A Few Little Cuties!

I posted about the machines on Facebook and totally forgot to blog about them!

Aren't they sweet!

John bought me the Wilcox & Gibbs.  She is 10" to the top of the wheel and sews a beautiful chain stitch like a dream.

As that one looked a bit lonely we then bought the immaculate little Essex which also sews beautifully and is 7" to the top of the spool pin.

And it came with this diddy, teeny child's Casige which is only 5.5" to the top of the spool pin and works too.

In the making department I have been cracking on with the EG Course and two Artful Gathering workshops.  I would show progress pictures but I usually don't because the course tutor has gone to a lot of trouble to put these together and I think progress pictures would undermine that and probably breech a copyright or two. They are also paid for courses and again it's wouldn't be fair on the tutor to bandy her lessons about freely on the internet.  I'm sure you understand!

I did finish another Olivia cardie.

It just needs blocking and buttons but it's a lovely crinkly lightweight yarn by Sirdar called Raffaella.  I have so many spare and odd balls now I can see where the term Granny Blanket came from!  I must do something with them all.  Perhaps a crocheted blanket.....

It was also Mike's birthday a couple of weekends ago and I drew a portrait of Grandpup Remi for him.

In case you were wondering about the rusty nails panel, they have oozed a little!

Don't forget all pictures can be clicked on to be made bigger.

I will confess that in the beginning I did spray with a little salty water but other than that they've done their own thing.  No idea why some marks went up and some down but I'm happy with that.

The build is plodding along.  We are all Celotexed in so it's almost like having real walls.  The roofer starts next week.  Wiring for the solar panels is in place as is most of the rest of the wiring.  The Plumber is also starting next week to install a whole new thermal store system, could be fun juggling the amount of water we have to use! Bathrooms are all ready to be delivererd and the bedrooms are in the plans stage.  Can't move in the garage for 'stuff'!

Finally hello to new followers, waving madly from the outer reaches of Dorset.  I'm glad you found your way over.

Keep cool in the heat everyone!  Unless you're down under of course.

A Few Finishes and a Yay!!

I have really been stalling lately and decided to just pull some fabric, play and stitch and see what came out of it. No planning or too much thought, I just needed to try and kickstart a creative flow.

I cut up a selection of fabrics, layered them, stitched them together then cut them up again. It was fun rearranging them on a background and stitching again.  14 inches square.

They did need just a little bit more though so I folded some of the corners revealing even more layers and added beads.

I also managed a start on one of the purse frames.  I've had this piece of patchwork pinned on my wall for years!

I was never overly fond of the colour so I added layers of wool tops with the embellisher, yes it coped fine with all the seams. (And a form of felting I actually enjoy!)

I added machine stitch in a pattern with a sort of wisteria idea in mind.

I then added lots more stitch, some chopped sari silks, a layer of chiffon and even more stitch so I think that idea went out of the window.  I made up the purse shape and added beading.

In the end there is virtually nothing of the original fabric left on show but I'm quite pleased with the result.

I did indulge in spending a whole day just with pencil and paper.  I'd forgotten how much I love just line and tone. These don't photograph too well I'm afraid coming out a little harsh and lacking in the detail.

Ruger

Ellie

And finally, our front lawn this morning is starting to look like this.

And the view from the in the house is very exciting!! (Not the man, the scaffolding!! What are you like?)

You would not believe the drawings for this project.  For now I will leave you with what the front of the house looks like at the start of this project.

Fingers crossed it looks as good as we hope it will at the end!!