The bag is lined but is just one compartment. The length of the strap can be changed but provides enough length to use comfortably as an across the body bag which is really useful when shopping.
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Wednesday, 30 September 2020
September goal completed
The bag is lined but is just one compartment. The length of the strap can be changed but provides enough length to use comfortably as an across the body bag which is really useful when shopping.
Monday, 28 September 2020
Slow Sunday Stitching
I love Sundays and always have. As a child Sunday was family day and we would always do something together. It could be a trip out somewhere, a long walk, gardening together or playing games in front of the fire when the weather was bad. When our children were small we did the same and even now it's a habit that continues. Yesterday was dry but cold in London and no one wanted to go walking so we stayed in and chatted instead. We spent time in the kitchen as I made some bread and little cakes. I have a new batch of yeast and the bread rose really well.
I love that the smell of bread baking fills the whole house. I made two loaves, one white and one rye bread. The rye bread is delicious but we haven't cut the white loaf yet.
The other fun activity on a Sunday is the slow stitching. I have a project I want finished before the end of the month so I need to get a wriggle on. Yesterday I cut the fabric ready for paper piecing and started to stitch the pieces together. When I stopped to take a phot I had added several shapes.
Today is a work day and I have students online this morning. I'm going to walk for an hour this afternoon when the temperature should reach 17 or 18 degrees C and there is no rain forecast. I'll then finish up the work bits I need to do before dinner and an evening of stitching. The second series of Mystery Roads is being shown in the UK and it will be perfect to watch whilst stitching.
I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching link up. Why not pop over to see what folks have been hand stitching this week.
I need to go and fill up the bird feeders, check Picasso and Scamp have fresh water and that Picasso has his breakfast. Scamp won't usually eat until a little later.
Take care
Lyndsey
Saturday, 26 September 2020
A new project.
I haven't had the time to do very much sewing this week. The new academic year has started and there will be new students to teach from the beginning of October. Lots of preparation to get finished, marking to do and of course there is always housework to do. Sewing always help me relax so it was time to get working. Before the Fall blog hop I showed you a photo of fabric I'm going to use on a second Autumn project.
I like to have a runner or table topper on my dinning table. I have a few different runners to go with the changing seasons but I don't have one for Autumn. I don't want to use the Halloween runner for the whole season so I need to make a new one. I decided to cut some leaf shapes from the fabrics and applique them onto the backing. I used this leaf template.
Whilst Casso slept I cut out and made two more masks. When teaching starts on October 5th I will need a mask to get into the university building and in all the communal areas. I'm going to need more than one mask for a day.
Tuesday, 22 September 2020
I love Autumn
The colours in my charm pack worked well for an autumnal project and I had the solid green that went well with it. I needed to stitch the charm squares together to make the main body and also a smaller section to make the pouch.
Overall I'm very happy with my project and I will be making use of it over the coming months. Hopefully by having something to slip my embroidery scissors into I won't injure myself again by sitting on them. Ouch embroidery scissors have very sharp points.
MooseStashQuilting
Quilting Gail
that fabric feeling
Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
Sew Many Yarns
Sunshine in the Attic
Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel
Food for Thought
Monday, 21 September 2020
Fall Blog hop
I haven't been able to post this week due to a ridiculous amount of work. This happens every year at this time of enrolment of new students and the start of course. This year we have the added possibility of the UK government asking university to return to online teaching. I'd planned my course based on alternate week face to face sessions and I'd already sent this out to students but now I need to contact them again about the possible changes. Never mind in a couple of weeks I have a fairly quiet time so there will be a chance then to catch up with sewing.
Today is the start of the Fall blog hop so I thought I would post the schedule. I can't wait to visit the blogs from today.
VroomansQuilts
Karen's Korner
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
QuiltFabrication.com
Karrin’s Crazy World
Seams To Be Sew
The Joyful Quilter
Kathleen McMusing
MooseStashQuilting
Quilting Gail
that fabric feeling
Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
Sew Many Yarns
Sunshine in the Attic
Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel
Food for Thought
Quiltscapes
Ms P Designs USA
Stitchin At Home
Just Because Quilts
beaquilter
Patchwork Breeze
Selinaquilts
Lily Patch Quilts
Not Afraid Of Color
Quilting & Learning: What a Combo!
Creatin' in the Sticks
Quilt Schmilt
Bumbleberry Stitches
Samelia’s Mum
Life in the Scrapatch
Storied Quilts
Songbird Designs
Quiltifications
Words & Stitches
Sunday, 13 September 2020
Mushrooms and stitching.
Yesterday John and I visited the mushroom exhibition at Somerset house. In 1547, Edward Seymour, Lord Protector and Duke of Somerset started building a palace for himself on the banks of the Thames. In 1552 he was executed and the palace, that by that time was almost completed, reverted to the crown. Since then it's had a long and varied history which you can read about Here The exhibitions full title is Mushrooms;The art, design and future of fungi. It brought together the work of over 40 artists, designers and musicians and was extremely well curated and very interesting.
There was a wall with beautiful paintings of fungi, all of which had been made by Beatrix Potter. I love the illustrations she did for her children's books and these showed the same detail.
I remembered to take a photo of the information for the next picture.
There was a wall of thematic stamps from around the world. This proved impossible to get a good photo of so I gave up. All the pages seemed to belong to the same collection as the writing was the same. It was a large collection of fungi themed stamps.
I really liked the next few fungi and I again remembered to take a photo of the information.
When I first saw these I thought they were preserved fungi. It was fascinating to find out how they were created. I'm sorry about the reflection but there was a video installation just to the side of the display and it created shadows
Many of the pictures and artefacts were behind glass and I couldn't get really good pictures. It was a small but very well done exhibition that looked at fungi in different ways, as a food, a hallucinogenic, religious use and also in design. The final room looked at the use of fungi in design and manufacture of clothes, shoes and furniture. The next time I eat a mushroom I'll be looking at it in a whole new light.
In addition to the exhibition the house itself was beautiful. The floor pattern was giving me ideas for quilt blocks.
Not a lot of sewing got done yesterday and I haven't touched a needle so far today but that is about to change. As soon as I hit the publish button I will be picking up my stitching and starting work on the border of the millennium sampler. Earlier in the week I sorted out the pattern for the spitfire so I'm already to go and get that finished this month. It will require quite a lot of concentration and tonight I need something a little easier, hence the border. At least there aren't any fractional stitches to contend with. You can see where I've already started this side .
Tomorrow is a work day but I'm hoping to have time to get my machine out by late afternoon. Unfortunately it's so easy to get behind with my various projects.
I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching I'll enjoy catching up with what everyone's been doing with my morning tea.
Take care,
Lyndsey
Saturday, 12 September 2020
Sewing and a gallery visit.
On Thursday I did some sewing on my project for the Fall blog hop. I can't show you the pieces I'm making but here are a couple of sneak previews.
The hop starts on the 21st September and I'll post the schedule nearer the time. Yesterday was a working day so no stitching but in the evening John, Lucy and I met up with Katy at the Tate Modern to visit the Andy Warhol exhibition. The exhibition has been extended until November since covid 19 meant the gallery was closed for several months. The gallery was well set up with one way systems and only allowing so many people in at a time plus you had to wear a mask. It was good to be able to go out and enjoy a normal activity and feel safe. John, Lucy and I put our masks on as we left home and took them off as we got back as there were a lot of people out and about. We travelled by train and walking. The exhibition was interesting but also a trip down memory lane for me and John as we reminisced about the pop culture from our younger years. We had seen most of the work before but not all in one place.
I liked the Oxidation painting or piss paintings. This was a series of painting created by Warhol or his assistants either urinating or pouring urine onto a canvas primed with paint mixed with copper. The chemical reactions created areas of colour. One of the assistants was taking vitamin B supplements and the colour produced by his urine caused particular excitement for Warhol.
Warhol's assistant Ronnie Cutrone took some photos of a skull and Warhol asked that the photos had dramatic shadow. Warhol based these painting, done with acrylic paint and screen print on canvas, on the photos.
My final photo from the exhibition is my favourite, mostly because of the bright colours used. I forgot to take a picture of the information label so I can't tell you any more about it.
Thursday, 10 September 2020
Restrictions and chill out zone.
Yesterday was an odd sort of a day. I had very full days of work for the last three days finishing after 7 p.m. and there was no time in the evenings for stitching. Whilst Monday and Tuesday was teaching on line, yesterday was an office day with lots of paper work and marking to catch up on. It brought on a serious headache which is still lurking behind my eyes. As a result I'm not sure I'll get any hand stitching done today. Yesterday was also a day of restrictions relating to gatherings of people being introduced or rather reintroduced. The restrictions don't affect us at the moment as we are a household of 4 and the only other household we have visit is Katy and Olly so we fit the maximum number of 6 indoors when it comes into force on Monday. John is involved with running a group that supports people with mental health problems. He hasn't seen the full information yet but it looks like they will have to close the group again, just 3 weeks after they reopened it. Having taken Scamp for a walk around the local roads this morning I can see why the number of cases are rising. No one was socially distancing and very few people were wearing a mask.
On Sunday morning we walked to the nearest village where we'd enjoyed our dinner the night before. I wanted a photo of the pub.
and a photo of the church which is built from red Heavitree sandstone. We didn't go inside as the service had started
The graveyard was beautiful and there were the Neapolitan cyclamen growing through the grass.
Further along the road we found a water pump by one of the cottages. I'm not sure if it was the old village pump but it does look very pretty with the flowers around it.
The journey home was uneventful and enjoyable because the weather remained good. Now you are up to date with our trip and I have been for a pedicure so I have very happy feet. The rest of the day is mine and I'm about to get my machine out. I have a project to work on for the Fall blog hop taking place later this month and I need the joy and relaxation that working with fabric gives me. If you need me you'll find me in my chill out zone.
Wednesday, 9 September 2020
A walk on Dartmoor
At the weekend John and I took off for a trip to Dartmoor. This had originally booked for the early May bank holiday and due to the restrictions on travel I moved it to last weekend. I reasoned that by that time travel within the country would be allowed and it should be safe to go away. On both counts I was right and even the weather joined in with our adventure by being warm and dry. We stayed at a hotel we'd used before, a few miles outside Exeter, which offered a comfortable room with on-suite and breakfast. We ate in the hotel dining room on Friday night as following the journey we didn't want to go out again that day. Our plan was to walk on Dartmoor so long as the weather stayed reasonable. I was hoping to see some Dartmoor ponies.
Saturday was warm and the forecast was for a mainly dry day with the possibility of short showers. We packed our hike bags accordingly and drove to the start point of our walk at Haytor. The car parks were quite busy but it was easy to maintain social distancing and the further we got from the car the less people there were.
We climbed to the top of Haytor rocks and got a magnificent view across the moor in all directions. The gorse and heather were bright swathes of colour.
Whichever way I looked there was another hill to climb. We had planned to try and cover 10 tors but in the end we only walked up 5
Along the way we came across several Dartmoor ponies. These two foals were very cute
We stopped to enjoy the views and a cup of coffee on this group of rocks which I thought looked a little like a tortoise.
There were a herd of Belted Galloway cattle. This breed of cattle is a traditional Scottish breed of beef cattle and they are well adapted to living on poor upland pastures and moorlands. They remind me of large pandas. There were several of them on the path up the next tor but they were very amiable and moved out of our way.
The cattle stand out like little white dots against the varied colours of the moor.