February!

What happened to February? Here we are on the last but one day and it seems to have gone by in a blur! We started off with horrible weather and now are enjoying beautiful sunny days - long may it last.

This last week has seen me busy quilting and I have finished another couple of blocks of my Red Manor House. A quarter of these blocks are now completed.

So I have now decided to put RMH away until next winter and work on a lighter project. Next week will see me start quilting the appliqued tablecloth which will not be so heavy to work on.

I have also added some more applique to the Dresden centre block of Wings and Pretty Things.

I will finish off the corner hearts when I have added the first border.

I have also been working in my sketchbooks this week - this is a finished page from one of them.

I carried on with the pomegranate theme with these collographs

using a tutorial from Design Matters TV. They will be cut out and used in my sketchbooks.

With the weather warming up the garden is coming to life and there is a lot more colour around.

Lovley to see green shoots everywhere.

Have a good week everyone.

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.

FNSI February

 Friday was a lovely day here, if a tad windy! But at least it was dry and it has been good to have some warm sun around again this week.

I started my Friday afternoon with an hour working in my sketchbooks - sorry, no photos - and then went off walking with friends for the rest afternoon.

However, come the evening I got our my Red Manor House with the intention of finishing the quilting of this butterfly block.

But, a good film came on TV and in the end I had little to show for my evening. However this afternoon, two hours and one football match later, I have a completed block.

Many thanks to Wendy for organising our get together yesterday - pop over to Wendy's blog to see who else joined in and to see what they got up to.

In other news this week the centre Dresden for Wings and Pretty Things is now appliqued in place and has it's corona of dots applied too.

I am now on a hunt for some more of the fabric I have used as a background as it works perfectly with the pretty Rue 1800 fabrics.

If anyone has any tucked away in their stash then I would love to hear from you!

Right, I need to catch up with what everyone was doing yesterday - have a good week.

A New Project!

 And I am really excited about this new, long term, project! Michelle has very kindly shared her notes for her Wings and Pretty Things quilt which is full of gorgeous applique and EPP.

These gorgeous fabrics arrived this week which I plan to use for all the applique. They are from a range called Rue 1800 by 3 Sisters for Moda. Just as lovely in real life as they were on the website where I spotted them.

So I got straight in and made the centre Dresden for the quilt - I just need to stitch the centre circle down.

Next up, some applique flowers.

In other news this week I have sent off my swap hexies for the month

and I have been busy quilting my Red Manor House. Having completed the narrow blue border, I am now working on the flower and flower pot blocks.

Its been a cold week here with heavy rain yesterday and the valley is flooded again. But things are looking brighter and warmer for next week thank goodness.

Have a good week.

RSC February

This months RSC colour is yellow and so, as with last months pink, first of all I pulled all the yellow fabrics out of my scraps box.

My first priority was the two little Dresdens for my quilt border and here they are.

Next I cut some scraptheray squares and then I made nine 4.5" crumb blocks for my collection.

As you can see, there were just a few oddments left over which I am very happy about.

Linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for scraphappy Saturday

Friday Night with Friends...

 ...has come around again, oh so quickly! Many thanks to Cheryll for hosting our gathering again - you can see who else joined in here

My plan for FNwF's was a new project - this zip around pouch from Bad Banana Patterns which has been tempting me for some time.

To try out the pattern I wanted to make something for me and so I chose some of my precious stash of pansy fabric. Here is the quilted piece that makes the top and bottom of the pouch.

At that point, this happened!

So I had to down tools and help stack. An hour later and I was back with the sewing.

I thought I had a picture of the two circles cut out and the zip inserted into the side panels but obviously not! Anyway, that is how I left it for the afternoon and I spent the evening quilting and working on my swap hexies for the month.

This afternoon I got the pouch sewn together and the seams bound and her is my finished pouch!

It's not a good afternon for photographs - wet and horrid outside. I am very happy with this pattern - a few tweaks I will make next time but there will be a next time!

So I am looking forward to seeing what everyone was up to yesterday and will be back soon.

A Crazy Pincushion

 I have been enjoying myself this week with embellishing the little pincushion that I showed you in my last post. I have been taking photographs as I go along as some of you may be interested in how I worked the embroidery - skip to the end if you just want to see the finished pincushion!

So this is how the basic block looked.

The pink fabric in the centre section was not lying as flat as I would have liked so first of all I added some tiny colonial knots to flatten and hold it in place, then some beads in the spaces.

The next job was to position the mauve lace and I decided to add it across the corner.

I then added the chain stitches around the edge to hold it in place and some straight stitches to emphasise the flowers.

I like a curve to lead the eye around the piece so this stem was added in next using stem stitch.

I then moved onto some seam treatments. This first small section uses some flower shaped sequins held down with beads then some fly stitch and chain stitch flowers.

For the seam next to it I worked a row of closed buttonhole. In the open spaces I sewed alternate tiny hearts and chain stitches. In the closed gaps chunky colonial knots. I topped the points with chain stitch and straight stitch flowers. Note the gap on the left - a little heart will be added there after construction as it would otherwise get in the way of the sewing line.

I used a simple row of colonial knots along this third seam.

Next I decorated the stem with ruched roses, leaf ribbon stitch and some straight stitches.

Which just left this last seam. I didnt want anything too fancy or complicated here so following the dotty theme of the last seam I used a row of beads to decorate this.

Now all that was left was to add in a spider for good luck. At this point just the legs as again the beads for the body and head would get in the way of the sewing machine during construction.

After I had machined the pincushion together and turned it through, but before stuffing, I added the missing heart and the beads for the spider.

And there we are, one crazy pincushion!

I am back to quilting now - a nice, simple, narrow border on my Red Manor House.