Chateau Hexagon and Anna Levens

It seemed like a good idea at the time to embark on a new Block of the Month project particularly one with the fabulous title of Chateau Hexagon. When my fabrics arrived my heart sank a little because they were in very muted shades and I am more used to stronger, brighter colours which made them appear dull. Needless to say I fell way behind and as Block 8 arrived through the door it was time to take action. Time to put them on the list. The pattern is by Lynette Anderson.

Block 1

Block 2

As I have been stitching them the colours have grown on me and I like the delicate shades and I have enjoyed the embroidery. There is a lot of work for the size of the blocks. You will note that there appears to be a bit of space which has been left for a beautiful button to be added once assembled and quilted. You may also be wondering where the hexagons are. All will be revealed.

All the large hexagon blocks of the Anna Levens Quilt by Marg Sampson George are now surrounded by plain cream. I adore this bit of stitching and maybe I like softer shades more than I realise.

Almost at the end of January and I bet you may be wondering how I am doing with the pesky list. Hmm, we shall have to see.

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.

First Finish

A finish is a finish. Even though it was not on on the list, it should have been and I finished it in time for it to go on a little journey. The photo's were taken at my house.

It has gone to live with my good friend Judith and arrived on the day of her special birthday. Relieved it got there and in time and that she likes it. Phew!

Stina from Kviltstina sent me this little poster to remind me of my word for 2014. Thank you Stina I love it. Planning on delivering plenty of content this year.

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.x

Activity

After compiling a New Year's List and vowing to work through it after a few days I was already in trouble. Item number 13 gets me every time. This one though was my own fault for not adding it to the list properly in the first place. A good friend of mine has a special birthday coming up and I had already decided to make her something. This was the progress on Wednesday at Kate's when we met for our first sewing of the year. Quilting finished and ready for making up into a cushion.

Rosemary was adding to her Grandmother's Flower Garden. I always love the fabrics that Rosemary chooses because they are pretty and summery and leave you feeling good. Essential this time of the year when we have had constant rain. Poor old Somerset is drowning in the stuff yet again. 

Wendy is making a bag with very pretty stitchery. The pattern is from Homespun magazine.

Margaret is busy finishing the binding to a quilt which means a project almost complete. You can see a little bit of Margaret's knitted jacket that she had made and was wearing. Very nice it was too. May have to add that one to my growing list of things to do  at some point.

Kate was contemplating clamshells over a cup of coffee. No quick way of making them. Whichever method you use you still have to do some prep but Kate is very skilled at making them and before long they will be prepped and stitched.

Having got to a stage that I could go no further out came the hexagons and item 10 on the list. Anyone sensible would probably start with number 1 but I hate being sensible and predictable and besides, the  box was handy to bring. Playing around with the layout and now I can add a row of cream. Apologies for the dark photo. I will learn to take decent photo's one day.

We had a lovely day. One of our dear companions Pat was missing as she was not very well. If you are reading this Pat hope you are feeling better. We missed you.

Till next time.

Happy Stitching

Shirley.

New Year, New Word

Over the Christmas period we were kept busy entertaining and eating, being with family and friends and I realised that I felt this overwhelming sense of something that I could not quite define. I realised it was contentment. Just that. Content. 

I am making my new word for the year CONTENT.  Whilst I was thinking about this word something popped up on Pinterest with that very word defining it in 21 ways that we crave content. It was meant to be. Right this minute I would just like to hang on to this feeling of peace and happiness and remember it. I have seen wonderful montages of finished projects during 2013 and sadly all I would be able to show would be blank spaces as I reflect on the lack of stitching. There were a few highlights and I did sell my little Alzheimers Quilt and made a baby quilt and even crocheted a couple of baby blankets. There was even a trip to Cowslip which was most enjoyable and a project yet to be finished. This year I hope this blog will be full of CONTENT.

The only stitching I have managed is this bit of knitting. Again a project found on Pinterest and the pattern came via Ravelry. It is a 10 stitch blanket, knitted in rounds. The photo shows the wrong side but I prefer the wrong side. The colours are very sombre for me but I love them and I only have 3 balls so when I run out, that will be the finished size for a little blanket. The yarn is Riot by King Cole. I can buy more but I think it will be more fun just to see what size it ends up. I would make it again. It is a great pick up and put down project.

I thought that I would kick off the New Year with the return of The List.

Some old projects to return to, some to finish, some to advance and a sneaky one to start. Have you spotted it? The one that always gets me into trouble, item number 13, anything else. I have great luck with starting projects so hopefully this year I can show lots of content.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year. May it be a good one.

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.x

Return of the mojo

In my last post I was lamenting the fact that the old mojo had well and truly disappeared. Not even a hexagon could tempt me. A little thought crept in saying that maybe I needed to start something completely afresh and see if that works. Trying hard not to think about the million other projects gone off the boil this is what I started. It has lots of applique, even a few hexagons, well, a lot of hexagons, even some diamonds but, it seems to be working and I am thoroughly enjoying this so far.

This is the pattern. Mosaic by Irene Blanck. It came all the way from Australia and I might add within 4 days of ordering it. Well done to the postal services both ways.

Decorating the Christmas Tree was proving a bit tricky. This is tree number 2. Tree number one was bought, unwrapped and put in its pot and then I realised that there were a lot of needles on the floor. The poor thing looked decidedly unwell. Back it went and tree number two bought. It is compact and just fits the place. I know what you are thinking but what else would I decorate it with other than pink baubles. There are lots of green baubles too and I love the sparkly snowflakes. I stand the tree in my Portmeirion bread crock which has a Christmas Rose design conveniently on the front.Now to get organised with everything else.

Kate had a very special birthday last week, one with a 0 on the end and as a treat we had a day out to Bath. We had the most fabulous day and a big thank you to Kate's husband David who drove us there with great patience, six women in the car all giving different directions, a Sat Nav that didn't work properly and a car with some fancy gizmo's that would have been enough to drive him mad.

First stop was the Costume Museum. There were some fabulous costumes and we all had our personal favourites. I didn't take many photo's as I only had my phone and it does not take good photo's in the dark. This display is from the Civil War era. The thing that stood out for us that these women were tiny. Not very tall and with the smallest of waists. Real envy going on here I can tell you.

This made me smile. This Man's Coat was exquisitely embroidered but the mannequin it was draped on had on underpants that had the words Gems Ltd printed on them. Gives a new slant on the contents of underpants being called The Crown Jewels!

The costumes are housed in The Assembly Rooms in Bath and Jane Austen most certainly would have visited here for dancing and socialising. In one of the rooms were magnificent chandeliers. These are electric but you could still get the feel for what this room would have felt like with all these chandeliers.

From there we found a gorgeous tea room for lunch and afterwards made a visit to Country Threads patchwork shop where we had to purchase one or two things. It would have been rude not to. A great one to visit if you are ever in Bath.

A few weeks ago we had a trip to Sidmouth, East Devon. It was a lovely warm day and wandering around the back streets we came across this sign pointing to a craft shop but it was the name that attracted us. Maisie and cousin Daisy could be a double act.

It finished up with the most magnificent sunset.

Hope all your festive plans are coming together and you are finding a quiet moment for some stitching or are you frantically trying to finish things. That was part of my mojo that did not kick in. Maybe I shall start in January......

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.

Pretty in Pink

A trumpet fanfare is in order or a drum roll at the very least for I have finally finished this pretty little number. You had better look away now if pink is not your thing. I am pleased with how it looks and the little person it was made for has had a lie on it and declared it fit for purpose.

There are a few names for this pattern. Periwinkle, Hummingbird and Kite. There may be more. The quilting was inspired by seeing an old version on Pinterest and the patchwork templates came via Petra Prins in Holland. I can spend hours on Pinterest but here is proof that at least some of that time was useful. All in the name of research. The binding was also done after seeing a method on Pinterest. It was made by  bringing the backing fabric to the front and mitring the corners. I shall use it again.

Progress in the sewing department has been slower than slow for several reasons. My shoulder pain is ongoing or more to the point the aching muscles around the joint have made it hard going. I am pleased to say that it is improving, slowly. Because I have not been sewing much the desire to sew departed too and this has caused me a lot of bother. The mojo well and truly disappeared.

My little miss is growing nicely and is such a joy. I am mesmerised by her hands. The first thing I noticed about her was her lovely fingers. They looked like matchsticks but, now they are plump and learning to grasp and feel. Will they be stitching fingers?

I treated myself to a bunch of pretty roses from the supermarket. I LOVE that delicate shade of green.

There is an App on the IPad which allows you to take a photo and play around with the image. At a touch it can produce fabulous kaleidoscopic images such as this.  Lots of yummy thoughts go through my mind with this but that is where it will have to stay, at least for the time being.

Happy Stitching

Shirley.x

Differences

At Kate's on Wednesday I sat working on my Periwinkle quilt with the hand quilting. Progress is slow but, progress nevertheless. I had a brainwave for the border and decided to quilt the outlines of the periwinkle block. The inspiration just appeared out of the blue, I think it works and I am pleased with it.

 

On Kate's design wall was a small quilt that her sister Margaret had been working on. We have watched the progress over time but the penny did not drop until seeing it finished and up on the wall. I suddenly realised that Margaret's quilt is exactly the same pattern as mine but looks  totally different.

Margaret's version of the periwinkle quilt. As you can see, very different in placement of colours and the pattern within the octagon. The blocks are a bit bigger than mine. Spurring me on to finish mine now. Well done Margaret.

Kate gave me these two tomatoes from her garden. They are of a late growing outdoor variety and their name ..... Shirley.

On Sunday we had a pleasant stroll around the garden centre in such lovely unseasonal sunshine and on one of the stands was this fabulous clematis. Love everything about it.

 

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone for your kind and lovely comments regarding baby Maisie.  Mum and baby are doing well.

 

Happy Stitching.

 

Love Shirley.