Cross stitch and gossip in the garden

Another week has flown by.  We had a great few days with DHs brother and his wife, but it now feels as if I have lots of washing and cleaning to catch up on! I tried to do some more sewing on a block from gossip in the garden, but I do dislike those curvy little flowers and found it hard to concentrate while our guests where here.  I did however get the words stitched and the flower stems.  I might have a go at doing the flowers today for slow Sunday stitching

So I dug out a cross stich project from an old Cotton and Twine subscription box (July 2021) and made some good progress on that.

The pattern has an alphabet in the middle but I shall leave mine blank and fill it in as a birth or wedding announcement.  I have a new grandbaby due in November and my nephew is getting married, so either would be nice.

I wanted to post this final picture and wish you could smell the scent coming from the sweet peas!  The roses are shop bought so no smell but the sweet peas smell gorgeous.  I only put in two tiny plants and they have given me flowers now for several weeks.  Next year I will plant more!  Have a great Sunday.

Gossip in the garden and Callie's cushion

 We have guests staying this weekend, which is lovely!  While we chat I do manage to get some stitching and crochet done but what I'm going to show you today is the completed top for the cushion I am making for baby Callie.  I manage to sit in my sewing room, with the fan blowing on me and the windows wide open while we had two days of the hottest days ever recorded in the UK (40 degrees plus).  Fortunately it is much cooler now and even bearable!

It has green stitching in squiggly lines across it and the back of the cushion will be in the bright flowery fabric in the borders.  Just need to make the cushion up now!

I also got a chance to iron all the blocks from my gossip in the garden project - I love this so much!

It's funny how when looking at my projects in photos, things not noticed before stand out.  I'm questioning whether the panel next to the very tall flower on the left of the picture fits in with everything else?  I will live with it and see if I grow to love/accept it!

Thats all for now.  Have a great slow Sunday stitching

Hot, hot, hot!

Phew it is so hot!!  The UK has been hit by a heat wave and we are just not used to this kind of weather.  Fortunately on the south coast it is slightly cooler but still pretty uncomfortable!  Tomorrow and Tuesday we have a red weather alert and the temperature is likely to go up to 40 degrees plus.  So for the next few days I won't be doing very much and I might even get into my sewing room (its at the front of the house and gets the sun in the late afternoon and evening).  But this week I managed to finish my Christmas cross stitch, just need to frame it (the Cotton and Twine Subscription boxes come with everything needed to finish the project, so the frame is included)

The black is a real swine to stitch but it really does make the colours sing, so worth the effort (and eye strain)

I'm now starting on the next part of  'gossip in the garden' and these three little pieces will eventually be the centres for the Dresden plate blocks.  I've two more to sew but they shouldn't take me long.

I will then be able to start assembling the first Dresden plate, although I do have about 50 more templates to make, so they are made in between other projects.  I will probably dip into several projects for slow Sunday stitching (much too hot to settle for any length of time on one thing).  Hop on over and take a look at what others are sewing today!

Cross stitch and fabric dying

 It has been another full on week!  Monday morning we got a 7am phone call from our daughter saying she and hubby had d and v and could we come and get Amber because there was no way they would be able to look after her!  Luckily baby didn't get it and we had her for two days while they coped with the sickness (not much fun for Faye who is 21 weeks pregnant) but everyone survived and DH and I have spent the last few days recovering!  It is wonderful having Amber but boy it is exhausting.  The rest of the week we have been pottering in the garden and doing quite a bit of pruning - and there lies another saga!  I was up the ladder cutting back an out of control shrub, climbed down the ladder to view my work and stepped off thinking I was on the bottom rung.... I wasn't.  Fortunately nothing broken but my foot has been rather swollen and painful - silly thing to do!  Still it meant I could do a bit more cross stitch without feeling guilty.

And I wanted to dye some fabric samples, potentially for a project for my sewing group.

Here are the supplies I started with.  I've still got the invoice for the fabric dyes and I bought them in 2001 and 2003.  I wasn't even sure if they would still work or if they had a shelf life?

but here are the results!

The fabric which is 100% cotton took the dye well, as did the silk skrim, but the lace (which is what I really wanted) didn't have much cotton content so didn't take, although one piece did!  It's always a bit hit and miss but that's what I like about dying fabric! I will be on the look out for cotton lace now.

I did some sewing machine work on 'gossip in the garden' and assembled the two blocks in last weeks post but they are in need of a good press before I take photos of them!

That's all for now.  We are off to a friends birthday bbq tomorrow so might not get a chance to do any slow Sunday stitching but if I do I will work some more on my Christmas cross stitch!

Gossip in the Garden and cross stitch

Boy it has been a busy week, but despite that I feel as if I've achieved so much!

Firstly I made the five blocks that will go below the 'different tea cup for every day of the week' block.

and I decided I wanted to crack on and finish them - 15 pin wheel blocks completed.

This will be the pin wheels position on the large centre panel - the gap at the right hand side is where the hexies will eventually go.

My aim next week is to get the two blocks finished.

After sitting at the sewing machine for a while (it rained a lot so ideal sewing machine time) I wanted to do some hand sewing (and the sun started to shine) so I picked up a Cotton and Twine project from November 2020.  I left it a long time ago with only a small bit of the snow completed (all that white is sooo boring!) But now I've started to add the colourful houses I am enjoying it much more - although that black is really hard work.

I know it's a Christmas cross stitch but it's been hanging around far to long, so for slow Sunday stitching I am going to sit and listen to an audio book and carry on with this project!