Friday night sew in

 Late to sign up and late to post, but I was there! Thank you Wendy for organising and everyone who took part. Here is the link to see what everyone was working on.

At the beginning of the month I signed up for another Design Matters TV course - #31daysartjournal - designed to get you working a little bit each day into your art journal. A new video each day suggests ideas and challenges to work in your journal all of which are bite sized and doable.

So I started on a new sketchbook and got to this stage

but then discovered when I flattened it out to add some machine stitch that the book was glued and not stitched, so the pages started to fall out! Fast forward to a new sketchbook which arrived this week and I started out by adding paint around the edges.

I ripped all the pages out of the original book and added the ones I really liked to the new book. So Friday afternoons task was to machine them in place. Since then I have been adding oil pastel and more paint and now my book looks like this.

Here are a few of my favourite pages so far.

My plan for the evening was to finish off this Wings and Pretty Things block but having pinned the flower pot in place I realised that I was missing a leaf! So I had to put it aside and started basting the flowers for the next block in stead.

The weather here has improved no end and we have had a few sunny spring like days although the wind has been a tad strong today! The washing loved it though.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Another seaside visit!

 This time to Weston-super-Mare. For those of you who commented on how far the tide went out at Dunster then Weston is also on the Bristol Channel and has very low tides. It is further around the channel and we were looking across the channel to Dunster.

We parked near the Birnbeck Pier or Old Pier as it is known. The pier is the only pier in the country to link the mainland to an island,  Birnbeck Island. Sadly the pier is in a very poor state of repair and has been closed for some years. Fundraising is underway to repair it but it is a big undertaking.

In this close up you can see the shed and ramp which for many years was the home and launch ramp for the lifeboat, the only lifeboat ramp to face in towards land.

From there we walked past the site of the Royal Pier Hotel which has recently been demolished. The friends we were with pointed out to us, below the sea wall, the site of the 'Ladies Bathing Pool' which had been accessed via a tunnel (now blocked) from the hotel.

This is the blocked up access

and this the pool hewn out of the rocks which would have filled at high tide. It looks to me like it would not have been a particularly comfortable place to swim!

Moving on past some local art - I loved the rusty pipe!

Looking across to the North Somerset coast

Because the tide goes out up to a mile at low tide a bathing pool was built by Knightstone Island which fills at high tide. You see it here in the foreground with Brean Down behind.

No idea what this is or represents, but I liked it.

The island of Steep Holm in the distance past Knightstone.

The Grand Pier which originally opened in 1904 but has burnt down and been rebuilt twice since. This is a pleasure pier and closer to the centre of town than the Birnbeck Pier.

Sadly Weston is a shadow of it's former glory as a smart and popular holiday destination but still worth a visit.

Friday Night with Friends, March

 Didn't get to any sewing until the evening as we were out celebrating Philip's birthday during the day. We visited Dunster which is on the north Somerset coast. The castle and gardens were closed but we enjoyed a walk through the village and lunch in the Luttrell Arms.

Followed by a visit to the beach.

I had three Wings and Pretty Things blocks that needed some embroidery to complete them and this had been my plan for Friday evening. I got most of it completed, adding the last few stitches today.

These pretty fabrics are definitely not easy to photograph!

Many thanks to Cheryll and my other Friday Night Friends.

FNSI

 It was a wet and windy day here as storm Eunice passed through. We watched the trees in the park sway and the fallen leaves blowing around but fortunately have no damage to report. Some people in the village are without power but we kept ours - just as well as although we have plenty of candles and a gas hob my planning had not stretched to buying matches or a lighter! So I lit a candle from the hob when I got up and kept it burning all day, just in case.

We spent the day unpacking the last of the boxes ( which contained pictures), sorting through all our pictures and hanging as many as we could on the walls.

I spent an hour in the afternoon working on a picture of a great tit with watercolour pencils which I think is just passable.

It is my third attempt at this little bird and it is time to move on - I have a cute little blue tit to work on next. I was a lot happier with these crab apples which I worked on earlier in the week.

I had planned to complete my lacy sock during the evening but didn,t quite have time before Death in Paradise followed by a couple of episodes of a new series we are catching up on called Hidden.

Anyway, here is my almost sock

and as I think I mentioned in my last post, a picture of my best ever heel turn!

It was good to be working along with my other FNSI friends again and many thanks to Wendy for getting us all together again.

Friday Night with Friends

 Good to be joining in with Cheryll and friends again for a Friday sew in. Thank you Cheryll.

It was a beautiful sunny morning so we took a drive to the coast - one bonus of living in Somerset is that the sea is only a 30 minute drive away. It was blustery and cold but lovely to see the sea.

We could see the Welsh coast on the horizon clearly but sadly the camera hasn't picked it up.

We spent the afternoon unpacking and hanging pictures but I did find time to watch the first of three videos from Design Matters TV on painting birds with watercolour pencils. I am looking forward to making a start on this just as soon as I find my pencils!

Not much to show from the evening although I did finish turning the heel on this Winwick Mum easy lace sock. So far it is looking like one of my better heel turns although at this point not easy to photograph!

Spent the rest of the evening watching TV but it was good to be working along with everyone for at least part of the day.

RSC 2022!

 Hopefully this will be my final year working on the Dresden quilt top. Here it is as I left it at the end of last year.

The RSC colour for this month is red and I could see from the picture that I need two red flowers to add to the border and luckily I was able to find the box of red fabrics from amongst all the unpacking. I managed to finish these yesterday evening so just squeaked in to getting them done in January.

I plan to get then sewn onto the flimsy just as soon as I find some applique thread!

FNSI December

 Friday was a busy day so it wasn't until the evening that I was able to sit and sew - and by that time I was too tired to do much! Anyway, I was working on this Wings and Pretty Things block which has progressed well since Friday.

Not much left to do now. These fabrics are not photographing well!

The first block is finished as far as I can go.

That bird looks a bit manic! He will look better when he gets a beak and an embroidered eye. As you can see, as well as the embroidery there are also some twigs missing. We are in the middle of moving house and I managed to pack the little bias pressing gadget which I knew I would need! Also all my embroidery threads have gone too. Well, I shall be able to add those little bits later.

That's it from me for now - many thanks to Wendy for organsising our Friday Night Sew In's all year. Please click on the link to see what everyone was working on.