Last posting before the move

I'll be off-line for a few days while our move to Hemsworth takes place. The removal van is packed tomorrow, finishing off and travelling on Thursday, move into new house on Friday. Last bits of sorting and cleaning up is being done.

In my last post from Poole I've put some pics that I took on Brownsea Island back in September, which is appropriate as the nature programme Autumnwatch on BBC this week comes from Brownsea. The first one is of a pheasant that calmly walked past me (at least it wasn't after food, unlike the peacocks), the next one is of some chicks and lastly a piece of wood in a bog covered in fungi.

This is my 99th post so the next one will be my hundredth. I'll have to think about a giveaway for that one (which I haven't done before). But anyway next time I'll post it'll be from Yorkshire.

Bye for now.

Look what I've got!

Idly sitting and flicking through the channels on Sky on Sunday I came across the Create and Craft channel, on which a rubber stamp collection from the English Stamp Company was being sold. It was mentioned that one could design a stamp and I immediately thought of postcards. I've always wanted to have a "Postcard" stamp to put on the backs but haven't seen anything suitable anywhere so this was just the job. Ordered on Sunday afternoon, arrived lunchtime today so I'm very impressed with the service and as you can see stamps very well too. I'm looking forward to making a batch of postcards (when the move is over) and being able to use this.

October Bag and More of the Move

I’ve made the October bag, picture on the left, part of the BQL Bag Challenge (link to blog on sidebar) which took a little while to do with the 30 pinwheel blocks to make. I used bright pinks with black and a pink batik lining and handles. Yesterday was wet and miserable so just the right weather for staying in and getting some sewing done. This is the last bit of sewing for now as I’m packing up my machine ready for the move next week.

I can’t believe that it’s getting towards the end of October and the move is imminent. I’ll be going up to Yorkshire on Thursday this week to sign the papers for the rented house. The removal people will be here next Monday and we leave Poole on Tuesday to move into our new house on Wednesday.

Move getting closer

I finished work last week so now I'm unemployed for the time being. We now move on 28 October, so apart from the continuous sorting out I have taken time out to do some sewing and embellishing.

By chance I had a postcard size-ish piece of black felt with some Bondaweb and a few other threads attached to it. Going through my scrap bag I put on some scrim (in the pink), a strip of crinkle chiffon (green) and silk pieces (orange) with bits of yarn. I ironed the lot down and put some black tulle on top to stop any loose bits moving around . The third pic shows it after treatment with the embellisher. The black circles are from needlefelting from the wrong side. I've got to add some hand embroidery onto this, but that was my fiddling about with the embellisher and a practice for a swap coming up soon.

I've also started on my October bag which I hope may be done before I move but the with little pinwheel blocks (60 of them!) it could take some time. Here they all are after having been ironed on the ironing board. After joining together to make up squares (before being ironed again) I decided to drape the chain pieced "flags" over a cross stitch picture in my living room

On the move, part 3

DH is due to start work In Sheffield on Monday and I have an interview in in Wakefield, so things are on the move. Back up north again tomorrow and I will back in Poole on Monday for my last week of work at the Borough of Poole. More tidying up, more sorting out and sorting out something to wear for Monday's interview. The house were renting and our own house rental have come together nicely so it would be nice if my job got sorted as well as his.

Castlepoint shopping centre in Bournemouth is not a place to visit on a wet Saturday afternoon. Not a space to be had in the car park and got frustrated trying to find one so left there and went to Bournemouth Town Centre. Am I the only one that doesn't like the shoes on offer in any of the shoe shops at present? They're either flat or have very high heels, neither of which I like seems to be nothing in between and every shop seems to have their version of Ugh (sorry, that should be Ugg) boots. Sorry, don't often rant, and I'm getting off topic here.

It was good to see the area were moving to last weekend as up to that point DH had only seen the house, though he'd taken pictures to show me. Whilst out last Saturday afternoon on our trip to Hemsworth we went via Elsecar Heritage Centre where there was a Thomas day on the railway and the exhibition shed had a garden railway exhibition which was really good.

Whilst on the subject of last weekend I didn't put a couple of photos that I took of the plant arrangements outside Sheffield Town Hall. These were made from sempervivium plants and depicted steelworkers - one male pouring molten steel, one female trimming a knife at a grinder - they had names but I can't remember what they were, but they did look impressive.

Trip to Sheffield

As we will be moving to Yorkshire soon DH and I spent the weekend in Sheffield. We stayed in a hotel right in the centre, Millenium Square, in the Heart of the City.

It was a really warm weekend and although the place looked deserted in these pictures in hour it was bustling with people enjoying the autumn sunshine.

The spheres just outside the square represent raindrops and have water trickling on the outside draining into a pool below. There are some coloured lights in the pavement which are reflected in the spheres. The second pic shows DH and I (I'm taking the photo) reflected in one of the spheres with the Winter Garden's arched roof behind us. To the right is the hotel where we stayed.

The next pic shows the fountains outside the Town Hall. Again as it's early in the morning there wasn't many people around. However later there were some wedding groups (from the Register Office at the Hall) gathering to take photo's using the fountains as a backdrop and later children would dash in and out of the fountains and get very wet!

In the square were a collection of fountains running from the Peace Garden into the Square.

We managed to see the Winter Gardens with tropical plants and also the Millennium Gallery. Too late for the Vivienne Westwood exhibition which closed the week before, but we did see the Get Knitted exhibition with the Knitted Wedding and also the cutlery collection. The pics here are of a cactus with a "Feed Me" donation box and the last pic of a monster (which is animated) made out of Sheffield Cutlery.

We found there were quite a few museums and galleries around that I guess once we're moved we may explore. We had found while trying to get to the hotel that there is a Fire and Police Museum, though we didn't time to see this, but the website looks good!

The main reason for going up there was to see the house we'll be moving into at the end of this month, in Hemsworth, between Barnsley and Pontefract. We've got someone moving into our house in November, so the moving plans seem to be coming together.

September Bag

As its towards the end of September it must be time for the September bag for the BQL Bag Challenge and here it is all completed. From the last post when the blocks were just joined together to make a front and back I had Friday off so in the morning I'd quilted, put in the zip, joined the 2 pieces and the lining too and by the lunchtime it was job done! I made an extra log cabin block so that I had a pocket for the lining. The second pic shows that.

Friday afternoon DH and I went off to Sheffield for the weekend. When I've uploaded the camera pics I'll post them on the blog. Managed to take some night time pics which I think have turned out well.

Stringing along

On Saturday I went with my Mum to the New Forest Quilt Group's one day show at New Milton. A lovely sunny day it was a nice drive out there. It was only small but packed with lots of quilts all sizes and a hallowe'en challenge so not easy to take pics so I didn't try. I did purchase some fabric and threads (I know I shouldn't but it doesn't take up much space when moving!). I saw some lovely hand-dyed thread from Dyeing for It (sorry, they don't seem to have a website so no link, I'm afraid). The first pic has the contents of their bits and pieces bag and the second pic were more threads that I bought.

Sunday saw the start of the September BQL bag. A log cabin bag with a zip top (not looking forward to that). I did start with all good intentions of using the strips that I have in the scrap bag but I did then cut some strips from the stash. Anyway no new fabric was harmed in the making of this bag - I'm still sticking with using what I've got.

I quite enjoyed the process of joining the strips and as you can see I draped one of the strips with the log cabin blocks in a string before it was cut up. It looked like bunting!

The last pic taken this evening is the work in progress. I now have both sides done now and ready to layer and quilt.

Quarterjack Quilters Exhibition

You will have noticed that my "advertising" for the Quarterjack Quilters on the sidebar has now gone as the exhibition at Upton House in Poole took place last weekend.
I didn't have as much time to look at this as I would have done as I only had a quick few minutes with the camera on Saturday afternoon, so this a small selection of exhibits.

The first picture is of batik wallhanging together with a wacky star quilt draped over and a smaller wallhanging and reversible table mats.

The second pic is a corner log cabin in lovely autumnal colours.

The next pic is of a table based on the "seasons" theme with summer items including hydrangea wallhangings and cushions, sunflower journal quilts and fabric bowls.

The fourth pic shows girly pink and purple stars and log cabin strips quilt - they really are lovely colours.

And lastly the fifth pic is another table on the "seasons" theme - this time Christmas. What exhibition doesn't have a bit of Christmas. Here there are assorted Christmas tree hangings, reversible table mats, fabric bowls and Cathedral Window bell pulls.

Upton Country Park is a lovely setting with the House and large grounds with gardens. There is also a tea room with a gallery above which often houses art exhibitions. The group were very lucky to have good weather for most of the time with only one rainy afternoon.

On the move (part 2)

With less than one month before DH starts his new job in Sheffield, everyday has consisted of one "sort out" or another. Our house in Poole is being rented from November and we have to find a house to rent in South Yorkshire. I'm resigning from my job and leave mid October so we're hoping to be moving the end of October. So if anyone out there knows of any payroll jobs going in and around Sheffield let me know!

A discovery that I made while sorting out was some knitting. Some months ago when visiting my daughter in Bristol I visited a shop there called "Get Knitted". I bought some German sock wool the colourway is meant to be Neon, but it's difficult to see from this pic. One sock nearly finished and I've just started on the other, which is not bad considering I started knitting and left the first sock for months before picking up again. It's surprising what discoveries are made when sorting out.

As a follow on from my last post about the pincushion I received mine from Jenny in Wales, a gorgeously coloured pink and dark red pre-felt shapes embellished on top of each other. It was really soft and squishy, it feels too good to be a pincushion. Here it is resting on my keyboard.

Needlefelt pincushion

I sent off a pincushion for the swap on the Yahoo UK Embellisher Group and this went to Jean in Devon, known as Genie. I was given some blue roving which I needlefelted into one large piece and cut out the shapes. On the long piece that forms the side of the pincushion I needled some organza ribbon as I like the effect of organza being scrunched into felt. After some hand embroidery I added a couple of circles of yellow felt and added a rainbow button.

This design was loosely based on the pretty little pincushions on Big Jen's Flickr site (she also has a blog link from this, though I have to admit this pincushion didn't seem little, but I was quite pleased with it.

I've now taken a pic of my painted postcard from my last posting on it's own. I've now added this to the "try something new"challenge on the Arts in the Mail Yahoo group, for August. This should be winging its way somewhere soon. I think this looks very pretty in spite of not having much embellishment on it. I know now what to do with my stitching samples as it turned out very well.

Another bag done!

Here's my August bag made for the BQL Bag Challenge (link to the Challenge blog on the sidebar). I've just finished it this morning having cut out the pieces earlier this month. I didn't have any heavyweight Vilene so having bought that on Saturday I set to on getting it done.

It's a clutch bag with a band (in the check fabric that wraps around and goes through the tab on the front. Although it looks turquoise its actually blue and olive/gold shot lame fabric. The lining is in the olive/gold lame. I bought the fabric some time ago and looks just right for an evening bag. Just need somewhere posh to take it!

Playing around

Recently I've been playing around with a few things just to see how they work. The first pic is of rust dyeing. When I was at the Festival of Quilts I met up with a few people from the BQL Yahoo Group. Sandy Snowden's stall was the meeting place where she showed examples of her rust dyeing and gave some instructions. Someone else mentioned that they used salt water to soak the fabric and sprinkled wire wool onto the damp fabric. Hmm.. I have salt in the cupboard and some wire wool too, let's try it. The damp fabric was placed overnight in a plastic bag with the wire wool and was washed out the next day. I'm quite impressed with the little speckly bits on the fabric so I might do this again sometime.

Another thing that I have tried is painting on a quilted piece. Other quilt artists have used this but I've never tried it. I have this piece of "quilt sandwich" on which I did some free machine practice for one of the bags that I've made (2nd pic), so cut to just bigger than post card size (3rd pic).

I've painted with white acrylic paint as a sort of primer, then mixed purple with the white and painted over that. I had some Stewart Gill bronze metallic paint which I dabbed over the whole thing with kitchen towel

The result is in the 4th pic on the top right of the photo (should have taken one on it's own really) when I'd finished paining and sandwiching together for a postcard.

The other postcards in the 4th pic are finished off UFO's that were hanging around. The one on the top left is wavy quilted using variegated threads on fabric paint dyed fabric. On the bottom left are oak leaf prints with a layer of Bondawebbed organza on top with hand stitching. The bottom right is a fabric woven card with Chevron stitches.

The last photo, which is a bit on the fuzzy side is some mulberry bark which I've glued onto calico then painted with some acrylic paint (that's on the left). After painting the surface of the plastic was quite wet so I took another piece of calico to soak up the wet paint. Not quite sure what to do with these two pieces. I'm sure the paint soaked calico will find its way to becoming a postcard back.

Seems to have been quiet on the blogging front from me. I'm still sorting through loads of stuff (where did it all come from?) so I'll have a little less to take with me when we move.

ON THE MOVE!

This is the chaos that is my sewing bench - which is on one side of one of the bedrooms, the other side has the computer and its paraphernalia. The reason for such a mess is that we are on the move.

DH was made redundant from his job this month after having a month of being "under threat of redundancy" we both knew what the outcome would be.

He has found another job which he'll be starting in October, which is good, however the down
side is we'll have to move....to Sheffield. After over 20 years of being in Poole, it is a very big move for us. But of course we must go where the work is.

The plan is he'll go up there, find somewhere to live and I'll follow later probably at the end of October, beginning of November. We'll rent a house and let our own house out down here in Poole.

So started the weekend with a clear out of one wardrobe, then another and there is soooo much stuff that the bedroom looks the mess that it is, these pics were taken last night but it was so much worse on Sunday afternoon!! It is amazing how much stuff accumulates - and it's not the end!

I hadn't got around to posting the latest postcards that I made at the end of July. Hot on the heels of the July bag I finished off the butterfly postcards that were due to be swapped on the BQL Postcard group. My postcards were made with butterfly fabric background with organza on top. Cut out butterflies were bondawebbed on top with another layer of organza and free machining to hold together. So far have had 3 postcards in return the picture below. I always find it amazing that one theme can produce such different results.

A bag for July

I've just completed the July installment of the BQL Bag Challenge. It's a tall tote, which I've made from a mottled green fabric with orange batik strips to brighten up. I've quilted this in wavy machine quilting with variegated thread and does really look more effective than the photo shows.

I've received more postcards in a swap titled Butterflies. I've yet to finish mine as I'm running a bit late on getting these out, but will update at the end of this week (with any luck).

Postcards received and made

Here's some pics of postcards that I've received recently. The one above is from the Arts in the Mail June challenge of Yoyos (or Suffolk Puffs). The cards had the have at least 3 yoyos. Mine is shown in this post which was sent to Chris in Co. Durham. In return she sent me this lovely lady. I took part in a small exchange, also with Arts in the Mail called Fancy Stitches and mine were sent out earlier this month and I've received these from Annette, top left, Jenny, bottom left, and Francoise, on the right. I've just realised that I haven't posted the ones that I have made, but if you go to the Flickr images on the sidebar, they are shown there.

The photo below shows some fabric weaving cards that I have made which I will demonstrate to a local quilt group in September. The top one is decorated with fancy machine stitching and the one below is decorated with hand stitching.
While I was sitting at the computer last night I saw this lovely sky, wasn't it lovely? My mobile phone came in very handy for taking this on night mode. I'm sure I take more pictures with the phone than I make calls with!