Winter Crazy block and some holiday photographs

I love Spain and have enjoyed our 3 weeks away but it is great to be home, and even though it is raining, of course, it is lovely to see daffodils and primroses flowering around the garden. Spring is on the way.

I have finished my Winter Crazy block apart from a spider in the web and I did not have the right beads with me for that.

Here are a couple of close-ups.

Just a few photographs from our time in Spain.

The beautiful bay of Las Negras

And the unspoilt El Playaza with it's privately owned and inhabited castle.

The rocks by the castle are full of fossils and shells.

In this secluded cove we watched a Gannet swooping and diving over the sea.

These gold mines at Rodalquilar were started by the Romans and only closed in the 1960's -

they have an amazing view of the sea.

Las Sirenas, site of the Cabo de Gata lighthouse. A favourite spot for viewing seabirds and this year our fist sight of a Trumpeter Finch. They are usually found in North Africa but there is a small colony living near the lighthouse.

Flamingos on the Cabo de Gata salt lakes.

The view from Cabrera mountain across to Mojacar bay.

Nijar, famous for it's woven rugs, pottery and baskets.

Back to Cabo de Gata and these colourful toilets caught my eye. We sat at a weathered table with mismatched dining chairs on the beach for coffee.

And further along the coast at La Fabriquilla this tiny bar tucked away at the end of the village was fully booked for lunch.

Lots of lovely memories - I hope you enjoy seeing my pictures.

Lin

Sunshine and some Crazy stitching

My first post from a sunny, southern Spain. We have had clear blue skies since our arrival on Thursday afternoon with temperatures around 18 -20 during the day. It is however quite windy but we are so pleased to see the sun and to have no rain that it really does not matter.
We have a lovely apartment with a view to the sea which we are sharing with bowls friends.
Here is the view from our balcony.

The complex has an indoor swimming pool which is about two minutes walk from our apartment. Easy to pop across there first thing in the morning and the best thing is that we get it all to ourselves!

So far bowls has taken precidence with practise and a club meeting yesterday. But this afternoon there is a match and so I am having a quiet afternoon sewing and catching up with The Archers!

I am really enjoying working on my Crazy winter block. I have decided to go for a 9" square (sorry Carli) but I think it will be more realistic for me to keep up with the stitch along as I can see how much time it is taking me.

This is my block so far.

At the moment I am working on this section - my next job is to add beads or French knots to the centres of the little flowers while I work out how to give a touch of frost to the leaves on this fabric.

I plan to use a little of this leafy fabric (an old Laura Ashley skirt donated by a friend) in each of my blocks to provide continuity.

Tomorrow is a bowls free day so we are planning a trip down the coast to the National Park and hopefully to do some birdwatching.

Hope you are having a good weekend, bye for now.

Lin

Birthday Stash!

The end of January has arrived remarkably quickly don't you think?

So it is time to show you what I have made this month for my Birthday Stash!

Thank you Wendy for hosting this again this year.

So here we are - it's a clutch of thread catchers!

A couple of these have already gone to good homes. If you missed the link for the pattern for these last time I showed it then here it is again.

Wishing you all a great weekend.

Lin

FNSI

Friday night and time to join with Wendy and friends for another Sew In. Thank you Wendy for hosting.

The quilting on my Jack of Hearts mystery quilt is slowly coming along but finally I am on the border - one side complete, three to go. Was able to get quite a bit done yesterday evening.

And thanks to my new Fons and Porter white pencil I can mark a much finer line on my fabric. Highly recommended! I have been searching for the perfect white marker for years and have finally found it.

Hope you are having a good weekend and plenty of time to sew.

Lin

Crazy Quilt Along 2014

The closest I have come in the past to any crazy patchwork was when I made these two panels from a slection of hand dyed fabrics and threads.

For some reason I had never considered traditional crazy patchwork even though it combines the two things I love - patchwork and hand embroidery.

Some time last summer I came across Jennifer Clouston's blog Sew So Crazy!. I thought her work exquisite and enjoyed following her posts about her students work. In December Jennifer published her first book and I have treated myself to a copy of it. Her work is superb and there is so much inspiration in it.

Then in the autumn I was paired with Caroline Heinrich of Good Earth Quilting for a Christmas postcard swap. Carli is a great crazy quilter and sent me this beautiful postcard.

When she told me that she would be hosting a Crazy quiltalong starting in the New Year I signed up straight away!

And so finally to the point of this blog!

The Crazy Quilt  Along 2014 has started! We are going to make a wall hanging using four 12" blocks, one for each of the seasons. The first block, appropriately, is winter. I have chosen this picture of frosty cotoneaster as my inspiration.

Although I have to say there is very little frost around here this winter and this picture was taken last winter.

I have put together the patchwork background of my block.

And plan to do all the stitching in white or silver to make it look frosty.

I am a little unsure about the size of this - possibly a 9" block would suit me better - so I have marked a 9" square on the surface and will aim to fill that first and see how I feel about it!

I have been through all my threads and beads and have come up with this selection to work with.

So now it is all going in a box ready to take away to Spain with us in 10 days time when I hope to have some time for hand stitching.

I have another four new followers - welcome to Heather, Teresa and Linda from the Crazy Quilt Along and also to Karen. Thank you for dropping in.

Meanwhile I am looking forward to FNSI which is tomorrow.

Happy stitching

Lin

Ashamed to say....

.... that having just checked my followers list I find that I have four new followers that I have not said welcome to!
So a very big welcome and thank you to  Cheryll, Pippa, Marie Christine and Jenny.

Short post but there is more to come soon!
Have a great week.

Lin xx

Buttons!

Back in early December I mentioned here that Cathy of potterjotter blog was giving away some of her handmade buttons.
What a surprise I had just before Christmas to hear that I had won the second set of buttons in her give away! Due to some communication problems I did not receive them until today and it was so exciting opening the heavily padded envelope.
Here is what I found.

A pretty little tissue wrapped package. The tissue has been smoothed and stashed as it is very pretty.

Inside this is what I found

These are my lovely buttons

And Cathy very kindly slipped in this gorgeous little house.

A lovely package to receive - thank you so much Cathy.

The weather has been up and down since we have been back in France but always very mild. Sunny afternoons when I have been able to sit outside and wet blustery days. 

Have been catching up with a few projects which I will tell you about soon.

Have also joined in with  Carli's crazy quilting stitch along for this year. More about that later too.

Meanwhile I hope that 2014 is treating you kindly so far.

Happy stitching

Lin