Slowly stitching.

During my holiday, which already feels as if it was months ago, I worked on my hand stitching. I had considered taking my machine with me but I'm pleased I didn't. Instead I took my christmas tree cross stitch and my millennium sampler. I managed to do some work on both and I also bought some wool to knit a baby blanket. I haven't seen my christmas tree cross stitch since I got home so this weekend I must track it down.The bag where I'd put it was unpacked for me and it was put away but not where I keep my stitching!  So I can't show my stitching on that piece but I also worked on the millennium sampler and that I unpacked myself. I have 4 squares to complete and I made a start on the spitfire. It doesn't look as if I did very much but there are a lot of stitches in the square even though it isn't complete. In addition I did some back stitching on other areas of the piece.

I was only able to stitch during the day as the lighting was very poor in the evening. Normally I like to sit and stitch whilst watching TV

Since getting home I haven't touched the work as I've been knitting. I bought this pattern and yarn whilst on holiday. 

I didn't start knitting until we got home as I hadn't taken any needles with me but since then I've done some knitting every day. This weekend we went to Suffolk to visit John's father. He's 91 years old and has developed a few health problems.

I took my knitting with me as it's easy to do whilst chatting.The pattern is quite straightforward once you've got it set and I'm pleased with how this is knitting up. So the whole weekend was spent slow stitching . As I haven't done any knitting for a while I'm really enjoying the activity.

Yesterday when we got back from Suffolk we took Scamp for a walk and the sight of the bluebells starting to open made me so happy.

There were only a few in flower at the moment but in the near future they will form a beautiful blue carpet.

I'm linking this post with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. I'll be back tomorrow as I try and catch up with my machine stitching.

Lyndsey

Slow Sunday

Yesterday we travelled to Derbyshire for a weeks holiday. Travelling was awful as it rained heavily all the way. By the time we got to our cottage I was exhausted having driven all the way. Scamp whimpered most of the way because of the noise of the rain beating on the car.

Talking of Scamp, he is looking adorable having been clipped ready for the warmer weather. He seems so much smaller when his fur has been clipped.

Today we are having a slow day.We walked into Buxton and got caught in a hailstorm. The up side is that I am spebding tome stitching. I finished the 1066 block of the millennium sampler and have moved on to the spitfire.

I have no internet acess so I'm writing this on my phone. I'll see if I can sort something out to do a post tomorrow.

Lyndsey

A cold walk and slow stitching

Yesterday we had planned a walk, so after running some vital errands (more dog and cat food and collecting a parcel) John, Scamp and I collected our friend Tony and we drove to The Devil's Punchbowl. The Devil's Punchbowl is a large hollow of dry sandy heath to the west of Hindhead in Surrey, England. The main A3 from London to Portsmouth used to run around the Punchbowl but in 2011 the Hindhead tunnel was opened. We hadn't travel this route since the tunnel opened so we were keen to see how it looked.As I was driving I couldn't take a photo but we were fascinated by the lights as we went through the tunnel, it was very colourful with green arrows and purple lights along the side.

Unfortunately the day wasn't the best for taking photos as at times it was a bit misty. The view across Surrey was good.

Looking down into the punchbowl. There is even more of the hollow out of shot to the left.

The gorse was very pretty.

The area is National Trust property and there was a cafe at the car park so we started our walk with a mug of hot chocolate and when we had finished we enjoyed mushroom soup with homemade bread for lunch. Walking around the top of the punchbowl was very windy and I was grateful when we descended to the bottom. We took the wrong route at the bottom and this made the ascent much steeper than we had planned. The walk wasn't that long as we haven't done any serious walks over the winter. The ascent confirmed that I am not as fit as I was last autumn. 

I underestimated the temperature difference between London and at the top of a hill out in Surrey. I needed to have added another jumper to what I was wearing and as a result I got very chilled. We had the heat on in the car but John, Tony and Scamp were very warm after the walk so I couldn't put it on full which meant when I got home it took a while to warm up and left me feeling slightly unwell. Never mind this morning I'm feeling better and ready to do some sewing later. First I had some laundry to do and the inevitable marking.

So this evening I did a little more work on the millennium sampler. I had hoped to complete the 1066 block but I still have the horseman's feet and spear to do. Hopefully there will be time tomorrow. Here is how it looks. In order to make the chain mail you had to backstitch around every stitch and it took me longer than I'd anticipated.t

I'm creating a shadow as I'm taking the photo but I couldn't find a place to take it that avoided shadows. Never mind I tells you how far I've got.

I'm linking this post with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching  I was also working on this embroidery as my Let's book it project run by Sharon. I may switch to a different embroidery for the next month as there are a lot of fractional stitches and it makes my eyes sore after a while. I'll make my mind up in the next day or two. 

I hope you've had a good February and completed some of your goals and projects. I'm hoping for a warmer March.

Lyndsey

A chilly weekend

Last weekend Lucy and I took 17 of our guides to Freezer Camp. If you want to see what it was all about Click here to visit the facebook page and play the video. It was cold with the temperatures sitting around -1 to +1 degree C and we slept in tents! We all survived the weekend but I ended up with a rerun of my cold and cough so although I've been to work this week I haven't felt like doing much when I get home, not even my stitching. I must finish sewing that badge onto the unit camp blanket. One of the guides started the job but having taken the photo I can see it's not fully stitched on.

Having said I didn't do much I have done a little as well as keeping up with the blogs I follow. First I made some more of the little nine patch for the baby quilt I'm making. It's a good job the baby isn't due for a while!

I have a lot of the nine patches made waiting for the setting triangles to be added. I just need to cut some more white and these blocks all need trimming. Here's what I've already put together in case you missed it. There are still more blocks ready to be stitched together.

Having sorted those blocks I decided I need to get the rainbow scrap challenge blocks made. The colour this month was brown (with a hint of pink) Well brown isn't a colour I have a lot of scraps pieces and all of the fabric I have is quite bright and patterned. 

When I pulled my brown scraps I was a little worried whether the blocks would look OK once made. I thought about buying a fat quarter but I'm trying not to buy fabric at the moment as I have a storage space shortage. Also it is a challenge to make good looking blocks out of scraps and I love a challenge. The orange leaf fabric is much browner in person. If you remember I'm making five granny squares from each months colour. Here's what I made.

First two the same. I used the outer fabric to make the hedgehogs on a mug rug.  I love the way they look. I have this mug rug on my desk at work.

I'm not completely sure about the  block on the left but it works well enough when viewed in person.

Earlier last week a package arrived from the US. I had won the draw that Sharon runs each month on her blog for her Let's book it challenge. Sharon's challenge is to make something from those books and patterns we have stashed away but forget to use. I won the January 2016 draw and my prize was this lovely charm pin and the 2016 quilt charm.

I just love the cute little charm pin. I was sent the other charm ages ago when I took part in a mini quilt swap. It's been attached to my embroider scissors but looks much better on the charm pin I'm sure the charms must be available in the UK but I've never come across them.

Finally I've been doing a little slow stitching. Some of it has been running repairs, sewing on buttons and catching down a hem that had been caught but I've also finished the second side of the outer border of my millennium sampler. I've also added some single stitches in across the quilt. I need to finish the 1066 block but the helmet is made of fractional stitches and my cold made my eyes rather blurry. Here's how I left it last week.

and here's where I am now. I going to carry on with the border and finish off the 1066 block this week.

I'm linking this post with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching. Now I'm off to cook dinner so I can enjoy some slow stitching whilst watching Vera this evening. The scenery in the series is fabulous.

Lyndsey

Slow Sunday stitching already?

The weeks seem to zoom past and I sometimes find myself wondering what I did with the time. I'm not very good at keeping my diary up to date so this blog helps as I post about visits and some of the events we attend. I also keep a scrapbook of tickets and programmes from concerts, plays or exhibitions. Generally when I'm hand stitching I will be watching television or chatting to the family but when I'm alone I find myself using the time to look back over the week and reflecting on what I've done. It helps set the memory and gives me time to put things that have happened in perspective, whether good or not so good.

This week has been good as I finished reading one book and read another from cover to cover. The first was Dust by Patricia Cornwell. I like murder mystery books and try to work out what happened before the author tells you. This one was easy to second guess and isn't one of my favourites of the series. The second book was Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson.  This is a coming of age story about a lesbian girl who grows up in an English Pentecostal community. I enjoyed reading this book 

I've also managed some sewing. I've been getting on with the quilting on the 9 patch quilt. This is being done on the machine. I'm not posting a picture as I've already shown how this is being quilted.  I'm also working on a piece for the 'Nuts about' blog hop. My day is the 10th February. Sorry no peeping until then

I sorted my fabric for this months colour on the rainbow scrap challenge. Brown with a hint of pink. 

I'm sure I've got a couple of other brown fabrics somewhere but I just can't find them right now. That leaf one looks really orange here but is quite brown in real life.

Finally I've been working on the millennium sampler and I will be working on this tonight whilst I watch Vera. Unfortunately I won't get as much done this evening as I should as you have to watch Vera not just listen.

Here's a close up of the border I've been working on.

I'm linking up with Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday I hope you've enjoyed some stitching time this weekend.

Lyndsey

End of January catch up

Over the week I 've been trying to catch up with work, whilst still feeling a bit below par which meant I needed extra naps and got less stitching done. Having said that I did finish my baby quilt and enjoyed slow Sunday hand stitching.

The baby quilt was my January 'Let's book it' project. I haven't had the pattern lying around for ages, in fact I bought the magazine in November 2015 and fell in love with the pattern.I needed to make a baby quilt and the pattern was perfect and would help use up some of my scraps.

I still have to pop the quilt in the washing machine to get rid of my quilting marks. Most of the marks just disappeared in the air but some just won't go but they will wash out.

The piece of grey on the bottom edge isn't anything to do with the quilt. As I was taking the picture I knocked my cross stitch pattern onto the floor. I'm pleased with this quilt as I've tried two new techniques. The first was using monofilament and the second was the quilting pattern. I love the way the waves look. I'm going to take some photos outside as I can't get a good picture indoors.

My slow stitching this weekend was working on the millennium sampler. I have the helmet and the riders legs to finish for the 1066 square. I've also done more of the border. This project has taken so long to finish that the fabric is really grubby. Once I've finished it I will give it a wash before it is framed.

I also finished stitching the binding on the baby quilt over the weekend. I enjoyed stitching the binding as you can snuggle under the quilt whilst you stitch.

My January goal was to finish the quilting on the 9 patch quilt but this is still waiting to be done. I have now set this as my February goal.  For the 'Let's book it' project I'm going to see how far I can get with the millennium sampler. This is certainly a pattern I've had for a long time. Sharon says you can work on a long term project so long as you make progress. That then gives me time to sort out the patterns I've got so I can decide what I want to keep and make at some point, and which to pass on to someone else.

I'm linking this post with Sharon for January's Let's book it and with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching

I hope you've had time for some stitching over the weekend.

Lyndsey

Just hand stitching left

This morning was very cold and there was still some snow on the cars. I'm reliably informed it started snowing at about 1.30 this morning and at times was fairly heavy but by this morning it had all but gone. That's generally the story of snow here in London. Anyway I had a plan to finish the quilting on the baby quilt and snow and cold wasn't going to stop me. I settled at my machine and kept on going until the last of the quilting was finished then I added the binding. I still have ends to sew in as well as stitching the binding but that is all handwork so I can make myself comfortable with a good movie on the TV and just stitch away.

This was a great pattern for using up a load of scraps plus you can just about see the wave pattern quilting which I did for the first time. The quilt will go in the wash once I've finished the hand stitching as the air erasable pen I used to mark the quilting lines hasn't fully erased. Picasso also came running in from outside earlier and left muddy paw prints on it. I was in a rush to take this photo as Picasso has been trying to bite the binding clips, so I apologise for the angle.

I was really pleased to receive these clips from Richard this Christmas. They are making stitching the binding much easier and I'm enjoying not stabbing myself with pins.

Having trimmed the quilt this morning I left it neatly folded on a chair whilst I went and prepared my binding. When I finished that and was ready to attach the binding I found that Scamp had taken over the quilt and made himself comfortable including hiding his rawhide bone under it.

Scamp wasn't pleased when he got told to move. Both Scamp and Picasso seemed annoyed that I was sewing and Picasso decided to keep a very close eye on the goings on at the sewing machine.

Picasso can be very helpful and had just picked the bit of fluff you can see from the needle. 'Humph you're purrfectly hopeless at keeping this machine neat and tidy. I don't know how you'd cope without me..ow. Remember I'm watching you'

So lots of hand stitching this evening. I've been working on the christmas tree cross stitch. I decided to continue working on the sky so that the stitching I'd completed was worked down from the top. I do have to admit I'm bored of stitching in blue.

I'm really pleased with the progress of this piece but I must put some work into the millennium sampler as this is one of my goals for the year and preferably the first quarter of the year.

This week I'm only in work for three days so I'm hoping to get some of the quilting done on the nine patch quilt. So far January is looking good. I should have a finish by the end of the week and if I'm really lucky I should be able to finish the 9 patch.

I'm linking this post with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching Why not visit and see what everyone is doing.

Lyndsey

Half done

How's that title for putting a positive view on achievements? I'm halfway through the quilting on the baby quilt and it's looking really good but the pen marks are very slow to disappear. I could always be miserable and tell you I'm only halfway through but I'm so happy because it's going well and much more quickly than I anticipated. Although I've started the quilting on the nine patch quilt as well I've been concentrating on the baby quilt as I'd really like to gift it next week. Hopefully both quilts will be completed by the end of January.

In between sorting and quilting I found time to do some hand stitching. I find it very relaxing whilst watching TV in the evening. I've been working on the sky on the christmas tree cross stitch.

I've done a little more work on the tree and I also stitched the star so I can now just work the sky down that side. The side of the tree down to the level of the base of the star is complete and I'm trying to finish the sky down to this level by the end of the week.

I took time out from the cross stitch to make some hexagons for the Grandmothers garden quilt. Usually I stitch a few of these on train journeys but because of Christmas I haven't had to travel for work. Tomorrow I'm travelling to Reading so lots of stitching time because I catch the stopping train.

I'm linking this post with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts Why not visit and see what everyones been stitching this week.

Lyndsey

Back to work.

Monday was my first day at work for 2016. It was a real bind getting up and leaving home whilst it was still dark and also driving home in the dark in the evening but apart from that it was an OK day. Monday evening I sat and did some hand stitching as I wanted to relax by watching TV. Yesterday I planned to start the quilting on the baby quilt but I had some jobs to do and once I'd finished those Kathryn came over to visit and wanted to go shopping. I bought myself a couple of jumpers for work but didn't see anything else that I needed or wanted. I have to admit I'm not a great shopper unless I have something specific that I need. Very little stitching got done on Tuesday evening as Kathryn and Olly stayed to dinner and we sat chatting until late.

That brings us to today. This morning I sat down with a cup of tea to catch up with my blog reading and in doing so found a link to OMG - one monthly goal. Sadly 'a lovely year of finishes' has come to an end but Heidi at Red Letter Quilts is running a monthly link up called 'One Monthly Goal'. You set yourself just one goal for the month and link that up at the beginning of the month. At the end of the month you link up again to share how you got on. The button is on my sidebar.

I have 2 goals for the month but the one I'm picking for this challenge is my nine patch quilt.

My goal is to quilt and bind this quilt by the end of this month. 

This morning I set up my machine ready for free motion quilting. It took a little while to get the tension right and decide on the thread I was going to use but I finally got myself sorted.  I quilted three blocks but wasn't sure about the thread so I went back to my quilting threads. That was when I saw the monofilament. I bought this early last year but hadn't tried using it yet. This seemed like a good time to give it a whirl. I was pleased with the outcome and decided to unpick the blocks I'd already finished and re quilt them. I'm just doing simple straight line quilting. Well simple isn't really a good word for it because I find quilting in a straight line quite taxing.

I do love the science theme fabric in that block. There are cute robots on it as well.

Jen at Quilter in the closet has set herself a 100 day challenge to complete three quilty or craft goals. In reading her post I realised this would help me to complete some of my goals as they will take more than a month and I don't do well with open ended goals. So my three goals I want to complete by April 15th (the end of the challenge) are.

1. Complete my millennium cross stitch sampler. This is one of my goals for 2016 as it has been hanging around since Christmas 1999.

2. To complete the arcs for my double wedding ring quilt. I can't remember off the top of my head but I think I need to make 98 in total. I'm not sure how many I've made but I guess it is about 10. I'd like to move this quilt on although I don't expect to finish the top this year as it is my long term project. 

3. I want to blog more. I let work get in the way and as a result I post for a few days and then get bogged down with work so don't do a lot of sewing and don't post. I don't want to set a number of posts I'll do in a month because you can't be that specific but it would be good to do a post alternate days if possible.

This evening I've been doing a little more work on the christmas tree cross stitch. I was going to switch to a different piece of stitching but I'll carry on till the end of the month before I switch on the millennium sampler. Shortly I must go to bed as I have work again tomorrow but I'm looking forward to doing some more quilting tomorrow evening.

The first slow Sunday of 2016

This morning I set to and finished the baby quilt top. Having got that far I went on to make the quilt sandwich and I didn't stop there. I'd already pieced the back for the 9 patch quilt and so I prepped that for quilting as well. I will start the quilting on Tuesday as I'm working tomorrow. I was going to make the quilt sandwich for the 'It's a dog's life' quilt but Kathryn and Olly arrived at that point so that will have to wait for another day.

As the weather is wet again we decided that staying in, watching TV and eating Christmas cake would make a fun afternoon. If I'm watching TV I do like to get on with some stitching so I made myself comfy and got on with the Christmas tree cross stitch. This is how it looks now. (I've finished more of the sky and the tree since I took the photo.) This will be the last week I'm working on this project until the Christmas season comes round again.

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning as I haven't been rushing to get up in the mornings during the holiday. 6am even sounds too early plus it's still dark. I'm teaching all day so the time will pass quickly and then I'm off for Tuesday and Wednesday. I must admit I had work I should have done in the last two weeks but I didn't so I'm going to need to spend some time on Tuesday and Wednesday catching up.

I am starting sorting out my scraps and I'm trying to work out the best way to store them. The dog blocks on the baby quilt were made using 2 and half inch squares and as I'd already cut these from some scraps it was lovely to just pick out the squares I needed and get on with the sewing. I'm leaning towards cutting my scraps into squares of various sizes and also strips. I'm also thinking about making some of the fabric boxes to keep my scraps in. I need to find the pattern.

I hope you've enjoyed some slow stitching this Sunday. I linking this post with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching

Lyndsey

Loving the rain!

Today John and I should have been walking with our friend Tony but unfortunately it has rained all day. Such a shame, oh what should I do? Don't get me wrong I love walking but a wet day gave me the opportunity to get on with the baby quilt I'm making. When I last worked on it I had made one of the dog blocks. My plan was to complete the remaining three blocks today.  As soon as I sat down at the machine I started thinking about my ironing mountain. The good housekeeper part of me felt I should go and do the ironing but the quilter in me wanted to carry on sewing.  My decision was to get on with my sewing but whenever I needed to press a seam, I would iron 1 item. Several small seams equated to one larger item such as one of John's shirts. Outcome - a neat pile of ironing and the three blocks completed This is how far I got before I called it a day.

So three borders to add when I take time out for stitching tomorrow.

Sharon over at Vroomans Quilts run her 'Let's book it' linky party last year and she's running it again this year so I thought I would try and join in each month. This is an opportunity to make something from all those books or patterns that we have but haven't yet used. All you have to do is use one of the patterns and make the item in the month or over several months if it's a large pattern.  Although I made the first dog block last month I was going to be cheeky and use it for this month. At the same time I'm also going to work on 'Brutus at Christmas'. 

Meet Brutus. He is from a free pattern from Red Brolly. I saw this back at the start of last year and downloaded the patterns. Did I mention there is a whole bunch of them?  I set the pattern up before Christmas but only started it yesterday. This is going to be my portable hand stitching for this month as I have several train journeys in my diary for work. This helps make good use of the time I spend on the train. I use fabri solvy to transfer the pattern so I can stitch as I don't have a light box and find using the window rather tiring on my wrists. The paw prints are Picasso's and because the fabri solvy is water soluble I can't clean them off. At least they're not on the fabric

The rest of the day was family orientated but I will return to stitching last thing when I'll have a quiet time before bed.

I hope you've had some time for stitching today

Lyndsey

New year and time to get organised

A very happy new year to you and all your family and friends. I hope it brings you good health, happiness and prosperity. Did you stay up and let the new year in? John and I had a quiet evening but stayed up. We were going to watch the fireworks from London but as soon as they started on the TV a spectacular display started at a pub near us so we stood outside and watched. The colours were fabulous although the bangs were extremely loud.

Today I decided to start the re-organisation of my stitching and sewing projects. I made a start last year as I kept forgetting all the projects I had on the go. I set up a quick check system using index cards rather than the computer. The cards won as I don't need to start the system up- just open the box where they are kept. It's been in use for 3 months and I am still adding to it as I find projects I've started but put to one side for some reason or other.

Stage 2 is to sort out my storage problems. I don't have a sewing room and currently use the dining table for cutting out, setting up the quilt sandwich for small to medium projects and also for machine work. If I have a big project that needs to be prepped for quilting I take it into work and use the very large table in the big meeting room. No crawling around the floor! I have a chest where I store fabric and WIPs and there is a small cupboard in my bedroom where I store dress fabric. The whole system needs sorting out and making more user friendly. I know there is some fabric that I will never use because I just don't love it so that will also be moved along to the charity shop.

I decided to start with my embroidery projects.I have 9 projects that I have started but several others are waiting to be started. I started my sorting by adding a new acquisition to my index. This lovely bookmark appeared in my christmas stocking and I can't wait to make it...but I'm going to wait until I complete a project first.

It will be very useful if I succeed with one of my 2016 goals and get back into reading. I sorted all the 'in progress' projects into zip bags and made sure all the threads were untangled. I also checked through my thread boxes and made a list of the threads I need to buy for current projects. I have stored my threads on the plastic or paper bobbins for a long time now and although there are many different systems of storage on the market this method suits me fine. I had several skeins of thread needing to be wound onto the bobbins so I took time out to rectify this.

I have three of these plastic boxes for thread. This one has cheap and cheerful thread or short leftover lengths that we use for craft at Brownies and Guides. The other two hold DMC or Anchor thread. This little bobbin winder makes the process really quick. All three boxes are now sorted and the new bobbins have been slotted into the right box.

I'm going to continue working on the christmas tree cross stitch until 12th night and then I'll switch to the millennium sampler for the rest of the month. This is where I left the christmas tree when I last worked on it. 

I'm looking forward to some hand stitching this evening. I'm hoping to get the next garland of gold and red finished on the tree and I really must finish the little donkey.

I've had enough of sorting and tidying for today. Tomorrow I need to start sorting my scraps! There is a part of me that is hoping for visitors tomorrow so I can put the job off but no it needs to be done as I want a neat and tidy home this year without fabric trying to escape from its hiding place.

I hope your year is starting well.

Lyndsey