dianehobbit

Embellisher

2012-02-06T13:02:00.000Z

Playing with my embellisher over the past few weeks has been great fun and I have to say easy, thanks to Myfanwy Hart. Chelmsford's Embroiderers' Guild have been extending their library over the past two years and have started a collection of Colouricious DVD's. Last year we were lucky enough to have Myfanwy as a guest speaker and bought both of her DVD's Inspired Embellishing Levels 1 & 2. As a complete novice I learnt alot from them, but I do wish that Colouricious would change the format and let the teacher teach, instead of the students constantly butting in and trying to take over. I have also watched Angie Hughes and Gilda Baron's workshops in this format and I can recommend them both too. We have also purchased the new DVD's by Gina Ferrari and Kim Thittichai, but I haven't had time to watch them yet. Just a warning if you order them from Amazon, check that you have been sent the correct one before opening it. A friend of mine was sent the wrong disc and didn't realise until too late. The senders response was "tough", not even an apology and and offer of free postage for the corrct one!

January's UFO: Ploughed Fields

2012-02-01T14:12:00.000Z

This small wall hanging was started at a workshop with the Ladybugs patchwork group. The workshop was run by Nickie and I'm sure is was about four years ago. I loved the techniques used and came home and carried on working on my piece. I even dyed some fabric for the binding and had a go at stitching on a continuous binding for the first time. It has then stayed at this stage for years, but I can now say that I have finished it. Sorry about the quality of the picture.

Calendar Challenge Jan/Feb

2012-02-01T10:31:00.000Z

First page completed on my calendar journal. Making the page is fun, the challenge is to focus on just one thing to write about. Almost 125 people joined this challenge in January, and I managed to visit about 90% of them and leave a comment. I know that I will not be able to do this each month.

February's page is made and ready to start journalling in, I have added a few notes already. The idea for this page came from a link on a blog I read by The Magic Bean. The article was about valentines Day and the template for the tree from Disneyfamily.com. I want to add some heart doodles to the page during the month, but need to buy some pens. Luckily a new craft show is on this weekend at Bluewater, Kent. It is two shows in one, covering creative stitches and hobbycrafts. Have a look at the link to see all the exhibitors, it looks like a great show.

At the beginning of the month I drew up a chart for the year to help me focus on my textile projects and hopefully hit deadlines. So far I am on track 100%. The past couple of years at work have not been very pleasant and I hadn't realised how the negative attitude there at spilled over into my private life. I always used to be an achiever, but of late I had become a thinker and talker, and not a putting those ideas into practise. I am positive that all of this will change this year.

Today, I also start a three month programme with a personal trainer at Virgin Active. I have already had a taster class, so I know what I am letting myself in for, but I am not looking forward to this afternoon or tomorrow when I will ache all over.

Chelmsford Embroiderers' Guild

2012-01-31T13:08:00.000Z

We have some interesting speakers over the next few months. Please feel free to attend as a visitor, £4 includes tea and biscuits.

Tag Tuesday "Lace"

2012-01-31T12:51:00.000Z

My last tag for January. We have been given the titles for February and I have to say I am really excited about one of them, lots of ideas going around in my head. Initially, I had thought that I would use the tags on special presents. But, after speaking to Sharne, I might make a collection of them, especially as I want to use this challenge to explore new techniques and media. I love Beryl Taylor's work and so I might use her inspiration to display them.

Glove Dogs

2012-01-29T16:19:00.000Z

Another successful meeting with Chelmsford's Young Embroiderers', with another new member coming along. The idea for this meeting was to make a dog from a pair of gloves (50p a pair from Primark). Some of the girls loved the different ideas in the books I had taken as inspiration, so we also ended up with a couple of pigs, and elephant and a reindeer. The samples above were made by our youngest members in Year 5 & 6. The majority of them were finished during the meeting, a few others just had a tail or a limb to attach.

Tag Tuesday 'Vintage'

2012-01-26T14:13:00.000Z

This week I started my tag on Sunday, but I felt it fitted in more with next weeks title. So here is version two of the theme 'vintage'. I used some lace printed paper, lace and a key from a purchased necklace from Primark. In the sale the necklace was only £1and included over ten different keys.

Tag Tuesday Weeks 1-3

2012-01-20T12:30:00.000Z

Week 1: Snow

Week 2: Snow Sports & Games

Week 3: White

The challenge at the moments is to get clear photos of your work, the sun doesn't seem to shine when I want to use my camera. I am looking into some different lighting in my sewing room as low voltage ceiling lights in a high ceiling are not good enough to sew with late afternoon or in the evening. Last week I only had 3 out of 6 bulbs working, which made matters even worse.

Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters Exhibition

2012-01-13T17:34:00.000Z

My first main exhibition with Material Girls. An exciting time as we are linking up with a Canadian group known as Articulation. This work is going on tour for two years. Checkout Material Girls blog for further details.

Tag Tuesday "Snow"

2012-01-09T23:03:00.000Z

I have also joined the challenge Tag Tuesday set up by Carolyn Saxby of Love Stitching Red.

This is my first tag, a little bit late I know! Sorry about the poor picture, but I have been taking them for two days and this is the best one.
A simple design using an old Christmas card, some fabric and stick on snowflakes. Initially, I put gesso onto a blue tag and tried to stamp snowflakes onto the background using acrylic paint, but I didn't like the effect, so more gesso was applied to cover them up. Then I tried to apply the snowflakes with UTEE but when I used the heat gun the results were disappointing.Hence the stick on snowflakes from my stash.

I am looking forward to seeing all the lovely tags in January, as the titles are very inspiring. I have already started this tag, so I will be able to blog about it on time.

Young Embroiderers' Glove Animals

2012-01-04T11:57:00.000Z

Yesterday was my first day of stitching in my sewing room in 2012. I intend being far more organised this year and spending more time in there being creative and playing with lots of different materials and media, that I had had to buy over the years. What this space I promise to blog more too!

Last night whilst watching TV, I made this dog out of a glove, ready for our next Young Embroiderers' meeting at the end of the month. I have been making sock creatures at school for several year now and enjoyed the challenge of doing something else. The problem I have found is then when using a childs glove the limbs are a bit to short, so I am going to make another one with an adult glove. All gloves from Primark, 50p a pair, so a cheap project to occupy anyone. For another sample look at Sharne's blog.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T13:28:00.000Z

Here is the first page for my Calendar Journal. I found colouring the pages and added the stamps a challenge as I am new to stamping and art journalling. Hopefully I will learn lots of new techniques and see a real progression over the next twelve months. It will be great to look over, this time next year to see all the things I did and the places I visited in this special year.

UFO's

2011-12-28T21:08:00.003Z

Today, I had a big clear up in my sewing room. I have far too many projects, patchwork and embroidery that need completing. Many of them can be finished in an afternoon, so I have decided to join in with the 2012 UFO challenge. You have until the end of December to sign up, if you are interested.

Here is my list:

1: Reversible Quilt: Complete binding

2: Embellished Quilt: Include a border, quilt and add binding

3: Curve Appeal Bag: Add lining and handles

4: Handmade books: Assemble books made (3)

5: Ploughed Fields: Complete binding

6: Scrappy Quilt: Quilt and add binding

7: Through the Tree’s: Finish binding trees and add free machine embroidery to create an autumn scene.

8: Quilter’s Journey Blocks: Complete all nine blocks

9: Quilting Tote: Assemble all pieces, line bag and attach handles

10: Japanese Bag: Complete

11: Christmas trees: Complete

12: Christmas wall hanging & heart wreath: Complete projects

I am also going to take part in the 2012 Calendar Journal run by Kate Crane. Last year Sharne took part in this challenge and created a wonderful journal. Next year I will be celebrating a special birthday and so I thought it would be a great way of recording the year. Today, I covered January's pages with Gesso, tomorrow I will paint the pages and start to add the days of the month.

This year I have not written in my blog very often. I have been creating, but often forget to take photos, or just don't seem to have the time to create the blog. Also a lot of my time has been spent working on my Material Girl's projects that I can't show as they are for an exibition in February 2012.

I hope to improve on my efforts during 2011 and to share my creativity more next year. I have enjoyed reading all the blogs and seeing some very inspiration work and building friendships in many different parts of the world.

First Rate Service

2011-11-23T11:30:00.000Z

On Monday evening we had Jae Maries give a very inspirational talk at our Embroiderers' Guild meeting. Following on from this she is running a workshop linked with the seasons this Saturday. I was lucky enough to get a place and had the reqirements list ages ago, but I thought I would wait until I heard her talk before putting my bag of goodies together. I left the meeting in a slight panic as her work is out of my comfort zone and wondered what I was going to do. Then last night after reading a magazine article inspiration hit me, this work might even lead to an idea for a forth coming piece of work for Material Girls, next year. This meant that I needed some new threads and so I researched online. This morning I phoned 21st Century Yarns to place my urgent order, only to find that they are setting up their stall at the Knit & Stitch show in Harrogate. Not a problem though she picked up some of the theads that I wanted and took a list of a few others that hadn't been unpacked yet and promised to post them today. You really can't get a better service than that. Hopefully the postal service won't let me down and they will arrive in time to take to the workshop on Saturday.

Loosing Something!

2011-10-10T17:34:00.002+01:00

Apart from the embellisher, some hand made paper, wadding and a kit to make a scissor keeper, I stuck to my list of only buying threads at the K&S show last week. Today, I decided to put my shopping away, only to find NO threads in either of my bags. Now I know that I am forgetful at times, but I don't remember removing them earlier, and I certainly can't find any of them. I purchased threads from Barnyarns, Oliver Twist and Stef Francis, I just don't see how I could have miss placed them or had them stolen from my bag. I hope the mystery is solved, but I am doubtful.

The Knit & Stitch Show 2011

2011-10-06T21:03:00.000+01:00

I only needed some threads, but temptation was put in my way! I had set myself a budget and only took a small amount of cash, so that I would stick to it. I should have left my cards at home, as I spent 10x my budget! But next week I will be able to play with all the must have materials I purchased today on my new Babylock embellisher.

Some lovely exhibition work, I feel very inspired and ready to play!

Festival of Quilts

2011-08-11T20:19:00.000+01:00

Tickets: Check
Shopping List: Check
Money: Check
Camera: Check

All I need to enjoy a great day of shopping and looking at exhibition quilts at the NEC tomorrow.

Passport

2011-08-05T13:32:00.000+01:00

I needed to renew my passport as it expires in January. Only a couple of sections to complete on the form now. I had my photos coutersigned, just in case the passport office feel that I have changed too much over the past ten years. Then back to the post office to have it all checked (more money). They informed me that my photo should be alright but it may be rejected as I have a fringe! Let's hope it comes back soon, as I going to Miami and then Florida Keys at the beginning of September to visit my stepson and then have a holiday with some friends. We are also going to try and have a day at Harry Potter World, at Universal Studios.

Getting Organised!

2011-08-03T15:09:00.000+01:00

The idea of giving up work was to organise my life more and to have time to enjoy myself. So far, I have made good progress. I have started going to the gym regularly, having joined in February and previously been too busy to go. I went to my first Zumba class on Monday, it is supposed to be a great calorie burner. It was great fun and I will be going again. The classes get booked up quickly so I will have to make sure I get my name on the list each week.

I have started to re-design the planting in my garden to make it more interesting during the winter months and to also make it easier to manage. Much as I love gardening, I don't want it to control my life, something it used to do.

This week I have caught up with all my paper work and all bills have been paid, and banking completed.

I have also completed more blocks for the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, the group are on week 9, so I should have completed 18 blocks, so only 3 behind now. Hopefully I will catch up over the next two

weeks.

First week of not working!

2011-07-22T17:36:00.001+01:00

This has been the first week of my school summer holiday (even though i won't be returning in September). I have a huge list of jobs I want to achieve but chose not to start them this week. Instead, I decided to spoil myself and do exactly what I wanted. I have managed to sew everyday this week, and caught up with some friends that I haven't seen in ages. Mt stress level are certainly down and I feel so much more contented, I certainly made the right decision to leave my job.

Although I started the FWSQAL late, I have managed to stitch 8 blocks this week plus purchase some more fabric to make other ones. This is week 8 of the challenge, so over the next few weeks I need to make a few more to catch up.

I have also been working on some embellished hearts, (all hand stitching) as I am going to be doing a workshop in September at Craft Arena when Material girls have their exhibition there. Photos to follow when finished.

Next week, will be similar, but I will have to include some housework and ironing. My number 1 priority will be to re-organise my sewing room so that I can include a large table from Ikea as I want a area where I can cut fabric and paint without kneeling on the floor.

FWSQAL Blocks

2011-07-20T16:10:00.000+01:00

Quick an easy to make, these 6" squares can be made in no time at all! That's for now, most of the blocks are quite complex, one has 51 pieces. Never mind I need a challenge to keep the brain ticking now that I have handed in my notice and left work. These are my first 3 blocks and instead of using templates as given in the instructions, I used a rotary cutter. In a rush to make my second block, I made it too small (only 4"). I must pay more attention and follow my class rules, measure twice, cut once.

I now need to concentrate on my Material Girls projects over the summer as I am already behind on the first part. Sorry no photos as this work is for our next exhibition.

Farmer's Wife Sampler Quit

2011-07-19T13:47:00.000+01:00

I have decided to join in with the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt-a-long that is reported on lots of blogs. I am going to be using a Moda Jelly Roll called Fig & Plum as the basis for the quilt. As I am starting late, I'm going to make some easy blocks over the summer to catch up. I wasn't going to start until September, but looking at all the lovely blocks others are creating, I just couldn't wait. There are 111 blocks in total and the idea is you make two each week. Not sure if I will make all of them, I might add some plain squares or make a lap quilt, instead. If you are interested look at Angela's and Amanda's blog for details. There is also a flicker group for support.

First block completed.

No longer a puppy!

2011-07-17T15:16:00.000+01:00

Beau is now just over 1 year old. This week he needed to have his injections again. He now weighs in at 65Kg which is just over 10 stone!

Quilt Swap

2011-07-13T14:00:00.000+01:00

I have decided to take part in this years quilt swap, organised by Kate. Last year my friend Sharne took part in this challenge, so I thought that it would be fun to join in, this summer. Have a look at Kate's blog for all the rules and join in. You could always complete a UFO as part of the challenge.

A successful day!

2011-07-02T20:06:00.000+01:00

Our Regional day was a great success. The venue, weather and lectures were all perfect, all the hard work and support of our guild paid off. We also won 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize in the competition 'Paradise Gardens', plus our YE won in the 15-18 year section one as well as the visitor's choice. I'm still counting the money and need to wait to see what the contirbution will be from the traders, but I am confident that we have raised lots of money for our region. Let's hope the EG will go from strength to strength with the new leaders at Head Quarters.
Sorry no photos as too busy with money, being the treasurer. Have a look at Sharne's blog for further details and to hopefully see her winning piece of work.

Eastern Region Regional Day!

2011-07-02T06:39:00.000+01:00

The day has finally arrived when Chelmsford holds the Embroiderers' Guild Regional Day. After all the stress and worry, all the tickets are sold, the venue is set up and looks amazing. All we have to do now is enjoy the day and hopefully raise lots of money for our region.We are a large guild and it is wonderful how so many members have helped support this event, by attending themselves, making items for the sales table, helping set up, helping to run the day and all the donations of lovely homemade cakes for afternoon tea. We also have lots of fantastic traders, so if you live local and are free today, pop along to Writtle college to view all the competition, exhibition work and spend some money on those essential textile items. Art Van Go, 21Century Yarns and the Silk Route are just a few of the traders, day tickets are £7.50.

Not enough hours in the day!

2011-06-20T13:12:00.000+01:00

No blogging for almost a month, and that included reading most of them too. This weekend I have finally caught up on reading about all the fun you have all been having and seeing all the wonderful projects that people have been working on. Life has just taken over and it has left very little time to be creative, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and in two weeks, my life should be my own again. I have deadlines to meet and so no more excuses for not being creative and sharing my work on my blog.
Tonight we have Linda Miller giving at talk at our Embroiderer's Guild meeting plus we have to sort out all the offers of help for our Regional Day on 2nd July 2011. This Saturday is Young Embroiderer's and I have been busy producing samples to help inspire the girls to produce another lovely piece of work. I can't show any photos at the moment as this work is to entered for the Regional Day competition "Paradise Gardens."

Re-cycled fabric

2011-05-23T16:38:00.000+01:00

Today Keene Quilters had a talk by Katherine May, an inspiring person who adapts traditional techniques of patchwork quilting to create wonderful hand quilted and patchwork textile pieces that will live on to be heirlooms. She uses re-cycled fabrics and holds workshops in London, to encourage the re-use of fabric to create something special that people will want to keep for generations, each piece of fabric often having a story behind it. We live in a society of 'throw away, even charity shops and third world countries are turning down our textile waste. If you are interested in this topic have a look at her blog.

I came home to a large pile of ironing, with lots of lovely 100% cotton shirts of my husbands. I am now viewing them with a different eye. He really does have far too many shirts in his wardrobe, many now too small. I might have to have a sort out.

Embroiderers' Guild

2011-05-16T23:26:00.000+01:00

Vessels hand-made from British breeds with merino by Joanna O'Neill

At our meeting tonight we had our second talk by Joanna O'Neill, called 'Felt Underneath'. She is an excellent speaker, who is able to talk fluently about her work. If you've never invited her to give a talk at your club/Guild, I can highly recommend her. She had a captive audience and certainly inspired me to have a go at several of the techniques she showed us from her numerous samples. Hopefully they will turn out as expected and help create the effect I have been looking for on my 3D project with Material Girls. She has also had several articles published in Stitch magazine.

Young Embroiderers'

2011-05-16T16:43:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday, Chelmsford's YE had their meeting and had fun making books with pelmet vilene, transfer dyes and pages painted with brusho dyes. A small group this time, due to exams and holidays and so with the support of our helpers, they all managed to complete their books during the day. They were shown how to stitch into their pages for added embellishment, so hopefully they will do this at home. They are all keen stitchers and you can really see the progress they are making. I love how independent they all are with their design ideas when working on their projects. At school, so many of them work on a similar version to the samples shown, or copy someone else on their table.

Both hand and machine embroidery were included on some of the books.

Next month the girls will be working on piece of embroidery that they will be able to enter in the YE Regional Day competition called 'Paradise Gardens'. They can all enter one piece of work and we have suggested that they choose their best piece of work from either the next meeting or the last two.

Free WiFi

2011-04-09T07:43:00.000+01:00

Free WiFi and an iPad on holiday, just what I need to keep in touch. Only for use after a hard days skiing, when H sunning himself on the balcony!

Things don't always go to plan!

2011-04-06T17:09:00.000+01:00

Very little sewing was carried out whilst my husband was away and nothing creative happened at all. I made the items above as my son's daughter and her mother have a craft stall this Saturday to help raise money for Breast Cancer. I have also started to plan a quilt to make that can be raffled to raise some more money. I have a box full of pink fabric and thought I would put it to good use.

I have been busy socialising over the weekend, several meals out with my daughter and catching up with some girlfriends I haven't seen in a while. I also read a novel, something very rare for me.

My husband came home last night and I have managed to wash and dry all of his clothes ready for ironing tonight. We are going skiing on Friday for a week to Mayrhofen in Austria. We will need to pack our bags tonight, as tomorrow I have tickets to go and see a Beatles tribute band at the O2 ( a treat for my husband). We will be leaving straight from school on Friday and driving through the night, with a stop over in Germany. Let's hope the sunshine continues so that I can sunbathe as well as ski. Our hotel also has a fantastic spa so I can relax too! My daughter informs me that the sauna is strictly nude, so i won't be going there, Howard can make his own mind up!

I have another novel to read on holiday and have some hand sewing (just in case, we can't ski) ready to slip into my case. Lots of new albums are loaded onto my iPod, euros purchased. Almost ready to go!

A long weekend of sewing to look forward to!

2011-03-27T10:44:00.002+01:00

This Thursday my husband is going skiing with two of our boys and they won't be back until Tuesday evening. That means I can play to my hearts content and actually blog on some creative progress. I will still have two children at home (23 & 24), but neither of them are any trouble. Heaven!

Help with Blogging

2011-03-15T17:27:00.000Z

If you would like help on how to improve your blogging then look at Karen's blog, known as 'my desert cottage'. It is a lovely blog and now she has written an e-book on Building Beautiful Blogs- a Beginner's Guide to Blogger.

Baking Disaster!

2011-03-08T20:03:00.000Z

Today I made a batch of Welshcakes using the recipe from Sharne's blog. I followed her recipe, but mine certainly didn't turn out like the ones in her picture. The first batch actually burned, the next batch fell apart and then the next two batches (I added more flour to the mixture, as I thought it might have been too wet) turned out OK. But I wouldn't put them out if friends were coming. My family loved them anyway! I only ate one as I am trying to be good. I also made loads of pancakes for the family and I didn't have any.

I also bought this book yesterday, I have watched a few of her programmes and she makes baking look so easy. I have also seen some examples of recipes from her book on different blogs, so I thought I would have a go. The idea is to bake more at the weekend and not have bought goodies in the cupboard. Hopefully this will stop me being tempted by all the naughty food and improve my weight loss.

New magazine

2011-03-08T11:36:00.000Z

When I went food shopping yesterday, I pick up a new craft magazine, it is called simply Homemade and covers lots of sewing, knitting and cooking ideas. The magazine has a nice layout and lots of simple ideas, my daughter loved the cup cake section. An added bonus were some stamps (cup cakes, buttons and bunting) and papers (worth £9.99) for free, next month they are giving away some templates worth £12.50. I don't think that I will subscribe to the magazine as it is too basic for me, but I would recommend it for beginners or people looking for ideas in a club. I loved the magazine Classic stitches, which has been discountined, such a shame.

Maldon

2011-03-07T13:28:00.000Z

What a wonderful day, the sun is shining and the temperature is 8'C! (This is perfect skiing weather! Let's hope this is what I get when I go later this year)

I needed to pop to Maldon and take a few pictures of the boats there, so I thought it would a perfect day to do this. I had planned to go there over half term, but the flu stopped that. People were busy preparing their boats, for the season ahead. They will be sailing some of them on the weekend of 19/20th March, so I am going to try to go again to see the sails up and in their full glory.

Green Fingers

2011-03-06T10:22:00.000Z

Just to let you know about a new blogger that might be of interest if you are thinking about growing your own vegetables and/or have recently aquired an allotment. www.suehaslosttheplot.blogspot.com

Plus a note to let you know that Monty Don & Gardener's World will be back on TV next Friday!

Busy Sewing

2011-02-26T18:16:00.000Z

I have been ill, with some sort of bug over half term, so I haven't been out. However, I have managed to do some sewing

Made the top for a project Linus quilt using the Ohio Star as the centre (Project from Keene Quilter's). I don't like the colour of the second from last border, so I will have to un-pick it and find another
Completed all of the 140 squares for my scrappy quilt and stitched them together to make 35 larger squares. I now need to purchase the fabric for the sashing, binding and backing.
Made a small tote bag with pockets for a friends fund raising stall for Breast Cancer, four more are cut out and part made

The light isn't right for photos, but I will up-load some tomorrow.

Also my daughter wants to make a bag for her summer holiday. She has seen one on the internet and thinks that it will be easy to make something similar. We are going fabric shopping next Saturday!!!

I need to do some marking before next Thursday, when I go back to school and make a banner, following the guidelines from Quilts4London. I am going to get my Year 9 students to make one each next term.

I also need to focus on my project for Material Girls, I know exactly what I want to do, I just need to get started.

New Look For My Blog

2011-02-20T09:17:00.000Z

There are some fantastic blogs to be read, but some of them also look amazing. I am going to have a play with my blog over half term and try to make it look more appealing. As I am not computer literate, this might prove to be difficult. Any advice will be welcome!

More Squares

2011-02-15T19:59:00.000Z

Three more charm packs stitched together to make more scrappy squares, it won't be long before I can join them together to make the quilt top. I can't decide on the colour of the sashing yet and this fabric will involve some shopping, so I don't suppose I will have made much of a dent in my fabric stash. Thank you for the pattern Miriam.

Scrap Quilt

2011-02-14T12:14:00.001Z

When I became interested in patchwork 4-5 years ago, I bought lots of charm packs. they looked colourful and were cheap, because I bought them from America. I joined several of these together, to practice matching up points and to make a scrap quilt. I didn't know anything about colours or using light, medium and dark fabrics. The nine patch squares I made, just didn't look nice and so they were relegated to the UFO box. Seeing Miriam's scrap quilt, I decided to play about with them and make a scrap quilt of my own. First of all, I just divided the nine patch into four equal sections and rearranged the squares. Still not happy with the outcome I cut the new squares into various size strips and re-joined them at random. The different colours were beginning to blend more. Then following Miriam's method, I cut out 4'' squares. I have made 60 squares so far, but need 80 more. I have promised my husband that I will have the quilt finished by the 8th April, so that he can have a snuggle quilt in the car when we go skiing.

Never Go Out Without Your Camera!

2011-02-13T21:41:00.000Z

Today we went on a long walk through a wooded area in Little Baddow near our home.Signs of Spring on it's way were clear, Bluebells were poking through the layers of decaying leaves, lots of seedlings were germinating and buds were beginning to burst into growth. There was a real contrast between the decaying leaves and fallen trees and the new growth, I wish that I had remembered my camera, but I will return next week to log in picture form the current state of the wood. I would like to keep a journal of the changes over the next year.

More Hidden Wells

2011-02-07T17:39:00.000Z

The pattern this block produces relies on the width and colours of the strips used. You certainly need to play about with this block to get the pattern you want before you make a quilt. You also need to be very careful when cutting the initial squares made on both diagonals. I obviously wasn't careful enough as my centre points with the purple fabric are not accurate!
I have a large stash of fabric collected over several years as we all do. But most of it I have decided isn't any good for making quilts. Too many fat quarters, plus some cheap fabric purchased at shows! A couple of these cheap fabrics were used in this sample. They really don't work well when you have to match lots of points accurately as they have a tendency to stretch. So I will be sorting out all the cheap fabric for playing with and all the fat quarters can be sorted into colours for scrap qilts or applique. Last year I only purchased fabric for actual projects, so I will continue to follow this rule!

Hidden Wells

2011-02-06T18:13:00.000Z

Following the inspiration from reading Jillayne's blog 'A Fine Seam', I thought I would have a go at the block Hidden Wells. I found the instructions from google and couldn't believe how such a lovely design could be so easy. However, when joining the triangles, I must have changed the orientation as I don't have the same pattern. It is so quick an easy, so I will have another go later in the week.

We also went on another Great Dane walk today, Beau is a lively dog and loves playing with lots of other big dogs. We are hoping for some peace this evening!

Rico Can Can Wool Scarf

2011-01-16T18:31:00.000Z

I was bought a ball of this new wool for Christmas. It knits a lovely scarf from one ball of wool and has a wonderful ruffled effect. You can easily purchase the wool online but certain colours are in short supply due to demand. There are also lots of videos on youtube, on how to knit this new wool, which looks like a rolled ribbon. It knits on 8mm needles and I am told it knits very quickly, so hopefully I will be able to wear it next weekend when we go to Brussels.

OZ COMFORT QUILTS - QUEENSLAND FLOOD RELIEF QUILTS

2011-01-16T17:56:00.001Z

I would like to take part and promote this good cause, but I don't seem to be able to put the link button on my blog. Any suggestions?

Book Making

2011-01-11T16:54:00.000Z

Last night my husband said that he was going out with some friends. I tried not to seem to pleased, as it meant that I could get on with my book making. I had another play this afternoon and managed to finish it. The cover is made of brown paper and encaustic wax. The pages are all made of card and when the cover is folded back on its self it forms a star as seen above. It was great fun to make and the instructions were fantastic, except I would cut a longer piece of ribbon next time. I would like to make another one but incorporate hand made paper, dyed and stitched into. Accurate measuring is the key to this book, both in the cutting of the pages and the stitching of the binding.

eBay

2011-01-10T22:57:00.000Z

I was just offered the Tim Holtz stamps as the winner had declined the sale. I'm a very happy eBayer.

Spend Spend Spend!

2011-01-10T22:29:00.000Z

A Hobbycraft shop has opened in the town I live in. Two visits in the past week, lots of goodies bought with some great bargains in the sale. We are making handmade books in Yr 10 this term (using inspiration from the book Decorative Books by Sue Roddis aka Jabberwocky) and I wanted some stamps so I went on ebay today. I really shouldn't have as once on, I become addicted to winning. So far I have never lost if I am actually online when the sale ends. However, I did miss a set of Tim Holtz stamps by 30p, as I had to pop out to get some dinner, I'm now watching another set.

No water tonight since about 4pm! The water board managed to repair the pipe in the street but it is old and corroded as so it just burst again. They are not sure if we will have any water tonight.

Tomorrow I am meeting with the other Material Girls, to brainstorm and fix our ideas for our next (my first) exhibition.

Sketchbook challenge

2011-01-01T15:49:00.001Z

I am really looking forward to taking part in the challenge. The theme for January is 'Highly Prized'. Today that would be my bed, as I didn't get home until 5.30am this morning. We went to London last night and had a fantastic time until we wanted to come home.We couldn't get a tube train to get back to the car. Never mind, a real excuse to snuggle up on the sofa and catch up on all my blog reading. I have a basket ready with lots of art material and two sketchbooks ready for the challenge. If you haven't already signed up, click on the link on my blog for further information.

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T15:16:00.000Z

Best wishes to you all for a happy and healthy 2011. Thank you to all the people who have shared my blog. I am determined to be more creative next year and include pictures of my work for you all to see. I love reading all the blogs (almost daily) and get so many ideas and lots of inspiration. Thank you again!

New Technology

2010-12-26T23:19:00.000Z

An iPad from Howard and an Amazon Kindle from my daughter, what lovely presents.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T13:08:00.000Z

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope that you have friends and family to share this time with. Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2011.

Feeling Really Christmassy

2010-12-23T19:26:00.000Z

I haven't been so organised for years!

30 mince pies made, including the pastry! My son thinks I'm mad, but wants a few for his lunch tomorrow.

Nigella's Boozy Christmas Cake baked today. It doesn't smell as nice as the trial run earlier this year. I didn't have any rum, so I added Bacardi, perhaps that is the reason. So I will be adding a little bit of rum later tonight.

This is Beau's new favourite seat in the house. I was on the phone when I took the photo, hence the darkness. He has been playing up recently, strict dog training now being administered. Still chewing but not as much. Only a library book and a bauble off the tree this week!

Minus 11

2010-12-20T09:43:00.000Z

We took Beau for a walk at 7.30am this morning, we knew it was cold, but couldn't believe it when we saw the external temperture in the car. Howard opened his window to help deforost it, but then he couldn't shut it. It has frozen! I am going up into the loft today to get out all my ski gear, including thermals.

Rather than go on our normal walk we went to a local playing field attached to a school. Nobody had been on the snow and Beau loved following all the animal tracks. I came across this one, it appears to be an animal with only 3 legs. At first I thought it was a paw print but there was only one line of track. I hope the animal survives the winter. I am going to get some bird food today to help feed them.

Count down to Christmas

2010-12-19T16:13:00.002Z

Every year, I say that I am going to be more organised and every year, I am rushing around the week before Christmas. All the decorations are up, most of the food is bought. I just need to collect the turkey and buy the fruit and veg. Only a few presents have been bought, but I will hopefully buy the rest on Tuesday.

On Monday I am taking my dad to the hospital for his yearly scan to check that the cancer hasn't returned and taking my mum food shopping.
On Tuesday, I am having lunch (weather permitting) with my embroidery group Material Girls and then completing my shopping.
On Wednesday I am have my hair cut and then getting the rest of the food.
On Thursday, I need to collect the turkey from the local farm and do some cleaning.
Christams Eve will be spent listening to Christams songs and maybe watching an old film. Mince pies will be made and a glass of wine (or two) enjoyed, whilst finishing all the wrapping of the presents.

Next year I am going to be more organised and try and keep the week before Christmas free.

Last day of term!

2010-12-17T16:01:00.001Z

A short day at school today, finished with a full Christams dinner, cooked by the canteen staff.

I thought I would have a bit of fun with my Year 10 Product Design student's and have a go at making the Christmas decoration shown on Gina's blog (Day 9). They all loved it and said that it had been the best Christmas lesson of the week. It was fun to watch how they worked as a team and then give their excuses for letting others get on with the task while they sit and chat.

Off school now until 6th January.

Giveaway!

2010-12-15T21:32:00.000Z

For a Tim Holtz GIVEAWAY, click here!

New Craft Show

2010-12-15T12:19:00.000Z

The Stitch and Creative Crafts show is going to be at Towerlands Park, Braintree, Essex during17-19th February 2011. £7.50 on the door or £5.50 if ordered before www.sccshows.co.uk using the discount code STCH. A local show for those of us in Essex & Suffolk, how good is that!

Also worth a visit is the Fashion, Embroidery& Stitch and Sewing For Pleasure show 24-27 March 2011 at the NEC www.ichf.co.uk

Almost ready for Christmas!

2010-12-14T16:35:00.000Z

All the decorating was finally finished today. I took all the remaining boxes from the garage into my new workroom plus three dolls houses (two are my daughters). It was touch and go whether my dolls house would be able to get up the stairs, but with the removal of a door, it just fitted in. The problem is I now have TOO much stuff and there is one corner that needs serious organisation. So off to Ikea to get some shelving units. Hopefully Howard will put them together soon, so that my room will be completed. Pictures to follow.

New TV for Christmas and now we have Sky Plus! The only TV that would fit into the hole in the wall left by our old plasma TV was an HD, 3D plasma. It really is fantastic even when just watching on the HD channels. Sky Plus will be heaven as I can now record all the programmes Howard refuses to watch and I can watch then during the day.

All the Christmas decorations are out of the loft and now that the decorating is finished, I will be putting them up tomorrow. We are trying to take the dog on two long walks a day to hopefully use up all that energy. He seems to have lost interst in the tree, so fingers crossed it doesn't chew the light cable.

2010-12-12T13:22:00.000Z

I had a go at making the Christmas decoration demonstrated on Day 9 of Gina's blog.

Version 1

Version 2

I assembled the first one incorrectly. I had made the two hats and the long strip, but I didn't join the long strip before attaching the top and bottom. I must have pushed it slighty out of shape, it looks ok when hung up but has a concave top. As you can see by the photo above it is slighlty lop sided, when resting on a flat surface.

Version 2 was made with a 5cm circle and assembled correctly. I used the back of the original Christmas card.

Thank you Gina, I really had fun!

Lack of time!

2010-12-11T10:03:00.000Z

Back from Berlin, where I had a wonderful time. I thought I had plenty of time before Christmas to get all the shopping done and organise the house. But my days are rapidly becoming full with other committments. I will be buring the candle at both ends again over the next few weeks. On the good side I have a weeks worth of blogs to read and catch up with all the wonderful things you have all been doing. I haven't even managed to do any sewing in my new room yet!

Next year I am determined to be far more creative and blog about my work (including pictures)

Foreign Body II

2010-12-03T09:16:00.000Z

I kept the foreign body for Howard to look at. When I looked at it later, when it had dried, it actually looked like savoy cabbage! However, it has put me off ready made food and I really struggled to eat my Heinz chicken and noodle soup, which was the alternative lunch. I expect it put a horrible picture in your mind and got you all thinking about making some homemade soup.

Gatwick now open, so hopefully I will be able to make it to Berlin tomorrow. I just need to check flight still OK, but I'm unable to get onto Easyjet's website at the moment. My daughter is also hoping to go to Bruge for the weekend plus I have a group of friends flying to Barbados tomorrow for a wedding. Fingers crossed for us all!

Foreign Body

2010-12-02T15:06:00.003Z

I know I should have made my own soup, but lack of food in the house and too much snow on the roads to want to go shopping, I thought I would have a Covent Garden soup from the fridge. Winter vegetable, just what I fancied until I was serving it up. I spotted something large (about 3cm square), black and lumpy. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks very similar to the tripe I feed the dog.

DIY

2010-12-01T20:23:00.000Z

Fourth and last carpet fitted today. New lights fitted throughout the house and all painting of bedrooms and the lounge completed. We just need to fit the new TV. Normally my husband is still working on any DIY on Christmas Eve (last year he finished painting the kitchen ceiling at 7.30pm), hopefully not this year.

Snowed In!

2010-11-30T14:49:00.000Z

No trip to The Cheap Shop or lunch at The Jam Factory today! At least I have finally caught up with the ironing and watched a couple of DVD's. Still lots more washing, I don't think boys realise that jeans and hoodies can be worn more than once. It really is one step forward, two steps back when it comes to washing clothes, since Jack moved back home. I think he must be bringing clothes from his house, as I just can't believe how many he wears each day.

It hasn't stop snowing since noon and as I live up a steep bridle path, I won't be going out in my little Fiat 500 for a few days.

Beau in the snow

2010-11-30T08:13:00.001Z

At first he didn't want to go out. So out I went as well, Ugg boots and dressing gown! He soon found his feet and started to go mad running round in circles but ended up making a crash landing on the patio when he couldn't stop in time. Hopefully playing in the snow will calm him down, so that he is less likely to go on the hunt for something to chew indoors.
I was hoping to go to The Cheap Shop and Jam Factory in Tiptree with some friends today. But with the snow, it will probably be best to organise another day.

Off to Berlin on Saturday to visit the Christmas markets, I hope the snow stops before then, so that the flight isn't delayed or cancelled.

Workroom update!

2010-11-26T20:02:00.000Z

In the morning I am having a new carpet fitted to the newly decorated bedroom, that will become my workroom. I will be moving in on Sunday, as I am helping out at Chelmsford's Young Embroiderer's tomorrow. Let's hope I can find a space for all the textile products that I have acquired over the past 5 years.

Philippa Naylor

2010-11-22T16:33:00.002Z

Today I went as a visitor to Keene Quilters as they had the guest speaker Philippa Naylor. I have admired her work for several years as was very excited about being able to see her work in the flesh. I wasn't disappointed! She uses much brighter colours than me, with expert effect. She dyes all her own fabric and designs her own quilts. They are then completed by using tranpunto and the most complex free machine quilting. The majority of her quilts have won major awards and you can see why, in the pictures above. I would love to attend a workshop with her. Look at her website for more inspirational work.
Two vacancies had become available in Keene Quilters for 2011 and so I have applied for a place. I know quite a few of the members from Chelmsford EG or various workshops, so I should soon settle in. They have already booked an excellent list of guest speakers for next year, so pop along to one of their open afternoons if you can.

New Workroom

2010-11-21T11:31:00.002Z

The room above the garage has been cleared, cleaned, decorated and now carpeted. This morning I popped over there to see a matress on the floor all made up as a bed. He has also taken over his TV. I wonder what is going to happen to the King size bed in his bedroom and all of his things. Fingers crossed they will all be moved today.

Red Nose

2010-11-18T09:43:00.003Z

On Monday evening Chelmsford EG had a fantastic talk from Lee Ault on 'Rights of Passage.' She talked about traditions and myths linked to births, weddings and death. At each stage she showed us lots of beautifully embroidered garments that had been made and worn. the garments were so small in comparison to the sizing of people today. Gifts, such as embroidered slippers were made to give to future husbands. I had to laugh as I would still be single and trying to complete the embroidered top ready to give to the shoe maker.

As the evening progressed so did my cold/flu. By the end of the talk both my nose and eyes were streaming. Sorry if I passed my germs on. I had been fine before leaving home, just a slight sniffle. I have been in bed for two days with plenty of "how are you feeling?" or "can I get you a drink?". But, none of them would think to ask " can I hoover, do some ironing or put some washing on?" Good job I'm feeling better now, I expect they would help if I was ill for longer. Off work today, which makes me feel really guilty. We are so busy at the moment and I had a full teaching day. Hopefully I will be back to work tomorrow as I need to complete all the projects as my groups of children change at the end of next week.

My dog is trying to get into distructive mode. He even managed to perch on top of the sofa to reach something he wanted. Not sure where the Xmas tree is going to be this year. I think we will have to move his bed out of the lounge at night and never leave him on his own. I love decorating the tree and have a collection going back 25 years. If he were to touch just one! Think a muzzle over Xmas is needed because training isn't working fast enough at the moment.

New Camera

2010-11-15T13:35:00.002Z

I decided that I just couldn't cope any longer without a camera. I had £100 of Tesco vouchers, so with the offer on at the moment I had £200 to spend for free! Whilst shopping, I decided against the model that I orginally went in for, as it had too many buttons and seemed a bit to complex for me. I picked my camera and went to the desk to convert my vouchers only to be told that cameras are not included. Then yesterday Howard said that he had been given some Argos vouchers through work and that he would put the rest towards the cost. So today I finally got a new camera, a Lumix DMC-F3. It is on charge at the moment, so I will have to wait a little bit longer before I can have a play.
I'm still not in my new sewing room, but a decorator has arrived today to paint the room above the garage, so maybe this weekend, although my step son hasn't made any effort to sort his bedroom out! It is getting cold and so it will be so much better being in the house. Next job will be a visit to Ikea for a large table and some storage shelves.

2010-11-14T15:45:00.002Z

Last night we went to The Cliffs Pavilion in Southend to watch a tribute band to the Beatles. Howard is a real fan of them and it was a surprise. The Beatles were a bit before my time and not the sort of music my parents played, but I have to say I quite enjoyed the show. The group tour all over the country and are of a very high standard, I would recommend if you are a fan of that type of music that you go to see them.

Kantha workshop

2010-11-11T16:55:00.002Z

A lovley day with Libby Smith learning the basics of Kantha. I am really hooked! Progress made was quite slow in the class as most of the girls are patchworkers and not embroiderers. Libby also brought some of her dolls and shoes for us to have a look at. We will have to book another workshop with her next year.

Beau's operation went well, but it is going to be very difficult to keep him quite for 10 days. I missed the EG committee meeting last night as I had to sit with the dog, as Howard was working. Today he seems fine and back to normal.

Tomorrow I am going to the Masterchef Live show in London on a school trip. It used to be called the Good Food Show. I have been before and it was excellent, lets hope I get lots of ideas for Christmas.

I have been dropping heavy hints about a camera for Christmas, but I think I will have to get it early as we are going to Berlin, the first weekend in December and I know that I will want to take lots of photos.

Sat Nav

2010-11-06T23:00:00.002Z

I was so excited about having a Tom Tom with my new car. But trying to programme it today hasn't been easy. Going to Chilford in Cambridge today, it kept wanting to send me home. On the way home I decided to follow the signs, but got totally lost and couldn't find the M11, so I put the Sat Nav on hoping it would take me home. It did but via Halstead and the Braintree.I think it is a case of get the manual out and have a play.

Waiting to see what happens on the moving of bedroom furniture tomorrow. My step son has the day off tomorrow, but he will probably not do a thing.

Itching to get sewing again! At least i have a Kantha workshop with Libby Smith on Wednesday to look forward to.

Finally gave in and joined facebook today. I can't believe how many friends I have joined already. Just hope that I have set up the privacy screening correctly.

Back Online Again!

2010-11-04T21:01:00.002Z

My internet has been off line again! Seemingly something had been chewing the line, perhaps a large puppy is to blame. We had to take Beau to the vet's tonight as has he has a growth on his tail. He now weighs 47.6kg, which is 7.5 stone (at 11 weeks he was only 13.5kg/ 2.1 stone). I should have trained to become a vet, as it was £30 to see him tonight and it will be £315 next Wednesday to have the growth removed. A large dog needs lots of drugs. It was very difficult to hear about the possibilty of cancer again, but the vet is pretty optimistic that it isn't. I really don't think that Howard would cope.

Last Sunday we took him on his third Great Dane walk, his growth has been rapid and it was difficult to spot him in amongst all the other dogs. He is probably about 80% of his adult size. He has a girlfriend of 8 months (he was 6 months old yesterday), it is lovely to see them playing together.

I haven't been very creative this month, just making a bag for my son's girlfriend. I have been very busy sorting out my workshop and moving out. My room was previously above the garage, but my step son is going to move in there. It will give hime some more space and give him a room out of the house to trash! I am going to have his old bedroom which is 14 feet square. I now have to wait for him to move his things out (it will probably end up being his dad) before I can settle into my new space and get sewing.

Still looking at cameras! Not alot of money at the moment, as it was my son's 21st birthday yesterday and Xmas is looming. Do I buy a cheap camera now or wait until Xmas for the one I want.

Back online

2010-10-18T22:38:00.002+01:00

We have had no internet for two weeks! BT have promised to come out several times but failed to turn up, with no courtesy call or apology. Today (fifth appointment) they arrived at 8.30am and fixed the problem. I will be busy over the next few days catching up on reading all the blogs I have missed and then I hope to start blogging more.

Projects completed!

2010-10-01T17:24:00.002+01:00

I am feeling positive at the moment, as I managed to complete all of the projects I had set myself this month. I am terrible at completing projects, as there is always something new that I want to do. I actually made two samples for the Young Embroider's meeting tomorrow. However, the dog has chewed the frame of one of the samples. I was sorting out my bag for tomorrow and he obviously liked the look or smell of it. He hadn't touched the actual stitching and so the sample can still be used, I just need to make another background for the frame.

Next month, I want to complete the vessel started at Lynda Monk's workshop and work on two patchwork UFO's, started at Sally Holman workshops. One is an embellished quilt and the other is a miniature crazy patch quilt. Autumn is here, the nights are getting shorter and so it will be nice to have something to sew in the evening.

I will also be working on my sketch book, exploring all my ideas for Material Girls.

Round Robin Challenge Final Swop

2010-09-27T22:57:00.002+01:00

Tonight, Nickie, Debs & I met at Sharne's for the final swop of our RRC vessels. Margaret was unable to join us but had dropped off her vessel. It was lovely to see all the completed vessels, everyone of them completly different. Unfortunately, the flash on my camera wouldn't work, so I was unable to take any photos. Sharne took lots so, have a look at her blog. A big 'Thank you' to Sharne for organising the challenge and for the wonderful cakes when we met up. Another thank you, for all the lovely work the rest of the group carried out on my fabric to turn it into such a lovely vessel.

Blogging

2010-09-24T20:08:00.000+01:00

Blogging from my phone

iPod

2010-09-23T22:06:00.000+01:00

I don't need a iPhone, I can use my iPod! Just love this advancing technology.

Lost Wall Hanging

2010-09-23T18:22:00.002+01:00

Just when I seemed to be getting on top of all my jobs I have gone and left my travel wall hanging at AndSewOn fabrics near Braintree. I need to complete it by Wednesday (no sleep for me over the next few days). I had taken it to the shop to buy the binding and then left it there. At least it was found.

Mobile phone

2010-09-21T12:20:00.002+01:00

No i phone for me for another year, unless I want to pay £400 to buy myself out of my current contract. I should have read the small print, you really are signing part of your life away with these new contracts. On the plus side, although I have always been told that my phone has very similar applications to the i phone, none of them have ever worked, despite lots of visits to the Vodaphone shop. The last phone call, to Vodaphone direct seems to have worked (abit!). After initially loosing all my contacts I now have all my contacts syncronised with my laptop and I can pick up by emails. I still haven't managed to blog or send an email, but at least progress is being made.

Camera wise, I think I will get a Lumix. Not sure which model yet and I am going to wait until nearer Xmas as you get better deal.

Lynda Monk workshop

2010-09-19T19:11:00.002+01:00

I already had the book and attended her talk at Chelmsford Embroiders' Guild and now I have been on her workshop. It was the best workshop, I have ever been on (and I have been on some excellent ones in the past). My head is still spinning with all the ideas she gave us and the samples we produced. I just love her work and can't wait to develop her work further. Thank you Lynda, I hope to attend another workshop with you in the future.

A new term.

2010-09-04T07:21:00.002+01:00

The first two days back went so fast. So much to organise and set up. I only met four of my new classes and they were all lovely. I had a fantastic lesson with my new GCSE class, they were all very enthusiastic about the course, fingers crossed it continues.

I have three projects to complete by the end of the month:
-A 10x40" wallhanging inspired by my holiday to Turkey this year
-My vessel for the Round Robin Challenge
- A sample for the Young Embroider's next meeting.

All of them are coming along, the latter two are almost completed, but I need to work hard on the wallhanging as it needs to be finished by 22nd September.

Sorry no pictures as my camera is playing up. I would like a new one and was hoping to wait until Christmas, but I might have to buy one before. If, I can get out of my mobile phone contract and change to an iphone, I would be able to wait and get the camera as a present. Any suggestion for a camera? I want an easy to use one but with a good lens to take close up work.

Back to school

2010-09-01T17:37:00.005+01:00

What happened to the summer? I really don't know what I have done over the past six weeks. The house is cleaner and certainly more organised, but I didn't manage to sew for at least one hour per day. I still have some unfinished projects, but hopefully they will be completed in the next two weeks.

My 12" square of June was completed today and handed in with the others. My patchwork group have made a calendar quilt. I'm not happy with the raw wdge of the rock, but didn't have time to do block again. It looks good from a distance!

Not the dog's fault!

2010-08-26T16:25:00.004+01:00

Beau is now 16 weeks old and a real pleasure to have. Only last night I told someone, that he is as good as gold and no he has never chewed anything. I mean would he, he has the face of an angel.

Well this afternoon, that all changed. I had ben busy planning for school and ironing until 3pm. Then I sat down for a cuppa and to browse through the book that had arrived today, 'Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman.' I then decided to go and do some sewing as I have a 12" square wallhanging to complete by next Tuesday. I was only gone 5 mins, when my husband called me to say there is a load of ribbed paper in the lounge. I actually laughed and said 'expect he has had some fun with the newspaper'. When I came in an hour later, all I could see was the front and back cover all torn and the pattern totally shredded. I will have to order another book now. At least I had, had a quick look at the book. I will not leave any of my books around again.

I also had a disaster with my mini wallhanging. I was using fabric that I had dyed myself. Not quite sure where I had gone wrong as it was all tacked carefully, but when I started to quilt it, the fabric seemed to stretch and looked horrible. I will have to start again, this time I am going to use batik fabric. I have to show the month of June on my quilt and I am going to do the summer solstice at Stonehenge. Picture to follow next week.

The Lake District

2010-08-23T22:06:00.002+01:00

We had a wonderful weekend in the Lake District and would love to go back next year, for a longer break. I even found an art shop, selling good quality sketch books for a fraction of the price sold in my local shop. I can now start to follow the exercises on Gina's blog.

The wedding was lovely, very different from the traditional type. The setting was fantastic and luckily it stopped raining for the whole day. Many of the guest were camping on the estate of Rydal Hall and had got soaked setting up on the Friday. I felt guilty for staying in a luxury hotel just down the road. Although, it amazes me how they manage to make the rooms, bathrooms and swimming pool look so much larger than they really are in the photos. Whilst every one was taking photos of the happy couple I had to sneak off and take a picture of this lovely wall. I have decided that I need a better camera to take better quality photos.

i phone

2010-08-20T15:42:00.000+01:00

I want one! I am sending this message whilst Howard is driving on the M6

Festival of Quilts

2010-08-19T22:18:00.002+01:00

What a busy show this year, and so many quilts on show. I normally go for two days, but we have a family wedding to go to in the Lake District this weekend, so it was one day at the NEC or not at all. My friend and I will be going for two days next year, it is just such a rush and you really don't have time to look at the quilts properly. There were some wonderful quilts on display, two by Nickie (lovely work, well done!). But I am unsure what the definition of a quilt is now, some of them were just stitching onto organza. I also thought that the NEC would have a certain standard, a few of the quilts were extremely badly made. But don't be put off, if you are thinking of going. There were lots of stalls with plenty of items to purchase, demos to watch and advice to gain. I still had some money left at the end of the day, I purchased alot of the essentials on my list and only bought a few extras (they were also essential).

Shopping

2010-08-18T12:33:00.002+01:00

I have just printed off my shopping list for the Festival of Quilts tomorrow. I only really need some fabric to back and bind one small quilt and a wall hanging, some threads and beads, plus some xpandaprint for a workshop with Lynda Monk in September. So how come my list fills an A4 sheet? I admit a third of the page consists of books to look at and then add to my Christmas list. But I know I will come back with bags bulging with more things not on my list than on it. I suppose their is always the Knit and Stitch show to buy the other bits.

Book making in progress

2010-08-17T17:07:00.002+01:00

I have been making some books and finishing off others started at a Francis Pickering workshop. Next term my Year 10 class are going to make their own book when exploring paper and card as part of their Product Design GCSE. They will then be able to use their book to explore their design ideas later on in the course.

Cover made with crumbled brown paper and decorated with encaustic wax, I still want to stitch a design onto the front following a technique learn with Yvonne Brown. The inside pages were tea dyed.

The paper for the cover was made with tissue paper and PVA glue and then both the cover and the pages were coloured with brusho dyes.

These two books were made using transfer dyes applied onto pelmet vilene and again the pages were coloured with brusho dyes and then stitched into with embroidery threads and beads added.

This book cover was coloured first with transfer dyes, but I found the colour to bright to match the pages. So I added some further colour with water colour pencils and stitched into the pelmet vilene with a varigated thread. But I still didn't like it, so I added some scrim and then applied some creative colour sprays from Craftynotions. I now want to add some hand stitching and embellishments.

I also need to stitch all of the pages into the books but need to buy some strong thread at the Festival of Quilts on Thursday.

First Great Dane Walk

2010-08-15T14:08:00.003+01:00

Today, we took Beau on his first Great Dane walk, in Hylands Park Chelmsford. He had a fantastic time and really enjoyed playing with all the other dogs. Quite a few of them were 6 months old, have a look at the difference in size in the photos. We didn't follow the route Bilbo used to go on as they are setting up for the V festival next weekend. I have been to this park so many times and it is great to find a different walk. Beau loved it in the wooded area and had his first experience of gettting his feet wet in the stream. They are going to try and organise a walk once a month, which will help with his socalising and hopefully delay Howard wanting to get another dog. It was lovely to see so many large dogs (about 20) all playing nicely with plenty of space and not having to be on a lead.

Made and tasted!

2010-08-12T19:49:00.002+01:00

Last week I cooked all the dried fruit in brandy, dark rum and port, for my Boozy Christmas cake, it was then stored for one week before actually cooking it. A friend lent me a deep tin with a loose bottom, I had asked for an 8" tin, but she had given me a 7" one, something I didn't realise until it was too late. The mixture filled the entire tin and thus spilled over slightly on cooking. The instructions said to cook for 3-4 hours, it actually took 4.5hr. This caused a problem with cooking the evening meal, the roast chicken will have to wait for another day. Although the cake wouldn't win a prize on the WI cake stall, it still looked good and smelt fantastic. After cooling we all had to try a small piece (no syns for 2 days now). The texture was more like Christmas pudding than cake, maybe it will firm up more once completly cool. Whilst cooking you could smell the alcohol/spices, but I must admit I was expecting something more like mulled wine. The cake was very light and sweet, it was very easy to make. I can recommend this recipe, just make sure you have a large enough tin.

Busy day

2010-08-11T17:17:00.002+01:00

Today started with the funeral of one of my best friends nan. I only ever knew her as Nanny Sneesby and not her christian name of Maisie. I first met her 30 years ago and she really was a lady to admire, love and respect. She would often invite both myself and her grandaughter Julie, for lunch on a Saturday. Here we would be sat down and told the dangers of the world, especially boys. She would worry herself about all the gold we wore (it was the 80's) and thought we should put it all in a safe and wear copies. We used to just laugh and humour her, but we loved her for caring. Over the years she saw us both get married and have children and it is a shame that she has just missed becoming a great-great grandmother to my friends daughter. The service was a lovely affair and a real celebration of her life 1913-2010. She had led a very active life until eighteen months ago, when she needed to go into a home. She loved it there and was still OK until a few months ago. Let's hope you meet up with your loving husband Ted!

This afternoon I spent working in the garden, moving plants about, digging up seedlings to fill some gaps and planting some shrubs to make the garden more interesting during the winter months. I had a lovely time and the garden is really looking lovely even with the lack of rain we have had. The problem was with the little helper, my dog Beau. He thought it great fun to join my on the flower beds and to run around with plant pots. In the end I had to put him indoors. I just hope he doesn't dig them all up tomorrow.

Tonight, I am going to join Slimming World (again). I have been on this diet before and lost lots of weight quite easily, I just don't know why I don't stick to the healthy eating plan. What to wear to the funeral was a real problem and if I don't loose some weight before I go back to work in September, I don't know what I am going to wear there. So all the cakes, crisps and wine will have to stop. The bike must come out again and then I should be guarenteed success at next weeks weigh in!

Final stage of RRC

2010-08-06T16:44:00.003+01:00

Margaret brought round her lovely vessel today. It has an African theme and I now need to embelish it with hand stitching, beadwork etc. Last year I bought a necklace from a boot sale that has some beads that will be perfect for this project.

Octopus exhibition

2010-07-31T14:16:00.002+01:00

Today I went along to the textile exhibition by the group known as Octopus. It is being held in the Maeldune Centre in Maldon, Essex until 7th August. There was a great variety of skills used to produce some really wonderful work, so if you haven't been yet, I can highly recommend it. It was lovely to see work from several members of my Embroiderers' Guild branch, as we usually have lecture's at our meetings and so don't get to see much of the members work. There are also several lovely cafes near by plus they are having their carnival next Saturday.

Boozy Christmas Cake Recipe

2010-07-31T09:24:00.002+01:00

Thank you to everybody who has been trying to find the recipe for the boozy cake. Helen has found a Christmas cake recipe, which I am going to try and will report back. Lots of people have asked for the recipe, should I find it. Others remember seeing her cook the cake on TV, let's hope it lives up to the expectations. For those who can't wait here is the link I was sent.
http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=20194. Whoever, it was that told me about the cake said they used Grand Marnier to soak the fruit in, sounds good to me!

Boozy Cake

2010-07-30T10:29:00.002+01:00

Does anybody have the recipe for the Boozy cake made by Nigella Lawson? Seemingly it was in a magazine/newspaper. I cannot find the recipe online or in any of the books I have. I can't even remember who told me about the cake, I thought it was a friend called Sandra, but unfortubnately not.