Welcome........finished!!

I love it when I finish a project! This was completed this week while we've been touring around the south of England in our motorhome, and as it happens just in the nick of time! My son and his girlfriend moved into their new house on Friday. Just need to put it in a frame (or I might just put a hoop around it) and give it a really good press of course!  But with a finished project under my belt, I give myself permission to start a new one...….

I thought this might be a quick project but I find working on the black aida hard going.  This one is for me (makes a change).  Tomorrow I have my embroidery/craft group and this month we have decided to create something from the rust work shop we did at Septembers meeting.  We have to cut up some of our rusty fabric into 3" squares and then share the pieces to create something marvellous! So watch this space later in the week!

I am linking up to Kathy's blog for some slow Sunday stitching.  Enjoy the rest of your day. xx

Scrap management!

 I have no idea what started me on 'scrap management' this afternoon.  It might have been because I've been catching up with the blog crazy mom quilts and wondering if I should invest in her book No Scrap Left Behind!  As you can see I have a basket full of scraps - most of them colour co-ordinated into zip lock bags just waiting to be used.

But will I ever use them?  My trouble is I can't bear to throw away even the tiniest piece of fabric (well you never know when you might need it right?) But today I decided enough was enough and I picked a bag from the basket, ironed them all and then started to cut them into 2" and 2 1/2" squares and then rectangles 1" up to 2" however long the piece of fabric happened to be.  Two hours later (yes it took me that long to do a small bags worth of scraps) I've thrown in the towel and I realise I need a lie down with a soothing cup of something nice (maybe I will skip that and just open a bottle of wine!)

Do I feel better for starting to manage my scraps - well yes I think I do.  Am I going to do anymore? Well maybe, but I think I might buy Amanda Jeans book first to give me some motivation/inspiration!!

Slow Sunday Stitching

I've been doing a bit of sewing here and there but in all honesty I've found it really difficult to settle to any one thing! Part of it is due to the fact we should be away in our motorhome right now and since we got a pesky warning light come on in the van, we are waiting for it to go into the garage to be done and as they are short staffed we are twiddling our thumbs! It does mean we have been able to get some gardening done and we've had some lovely walks along the beach and in the forest (so all is not lost!)

That means I have done little bits on all my projects but have decided to show a photo of progress on  Welcome.  There really isn't much more to do and I will hopefully finish it off this week.  In the mean time I am linking up with Kathy for some slow Sunday stitching.

Anita's Arrowhead block

Oh NO I'm hooked! I saw this block on Kathy's Blog and loved it immediately.  Yesterday I thought I would make a block and now I just want to make hundreds!

The block is called Anita's Arrowhead and you can see the instructions for the block here! Oh yes and it can be resized to make alternative block sizes here!

Black work and Welcome!

Some progress made on my black work project recently although not as much as I should have liked.  I admit I have been busy in other ways (cleaning, gardening, walking the dog - sometimes life just gets in the way of sewing, although walking the dog is not a chore it is almost always pleasurable ......except in the rain of course!)

But that's how life goes.  We are hoping to go away in the motor home soon and that does mean more sewing time! And I admit I have sorted out some more thread for another project - I can't bear the thought of not having a project or two to work on and if I complete Welcome I can start my new cross stitch.  In the mean time here is an update on Welcome.

I am linking up with Kathy for some slow Sunday stitching. But I did see on her blog yesterday some really nice blue blocks and I wouldn't mind having a quick go at making one.  But when that's done I will retire to my back garden for some sewing.  Have a good day!

Rusting!

Yesterday I got together with my creative group and we had a tutor in to teach us about rust!!  And what great fun we had too!  It was really just a day to spend experimenting with the iron onto pieces of calico.  As you can see I made lots of samples using stencils, keys, templates, rusty scissors, nuts, bolts - well anything actually! And I actually used some iron filings to rust some perle cotton. I also have a piece of calico in the back garden that has several keys tightly wrapped in it and I will leave it just to process!

I returned home with a small bag of iron and the urge to carry on experimenting.  All I need to buy is some bicarbonate of soda (which stops the rusting process).  The plan is that at next months meeting we start to do some embroidery on it.  But I think I would like some more samples with maybe not quite so much rust.....I want more negative spaces I think? (and I did go a bit mad - as did everyone in class!)

It was a great day!

Welcome!

It's been a rather nice week.  the weather has been lovely, so I've managed to do a bit of gardening, we've had some great walks in the forest and along the beach and we went to see an exhibition of art work by Judith Kerr.  It's the 50th anniversary of her book The tiger who came to tea, so there were illustrations from this book and her Mog the cat books.  I remember reading these to my children when they were little (so long ago!)

I made a start on the Welcome to our home cross stitch.  It's a nice piece to do as I like the small elements and the frequent changes of embroidery floss - stops me getting bored! I don't think it's going to take me long to complete this one, not that there is any hurry my son and his partner don't have a moving date yet, but I am enjoying it.  Tomorrow I have a work shop with my creative group on rusting items on fabric, no idea what is involved, but I know I need a bucket!  I have linked up with Kathy's blog for some Slow Sunday Stitching.  Kathy has set a photo challenge today on her blog.  She often stitches on a bench by a beautiful tranquil lake.  My outdoor stitching place is my garden.  I have a canopy to keep the sun off me and I generally have the dog for company (not sure how she can stay out in the hot sun but she is a bit of a sun worshipper) and have the birds also for company.  It's very quiet and I can often only hear the birds chirping or the horses clopping up the lane at the front.  Today however is a bit different because it's the Bournemouth Air Show and I have been watching a mixture of planes going over (they follow the coast up to the show).  So far I've watched several bi and tri planes and a spitfire.  The Red Arrows will pass over sometime this afternoon and possible some wing walkers (they must be bonkers) amongst others.  So maybe not quite as quiet as usual, but certainly interesting!