FNSI May

 Many thanks to Wendy for organising our Friday Night Sew In and a very Happy Birthday to Wendy too. Pop over to her blog  here to see who else took part.

Having wielded a decorating paintbrush in the morning, it was a pleasure to sit for an hour after lunch with my watercolour paintbrush! My pot of masking fluid arrived this week and so I was able to make a start on my next task which is painting glass. My first attempt was rubbish however attempt number 2 was much more succesfull.

So for Friday afternoon I painted the same glass but with a notebook behind to try and catch its reflections in the glass.

While that was drying I thought I would have a play with a little bird that I spotted on Annie's blog here using a tutorial that is here

Well he definitely needs a bit of tweaking - those legs are too far forward for a start! - but for a quick little doodle not too bad. He needs some ground to stand on too!

Apricots are in season here and I bought some earlier in the week, mainly to paint as they are not a favourite fruit of mine.

My evening was spent working on the quilting of my tablecloth which is coming along slowly but I am very happy with it.

It is certainly nice having it draped over my knees in the evenings - it has been very chilly here for May and we are still lighting fires in the evenings which is unheard of in May. Its been wet too although Thursday was dry and the sound of garden machinery could be heard all around the valley.

Well I think that is me all caught up for now - have a good week everyone and thanks again to Wendy.

RSC for May and other things!

 The RSC colour for May is red and so, as usual, I started by pulling all the reds from my scrap box and making a couple of little red dresden flowers.

There were a few strips of fabric in there left over from my Red Manor House so I was able to make a few squares for the Scraptherapy box and then most of the rest went into five crumb blocks just leaving a few oddments to go back in the box. I must say this is very satisfying!

I am linking up with Angela for Scraphappy Saturday here

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I have been busy quilting the 'skirt' of my tablecloth this week and I have to say it is far more enjoyable than working on the baskets in the centre and I have left the flowers in hope that inspiration might strike. Sorry, no photograph yet but I promise for next week.

I have also been painting more watercolour fruit. I am happy with these two.

The next challenge is a clear object ie a glass of water. For this I need masking fluid and as the shops are still closed I am awaiting a delivery. Meanwhile I could get a few sketches made.

For those who mentioned it I can report that my poppy now has it's hanging sleeve and has been put safely away until November.

It's wild orchid season here and we have been out and about looking for nice examples to photograph (it's also tick season but we wont go into that!) Here are a few of my favourites.

First a Bee orchid

Pyramidal

Three Twayblades

Sword leaved helleborine

Early spider orchid

Fly orchid

This strange 'stick' is a Limodore orchid - you can see its flower in my header picture

and finally a Military orchid

So thats it for now - I am going to get my paints out! Have a good week.

Friday Night with Friends....

....has come around again very quickly! Thank you very much to Cheryll for getting us organised - you can see who else took part here 

However,I dont seem to have very much to show for my afternoon and evening! 

I have been playing with watercolours this week, painting fruit. So first up I completed this pear

which I am happy with. The paper is too thin so it has cockled but as this is only for practise I am not bothered. I have also done a banana

and and apple which I am NOT sharing!

Having completed my pear I got out this small piece that I started some time ago. The photograph is of some beautiful autumn leaves and I am trying to replicate the colours although without too much success.

Then in the evening I made a start on my swap hexies for the month.

Other more exciting news is that my poppy is complete - well apart from the hanging sleeve, a minor detail!

And I am really very pleased with how this has worked out.

The weather here has been up and down - today it is up but next week looks like it is going to be very wet. So it looks like time for more decorating!

Have a good weekend.

 

Another Week ...

..has flown by! It has been a beautiful one though with lots of sun. Hopefully Mondays frost will be the last although you never can tell here - its always possible up until the middle of May - but fingers crossed!

More decorating this week - the turn of my sewing 'room' which technically is an alcove in a corridor! So it had to be done in two parts - first up my desk alcove.

As the desk is wider than the doors - I built it from a flatpack in situ! - it has to become an obstacle course in the middle of the corridor while I paint the walls behind it.

Then when that is all back in place comes the mamoth task of moving everything from the bookshelves.

And it takes an awful lot longer to put it back afterwards! Anyway, all done now - I am moving on to the bathroom next week.

So for relaxation I have been working on my poppy panel. The applique is all done now and it is ready to layer up and quilt.

I am very happy with this - a shame the vibrancy of the leaf fabrics is not showing up in my photograph though. Well I think I might just get on with layering it up now - have a good week everyone.

FNSI for April

Friday Night Sew In! And what better time to start a new project!

 Last year I spotted a beautiful poppy wall hanging that Lou had made here. As the pattern no longer seems to be for sale, she very kindly shared and so that was my project for Friday. Could be getting ahead of myself for a change!

Anyway, by the end of the evening I had the background machined up (although I shall need to unpick the bottom border to tuck the leaves and stems under) and most of the applique pieces basted.

Very happy that I had all the batik fabrics in my stash and pleased with the look so far.

Thank you Wendy for organising our Friday Night - pop over to Wendy's blog here to see what everyone one else was doing.

I had a request last week for a picture of the hexie border I was working on so here it is.

Not the best of pictures but the light is not good today. There is a norrow border to add between the centre block and the hexie border - one of the darker fabrics. This is on hold now as I have to source fabric for the next border and I need to be in an actual shop to get the colour right. So it could be some time!

Anyway, secret stitching from last week is now complete and I have also been playing around with ink and bleach in my sketchbooks which has been fun. I am pleased with the results so far too!

It has been a cooler week here although out of the wind the sun has been lovely and warm. The frosts have continued though.

Hope you all have a good week.

Friday Night with Friends and RSC April

 Yesterday was FNwF's hosted by Cheryll - thank you Cheryll and hope you are having fun on your travels.

As a wet day was promised - but of course didnt materialise! - I decided to start decorating the kitchen. Always a mamoth task as there is so much to move so I tend to work on a section at a time. Fortunately after lunch there was time between coats of paint to make a start on some secret stitching. The design was ready so I just had to trace it up and sort out some thread which is what I did.

This is just a tiny section. After all that moving and cleaning and painting I was very happy to sink into my sofa and spend the evening with a good film and making a start on embroidering my design.

Click on the link above to see what everyone else working on.

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This months Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour is light and bright blue and so last weekend I went through my scrap box and pulled out all the bits of blue.

Not a great variety of fabrics there but I managed enough for my little Dresdens, some scrap therapy squares and six crumb blocks which have now been added to my collection.

Linking up with Angela at ScrapHappy Saturday

Have a good week.

Gelli prints and a postcard

 A few weeks ago I showed you this picture of some collograph gelli prints that I had made using a tutorial from Design Matters TV.

I have started working into a couple of them

but I was soon distracted by the idea of printing the designs onto fabric and came up with these.

The top two are printed onto white cotton sheeting and the bottom three onto hand dyed cottons. I was very pleased with how these turned out - even the ones that dont show up very clearly at the bottom. Needing something for a postcard I took the print on the bottom left 

and bonded it to some pelmet vilene before adding some machine stitch to the background to emphasise the shapes, and to the pomegranate seeds.

I used some gold paint to hightlight the hexagons and the pomegranate and there we are, one postcard!

It has been lovely to watch the garden coming to life during March so I will leave you with a few of my favourite photogrpahs.