It has been a while and life has been busy but I am finally getting round to my first post of 2024! I hope everyone has been keeping well and I am sorry if I haven't been to visit your blog and leave you a comment.  Life has been hectic! I haven't been doing a lot of stitching which is why I haven't had any reason to post much although I haven't been idle either as I have been doing some crafting, watercolour painting and making folded paper books, which is a lot of fun.  Here are some photos of those projects. I have now also finished a small wall hanging that I started la ..read more

No, I'm not announcing the arrival of another grandchild but, an addition to my collection of homemade toys.  Introducing 'Ringo' who is a sock monkey. I made him following a very easy to follow tutorial by Kool Kooky Kreatures on YouTube. He is now sitting comfortably in my sewing room with some of the other toys I have made as well as some that my daughters have made and given me. It's very cold here in the UK at the moment, so I hope those of you have snow are keeping warm! Until next time.... ? xx ..read more

Having finished my 'tulips and forget-me-nots' wall hanging which I showed you in my last post, I decided that it needed a couple of extra little details just to finish it off. I added a couple of extra machine-stitched details to both of the butterflies on the lower wings.  It was a great way to use some of the special stitches offered by my sewing machine and I think they added something extra to the appliqué. I also decided that the tulips would look to have more depth if I added some straight stitched edges to what I think of as the front petals.  I am so pleased that I dec ..read more

Well, here we are in November and I have managed to start the month quite productively, by framing the little wren textile art piece that I showed you last time. I fused a piece of heavyweight interfacing (fast 2 fuse) to the back of the trimmed down piece and then turned it over and fused some backing fabric to the other side of the interfacing.  I then stitched around the edge of the piece using a straight stitch about one eighth of an inch from the raw edge.  The backing and interfacing were then trimmed level with the raw edge of the piece and finished with an overcast stitc ..read more

It has been a while!  Time has run away from me as there seems to have been a lot going on, so I thought I should catch up a bit!  As a result, this is going to be another long post!  What have I been doing?  Well, I had a long weekend trip to Thessaloniki in Greece to attend a friend's wedding.  The weather was hot and the wedding was beautiful. We had a lovely day visit to a beautiful National Trust property called Stourhead (which is where they filmed some of the 2005 version of the film Pride and Prejudice).  Such a beautiful house and gardens. Then we ..read more

Another busy month has passed since my last post, so there is lots to tell you and even more photos!  Firstly, I celebrated my birthday for which I received several bouquets of beautiful flowers which filled the house with colour.    The following week we visited Norwich to attend my daughter's PhD (Doctorate) Graduation. Very excitingly my homegrown sweetpea plant eventually decided to flower and it was well worth the wait as it is producing beautiful colour blooms. At the end of July I travelled to Northampton to attend two workshops given by the talented Australian d ..read more

Hello! I may have titled this 'a quick catch up' but I warn you now this is a long post with lots of photos! It has been a busy time here with the marriage of my eldest daughter and the birth of my third grandchild, another little girl.  Above is a trial sample of the bunting I was busy making earlier in the year to decorate the yurts we had in our garden for the wedding reception.  Below are some photos from the day..... And a photo of the yurts taken after dark from the house..... Then the latest addition to our family..... Elodie..... Since June I have also been busy helpi ..read more

It has been a little while again since my last post and I am afraid that there is not a lot to show you on the stitching front.  I have managed to add a few more details to the project that I was working on when I last posted. So, what have I been doing?  Well, I was laid low at the beginning of March with a bout of covid (despite being fully vaccinated) which took quite a while to recover from and which left me with very little energy so I didn't feel much like creating. I have been enjoying the beautiful Spring flowers in the garden.  Those pictured above were out in March ..read more

I haven't had a lot of time for stitching since my last finish but, I have decided to revamp another, older project. Some while ago I completed a small project depicting one of my favourite garden plants, the Globe Thistle.  The finished project is pictured above.  However, I always felt that there was some detail missing from the project, so I have decided to add some more. So far, I have removed the french knots that I originally added to the circumference of each of the flower heads and have started hand stitching lazy daisy flowers over the whole of the surface of the flower ..read more

It has been a busy start to the year and I haven't had a great deal of time to sew or to post here.  However, I have managed to get my little 'Strippy Scrappy' quilt which I showed you last time finished. It is my first finish of 2023 and I am very pleased with it. I used a piece of fabric from a collection by Anni Downs which I have had in my stash for some time, to put on the back and I think it looks rather cute. I was so pleased to have it finished that I couldn't wait to use it on our kitchen table.  As we had visitors here this weekend, it was a perfect addition to the ..read more