Friday Night Sew In February

Last night was the FNSI for February and I actually managed to join in a little.  I did have Elsa with me though but it did mean I could help her set up an appliqué table runner she had found in one of the magazines I brought back from Australia.  It's all fused down and she has started the buttonhole stitch.

I so love the Australian magazines!  I wish I could go back soon and add more!  They far outstrip any magazines from UK or America and are just always packed with things to make.

I then actually managed to make a start on a piece of Gold work I bought as a kit and totally forgot about.

My new workroom has a dehumidifier in it sucking all the water out so hopefully Andy will be able to lay the floor sometime next week.  Stuart the electrician is on standby with the plugs and lighting and the blinds are being made.  I could actually see next weekend as being a possible!!!!

Andy did come back from the builders merchants with an 8 x 4 foot x 50mm (love those combo measurements) sheet of Celltex insulation foam for my design wall.  He said there was a pile about 5 foot high and he went right through most of them to try and find the straightest one.  Bless him, he's done really well working with a frustrated crafts-person continually pacing around!   I have the wadding ready to cover it too so that will be a nice stage to pass very soon. It's lurking out of the way at the moment so it doesn't become damaged.

Elsa and Mike leave us today but we have Chris and Becks arriving for lunch first. This evening I will catch up on some DMTV and see what the Kemshall's have been up to.


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A Finish, a Start and a Date, or Two.

Yesterday I finished this little table centre.  All the fabrics were hand dyed by Maggi at To Dream To Stitch.  I hand pieced and quilted it and it is from a pattern called Solar Eclipse that one of my ladies had done at sewing group and I admired very much.  Piecing bias curves is not as hard as it seems when it's done over paper. 16.5 inches.  It goes fab with the bowl Maggi.

I signed up to Lisa Walton's new beading class that starts in the new year at Dyed and Gone to Heaven.  I'm just OK with beading but I'm also always willing to gather new information and expand ideas!

Also the Friday Night Sew In this month has two dates.  This Friday the 10th and also the 17th of December.  I'm almost done with Christmassy things so I will hopefully be using the time to catch up on other things that have been put aside.


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FNSI & SAHR

Well the Friday Night Sew in meant I at least did this months Stay at Home Robin!  That little block has been hanging around waiting to find the next piece it wanted and, after a lot of offerings, I more or less gave up.  Then I found a batch of hand dyed silk velvet lurking in a corner and it just wanted to be a part of this.  It does have the right blue in it and introduces green.  I think this is ending up as an exploratory of texture!  I took the photo in the morning light to capture the beautiful sheen on the silk velvet.

Other things I completed last night I can not show on here as there are two Christmas gifts and a block for a friend but they took time and I'm more than happy to have spent the time on them.

This week I also signed up for a City and Guilds course in Creative Textiles.  Should be interesting!!!

Beppy Berlin Workshop

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments about my Hever win.  I really am glad I followed my gut instincts.  I did have a lot of encouragement from John though, he loves the fish but that's a fisherman for you!

I've had a lovely day today at Hanson's, Sturminster Newton, on the Beppy Berlin Guardian Angel workshop.  This is mine...

She is blonde as is my real life angel (22 on Monday!! where does the time go?) and will be my little guardian for her.

Also this months Friday Night Sew In is on 17th, a week tomorrow, click the thingy on the right if you would like to join in.  It really is quite nice to set yourself a date with a needle!!!

Can anyone confirm if I read the Sky magazine correctly and that there will be a new series of Kirstie's Homemade Home in October?  The mag has gone and I missed a lot of the last series.  Anything crafty on our TV stations should be supported!!!  Fed up with revamped houses and cookery here!!

After the Weekend

The weather is still not too great here so neither is the light. Results of my FNSI.


This is the Jenny BOM on our bed with the sashing done.

And these are the borders. The bottom row shows that I have started the roll back of the edges. They will be added with the corner stones.

Yesterday we had a club gathering at Beaulieu, the National Motor Museum, and a rare shot of our three girls together.

Mike spent ages Saturday cleaning them all up and it was mostly drizzle all day, they still looked rather nice, thanks Mike. But it’s a fabulous hour long drive down the length of the New Forest so that bit was fun too. Elsa even managed to sit in the car and do some sewing.

And this morning whilst doing the Monday morning chores we also managed the pick and blanch another batch of beans for the freezer.

I also refilled the seed feeders for the birds. We are now doing this about every 5 days, there are so many babies about. It takes a full 3 gallon bucket of seed, 2 gallons of nuts (but they only need filling every alternate time), 6 fat balls and 2 fat blocks and a 2 litre jug of niger seed.

Plenty of family time this week and Chris flies in sometime late Thursday too. Can’t wait to see him.

Have a good week all.

Friday Night Sew In

Well the Friday Night Sew In was more of an afternoon of Whilst I Was Waiting. John was out fishing and Elsa and Mike were due down early evening so I thought I would sew the corner blocks and sashing to the Jenny BOM, the top is now a completed square and I also sewed the blocks and four strips for each side borders. I guess I feel a little bit of a cheat this month as it was the afternoon and I haven’t had time to take photos with visitors. Also the light is appalling here with all this rain.


Tomorrow we have a club car show so will be busy then too. Monday for photos hopefully!!!

Have a good weekend.

Biscornu

“An irregular form, with projections”.

A pattern in Stitch magazine with 15 faces. Of course I didn’t have the exact materials but whoever does? Aren’t these things made to be adapted to what’s at hand? I’ve used Stef Frances’ 12 strand silk split into 6 strands and a bit of perle. It works and I’m happy with it.

Yesterday we went to Surrey to a car show which was quite a disappointment. Coming back we looked for somewhere for lunch (on a Sunday in the summer holidays. ! ) As we drove back through West Sussex we passed Petworth House and went in there. A bit of a mistake. Even though it was just gone 2pm the restaurant was very full. After we finally managed to sit and eat we went around the house. If you’re into paintings, van Dykes', Turners', Gainsboroughs’ and the like, you’re in for a treat. But that’s about all there is. That and the fallow deer herd. Very little furniture, no textiles at all and you could only go around the ground floor. Some of the paintings had been restored and the change of varnish was absolutely stunning. They could have been painted last week. Every brush stroke was visible and the colours so vibrant.

Just before bed I walked up the garden with the dogs and had a near miss with a bat. Then another. The pair of them were swooping around the buddleia bush where there must have been a rise of insects for them. I called John out and we watched them for quite some time. I hope they find the box up the Tree of Heaven!

The next Friday Night Sew In has been announced as this Friday, 20th. Not sure I will do much as Elsa and Mike will be arriving but I’ve signed up. See the button on the right for more info.

If you’re going to FoQ this week, have fun. If you’re showing at FoQ, good luck. If you’re not going, think of the money you won’t have to spend!! I had an email from Valdani last week; they have a booth at the show (E46). I have drooled over their threads for some time, especially the little balls of variegated perle, but, because they are US, I’ve resisted buying. There are hand dyers over here and the customs has no charge for them!! If you're passing their booth, have a look.

Now on to another project to finish!

Friday Night Sew In

Last night we had our first potatoes from the garden and they were wonderful!

After catching up on the news I went upstairs for the Friday Night Sew In.

First I finished the pennant for the Olympics SEE HERE. As we are not allowed to actually use any form of Olympic branding including the date 2012 (!!) I am waiting to hear back as to whether I can put on MMXII instead. They can’t brand everything and it seems daft not having some form of linking to the actual event. I must say that I was rather smug when I realised just before I finished it that I had used the colours of the rings. I didn’t even think of that at the time!

I then cut 16 of the Magical Minis. All these pieces are to make 4 inch blocks. Yes they are fiddly and no I’m not overly fond of some of the fabrics but I didn’t choose them. Block set 6 is due through soon so I really need to make these.

I also made the four corners of the Jenny Rayment BOM from Justhands On TV. I also cut and started sewing block 9 so nearly there with this quilt, just the sashing and edges.

I did have the TV on whilst doing this and watched Toby dig up some of his potatoes on Gardeners World. Beat you to it Toby!

Summertime Blues

Don't get me wrong, I do love Summer but there comes a point when I realise I'm wandering around in the evenings waiting for the 'evening' to start. 

In the beginning it's lovely to take handwork out into the garden but then other things start accumulating that need time in the sewing room.  It can be quite warm up there and it seems wrong to be indoors when the sun is still shining (not so much just lately though, but it is still daylight!).  Even the garden, though looking good, does not have the excitement it does at the start of the year when everything is fresh and new.

Stepped bed to the terrace.

I know I love Autumn the most and cooler days.  I like the crisp smell that happens about the end of October and the lighting of the fires.  I like the fact that evening comes at a respectable part of the day and lasts all night! Perhaps it's because quilt making suggests warmth, cosy, home, time and effort spent making something. 

I have a very valid wish this year that September takes it's time arriving and, just this year I will hang onto summer for as long as possible but I still find high summer a bit of a burden.

I followed Narelle who commented in my last post back to her blog, boy does she churn some stuff out!  She has joined a group that does a Friday Night Sew-in, read about it HERE .  I thought why not, what else do I do on a Friday night!  It's amazing where you end up when you start following threads of info on this internet thing!