FNSI for May

Many thanks Wendy for hosting our sew in this month despite being so busy. Lovely to be sewing along with everyone again - you can catch up with what went on here

We were out to lunch on Friday - and very nice it was too! When I got home I spent a happy hour with my sketchbook and paints before settling down to finish basting 90 something yellow hexagons which are going to edge my swap hexies tablecloth.

Managed to get them all done before bedtime so now I am looking forward to start sewing them in place as soon as I finish this post. There is exciting cricket on TV - no, not England v Australia but Somerset v Hampshire in the final of the Royal London one day cup! Come on Somerset!

My sampler quilt is finished - I added the last quilting stitches a couple of nights ago. So here are a few pictures.

And to finish, a few pictures from the garden

Hope you are having a great weekend - happy stitching

Another week...

...has raced by and Sunday has come round again already. The blue tits are still busy feeding their young and the squeaking from the box is getting louder!

With four days of rain forecast this weekend I rushed round the garden on Thursday afternoon cutting sprays of elderflower to make cordial with.

I love these flowers so much - not only do they smell divine but they look so delicate and beautiful, like antique lace. However, they were soon trimmed and popped into a basin with sugar and other good things and left to marinate for two days.

 

Yesterday I was able to strain it all off and ended up with this bottle of gorgeousness. All we need now is some sunny weather to be able to sit out and enjoy a glass!

 

 

However, it is cold and damp - hence the slow cooker is out and a couple of duck legs are slowly simmering away with some lentils for a nice, warming dinner this evening.

I have been busily quilting away on the border of my mystery quilt and have now completed three sides - not far to go now. I have also been making up the Liberty Zip Pouch that I was given as a gift at Christmas. Whilst I like the design and am happy with my finished pouch I did have a few issues with the instructions!

Amongst other things a lace zip was supplied but only instructions for inserting a hidden zip. I have not used a lace zip before so went straight to Google for instructions and although my zip looks much better than I had first thought it would, I am sure it could have been better. Does anyone out there know of a good tutorial please?

It is a while since I did any raw edge applique and free machine embroidery so I very much enjoyed working on this part of the pouch - for which there were very good instructions. But didn't it take an age to cut out the flowers!

Meanwhile I am spring cleaning our sitting room and I still have about a third to do. With coffee guests coming tomorrow and more rain forecast I think I had better get a move on and finish!
Have a great week.

Its been a busy week...

….not least for the pair of blue tits nesting in our bird box, who are constantly in and out all day with food for their chicks!

The box is on the pillar holding up our terrasse roof and is somewhere that we are constantly passing or working near by - they get very agitated if we hang around too long!

We had what should be the last frosts of season last weekend so we spent a couple of days putting out summer vegetable plants and potting up pots and window boxes. We then had a few showery days which was good as it means all those new young plants have had a good watering. Meanwhile we have an enormous crop of broad beans this year and I have been busy podding and blanching beans for the freezer. Our tax returns have to be in next week and we have had a couple of visits to the tax office trying to decipher the forms Thankfully all done now for another year.

I have managed to fit in some sewing too and some play in one of my sketchbooks.

My Rainbow Scrap Challenge block is complete for the month - orange.

And my swap hexies are winging their way down under!

 

The quilting of the blocks in the Mystery Quilt is now complete and I have made a start on the borders.

 

 

This is nice, easy quilting to do so I shall enjoy finishing this quilt off.

Well I think that is me up to date for now - have a good week.

May's Friday Night with Friends

It's a month since my last post and that month has whizzed by so quickly! We spent two weeks in UK over Easter which was lovely especially as there was exceptionally good weather over the Easter weekend.

Many thanks to Cheryll for hosting our FNwF's especially as she is only just back from a trip herself. We were a select group - you can see what everyone got up to here.

My first job was to cut out my Dresden pieces for this months RSC block. There is very little orange in my stash so I had to supplement what I had with some golden yellows.

I got the borders attached to this QAYG sampler this week. Looking at it now maybe it would have been better balanced with the spools and the log cabin swapped around! Too late now.

My patchwork group have all been working on the same project and so it will be good to see their projects with borders on next week. As soon as they are all finished I will post pictures because it is so interesting to see how different they all are with different fabric choices.
Anyway, I now need to complete the quilting on the blocks and I am adding ditch quilting around the outside edge of each block to make the sashing stand out. Then I will have to quilt the border.
Last night I was working on the ship block - just the cloud to quilt now.

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else was working on.

Also this week I have completed another round of my 1797 revisited quilt.

 

Two more complete rounds to do, then I can start squaring it off.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2019

For some time now I have a hankering to work on some Dresdens but was not sure what to do. There is a plan in my head for a medallion quilt using a giant Dresden in the middle but that is not about to happen any time soon. But when I was looking for an RSC project for this year I realised that Dresdens would be a great use of some of my scraps.
So here are my first four blocks bringing me right up to date.

I found aqua to be a very elusive colour in my scrap box although it does not look too bad in this photograph. The yellow spot that I am using for the centre of all my Dresdens is much yellower than the picture shows though. I am aiming for 20 blocks - they will be 9" finished - so two years of RSC. Am feeling very pleased that all the grey blocks and centre circles are cut and ready to go.
Now I need a plan for the blocks I made last year and so far I am not feeling very inspired! No doubt something will come to me.

Friday Night with Friends

Many thanks to Cheryll for getting us all together again this week. You can see what everyone else got up to here

I managed to fit in a hours sewing yesterday afternoon - we have had cooler, damp weather here this week but Friday afternoon was warm and sunny so we spent most of it in the garden. However this is what I was up to in my sewing room.

The sampler quilt I have been working on along with my patchwork group has finally got to the border stage and I was very happy to be machining on the border strips yesterday afternoon.

I am so looking forward to showing you all the completed quilts as everyone has worked hard and made very individual versions. Hopefully next month.

I have been sewing my  1797 revisited quilt along with a facebook group and earlier this week I spotted a gorgeous pincushion on the site and just could not resist having a go. Yesterday evening I was busy sewing the patches together and this afternoon I made up my pincushion. Here is my version.

The hexies are 1 1/8" long and super cute.

My Easter wall hanging is now finished and ready to take with us on our Easter travels.

It is wet here again this afternoon so I am going to get on with my RSC project - more on that next time. Hope you are having a great weekend.

April!!!

After a couple of weeks of beautiful sunny weather we have woken up this morning to cloudy skies! Well, good things cant last forever and we could now do with the rain that is forecast for later in the week.

These beautiful fabrics were gifted to me a couple of years ago and they have been waiting in the cupboard for the right project to come along.

I decided last week that I needed some storage in the bedroom for my current book selection and these fabrics came to mind. So I whipped up a quick basket and am so pleased with how it has turned out.

I quilted the outer fabric to some Soft and Stable which has made it lovely and firm, then added the loose lining. It has a 7" base and stands 9" high so is a good size - it may get some baby sisters!

 

++++

 

Easter is just around the corner so I thought that it was high time that I finished off the Easter hanging that I started after last Easter! So out came my completed embroidery.

 



Looking at my design with fresh eyes I realised that the tulips looked very stark! So my first job was to add a few leaves.

Next to chose some border fabrics. I wanted to use the gorgeous blue floral fabric that I had lined my basket with as the outer border but what to use next to my embroidery? Having auditioned various fabrics in my stash I suddenly spotted these rolls of batiks and there was the perfect fabric.

So the borders are cut and ready to machine on when I have trimmed the embroidery.

+++++

I have completed another round on my 1797 revisited piece

and basting of the pieces for the next round is under way.

Well I think that is enough for now - I shall be back soon with my RSC project for 2019.