Slow Sunday stitching.

Yesterday, John and I went on a coach trip to Minsmere in Suffolk. Minsmere is a RSPB reserve (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and there are always a lot of birds to see and hear, particularly at this time of year. I wasn't sure if I had the energy for the event so I took some hand sewing with me. There is a large cafe that serves delicious food and drinks, so I was well prepared if I needed to rest. We met the coach at Embankment after a calm and stress free journey from home on the underground system. We needed to be there for 7:30, not a time I've been up and about recently but it was good to be behaving more like my usual self. The morning was cool and very hazy. I took a couple of photos looking across the Thames. You can just see the tower blocks further along the river shrouded in mist.

It's also fascinating how the tall buildings can hide behind the trees because of the perspective. I love this part of London at this hour in the morning.

The journey to Minsmere was smooth and quick. We stopped once so we could all top up with coffee. I enjoyed watching the changing countryside pass by.

We started our visit with a cup of tea and a slice of salted caramel and nut slice, delicious. We sat outside in the sun and planned our day. Many of the group opted to go round with the group leader as he would help them see the birds and identify them. We decided to do our own thing. This is much more fun and meant we could amble at our own pace. Our first stop was to try and see the adders. Adders are the only poisonous snakes in the UK. Because of the sunshine they had been emerging from hibernation and this was potentially a time when we could expect to see them. We visited the most likely place but were told that, since the female adders had emerged, the males were busy chasing them through the thick undergrowth. This visit we didn't see a single adder. Never mind there is always next time.

There was a lot of gorse which smells like coconut - delicious.

There was also a lot of white blossom but I can't remember the name of the tree. In the last couple of weeks the trees have opened their leaves, there were daffodils and other spring flowers. It was very warm over the day and we were surprised not to see any butterflies.

As we moved on we were lucky enough to see a Nightingale preening its feathers further along the path. That made a perfect start to the day. We saw lots of birds and had a few new spots. We also enjoyed a very slow walk around the reserve and along the beach. The sea was calm and I would have enjoyed a paddle but I decided against it since the beach here is shingle. I needed to have some sandals or shoes that I could have worn in the water. I'll remember for next time. The journey back to London was fairly quick, made even quicker by me sleeping through most of it. 

Today I had some mending to do. I needed to stitch a patch onto John's favourite jeans. I did that on the machine but the rest of the mending was hand stitching, sewing on buttons and catching down hems. Once the mending was out of the way I got on with stitching the binding down on the Churn Dash quilt. This is now all finished.

I'm really happy with this quilt. It is such a bright and happy quilt. This quilt was created from a pile of churn dash blocks that had been pushed to the back of my sewing cupboard and forgotten about. 

Hand stitching the binding down is always satisfying and it just makes it all look so neat. Having finished the quilt I'm going to read a couple of chapters of my book and then go to bed.

Take care

Lyndsey

A slow start to April sewing

It's been a while since I last posted but I have been slowly working on various projects. I've been very tired  and earlier in the week I found out I was anaemic. No wonder I've not been feeling at my best. Other than that, my recovery is going well, I just wish I had more energy.

I finished the left front of my pink cardigan and started the right front last night. I like to use bamboo needles but when I had finished the ribbing and was ready to change onto slightly larger needles, I found they had got broken. Fortunately I had metal needles of the correct size to use. The bamboo needles are lighter so I will need to buy a new pair.

I've spent a little time each day stitching on the table cloth. I'm really enjoying the embroidery and I feel I'm getting more proficient with the various stitches. I've seen several new embroideries I'd love to sew but I am trying not to start any new projects. Note to self - stop looking at embroidery patterns.

My Chookshed challenge for April is turning the Japanese panel into a quilt.  I've spent quite a lot of time trying to decide how to spilt the panel. I have several designs I've come up with but I can't decide which one I like best. I plan to start sewing on this project on Monday so I need to make my final decision.

I needed to add the binding to the churn dash quilt. In the end I decided to use this fabric. This fabric was left over from a previous quilt backing. It's always good when you can use up some of your fabric scraps. It's all sewn on but needs to be hand stitched down to the back.

I was looking through my sewing cupboard to see what unfinished projects I had. I found a couple this time. The first one is an apple core quilt top I started making. I had no problem sewing the individual cores together but when I started sewing two strips together I wasn't quite as accurate. I need to unpick some of the seams and redo them. I've all the 'cores' needed for the baby quilt cut out. 

Sewing these blocks together would give me some practice of sewing curves ready for doing some more work on my double wedding ring quilt. Once finished this quilt will be a donation quilt.

I also unearthed this box.

Last year I went to the Stitch Festival with my friend Michelle. We both liked these heavenly angels which, once made, can be used as a tree or table decorations. I love that the three of them are into sewing and knitting. I had planned to make them for Christmas last year but I forgot about them. These ladies need to be made for Christmas 2025.

Tomorrow John and I are going on a bird watching trip to Minsmere in Suffolk. There is quite a lot of walking involved but I'm not worried as there is a large cafe that serves great food and drink if I get tired. The weather is meant to be dry and warm so it should be a fun outing.  

This post has taken me ages to write with lots of interruptions but it is finally finished and I need to go to bed.  

Take care

Lyndsey

Getting on with the quilting.

Yesterday I set up my machine with the intention of completing the quilting on the Churn dash quilt. I had already completed about half of the quilting and I planned to finish it but I found the whole experience rather tiring and so I I left myself 6 blocks to quilt today. I like this little quilt, the churn dash blocks are cute and having found them lurking in my sewing cupboard waiting to be sewn together, this is a quick win. This afternoon I completed the quilting on the last six blocks and I was able to trim back the backing fabric and the wadding.  At this point I realised I hadn't considered what to use as a binding so first I had to measure the quilt to work out how much fabric I needed for the binding. Then I played hunt the fabric. Nothing appropriate came to hand but I'm sure I'll find something in my stash.

Yesterday evening I did a little more work on the table cloth. 

This evening I'm going to sit and watch something on TV. I may do some knitting but I'm not totally sure. I've felt tired all day. I suppose I could go to bed early but then I'll just wake up early. 

On a totally different topic, is anyone else having a major problem with Blogger? The comments used to go to my email account but recently they haven't. I discovered some went to the email I purely use for my Microsoft account. I put moderation on but that didn't work. All advice will be very gratefully received. 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be more awake and ready to get the quilt finished. 

Take care

Lyndsey

Let's get started on April sewing.

April arrived with beautiful sunshine. The clocks went forward in the early hours of Sunday morning (31st March) and so we have lighter evenings. The down side of the time change is the alarm going off but it's dark again. The 1st April was my Mom's birthday. She died in 2002 aged 76 but she is always in my mind. Yesterday I was working on my embroidery and went on a trip down memory lane of my mother teaching me stitches. I wish I'd paid more attention as my work would be much neater but unfortunately as a child / teenager you always have lots of other activities that seem more important. Enough reminiscing, time to make some plans for April. 

The Chookshed challenge number drawn for April was 4. My number 4 is the Japanese panel.

I want to split this panel and use sashiko to join it together as a quilt. If possible I want to include this piece of Sashiko that I completed when trying out this style of embroidery.

I took a lot of measurements of the different parts of the panel so I could make some decisions about how to lay out the various parts. This is still a work in progress but hopefully decisions will be made soon.

I'd really like to make a start on the quilting of the dinosaur quilt but unfortunately this is a very large heavy quilt and at the moment I don't think I have the stamina to work on it. That may change going through the month. I do have a smaller quilt I'd already started quilting and this seems the obvious project to work on. As I use my machine on the dining table I need someone to lift it for me as I have strict instructions not to lift anything heavy for the next few weeks. That won't be a problem and so I will try and complete the quilting on the churn dash quilt.

Later today I'm going to look in my sewing cupboard for projects I've started and not finished or worked on for a while. Things get lost to the back of the cupboard and over the last two months the ploy has meant I have sewn blocks together to complete quilt tops. I know there are still some orphan blocks in there.

I will still be continuing my embroidered tablecloth as this is so relaxing in an evening and at the same time I need to get on with my knitting. I also have another frog block to start work on. This is the one I pulled out to start stitching this month. It's slightly bigger than the previous blocks but it shouldn't take long.

My remaining item I want to sew is a blouse. This has been cut out for some time and it would be good to get it made. I don't have a photo of the pattern or the fabric so that will follow soon.

For now I need to get started on some sewing. I'll let you know how I get on in my next post.

Take care

Lyndsey

 

Rewind to 14th March.

I'm sorry not to have posted before but the surgery on the 18th March has left me feeling like I'd been run over by several very heavy vehicles, all at once.  On the other hand it wasn't too bad. I'll tell you a little more about the experience but before that John and I went away for his birthday weekend. On Thursday evening I  completed the flowers to the right of the yellow flowers. I'm really enjoying stitching this tablecloth but since my surgery I haven't yet done any work on it.

The weekend was warm and sunny  and we had great sunsets on the Friday and Saturday.

We went bird watching on Saturday. We had two very restful days and the weather was perfect, warm and sunny. On the Sunday I visited my favourite quilt shop, Midsomer Quilting. The shop has just been voted the UK's Favourite Quilting Shop. They have a fabulous range of fabrics, and they are such a friendly and helpful crew. They always have some quilts on display. The first on was made by De Pickford, the owner. I couldn't fit the whole quilt into the photo

A few years ago the shop moved from a previous located that always had cows in the surrounding field. The staff decided to make a cow quilt with each of them completing a block. There is still some quilting to be done on the quilt but the binding has been added so it could be displayed. I love these quirky cows and they all have slightly different expressions.

On Monday 17th March I went into work to finish up some bits and so I could visit older daughter and grandson for dinner. 

On Tuesday 18th March Lucy accompanied me to the surgical lounge at 7 am and then it seemed a rush to get all the pre op bits done, but in reality no one rushed me and everything was explained in amazing detail. The team answered all my, and my daughter's questions. Once one of the surgeons realised she is training to be a nurse they were even more willing to explain everything to her. Within half an hour my abdomen was covered in black marker pen having been measured in all directions. I signed my consent, which took some time as they went through all the procedure and all the possible problems and how they would deal with them. The duty of candour legislation that came into effect a while ago now, is excellent. My daughter accompanied me to the door of the anaesthetic room, which helped both of us stay calm. The anaesthetist made sure the warming blanket was delivering air at a lovely warm temperature before he made a start on the anaesthetic drugs. The last thing I remember was him telling me he was about to start injecting the medication. The most difficult part of the day was taking deep breaths of oxygen before falling asleep.

I was physically in theatre for 11 and half hours but the operation was shorter. I am amazed at the surgeon's stitching. Oh if only I could get my hand stitching that neat and all the stitches were the same size! I stayed in the post anaesthetic care unit until late evening of the following day and then moved to a general ward. All has gone well and I came home late on Friday evening. My family have been amazing and everything is progressing well. I have an appointment with the plastic team next Monday.

As anyone who has had surgery knows your brain becomes unable to concentrate for any length of time and lengthy naps are an important requirement. I took my knitting with me and also some embroidery. The embroidered table cloth stayed in my bag but I did a little work on the fish block for the frog quilt.

I also started the left front of my knitting. Several people have said it looks too small but it is knitting up exactly as it should. It doesn't fasten but has a large fold back collar that goes from the edge of the ribbing on the left to the edge of the ribbing on the right side. When I was knitting both the blue cardigan and the green jumper I worried they would be too small but they both fit perfectly.

Last evening I got out the Japanese panel and measured each of the  individual designs. I want to enlarge this quilt and split up the areas using sashiko. I will be playing with layout later but it may just stay in the current placement with the sashiko inserted.

Post op brain is a real problem. It took me about 3 hours to measure all the parts and check I'd measured them right. On the up side it made me sleep extremely well. Unfortunately doing anything is very tiring but it is a little better each day. Today I plan on going out for a very short walk. I've stayed indoors for days now and I really need to feel the sun and the breeze on my face. I won't be quilting in the near future as both quilts that need doing are heavy but I will look on my March planner and see what I can do sitting down and that won't be too tiring. 

I need to get on with the embroidered tablecloth. This is nice an lightweight so I'll spend some time today working on it. That's all for now as I need a nap before I can get on with some embroidery. I also need to catch up reading the blogs I follow.

Take care 

Lyndsey

The joy of embroidery

The weather here in London has been beautiful for the last week. There is real warmth in the sun and there has been no rain. That doesn't mean it hasn't been cold but in the mornings I did have to defrost the car before I could drive to work. I guess the answer to that is not to leave so early, as once the sun is up, the car would quickly defrost on its own. It's also great that the sunrise is so much earlier and sunset later. This last week it was quite light as I left for work For this coming week sunrise is around 6:30, the time we leave if I'm dropping younger daughter at work and sunset is 17:55. That still means it will be dark by the time I get home.

This week I have been having fun working on the embroidered tablecloth. This is my Chookshed challenge for March. At the beginning of the month this is how far I had got with the stitching.

Over the week I have been stitching in the evening. By evening my eyes are a little tired and so I can't do a lot of stitching but some is better than none. Some of the flowers and leaves are stitched using satin stitch. I've done this before but I'm not great at it. I'm enjoying improving my skills. I wish I'd paid more attention when my mom was teaching me to embroider.

I'd like to finish two sides of the cloth this month but I've realised I'm a very slow stitcher and I won't get that far. I'm planning on finishing the equivalent of one side. If I manage more then I'll be very happy.

Last week I showed you some blocks that I'd found in my sewing cupboard. These were my starting point for my Saturday sewathon.

The muddled of pieces to be sewn together made another 5 blocks.

I had some bright yellow fabric and decided to use this for the sashing. I also decided to use it for the borders so I had to buy some more. This is such a sunny, happy quilt top

I have to finish quilting the Churn dash quilt and then the dinosaur quilt before I can complete this one. It exciting finding unfinished projects from years ago and I know there are more to find in my sewing cupboard.

Tomorrow I will cast on the left front of my pink cardigan. I've had a week off knitting as it can make my right arm quite numb (which is good) or very painful (which is very bad). 

On Friday I had my pre surgery assessment which found I am fit and healthy. I wasn't happy to be told I was 5 foot 4 inches tall. I've always been 5 feet 6. I know everyone shrinks as they get older  but no. I'm not playing. No wonder I find it a stretch to reach things on the top shelves of cupboards.

Tomorrow is a work day so I need to go and get some sleep. 

Take care

Lyndsey

March, lamb or lion?

This year, March here in London UK, has started like a lamb. The weather is warm and sunny, with real heat in the sun. The spring bulbs are up and starting to flower. Soon the trees will have their new leaves. Birds are making their nests in preparation for their brood and singing their little hearts out. What could go wrong? Have you heard the other half of the saying? If March comes in like a lamb, it leaves like a lion. As with any saying, it isn't rocket science and certainly isn't always right but be aware of potential high winds later in the month. Meanwhile I'm enjoying the sun and making the most of these tranquil early spring days.

March 1st marks the start of a new challenge. This month the number picked was 2. My project number 2 is the embroidered table cloth. This was a Christmas present in 2023 and I would like to get it finished this year. I have almost reached the half way mark on the bottom of the cloth (marked by tall flower and butterfly. I am currently working on the area in the hoop. The half way mark here is the fold. So in over a year i haven't even completed the equivalent of one side. 

My aim for the month is to complete both of these sides which would mean it is half complete. I should be able to achieve this in March , maybe, possibly.

In February I continued my search for forgotten projects. I found the Churn dash blocks and sewed them into a quilt top. I'm still working on the quilting but this should be finished this month. Yesterday, I once again pulled out the bags with forgotten projects in them. This time I found these blocks.

I have a feeling that I once started these as part of the Rainbow scrap challenge, but I may be wrong. I have 25 blocks sewn together and the little pile below will probably be the makings of 2 or 3 more blocks.

I need to press these blocks, make up the last few and see what I want to do with them. With 25 blocks I could make a large quilt but I think it would be better to make two smaller quilts as donation quilts. Of course there is the decision about whether to put sashing between the blocks and will they need a border. Basically as always with the quilting process there is lots to think about. If I make two smaller quilts I'm not sure I can do both over the month but I like a challenge. Another foray into my yardage stash will be needed for sashing, borders and backing. Since I'm trying to use what I have rather than buy more fabric I will need to think carefully as I have some new projects planned for this year.

This afternoon I'm going to do some cutting up of old T shirts as I need more strips for my rag rug. It has grown a little since I last took a photo but not much. I'm taking a few days off knitting before I start the first side of the cardigan and at some point this month I must start the quilting on the dinosaur quilt.

The weather is so good that John and I are going to head out for a walk in a little while. It will be lovely to have a walk without any rain!

Take care

Lyndsey

February Progress

Hooray, just Friday until a sewing day.  Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I carry on working because I want to but I also love my time away from work. It gives me the opportunity to spend more time with my family (including our dogs), the opportunity to work on my various projects and time for visits and expeditions. This week I'm working on Friday so there are just two days to fit everything in. Tomorrow, (Friday) evening we are out at a concert, which means I only have this evening to finish knitting the back of my cardigan. Not that I set out to finish it. In fact my plan was to knit the back to the half way point but I've totally smashed that. Just finished the back.

I made the quilt sandwich for the Churn dash quilt and I started the quilting. I decided to outline the block design and this creates a cute second pattern with squares. I've finished 15 of the 35 blocks so just 20 to go. I also need to look for a suitable binding fabric.

I started the fish block for the Frog quilt. I was hoping to have this finished before the end of the month but life, amongst other things got in the way.

I've managed to do a little work on the Star Trek cross stitch, a little on the table cloth and some on the Red Manor House quilt top. I'm not posting any photos here as progress on these projects has been very slow.

On a totally different topic, I got a phone call from the hospital giving me a date for my reconstruction surgery. For those of you who don't know, I was treated for breast cancer in 2017. I had chemotherapy, surgery (full mastectomy) and radiotherapy. I had always said I wanted a reconstruction and last year I finally got onto the waiting list. The phone call came out of the blue as last time I saw my plastic surgeon back in June last year he said it would be about 18 months time. My surgery date is 18th March but If he has emergencies to deal with it may get pushed back a little, but that would not be a problem. Last night I sent a text to my brother to suggest we visited him on his birthday which is 21st March. If everything runs on time that will be delayed.

I'm happy to have finished the back of my cardigan and also to have got so far with the Churn Dash quilt.  WI need to decide what to work on during March.

Take care

Lyndsey 

A trip to Brighton.

Last week I took my none working day on Wednesday. Our plan was to visit Brighton, visit the Royal Pavilion,  eat a fish and chip supper on the beach and hopefully see the murmuration.  Not a major timetable for the day. We left early and headed out to the M23 where things went slightly haywire. There had been a 15 car pile up on the motorway with 4 hospitalised and quite a few minor injuries. We ground to a halt and sat in a queue for some time. The queue eventually started moving but we had to leave the motorway at the next junction We used google maps to find an alternative route but it kept trying to take us back onto the M23, so we headed in the general direction of the south coast and eventually google caught up with us and took us to our destination, the park and ride just outside Brighton. The bus took us on a very circuitous route and stopped so many time but eventually we got into the city centre. I was very pleased we had decided to use the park and ride as the traffic in the centre was awful. I drive most days in London but this was a totally different situation. So much more traffic on narrow roads and with road works everywhere! Our first port of call was the Royal Pavilion.

The history of Brighton Pavilion is very interesting and if you want to know more you can find lots of information Here .  Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became the Prince Regent in 1811, and King George IV  in 1820.

As we entered the first room we saw this huge chandelier.  Unfortunately the picture doesn't show it at its best but it was huge and very beautiful

George IV was very taken with all thing oriental so there were many examples of Chinese art

Also a lot of very large chandeliers in different rooms. As the lights were on it was difficult to get good pictures but this gives you an idea of size.

Up at the top of the high ceiling we could see these windows on each of the 4 sides. The guide in the room told us that a member of staff would go up to the roof and light candles outside the windows when there were guests for dinner. Sounds dangerous on several levels!

Below is a view of the dinning room with the table laid for dessert. You can see the lights better in this picture.

Below is the attachment for one of the smaller lights.

This was the design above the main ceiling light.

We visited the kitchens which must have been very loud and busy when there were guests. It was a large room with separate preparation areas for meat, fish, vegetables and desserts.

  

The fireplace was decorative with this bird or pterodactyl.                                                                                                                                                                         

The wallpaper in this room was very decorative.

This bedroom was very bright

and here is a close up of the wallpaper.

We really enjoyed our visit to the pavilion. I did take a lot more photos but many of them are quite dark due to the lighting. By now we were hungry and so stopped for lunch. It was nice to sit down for a while. OK so we had been sat down for quite a while in the car due to the crash but walking slowly, looking at things makes your legs feel tired so it really was good to sit and eat lunch.

Next we wanted to walk down to the marina. Information that John had read told him he might see a purple sandpiper in that area. This would be a completely new bird spot .  We walked past the pier.  Brighton beach is pebbles and so we kept off the beach at this point. As we walked we were aware of the different birds around but also the restoration work going on along the sea front and the families enjoying a holiday or day out at the seaside, since it was half term.

At the marina we started to look out for the sandpipers and eventually we saw two through the binoculars. They were too far away for me to get a good picture as I hadn't taken the long lens. 

Purple sandpiper stock photo Royalty and copyright free Google.

By now the time was moving towards sunset and so we walked back to the pier. We bought coffee and fish and chips and found a comfortable spot to sit and wait . Our plan was to see the starling murmuration. We had skeins of brent geese fly over us and lots of gulls ,when eventually the starlings started to gather. They fly as a group and there is a lot of swirling, and flying around. The numbers increased as more starling join the groups and slowly the groups came together as one. They flew quite low along, under and over the pier. It was fabulous to watch. Finally the starlings settled to roost. By now the temperature was dropping and we needed to get a bus back to our car. We were tired from our day but fortunately the journey home went without any incidents.

We had a great time on our day out. We have more planned over the year. Now I need to try and finish the back of my cardigan as this was my challenge for this month.

Take care

Lyndsey