Catch up and an outing.

Over the last week life has been rather up and down. One day life seems smooth sailing and the next there is a hiccup. Smooth sailing predominated but the hiccup has still to be resolved. My son has been experiencing abdominal pain that was getting worse and finally he went to the emergency department. They took bloods, prodded and poked and finally decided on a CT scan to determine the cause. He waited quite some time and finally asked if they had a time it might take place only to find the doctor hadn't yet ordered it. The triage nurse tried to sort it out but the doctor was busy and in the end my son came home. He still has a lot of pain but will see his GP on Monday morning so long as nothing happens before then.

The smooth sailing is being able to make some time each day to work on some of my projects. The main item I've been working on I can't show you until Thursday as it's for the Out of the dark blog hop. It took more thinking through than I would have liked and so I still have a fair amount to do.

Over the week I've made several more flowers for the Grandmother's garden quilt. I've added the orange flowers to two of the six sides so there is still a lot to do. I also worked out how I will be squaring up the quilt in order to be able to finish it. I have set myself the timeframe of finishing this quilt by April next year. 

This morning I finished knitting the scarf for my grandson. I need to sew/weave all the ends in and I have to add the fringe to it. That will be done this evening and I'll be starting on his hat.

At this point we stopped to have dinner and after dinner I just wanted to chill out and chat with family. We had a good evening and made several plans relating to the bathroom renovation we have underway and also discussions for a holiday. I picked up the scarf, sewed in all the ends and added the fringing while chatting. Job done.

Now all I need is my grandson's head size so I can start the hat.

On Saturday John and I went on a bird watching trip to Dungeness.  Dungeness is an odd area, not least because of the environment. It is described as one of most unique habitats in Britain and it is technically classified as a desert due to the huge area of shingle which includes the beach. The area provides a perfect home for many species of wildlife including plants and rare insects. I'm not too keen on the insects but they do interest many birds. Not only is there the huge shingle beach but there are two nuclear power stations which are now decommissioned, and a large nature reserve. This was our destination for the day. 

Looking across to the power stations.

To some extent this gives you an idea of the vastness of the landscape.

Looking out to sea from the beach. I loved the sky in this photo.

Over the day John and I saw 45 different species of birds and we also enjoyed the plant life. The teasles were good. 

The gorse was flowering well  and had a nice coconut smell.

I've no idea what this plant is but it was cute.

In places there was a lot of interesting moss underfoot.

This is greater mullein and when in bloom has a very tall flower spike with yellow flowers

This cute blue/purple flower is viper bugloss

and this little pink flower is common century

There was also quite a lot of evening primrose.

and never underestimate the daisy, they are such a joy to see.

I don't know what this bush is but the berries where a very bright orange.

It was quite windy so the tall grasses were very busy shaking their heads in the breeze.

I would have like to have collected some of the rose hips but I didn't have anything to put them in and we were on a nature reserve so we should leave them for the birds and animals.

Finally there were some interesting fungi, some new, some old. This was my favourite.

The day was interesting and we had a good time watching the birds. Next weekend we are away and I'm hoping to visit a new to me quilt shop.

Take care

Lyndsey

Knit and Stitch show.

Last week I had a few hours here and there for sewing or knitting so I tried to make good use of the time. On Monday I made a start on the quilting of the happy quilt. I marked diagonal lines across the quilt at 3 and a half inches and managed to get them all sewn over the week

I would have like to have marked up the lines for the opposite diagonal but I ran out of time however as the new academic year settles down and the students settle into the course there will be more time. I'm hoping to get the quilting finished this month if possible as I have another quilt I want to start.

In an evening, after dinner I have been alternating between knitting the scarf for my grandson and making hexie flowers and adding them to the Grandmothers garden quilt. My grandson is very excited for his rainbow scarf and I've promised to knit him a hat to go with it. He wanted a large pompom on each end of his scarf but my daughter told him they wouldn't fit well inside his coat so the scarf will be finished with tassels. On his hat he wants the biggest pompom I can make. I don't have a really big pompom maker so I'll have to resort to the good old fashioned method of two pieces of cardboard.

On the photo the blue, indigo and violet look very similar but they are quite different when seen in person. I also found this cute dinosaur fabric in orange to use in the hexie quilt. There are so many fun fabrics in the quilt.

On Friday I wasn't working and I had tickets for the Knit and Stitch show at Alexandra Palace or Ally Pally as it is known in London. We travelled by train so no hunting  for a parking place or getting held up in traffic jams. As we walked up the hill from the station I spotted these two trees already for Autumn.

The show is a mixture of stands selling all you could want for your sewing, knitting and other crafting needs and displays of quilts and embroidery, including some graduate shows. I wanted to get some more sashiko threads and some fabric for the border of the Christmas quilt. Obviously I bought more than those items but once home I put everything away and forgot to take a photo. 

I loved this fabric piece by Carmen Mardonez titled Green Mural. It had both me and John thinking of summer meadows with wild flowers scattered throughout.

The next piece is called Thoroughly Odd by Woo Jin Joo 2023. Woo Jin explores imaginary creatures. This piece was made from an old jacket, viscose thread embroidery, wire, rattan and wadding.

Also by Woo Jin this piece is titled 'People Who Deny the Existence of Dragons Are Often Eaten by Dragons. From Within. 2023 Made with an old jacket, viscose embroidery thread, wire, rattan and wadding

This final piece by Woo Jin is titled Dusk Dokkaebi, made in 2022 using a shirt sleeve, viscose thread embroidery and wire.

All of her work was strange but fun. Woo Jin is a Seoul-born mixed-media artist working predominately with textiles and embroidery. Having graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2021 with an MA in Textiles, she has since been exploring the intersection of craft and art in her London studio.

The artist of the next piece is Anne Tuck. The piece was made in 2004 and titled Transition. She was inspired by the movement of grasses in the wind and wanted to capture the transition from blue skies to sunset

This piece is by Pauline Burbridge and titled Honesty Skyline 2015 The quiltscape is inspired by the natural landscape visible from the artists studio in the Scottish borders. It uses circular honesty seed pods and fabric rubbings of red hot poker leaves to create the design.

Shenna Norquay created Twelve Feathers in 2017. She wanted to recreate the stunning amount of colours found in peacock feathers. many different colours of embroidery thread are used together on top of the wooden Indian block printed feather designs.

A close up of some of the feathers

Rowena Reamonn created this piece titled Kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame... 1998. It is inspired by the colours and themes in Claude Monet's painting of his garden in Giverny.

These three pieces were created for the Embroidery Guild members challenge. Colour Rhythms 2025. Unfortunately the photo telling me who made the pieces didn't come out properly and I can't read the names. If anyone knows who stitched them please let me know and I'll add the information to the post.

The following piece were by Margaret Nicholson 1913 - 2006.  Margaret followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, father and brother by becoming an artist. Her chosen medium was embroidery.

The following sketch and embroidered piece was by Audrey Walker. Audrey Walker was an accomplished textile artist, embroiderer and teacher, who was active from the 1970s in the United Kingdom. She became known for developing an innovative style of embroidery based on fine threads applied by machine and by hand, to create striking figurative wall-hung works of art

First the sketch,

and then the embroidered piece.

I'm not sure who this piece was by 

John and I really enjoyed our visit to the show, including our lunch of fish and chips. On the way home we passed this Virginia creeper that had turned a beautiful shade of red.

and I also received a photo from my brother of his boat. It has been out of the water having the hull repainted and new anodes fitted. This happens every 5 years to keep the hull in good condition. My brother lives on this boat and this major maintenance wont need to be done again until 2030.

Yesterday evening I prepared 4 KG of pickling onions ready to complete the process today.

At this point I still had half left to do. It took me about an hour in total and there were no onion tears, just sore fingers.

Today I'm planning on working on my embroidered table cloth. I still have two full sides to do but I'll be working on this part today.

I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching link up. Dp pop over and see what everyone has been working on.

Take care 

Lyndsey

Stitching and knitting

This morning both the dogs slept in which was rather nice. No having to hurriedly get dressed so I could take them out for their morning walk. I even got to drink my morning cup of tea. However once they were both awake they were bouncing with energy. We took our walk and didn't meet anyone whilst we were out. Was today a day for staying in bed? Back home and after breakfast I settled down to do some sewing. I had been doing some sashiko on my Japanese style quilt but one of my patterns had not gone well. I had ended up unpicking it once but I still wasn't happy so I unpicked it a second time and re stitched. It isn't as neat as it should be but at least the pattern is now right. Having redone that I moved on to complete two more small patterns. I still have one large pattern and one small one to complete the quilt so far.

I already have a plan for the next part of this quilt. It involves some more sashiko but using coloured threads not just white. I will do the stitching and then add it to the quilt when complete. Next I picked up my knitting. My grandson had asked if I would knit him a new scarf. We spent some time deciding what he wanted and on Wednesday I got the yarn and needles out to make a start. I decided to knit the scarf in knit 2, purl 2 rib and I'm loving how it looks. I hope he likes it when its finished. I enjoyed knitting this afternoon whilst catching up with an audio book.

Later in the afternoon I moved on to do some work on my doll's house. I haven't done anything for quite some time. I wanted to stick some grass down and create a path for the basement garden and also to glue the basement together and add the hinges so that the front would open. The walls of the basement fit into grooves in the base and hold up without glue but since I have finished painting the walls inside I wanted to glue it together so that it won't fall apart when it is being played with by my grandson. I still need to finish the left front of the basement. which includes the steps to the front door and steps down to the basement.

I'm hoping to get the left side of the doll's house finished next weekend. I still have the roves of the dormers to complete as well.

I've really enjoyed my slow stitching today and I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching link up. 

I think I'll knit a few more rows and then I'm going to snuggle up in bed and listen to the next couple of chapters of my audio book. Tomorrow I'm not working and so I can get on with some sewing.

Take care

Lyndsey