Honey Bee

New Group's first Exhibition at the Knitting and Stitching Shows

2010-09-29T01:14:00.000-07:00

'HUE' is a new group of 12 artists who work with textiles and was formed in 2008.

The choice of the name HUE alludes to the shades, subtleties, qualities and the infinite possibilities and combinations of colour that we use and represent as artists.

We are all very different in our artistic practice and compliment each other in our variety of ideas for design and finished work. The members are all experienced textile artists, having exhibited widely and have now come together as HUE to share and exchange ideas and develop as artists. We come from the South Coast to East Anglia and travel to meet together in Hertfordshire with our mentor Anthea Godfrey.
The members of the group are:- Valerie Aitken, Ailsa Bulger, Nicky Callaby, Judith Coxell¸ Gavin Fry, Carola Garvie, Helen Price, Jo Lamb, Grania Little, Stephanie Pettengell, Elisabeth Rutt, and Clare Wood. Visitors will find on display a wide variety of work completed by hand and machine from extensive design sources.

We are delighted that our first exhibition will be at the Knitting and Stitching shows this autumn and hope that visitors will enjoy the wide variety of work on display.’

Below is a taste of the exhibition pieces made by members of 'HUE' that will be in one of the galleries at Alexandra Palace and the Harrogate International Centre.

Valerie Aitken

Gavin Fry

Judith Coxell

Elisabeth Rutt

Clare Wood

Stephanie Pettengell

Rusting Away

2010-09-27T01:58:00.001-07:00

Faces - The Young Ones

2010-09-07T02:16:00.000-07:00

Faces - The Guys

2010-09-05T09:56:00.001-07:00

Faces - The Girls

2010-09-03T23:08:00.001-07:00

A Slow Start !

2010-08-25T08:32:00.001-07:00

Dancing in the night

2010-08-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hungry?

2010-07-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

Celebration

2010-06-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Tradition

2010-06-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

Fort Kochi

2010-06-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Ginger and spice

2010-05-23T09:23:00.000-07:00

On the backwaters

2010-05-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

Traffic Kochi Style

2010-05-02T11:38:00.001-07:00

Mother India

2010-04-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

and more snow

2009-12-23T02:56:00.001-08:00

Snow

2009-12-23T01:20:00.001-08:00

Bag finale!

2009-03-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have just realised that I have four more bags from the British Quilt List Bag Challenge of 2008 to show you. Among them is my favourite bag of the whole year.

The September bag was a very pretty bag, lovely pastel fabrics made into log cabin blocks and rearranged on point. This was also the month for embellishments and like many others I used buttons and lace to complete my bag. A first for me with bags, this one had a zip in the top. This was a really good design, which I would like to make another one of in different fabrics.

Octobers bag, this is my favourite bag of the year, I am not sure whether it is because of the fabric or the design but I love this bag made of half square triangles in batik fabrics. The photo does not show it off at its best angle, the top is as wide as the bottom and it has side ties to pull in the top edge. It has not been used yet as I am saving it for my holiday. I think they will see me coming!

Novembers bag was much more practical, a messenger bag with the flap covered in small half square triangles. This time I used shirt fabrics with calico (that’s muslin in the USA), a brilliant bag for carrying files or magazines. The handle is good and wide so I daresay it would be good for carrying a laptop as well.

Decembers final bag was a non-patchwork bag, a drawstring bag with handles. As I have commented on each bag I have posted I must really admit to not liking this one. But many of the ones that were made and shown on the BQL website had a much better choice of fabric and looked much, much better than this one here.

You must remember that this is a personal choice. Occasionally I also do bag designs for my students and myself so I really admire Kandy who has designed all the bags for the BQL bag challenge 2008. Not only did she get many people to join in the challenge and therefore make bags they never would have dreamed of making without her. Kandy also used many different patchwork techniques in her designs and many different bag-making techniques as well. She has my thanks and admiration for what she has done for all the members of BQL, which of course includes me. Indirectly she also raised a lot of money for the Quilters Guild of the British Isles as in August of last year at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC at Birmingham there was a bag Tombola and many of the bags donated to it where from her designs. Thanks Kandy.

Time to Spare

2009-03-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

I am really enjoying Judy’s Quilt along, that’s when I give myself enough time to do the sewing. This time I have finished the latest step with time to spare. I guess it is back to when you are really busy you tend to get more done.

On Thursday I am off shopping in the morning with my mother and then the rest of the day I have the wonderful company of my grandson. I pick him up from nursery and enjoy his chat and play until his Mum comes home from work. My husband and I are off to Durham on Friday to pick youngest son up from University for the Easter break, staying over in a room in the ‘Castle’ and then travelling home on Saturday with a car full of gear. Much of which I guess will need washing when we reach home. Sunday, Mothers Day in England, I have been invited to my eldest son’s, which is a great pleasure, as I won’t have to cook the family meal.

So you see I won’t have time to do any stitching for the next few days and knowing that today has been a ‘get it done’ day. One of the results of that is that I have finished step four of the Quilt along. I did get a lot of other things done too, like the teaching samples for next week, which is also a great relief as they quite often don’t get done until Monday morning.

I am getting to like this one,

By the skin of my teeth

2009-03-09T12:42:00.001-07:00

Monday morning and the sun is shining, getting ready for work I spied these little fellows in the garden.

And these were a gift from my grandson two years ago for ‘mothers’ day, still bringing me a smile.

A bright spot always raises the spirits and there is nothing better than the bright hope of spring around the corner

But onto why this blog is by the skin of my teeth. I had been continuing with the cutting and piecing of Judy’s Bears in the Farmhouse Quilt along and really enjoying the progress I was making, despite the last few days being so busy that I had only waved at my sewing machine in passing. I had also been looking around at other blogs and seeing the colour choices other participants had chosen and half wishing that I had chosen a more exciting focus fabric. My fabrics are decidedly subdued even by my standards. I thought I would sew a few blocks this morning and was thinking that if I did a few each day they would soon be completed so I would get the next set of instructions. I then thought that I would just check Judy’s last email to see when this stage should be finished. That’s when the panic set in, they had to be finished by today, Monday 9^th March and I was just about to set off to work.

This is where I got to by teatime.

And with a bit of concentration here’s where I am now, luckily I have just finished the second step in time, whew, by the skin of my teeth.

They could be more exciting but I still like them. What do you think so far?

Half squares finished

2009-02-24T07:00:00.001-08:00

Just checking in with my finished half square triangles from Judy’s Quilt along, you can see my fabrics here and if you keep checking you will see whether I change my mind or not.

I managed to cut all the squares at 2 7/8” in one go and marked the light squares across the diagonal. This is my preferred method of making half square triangles, there are others but I like to do it this way. Stitching took a while but not too long to get discouraged and they were quickly cut on the diagonal. There is supposed to be 192 of these little darlings

Pressing didn’t take long, they soon started to pile up.

And finally 192 half square triangles (well there was a few more than I needed, more like 220, but they will get used up in another quilt someday) all ready for the next stage. Thanks Judy.

A finish and more bags

2009-02-22T05:05:00.001-08:00

I have finally finished quilting another quilt. This one was started about two years ago and was layered and pinned ready for quilting but because I was busy at the time it was popped in a drawer and like a lot of things, out of sight is out of mind, it was therefore forgotten. But a reminder came when I realised that I was teaching the ‘Card Trick’ block in class next week. So I dug it out and decided that it would make a good teaching sample. Simple free machine quilting finished this one off and made a space in the drawer which I promptly filled with another couple of tops that maybe will be quilted sometime…………………

‘A Christmas card trick'

And a detail photo.

Talking of finishing, I really must show you the rest of the bags I made with the BQL monthly challenge for 2008.

The month of June’s had lots of flying geese and a really nice wide base; I popped a couple of pockets in this one.

Here’s July’s, which was not my favourite but ideal for keeping your knitting in as it was a rather deep bag.

And this is August’s, which I really didn’t like making and liked even less when I had finished it. It was a simple clutch bag pattern and once again Kandy from BQL made the instructions quite clear but it wasn't my personal preference.

Only three more to show you all.

Catching up

2009-02-19T05:16:00.000-08:00

I thought that I would continue my blogging return by showing you a few things I have finished, some old and one new.

The first three are bags from the BQL bag challenge from last year, I did show you the first couple of months but then the rest seemed to slip through the net.

This is the bag for March

And this one is for April

And the final one for today is for May

Lastly this is a quilt that is fleece backed that I made for my grandson at the weekend. By coincidence you will see some of the squares of fabric I received from Sandy in Australia. It was a wonderful parcel and went to good use in this cuddly quilt. By the way, would you guess he loves the colour orange.

I'm back

2009-02-17T05:03:00.000-08:00

Well fellow bloggers, I am back, and you have Judy to thank for that. I really wanted to join her Quilt Along and the most important rule is you either send photo’s of your progress to her or show the photo’s on your own blog. It was the nudge I needed to get back into blogging. Here are my fabric choices for the Bears in the Farmhouse quilt Judy is going to get us all to do. Thanks Judy.

Don’t think that I have been very far away, I have been practicing my Lurker skills, spending way too much time reading all the other blogs and now I think I have it down to a fine art so here I am again. I have been busy and I will promise to show you some of the things I have been doing but for now I will leave you a couple of photo’s of our garden showing the recent snow falls.

Parcel

2008-08-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a wonderful postman came to my door last week. I wondered why he was knocking, as I wasn’t expecting a parcel. I was so wrong, it was a parcel all the way from Australia from Sandy.
I still can’t believe that I can sit here on my computer in my own home and chat to people on the other side of the world. Sandy lives in South Australia and a couple of months ago I was reading her blog, I like to keep an eye on about 100 bloggers that post quite regularly, and I saw that is was her 100th post and she was having a giveaway. That is quite a lot of posts and cannot go by without some sort of celebration or comment. A couple of weeks later Sandy emailed me to let me know that she had picked out my name and I had won a squishy that she would post off to me soon.

I was quite excited and last week the squishy arrived by Airmail. What a super package to greet me in the morning. Opening it didn’t take a lot of time……….(ripping envelopes seems to come easy to me) and reading the card was my first joy. Sandy had written a really nice message to me. Inside was a prettily wrapped gift and as you can see from the photos loads and loads of character fabrics for me to play around with and maybe make another quilt for my grandson.

Among all these wonderful fabrics were some really good funnies as well, thanks so much Sandy, they are wonderful.

Now for the bad news, over the last few weeks blogger has been such a pain and while trying to sort it out I lost most of the blogs I have been keeping in touch with. Amongst these, and there are quite a few, is Sandy’s blog. So, Sandy I do hope you are checking in here now and again and will see my thanks and also get in touch. It is surprisingly hard to get back those blogs that which you have been watching once they are lost and I am now spending more time searching than reading. Very interesting.

Open Studio's and Singing

2008-07-16T14:49:00.001-07:00

I spent most of Saturday demonstrating to loads of people passing through the Stockwood Park Discovery Centre, part of Luton Museum. I wasn't on my own, a fellow member of my textile group was with me and we were extremely busy. The Centre was opened on Saturday by Charlie Dimmock who brought in many people that wanted to meet her but stayed for much longer to look around and enjoy the gardens, play area, museum pieces and (of course I have to blow my own trumpet here) an exhibition of works by The New Horizons Textile Group. You may have guessed that I am a member of this group so you won’t be surprised that two of the pieces were made by yours truly. Here's one of my pieces.

The exhibition is open until November so if you are in the area you have plenty of time to pop along. If you do go take someone young or old along with you as it is a brilliant place to spend time - the coffee and cakes are excellent too.

Youngest son is now home from Austria after receiving a silver medal along with all the others in the Cantate Choir in the Mixed Choir Category. They all did superbly well, as they were the youngest choir to reach the finals. Along with the silver medal the girls in the choir had entered the Sacred Music Category and they did even better by getting a gold medal.

All the youngsters were met at the airport on Sunday afternoon by cheering parents and their smiles were the best we have seen for a while. I was there too jumping up and down and cheering but don’t say a word about that because youngest son doesn't like me to do that sort of thing in company! Congratulations and very well done to all the Cantate Choir, the director Michael Kibblewhite and all those valuable helpers.

We had some more good news when he got home as youngest son’s music teacher had rung with his music grade results and he had received a Distinction in his Clarinet Grade 8 and another Distinction in his Singing Grade Six exam.

Just to get away from family into craft for a moment, I slipped away on Sunday morning to Gina’s Open Studio to have a look at some of the work she produces that I haven’t seen before. One of the things I really wanted to see was the Sainsbury’s bag dress. I wasn’t disappointed, it was brilliant and well worth the trip. Of course she had lots more things to see and of course just the chance to peek into someone else’s workroom is a wonderful treat.
Yes Gina, your workroom is much tidier than mine and after coming back and looking at my disgusting mess I spent most of Monday trying to get some semblance of order. On the good side it is now looking much tidier but on the bad side I spent too long this afternoon looking for something that I have tidied away!!!!!!! You just can't win.
I did come home from Gina’s with this treat for myself though so if you are around that way do call in and take a look.

World Choir Games - Gold

2008-07-11T03:05:00.000-07:00

We are pretty excited here as youngest son, the one who plays instruments and sings, is in Austria at the moment. He went from Stansted on Wednesday morning with his choir ‘Cantate’ to Gratz to take part in the ‘World Choir Games’.

There are over 440 ensembles of music taking part from 93 countries and amongst them there are twelve choirs from England competing this year. It is a wonderful opportunity for the young to gather from all over the world and sing. The slogan is ‘Singing together brings Nations together’.

Until my son joined ‘Cantate’ I had never heard of these games and I suppose there are many of you out there that have not heard about them either. We hear so much bad in the press about the teenagers of today that it gives an impression that they are all bad. So it is nice when we also talk about the young that spend their time doing other things than annoying the rest of the world. They are not all bored and I am sure that you all know of many teenagers that are happy and contented with their lives and fill their time with constructive activities in their spare time.

Yesterday Cantate competed in the mixed voice choir section and obtained a Gold so will be competing again tomorrow. We are excited and also very proud of our son and of all the young in the choir. The choir rehearse for at least two hours, sometimes more, on a Sunday each week and to get to the rehearsal we drive about an hour there and an hour back. This is a huge commitment for youngsters and is not to be dismissed. They work hard, have fun and sometimes like today reap the rewards.

Here they are relaxing and singing in green with the Cheshire Youth Choir in sunny Gratz yesterday afternoon.

Congratulations Cantate and good luck for tomorrow.

Lucky, Lucky Me

2008-06-28T06:46:00.000-07:00

Yes that is right, I am just so lucky. It was only Thursday I was showing you the mini-quilt I had made for my partner in Kate’s ‘Another Little Quilt Swap’ and telling you how late I was in getting finished. The recipient of my quilt will still be waiting for her parcel.
But I have no need to wait anymore as a knock on the door this morning meant I had a box delivered with foreign senders address. Yes it was my mini-quilt from the person who was partnered to send me a quilt. I must explain here that you don’t necessarily receive a mini-quilt from the same person that you send one to. The wonderful lady that sent this mini-quilt to me was Shelly Barker from Pennsylvania, which is one of the places in the States I would really like to visit.

I will tease you a little with this first photo; a little glimpse of the centre and you will see how clever Shelly has been with the fabric. You will also see that she has used my very favourite colours turquoise and purple and used them very nicely too.

Here is another peek of the corner of the quilt and that delicious binding.

I have had a look at Shelly’s blog and I would certainly advise you to go and have a look too, as it is a very good read, she is also very generous with the photo’s. Oh well, enough chat, I suppose I had better share my new mini-quilt with you all.

Isn’t it brilliant? And that’s not the finish, have a look at the fabric on the back of the quilt, it really rivals the front. Fabric with Quilt Diva all over it, its brilliant and it's fun.

Thanks Shelly.

Deadline

2008-06-26T07:52:00.001-07:00

The deadline for sending off the mini quilt for Kate’s ‘Another Little Quilt Swap’ is 1st July and I knew I was sailing close to the wind as I kept finding other things to do. This week was hopefully set aside to finish some of the ‘little’ things that have piled up on my workroom desk. Once I had decided on the design and taken another few hours to choose the fabrics I felt much better and started cutting out. I did not want to hurry this little quilt and I decided to make it fairly small. Mostly because I really like this design produced in a small format. Here is a small corner again.

Here we are on Thursday and I have now finished the quilt, which is measured with the binding on at 15” high and 12” wide. This is quite a small piece and would have been much easier and quicker to make in a larger size but I think this challenge is quite special so I wanted to make a special quilt for my partner. It is also a challenge to ‘go small’ and I really love the finished quilt in fact I am tempted to keep it. So here is all of it.

Don’t worry partner, as this quilt will be on its way to you before the end of the day. I won’t make a guess to how long it will take to get to you as that may give you a clue as to who may receive it. I can only say sorry that as I am one of the last to mail my parcel, you will be one of the last to receive their mini quilt.

Mini's and Weeds

2008-06-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show a quilt that I forgot to show when I completed it a couple of weeks ago. Bonnie Hunter has wonderful free quilt patterns that anyone can use to make fantastic scrap quilts. As part of my stash busting I decided to cut up lots of scraps and very old fat quarters to make one of Bonnie’s quilts. The one I choose was ‘Weed Wacker’ and it now contains bits of many quilts that I have made in the past.

I free machine quilted it with a variegated thread and really enjoyed doing it.

The quilting came together nicely where the light squares met.

And lastly, just a peek at the mini quilt I have made for my ALQS partner. I really love this one and wish I could keep it. I do hope my partner will like it. Hopefully I will get it finished and in the post in the next couple of days.

ALERT -ALERT- - - - Bumper Picture Postcard Blog

2008-06-22T02:57:00.000-07:00

This is a bumper picture blog as I have been receiving postcards from all over the world for the last couple of months or more and not sharing them with you. The holidays are now with me and I am taking a few hours out to clear the backlog of jobs I have. You really don't want to know how many and how much mess there is here, it is not a pleasant sight. Anyway the reason for this blog is I have found a pile of postcards that I have thanked the senders for but I have not shared them with those of you that read this blog, the few or the many which ever that might be.

The first two are from my postcard exchange group and are the last two postcards of our first swap when we started the group. There are 25 of us in this group but we split into small groups for some swaps as our lives are busy at times so we cannot join in all of them.

Firstly from Monica in Spain

and then from Jennifer in Ohio

The second batch of postcards is from a small swap our group did called 'Simple Pleasures of Nature'

From Michelle in Australia

From Debbie in the United States

from Anna who is posted in Japan with her husband and children

From Suzy, again from the USA

Another from Australia, this time from Monica

and lastly one from Gretchen from across the pond in the States.

Pretty good so far isn't it, and I have not finished yet, the next batch are from another postcard group I belong to where I don't join in with every swap but occasionally there is a swap I have time for and I think I might enjoy. That is the good thing about these groups and the swaps that go on between them, you don't have to join in with every one of them.

This group swap was called 'The Man in Your Life' and as you will see, let you know a little about the man in the swappers life and what he does with his life.

Firstly from Barbara who's man likes computers

and from Kathy whose husband is in the forces

from Lise who live in Norway and her man sometimes dresses up in a tie.

Miriam from the States has a man who likes Jazz

Sharon's and her man come from England and her man enjoys trains as you can see.

Lastly in this group is Lisa and her man from America and as you can see he likes Fishing

No, I still haven't finished, this is where you get some idea how many jobs I have piling up and how much catching up I still have to do.

The next photo's are postcards I have received from my group that are in a 'Colour' swap. Now here I also have to admit that although I have sent all my cards out to everyone of the people I have received a card from, this group has not received a 'Colour' card from me as that is another job that is one my 'catch up list' To reassure them, the postcards to do job is nearly at the top of my list!

Here we go and this is really the last pile.

From Monica in Spain this bright and cheerful card

and loads of colourful threads and fabrics from Diane in America

Suzy in San Diego sent colourful oranges growing fast in sunny California

And lastly but by no means unwanted, the most colourful postcard from Monica in Australia.

I will leave you to enjoy these cards as I have and get back to another pile of jobs that has to be sorted and a list that has to be dealt with.

Enjoy.

Hearts and pins

2008-06-21T03:56:00.001-07:00

Another week flashes by with me spending a lot of time being chauffeur to the family. What with shopping, dentist appointments, hospital appointments, doctors appointments, Quilt group meeting and more shopping I have spent most of the time in the driving seat. There were good bits though and the best bits of the week were on Monday when I went with a couple of friends up to Bramble Patch for their Strawberry’s and Cream week and enjoyed the exhibition of work up there. It is about an hours drive for me but well worth the trip. I bought a four fabrics to go towards my Sampler quilt that students will be starting when we get back to classes in September.

We also found another patchwork and quilting shop in the area and I was drawn to buying these for a future project. We had a really delightful time with good company and also had time for a delicious lunch.

No asking me what the project is yet as I don’t know myself yet. I just couldn’t resist them at £5 per metre!!

I have been getting some sewing done, not a lot but I have finished something recently, this disappearing 9 patch quilt ate up the rest of my pink fabrics I bought some time ago and I really enjoyed making it. It is such a quick quilt to make and you can use so many fabric combinations and always get a lovely finished quilt.

The appliquéd hearts were fun to add, not too sure where this one will go to yet.

And a couple of pincushions finished and ready to go for sales at our next exhibition of work.

Where has this week gone?

2008-06-15T09:34:00.001-07:00

Where has this week gone to, it seems just a moment ago when I was at the Embroiderers Guild meeting with Gina and our many other friends and fellow members. But now I find that it was a week ago. Last Saturday an extremely clever and talented fellow member demonstrated how to fix shisha mirrors to fabric. I have tried to do this before and didn’t have much success, this time however with the expert tuition my shisha mirrors stayed on the fabric. That is about all the good I can say about it, as my embroidery isn’t shining as well as the mirrors as you can well see.

Gina did push me into showing this dismal excuse for hand stitching by showing hers here. So all is now revealed Gina! In my defence I will say again ‘ I don’t do hand stitching’ ; well apart from quilting, beading and buttons!

One thing I was surprised about is how pleased I can get about a magazine. Treating myself to a Craft Magazine recently (I was at Borders and I couldn’t find the book I wanted and wasn’t going to leave empty handed!) I didn’t think it would really inspire me to bigger and better things.

That was until I turned to this page, Dorset buttons are one of my favourite side lines and although Marie and Jenclair have been busy lately I have not wrapped one in ages. This is the article that has wetted my interest again so I have sorted out some threads and rings for another burst of button making. I think I’ll add a few beads as well.

One Step Behind

2008-06-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

I am one step behind at the moment, with Bonnie’s Mystery Quilt – Orange Crush.

I started this quilt to use up fabric that has been in my scrap bin or cupboard for just too long. How come I can’t just give it away or dump it? Well I daresay there are lots of you out there that can answer that question but I am really pleased that I didn’t rid myself of it in that way and used it. When I look at the blocks that I have already finished I can see pieces of fabric from many finished quilts, reminders of the years that I have been doing patchwork and quilting. The quilt is way off from being finished so I won’t make a decision on whether I like it or not just yet.
But here are the blocks from step 5.

The next stage is to start to put it all together.

A Star Finish

2008-05-31T13:04:00.001-07:00

The ‘Quilt for an Hour’ quilt was finished a couple of days ago but I left it for today’s post to brighten the weekend. Judy Laquidara designed and stitched her own version and then generously offered the instructions as a quilt to be completed in stages of one hour done each day. Anyone could join in so out came my fabrics and choices were made. I decided to go with the colours that Judy showed on her Blog and although I had to change one of my fabrics half way through because I hadn’t got enough I am really pleased with the resulting quilt. I was a little late in joining in with this quilt because I was waiting for some rulers but luckily I caught up over the holiday weekend. I kept up with the remaining stages but for the last two or three days I think for every hour that Judy said she has done – I took three hours.
It is the first time I have done anything like this before, but not the last. I have loads more fabric to stitch and all I need are ideas to get me going.

Don't you just love it? All I need now is time to quilt it.
A big thanks to Judy for all her hard work, a brilliant experience and a brilliant quilt.

Sadly with a smile.

2008-05-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

I heard yesterday that Beryl Cook; well-known English painter of humorous situations has died at the age of 81. Her work was admired by many for her humour and she was a well-respected artist.
I belong to the New Horizons Textile Group, all of which respected and enjoyed Beryl’s work. So much so that a couple of years ago we made a mixed technique group wall hanging called ‘Daphne’s Show and Tell’

As you can see it was done in the style of Beryl Cook and like most of Beryl’s paintings this wall hanging was made to make you smile.

Beryl Cook – Remembered with a smile.

slowing down

2008-05-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give you a quick update on the Quilt For An Hour quilt run by Judy. This quilt is coming along brilliantly, I love it. You will see I have changed colour with my sashing, this is because this quilt is being made with fabric from my stash and I ran out of the first shadow fabrics. But that’s OK as Judy gave various options of arrangement and I really like the change of colour.

Here you will see I have attached the blocks and the 1st border. According to the instructions this is hours 6 and 7, two hours work. It took me at least 4 hours to do these steps. Measuring and pinning the fabrics to make sure that the sashings were correct slowed me down somewhat but even so I don’t think I could do this stitching at the speed that Judy does.

Rainy Monday

2008-05-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well what do you do on a rainy Bank Holiday Monday – well I sew. It has been so cold I decided to flip the heating on for a while during the day but it was good to just relax. DH was on the computer and DS was playing the piano while I was at the sewing machine.
Due to the time difference, Judy’s instructions for the QFAH project didn’t come through until late afternoon and by then I was well into finishing another project.

No photo’s tonight of the QFAH because it is still in pieces but a picture of this finished top. It is another mystery that I have been following for a few weeks, and yes it is another stash buster but really only with the white fabric. All the coloured fabrics came out of my scrap bin.

It is a little smaller than the twin size it was supposed to be and I have a few blocks left over but it has worked out a good size so thanks to Nancy for all her hard work.

All caught up

2008-05-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

I seem to be getting good at stealing. Stealing time that is. We had a wonderful time with our grandson staying over last night and didn’t get the promised early morning as he decided to sleep in until 7.00am. Apparently that is an hour later that usual so all was calm. His Mum and Dad came to collect him late morning and stayed for a while planning to return later in the day for a family meal.

I stole an hour before lunch and then another hour before the family arrived for a lovely Bank Holiday roast dinner. Four generations, my mother, me, two of my sons, one daughter in law and grandson. A full table but a happy one, it is tiring sometimes but so worth it to see them all together tucking in.

I stole another hour this evening and at last I am all caught up. It has taken me longer than Judy predicted but I didn’t want to rush it and I only had to do reverse stitching (otherwise known as unpicking) once and that was the first one. All the 24 stars are completed and I even spent sometime deciding where all the colours will go when the sashing is added.
I am really please with it so far, what do you think?

Getting there

2008-05-24T12:10:00.001-07:00

Well not a bad day, lots of interruptions, gardening done, plants watered, shopping achieved and grandson entertained, fed, bathed and in bed.

On top of that I managed to get all my star points sewn.

And the first star block stitched up.

What do I think………Could do better.

The others will have to wait until tomorrow.

Catching Up

2008-05-24T00:44:00.001-07:00

This is a very quick post to let you know where I am this weekend. As the title of this post suggests I am catching up and will be at my sewing machine for a few hours this holiday weekend. I decided I would like to join in with Judy Laquidara’s ‘Quilt for an hour’, and last weekend collected the fabrics I wanted to use for this star quilt together and started cutting out the fabric for the half square triangle units.

Unfortunately I couldn’t go much further with my cutting as, while I thought I had every ruler under the sun, when I did a search I found was wrong because I was missing these two little ones.

The fabric was put on one side until my friendly postman came knocking on my door with a little parcel later in the week. Due to other things, (yes, I do other things besides sewing) I couldn’t start cutting the other units out until this morning. So now we have these.

And these

I do realise that this is a holiday weekend and the garden is calling me to pot up and plant for some hours. I also am having my grandson to stay overnight. But I am really going to steal a few hours this weekend to get caught up with this project.

I will let you know how it goes.

My Mini-Quilt has arrived!

2008-05-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, is only one of the words to say about the luscious parcel that my friendly postman brought me today. My partner in Lucy Locket’s Mini-Quilt Swap 2008, Fran (who by the way still hasn’t got a blog and certainly should have as she is the nicest, funniest person and she can also write so well) Sorry about that Fran but you really must get blogging. Anyway back to what I was going to share with you, Fran’s parcel containing the Mini swap quilt arrived this morning and I did stop myself from ripping the wrapping off and go and find my camera first. When I opened the padded envelope I found these exciting packets wrapped up in the prettiest pink tissue paper.

Of course I opened the squishiest softest one first, good guess that this one would have the mini quilt inside and I wasn’t going to wait any longer, sorry Fran the tissue was torn. My first peek was the label and the great fabric on the back.

Opening it up and turning it over I found the bestest mini-quilt I could ever imagine and in my very favourite colours, isn’t it great, aren’t you all wishing that Fran was your swap partner.

Thank you so much Fran, it is really super and is already up on my wall, I love it.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

I am so pleased that I joined this swap not only have I a new friend I also have some one's art on my wall.

And the other parcels, I don't know how I stopped myself ripping the paper off in my excitement, I love all the sequins, ribbon, needles, buttons and ooh the fish, I haven't seen one of those for years, they are just so much fun. You are a naughty girl and way too generous with your gifts.

The next parcel had a cross-stitch kit in that is delightful but the most important thing is that the name of it is 'Best Friends'.

That is special, as are all the things you have sent. Another thank you to you for this special card, can you see the cheeky pussy cat!

BUT, we really want you to start Blogging Fran; you will be brilliant at it.

But as Fran hasn't got a blog just yet, this is the mini-quilt I sent to her.

And as this mini-quilt swap is now revealed we must also give Lucy Locket a huge thank you for making all this happen..............Thanks Lucy.................

I'M BACK

2008-05-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

I’m back!

Yes, finally I am back in blogland, well I really wasn't away for very long, a week away to the sunnier climes was all I had. It was so full of relaxation, rest and reading of novels with no work, ironing, cooking, housework and even sewing that when I got back home I just couldn’t get back into work again.

Just so you know how good my holiday was here are a couple (or more) photo’s of where we were staying.

This is one of the local harbours.

A view of the sea

A local cove

The sky, isn't is wonderful

I then had a fascination with reflections, the boats on the water made some great photo's.

and another

and one at night.

Brilliant holiday, but then I came back home and had to get back to the real world and WORK.

I have had a busy few weeks, lots going on and apart from classes which are always busy I have been making quilts. There have been large ones and small ones. The small ones are rather special as they are for ‘Lucy Lockets Swap’. I joined this swap after being part of the Valentine swap and the Bunny swap that Lucy arranged over the past few months. I had a super parcel from Sara and another brilliant one from Polly so when Lucy set up a mini quilt swap I just couldn’t resist joining in. I just love making quilts, large or small.

This time I have been partnered with Fran who is a really nice person but unfortunately who hasn’t got a blog………..at the moment that is. Yes Fran, I think it is about time to come out of the cupboard or where ever it is you are hiding and get your blog set up. You will make a really good blogger as you are a brilliant email writer, much better than I am, I have had quite a few emails from Fran and we have got to know each other quite well. We have now finished our mini quilts, Fran finished hers way before me and has had to wait until I finished mine before we posted off our parcels so they would cross in the post and we would hopefully get them on the same day.

NO, NO, NO, you are not going to see them yet, we are posting today so hopefully if you pop in again soon I will have some photo’s for you. We are both quite excited by the prospect of receiving someone else’s work in the form of a mini quilt.

Watch this space. I am at the moment working on Lucy's mini-quilt so hopefully it won't be long before I show you that one as well.

I know you all have a need to see sewing items so here is one that has moved on a bit since here.
I have been doing more work on this mystery quilt with Bonnie Hunter, the pile of fabric I had for the project is getting smaller and the pile of pieces that are stitched together are getting larger.

I have finished part 2 and made these little units

And a pile of half units for part 3.

Now we are starting to make larger units in part 4, it's beginning to get exciting.

As you can see lots of cutting and stitching and I have still no idea how it is all going to come together.

I am still chopping up fabric and using up scraps that I have had for many years, I am involved in making another couple of mystery quilts. One of which has only just started in the British magazine, Popular Patchwork.

So far I have cut the fabric and made 180 little four patches, some of my students are joining in with this one as it is an ideal project to enjoy over the summer months when there are no classes to go to.

If you can get the magazine it is worth a look, it is a stash buster and should be relatively simple to make even if it goes for a Linus project quilt.

The problem with not blogging for a while, is that now I am thinking of all sorts of things to tell you so I will be back soon with lots more photo’s and things to tell.

Who's this here?

2008-04-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

I didn’t think I would be doing a post for a while as I am off on holiday at the weekend, only for a week but I am so looking forward to it. It is a holiday suggested by my dear husband as it is our 20th wedding anniversary next week. We are both really looking forward to the break but will no doubt spend most of it asleep, as we are so busy at the moment and not working will be a bit of a shock.
What has made me want to do this post was the parcel the postman delivered this morning. This was from Paula who was my partner in Lucy Lockets Easter bunny swap. I couldn’t wait to unwrap it but couldn’t rip the paper off as Paula had done a delightful little drawing on the wrapping, this was to help Mr postman find my house. (How did Paula know that my postman doesn’t get here until the afternoon at the moment)? Darn, Paula, I had to take the wrapping off very carefully.

When I finally got the paper off, just look at this delightful box with a butterfly on the lid that I found inside.

I took off the lid to find a note written by Paula in the smallest writing and the most delicate envelope.

Under the tissue paper was hiding this delightful little bunny with the rosiest cheeks and the cutest whiskers. What you can’t see is his or her fluffy white tail. We will have to think of a name for this newcomer to the family.

I checked the box and there was more inside, a bundle of fabric and some delightful cup cake buttons.

Paula had also made a most delightful Easter card for me with Mr Tortoise on the front made with appliqué and machine quilting. She had also written a poem inside. Cute

And that wasn’t all, hidden at the bottom almost covered with more tissue paper was a reel of spotty ribbon; it was such a special gift as I just love spots.

I then unwrapped the fabrics to enjoy them and look what I found inside, this brilliant cake fabric, just for me.

Thank you Paula, I am one happy bunny.

Little Quilts

2008-04-09T02:04:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the side bar, I have joined Lucy Locket’s Mini Quilt Swap. I haven’t made a miniature quilt for quite a while but it will be fun so I am joining in. I have been paired with ‘Fran’ who unfortunately hasn’t got a blog. Hi, Fran if you are looking in, hopefully I will have your email address soon and will contact you. You may even be persuaded to set up your own blog!

One job I have got done this week is to complete my March Journal quilt. I know it is a late and we are already into April, but I really didn’t think I could get moving on this one. Sharon B’s hints were ‘Little things’ and when I first thought about the subject it was early March and the blossom was coming out on the trees. As we moved further into March the blossom was falling like pink snow on the ground and I received a postcard from Diane in America as part of my postcard exchange group’s mini swap, Simple pleasures of Nature. This is one of my favourite cards and reminded me of the Cherry Blossom celebrations held each Spring in Japan.

As soon as I saw it I thought again of the falling petals and the pink snow it left on the ground. The idea for my March journal quilt was born. I just did not have time to get the idea into fabric at that point and thought I might really fail but yesterday afternoon I suddenly thought the only thing that is stopping me is I haven’t started, (hope that makes sense) I just got out the fabrics and made a start and once I got going it only took a couple of hours to finish.

Hope you like it………..

Fusible applique, thread drawing on the branches and machine quilting made this one quite fast and very enjoyable.

The Blues!

2008-04-08T11:29:00.001-07:00

I had the blues recently, and I was so thrilled. Let me go back a bit, a few weeks ago Kate had a give away. Well to be really truthful Kate has a giveaway every Monday. Don’t ask me where she gets all these things to give away, she is one amazing girl that not only does she have a family she also is an active member of so many Internet groups and not only a member she organises things and also runs swaps and trades herself.
I digress, I have made comments on Kate’s blog and a couple of times and have entered her giveaway’s not thinking I had a chance of winning. Well I was wrong and a couple of weeks ago Kate emailed me to tell me that I had won some blocks that she had offered up. I had liked the look of these blocks, blue being a favourite colour of mine and just loved receiving the parcel the postman delivered.

I haven’t decided what I will do with them yet but they are quite yummy so I will let you know.

I often think I should blog more often and then think that I have nothing to say and have done nothing to show anyone. But this past week has been different. As it has been the Easter break I try to do something different rather than class projects and as I was looking at some of the blogs I visit regularly I decided to join in with Bonnie Hunters mystery quilt ‘Orange Crush’.

Bonnie is very generous with her designs and there are loads of patterns for scrap quilts that should eat away some of my fabrics. All these can be downloaded free from her website.

This quilt making is part of my plan to use up some of my fabric stash, especially fabric I have had for some time. I set to and sorted lots of scraps and fat quarters into strips. I did really well and the pile ended up quite large. I also had great satisfaction in being able to use some of these fabrics. I have had a lot of these fabrics for many years and it felt so good to cut them all up.

The next stage was to make up lots of four patches and as you can see I did rather well.

I have loads of strips left over so have started and done all the blocks for another quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter. This one is called ‘Weed Whacker’ and it soon gets rid of more fabric. I must admit I was on a bit of a roll with the cutting, grabbing any fabric I could get my hands on and making it into strips or squares.

I haven't arranged these blocks in any particular order and have yet to stitch them together but I like it already.
I think the best thing is once again recognising that I am basically a quilt maker. I diversify into so many crafts and get involved in so many different projects but at the end of the day I know that I am a quilt maker and there is nothing more satisfying than making a quilt just for the sake of sewing.

Lucky books

2008-03-26T03:58:00.000-07:00

Luckily youngest son is determined to extend his knowledge in music. The latest thing is studying for his grade 8 theory exam. To do this he apparently cannot do without two vital books from Amazon. Like the good mother I am I offered to order them immediately and while doing this I thought it was wise to reduce my wish list by a couple of books. They were delivered exceptionally quickly.

Now this one should get me using more ‘stuff’ (this is a technical term for things that I had to buy in the past few years which would be life changing) from the cupboards and drawers in the workroom.

And this one should effectively use up all my wool, threads, buttons and embellishments. (If they are the right colour of course, if not I will just have to buy more!)

Oh no, it's pink!

2008-03-17T03:26:00.001-07:00

Pink has arrived in my life. When I was small I was a bit of a tomboy so I really didn’t like pink. I didn’t change as I grew up and after having three boys there was no reason to have pink in my life. It has even become quite a thing with my students; as they all know that I hate pink so give me the task of saying nice things about things they have stitched in pink. Don’t get me wrong; I can appreciate things made in pink and actually really like them just so I don’t have to have them in my life.

When my son blessed me with a grandchild, it was with much relief that I found I had another boy in my life. I am used to boys, they wear loads of different colours but luckily never pink. I have made lots of quilts for my young grandson and most of them are made with fabrics in bright colours that say life is fun. I rarely do pastels and if I ever do, ‘I don’t do pink’.

Well until now.

Just over a week ago we had a phone call to tell us that we had a great niece in the family. Madison Victoria has arrived in our lives so what else can you do but make this very young lady a quilt to welcome her. For some strange reason I had the need to make her a pink quilt.

One problem, no pink. No problem, I love shopping.

I thought I would find it difficult but it wasn’t. I soon returned home with a bundle of pinks in my hand and couldn’t wait to get cutting, stitching and quilting. So in no time at all I had this little project finished and on it’s way to its new owner.

She is such a beautiful baby, so petite and so deserving a pretty pink quilt. There is no other colour that would suit at her small age. I know it will not be used as a cover (safety requires that no layered item be used for bedding on small babies) but the new Mum can lay her upon it and she can be as cute as a button on her pretty pink quilt.

On to more serious things, it was the Chilford Spring Quilt Fair at the weekend and I set off with a friend to enjoy the day, look at the quilts on display and see what was new in the world of patchwork and quilting after a long cold winter.

I came home with these delicious fabrics.

What has happened to me, not only am I buying PINK I have also succumbed to gingham !!!! But won’t she look cute with a quilt in these colours.

Don’t worry though, I also bought this and some really nice fleece with dumpers, diggers and trucks on for my grandson…………..and it’s blue!!!!

Poetic Postcards

2008-03-15T11:38:00.001-07:00

I joined a poetic postcard exchange some time ago, this was with a very busy group and it was really interesting to see all the different cards that were sent out all over the world. There were only five cards to make and exchange, which was not hard to do, I quite like the way that some groups have small exchanges and you can make just 4 or 5 cards in a particular theme.

This one from Dove has wonderful soft colouring and is a photograph which has been printed onto fabric with a line from William Blake. To add interest on the card, Dove has added images of a turtle, butterfly and flowers with crystal centres.

Edna’s card is hand stitched and hand embroidered with metallic paper, buttons, lace, and a hand stitched face on the figure. The verse on the card says "Friends are angels who Lift us to our feet When our wings have trouble remembering how to fly".

Cindy used photography and printing onto fabric for her card, choosing a delicious flower with a simple verse, 'And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom’!

Tina used a larger format than most postcard senders but it was a really lovely card with the poem, 'A Red, Red, Rose’ by Robert Burns. Most of my postcards come from the States but this one was from Ontario from a lady that was born in Petersfield, England.

As I said most of my cards come to me by Airmail but this last one did not have to go too far, it came from bonny Scotland from a lady called Heather. Heather had written her own small poem on the card, which was very artistically made with a variety of mixed media, this one had a blanket-stitched edge.

Try this blog!

2008-03-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

I hope that this works and I am giving you a chance to join in Phyl's birthday give away. Not much time to click and win! Enjoy the blog too, I did.

Act quickly! This Give-A-Way ends at 9:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. For more information, click the image.

More Dorset Buttons

2008-03-03T00:35:00.000-08:00

I have received more artwork from my postcard exchange friends so did some quick photos to show you how lucky I am being involved in the swaps with my exchange group.

This birdhouse is from Debbie in MA who loves birdhouses of any kind so made one for me. She has added a dragonfly, flower and ladybug to embellish the card and trimmed it with lime green ric rac. Brilliant stuff, Debbie.

As well as my postcard exchange group, I belong to a couple of other yahoo groups one of which is FAT, who are a very busy group and have a variety of exchanges and swaps going on at the same time. When I joined the group they opened a Dorset Button swap, and you will see from an earlier post that I made some of these and joined in with the swap. I of course also received some Dorset Buttons back and have at last photographed them for you all to see.

I have grouped the first four but the last one I have left as I received it because I think that the maker arranged it so well, incorporating it into a scene! Hope you like them as much as I do.

More photo's later in the week.

12" x 12" JC TIF

2008-02-28T03:31:00.001-08:00

Now that title looks like a code doesn't it, read on and it will become clear, I promise.

I mentioned in an earlier post, in January I think, that I was a member of the Contemporary Quilt Group, which is part of the Quilters Guild. I also explained about their Journal Quilt Challenge that they have for 2008 and I had decided to join in with. This means I have to make a Journal Quilt sized 12” x 12” each month of the year. I have tied this in with Sharon B’s Take it Further Challenge so I have an idea of what I am going to use as a design source. For the month of February there are a set of colours and a question – ‘What do you remember?’

In January I used the colours and expected to do so again in February but I got thinking about the question.

‘What do I remember?’ Well there are lots of things I remember but strangely I started thinking of the Liberty bodices that my mother used to make me wear. Silly thing to base a quilt on but you have to start somewhere.

Using cream calico, I added panels, tucks and inserted bits of lace (I wasn’t really posh enough to have lace on mine but when I did a search on the Internet there were some). Very elegant, like this one.

My liberty bodice was more like this one.

It is no wonder I hated it and longed to cut it up and never have to wear one again.

I then cut my journal piece up and re-stitched it, did a little quilting, pin tucking and then added a few buttons, vintage and modern. I haven't used binding on this one, which is a real change for me, I thought I would have a go at bagging it. Not too sure about it but it will do.

And as this is a short post I will add a couple of detail photo's of it, haven't thought of a name yet.

I like it and it’s a few more techniques that I haven’t done before so that’s good. The trouble is I haven’t plotted its progress as promised to Sharon for the second month. I did start and finish in one day so maybe I can be excused again !!!

A Challenge

2008-02-27T06:23:00.000-08:00

Another postcard arrived from my postcard exchange group, I love the simplicity of some of these cards.

Melissa sent me this ‘stars and stripes’ card, this is a very simple but effective design and shows a lot of thought.

I have joined yet another challenge, Anna challenged fellow bloggers to make an ATC in exchange for some buttons and washers. I have already used some of the buttons on my February journal quilt.

This challenge should be quite interesting as I have never made an ATC before and will have to go look this up and find out just what I have let myself into. I will let you know how it goes and if you hear me shout for help, please answer.

Bagged

2008-02-26T07:35:00.001-08:00

In January I told you about the BQL challenge for 2008, which is a bag challenge, I have decided to join in with this challenge in the hope that I will use some of my fabrics up and even if I do not like the bags there is always a deserving cause I can give them too. The January bag was very simple to make, in fact I made three of them in the end, two for myself and one for my grandson who loves his bag when playing shops.
Therefore after that success I was raring to go and make the February bag, even when I saw the sneaky peak I thought that I would really enjoy making the bag. Everyone that had made a January bag could receive the February bag instructions on the 1st of February. As it happened I was too busy to make this bag immediately so I printed off the instructions ready for when I had a couple of hours. This weekend I have spent more hours than I would like to admit to making two of these bags. The first one I made to pattern and even added 3D leaves all over it and used décor thread in the bobbin. And here it is in all its glory. Opinions ?

I do not like this bag; I think I knew all through the making I would not like it. It is a nice shape and initially I liked the design but I really do not like this bag. I also think that I did not take enough care in choosing the fabrics, as I really didn’t think that I would like it all the time I was stitching it. It is a shame, as I know that Kate and the rest of the folks that have spent all this time organising the bag challenge have done a really good job and the instructions for the bag cannot be faulted. It is a good design and it works. It is just not me, I do not like this bag.

I will not give up though, I decided not to be beaten and made one more to see if it was the bag, the fabric or me. I came up with this one.

Now I like this bag, it’s a me bag, I don’t know if I will use it and what I will use it for but I do like this bag. I just took away the patterned fabric and the 3D leaves and just added free machine scribble on denim and it’s fine. It’s just a little bit smaller than the original size as I used a pair of jeans and this is the largest I could get the bag out of the legs without joining fabrics. So, thanks for all your work Kate, brilliant design, fantastic instructions and another great bag. Lesson learnt, don’t give up, and now I am longing to see the March bag. Hmmm, I wonder if I will like it?

Lost and Found

2008-02-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

I have explained on an earlier post about the Cyber Fyber Exhibition that Susan Lentz is setting up in Colombia USA next year and I also know that many of you are joining in with the trades of postcards and ATC’s on her blog site. I joined this trading fairly early when only a few cards had been traded. I duly chose my postcard to trade with Susan and contacted her by email and we both sent off our cards.
This is where things went wrong, Susan sends all her postcards and ATC’s out in an envelope so all should be safe. Or so you would think!

This is the card that I asked to trade with Susan.

Susan’s envelope arrived quite quickly here in the UK only it was delivered in a polythene bag saying that the post office was sorry that there was damage or missing items from the envelope. MISSING……….YES……..Susan’s postcard to me was gone, the envelope ripped open and the postcard taken.

When ringing the post office here in the UK I was told that it was the sender that had to complain so I had to contact Susan and tell her the terrible news. Susan was extremely good about it and intends to show the details of the loss of the card in her exhibition next year. My first trade choice will be shown as ‘Gone Postal’ a term used in the states !!

Susan and I arranged a second trade and after the postal system keeping me waiting for much too long it finally turned up trumps this week and delivered Susan’s envelope, which was to my relief, intact.

Susan had sent me this wonderful card that I had chosen to trade with her and as a very special treat she had also included another piece of her artwork. How lucky am I?

Thanks so much Susan and I wish you so much luck for the success in your Cyber Fyber Exhibition in January 2008. I think that there may be a couple left to trade if you pop over there quickly.

My Sweet Valentine

2008-02-24T02:38:00.000-08:00

I have been very remiss in not doing enough work in letting you know what is going on related to my internet interests so I have just spent the last two hours catching up on writing out my posts for the next while or so. It is going to take ages to upload the photos for these posts so I am not going to do them all today. Look out for more from me over the next week or so, as now I have written my notes it should not take me long to get the posts sorted out with the correct photos (I hope). I didn’t realise I had been doing so much.

I recently joined in with Lucy’s Valentine swap and it was very interesting collecting the things for my swap partner, Sara. I tried to keep to the rules (including a handmade item) and also keep the parcel full of things that Sara may like and use on her craft items. I duly sent my parcel off to Sara knowing that with young children and it being half term on the 14th she would be very occupied. The excitement of waiting for my parcel didn’t last too long as soon the postman appeared with a package. Wow Sara.

In my excitement I ripped the package open to find pretty pink tissue wrapped gifts tumble out.

The first one opened contained a hand made heart with a dainty and precise crocheted heart in white cotton.

The second parcel had inside another hand made gift, a pincushion along with a brilliant tapestry ribbon.

This was really getting exciting so ripping the tissue paper off the third one I was delighted to see buttons, ribbons and lace fall out along with some delightful coloured hearts.

There was one left now so I carefully (different that isn’t it) unwrapped the tissue paper and was wowed with such an assortment of goodies I couldn’t believe. There was binding and bows, embellishments to die for, a stamper pen with a heart shaped stamp on one end, a love stamp to use on card and fabric and best of all some really delicious Green and Black’s organic creamy vanilla white chocolate.

My favourite, yummy, thanks so much Sara and more thanks to Lucy for arranging this Valentine swap.

I have more fun to look forward to as I have now signed up for Lucy’s Easter swap, this means I have to make an Easter card and Easter bunny for Polly. Oops, should I really have done this, after looking at Polly’s blog I found that she is really clever and I have never made an rabbit of any description before, the worry is starting to set in already, I haven’t even got any idea where to go for a pattern. And shall I stitch it or knit it. HELP.

Tagged and sharing

2008-02-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

I have seen many people in the blogging world get ‘tagged’ and smiled smugly to myself thinking no one knows me well enough to tag me. As I have only been blogging for a couple of months I thought that I would escape this task.

But Fannie, who lives stateside, has caught me out and tagged me with what seems to be, among other things, an honesty list.

There are rules to tagging, but at first glance it doesn’t seem too bad, only 5 rules to follow.

1. When tagged place the name of the person and URL on your blog
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 7 things about yourself
4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs
5. Send an email letting those bloggers know they have been tagged!

The first one is easy to deal with as I have already done this in telling you the rules.

The second is even easier as Fannie’s blog is already on my side bar and you can check her blog out anytime. You will find her at Imagine, Create, Inspire.

Now number three is the stickler, write seven things about yourself.
What do you write in these things, Fannie’s was very interesting but then again, it looks like Fannie has led an extremely interesting life. How, may I ask you do I follow that?

Let’s see then,

1. I am happily married, have three sons, one daughter in law and the most delightful grandson who gives us all so much pleasure.

2. This is my second marriage and we made 20 years together this year. It is my husband’s first marriage and we are very happy together.

3. I have my 60th birthday this year and although it is sad to grow old I hope that I am ripening well. I may add that only the outside of me is this old, the inside is much younger.

4. I have stitched for many years but stitching became my main hobby when I had my third son and he slept so well in the afternoons I became bored. I have never been bored since.

5. I once had a job that included stitching the upholstery for the living area in large horseboxes. I worked on Princess Anne’s and the King of Sweden’s horse box and wrote messages to them on the inner foam.

6. When I was a small girl I collected eggs from the hay barn from my Uncle’s farm and milked the cows.

7. I have the best job in the world as I teach my students to do patchwork and quilting which is what I do as a hobby.

Rule number four is to name seven of my favourite blogs which is very difficult as I am currently watching over one hundred blogs on 'blogger'. Which I must say is a wonderful facility as it lets me know when someone makes a new post so I read it very soon after it has been posted.

I would have tagged Fannie but I think that is unfair so my other choices are.

Marie who you will find at zquilts and will amaze you with her beautiful work and how much she does, check out the photo’s while you are there as they are spectacular.

Catherine is the second person I would like to tag as everyone should see her art, my favourite being ‘The Eye of the Tiger’. Take a look.

Kate is my third choice as she is just one work machine, I can but wonder if she does much more than stitch and make. I really enjoy her blog.

Number four on my list is a 'must-see', please visit Sara, she is my swap partner in a valentine swap run by Lucy. I just love the fabrics that Sara uses in the things she makes; check out her Etsy store as well.

Number five is easy as you just can’t miss Annabel’s blog, pop in and be amazed by her snowdrops and she will lead you astray to here as well.

Number six has to be Monkee Maker as this blog sometimes has me crying with laughter, I daresay this is a little unfair as she is so popular I should think she has already been tagged loads of times. Sorry, I just can’t leave you out.

Finally, and this has been really hard work to narrow it down and also find someone that hasn’t been tagged recently, I would like to tag Sally, now this is a lady who can quilt! I do enjoy Sally’s blog as she is so sharing to everyone with her techniques. If you visit here you will have a wonderful time.

I think I have cheated a little bit as I have in fact mentioned more that my seven required blogs. But never mind they are the cream of the crop so worth looking in at.

All I have to do now is email these ladies to let them know that they have been tagged. Well that wasn’t too bad after all and I hope you enjoy visiting the blogs I have chosen as much as I do and that you will include them on your 'blogger' list so that they are all a regular feature in your lives.

Participation is voluntary. No obligation.

Sold and tagged

2008-02-16T04:19:00.001-08:00

Fannie has tagged me! I found out by checking out her blog, which I really like to do regularly as she usually has some interesting posts and also some delightful work to show everyone, do call in here if you have a moment. She has said she is going to email me with the rules so I will let you know all about that as soon as I get the word.

The good news is that ‘Fallen Leaves’ one of the small wall hangings I showed you in my last post has SOLD. The bad news is I will never see it again. It’s always a strange feeling for me when a piece sells, I don’t suppose this one was too bad as it was only 14” x 8” but it’s still like loosing part of me. Here it is again for just one last look.

'Textiles in Focus' at Cottenham was certainly very popular and New Horizons Textile Group's exhibition was very well received, even I was amazed at all the work we produced this time. The place was buzzing with lots to look at, lots to buy and loads of workshops all fully booked. Setting up is always tiring but we had it all done and were away home by 3.00pm on the Thursday and back there by 9.30am Friday morning to do the fine tuning before opening time at 10.00. Within minutes we had visitors and interesting conversation about the exhibition. It is a real chance for us to study our own work while it is hanging and also to appreciate other members work; which we usually only see briefly at our fortnightly meetings. It is also a chance to look at other groups work. 'Out of the Fold', an Essex based group was also exibiting their work. I really enjoyed looking at the work they had on display. Some of the work I had seen and admired before but as always there were new pieces to look at. I am back stewarding again tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it.

Exhibition work

2008-02-13T07:28:00.001-08:00

I have just finished collecting together and packing up all the items that I am taking to ‘Textiles in Focus’ at Cottenham tomorrow for the exhibition at the weekend. Along with my exhibition pieces I also am taking things for sale. Over the winter I do like to knit in the evenings so there are quite a few scarves ready for sale. Making boxes is also one of the things I like to do for a change so I have a number of finished boxes to take along. Add in the cushions and the covered books and that adds up to quite a pile before I include the setting up stuff!

If you are around the Cambridge area, do try to catch the exhibition and have a look, as it is always a good display of work and plenty of yummy traders.

I haven’t taken photos of all the items but here are some of them.
First the exhibition pieces all exhibited as part of New Horizons Textile Group

Small wall hanging ‘Fallen Leaves’

Another small wall hanging, ‘Autumn’

These two were experimental pieces, I did do postcard sized pieces first then went on to this size. I am not sure if I will take them further.

‘Eruption’ a wall hanging made at an Erica Carter master class at the Festival of Quilts

‘Discover’ this was a wall hanging that was displayed at the Festival of quilts 2006

Long and Skinny, New Zealand fabric Challenge, ‘Hang on in there’

And here's a detail of the long and skinny

Thread Bowl made for the 3D Text Challenge, if you look closely you will see machine embroidered letter 'A's' around the top edge.

And a then couple of things going onto the sales table,
Covered books, two A5

and one A6

The colours are not very good on these, but you get the idea.

If you do get there on either Friday or Sunday I will be stewarding so call in and say Hello.

Weekend Blogger

2008-02-03T05:32:00.001-08:00

I have become a weekend blogger, and have only just realised it. I am really too busy in the week to read all the blogs and keep up to date with what people are doing and do what I am supposed to be doing as well as write posts and arrange photos. So therefore when it gets to the weekend and I have time to blog, I forget some of the things that I have been doing in the week.
It was when reading Anna’s blog this morning that I remembered I had arranged a swap with Susan in her Cyber swap on Friday. This is one day earlier than we were supposed to do it but I wasn’t sure if I would remember at the weekend with all the blogging I have to do so I put my offer in and to my delight it was accepted. I sent off my postcard straight away and I am looking forward to receiving Susan’s postcard soon. The one I have chosen is this one and you will see it in her list as number 88.

Information on the Cyber swap and instructions on how to join in can be found on Susan’s blog but I have copied some of the information below.

CYBER FYBER is an exhibition of international fiber art scheduled for January 8th through 20th, 2009 at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, 808 Lady Street in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, USA. The brainchild of Susan Lenz, this exhibit will focus on the supportive, global community of fiber artists with whom Susan regularly shares new techniques, contemporary approaches to textiles, and finished work by Internet websites and blogs. The exhibition will include three primary areas: Fiber ATCs (Artist Trading Cards); fiber postcards; and the work of several invited artists. The exhibition will also include FIBER DAY and ATC trading day. From the beginning, Susan Lenz is documenting CYBER FYBER on a blog/journal.

Chain Stitch

2008-02-03T04:23:00.001-08:00

I said that I would let you know how I got on with the ‘One Stitch’ afternoon at our local Embroiderers Guild meeting. Everyone there is so nice and also knows that I do not do hand stitching. Well that is a lie as I do running stitch very often in the form of quilting and I also do very acceptable French knots, which I scatter around occasionally. But apart from the rare counted cross-stitch (and I haven’t done any of those for many years) I don’t really do – hand stitching.

So when these days come up I do like to ‘join in’, and hope to extend my knowledge in about 2 hours and become the best hand stitcher in our guild…….. some hope!

The day’s stitch this time was ‘Chain stitch’. Now I have come across this stitch before in fact when I was a young girl (many moons ago) I remember using this stitch on a tray cloth to make daisies. I never did finish the tray cloth as my embroidery threads pulled up the fabric and it always looked Suffolk puffs. I always thought it was inferior fabric but after our afternoon yesterday I maybe think it was an enthusiastic and inspirational young girl producing artwork that could have been good enough for an abstract exhibition. The thing is I can still do it !

After expert tuition from one of our members I found I was making chain stitches like everyone else. Well, there may have been many that were much better than me but I kept at it.

Try a row of stitches and a daisy, I was told. You don’t have to look.

It might have looked better with a different coloured thread.

Next was try a random chain stitch…………..what is this mess I have made?

The next was two rows of chain stitch and should be whipped together (hope that’s next times lesson). I am not sure how to whip stitches !

Ladder or open chain stitch, supposed to be good for pattern and filling, so I filled some of mine with ribbon.

Raised Chain band looked a challenge and I am never against a challenge.

But the best of the lot and the one that I think is the furthest away from the correct use of the ‘chain stitch’ is my flower. I love it.

It is not perfect, has no stalk or leaves and may never get any. But this is a lovely flower and so again I say thank you to my local embroiderers guild. I may not ever become a ‘hand stitcher’ but there are bits I can do and just love at the end of it so it is always worth ‘joining in’.

And just for good measure I filled the centre with French Knots !!

It's not my fault !

2008-02-02T03:44:00.000-08:00

I have some complaints; I suppose most of them should go to Gina who I must admit if it weren’t for her I would not be blogging today. Blogging has NOT taken over my life; it has just filled in all my free time, not that I had much free time anyway.

I now find myself doing things I never would have imagined in a month of Sunday’s doing. A few months ago I would have said doing these things was a waste of time.

Now I know it is time wasting but I think it is too late, I am addicted and could well have to find a therapy group to get back to my old self which was only stitching the things I should be getting on with, sensible things like lesson plans, demo articles and instruction sheets.

Through looking at Gina’s blog I have found a lot more interesting, fascinating and hysterically funny blog’s to watch on a weekly basis. So now the blame for this new life must go further. Among the ones I also lay the blame for my crazy actions are Lesley, and Lucy (who by the way has also enticed me into a valentines day swap to take more of my time away from what I really should be doing) and the wonderful and mad Monkee maker.

Over the last couple of months I have lost hours looking at what other people are up to, smiling at the funnies, laughing at their antics, sympathising when things go wrong and being wowed by the work they do in a week.

But this week has been the absolute worst. I have had time to get my pieces ready for the exhibition at Cottenham, I have had time to do my lesson notes for the month of February and I have had time to do my part of our group project for New Horizons Textile Group. I have also picked up my new embellishing machine so I have had time to do lots of samples on it and get used to it.

And what have I been doing?………………….

Making a SOCK MONKEY………………can you believe it?

And now he is taking over my life.

He sits on the embellisher box and won't let me open it

Lounges around on the sofa encouraging me to think of other silly things to do.

And sits on top of the pile of baskets full of jobs to do looking down on me whenever I go near my sewing machine to do something sensible.

THANKS GINA ! ! ! ! and all the other bloggers I follow, you have changed my life...........

The one thing I haven’t done is give him a name, any ideas?

I am going out this afternoon. I am going to my local Embroiderers Guild Informal Afternoon meeting.

(I might do something else silly if I stay in with this ridiculous monkey)

One of our members is doing a demonstration on ‘One Stitch’.
I rang her earlier to ask what to bring for this hand stitching session. ‘But you don’t do hand stitching’ she said.

There are a lot of things I didn’t used to do, so I might as well join in with this as well. I will let you know how it works out.

Postcards and more postcards

2008-01-26T09:36:00.000-08:00

I have had a very busy week and although I have been excited and pleased that I have received loads of postcards from my postcard exchange group, I have just not had time to photograph them and do a post about them. So I have quite a few for you to look at.

The first one is from Monica in Australia and had a very nice message written on it. The front of the card had a background of many pieces of fabric and free machine quilting with the addition of a fabric picture of a kangaroo, very apt.

All the way from Japan came a postcard from Anna, she is out there with her husband and children as hubby is a member of the American forces. She found some really delightful fabric with ‘Russian Dolls’ on it and added a Russian doll of her own with embroidery too.

Next came a very patriotic postcard from Charlotte in Lottsburg VA. The flag has glitter all over it and Charlotte wrote a lovely note on her card.

Marge in Mayfield PA has sent a very interesting postcard with appliqué and also some stencilling with fabric paints.

I received a second card from Australia, this was from Michelle who had applied small pictures of a fish, lizard and the only one I knew the name of, a duck billed platypus on the front of her card.

Pretty as a picture, a cuddly cat with a pink embroidered ‘MEOW on came from Suzy in San Diego.

I have now received twelve postcards from my exchange group and have sent out fourteen, I have another ten to make and hope to get them done this week.

Journal and Take it Further Challenge

2008-01-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

I have been very remiss at not saying that I signed up for the TIF challenge on Sharon’s site. This is to go on for the whole of 2008, I enrolled early as I was sorry that I did not get involved in the challenge for 2007. The challenge for this month is to design and create a piece of work that is either from someone you admire or from the colours shown by Sharon on her blog. I have chosen the colours and linked this challenge with the Contempory Quilt Group Journal quilt challenge for 2008. The criteria for this challenge is that the piece should be 12” x 12” and challenge you to do new techniques or design methods.

I finished mine this week and although I did concentrate on it and get it done in a few days because I knew what I wanted to do, I forgot Sharon asking if we would share the making of the item and record the finished item on her site. I did get it done quickly so maybe she won’t mind and I will try and remember next month.

Fabrics stamped with leaves and motifs.

Finished 12” x 12” Journal quilt.

Detail

I am not sure if I like it or not, but I know I have achieved all the things I set out to do. I have to remember that it is a challenge and therefore maybe not a perfect finished. It is not the most exciting piece I have done, we will have to see what February brings.

2008-01-19T09:40:00.001-08:00

I was supposed to do a long list of things today but I haven’t got a lot done at all. It was the ‘works do’ last night. Well my husband's work's Christmas meal, which they now seem to have after Christmas. I was quite pleased really as we were so busy before Christmas we might not have been able to go. Anyway we both enjoyed ourselves and had a really delicious meal. The company was good and it gives you time to really talk to some of the people you only usually give a passing wave to. Because of this we were very late to bed and a little late rising this morning. The morning went very fast with me only working very slowly so after lunch I gave up on the thinking stuff and got on with some stitching. I made a couple more of the bags from BQL’s bag challenge.

One more for me

And one for my grandson to take his ‘stuff’ to nursery in.
I have really got the hang of these bags now and I think it’s better if you use character type fabrics to personalise the bags if you are giving them as gifts. It also gets rid of some more fabric, I am not exactly stash busting - just making room for some I may need in the future

Classes started back this week and now life is back to it’s busy self. All the ladies came back with lots of enthusiasm and ready to plan, cut and stitch many new projects. There were also lots of ‘show and tells’ of work finished and also started during the holidays.

The postman was also kind to me this week, he popped through the door this cheerful card to make my day and raise my spirits in this cold and damp month. All the way from California, Diane sent this bright and cheery postcard with a red background and a black and white border. The free form flower was also black and white. I still am wowed by all the different ideas used for these postcards.

Dorset Buttons

2008-01-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

Today was supposed to be a get on and get some work done day. Three hours have now disappeared and all I have done so far is paperwork, phone calls and letters. Why does this boring (necessary) stuff have to take so long and keep me away from the juicy fabric and threads stuff? It seems to go on forever some days.

I was talking about the Internet groups I belong to in an earlier post and I forgot to mention that I have recently been involved in a swap that made and exchanged Dorset Buttons. I decided to be included in this as it was a technique that was England based and I have been interested in Dorset Buttons for a while now. My local Embroiderers Guild had one of our fellow members do a demonstration for us all last year. She was extremely good at it (I will make a note here that she is a very clever lady anyway) and totally amazed us all with her wonderful ‘Art’ Dorset buttons, and I was once again inspired to do more. I had some on the go when this swap came up so thought it the ideal thing to get me involved with the group. My Buttons have now gone off to the States for the swap so I thought it the ideal chance to show you what I have sent off. All my partners in this swap are from America so it will be really good to see the different buttons, when I receive the buttons from my swap partners I will share them with you.

This one went to Alaska

This was very apt for an American and British swap

This one went to sunny California

I really liked this variegated thread

This button was done on a metal ring and thicker thread, it was also larger than the others.

I only had to send five Dorset buttons in the swap so I kept this beaded one,

And this one which I didn't think turned out so well.

2008-01-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

Friday is one of the days I go to the meeting of a textile group I belong to, New Horizons Textile Group meet fortnightly somewhere in Hertfordshire.

You may have seen out last group wallhanging at The Festival of Quilts 2006

'Daphne's Show and Tell.

It was a very busy meeting last Friday as we were sorting out the last minute arrangements for our coming exhibition at ‘Textile in Focus 08’ at Cottenham Village College on February 15/16/17th. This will be a retrospective exhibition of our work so there will be many pieces shown that have not been aired before. I usually go to Textile in Focus each year as they have so much to see and lots of workshops going on as well as plenty of traders. They cover a wide range of crafts here from embroidery, embellishing, knitting to quilting and more. The food is good too, you can tell that by the queue.

I will be there for two days over the exhibition period so if any of you get there do say ‘Hello’.

At this Friday's meeting a couple of us were showing some of the others how to print directly onto fabric. The particular technique we were using is with a product called Bubble Jet. I prefer to use this product as there is no change to the feel and look of the fabric when printed on. You can print (or photocopy) straight onto the treated fabric and there is no problem when printing of reversing the letters or images as they are printed from your computer or scanner directly onto the fabric. Photos come out extremely well and you can print on cotton or silk, the finer the weave the better the print. We are at the moment preparing work for a summer exhibition at Luton Museum, I will give you more news of that at a later date. The fabric printing comes in useful as I used it for this postcard that recently winged its way to Australia.

A Flower for.................

2008-01-13T01:39:00.001-08:00

A few days ago I was having a look at some of my favourite blogs when I saw that Margaret was giving away a bunch of crochet flowers. They looked extremely interesting and fingers flying I put in my request to have one. Margaret got back to me very quickly and to my surprise I got to choose which one I wanted. Margaret runs an extremely interesting blog with the addition of some fantastic photos, do call in there sometime.

This was the flower I chose and the reason I was surprised was that this was the first time I had ‘won’, if that’s what you could call it, anything on the internet. I was really pleased with the flower I chose and when it turned up in the post on Saturday I was thrilled. Margaret had even stitched a brooch bar on the back so that it could be pinned to whatever I wanted.
I was so taken by this flower I dragged out my yarns and rattled through drawers until I found my crochet hooks. I always enjoyed doing crochet but that was many years ago. I keep waiting until it really comes back into fashion but it is always nearly there. I do have to think of something to make for Lucy's swap!!! so away I went and with a bit of difficulty in remembering the stitches I finally came up with this.

It is supposed to be a rose………….I thought it was a bit too big and I had mixed the colours too much so……….Back to the crochet hook and some time later.

I came up with this. I think I might add beads……..what do you think.

This maybe a better angle of the flower

To give you some idea of the scale of these flowers here they are together.

More from the internet

2008-01-12T05:31:00.000-08:00

Back to the internet theme again, yes I know I am wearing the subject out but I thought I would tell you about a swap I am doing with fellow bloggers. Lucy of Lucy Locket Recycled Her Pocket fame has offered to arrange a Valentine swap and signing up for this finishes tomorrow night. Anyone can join in, the more the merrier, so if you want to join pop along to Lucy’s blog and put your name down pronto. If you do go there enjoy the posts as Lucy is one of the ladies that keeps me smiling all week.

Technology

2008-01-12T02:56:00.001-08:00

Over the past few years I have not been the last person in our house to seek out more knowledge on the technology front. We have had a home computer for many years; the internet has been a source of knowledge and an answer to many problems during that time. Desktop publishing is a necessary skill when writing newsletters, quilt software helps so much when writing instructions and the digital camera opens up a whole new world in design. I thought that I really was on top of most things until I joined a postcard exchange group.
This now has led to reading many peoples blogs and then eventually getting my own blog and therefore sharing my life and interests with many others (well at least a few).

I have never thought myself as falling behind with technology but then I didn’t know there was so much more to learn about. I received the following recently from a friend and thought it quite amusing when it could so easily apply to me.

The computer swallowed grandma.

Yes, honestly its true.

She pressed 'control' and 'enter'

And disappeared from view.

It devoured her completely! ,

The thought just makes me squirm.

She must have caught a virus

Or been eaten by a worm.

I've searched through the recycle bin

And files of every kind;

I've even used the Internet,

But nothing did I find.

In desperation, I tried google

My searches to refine.

The reply from him was negative,

Not a thing was found 'online.'

So, if inside your 'Inbox,

'My Grandma you should see,

Please 'Copy, ''Scan' and 'Paste' her

And send her back to me!

This is a tribute to all the Grannies and Grandmas who have been fearless and learnt to use the computer........ They are the greatest!!! We do not stop playing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop playing. Never Be The First To Get Old!

Personally I have been absolutely amazed at the wealth of talent not only in the crafts most people are interested in but in the skill in telling the tale. I sometimes sit here and laugh out loud (commonly written as – lol) at the tales that are told on some of the blogs. There are also Internet groups, of which I have joined a few, it did get a few too many so some had to go. There is of course my postcard exchange group, which started this whole thing off and the Artists Circle where I hope to get to use some of my art stuff that I have piled away in cupboards left over from City and Guilds courses. (well I have bought some since……..shhh) There are a few groups where I am just lurking (this is a term for reading the messages and looking at the photo’s and not joining in!) We are encouraged not to do this but I know many do. As you all know there is also a complete new language to learn; and I have only just mastered the art of texting!
A lot of the groups I have found are American based but my latest ‘group’ is based in the UK but attracts members from all over the world. It is called BQL (British Quilt List) and this year they are doing a bag challenge where a new bag pattern can be downloaded each month.

Here is my bag, it wasn’t difficult and I am really pleased with it. I plan to make more as I have ideas for some character fabrics that will be fun to use. It is made like a supermarket bag and can be folded into the pocket to make it neat to keep. I am really itching to see what the February bag is like.

Inspire me

2008-01-06T04:33:00.000-08:00

I spent a very pleasant afternoon yesterday with friends at an informal meeting of my local Embroiderers Guild. One of the members gave us a demonstration and loads of information on using a lucet to make cords with. I really enjoy making these cords as they turn out square, which makes a change. I haven’t made any for quite a while and it inspired me to search out my own lucet and some ribbons to have a go again.
This is what I need, inspiration, to get me going again. I find the period after the holidays difficult to get moving with things. I think it is because we have all had a purpose and worked towards it with enthusiasm getting all the details of Christmas and New Year just right for everyone, and then…………… it’s done!

What next. I will let you know. I am working on a couple of projects.

But here I thought I would show you a couple of the postcards that I sent out to members of my postcard exchange group before Christmas.

The photo's are not my best, I used my indigo dyed fabric with fabric prints of stitches and stitching equipment. I have another ten postcards to make and send.
Both of these flew off to America and both landed safely. I will post a couple more soon.

A Very Happy New Year

2008-01-04T14:53:00.001-08:00

Welcome to 2008 and a Happy New Year to everyone. I would at this point like to thank everyone who has visited my blog and commented on my posts. I am very new to this blogging lark and when I did the first couple of posts I felt I was writing a diary that no one would ever read. In the very few weeks that I have been posting I now feel as if I am talking to friends. I may not know them and may never meet them but there is a great feeling of friendship among bloggers. People have left really nice comments and also sent me emails and all have been encouraging.
So much so that I am going to share a very special happening of this very new, New Year.
Yesterday a letter popped through our letterbox, well it didn’t actually come through the letterbox. This letter was expected and I was actually looking out for the postman so opened the door before he had time to put it in the letterbox and almost grabbed it out of his hand. Apologising quickly I shut the door and nervously I took a quick snap of the envelope with my camera (for posterity I hoped) and with unsure steps I took it to youngest son to open.
He also knew this letter would come today, we all did, in fact I don’t think any of us had much sleep the night before for thinking about it’s arrival. He held it in his hand for a few moments and then said he wanted to be alone to open it. I left the room and waited until I heard the ripping of the envelope and the unfolding of the paper. I peeped round the door, elated to see a huge smile upon his face. I whooped with delight, shouting, ‘you’ve got it haven’t you’. He could hardly speak for smiling and nodded, we hugged and I cried, we laughed and cheered. We rang Dad and he laughed and whooped and cheered.
What is this all about you ask, well this is the post mark on the envelope we received,

And the letter inside was the answer to a dream and a lot of hard work; youngest son received an offer of a place at Peterhouse College, Cambridge to start in October.
We do know there are exams to get through before he gets there and another lot of hard work for him, but the biggest hurdle was to be offered a place and that is why in this house we are all wearing smiles and the best photo I can offer you today is of a very boring looking postmark from an envelope that contains a young man’s start to a wonderful life.

Been and Gone!

2007-12-30T03:47:00.000-08:00

Well Santa has been and gone, and in his passing has left me some really inviting books, some I am savouring before reading and some I have already dived into and maybe that is why I have taken so long in getting back to the blogging world. I must say he is a pretty intuitive fellow, that Santa, all the books he left were on my wish list.
Not to bore you too much, these are the books that I found in my stocking. Not all craft or creative related as you can see.

These two will get me working!

These two will get me thinking, I hope

This one I need to get to grips with as I have committed myself to a workshop on the internet. Not too sure about it at the moment.

And this one I will take to bed with me, chill out time I hope.

Like most people it has been a busy time with 12 of my favourite people for the big day, including me of course. They were all brilliant with the youngest being two years old and the oldest being eighty-six. We had to bring in an extra table and more chairs to have us all seated at the same time and of course we ate a lot, drank a lot and laughed a lot. Brilliant, we must do it again sometime, maybe next Christmas.

I did promise more tags and here they are, these are the tags I have been working on over the last few weeks and when they were all treated with paints they were all painted with either gesso or white acrylic paint.

I used the acrylic paint, as I had no gesso in my cupboard. I am determined not to buy anymore ‘stuff’ if I can help it. I am not mean; I am just running out of room to put it all.
The next stage is to collage all of the tags and then wait for instructions on how to do certain things on each one. The first of which is add a pocket to some of the tags.

I did have a wonderful surprise on Christmas Eve, I received another postcard from my postcard exchange group, and this one was from Katherine in Tucson, Arizona.

Katherine sent me ‘PEACE’ and we had a very peaceful Christmas time, so thank you Katherine.

Another postcard arrived just after Christmas from Fannie who is an extremely nice lady and who also is in my postcard exchange group. If you go to Fannie’s blog you will see many delights including this postcard.

Fannie has finished all her postcards for the group and posted the cards on her blog as she finished them. No one knew which one they would receive but when I saw this snowman I wished for it as I thought it was really the most wonderful piece of work. I am just so lucky.

More Fog?

2007-12-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

Well the bad news is that eldest son will not get anything stitched for Christmas this year. I did say in an earlier blog that it was going to happen but not to worry, as he knew nothing about it he will not be disappointed. It will happen sometime, I don't know when, I will let you know.
The good news is I have more photos. I have been off enjoying myself again, this time with another trip up to London town. And to prove it we have an excellent photo of ‘foggy day in London town’

It actually wasn’t that foggy but this was such a great photo I had to include it.

We had travelled in by train of course

This is Finsbury Park Station where we changed to the Tube line and met son number two at Charing Cross Station. We then walked down to the river Thames and walked across the bridge to the South Bank.

It gave us an excellent view of the river and the ‘London Eye’ .
Son number two takes credit for taking this wonderful panoramic view.

Jingle Bells was being played jazz style under the bridge

and the sight of the lost balloon caught under the bridge made me smile.

I was interested in the graffiti on the South Bank as some of my present art work is concerning text. I find this vibrant art fascinating.

You even get to see new work being formed on the spot, great timing.

We then walked back over the Thames on the bridge at Blackfriars and on to our destination…

St Paul's Cathedral

The reason for this trip to London is that youngest son, yes him again, was singing with his choir Cantate in the Carol service at St Paul’s Cathedral. It was a very splendid affair as they had incorporated the Christingle service with the carols and the lighting of the hundreds of candles in the cathedral was a very special sight. I don't know how many people were there but the cathedral was full. The singing from the choir and also when everyone joined in was just wonderful, the sound is so good in St Paul's.

This is looking up at the central dome from where we were sitting, we were very close to the front so had a good view of the choir in full voice. We were also lucky enough to have two more of the family join us for the service, they had travelled from Lincolnshire to watch youngest son.

So here is one more snap of the Cathedral and next time I post I really will get back to 'tags' and maybe postcards as well.

Good things happen

2007-12-22T01:28:00.001-08:00

Good things happen, I know this for a fact, and this week we had some really good news, youngest son, known here sometimes as third son has passed his grade 8 piano exam. Well done, congratulations I hear you say. So do I, I am one proud Mum. So here’s a tale, not about quilting either.
When this son of mine was about 5 years old, he asked if he could learn to play the piano. There were certain things that prevented us from letting him do this, a piano teacher we consulted about the proposition suggested we waited until he learnt a little bit of music while learning the recorder and the financial aspect of not being able to afford a piano with the fact of not having the space to put it. The recorder was successful up to a point but no more. When he was about nine years old his school offered instrument lessons and his best friend was going to take trumpet lessons. Youngest son asked once more, ‘could he have piano lessons’, we again inquired about the possibility and the answer was no, not in school. Youngest son quickly said, ‘OK, so can I have clarinet lessons then’. This quick reply led us to believe that it was a childish whim of wanting to learn any instrument, gave in and the clarinet lessons began. Now although here I should say he was a star and the best thing that had blown a clarinet, I won’t because although he was good, he wasn’t that good. We will move on a few years now to when for want of a better idea for a Christmas present when he was twelve, I suggested an electronic keyboard. This is what Santa brought along in his sleigh that year for our youngest son.
Having this instrument to play was very exciting so when youngest son asked if he could have lessons we agreed and in a very short time we had fixed these up through the school. Everyone was happy, youngest son was playing a keyboard, we didn’t have to buy a piano and he was very happy with the latest Christmas present.
That is until we went to the school for the music parents evening and had our bubble burst. We sat in somewhat stunned silence whilst we were told that the keyboard was certainly the instrument of choice for our son and while he was not a genius he certainly was gifted and the sooner we moved him on to a piano the better as he was wasted on the keyboard. So here we are four short years later with one very large piano in our front room and a son that plays so beautifully it makes you want to cry and the pride that this week he passed his grade 8 piano examination with a Merit Pass.
The add on to this is he has also passed his grade 7 on the clarinet, plays the bass clarinet, the alto saxophone, the baritone saxophone, takes singing lessons and has just made arrangements to start lessons on the church organ in the New Year.
Guess after all he is musical.
I was going to talk tags and quilting here, maybe tomorrow, after all Christmas is a family time.

Foggy day in London Town

2007-12-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

Wednesday certainly was a foggy day in London town, and at first I thought I had chosen the wrong day to make my trip. Not to worry though, the fog cleared and the sun shone although the temperature did not rise. First stop was to look at the newly opened St Pancras station; I had been told it was not worth the stop! but I enjoyed looking around and most of the shops are open now. It was buzzing with travellers with trains in and out of the station frequently.

Second stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum and to see the Ikat Exhibition in the Fashion Department. The tube was crowded with shoppers but the long walk to the Museum was cheered by buskers playing Christmas Carols. I didn’t think there would be many visitors, wrong, many people had time to spend at this wonderful and inspiring place. On entering the Museum I was distracted by ‘Out of the Ordinary’ an Exhibition of Spectacular Craft that is on until 17th February 2008. Looking around, I am always astounded by the difference in the arts. Items that took my fancy: -

‘Capacity’ by Annie Cattrell a sculptor from London that works mainly in glass

This piece of metal work, I didn’t get the name of the piece, by Sculptor Olu Amoda from Nigeria and who works with salvage from the streets of Lagos

'Topologies' by Anne Wilson who comes from Chicago. Anne uses traditional textile techniques such as lace making, crochet and knitting within her art. These wonderful fans are only part of the finished piece.

Enough of distractions, onto the Ikat exhibition.

But on the way I saw this

And this

Oh and this,

Guess I love the blues and turquoise.

Finally I found the Ikats and what a display, these are just some of the items in the exhibition.

It was a wonderful exhibition with loads of displays to see and well worth the trip. A very tiring day that ended with having a delightful lunch with son number two at John Lewis's 'Place to Eat' at the Oxford Street store's 5th Floor. Delicious.

Tags again

2007-12-18T08:57:00.001-08:00

Last week I told you about the tags I was playing about with, using paints and other mixed media. Well finally today I had time to get on with the next stage. Marbling three more of the tags.
Some time ago I promised myself that I would never again do marbling, that is marbling of paper or marbling of fabric, in fact I said I would never do marbling of any kind. At The Festival of Quilts 2006 I did a half-day workshop with Ursula Schmidt-Troschke, an extremely adept lady who is extremely good at teaching the art of marbling and comes over from Germany to the show each year. She did some wonderful marbled effects on fabric and showed us how. Mine was sort of OK, not too bad but nothing wonderful so when I got home I had another go. It took me all day to produce about a dozen small pieces of fabric what with the setting up and then the clearing up afterwards. I had another day marbling a couple of months afterwards and then decided that it was not worth the mess for the amount of good fabric I ended up with and the time it took to do it, in future I would go out and buy it and save my energy for stitching. This was when I made my decision never to do marbling again.
I lied.
I started using paints on the tags I showed you in an earlier post and the next stage was marbling three of the tags. I thought hard and then decided as it was a one off and done with a different method I would have a go. First you squirt shaving foam into a tray, spread it out evenly and spray with paints. This I accomplished easily and although I had only two spray bottles, one for purple and one for blue it was looking good. With a wooden stick I made the marks in the paint to get a marbled effect. This is a photo of what the shaving foam and paints looked like before I did anything else. Isn’t it wonderful!

It was all down hill from there, I tried on paper first, and that came out a sludgy mess, knowing that I must get on with things I dumped my tags onto the paints and if you look carefully you can see a marbled effect by the time they were scraped and dried. OK not too much but there is a little bit there.

I then tried a piece of fabric and that too was quite good.

I tried a few more papers but nothing came out as good as what I have shown you here, so I really think it is good I share these with you now, as this time it really is the last time I do marbling!

That isn’t the only thing I am not going to do again, as the next stage with the tags was using inks, I will say little about this stage except they are done and now I can move on to the next stage. They are not a pretty sight.

Christmas is coming!

2007-12-18T05:31:00.000-08:00

It seems that Christmas is getting nearer despite my wish it would wait just a while longer so I have time to accomplish everything I set out to do in Plan A. I am now going to Plan B and it seems I am going to more than my fair share of carol concerts this year. That is not a complaint as they are so enjoyable. On Sunday evening we went to Thaxted Church to listen to Cantate Choir sing carols, my youngest son is a member of the choir. Last night we went to the church in our town to listen to the school choirs ‘Nine Readings and Carols’. Youngest son was singing there as well. But what I am really looking forward to is on Saturday when we go to London to St Paul’s Cathedral to listen to some of the Cantate Choir again including……….yes; you were right, youngest son is amongst them. This is a family carol service where all are welcome and it is wonderful to see the cathedral full of people of all ages singing along with the choir. It is such a beautiful cathedral.Not a lot of work done here on the P & Q front but eventually I have got a little bit festive and made my door wreath. I did buy the base but added the colour and sparkle myself……….pause for applause.

I also found time to change my quilt on the wall and put up the Christmas tree. The lights are glowing a little too much but this is the best photo I can do at the moment.

In-between meetings and shopping I did find time yesterday to mail some of my postcards to my postcard exchange group and as soon as I hear they have received them I will put the photos up for you all to see. I really hope that they will get there before Christmas. I am now away to put all my shopping in the cupboards and then I will see if I can do catch up on my tags!

All a bit hectic

2007-12-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

It has been a bit of a hectic week, classes have finished and at one point I actually cleared my desk in the hope that I would get organised and get some work done. Not a lot I’m afraid. I did finish a lap quilt for DIL, I think it is the simplest quilt I have ever done but I hope she will like it. I don’t like working with browns, and the cat thing in quilts is not my scene either but you have to work with what other people like sometimes. It is really good for you and I was able to have a bit of fun as I added a bit of rust fabric and wrote lots of ‘cat type’ words around the outer border with free machine quilting, it will be good for an extra Christmas pressy and I am so lucky to have such a brilliant DIL.

I found I had to ‘make’ for this dear lady as I am hoping to finish a gift for eldest son before Christmas Eve. Time I made something for the female of the species. This is of course if I get time to sew at all. Wednesday I spent driving to Cambridge and back a couple of times as youngest son had his college interviews, one early morning and one late afternoon. It did give me a chance to do a bit of shopping although it was a tad rushed. Christmas lunch with very good friends at New Horizons Textile Group on Friday was really the highlight of my week only to be capped by finding another postcard from my postcard exchange group on the doormat when I returned home.
This one is called ‘Simply Dorothy’ and from Alicia in New Mexico, I think it is really delightful, thanks Alicia.

Dolls and tags

2007-12-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well here I am again, safe and sound and now a 2nd time blogger, I have been thinking about what I will show you and tell you about in a sharing sense and there is so much I almost went into overload. I am starting with someone else’s work; one of my students and I went on a doll-making workshop with the wonderful Gina Ferrari, you can find her at http://www.ginaferrari.blogspot.com/. I guess the dotee dolls will distract you and also the sock people, it is quite busy at Gina’s blog as you will see. She is a delightful lady that teaches embroidery mainly but like many of us she wanders into other areas. One of these sidelines is doll making, (if you check out her website at http://www.ginaferrari.co.uk/ you will see what I mean). I must make a confession here, the doll I started is not yet finished, I had a leg problem, well not me personally, my doll had a leg problem and until it is fixed she will not be ready to meet the world. That is something you have to look forward to. Meanwhile Brenda has finished her doll and it is making her debut here and on Gina’s blog. May I introduce you all to Fifi, a lady of the world.

I really hope that you are impressed, I certainly was when I first met Fifi, and I found out quickly that she is a very friendly lady. Brenda has done a really wonderful job on dressing her up ready to meet you all. Another photo I am going to show you is one of the first postcards that I have received from my postcard exchange group, this one is from Amy and came all the way from America. Most of the people in the group live in America, there is just me over here in England and a few more spread around the globe

I have made six postcards so far but I am not publishing on my blog until they are sent and hopefully delivered to their new owners.
I was introduced to a new internet group, by a member of my postcard exchange group. The group is busy using mixed media to decorate paper and extend their knowledge in the use of the many materials on the market today. Many of those we have at home in our cupboards, such as water colour paints, acrylic paints, inks and so on - well I know I have. Members are encouraged to join in with a new method each week. We are working on luggage tags and although some people have made their own I just happened to have some in a drawer !! The first week the tags were stained with coffee, here are mine.

The second week three of the tags were coloured with watercolour paints.

The third week another three of the tags were coloured with acrylic paints.

The fourth week three of the tags were marbled, no photo here as unfortunately I had to wait until I had been out and bought some shaving foam and I haven’t got around to doing it yet, or the inking, or even the dry brushing, so I am a little behind on that project but I will catch up and share the photos at a later date. Something else I hope you will be able to look forward to.

Virgin Blog

2007-12-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

I have finally got around to persuading myself that I have to make my first blog entry. I have been toying with the idea of having a blog for sometime now and did try and set one up a couple of weeks ago, but failed. But last week my son came down (or up) from London, I’m not quite sure of the term, and sorted everything out very quickly. It was a bit too quickly for me as I then didn’t know what to say, but I have now jumped in with both feet deciding that as no one knows I have a blog yet I can say what I like and it doesn’t matter. I am not quite sure when I will tell anyone but that will work itself out as well. I have been very busy of late (who hasn’t I hear you say) with classes, my own stitching and of course the seasonal Christmas cards. I have been wondering what photos will accompany this first blog so maybe here I will add a handmade card or two. They are very simple cards as you will see, but I make so many that simple is the way to go for me.

The first one is stitched:-

And the second one is using organza on felt and burning with a soldering iron.

I have also been making postcards, the fabric kind, although I should really call them mailable Art! I am really enjoying this and have joined an international postcard exchange group. Everyone seems so nice, some are new to postcards and some have made many of them and been involved with other postcard swaps. I received my first postcard from one of the members this week, it was brilliant and I will get around to taking a photo and putting it on one day soon.
I am becoming a bit of a techno Granny as I have also joined some of the Yahoo groups. It is a different world out there that I have only recently discovered, one of the members of my postcard exchange group has told me of a couple and that has led me to looking at more.I will tell you all about them at a later date, you need to be wanting more!

I am now going to publish this little epic and see how it all looks, I may have to emigrate after publication but such is life. Lets just hope it all works.