High winds and stitching.

This week the weather set about causing havoc. On Wednesday Storm Dudley hit Scotland and much of northern and middle England followed very quickly on Friday by Storm Eunice. The meteorological office issued a red weather warning on Friday due to the high winds they were expecting. Friday morning was bright and clear...until 10 a.m. when the light changed and the wind started to increase. John and I went out briefly at 1 p.m. and we saw that several trees had come down in the cemetery. We quickly completed our business and got back home safely. Later in the day the wind started to drop but the wind brought more trees down over night. On our way to the wetland centre on Saturday morning it was sad to see the number of mature trees that had been lost. In London it was mainly trees that were bought down but some houses were also damaged. Outside London more people suffered damage to their homes and thousands of people are still without power. The power of the wind was frightening and the hail storm we experienced as the storm ended was bizarre. Today the wind is still stronger than usual and we are already being warned about the next storm which has been named storm Franklin. There is currently a yellow warning for Monday. A yellow warning is a mild warning to make you aware there may be a problem. 

If the weather outside is wet and windy what can you do except stay home and sew. I had bought two cushion pads for the covers I was making and so I set about getting them finished. I needed to complete the quilting and put the covers together. I used diagonal stitching on the squares and straight stitch to stitch down the applique. Once that was done it was a quick job to embroider a French knot for the eye and put the pad inside the cover.

I am really pleased with the cushions and wish I'd made them for home as they are so cute. Hopefully I'll be able to drop these off to Katy in the next few days. We need some new cushions for our settee so I'll look for another cute design. 

I have spent time recently stitching the little bird houses designed by Meg Hawkey from Crabapple Hill studios to celebrate International embroidery month. I am really enjoying making these. I'm running a little behind as I have only completed 9 so far. I've already shown you some but here are the one's I've completed recently.

I'm hoping to get  another one finished this evening. I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday stitching. I need to get on with stitching Noah's Ark as this is my monthly goal but these little bird houses are such fun to do. 

Tomorrow is a work day but I'm taking my stitching with me. I'm going to find a quiet spot to sit and stitch in my lunch break. 

Take care 

Lyndsey