September - meteorological autumn

 It does not really feel like autumn - more like the summer we should have had instead of all that mega heat. Anyway with schools back it has been nice to get out and about again at a reasonable temperature - even taking a cardi, just in case.

We took our lunch to Dunster Beach one day. A really clear day with great views across the Bristol Channel to Wales. The tide was going out and there were plenty of birds on the shore line for our binoculars to focus on. After lunch I took a walk along the almost deserted beach purposely leaving my camera behind so I could concentrate on the views and the atmosphere. Of course, I picked up lots of shells - there are always lots along this beach although never very big.

The beginning of the month so a new 'page' in my Stitch Journal has begun.

And a few pictures of August.

With no Chookshed Challenge to work on and awaiting a yarn order, I took the oportunity to finish off this bit of crazy quilting I worked on earlier in the year. It is a gift for someone I am seeing next month so nice to get it finished and ready.

And also made a start on a new pair of socks as a back up project for when all else is just too much!

These are for me - can't remember where I bought the yarn but I fell in love.

Once my yarn order arrived I had another go at the scrappy squares knitting. 

The pale pink border yarn is a thicker 4ply than the one I used before and is better but I think my problem is swapping to stocking stitch which is changing the overall tension. My next experiment will be with using larger needles for the garter stitch frame and swapping to smaller ones for the stocking stitch. It's last chance time - one more try and then I give up!

No plans as yet for the coming week but no doubt there will be a trip or two out. I hope you have nice plans as well and a happy stitchy week.

Chookshed Challenge and first week of June

 Deana and RNG came up with #7 for June, and on my list that is rust.

Some of you will remember a few years back that I followed a short online course with Deb Cooper who works a lot with rust. I produced this small sample - neutral threads on neutral fabrics, all natural fibres.

The piece was then wrapped tightly with iron nails etc inside and soaked in hot strong tea for a few days which gives this lovely effect. Well, I think it's lovely - opinions differ!

Anyway, at the time I started on another piece to add to this, got so far and then it was tucked away in a box awaiting another day to shine. 

Well. that day has come, so I pulled it out this week and added some more stitching, as below.

I wrapped it all up and stuck it in a jar jar this week with its nails and tea and it is now residing in the airing cupboard to brew. I shall share the results next week. In the meantime I am planning to prepare a fabric background to stitch onto that will eventually reside in a small frame. Hopefully again, more next week.

June's Stitch Journal panel has started nicely - here are the first five days.

Here are the pictures of May's stitching.

Also this week, I have completed the embroidery of the white crazy panel that I put together last week.

You should be able to pick out the heart shape which is stitched in blue. This is now waiting for a sewing machine afternoon.

And finally, it has been a busy cricket week so lots of knitting happening - this is the second sock of a pair and I am at the point of knitting the heel flap.

It's been a damp week here, windy at times, so apart from a couple of appointments we have not been out and about. The big news is that on Tuesday we had the roof of our conservatory insulated which should mean that the room will be cooler when it is very hot and warmer in the winter.🤞Anyway, it looks very nice and has eliminated the nooks and crannies inhabited by spiders so all good for the moment.

Happy stitching.

The End of May - Almost

 Yes, just one more day of May and then we are into June. It's not been a very productive week here - it has been so HOT! Cooler today thank goodness and for the coming week. We may even get some much needed rain.

Just one more day to add to my Stitch Journal - here though are my additions for the last week.

I have put together a crazy background ready for embellishment - this will be a gift for a friend.

And I basted a batch of hexagons ready for whenever Deana pulls out #5 for the Chookshed Challenge.

 These are 1" hexies, my prefered size. I think I mentioned earlier that I planned to do these as part of this months challenge, along with my crochet basket. I am sharing another picture of the basket here so that I can add this post to Deana's link when she puts it up.

Now I am looking forward to finding out which number Deana pulls for June.

Have a lovely week.

Catching Up

Many thanks to everyone for their kind comments after my last post - I am all recovered now thank goodness!

I have been busy hand stitching by the fire for the last few days and have a couple of January tasks ticked off my list. First up my RSC block. I am sticking with Dresdens and so another 'light and bright green' block has been added to my pile.

I also now have four more blocks for the next round of my Red Manor House BOM.

Also I thought you would like to see a few of the Christmas presents that I made which I did not blog about before Christmas.

Meanwhile I am busily stitching on my 1797 Revisited quilt - the end is not far away. An update next time.

Happy stitching!

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 Finish

It's a grey damp day here in the Dordogne so my Friday Finish came in very handy this morning when we went to the market!

Last week I showed you this picture of my first attempt at Domino knitting.

 A week later and I have these.

My thanks to Barbara for letting me have the pattern. I enjoyed working on these and will definitely be making another pair. There are certain improvements that I can see I can make and I will use smaller needles next time as they could be a little snugger. But I am very happy with them as a first attempt.

These two crazy heart sachets have been gifted this week so I can share pictures of them.

These are quick little makes and are great for trying out stitches and using small scraps of fabric.

It looks like we are in for a wet weekend so I have plenty of sewing plans! Hope you have a happy stitchy weekend.

FNSI

Third Friday in September already - my this year is flashing past! Many thanks to Wendy for inviting us to join in - you can catch up with what everyone was working on here

Sadly short on pictures for this post as I was working on 'secret stitching'! However I was extremely pleased with what I made and you will just have to take my word for it. I will include pictures on next months post.

I had just enough time at the end of the evening though to add the initial to this crazy block which is now ready to be embellished. This is also secret stitching but as the recipient does not read my blog, I think, I am safe.

I am going to have to reposition the heart - it is annoying me that I have not got the D quite straight!

I also finished a little pincushion this week - it's missed this years PPPP but will be top of my list for next year. I saw a gorgeous little log cabin pincushion on Chookyblues blog here and knew that I needed one! Here is my version - a little larger I think but I love it.

So that's it from me for today - we are off to the seaside next week for a few days, just hope the weather picks up, it's not been good here. Have a great weekend.

More crazy happening here

When I decided to get on with some new crazy projects last weekend I thought it would be good to use up some of my hand dyed fabrics. So I hauled two carriers bags of fabric from the wardrobe and tipped them onto the dining table planning to pull out some fabrics to use. Well, what a mess! Some fabrics were rolled in bundles of colour, some were just screwed up and shoved in, some were in smaller poly bags. At this point I decided to make some order out of my fabrics.
Now, I didn't take a picture of the mess I started out with but this is what I ended up with.

Not ironed but at least all in their colours and vaguely flattened out. I plan to get some more plastic shoe boxes to store these in.

I also ended up with this pile of scraps which is destined to become improv log cabins

and a box of bits that really were not worth keeping and which I have binned.

So now it was easy to pick out some fabrics for a few new projects. Two pinky purple ones -

this one is ready to be made up into a lavender door hangar -

and this will be a frame purse.

I also have two green versions ready to start embellishing.

Have a great weekend everyone and hopefully time to sew.