Five Gold Rings!

Well not actually five gold rings only one (thank goodness).  This has been my least favourite one to sew and was a real fiddle to get it right and if I'm being super critical it doesn't sit evenly.  The written instructions from mmmcrafts are brilliant and extend over 12 pages and do help to make the process idiot proof!  Anyway I thought I would post some photos of the process involved in making these little Christmas ornaments

 And the final gold ring!  I'm away in the motorhome so don't have the others to go with it but I think they will look good as a collection.  The photo below is my messy work area and as you can see I was being well supervised by Lola!

Tomorrow we head home but I will hopefully link up with Kathy's blog for slow Sunday stitching.

November

Its been a rather slow week on the sewing/crafting/quilting front but I have achieved lots on the decorating side of life.  I would far rather be sewing than wielding a paintbrush and I hadn't realised how much work would be involved when I started.  The area of hall, stairs and landing is far greater than I realised!  Still I have made a start on November (peacocks seem to be featuring in my life at the moment - although this one was no where near as complicated as the one in the middle of A Peacocks Garden).  I have also been practicing my hand quilting most evenings for an hour or two on my Grandmothers Garden quilt.  And it is true practice has improved my technique and I'm even managing to quilt in different directions instead of hauling the quilt around every time I go around a corner, so that's good (although it wouldn't be good to inspect it too closely).  I will take a photo during the week and post a progress report.  In the mean time I am linking up with Kathy for slow Sunday stitching although no stitching for me yet, I'm back to the painting for now!

Felt and 2" squares

 The postman arrived this morning with a lovely little package containing felt! I was very strict with myself and didn't open it until I sat down for a rest from the decorating!  Unfortunately where I normally buy my 100% wool felt from is no longer trading so I had to buy a wool/acrylic mix felt instead.  It definitely isn't as sumptuous as the pure wool felt but still nice.  It was also difficult to get the colours right buying on line.

 But I think these colours will co-ordinate OK with what I already have.  All I have to do now is soak it (that takes about 15 mins per sheet) and dry.  I can then start making the next Christmas ornament in the 12 days of Christmas series - a gold ring!

To take a break from the wall paper scraping (that's all done now thank goodness) I started to look through a fabric stash basket and discovered rolled up in some grid flannel, lots of floral 2" squares!  They must have been languishing at the bottom of the basket for years and I think I was probably collecting them for an impressionist quilt or I think it could also be called a waterfall quilt (oops no its not its a colourwash quilt).  Some of the fabrics I recognised but others not, so I suspect I was collecting them from classes I attended.  Anyway I shook them off the flannel and ironed them - nearly 200 in total and yes I did count them.  That's what happens when the decorating gets on top of you and you are looking for avoidance tactics!!

 Oh well back to the decorating, it definitely won't get done on its own!!

A Peacocks Garden

It's been a really soggy week, with lots of rain (and I do mean lots.)  So I decided in my wisdom it would be a good time to do some decorating! And I really, really wish I hadn't started.  Anyway what it means is I haven't managed to do much sewing this week.  Although I did finish off Octobers part of the Peacocks Garden.  

There needs to be a second acorn between the squirrels but I would like to put my initials and the year and depending on November and Decembers section of the stitch a long the date may well go between there feet!  While I'm on the subject of acorns I was driving through the forest a couple of days ago and saw eight pigs munching at the side of the road.  When I see the pigs out in the forest I know that autumn has arrived.  They are let out to hoover up the acorns in October (can you see the connection now?) because acorns are poisonous to ponies. 

My DH is busy cooking a roast dinner for lunch, so I have another hour to do more wallpaper scraping (I think they used super glue to put this wallpaper up!) and then I plan on slowing down with some stitching.  I would like to start the month of November (its a rather nice Peacock - but not as complicated as the one above).  You can see October attached to the little bird house that DH made to display each month in the previous post.  In the mean time hop over to Kathy's blog to catch up with the other Slow Sunday Stitchers and see some of the photos from the retreat day she organised last week and see photo's that Gail took of the projects that everyone was working on that day!

October's bird house

Ta Dah!! My DH finished the little bird house display for me and I'm so pleased with how it looks!  Hard to tell the proper colour from the photo but its a nice milk chocolate colour that sets off the cross stitch perfectly.  Just have the rest of the months of the year to sew now!

Slow Sunday stitching and a ta dah!

I always stitch on Aida, mainly because I find it much easier on they eyes, but really wanted to see how I got on with some linen.  So I picked this small project to play with and I am really pleased with how it turned out!  The pattern comes from The Snowflower diaries and was originally a free stitch a long back in 2016.  You can see the blog HERE where you can still pick up the patterns as far as I know.  There is also a face book page and lots of people are still stitching this little 12 month project.  I saw a photo on face book that displayed each month in a little wooden house and I showed it to DH and asked if he could do something similar for me and here is a photo of work in progress!

It now has a roof and is painted, along with a bird perch.  When I have mounted the cross stitch I will post a completed picture.  But it is very cute and I really like it!!

I also completed the Colly bird from the 12 days of Christmas collection (HERE).  Now on to five gold rings - except I am only going to make one!

Today Kathy who hosts slow Sunday stitching is hosting a slow Sunday stitching retreat day.  I really wish I could have been there it would be so good to meet in person everyone who posts regularly on her blog!  But alas I live a continent away!  But I look forward to seeing photos next week of what went on and I hope they all have a wonderful time!