Have you ever......

Sewed onto your trousers?? (This is the 2011 Young Quilters Christmas project)

Reflections

Sorry no stitching today BUT DH and I had a very rare chance to spend an hour together without the boys. We walked down by Surfleet reservoir which is a kind of small inlet for boats. The weather was so hot and the water so still. I loved all the reflections and took lots of photos for possible design ideas.

I'm the shadow on the right taking the photo.

Not all the boats looked beautiful but there was so much texture that I photographed.

I'm planning a little change to this blog so come back soon and see the new look.

Harvest Time

DH and I share a love of harvest but we agree to differ. He thinks about produce from the veggie plot, courgettes, sweetcorn, potatoes, onions, beans, pumpkins you get the picture? Me, well I dream in colour and harvest things that I can use to dye naturally through the Winter months. Today I have been processing elderberries which give me a lilac colour.

I freeze these in plastic cups. Each cup has about 85g-100g of elderberries. I am lucky enough to have a freezer for my non food stuff but if you don't have this just make sure that any berries are clearly labelled and well wrapped to prevent any contamination.

I don't freeze everything I collect. These rosehips have been dried in the oven. When I do collect berries I make sure that I only take about half from the tree or bush so as to leave enough for the birds.

I use fir cones as well but these stay in a dry box in the garage.

I am being very disciplined at the moment and resisting the urge to dye up some fibres. I really need to finally complete my C&G diploma and have made huge progress since FoQ as I am now over 50% finished. Trouble is life is starting to get in the way again, planning for workshops, making samples etc and I have a date with a Year Four class tomorrow. Oh well I will keep on stitching, keep on stitching and collecting goodies to dye with!!

Zebra returns home

I was really pleased to have my zebra quilt returned today. I didn't get to attend the exhibition which was at a National Trust property in Sutton Hoo but did get this photo sent to me. It is one of the most simple quilts I have made yet I think has the most visual impact. I have an idea in my sketchbook for another one based on the same theme. Thank you Nan for looking after it safely.

35 flowers, parrots and first day nerves

Thirty five flowers? For those of you who know me or have been reading my blog for a long time, you will know that I was completing a City & Guilds diploma in Patchwork and Quilting. Well, I am still completing it but am NEARLY there, yes NEARLY there. Since Festival of Quilts (I did go even though I haven't posted about it) I seem to have got my mojo back and have done alot of stitching in a relatively short time. The next step is to thread sketch 36 rape seed flowers, 8 are large, the rest small. The photo below isn't clear but give you an idea. I am stitching on a medium weight painted lutradur.  

Yesterday DS2 started secondary school for the first time. He was ready to leave the house at 7am, we waiting and waited and waited. A phone call confirmed that the minibus would be with us soon. A further phone call at 9am told us that they had forgotten to collect him and would send someone back asap. We are about an hour from the school so it was 10.20am before he finally set off for school. This would be difficult for anyone but for someone with his emotional needs it was really hard and I can't blame him for not wanting to go to school.

After he had gone DS and I had decided to make the most of our rare time together to visit the local parrot zoo. It was a quick jump in the car and we headed north. We had a great day, lots of things to see. DS's favourite thing was to go into the walk in aviary where the birds fly onto you. I didn't like having my buttons pecked and three birds on your head is quick heavy!! They were all very tame though and beautiful colours. I have enough ideas to fill sketchbooks.............

They also had other animals, I loved the patterning on this giant tortoise shell.

Today is cold, raining and very windy. Off to stitch more flowers and think of Summer....

And it only rained once.

I have spent the past two weekends at Springfield's Shopping Outlet Centre in Spalding. As part of their Summer Festival each weekend there was a craft tent and live bands, despite very grey clouds it did only rain once (honestly). Unique Cottage Farm Studios where I teach had a stand and all the artists have done about two weekends each over the past six weekends. This was the last one

It really wasn't very busy and I was determine to complete several projects. I finally sewed the binding onto two quilts and completed a small landscape. This is a piece that will be going into an exhibition so I can only show you the tiny part below (the black is part of the chair). It is also a bit fuzzy so I'm sure I'm not giving too much away.

I shared the tent with a very talented potter and a man who makes rocking horses. The two quilts were not for sale, just workshop samples.

These are examples of Rob's work, so talented.

Each day was a different live band, I heard rock, pop, brass, country and today was a soul singer. These two girls were really good as a tribute band. Bet you can guess who they were trying to be.

After completing existing projects I had to start something new. This involved a stack of love letters from about 25 years ago which got cut up into hexagons. Of course I had to read them as I went through so lots of memories returned. I'm sure though that if DH and I had met today lots of correspondence would be through texts which would be hard to look at (probably impossible) in 25 years time.

As I cut them up I included pictures, I am using two sizes of hexagons for this project.

This was cut from a London travel card dated 09 JUN 90 - has anyone else got 21 year old travel cards and bus tickets?

I always return to my love of hexagons. For this project you will be able to see the words.

I hate having my photo taken. A friend caught me off guard and took this with my camera. Jackie, see I have been very brave and posted it. Oh yes, before anyone asked I made very little money. Anyone want any hand made soap,  hand dyed buttons or threads??????

I'm back & Springfields Summer Festival

Where do I start? The past few weeks have seen me in Devon, Cheltenham, back to Lincolnshire for a few hours and then over to Birmingham for Festival of Quilts (more about that on another post). DS is doing one better as after an overnight stay at home yesterday he headed off to Yorkshire for Scout camp.

Anyhow it seems like ages ago that I agreed to have a stall/demonstrate at the Springfields Outlet Centre Summer Festival weekend. I am there this weekend and also over the bank holiday. This has been organised by Unique Cottage Farm Studio. Before going away I went down to have a look and was impressed with the inflatables, they are much larger than the photos show, and there are lots of them.

I am going to sell some bags made by a very talented friend and my own hand made soaps, hand dyed buttons and threads and some folded books. I'm not sure how much people will buy but am taking a hand sewing project that must be completed by the end of August and a comfy chair!!