Saturday Sewing and Other Bits

On Saturday I joined some ladies for a sewing day where we work on our own projects and have a lot of natter!  A really enjoyable and relaxing day. Choosing a project to work on I needed a book cover for my paperbacks that I take to work to read of a lunchtime.  I's wanted to make the bookcover from Susan Briscoe's book "130 Little Quilt Blocks" which I've found quite a useful reference for quilt blocks.  I used an applique Retro Bird and fused that on a background, ready to stitch.  I used my own block for the back 3d Bow Tie block and the blocks matched in with some really bright Australian fabric that I've had for some years.

Heres the front

 And the back

Just a bit bright!

I thought I would share with you the postcards that I received last month in the Doodling swap.  Some lovely postcards indeed. They were all stitched doodles one with the addition of piecing too.

Now I've started on a new set of postcards for a swap next month called Using Up Ribbons and Lace. So yesterday afternoon I got out my jar of ribbons and bags of odd bits of lace and made a mess

 And below is some weaving pinned at the edges waiting to be ironed onto a fusible background (calico with fusible webbing face up) which I'll do later

I said in my last post I was getting hooked on crochet.  This is what I did during the week, a mandala.  No purpose to this, I just liked it and wanted to have a go.

This was from Simply Crochet, a pattern by Dutch crocheter and blogger, Wink. Her one is in lovely soft colours, mine is just a bit bright. I thought it was an easy pattern to follow, but as the circle became bigger my counting went awry so it's curling upwards, but never mind, I enjoyed making it.

Bit of Catching Up

You would have thought that with a week's holiday I could have caught up with things, but not a chance.  Back to work today and really busy at present.

The beginning of my holiday on the Bank Holiday weekend David and I went to Seaton in Devon, only about an hour and half's drive away, but meandered and stopped in Dorchester and West Bay (famous now as the setting for Broadchurch drama series on the television recently), then onto Axminster for tea at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Canteen.

While at Seaton, we visited the Seaton Tramway and Pecorama in Beer on the Sunday then onto Killerton on Bank Holiday Monday before returning home.  I'll post more about our trip later.

The rest of the week was taken up with a little spring cleaning but by the end of the week I went to the Quilters' Guild Area Day near Wimborne, where the speakers were Penny Armitage, a member of the Guild and the Contemporary Quilters and Anja Townrow, a well known Dutch born quilter. Both speakers had interesting stories about how they went into quilting.  I wasn't able to do the workshop that Anja was teaching, but I had purchased a pattern and will make time have a go at her style of foundation piecing.  A really enjoyable day, thanks to Chantal and Jenny's organising.   I made a small quilt 12.5" square for the Coast challenge

Unlike my We Are Sailing challenge of last year I managed to get a photo done and I was quite pleased how this turns out. The next time I'll see this will be in September for the Creative Crafts show in Exeter after it goes for a tour around with other challenge pieces in Devon.

On Saturday we had friends staying with us and Sarah came from Bristol and stayed too, so a house full!  David and his friend Brian went to watch diesel engines at Swanage Railway, while enjoying the beer at a beer festival at a pub in Corfe Castle village.  Briony and I meanwhile went to Kingston Lacy in Wimborne.  The acers in the Japanese garden looking absolutely fabulous.

Yesterday David and I visited Jamie, Carly and the boys and met Jamie, Leo and Freddy at the local park for a game of crazy golf in the rain while looking after their puppy, Brian.  This was while Carly was doing a photo shoot and just as she was packing up Brian sat on the backdrop so I had to take a photo while he was still (he's very scatty so doesn't stay still for long).  Sweet, isn't he.

I found I am starting to get hooked on crochet.  I've made Granny Squares before, but could not resist this magazine and tried out the free flower kit and had a go at doing a hexagon granny until the pink yarn ran out.  Then made another

Netley Abbey

The second part of the Sunday out, this is a couple of weekends ago now and I had hoped to post earlier than this, but that's time for you.

Here are some photos that I took of this quite atmospheric ruin.  Netley was quite a big abbey until Henry VIII dissolved the Catholic religion, after then it was first ruined it then became a large Tudor mansion house hence the brickwork around the ruin. More about this site here.

The wallflowers were growing wild in amongst the ruins

Looking through the arches from the main church

Trying a "Carly style" tilted photo

More wallflowers a lovely splash of colour against the grey stone.

Bluebells are just appearing at this time so took a photo of those around the base of the tree

Just across the road from the site is Southampton Water

What a contrast from historic site to the modern commercial port, this car transporter ship just leaving the docks.

Out and About

This last week I've been out on a few occasions going from one end of Dorset to the other and even heading into Hampshire.  I went out Wednesday last week with my friend Brenda to Bridport to enjoy lunch then onto Eype and a former church which is now an arts centre to see Kate Dowty's exhibition there.  A lovely small church but really cold and Kate was hand sewing a quilt binding with fingerless gloves on, that's how cold it was!  I didn't take photos, but she does have a web site here.  Her exhibition is now at the National Needlework Archive in Newbury, Berkshire, which I hope is a little warmer.

I did manage to buy some fabric to make a skirt from a fabric shop in Bridport (hopefully on my week's holiday next week) and we had to visit Pauline's Patchwork in Dorchester on our way home.  Here are my purchases

 Sixties fabrics (blue) and sewing pattern fabric

The flowery fabric for my skirt

Last Saturday I went to the Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta, with my Mum.  She stocked up on patchwork fabric for a quilt she'll be working on, but I didn't get very much at all there just some ribbons from Simply Sequins

On Sunday David and I went to Manor Farm in Bursledon, near Southampton, which is run by Hampshire County Council.  This was the setting for BBC2's Wartime Farm, which was shown last year.  Definitely a place worth visiting, though aimed at families, we had an enjoyable time seeing the farm animals (and their babies too), chickens everywhere.  Part of the main farmhouse building was in Victorian style and part was in a wartime setting.

The ewe was more interested in us than the poor little lamb trying to have a feed!

This chicken is a Silky, its feathers look more like soft fur. One of many varieties of unusual chickens.

Not a very good photo but it was the best I could get of my namesake, Sue, with her piglets born at the end of March.

Inside the parlour of the Wartime farmhouse.

Small sewing area with treadle sewing machine

I liked this little embroidery which hung in the bedroom on a cupboard door

And this elaborate piece of crochet. That must have taken some working out!

We went on in the country park to walk by the River Hamble, which borders the farm.  Didn't realise just how big the Hamble is

The top photo shows looking upstream and the lower one downstream towards the boatyards and the M27 motorway bridge.


I'll blog next about our visit in the area to Netley Abbey. Lots of pics of old ruins.

Tripping again

Yesterday I spent the day with a group of ladies from Happy Patchers in Wimborne for a sewing Saturday.  We had a challenge to make a work bag for the occasion and there were a lovely selection of bags

First was the one in the photo just above, with pockets and the pattern inside. The second was the little black Japanese patchwork bag in the top picture and the green. red and yellow strippy one on the right side of the top photo came third.  And mine?  That's blue one in the bottom photo, next to the stripey one.

Grace showed  us how to make a Post It holder, although it was made from card and paper, rather than fabric.  It kept us quiet making them!  Here they are displayed on the window ledge

And we also managed a bit of sewing too, all working on our own projects.  I took my Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks and so managed to make 2 completed and 2 more blocks in strips waiting to re-cut.  I'll share more photos when I upload the camera, all the above were taken with my phone.

Meanwhile

 This is my magnolia called Stellata, the flowers only last a short time but we're surprised that there's so many flowers on this

And since Spring has decided to arrive the perennial wallflower has just burst into bloom, literally.  Just love those purpley/orangey flowers.

Midweek stuff

This morning I am updating the blog before going off for an interview with an agency in Bournemouth.  My current job will finish at the end of July and my contract is not likely to be renewed so I've started job hunting again.  I think I've got a little complacent with keeping my CV up to date so I've had a bit of work to do getting that polished up at the weekend.

My postcards were sent out on Sunday and even though they went second class post one of the ladies in the group e-mailed yesterday that she got hers - amazing.

So here's my large piece of 'doodling' all trimmed up

 and the six cards cut from the large piece

 I didn't take a photo of the cards after edges had been finished off.

I really enjoyed the doodling, I might well be doing some more!

That done I am now working on a bag for this Saturday's challenge.  I am joining some ladies in Wimborne for a belated IQD day - a good sewing day I hope.so I'll tray and  share some photos of that on my next blog.

While loading photos from my camera (as I've been using my mobile for photos recently) I can across some from last month when we went out to The Vyne, a National Trust house near Basingstoke.  It had been a mixed bag of weather that day so our visit started off sunny but by the end there was steady rain.

There were theses unusual cloth dolls dotted around the house with clues to keep children's interest.

A large hanging in the tea room sewn by member of the Embroiders Guild.  As you can see some amazing work in that.

I could not resist taking a photo of these lovely hellebores, even though it was chucking it with rain!

Seeing photos of a day out has cheered me up already this morning!

Sewing Sunday

Just one photo to show what I got up to over the weekend. This month's themed postcard swap that I signed up to is called 'doodling'. I chose to doodle with the sewing machine, I forgot the first rule of quilting that quilting 'shrinks' the fabric and cut the piece I was making to just 12.5 inches square - should have made another inch bigger. Just had to make smaller postcards from this one large piece.





I started of by using a twin needle to make the sections and discovered that not only could I sew straight stitch and zigzag but also a few fancy stitches too like the herringbone one in the bottom row of stitching. I then did some free machining mainly in straight stitch for most of the patterns and used free zigzag stitch for a couple of the sections (like the top right). I then cut the whole thing into 6 postcards.

I took the photo above with my phone, but later photos were with my camera, so can't show those until later.

That done, other makes for April will include a bag to be done for a challenge in a couple of weeks time and to make a start on my 'Coast' challenge.


Sue W- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad