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.

FNSI MArch

 I have been a busy bee recently basting the coffin hexies for my Wings and Pretty Things borders. I have basted more than I need for the moment but I felt it was good to have some done ready for the outer border, when I get there. Anyway, here they are

and here are the ones for the first border, all sewn together.

So my Friday task was to cut the background fabric and start appliqueing! And this is where I was by he end of Friday.

Not quite finished but almost!

Many thanks to Wendy for getting us together again - you can see who else took part here. I have a bit of reading to do I can see!

This lovely postcard arrived in my postbox recently

It was from Annie as a bloghop prize. If you don't know Annie then do pop over to her blog, she makes some lovely things. It is some time since a post card came my way and it has enthused me to make some myself!

Spring is well under way here although it is decidedly nippy here this weekend with a cold north wind blowing. But the sun is shining and there is not a cloud in sight!

Have a great week

FNwF's and RSC 2021

 Well, what happened to Friday I have no idea, but all I have to show for my Friday Night with Friends are these coffin hexagons that I cut out for the next stage of Wings and Pretty Things.

  These are for a border and I have cut way more than I need but there is also an outer border of these so they will all be used. Lots of basting to do this week which will be a nice antidote to quilting my tablecloth which has begun. No exciting photographs yet though.

Thank you to Cheryll for hosting our Friday night get together - I have already seen some lovely work from Friday night.

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The new Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour for March is green and so I pulled out all the green scraps from my box earlier this week - sadly I forgot to take a photograph! However, I now have two little flowers for my quilt, some ScrapTherapy squares and six and a half crumb squares to add to my collection which nicely cleared up all my green scraps.

I have to say that most of my greens are pretty dull! Not my favourite colour.

Linking up with Angela at  Scrap Happy Saturday where you can see much more interesting greens than mine!

Have a good week everyone.