Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Not much to show for rainbow scrap challenge day ~ I did all my reds at the beginning of the month because I knew we would be away on holiday ~ but I have had a play with one of the houses that I see regularly on other peoples blogs!  

The pattern comes from Bonnie Hunter and she makes her houses wonky with a boarder so I thought I would do that.  Although really that should be done at the end when all the houses are assembled so you know which ones go uphill and which go down!!  I always was a bit impatient!

They are fun to do I will make a few more!
Take a look at what other quilters have been up to for the last week for red

Don't look now!

It's a colleagues 50th birthday soon and she has invited us to her party.  Unfortunately we can't go but I thought I would still make her a present (she has always admired and made the right noises when I show her anything I've made!)  This pattern came out of a magazine and I can't remember which one it was, but it comes from the 'Don't look now' series and I love her work.  So this is going to be a cushion.  Cutting out all the fiddle little bits of flowers took ages and sewing it will probably only take half as long!

Work in progress!

Lake District and Casalguidi

The Lake District in Cumbria is a really beautiful part of England.  And as you can see we had fabulous weather (most of the time!).  We stayed in a little village on the west coast called Ravenglass.  It wasn't so touristy as the central part of the Lake District so it was very nice.  Places like Windermere can be heaving at this time of year!  This is a photo of Wast Water, one of the lakes close to where we stayed.

I did manage to do a lot of reading while I was away and a little sewing!  This is a project I started at my last embroidery class.

 It is called Casalguidi embroidery (named after a town in Italy) and is a technique that uses four-sided counted stitch and texture (that bit comes later)

I have to complete another round before my next class in September!

Lake District

I'm in The Lake District in Cumbria.  Got here yesterday in lovely sunshine, but today it's wet, wet, wet (and very windy).  So a chance to do some hand sewing and knitting.  No photos though I haven't yet worked out how to transfer pictures on my Ipad!

Rainbow Scrap challenge - Red

Isn't red the most scrumptious colour around?  I've been busy this week and managed to get all my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks done (and a couple of lead and end bits - yay).  Which is just as well because tomorrow I'm off to a wedding and then it's Faye's birthday and on Monday I have a Textile and Embroidery class - busy, busy, busy!

You can check out what other quilters are doing here

Buckingham Palace

Yesterday my DH and I went to a work colleagues birthday party in London.  It's a bit of a hike now for us to get into London (2 hours on the train) so we decided to make a day of it and booked tickets to go around the State rooms at Buckingham Palace and see the Queens Coronation exhibition.  And what a delight it was!

The tour took us around many of the rooms that you see on television.  These are the rooms that were designed and built as the public rooms of the palace, in which the Queen receives, rewards and entertains her subjects and dignitaries!  The Queen also owns a huge collection of works of art, paintings, furniture, porcelain and sculptures, some of which you get to see.

The highlight of the tour for me was the exhibition featuring the Coronation clothes worn by the Queen, the Ladies in Waiting, Queen Mother, Princess Ann, Prince Charles and Prince Phillip among many.  The embroidery on the Coronation gown was beautiful and represented England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and the Commonwealth countries.  Apparently the designer Norman Hartnell embroidered a four leaf clover somewhere on the dress but we couldn't see it and the stewards didn't know where it was, or weren't telling!  You can see some of the highlights of the exhibition here!

Following the tour you exit at the back of the palace and get an opportunity to walk around some of the garden and have a cuppa on the terrace overlooking the lawns and lake.  You just have to do it (and we did), even if the tea and coffee was in a paper cup with Buckingham Palace written on the side!!

During August and September when the Palace is open to the public the Queen takes a well earned rest in Scotland.