories - samples of embroidery and quilting from years back, long forgotten fabrics and recycled patchwork, gifted scraps and of course plenty of my own scraps. So nice to have a memory of Nana on the back.

At the moment I am ditch quilting around each block but I may also diagonally quilt it as well.

I will leave you with some pictures of a few of the wild orchids that we have in the garden at the moment.

Early Spider

Green Winged

Lady

Burnt

Pyramidal

Man

Fly

Have a lovely week.

FNSI for April

Thank you Wendy for inviting us to join you again - you can see who else took part in our Friday Night Sew In here.

Last week I showed you these 'Basket Case' blocks

I had a hankering for some Flying Geese and so my four blocks became this wall hanging!

Having pressed and photographed my hanging I put it aside to add the buttons during the evening and got out my sketchbook. I have been working on another pomegranate page and was determined to get it finished - which I did.

After spending the rest of the afternoon in the garden I settled down in the evening to add the buttons to my baskets and tadah!

Now to get it quilted and I am thinking just some simple ditchquilting around the blocks and the geese might be all that is needed! Watch this space.

I had good intentions of joining in with the Community Stitch Challenge this week and have the fabric and threads prepared and sitting on the table but that is as far as I have got! Maybe this evening. The challenge is to fill four squares or shapes with different types of couching and I will do this to add to my running stitch samples.

In other news, the nightingales have arrived and have been singing their hearts out all week, seemingly 24 hours a day! Lovely to hear them along with the cuckoo and hoopoes. We had some much needed rain yesterday evening but could have done without the wind that came with it. Lots of stuff in the garden needs tying up once it hasdried out a bit.

Our lockdown has been extended until May 11th - what will happen after that we dont know yet but I am sure there will still be lots of restrictions for some time after that.

Hope everyone is holding up - there certainly seems to be a lot more blogging activity going on!

Friday Night with Friends week 2!

Thank you very much Cheryll - great idea to get us all together again this month. You can see who else joined in here

A couple of weeks ago Michelle very kindly shared her 'basket case' design which very much appealed to me and so my plan for FNwF's was to make a few of thses blocks - they are 6.5"

My plan is to join these with a narrow sashing and add a border to make a small summery wall hanging. I plan to fill the baskets with button flowers and a few embroidered leaves something like this.

Thank you Michelle.

Earlier this week I finished adding the April borders to my Red Manor House and so this is how it looks now.

Not the best picture - my 'design wall' is now a little on the small side!

Also this week I have made my swap hexies for the month

and my RSC block

not exactly light and bright but they are what I have.

I decided not to take part in this weeks community stitch challenge - the subject was eyes and I thought I would find it a bit creepy! However, I have seen some beautiful work on the facebook site. Looking forward to next weeks challenge though.

The weather continues to be good and we have been enjoying temperatures in the high 20's on our terasse. The garden is growing very quickly but we have plenty of time at the moment to keep it under control. One bonus of not being away for our usual Easter trip is that we can watch the wisteria flowers open up.

and this rats tail cactus which I hate apart from when it is flowering!

This tree frog seems to have taken a liking for my wasp trap and spends the day there every now and again.

Our nearest town is Riberac where there is a busy Friday market - although not at the moment. However we had heard that there would be a food market there yesterday morning and so I went in at 8 am to pick up some sausages from Helen of Franklins Farm. Just the best sausages. Anyway, when I got to the market there were about 20 stalls, well spread out and surrounded by a barrier with a one way system. There were two gendarmes on duty at the entrance checking our paperwork - the attestation we have to fill out saying why we are out and about dated, timed and signed and identity cards (in my case passport). Once this had been checked and approved we were then directed to use the hand sanitiser before being allowed to enter. All very efficient I thought.

Hope everyone is keeping safe and well at home. Happy stitching.