Busy July

Its the 10th already but so far a busy time.  Catching up on sewing and knitting and will update on my finish a long progress with my unfinished items soon.

Last Sunday saw me making a mat for my little Janome machine that I take to workshops.  Its a very basic machine and its not computerised but does seems to almost do what I chuck at it.  It's already had a cover for several years, but when I use this machine from cold it does tend to be a bit noisy until the oil warms up (I'm making it sound as though its a car!) so a mat would absorb any noisiness, plus I added non-slip matting underneath.

I decided to make migrating Flying Geese from the Flying Geese book by Karin Hellaby and picked out this grapevine fabric and pinks and purples for the geese.  I made rather more than I needed.

 I did very basic quilting on top and wadding and added the bottom fabric, sewed and turned out.  I then hand stitched the non slip mat in place.

The size was just right to fit under the Baby Janome.

I made this just in time for West Country Embroiderers on Monday, where there was some free machining involved (BJ loves free machining). A workshop tutored by Liz Khagi was to make and use a stencil to make flower stems coloured with Markal Paintsticks and to add appliqué flowers.

This was my attempt. I couldn't just leave it at a flower I had to add grass and weeds too!  I sewed this onto a linen fabric and although I should have used a stabiliser underneath (Vilene or Stitch 'n' Tear) it doesn't look too bad.

Here it is with other peoples' samples looked like when we had a show and tell at the end

On Tuesday I went with ladies from Townswomen's Guild on a coach trip to Lyme Regis.  I've been wanting to go there but hadn't been in ages.  The weather was glorious for a stop at West Bay near Bridport for coffee then on to Lyme Regis.  The town is famous for collecting fossils and also as the scene for The French Lieutenant's Woman. There some more details about the town here.

After lunch we walked down to the Cobb, which is the sea wall that partly encloses the harbour and walked back, the sea being so clear near the harbour that we spotted a little jelly fish (that large blue dot you can see in the pic below.

Took a selfie (just so you know I've been there!)

Went on the beach and had a paddle in the sea (away from any jelly fish!

So did a few of us!

This photo was taken on my friend Maureen's phone.  But as you can see it was a really lovely day.

It felt almost like being on holiday.