Another busy month.....

Another busy month has passed since my last post, so there is lots to tell you and even more photos!  Firstly, I celebrated my birthday for which I received several bouquets of beautiful flowers which filled the house with colour.

  

The following week we visited Norwich to attend my daughter's PhD (Doctorate) Graduation.

Very excitingly my homegrown sweetpea plant eventually decided to flower and it was well worth the wait as it is producing beautiful colour blooms.

At the end of July I travelled to Northampton to attend two workshops given by the talented Australian designer Gail Pan at a lovely little quilt shop called The Poppy Patch.  As well as getting to chat with Gail I started work on two lovely projects.

The following week I joined some other quilters from the local area on a coach trip to visit the Festival Of Quilts being held at the NEC in Birmingham.  What a spectacular display of quilts! I took far too many photos to show you them all here but, here are a few of my favourite quilts.

This past week we have been having our windows replaced as several of the double-glazed units had blown.  So to keep me sane amongst the noise and the brick dust I have been dabbling in some mindful watercolour painting.  The results of which you can see here on my projects 2023 page.

I have also had some time to add some hand stitching on the two wall hangings that I had started last time.

Thank you very much for visiting me here and if you have managed to read to the bottom of this post, congratulations!!

Until next time..... 😊

A Quick Catch Up.....

Hello! I may have titled this 'a quick catch up' but I warn you now this is a long post with lots of photos!

It has been a busy time here with the marriage of my eldest daughter and the birth of my third grandchild, another little girl.  Above is a trial sample of the bunting I was busy making earlier in the year to decorate the yurts we had in our garden for the wedding reception.  Below are some photos from the day.....

And a photo of the yurts taken after dark from the house.....

Then the latest addition to our family..... Elodie.....

Since June I have also been busy helping with a quilt exhibition organised by the quilt group I belong to..... Romsey Quilters.  It finishes today and was held in the Abbey at Romsey.  A beautiful setting for 125 spectacular quilts. Here are a few I took photographs of.....

I have also started work on a couple of new projects.  One is the pattern I bought at the Malvern Show that I showed you last time called 'Alliums and Lavender' and the other is a similar wall hanging that I have designed myself using the same background.

I am looking forward to working on them both over the coming weeks.  Hope you are finding some time for creativity and thank you for visiting!

Until next time.....😊

A lovely visit....

I can't believe it has already been a fortnight since I last wrote a post, time has been flying past this year and I just don't seem to be able to keep up.

I don't really have much news since the last post other than I had a very nice visit to the Malvern Quilt Show on Friday last.

The quilts on display were lovely and, it was nice to have the opportunity to browse the retail stalls and buy a few bits and pieces.  I was reasonably reserved, buying a few items that I needed for my sewing machine, a few patterns and some new batik fabrics.

I am hoping to make another version of the metro tiles quilt that I made last year.  The original pattern has 50 blocks but in the version I made, I only used 25 so I am hoping to make another square quilt using the remaining 25 blocks. 

I won't be able to start that for a while yet though as I have a new grandchild expected, my eldest daughter's wedding and a quilt show between now and the middle of July!! 

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend! 

Until next time 😊 xx

Time for a catch up!

It has been a little while again since my last post and I am afraid that there is not a lot to show you on the stitching front.  I have managed to add a few more details to the project that I was working on when I last posted.

So, what have I been doing?  Well, I was laid low at the beginning of March with a bout of covid (despite being fully vaccinated) which took quite a while to recover from and which left me with very little energy so I didn't feel much like creating.

I have been enjoying the beautiful Spring flowers in the garden.  Those pictured above were out in March but now we have beautiful bluebells and apple blossom to enjoy.

I have spent some time in the greenhouse planting out some seeds which I have been looking after carefully.  They are coming along quite nicely and some will soon be ready for planting out.

Creatively, I did make a little notebook from some of the papers I had in my craft room which I handbound using a stitched method.  It's not perfect but I was pleased with the results.

I had a visit to my family in Norfolk and another to my daughter in Leicester and have just recently been on a workshop in Yorkshire run by Anne Brooke of H-anne-Made.  The workshop was taught by Liz Cooksey and was a lot of fun. This is my finished project.

Very, very sadly, I have also had to say goodbye to my dear little dog Poppy.  She had turned 15 at the beginning of April and had been my constant friend and companion.  She was never far from my side and I am totally bereft without her.

Hopefully there will be more stitching to show you next time.... until then.... xx

Adding hand stitching.....

I haven't had a lot of time for stitching since my last finish but, I have decided to revamp another, older project.

Some while ago I completed a small project depicting one of my favourite garden plants, the Globe Thistle.  The finished project is pictured above.  However, I always felt that there was some detail missing from the project, so I have decided to add some more.

So far, I have removed the french knots that I originally added to the circumference of each of the flower heads and have started hand stitching lazy daisy flowers over the whole of the surface of the flower.

I am really pleased with how this is looking and I can't wait now to get the other two flowers finished.  

I am planning to add some other details too, so watch this space.

Until next time.... 😊

The first finish of 2023!!

It has been a busy start to the year and I haven't had a great deal of time to sew or to post here.  However, I have managed to get my little 'Strippy Scrappy' quilt which I showed you last time finished.

It is my first finish of 2023 and I am very pleased with it.

I used a piece of fabric from a collection by Anni Downs which I have had in my stash for some time, to put on the back and I think it looks rather cute.

I was so pleased to have it finished that I couldn't wait to use it on our kitchen table.  As we had visitors here this weekend, it was a perfect addition to the breakfast table.

Hope you are all having a creative weekend.

Until next time..... 😊 xx