Merry 

Christmas!!

Sunshine and Lollipops

 Unfortunately my DH has been feeling a bit rough with a chest infection, which meant I have stayed mostly around home.  This does mean I have managed to finish the hand sewing on the last BOM and completed the blanket stitching.

Here it is with the other parts and very nicely modelled by Lola.

This one probably shows the whole top a bit better.

I didn't have enough variety of fabrics left over to complete the top how Annie Downs suggested - full border of triangles and random circles.  But where I used a couple of packs of 5" charm squares I did have lots of left over pieces 1.5" x 5".  So I utilised them on the border and I am very happy with how it turned out!

Well that just about wraps it up before Christmas.  I will link up with Kathy's blog for some slow Sunday stitching although Im not sure how much stitching I will get done today, I have gifts to wrap!!

Happy Christmas

Sunshine and Lollipops

 I'm sure as I get older that time speeds up!! We have had a busy couple of weeks with the Grandchildren so I thought I would include a picture of them and DH at Mottisfont Abbey, a National Trust property that always puts on a great show of decorations at Christmas.

On the sewing front I have been working on the last part of the Sunshine and Lollipops BOM.  I still have some more hand sewing to do before I can blanket stitch the shapes down.  This will be my slow Sunday stitching for today.

I've also been adding the odd cross stitch here and there to the Love Quilts UK square that I am doing for a young boy who wanted a quilt with puppies or kittens (I hope they look enough like puppies for him!)

Im linking up with Kathy's crew for some slow Sunday stitching.

Have a lovely Sunday!

Zip pouches, red work heart and Steve the Reindeer

I didn't post last week, things just got a bit too hectic!  But I am back with a some finishes (always satisfying when I can say that).  On Monday I had my sewing group and we made zip pouches.  I made the large colourful one for my niece in class but this week I have become rather obsessed with making them!  I've now made two large ones (the sheep one is for me) and four small ones.  Three of these will be Christmas gifts once I've added some hand cream and the small one that matches the large pouch will go with my nieces birthday gift.  They are so easy to make and I can see lots more in the future!!

(apologies for the poor quality I took this photo last night)

(this one show my nieces ones better)

I also finished the red work Christmas heart and that joins my other collection of hearts started back in 2014

And last but not least I completed Steve the Reindeer.  He did need some repair work after I showed my 2 year old grandson, who galloped it like a horse and two of his legs fell off.  I'm sure is was down to not sewing them on well enough and not because of his galloping!!

The weather in the south of England is horrible again with a second named storm in two weeks, so yesterday we stayed in (lots of sewing done) and today is going to be another day of not being able to get out.  It does mean I can get some more slow Sunday stitching done and I will probably watch a Christmas film (The Bishops Wife with Cary Grant my absolute favourite film)

Have a nice day!

Mrs Claus, red work and mini shopping bags.

 I am very happy to say I have completed the two Mrs Claus!!  They were quite complicated to make, but I think it was more that I had two of them to make, which made it a little bit more of a chore.  That said I am really pleased with how they turned out!!

They should be holding a parcel in the other hand but it didn't quite turn out very nice, so they just have an apple each.  They do have 2024 embroidered on the back of there coats too.  The photo below is the one I've made for myself next to Mr Claus from last year.

The weather this weekend in the UK is stormy and wet.  Our local Christmas parade and fayre has had to be cancelled due to the conditions.  It's such a shame especially for all the craft makers who have probably been busy for months preparing for it.  But what it does mean is I have two days (yes two!! - Sunday is equally as bad) to potter and stitch.  I've made a start on this years red work Christmas heart, and as it's a fairly simple pattern this year, I might get it stitched this weekend.

(must rewrite the date it is way off centre!)  I've also got a reindeer I started that needs a bit more stitching and legs!  Hopefully he will be completed by next week.

I also ran up two little bags to go in the grandchildren's Christmas stockings.

I'm really on course to get everything I wanted to finish before December, which pleases me no end!

Tomorrow I will link up with Kathy for some slow Sunday stitching.  Hop on over and take a look!

Mrs Claus and Sunshine and Lollipops

 I'm still working on painting my fence and as the weather has been kind to us this week, quite a lot got done.  I made myself work in the garden in the morning and that left the rest of the day to do what I wanted!  I got some more work on the two Christmas decoration from mmmcrafts 

The end is in sight with these two and I hope to finish them before the end of November.  I still have three more Christmas items to make and I really want to get on with them.

I also finished the 5th part of the Homespun Sunshine and Lollipops BOM and have sewn the two parts together.  Its looking good and only one more part to complete the quilt.

Tomorrow is Little Mans 2nd birthday!  I just don't know where the time has gone.  He really is a sweetie (but then again I am a doting nana) and tomorrow we are off to his house for a tea party.  I will link up with Kathy's but I probably won't get a chance to do any slow Sunday stitching - maybe in the evening!

Christmas Stockings!

 I am so pleased with how these Christmas Stockings have turned out!  Admittedly the first one took a while to assemble (getting those pompoms in the right place was tricky) but the second one went together easily.  So drum roll please.......

And a close up

I am really pleased I decided to add the trim and the colours are perfect!

I will link up with Kathy tomorrow for some slow Sunday stitching.  I plan on spending Sunday adding some more stitches to the Mrs Clauses.

Christmas stockings and decorations

It's been a busy week , mostly in the garden.  We are busy painting our garden fence - tedious but a necessary job, and at one panel a time (any more is just too much for either DH or my back) it is a slow process. 

I now have the Christmas stocking that my daughter was stitching for Amber and I have just received the backing felt (a nice wool felt) and pompoms to trim.  I just need to look in my stash to see if I have suitable lining fabric and then start to assemble them - that's going to be the tricky bit!!  I am giving myself the day off from the garden/fence and will have a go at assembling a stocking for slow Sunday stitching.

I also finished stitching the body of the second Mrs Claus.

No work on Folk Flower cross stitch I started in the summer, mainly because I've made a counting error!  Sooooo annoying.  What I do know is I won't be unpicking it, I just need to decide how to adapt it - hopefully next week I can show some progress!

I will link up with Kathy for some slow Sunday stitching

Ribbon embroidery, BOM

 I didn't want to overload my blog with catch up pictures last week, so I will add a couple more now.  At the beginning of the month at my craft class we had a go at ribbon embroidery.  It was nice to sit around chatting and attempting to embroider flowers and leaves with 4mm silk ribbon!  Very fiddly and I am not sure it's a craft I will pursue but it was a good day being with like minded friends!

That said I did complete 2 and a 1/2 cards! Bluebells and Roses in case you were wondering!!

My Homespun magazine finally arrived and I could piece together the 4th part of the BOM and embroider the five little circles.

Part five was published at the beginning of September but the magazine doesn't arrive in the UK until middle of November.

I will link up with Kathy for some slow Sunday stitching

Cross stitch, tapestry and diary cover

Well I've still had no luck downloading pictures to my blog in the conventional way but today I tried copying and pasting and looks like that has worked!!  I'm doing a happy dance btw!  That means I have quite a lot of progress to catch up on.  I have been doing a couple of  cross stitch squares for Love quilts UK a charity that makes quilts for children with life limiting illnesses.  My square is in the second row, first one on the left.  The complexity of some of these squares is staggering and I think I really need to up my game!

My second square is ready to be posted.  The pattern comes from Climbing Goat.  A nice pattern to stitch and I added the word Stegosaurus to make it slightly larger.

I've done all the embroidery on the two Mrs Clause (one for Joshua and one for me) and started to sew the first body together.  I'm finding them a bit of a chore to be honest so I might put them away for a couple of weeks and come back to them.

I also made the cover for my 2025 diary.  This will be the eight year I've done this.  The embroidery was made in my craft class a year or so ago.  We took a picture from a magazine cut it in to nine equal squares, rearranged it and them interpreted as we wanted.

And good progress is being made on the Bayeux tapestry.

It is lovely being able to blog again even though getting pictures onto the blog is a bit slow and laborious .  I will link up with Kathy and crew for some slow Sunday stitching.  Have a great day!

 

Slow Saturday stitching!

 I've walked the dog today and done a bit of heavy digging in the front garden, and because I am out tomorrow for slow Sunday stitching I am rewarding myself with some slow Saturday stitching!

Last week I finally received my August copy of Homespun (it always arrives 6 + weeks after every one else) and could make a start on the hand stitching part of the BOM.  Along with the wording on the two blocks I have five small stitcheries to complete.  I have made a start on them, so hopefully I will be able to show the competed pictures next week.

I've discovered I can't download any pictures to my posts at the moment which is very frustrating.  I will investigate and get back asap!

Folk flower cross stitch

 I've been away and the weather wasn't great so I actually a bit done on the Satsuma Street cross stitch.

I have been working on the Bayeux cockerel also but will show that progress next week (so far I've kept my promise to myself and done a bit of work on it every week!)

I am linking up to Kathy's blog for some slow Sunday stitching.  I haven't had a chance to look at any blogs for a couple of weeks but I am setting aside today for some blog hopping and some stitching in the garden.  I can't wait!!

Cockeral and Rain forest

 I know I said last week I was going to start stitching those little bits on the cockerels tail feathers, well as you can see I started but gave up pretty quickly! LOL

Oh but how much do I love the red in his tail though!!!! LOTS.  For slow Sunday stitching today I am determined to fill in some of those green leaves.

I have my winter project sorted out (who am I trying to kid I have lots of winter projects in waiting!).  

but I really couldn't resist this pattern from Raggedy Ruff!  I must admit I already have two of her patterns waiting to be started, but like all quilters/sewers there is always another pattern that just has to be bought!  Now all I need is more time!

Cockerel and folk flowers

Can you believe it is September already!  How did that happen.

 I got the yellow section of the Cockerels tail completed on Sunday which made me feel good.  Certainly filling in these larger sections is much easier than those fiddly little bits on his body.  I should really start to do those bits before I loose interest again!

Some progress on Folk flowers but not a lot.  I've been sorting the garden out instead of sewing.  Chores that need to be done unfortunately.

But even this little bit is good.  It means I have moved on to the next flower (although I can see in the photo I have a tiny bit of white to fill in on the one I thought I had finished).

Cockerel, cross stitch, Sunshine and Lollipops

 A little more progress!  I'm not sure if I should carry on posting this each week as there literally is only a little more progress.  But here it is too date.

Much more to show on the Folk Flower cross stitch from Satsuma Street.  Not sure why its come out at this angle!!

And today because it has been pouring with rain virtually all day I managed to sort out some fabric and stitch a few blocks together for the next part of the Sunshine and Lollipops project.

I am still waiting for my copy of the magazine but it always reaches the UK about 6 weeks after it has been published but fortunately my library has an electronic copy of it so I can at least get some bits completed and then work on the embroidery and applique parts when I get the hard copy!

I am around tomorrow so I am looking forward to doing some slow Sunday stitching and will link up with the other Sunday stitchers then.

Cockerel, Folk art cross stitch and a bag!

 Another lovely week, spending a few days in the motorhome to recharge our batteries, which gave me a chance to start on my next project from Satsuma Street.  I made the folk art flowers last year but did individual flowers and turned them into gift bags for Christmas presents and one for my son and daughter in law for a wedding gift.  I wanted to make it for myself as a long banner and I've had the fabric ready and waiting for a while.  

I kept my promise to myself and added a bit more to the Bayeux Cockerel.

There are still some tiny bits to fill in but there are also some large pieces on his tail and I think these might be easier.  I'll let you know next week!

I have a wedding to go to at the end of August and have a nice new dress to wear.  I didn't have any bag to go with it so decided to buy some fabric and make something.  I don't have a pattern but have found a nice simple pattern for free on Pinterest.  Just need to find some time to make it!!

That;s all for this week.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hop on over to Kathy's blog for more slow Sunday stitching

Cockerel, jewellery pouch, cards!

 Its been another busy week, with a visit to the zoo, guests staying, gardening, watching the Olympics and generally just life!  I did add some more stitches to the Bayeux cockerel and I've now admitted it is a rather tedious project although I do like the effect of the three layers of thread so I will persevere and as Gail has pointed out just a little bit every week is better than nothing although I do want to put it back on the shelf and hope the magic sewing fairies come and finish it for me!!  I did look up to see when we last visited Bayeux and I bought this kit - May 2018 - so it's only 6 years I've been working on this project.

The close up photo does show how bright the colours are.

On Monday was my sewing group and we made a jewellery pouch.  It was nice to get the project completed in class and although I'm not a big jewellery wearer I'm sure I will use it or maybe give it to my new daughter in law who has a birthday soon.

Last month in class one of the ladies bought in her embellisher, it is something I wouldn't buy because I don't think I would get much use out of it, but I did enjoy playing around on it and afterwards I stitched into it and made a couple of cards.

That's all for this week.  Hop on over to Kathy's blog for some more slow Sunday stitching

Sunshine and Lollipops and Bayeux cockeral

 This is a super quick post (its been a mad, busy couple of weeks!)  I finished the little embroideries to go on the Sunshine and Lollipops block of the month project from Homespun magazine.

I will attach it to parts one and two when I get a chance!  And because we have just come home from spending a few days in Bayeux, Normandy I thought I would get out the kit I bought from there several years ago and add a few more stitches.

I must have a look back at my travel blog and see when I was last in France and bought him!  It was some years ago but this is a long slow project as each section is stitched three times (I am stitching it as the Bayeux tapestry was stitched)

That's all for this week I will try to link up with Kathy for slow Sunday stitching but hop on over if you can to see what others are stitching today.

Sashiko and Sunshine and Lollipops

 I haven't got much to show for not posting for two weeks!  I did manage to finish the little Sashiko kit I bought in Chichester.  Despite the prediction I might get bored with it I really enjoyed stitching it.  Sometimes it's just nice to have to think about colours and design.  

I would like to add to it and make a table runner, but not sure how easy it will be to buy the right size pattern to go with it.  

I've also been stitching some of the small pictures in part three of the Homespun Sunshine and Lollipops BOM.

For slow Sunday stitching I will carry on adding to these.  Hop on over to Kathy's blog to see what others are stitching today!