The Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade

I am linking up with Ida at My Sister Made Me do it for her second Parade of Pincushions and I have already seen some real beauties around blogland. Do pop over to her blog to see some gorgeous pincushions.

I am starting off with this one which lives near my sewing machine and which sits quite handily by it while I am machining.

When not in use it sits in this little matching basket which was a Jenny of Elefantz design and holds a few other tools and essentials!.

This florentine/bargello pincushion is not in use but sits on my shelf of needlework tools. I made it as part of my C&G course back in the 80's.

The box was intended to hold a thimble and now holds a  few from my collection.

Finally my newest pincushion - I love that Tilda fabric and the little glass dish cost just 50pence from a charity shop. I stuffed it with walnut shells so it is nice and heavy.

Many thanks to Ida for organising this link up.

Friday Night With Friends update

Many thanks to Cheryll for hosting us again this month even though she is off on her travels. Do pop over to her blog here to see what everyone got up to.

I started on Thursday afternoon by printing this piece of felt so that it would be nice and dry for Friday and some fun stitching. It is aproximately A3 size.

I used my favourite Hundertwasser spiral print block and some gold acrylic paint.

The next stage on Friday was to finish decorating the surface and this I did by bonding a sheer nylon scarf to the surface

trapping some hot fix Angelina between the layers.

I also bonded some black felt to the reverse to make a nice firm fabric.

Next job was to meander all over the surface of the fabric with some lovely Cotona thread.

And so I ended up with this very firm piece of bonded and embellished felt.

And the reason for all this I hear you ask? Well I have some Christmas present ideas in mind for some of it but for the time being I needed a case for my crazy patchwork stencil/templates - they have sat in polythene bags for far too long!

I hope everyone had a great evening and I look forward to visiting to see what has gone on.

Have a lovely weekend.

UFO update and A Holiday Tote

 

I thought it was about time that I got on with another UFO project and going through my box I came across these shibori fabrics that I dyed a few years ago. There are six fat quarters and as I did not know what I was going to do with them - but definitely not a quilt - I left them on the dining room table for a few days waiting for inspiration to strike.

Reading through my blog list I came across this post on s.o.t.a.k handmade - thirty three tote bag tutorials, what a lot of choice! When I saw this market bag pattern I thought it would be perfect for my fabrics. Here is the original bag using Tula Pink fabrics which are stunning.

The design is free with just one download for the shaped pocket. 

This was it! So I had a look through my stash for a suitable lining fabric and came up with this which I am really pleased with.

So off I went. No in progress shots - sorry. I have tweaked the pattern a little. I didn't use the shaped outer pocket but just a plain one as I wanted to make them different sizes. Also, piping and me do not get on so I did a sort of faux piping on the pocket tops. Inside I added an extra, extra large pocket as I want to use this as a holiday tote and I always need somewhere to store ticket and hotel reservation printouts. The handles are my own method too as I like sturdy handles. So here is my finished tote.

 Two pockets on one side for sketchbook and paints.

 Three inside pockets

 A large pocket on the other side for essential holiday reading and two smaller pockets - one will hold a ruler and the other pens.

 

Inside view

 

 

I am very pleased with this pattern - the positioning of the outside pockets means that the bag sits nicely and the front and back of the main bag  use two pieces of 18"x18" fabric which cuts down on waste/scraps. I have one fat quarter left over and a few oddments so I feel a zippy pouch is on the cards.

Have a great week - it looks like it is going to be hot and dry again here!

It's EPP Tuesday again!

And thank you very much to Anthea for organising us.

Do pop over to Anthea's blog here to see the lovely hexagon project she is working on and to see what everyone else is up to.

I have two more Morris Hexathon blocks to show you -
#14 Canterbury which was incomplete when I last showed you

 

and #15 Kelmscott Tile which was last weeks block

This weeks block is simpler but has not yet been completely basted so I will wait until next time to show you.

Also, I now have a selection of yellow hexies basted ready to start putting together my blue flowers - when a spare moment comes around!

Have a great week.

Christmas Through the Year update

Linking up with Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches for CTTY again

I am pleased to say that my Gardener Girl is complete and has been put away safely until Christmas. Here she is.

A close up of the embroidery.

I enjoyed working on this design which came from Lilipopo

Also linking up with Super Mom no Cape Stitchery Link Party.

Back tomorrow with some EPP - see you soon

Also linking up with Needlework Tuesday at Books and Quilts - thank you Heather. 

Friday Night Sew In

Many thanks Wendy for hosting us all again - I hope you will pop over to Wendy's blog here to see what every one else was working on. I have already seen a few posts with some great work to look at.

I have been playing around with an altered book as my summer sketchbook and yesterday afternoon I decided to work with some water colour pencils. We have a massive crop of sloes this year and they are just ready to pick. I love the colour of the fruit (love sloe gin too!) so I thought I would have a go at painting some. This was the result.

My evening was spent cutting out and basting some more yellow hexies for my blue flower cloth.

While I was doing that we were watching a recording from Glastonbury earlier this summer - Philip Glass's Heroes Symphony, the tribute to David Bowie which was brilliant and the light show was amazing.

Hope everyone else had a great night.

Post and a reminder

Just popped in to show you this lovely postcard that arrived in my postbox today - a card from Japan which is a lovely first.

I have been following Pamela's blog Hokkaido Kudasai for some time now - she does the most beautiful embroidery and shares stories of her life in Japan and all the beautiful places she visits.
As she did not know about textile postcards I sent a few links and we arranged to swap. So this is Pamela's first postcard. Isn't it lovely! Just such a beautiful, simple Japanese design and I love the beautiful piece of shibori fabric along the bottom. Thank you very much for swapping with me Pamela.

Now the reminder - yes it's already time to sign up for Friday Night Sew In - if you would like to join in then pop over to Wendy's blog to sign up.

See you on Friday.