Getting started

This year is off to a slow start due to a bad cold/flu virus that I've had since New Year.  I struggled back to work as I'd already had a fortnight's holiday and it seemed pretty bad show not to go back, but I got through it OK.  This virus really got to my sinuses so not only  did I have a headache for days but a face ache as well - yeauch!  Anyway I'm getting back to normal and I have been making a few postcards and making progress on a sewing machine cover (more of that later).

Made any resolutions?  Mine is to try and "get out there" more - get to know of challenges, giveaways and other things going on out there.  This might also be the year that I'll sign up for City and Guilds, which has been a long held ambition for me.   Family and work have previously got in the way of this - I still have the work but only for 4 days a week and the children left home a few years now so the timing might be right for this.  I'll do this by distance learning and it'll either be the School of Stitched Textiles or Designmatters, must weigh up best move for this.

I've also got a course lined up thats run by West Country Embroiderers at the end of February using the embellisher machine and looking at the tutor Sandra Coleridge's website looks like it could be very good.  I'm going with my friend Brenda, or rather it was Brenda that talked me into it! But I am really looking forward to it.

Meanwhile in the gap between Christmas and New Year I made an iron cozy for my travel iron following the instructions here on Sew We Quilt.  It looks like a very cute iron shaped mob cap!

I've also signed up for BQL Postcard group's birthday swap again and with 3 birthdays this month - one in a couple of days I've made some postcards.  I bought a new Really Useful Box to keep my postcard supplies in as I make the backs in advance with the fusible already ironed on.  Another thing that I've tried is using the T-shirt transfer paper to make "Postcard" and also return address labels for the cards here's the mock up on paper

And above are the finished labels on the back of one of the cards.

This one is for the birthday girl, Lois whose choice was butterflies, flowers or cats and I managed all 3!

BQL's challenge was to make useful items each month, either to keep or to make as a present for someone (hopefully to be prepared for Christmas) and the first one set this month was a sewing machine cover.  If you read my blog post here I already made a start on this - now I have a deadline so I am progressing this further. This will be for my small sewing machine and another resolution - I really must get my main sewing machine serviced - it hasn't been done for at least three years!

Happy New Year

I hope that you all have a Happy New Year.   

I will be posting again very soon.

Best wishes

Sue

That was Christmas

With Christmas over and heading fast towards the New Year, I thought I would post with images of Christmas this year.  I had some lovely presents, though no quilty ones, but I've got some Christmas money to spend so I may have a go at the online sales and see what I can get. 

This Christmas Day was spent with my daughter-in-law Carly's family, with a lovely lunch and it was nice to catch up with them all.

The day after Boxing Day the children and grandchildren came over for dinner and tea.  Despite the lack of room in our downstairs living and dining rooms we did manage well.  As soon as my camera came out Sophie wanted to have a go at taking photos.  She's getting quite good at it, though I did have to delete a few photos which were blurry or with heads cut off!  She then turned the camera on herself to take a photo  (I'm standing behind her).

Our daughter in law, Carly, has a professional camera and at my request took a photo of the (grown up) children here

 And the five of us here, which is a rare sight.  It's taken until Christmas to get all of us together.

Sophie go her own back on Carly, taking a photo of the photographer

Boxing Day itself was a quiet day but we managed to go out to a very cold and windy Canford Cliffs beach, walking down towards Sandbanks. There were a lot of people walking off the Christmas excesses and children trying out new bikes or scooters on the prom. The weather must have been just right for the sailors going out in their yachts.  I took a photo with my phone and you can just about make out 3 yachts out at sea.

Just before Christmas I also sent out a birthday postcard in the last birthday swap of the year to Rosemary.

The theme she chose was water and I was a bit stumped with this one until I found some blue batik fabric with circles with gave the impression of puddles.  I used some Angelina fibre and organza and free machines with spirals to give the effect of ripples in the water.  Not sure if convincing or not at the time but looking at the photo above it looks pretty much how I wanted it to look.

With tomorrow being New Year's Eve I'll post with a review of the past year. See you soon.

So Here It Is...

Merry Christmas! (to quote Slade)

I looked for fancy clip art or images but decided on my Christmas tree photo from a year ago when we were in Yorkshire and had a white Christmas!  How things have changed in that year.

After spending time with my parents today, David and I are looking forward to spending time with our youngest son's extended family.  After a quiet Boxing Day our children and grandchildren will spend the day with us the day after. So a busy-ish time. 

However you spend your Christmas I'd like to wish you all a happy and peaceful time and look forward to catching up with things in the coming week.

Sue 
x

Just a week to go now..

Until Christmas, meanwhile present shopping done, cards sent and almost there.  I've just got 2 days of work and I don't return until after the New Year.

This week I worked on a card for a swap in the Embellisher Yahoo group.  This is a Christmas card for Jenny in Llandudno and I sent this out yesterday.

I made a Christmas bauble using velvet, scrim, silver painted Bondaweb and organza.  Decorated with ribbon, ricrac and sequins.  I attached this to background fabric which I trimmed with a pinking blade with the rotary cutter and attached to the card. I hope she'll like this.

I'd also received a postcard from Lois of this delightful shepherd with his sheep.

Really lovely isn't it.

I've also finished my second block of the Dresden Plate sampler and onto the third block and here's a pic of both.  I've got to find a way of reducing the bulk of fabric around the acute angle points - that's going to be a bit tricky. 

This afternoon we went to StAldhelms church in Branksome to see the Christmas tree festival that is held there.  It reached the national news this week about the knitted Christmas tree.  A friend of mine, Penny, sent me this link here.  I tried to take photos, but to bring out the fairy lights on the trees the light wasn't enough to take decent photos, so here's what I managed to take

 The one above was by someone who used sewing things, i.e. tape measures, bobbins, cotton reels to decorate it.

This was the knitted tree and you may be able to see some trees behind it,  though the background is very dark. 

Unashamedly floral post

I like orchids as they flower indoors at a time when most other plants don't and the flowers last for ages.  When I moved to Yorkshire I was presented with a white Phalenopsis Orchid from the Bourne Quilters which throws out a long branch of blooms each year.  There are 13 so far and the stem is still growing and another stem has sprouted about halfway up.

Just before my birthday I went supermarket shopping at the local Sainsbury's store and found some nice orchids, grown in Sussex, in simple white pots. This is not as big as the white one, being about 12 inches tall, but there are a good number of flower buds on the stem.

Could not resist it - here's a close up of the flowers - they are so gorgeous!

Not to be outdone, my Christmas cactus, bought a couple of years back from Ikea in Leeds, decided to flower too.

They will miss Christmas as the flowers are passing over now, but they were lovely to look at in the kitchen, where it normally lives.
 
Some flowery postcards - a belated one from Barbara

And two that came in today's post from Irene (birthday) and Pauline (Here's one I made earlier).  Irene is a clever lady, with the lovely hand painted flowers and leaves.  Pauline's flowers with the diamante ends are sewn onto a needlefelted background.  Really great postcards both.

This concludes my fancy floral post!