FNSI for April

Thank you Wendy for inviting us to join you again - you can see who else took part in our Friday Night Sew In here.

Last week I showed you these 'Basket Case' blocks

I had a hankering for some Flying Geese and so my four blocks became this wall hanging!

Having pressed and photographed my hanging I put it aside to add the buttons during the evening and got out my sketchbook. I have been working on another pomegranate page and was determined to get it finished - which I did.

After spending the rest of the afternoon in the garden I settled down in the evening to add the buttons to my baskets and tadah!

Now to get it quilted and I am thinking just some simple ditchquilting around the blocks and the geese might be all that is needed! Watch this space.

I had good intentions of joining in with the Community Stitch Challenge this week and have the fabric and threads prepared and sitting on the table but that is as far as I have got! Maybe this evening. The challenge is to fill four squares or shapes with different types of couching and I will do this to add to my running stitch samples.

In other news, the nightingales have arrived and have been singing their hearts out all week, seemingly 24 hours a day! Lovely to hear them along with the cuckoo and hoopoes. We had some much needed rain yesterday evening but could have done without the wind that came with it. Lots of stuff in the garden needs tying up once it hasdried out a bit.

Our lockdown has been extended until May 11th - what will happen after that we dont know yet but I am sure there will still be lots of restrictions for some time after that.

Hope everyone is holding up - there certainly seems to be a lot more blogging activity going on!

Friday Night with Friends week 2!

Thank you very much Cheryll - great idea to get us all together again this month. You can see who else joined in here

A couple of weeks ago Michelle very kindly shared her 'basket case' design which very much appealed to me and so my plan for FNwF's was to make a few of thses blocks - they are 6.5"

My plan is to join these with a narrow sashing and add a border to make a small summery wall hanging. I plan to fill the baskets with button flowers and a few embroidered leaves something like this.

Thank you Michelle.

Earlier this week I finished adding the April borders to my Red Manor House and so this is how it looks now.

Not the best picture - my 'design wall' is now a little on the small side!

Also this week I have made my swap hexies for the month

and my RSC block

not exactly light and bright but they are what I have.

I decided not to take part in this weeks community stitch challenge - the subject was eyes and I thought I would find it a bit creepy! However, I have seen some beautiful work on the facebook site. Looking forward to next weeks challenge though.

The weather continues to be good and we have been enjoying temperatures in the high 20's on our terasse. The garden is growing very quickly but we have plenty of time at the moment to keep it under control. One bonus of not being away for our usual Easter trip is that we can watch the wisteria flowers open up.

and this rats tail cactus which I hate apart from when it is flowering!

This tree frog seems to have taken a liking for my wasp trap and spends the day there every now and again.

Our nearest town is Riberac where there is a busy Friday market - although not at the moment. However we had heard that there would be a food market there yesterday morning and so I went in at 8 am to pick up some sausages from Helen of Franklins Farm. Just the best sausages. Anyway, when I got to the market there were about 20 stalls, well spread out and surrounded by a barrier with a one way system. There were two gendarmes on duty at the entrance checking our paperwork - the attestation we have to fill out saying why we are out and about dated, timed and signed and identity cards (in my case passport). Once this had been checked and approved we were then directed to use the hand sanitiser before being allowed to enter. All very efficient I thought.

Hope everyone is keeping safe and well at home. Happy stitching.

Friday Night with Friends

Many thanks to Cheryll for getting us together again last night for FNwF's. We were 17 last night stitching cyberly together and you can see what everyone got up to here

I received the next part of the Red Manor House BOM this week and this month we have three borders to add. The first red border is on

and so yesterday I was working on the Irish Chain border which comes next. This is where I started

and this is where I ended up!

Now to get them attached.

Cheryll has invited us all to join her again next week - a coronavirus bonus FNwF's!

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The Community Stitch Challenge this week was set by Cas Holmes and was this

·         In response to social distancing and self isolation, Cas is asking you to find a meaningful object from around the home that evokes memories as a starting point for a textile project.

·         Next step is to create a small collage background using simple straight stitches to attach bits of fabric and paper from your stash to a base.

·         Then using the object you’ve chosen as inspiration cut out a shape in fabric and apply it to the background you’ve created.

Finally use hand stitch techniques to embellish and bring your piece to life.

This was the piece that I worked on

I based this on my home and garden which have many special memories for me. I used some of the slow dyed fabrics and threads from a couple of years ago that used stuff from the garden and my pantry and stitched them down onto a piece of batting so that there would be some extra texture. I then added our house number, the sunflower that welcomes you to our door and some flowers to represent the garden.
I loved working on this.

Have a good week - stay home and stay safe!

Saturday Catchup

Hello everyone - greetings from a warm and sunny St Victor. We have had glorious weather for the last couple of weeks but it looks like it is going to cool down tomorrow. We have been busy in the garden - I have been digging and more digging, the end fortunately is in sight. The birds are singing and the blossom is gorgeous.
We have great tits doing up the nest box outside my window - they have been busy pecking at the opening and taking in beakfuls of moss. One of them has a deformation - can you see the hump on its back?

Makes it really easy to spot when it is feeding.

We also had an asiatic hornet starting to build a nest under our covered terrasse

I am afraid she lost her nest when she went out - a swift knock with a broom handle dealt with that!

Last week I showed you the appliqued blocks for my Red Manor House BOM. I soon had them machined together and added to the central block of the quilt top.

I am really pleased with the look I am getting with these fabrics. The next part of the BOM comes on the 1st so I am looking forward to that.

There have been a lot of stitchalongs starting up in blogland, Instagram and facebook. Some very tempting ones - I am particularly taken by the Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery Quilt. The link will take you to day 9 and if you scroll down you will see the layout so far. Very tempting but I am resisting! However, I was attracted to the TextileArtist.org facebook group community stitch challenge. The idea is that each week a different textile artist will set a handstitch challenge - nothing too arduous but a challenge nonetheless. The first weeks challenge was set by Sue Stone who does amazing portraits. Her challenge was to draw a grid on some fabric and fill each box with a different use of the same stitch. You could choose any stitch but I decided to start off with running stitch and here is my sampler.

This was very relaxing to work on in the evening while watching TV. I have marked up another grid and plan to try something a little less formal.

Finally this week I have been drawing pomegranates. I have some in my fruit bowl that are starting to go over so they have lost that smooth shiny skin and have become a bit lumpy bumpy! I love the colours in them - something to work on another time.

The top one looks like it is pirouetting!

I ventured out to the supermarket yesterday. I notice how strange it is to pass houses with cars parked outside where usually there are none and the roads are so quiet. It was eerily quiet in the supermarket too although it was by no means empty. We are only allowed out one in a car now so there is no one to chat to while shopping and that underlying hum was missing! Plenty of stock in the supermarket - including toilet rolls lol.

Have a good week.

FNSI for March

Greetings from lockdown France! So especially nice to able to sew virtually with all my lovely blogging friends. Thank you Wendy for getting us together - you can see who took part here on Wendy's blog.

I spent the first part of my afternoon working in my sketchbook on this 'lifted out' drawing

With this tecnique you cover the page with graphite and then use an eraser to remove the lighter parts of the picture. I enjoyed doing this much more than I expected! and am happy with the result.

Then on to a little secret stitching - sorry, not even the tiniest sneak peek!

In the evening I finished appliqueing these sheep for my Red Manor House BOM.

 and as soon as this is posted I shall be getting out my machine and adding them to these doves, pots and arrows to make a border.

I ventured out to the supermarket on Thursday morning complete with signed and dated form stating why I was out and about. I went to two supermarkets. Neither was busy, busy. Both were well stocked apart from the inevitable toilet paper lol!

So, as it has been a beautiful warm sunny week here we have been busy in the garden catching up with digging and cutting back. The daffodils have almost finished and the tulips are opening up - it's lovely to see their splashes of bright colour.

Stay safe and well everyone and keep stitching.

Catching up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

And it was a bit of a challenge! Orange was the colour for February and having trawled my stash I came up with one piece of orange fabric. Fortunately I met up with my patchwork group last Monday and they very kindly supplied me with the necessary fabrics so now I will have memories of them in my quilt.

Teal for March on the other hand was no problem.

Linking up with SoScrappy for ScrapHappySaturday

Also finished this week a couple of little gifts for a friends birthday.

The little fob on the scissors is for storing a thimble. Its not easy to see but I made an elongated Secret Garden block a la Lynne Edwards. Cant think why I have never made one of those hexagon pin cushions before - think I might need one for me!

We had a 'ladies lunch' on Friday when these were gifted - my last social outing for some time I feel. We have topped up our freezer and store cupboard and plan to stay put for a while. All bars and restaurants here are closed now anyway.

Stay safe everyone.

Friday Night with Friends

Lovely to join in with everyone once again - thank you Cheryll for getting us all together again. You can see who joined in here.

It was a busy day with shopping and the  market in the morning. Then our WDP service in the afternoon. For me it will always be the Womens World Day of  Prayer service but I suppose times must change. Our prayers for the women of Zimbabwe will be appreciated whatever the name of the service I know.

So it was the evening before I was able to get to any sewing, and I needed to get my swap hexies made for the month. A result.

We will have been home from Spain a week tomorrow, Sunday. And apart from today, it has rained every day! Yesterday the river flooded and all the way along to Riberac the fields are flooded. The water is still there today. Tomorrow we are expecting more rain.

So, plenty of time indoors to finish my crochet sampler blanket.

I added an Indalo to a black section on the blanket in cross stitch to indicate that I had worked most of the blanket in Almeria. The corners are a bit too full but then this was a learing experience and I shall know what not to do next time. Overall I am very happy with the border and I managed to use most of the yarn I had in those colours.This was a great holiday project over two years.

There is a new Janie Crow crochet pattern about to be released which I have fallen in love with! It is called The Fruit Garden and is based on the embroideries of May Morris. But, I have promised myself that the next crochet project I do will use my stash. Watch this space!