Tilda House quilt and Butterfly sampler

Last Sunday I sat down and managed to get another background block stitched. This project has been going on for a number of years and unfortunately I've still got the boring bits of stitching to do. But I will plod on with it because once that's done I can start attaching the little houses and then it will come alive!

But I'm not going to work on this today I'm going to continue with my Butterfly sampler.

This has also been sitting in my UFO pile waiting to be quilted. It's from a Sue Spargo Craftsy class and I really enjoyed learning the different embroidery stitches and picking the colours and threads.  All it needed was the quilting! So inspired by another Slow Sunday Stitcher who is also doing the class, I sat down during the week and started to quilt! (I actually tried hand quilting it with a perle 8 thread but it detracted from the butterflies.) I also ran out of yellow thread, which was annoying because there is only a small amount of quilting left to do, but I will finish stitching it this morning and then I can spend the rest of the day sewing the antenna on each one and maybe even get the binding done!

I have link up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching blog so you can see what everyone else is sewing today.

Dorset and cream teas!

On Wednesday we went out with DHs Nordic walking group for there annual long walk. We did a circular walk of several miles along the Dorset coast and ended up back at a pub for lunch. It was a really nice day, not too hot as there was quite a bit of cloud cover, which made walking just right! A very pleasant day!

And this afternoon we meet up with another group of DHs friends for a Vintage Afternoon Tea! It was suggested we wear something vintage.  Not sure what constitutes vintage but I had a dress that's about 10 years old and I still love it, so wore that! There were also hats and feather boas on the backs of all the chairs.  What must we have looked like?  But it was good fun.  I can honestly say I don't want to eat another piece of cake for at least a week! (and coming from me that's saying something!)

Lots of lovely finishes!!

I've always loved Sundays, even as a child! Today is no exception and thinking about what I've done so far today I would say it's a perfect day. It started off with a lovely long walk (just over four miles) from Beaulieu to Bucklers Hard along the river. We were there nice and early so not too hot and not many people around. When we get to Bucklers Hard there is a nice little café to have coffee and cake (we shared one so I haven't really broken my diet) and then the walk back, where we can stop off at a lovely garden centre to look at the plants, where my DH bought me this pot of succulents. I love the weird shapes and wonderful colours. I have an old Butler sink that I've got prepared but just hadn't found a plant centre that stocked enough variety for me to get started, so I'm delighted with these!

We just got back to the car as it started to rain which means when I get home I won't feel guilty if I sit down and do some sewing.  So all in all a perfect Sunday!

Last Sunday I managed to get my Elizabethan Tudor rose finished (yes those pesky petals are done).

And during the week I finished the insertion stitch project. Its a shame the colour is washed out in the photo. Not sure what this will be in the end but it's another project completed.

Also finished some socks for a girlfriends Birthday. Its very satisfying to be able to tick several things off my UFO list. I have linked up to Kathy's blog for Slow Sunday Stitching so you can see what other people are working on this Sunday and I'm off to work on my Tilda House quilt, which I haven't looked at for ages. Hopefully by next Sunday I will have something to show!

Elizabethan embroidery

Not a lot of sewing got done last Sunday because there was so much too watch on TV! Andy Murrey won at Wimbledon and Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix so all in all it was hard to concentrate on sewing (and that Brussels stitch needs all my attention). So today for Slow Sunday Stitching I am hoping to get those pesky petals done!

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who left a comment on last Sundays post. I got some great advice on how to move forward with my Grandmothers Garden quilt and its really motivated me to get going with it, so thank you everyone! I was also recommended a book by Mia called Quilting on the go which I managed to get from my local library and its an excellent book......the only trouble is I now want to start another English paper pieced quilt! I can argue very easily to start another one, I mean after all I need something to do that doesn't take too much brain power while I'm watching television!

I don't have too much to show for this week. I've had my lovely daughter over from Germany so we have been doing some serious retail/garden centre/coffee shop therapy and its been bliss! But I can show my sashiko bag finished. Its a nice sturdy bag and I am pleased with the  way its turned out. I'm cracking on with trying to get some projects completed!

Enjoy the weather and have a wonderful day.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I've got a bit of a Ta Dah moment! Well a partial one any way. I've finally, after several years, got the top of my Grandmothers Garden quilt to a finish!! I'm happy with the size of it and I've added all the half hexagon's to the edge and I'm where I want to be. But I have no idea what to do next...... when do I remove all the papers from the back? How should it be quilted? What wadding do I use? Can I pin it or does it have to be basted? I think I am going to hand quilt it which means I have to buy a hoop (I presume you can't hand quilt with out one). I've looked on You Tube and have a rough idea of the technique needed to hand quilt. I would also normally piece the backing fabric but if I am going to hand quilt it might give me too many seams to think about so I need to find a backing fabric also! But all that said I am rather excited to start. I will let you know how I get on!

I will link up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching although at the moment I'm not quite sure what to stitch today.  Its wet here in the UK and rather chilly and of course we have lots to watch on the TV - Wimbledon finals (go Andy Murrey) the British Grand Prix (go Lewis Hamilton) and the final of the Euro 16 (no UK team to support there unfortunately!) But what ever you are doing today I hope you have a good one!!

Embroiderers' Guild

I said I would put a couple more photos up from the Embroiderers' Guild Exhibition I saw this time at Standon House (a rather wonderful Arts and Crafts House run by the National Trust in West Sussex)

This was probably one of my favourite pieces and unfortunately I can't recall who embroidered it but I'm pretty sure it was called 'Blue Honesty'

Slow Sunday Stitiching

Yesterday I had my Creative Embroidery class and started this little Tudor Rose Elizabethan needle case. Its a pretty project and I'm quite enjoying it.  The Brussels stitch which is the button hole stitch over the top petal is quite tricky and hopefully by the time I get to petal five it will look nice and smooth!

When I got home from class I added this project to the increasing pile of UFOs and realise that I'm getting slightly over whelmed by the amount of unfinished projects. So I made a list of some of the smaller more easily completed ones and numbered them and I won't move onto the next UFO until the one before is finished. I already know this won't work because I quite like working on more than one project at a time depending on if I'm watching TV or sitting in the garden (unlikely at the moment because boy have we had some rain). But that said the process did sooth my conscience! And it did make me finish the binding on a little 10 inch quilt I have made for Another Little Quilt Swap 10 (so that's one I can tick off the list!!!

We have just returned from a couple of weeks touring around in our Motor Home.  We did have lots

of rain which of course gave me time to do some hand stitching! We still had a great holiday despite the weather and we got to see a couple of the Embroiderers Guild exhibitions, which were amazing.  I will post some more photos of their work next week.  I'm working on adding the beads to this piece at the moment and then it will be a border and then frame it. And I did start another pair of socks.... these are a present so I can justify starting them!  I am linking up with Kathys blog so you can see what other people are stitching this Sunday!