FNSI and my Chookshed Challenge

 Good to join up again with Wendy and friends for FNSI. For those of you down under and in the middle of winter, we are experiencing what passes for a heatwave here. It was 30 here yesterday so perfect for finding a cool spot and getting on with some sewing.

Having completed the stitching together of my Japanese folded squares on Thursday evening, my first job was to add the hanging loop.

Here you can see my finished piece, front and bag before the addition of the loop.

These are what I started with, made in 2012

and I had to make another 15 squares to bring it up to the size I wanted. All the fabrics were procion dyed, the original fabrics cotton lawn, the later fabrics all recycled.

And here it is hanging in my kitchen where I can enjoy it every day.

Here is the progress I have made on my stitch journal this week.

Friday nights additions were the little flowers and the V shape stitches.

I then moved on to a new project which I plan to finish by the end of the month - but more about that next time.

Meanwhile wishing everyone a great weekend from and hot and sticky Taunton!

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.

FNWFs May and other things!

 The car was booked in for a service on Friday afternoon so I went along with some quilting to do and sat in one of their comfy chairs drinking their very good - for a machine - coffee. Two hours later, all was well and I had completed quite a bit of quilting. Sadly I cannot show you as it is 'secret stitching'!

In the evening I worked on my stitch journal - that last lollipop tree was my Friday stitching.

And my stitch journal pictures for April

Many thanks to Cheryll for getting us together on Friday - always lovely to see what everyone is doing.

This week has seen a couple of new starts, first up a new pair of Winwick Mum basic socks. And by the way, if you have knitted a pair of WM basic socks over the last year then there is a great giveaway - this is the link Winwick Mum you need to read through the post for details.

I am using King Cole Zig Zag yarn which I have never used before so am looking forward to seeing what pattern emerges as I knit.

Another new start this week has been a Ripple Blanket using Lucy's lovely pattern I aim to use up some of my autumnal DK wools. No hurry with this one, just as and when. Maybe not so much over the summer should we get any warm weather!

On the subject of which, it has been a warm week here with temperatures of 26/27 degrees. Most un April/May like. Cooling down now though but it has not rained for a while.

Completed this week was my tree skirt roundel

these sew up nice and quickly.

I just had to initiate a major search for my Chookshed Challenge #8 as it was not in the box I had expected it to be in! However, having found it I now also know where #5 is, when we get to it!

So this is my #8

and it just needs making up into a cushion cover. It's just under 18" square so a decent size. I made it many years ago when I was trying out applique and never finished it because I didn't have a home for it. But I think I may have found one now. The fabrics were all Procion dyed with hand applique and hand quilting.

That quilting looks amazingly neat and tiny but the fabrics were all cotton lawn which makes for easier stitching.

So I think that is all I have to tell you this week - hope you all have a good week.

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.