At last, some sewing to report

It's been a little while since I posted about any sewing. So having spent the Bank holiday today in my room I have some sewing to report.

Last Sunday I made a postcard for one of the birthday swappers in the BQLPC group.  It is a pot luck card and for this I decided to do some ribbon weaving as I have a growing collection of ribbons at present.  I have a card of ribbons called "Inspired by Chocolate" some lovely soft coloured ribbons to which I added some more to contrast with these.  It'll be her birthday on the 4th so it's go out in the post tomorrow with time to spare.

Yummy!

Today I've been working on some postcards for a swap coming up later next month for the 23rd.  The theme for this is leaves, and there were 2 groups for this, but the second group didn't have many swappers in it, so the first group has been reduced so there are 5 in each group (so only 4 postcards to send out).  I worked on this in one large piece to make 6 - more about that later.

So my inspiration here came from the latest Fabrication magazine, which had a project by Gail Lawther on her artistic there in this case "Inspired by Monet".  Her quilt is 24" square, but of course I have to make 6" x 4" cards  so had to reduce the scale and work a bit differently.

I started of with a 12.5" square of wadding with Bondaweb, to which I attached one inch strips of fabric overlapping the pieces slightly and ironing on when complete.  I then quilted with wiggly lines in variegated and metallic thread to give the piece some texture. I then cut the square in to 6 pieces

I made the leaf shape smaller and cut out Bondweb backed green fabrics for the leaves and ironed them on.  I then sewed around the leaves in green thread.  Finishing off with attaching the pelmet Vilene and backing. All done!

 Earlier I mentioned that I made 6 cards, but I only need 4.  One of the spares will go into another swap, but then means I have one spare left.  So, never having tried this before I will give this one away, yes, a giveaway!  So leave me a comment in the next few days and I will draw this on Friday evening.

A Sad Postscript to a Great Day

David and I had been looking forward to a boat trip organised by Wimborne Railway Society to see the Bournemouth Air Festival.  The trip started very overcast, followed by heavy rain and wondering what we would be seeing, with the return of bad weather.  A lot of other boats were sailing out of Poole Harbour with a lot more sea traffic sailing along after the lifting bridge opened.  The boat anchored facing East Cliff side of Bournemouth in the bay.

From the boat looking along the quay.  The Sunseeker boar to the left

A Royal Navy vessel out in the bay with a landing craft. Isle of Wight just in the background

Just before the displays started the rain stopped and the sky began to clear.  We saw the spectacle of the Red Arrows and this Bournemouth Show is one of the displays that the team enjoy doing.  However after their show there was a delay in the timetable and the reason became clear later.  We learned that one of the planes crashed on the return to land at Bournemouth Airport and that the pilot, John Egging died.  A very sad end to a really awesome display.  This is my tribute to the Red Arrows from what I took yesterday to show how fantastic they are.

Following this was the Merlin Helicopter then a Spitfire with 2 smaller aircraft as the Lancaster Bomber was unable to fly.  I took photos as best I could because with my little camera it became difficult to see the screen, so it was point, shoot, hope for the best.  There were the Wing Walkers, and though we could see the aircraft we couldn't see the acrobatics as they were performing over the beach, followed by the American bomber B17 Sally B.  These two aircraft were shuttling between Bournemouth and Shoreham further along the coast in Sussex which also had an air show.

Sally B

The Spitfire with 2 Army training aircraft

This heart was created by the Blades display team

Further aerobatic displays took place and we were waiting for the finale with the Sea Vixen, but unfortunately the boat was due back into Poole so couldn't take photos as we were too far away for this by then.

What we were surprised by was how different Poole and Bournemouth look from the Sea instead of the land and how long the beaches are.  Back into Poole Harbour the boat berthed up in front of a tall ship, called Tenacious so more photos to take of that when we landed.  The tall ship is from the Jubliee Sailing Trust and registered to Southampton.

Old Harry Rocks and the Purbecks

Tall Ship Tenacious from the boat

Poole Lifeboat City of Sheffield

Looking at Tenacious from the Quayside

Last weekend

Bit of a boring title as it was quite a busy end to the week last week.  David and I went to Birmingham and whilst I visited the Festival of Quilts on Thursday and Friday.  I met several friends during the two days including those from Barnsley, some people from the BQL e-mail list and from the postcard group and also some bloggers too - including Janet (she runs the Barnsley Embroidery group), Benta and Julie (of Mixed Media) so a lovely social time.

I did get to see quilts and purchase books and fabric (that goes without saying!), so spent a fair bit too.  Here are some quilts that I really did enjoy seeing.

Winner of the Contemporary Quilts (think I got this sideways)

"Feel the Tingle in Your Fingers"by Ruth Parker

I liked these Arab men - so lifelike

This quilt is "Melinda's Zinnias" by Robyn Fahy

And a close up of one of the flowers

Another sideways pic - of Mosaic floor tiles - this was made by Susan Atkinson

This quilt was winner in the Art Quilts and Best in Show

Here are my purchases from the two days:

Machine feet, buttons, ribbons, bits and bobs

 

Fabric!

Books

Rulers, spray baste and t

I'll post more photos later (when I've managed to get all my photos the right way around!

Looking Forward to Festival of Quilts (& Balloons)

David and I are off to Birmingham tomorrow as I'll be going to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, taking place at the NEC.  David will go off and do this own thing and I'll be there for the Thursday and Friday this year.  Anyone else going?

On Saturday we will then be going down to Bristol to see our daughter Sarah and to visit the Balloon Fiesta on Saturday night.

So a busy weekend once again and the weather's not looking too bad either.  Happy days

Should Have Read My Last Post First

I didn't post photos of Pendennis Castle which I promised in my previous post so I left them out of the post I've just done.  Anyway, indulge me just once more with Cornwall pics (you can tell I really enjoyed this holiday).

A gorgeous sun filled day was spent at Falmouth at Pendennis Castle which was a strategic point as the mouth of the River, matched by a castle on the opposite side of the river at St Mawes.  Built at the time of Henry VIII it was built as defence against the approach of the Spanish Armada as it sailed towards England.  It had since been of strategic importance over the years.  There were buildings from the turn of the last century and the castle was in use up the end of the Second World War.

So here are these pics

The gatehouse to the Castle, there is a moat around the castle grounds

The Castle itself

Looking across the Fal estuary, on the land opposite the white dot is St Mawes Castle

David at the gun tower built for the Second World War

From the Castle there is Pendennis Point, where there is a Coastguard station and ruins

Just look at that view, could almost be Meditteranean

 Well that's the last of the Cornwall pics - I'd really like to back there again.

Holiday Photos Part 3

This is the last of my Cornwall pics at present.  I got up to our stay at Truro Thursday week before last and returning home on the Friday.  We headed up to Lanhydrock near Bodmin, and a lunchtime stop before heading towards Exeter.  Lanhydrock is another National Trust property, with a large house and magnificent gardens.  We didn't have much time for the house (as they advised plenty of time for this) but we did have a wander around the gardens one of which was a rose garden surrounded by clipped yew trees which was really fragrant.

We were fortified by some lunch and local ice cream for our journey back home, via a stop in Exeter, which for a city centre Friday afternoon was really busy, but out of the traffic and heading back on the A35 was a lot quiter.

So after that it was starting my new job on Monday and receiving and making postcards.  From the Oriental Images card (I sent mine out before the holiday) I found these when I got back,

Carole's Willow pattern machine embroidery and Alice's Bonsai tree, then one from Lis during the week

Oops, sorry, it's shown sideways, I'd forgotten to rotate it in i-photo.  As you can see it's a kimono and rather cleverly it detaches from the card and it has a pin bar on the back which makes it a brooch.

Meanwhile I had to make a birthday postcard for Jan who requested "Dragons, bats or Pot Luck" and I had just the thing for a dragon after not being happy with the drawings that I made.  I photo from last month when we went to Legoland, where there were two giant Lego dragons and I used the photo of the blue one to make my card.  I've emphasised the dragon by quilting around his shape.
I hope she likes it.

Another thing to sort out is an enormous pile of magazines from last year.  I admit that I am a maggie-holic. I shouldn't buy them but thinking "I could make that..." urges me to buy.  Now that I don't work in a town centre I hope that I should not be tempted by more, I used to go into Smith's almost everyday. I reckon that I have one by subscription and buy two more at least each month and these  magazines aren't cheap nowadays.  Still have a sort out and see what I can get rid of - they take up far too much room.

More Holiday Photos

I am writing this post on my first day off in my new job.  I now work 4 days a week, so I have every Wednesday off, so up early I thought I would post more of our Cornwall photos.  Last Wednesday was a St Ives day - brilliantly sunny day and after a walk along the harbourside, went to the Island, a spit of land that houses a coastguard station and a chapel at the top of the hill.  The chapel has been on the island for a long time and after several different uses it is now a working chapel with services every Thursday morning.  Being away from the growing crowds on the nearby beach the island was really peaceful.

David on the island

& Me

The chapel on the top of the island

Look what a lovely colour the see is - a gorgeous green

Looking up at the chapel from a low footpath around the island

 After this we went along the beach (getting busier by the minute - people making the most of the sunshine) and made our way to the Tate.  Not so sure about the modern works of art but we did like the architecture of the building and the big round glazed entrance reflecting the beach and the sea had to be photographed.  And the balloons, they were a piece of art by Martin Creed called "Half the air in a given space", (which you can see here) into which groups of people could play in like a large size ball pit.

Looking to the entrance to the Tate St Ives with the reflection of the beach to the left

My name is somewhere there!

In one of the rooms was "Measuring the Universe" by Roman Ondak and people are invited to stand against the wall and have their name and date written on the wall.  Had to do that, but my name disappeared behind others of a similar height it doesn't show at all, so in the photo below it's somewhere there.

Looking out of a viewing gallery looking towards the island, the beach is really busy now

After taking things easy on Wednesday afternoon. we had to pack our bags on Thursday and trundle off towards Truro.  There was a mix up in our booking so we were at the guest house until Thursday not Friday and the Thursday night was fully booked, but it gave us the opportunity to go and visit other places.

So Thursday morning we visited Trengwainton Garden, a National Trust garden, though the house there is privately owned.  It had a great collection of tree ferns, and also a large kitchen garden with sections divided by sloping flower beds.  Its always calming walking around gardens and this was no exception. On our way there we stopped to take in the view of St Michael's Mount.

Those tree ferns are spectacular

I could not resist

Taking lots of photos

View of St Michaels Mount through the wild flowers

The cottage in the vegetable garden

Sunflowers and asters

Echinacea

 

 

From Trengwainton in the morning to Pendennis Castle near Falmouth in the afternoon, just a short distance from Truro, but I'll show more photo's of that in my next post.