FNSI May

It has been a busy day so I was happy just to collapse onto the sofa in front of the TV with some nice, mindless knitting.

Earlier I had taken a break for half an hour after lunch to work on my stitch journal - todays is the bulls eye bottom right.

Thank you Wendy for getting us together again this Friday - pop over to Wendy's blog here to see who else took part.

Yesterday I finally got my RSC blocks finished along with Jennifer's lovely Joy block.

These blocks are building up nicely now and I will soon have to lay them all out to see how they are looking.

Well, that is all from me for today. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

I made another book!

 I thought that another zig zag book would make a great holiday sketchbook and so having purchased a large sheet of nice quality paper I set to. And this time I remembered a few in progress shots.

First up I folded the paper down to the size that I wanted for my book. I then randomly printed each side with some simple sponge shapes and acrylic paint. I used blue and yellow as I am hoping for plenty of both those colours while we are away! Here you can see the two sides which I remembered to photograph after I had cut them so you can see here how to make the cuts.

I wanted my book landscape but if you wanted a portrait book then you would just make the three cuts from the other two sides.

Having folded my book I then set to dealing with the awkward bits and made pockets out of the two that face upwards.

These will be useful for storing bits and bobs while I am working on the book and will be handy for postcards, tickets or other collected bits.

The awkward bit in the centre faces downwards but there were conveniently placed circles on each side

which I cut around to make windows.

I will be able to stick something interesting behind these before I sew up the base and side.

I had a rifle through my folder of odd bits of paper for something to cover the two end boards and found these which I thought fitted the theme.

They are crumpled brown paper which I have 'cleaned up' my print roller on at some time and then over painted. These bits will always find their moment to shine.

Anyway, I covered the end boards, glued them in place and voila! one finished book.

Summer came to visit briefly last week so I took the opportunity of taking some garden pictures - just as well as we are back to wind and rain today.

Also last week my quilt group - Apple County Quilters - had an open day which was very successful. Having no idea how many would come we were pleasantly surprised by how many people turned up - and by how much they spent of the sales table! It was a bit of a squeeze in a small village hall but we put on a good and varied display of quilts large and small, with the odd bit of knitting thrown in for good measure.

Well, that was a long one! Thanks for making it this far. Have a good week.

Friday Night with Friends May

 And I am late on parade! But have enjoyed catching up with everyone else.

Not a lot of sewing happened here on Friday - just my Stitch Journal for the day. So this month we are 'pretty in pink' and I have enjoyed pulling out a few threads to work with. It seems that for some reason I have a vast amount of pink threads and I don't know why as it is not a favourite colour. Anyway, here we are so far this month.

And here is my finished page for April.

It was lovely to have a visit from my niece and great niece on Friday to help celebrate my birthday - and many thanks to all of you who sent me birthday wishes.

We had a lovely lunch out with of course yummy dessert! Lemon posset.

And a photo for posterity - we don't get to meet up that often.

Earlier in the week I finished quilting the first two borders on Wings

and I have now marked and started quilting the wide applique border. Looking good - photo later. I should get plenty done as my patchwork group has an open day on Tuesday so I should be able to settle down for a good session.

Meanwhile, more celebrations tomorrow and we have a public holiday so there is a car boot sale to visit.

Have a great week.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge April and a finish

 It's almost the end of April and a new RSC colour is just around the corner so I ought to show you my yellows.

First up my log cabins for the month including Jennifer's Joy in the Ordinary block.

My Stitch Journal page for the month is almost complete and I am looking forward to tidying away my tangle of yellow threads and playing with something different.

I finished quilting my RSC heart quilt from 2023 a couple of weeks ago. I kept hanging on for a dry and wind free day to get some out door photographs but in the end had to give up and take them indoors as last weekend I took the quilt to our Regional Day and passed it on to our local Linus co-ordinator. So here it is.

Very happy with how this turned out and I see more hearts in my future - larger ones with flowers tumbling from the centre would be nice I think.

Linking up with Angela for RSC Saturday.

Have a great week everyone

FNSI April

 Am a bit late posting but have enjoyed finding out what everyone else has been working on. Thanks as always to Wendy for hosting our evening.

Well, not a lot happened here to show I am afraid. I had a list of jobs to do in the afternoon.

Find my 1797 top to prepare backing for quilting was one thing. Not sure where this has got to but I am still looking. However came across my RSC 21/22 Dresden top so that is now top of the quilting pile and I bought backing fabric for it yesterday so that is positive. Also found my Hexathon quilt top from way back when? That just needed a final something in one corner. And of course I was suddenly inspired to add a plain hexagon which I could embroider onto with the title and dates etc. So that was easily done and is now 2nd in the quilting pile - unless I find 1797!

Next up was to sort my bags ready for Saturdays Quilters Guild Regional meeting - a couple of Linus quilts to find plus some show and tell and a sewing kit.

By the time I had done a few other bits and pieces the afternoon was over. So in the evening I worked on my Stitch Journal. Fridays circle was the second in from the right on the bottom row.

After that I just sat back and watched TV!

Had a very enjoyable Saturday at the Regional Day with an excellent talk by Liz Hewitt about her natural dyeing with leaves, rust, mud etc. Lots of beautiful work to look at too. The link will take you straight to the gallery on her web site. Such a lovely lady and more than happy to pass on tips and how toos.

We had a great show and tell too but sorry I didn't get any pictures 😒

What else have I been up to. Well the Stitch Journal continues as you have already seen. Last weekend I made a couple of needle holder magnets from a kit by Sue Hawkins. Cute little strawberries although they do look rather more like cherries I think.

Well, why have I never made these before!! So useful. Just perfect on my quilting frame. So what did I do next - ordered another kit of course. (not sure what happened there but font size has changed)

Anyway, I have now started on my next pair and ordered extra magnets and canvas to have a go at designing my own.

These are called scarlet pimpernel.

I have some RSC to show you but will leave them till next week I think.

Wishing you all a good week from a surprisingly dry and partly sunny Taunton.

FNWFs April

 A new month means a new RSC colour and that means yellow. So my first hour on Friday afternoon was spent on my Stitch Journal. Circles this month and Fridays circle is the one top right.

I will show you some close ups from last month later in this post.

While stitching I was watching a tutorial about making a zig zag sketchbook from one sheet of paper, easy peasy! So of course I had to have a go. I didn't take any pictures of work in progress but basically what you do is make lots of folds in the large sheet of paper then add some random paint and or script. I went for spirals. Then once dry you make 3 cuts and then fold to make your zig zig book. At three points you get some awkward folds but we were shown how to turn these into pockets and windows before adding the outer covers. So if you are still with me, here is my finished book. I rummaged around and found some spiral printed paper in my stash which was appropriate.

A pocket

and a window

The idea is that you have eliminated 'white page syndrome' and can work into the pages with sketches or collage over anything you don't like. Those splotches were not what I had intended - one side of my paper is very absorbent and instead of being able to swirl that paint around it just soaked in!

Anyway, once I get a larger sheet of paper I shall be repeating this and it was quick, easy and fun.

Next up was my second RSC project and I started on the little embroidery from Jennifer. I got the log cabin strips cut earlier in the week so am all set to go once I finish the embroidery.

And that was my Friday - many thanks to Cheryll for hosting us. Pop over to her blog to see who else took part.

Also this week, a new pair of socks on my needles

and I do love this West Yorkshire Spinners Rum Paradise sock yarn.

Also, as promised some closeups of my March Stitch Journal page now that it has been pressed.

It has been a lovely sunny, if very windy, day here as storm Kathleen passed us by - lets hope she has not done too much damage in the rest of the country.

Have a good week everyone.