A couple of finishes!

 Yes, I have been beavering away here, clearing up a few ongoing projects. First of all I am proud to show my completed tablecloth!

So pleased with this and apart from the hassle of trying to get those flower baskets square (which they are not!) I loved every stitch of this project.

The flower baskets use scraps from my collection, the applique is all using batiks and I have made a scrappy batik binding.

A couple of shots in the garden (it's the bench that is not level - not my photography)

and finally on the table where it will live.

Now for my second finish I have this scrappy cover for my Kenwood Chef which I started in the summer.

This replaces the old blue and yellow cover that I made many years ago and which has been well used and washed. It is now looking very tired, unlike this picture where it was brand new!

Also to report I have progress on Wings and Pretty Things. Whilst in UK recently I caught up with the fabric I had ordered for the first border so I have been able to add that and the second border of hexies and butterflies.

Now I can make a start on the next applique border of pretty things.

And finally a couple of Field Journal blocks which I finished back in August but had not got around to photographing.

Well that is all for now. I need to get on with some secret stitching this week and I may get out another Field Journal block to work on.

Have a good week.

FNSI and RSC October

 First of all many thanks to  Wendy for organising our Friday evening again - do pop over to Wendy's blog to see who else joined in and what they were working on.

After an excellent Fish and Chip lunch in a local restaurant I sat down to complete my RSC crumb blocks for the month. Actually, I was working on crumbs from September as well as we were away all last month and my orange blocks did not get made. I made the little Dresden flowers earlier in the week. So here we are - Septembers orange Dresdens and crumb blocks.

The colour for October is light and bright greens. Well, I used all my green scraps earlier in the year so instead I pulled out all my black and grey scraps. Here you can see my Dresdens, seven crumb blocks and a few little squares for the Scraptherapy box. I have also cut enough petals for two more Dresdens as looking at my quilt I can see that I will need four altogether.

This year I have been trying to clear out my crumb box - at the beginning of the year I had to put another box on top of it to keep it closed - now it is just half full.

There are still plenty of cream and brown scraps in there which I know I will use next year. Otherwise I am very happy with how this year has gone.

Linking up with Angela at Soscrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday. Thank you Angela.

As requested.....

 ...by a few ladies down under for whom it is elderflower time, here is my recipe for Elderflower Cordial.

25 heads of fresh elderflowers

1 litre of boiled water

2lbs sugar

3 large lemons

 Snip the flowers from the thicker stalks into a large bowl. Add the grated rind from all three lemons. Squeeze the lemons, then roughly chop the shells and add them too plus any collected juice.

Add the sugar to the water and stir until dissolved and then add to the bowl. Give it all a good stir, cover and leave for two days stirring occasionally and enjoying the delicious smell!

 Strain and bottle. Store in the fridge. 

Dilute to taste with still or, my favorite, fizzy water. A splash in fizzy white wine is also delicious.

If you have access to gooseberries then use some of the cordial to sweeten them for a pie or crumble

Enjoy.

This recipe makes quite a lot - the quantity's are easily adjusted if you want to make a smaller amount or don't have the required number of elderflowers.

On our travels!

 Yes, after 20 months we managed a trip to the UK where we were able to catch up with friends and family. It was a lovely time and the sun shone for most of it which was great although the last few days were distinctly damp.

Lovely to be out and about in the Somerset countryside too - the narrow roads and high hedges were a welcome sight after the wide open fields of the northern Dordogne. And the sea! So good to see the sea again.

So I will launch straight in to some photographs.

This weather worn boat was in Watchet Harbour - I love that splash of turquoise on top of the right hand pole.

We managed to arrive in Watchet on market day - it was busy! So we took our picnics to Blue Anchor bay and sat on the beach looking across to the Welsh coast. From there we drove inland to Staple Plain where we walked up to the top of Beacon Hill. The heather was in full bloom and glorious.

In the second picture you can see the stunning view down to the coast.

At the top - you can just see the beacon on the right.

On another occasion we visited St Martins church at Kingsbury Episcopi for an interesting exhibition documenting cider making in the parish and the local families and businesses involved. I spotted this lovely door in a corner of the church.

and these 'drunken' graves outside.

I am surprised that Health and Safety haven't been round and condemned that gravestone! Some years ago we visited another graveyard in North Somerset where council workers were pulling over tilted gravestones 'because they are dangerous'!

Anyway from there we of course had to visit a local cider farm, Burrow Hill Cider Farm where they also distill the cider to make cider brandy. 

It is cider making time and there was a large heap of apples in the yard being washed prior to being pulped.

Then a visit to Muchelney Pottery 

Sadly John Leach, grandson of Bernard Leach, died recently but for the time being the pottery and shop will be carrying on. I bought one of the lovely jugs from the kitchenware range to add to my small collection and enjoyed admiring the beautiful one off collection pieces.

Finally a lovely day out with friends at Killerton House It was our first visit and we enjoyed walking round the gardens dodging showers under huge old trees. This lovely hinge was on the door to the Church and will be added to my spiral collection.

 The Bears Hut also sheltered us - in the main room the ceiling is decorated with pine cones

and this is part of the beautiful floor.

Killerton is home to a large collection of 18th - 20th century dress and accessories. On display while we were there an interesting exhibition of sports wear including a very elaborate - and I would have thought very hot - tennis dress! No 7 in the picture.

Thank you for reading through to the end - I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Friday Night Sew In for August

 Good to be sewing again with virtual friends - thank you Wendy for getting us organised. Pop over to Wendy's blog here to see what everyone was working on.

I spent a little while on the computer first of all. I mentioned in my last post that I am researching all things spiral for a new sketchbook. So I am starting with the very earliest known man made spiral which is this Triskelion or Triskele from Newgrange in The Republic of Ireland.

This symbol was carved over 5000 years ago into the wall of the burial chamber, at the end of a long passage. It was positioned so that during the winter solstice the suns rays would stretch along the passage and illuminate the symbol. The symbol has been used elsewhere including on this Mycenaean vessel

and carved into rock in Galicia in Spain.

These spirals are related to the three legged Tiskelion or Triskeles which can be found in Ancient Greek art, coinage, on the flag of Sicily and as the symbol of The Isle of Man.

OK folks, culture lesson over for the day and yes I did get some sewing done! Quite a lot of quilting on my tablecloth actually as there was a fairly boring football match on TV. I just have one side of the tablecloth to quilt now.

Not easy to photograph but you should be able to make out that the top edge is unquilted.

Right, I am off to visit a few fellow FNSIers.

Have a good week.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Aqua

 Well I love aqua and it's close friends but for some reason my scrap box held very little! Forgot to take a photograph of my scraps but here are the little Dresdens and my crumb blocks for the month.

Well, they didn't take long! In fact I finished them early in the month but forgot to add them to last weeks post.

Following on from my Hundertwasser sprials sketchbook page I decided to do a bit more research into spirals and have started a new sketchbook! This is the inside cover.

Meanwhile I am trawling the internet and my old sketchbooks for anything spiral related to add to my new book.

The promised hot weather has arrived - so I am indoors with a fan running!

Linking up with Angela for ScrapHappy Saturday

Have a good week.

Friday Night with Friends August

 Scraped in by the skin of my teeth to Cheryll's sign up page, yesterday afternoon by my time - well into the Australian evening I am sure! Anyway, many thanks Cheryll for organising us once again.

Well, I dont have much to show for an afternoon and part evening's sewing!

I decided to work this Field Journal block in a frame as it has quite dense stitching but of course it takes a lot longer to work and by the time I got to those pesky satin stitch flowers I started going cross eyed! Will have another crack at them this afternoon.

Otherwise my week has been spent quilting the tablecloth and I finished the Hundertwasser spiral sketchbook page that I showed you last week. I wrote out Hundertwasser's statement on the spiral in gold pen - it isnt very readable but that is fine as the point was to give the page some pattern, more colour and to link the two sides of the spread.

If you would like to read what Hundertwasser had to say about the spiral - The symbol of life and death - you can find it here

Right, I am off to read what everyone else was working on yesterday - have a great week everyone, WE are promised some nice weather for a change!!!