Day 7 of semi lockdown!

We are now on our 7th day of semi lockdown - we can shop for food, pharmacy, pet stuff and go out for 1 hour of exercise a day. At the beginning of the week we thought that meant we could drive into the New Forest and walk the dog.  It is such a large area that it was easy to avoid people but a couple of days after semi lockdown we were told that the hours exercise had to be from our homes so no more un-necessary driving.  That has curtailed our enjoyment somewhat.  We of course have the beach but it tends to be a people magnet so we have avoided it.  We do however have the common which is very close and Lola is getting her daily walk there.

On Thursday at 8pm we were asked to stand outside our houses (2 metres from our neighbours obviously) and clap for the NHS staff.  It was a bit of an unenthusiastic response in my area, but we are surrounded by mostly elderly people.  Else where in England there was rousing applause!  The Government has also asked for volunteers to help deliver food, medicines or phone people on there own.  They wanted 250,000 people to sign up for it and within 24 hours there were over 400,000 and the total is well over 700,000 now.  So there are some really inspiring stories out there along with the heart breaking!

On the creative front I have been busy!  I finished my eight Christmas ornament in the 12 days of Christmas series.  And I think this is possibly my favourite one so far!  So here are some pictures of the maid a milking journey!

I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching and its a very good place to spend Sunday, so do hop on over and see what everyone else has been sewing while in lockdown!

Take care and stay safe!

Maid a milking

Here is my portable work station (this tray was a Christmas gift from a girlfriend who knows me so well) it has a bean bag underside so is great for resting on my lap and when we finally get out in our motorhome again it will definitely be coming with me!  I've completed all the stitching on the maid a milking and sewn her torso together.  The pink felt are in fact her arms.

I also wanted to share some great free cross stitch patterns that are being shared by some very clever designers. The first is 'Be well and stitch!' from Satsuma Street (and then click on her blog).  I have bought her patterns before from Etsy and I love her bold shapes and colour. I am going to work on this one next because it seems totally appropriate.

But I am very tempted by 'Bee Well' (still providing I don't run out of thread and fabric I should be ok to stitch this also).  This one has been designed by The Blackberry Rabbit.

If you have Instagram you can find lots more at #bewellandstitch.  I can't take credit for discovering these gems that's down to Faye! And to finish here is a picture of Lola taken this morning.

Stay safe!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Like most people we are 'social distancing' which of course means there has been lots of time for hobbies.  We have also been getting out to walk the dog everyday (as we've been encouraged to do by the UK Government) and for that I am very grateful! We avoided the beach today (much to sunny and lovely for the beach) so drove into the forest and walked across the plain, in the hope fewer people would be around.  There were quite a few people out however and we did have to dodge off the path several times to keep our distance but on the whole it was a great walk and we all loved the chance of stretching our legs - so did Lola!

I have been doing some spring cleaning also and I've cleared out some cupboards in my kitchen - I did find a packet of dried seeds that expired in 2009.  I know we can't get lots of things in the supermarket right now but even I decided that 10 years out of date was probably a little bit too long!

I have been working on several projects but mostly its been March for the Linen and Thread stitch a long.  Do you like my new needle minder that Faye bought me? Great isn't it!

I've also prepped the felt for the next Christmas ornament in the 12 days of Christmas series.

And of course been working on my Attic 24 crochet blanket.  I am on row 73 and I'm still really enjoying myself but I am beginning to wonder if it is big enough (the pattern calls for another 26 rows) and as I want it for a lap blanket to cover over me while I am watching TV it might just be enough.  The only problem is I don't want it to end!

I am linking up with Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching so hop on over and see what everyone else is working on at the moment.  And I'm going to end with this picture which was sent to me and made me smile!  Keep well!

RSC - aqua

I made this book cover during March and realised it was aqua (and turquoise) fabric so thought I would post on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blog (the colour for March is aqua obviously).  It started off as a piece of batik and an eight inch square.  With some careful measuring, ironing and folding I made the small 4.5 inch panel and built it up from there! The sequins and beads are strategically placed to hide some of my rough corners, but I love a bit of bling so it is all good!

Jump over to So Scrappy to have a look at other aqua projects being made for the RSC.  My guess is there are probably lots of projects being made while we all self isolate or practice social distancing!

Take care and keep well.

My bit of beach!

 I was asked by Karen to post some photos of where I live.  Last week it was a beautiful sunny day (not today it's been raining!) and I finally remembered to snap a couple of pictures - you can just see Lola in the bottom right corner! We often walk to the other side of the bay and fortunately we have several lovely cafes to stop off for coffee and cake.  My guess is we won't be doing that for a while and I can't help wondering how many of them will still be in business at the end of this?

The photo below is me in the same position but looking towards the other end of the bay and the land in the distance is actually the Isle of Wight.  It looks like it is miles away but it isn't really and from my bit of beach (about 10 minutes walk from my house) it looks even closer. The rocks you can see on the end of the Island are called the Needles and it's a treacherous bit of water and when it's foggy we can hear the lighthouse from our house blearing out its warning to shipping in the channel. I am very lucky to live this close to the sea and I love it here!

Summer Garden - Ta Dah!!!!

I had a very busy weekend last week (I had one of those zero birthdays!) and got VERY spoilt by my family which was wonderful! But during the week I have been busy adding stitches to my hexie quilt, until a few days ago I popped to my local quilt shop to buy fabric for the binding (yay excited jumping up and down going on).  Which means I have a Ta Dah to share...…...

 It is approximately 68" square and I've used over 1000 hexies, with only a couple of fabric repeats.  Each paper I cut myself from old birthday cards and the only fabric I bought was some of the aqua around each flower and the binding.  I started this quilt back in 2012 (I spent a lot of time watching the UK Olympics that year and it was the perfect project), so its been 8years in the making!  When I started quilting it I used an Aurifil thread, but soon became disillusioned with the whole hand quilting experience, but when I changed to a Perle 8 it began to grow on me (ever so slowly I admit).  I made the decision not to remove the Aurifil quilting (so don't look too closely please) because it tells a story - my hand quilting story anyway!

And I used a spare hexie flower for the label.  I've learnt lots of lessons from this - things like don't piece the backing fabric and don't use batik fabric either, or use warm and natural wadding and why on earth did I cut my own hexies?  But I am very happy with the finished quilt!

I am linking up to Kathy's blog for some slow Sunday stitching and today I am looking forward to starting the March section of the Linen and Thread stitch a long.  

UFO challenge!

At my craft group meeting last month we had a challenge to finish someone else's UFO and attach it to a canvas bag (presumably to keep our own UFOs in!) Yesterday at our meeting we exchanged bags! 

I had a real job deciding which UFO to use so actually sent in six so my swap buddy could take her pick.

She chose the orange A4 printed piece with the butterflies in the middle.  It comes from a class we did in September 2013.  The fabric is called Evolon soft or Suede FX and really feels like suede.  We painted the fabric using silk paints and then used a rubber stamp on it.  The blue one in the top left hand corner is the same material with sections cut out.  And here is what she did with it.

As you can see she made a fabulous job of it and I am delighted!  Below is a photo of all the finished bags.

It was a great challenge and way out of my comfort zone but I really enjoyed myself!

Friends and Family stitch a long

Despite Storm Jorge hitting us, snow blizzards in Scotland and the flooding in central UK (apparently February has had the most rain fall England has on record) there are definitely signs of spring in the garden! The daffodils and crocus are coming out, the forsythia is showing yellow, pink camellia blossom (although the wind has knocked lots off) and the magnolia trees have huge buds. In the forest there's yellow gorse dotted around, despite the ponies munching on it! I've yet to see any lambs in the farm fields at the top of the road, but they might not be out because of the dire weather of course.
It has been a productive week though. Linen and Thread have posted the next part of the stitch a long and already Facebook has posts with the finished section. I can only think people put there lives on hold to sew and be the first to post a completed photo. They must order take away and only draw breath to visit the bathroom! I am pleased to say that I did complete February and I am really itching to start March if I am honest!

Last week I got out my hexie quilt again to add a few more quilting stitches, and realised that after several days and several hours I am getting close to completion which is really exciting! I have neglected my dahlia blanket crochet of course but I am desperate to remove those basting stitches which means today for slow Sunday stitching I will be working on achieving that goal!

HERE is the link to Kathy's blog for slow Sunday stitching where you can catch up on everyone else's progress. Have a lovely day and I will leave you with a picture of Lola enjoying some bird, squirrel and wind watching time!