Stitchery Stuff to Show

As promised yesterday I'm showing some stitching that I'm currently doing and some postcards that I've received recently.Above are some handbag blocks in progress for the BQL Calendar Challenge for this month. I've used a favourite fabric for the background, which is called Confetti and I have had this for a few years and is a nice contrast to the bright fabrics used for the bags. Each block is 4.5" square to make a quilt of 12.5". I'm at the point of tidying the blocks up before joining.

Another project that I'm doing is making a couple of cushions from a kit that I bought from The Bramble Patch recently(I've tried to put a link to Bramble Patch, but it's not co-operating). The kit (called Hanamoyo Cushion) had fabric to make one cushion but I found that I had enough of the blue fabric to make another cushion top but not enough of the cream to make the outside strips and cushion back so ordered more. That came on Friday so one evening next week I'll crack on and get the second cushion done.

And this pic above shows a couple of postcards I received on the theme of Folded Wonders (see the ones that I made in the post of 4th April). The top one of a folded flower tree came from Toni and the bottom one made from batiks with red inserts and beads came from Sarah. I'm waiting on a third card to come from Canada, which I guess will come soon.

Tourists for a week

As David and I had visitors we spent this week as tourists. My brother in law Peter and his partner Diane came to stay so we were out and about in Yorkshire. Easter Sunday afternoon was spent in York and whilst David and Peter were at a model railway exhibition at York Racecourse Diane and I went into the city centre. Some places were open so able to explore and the afternoon was spent walking along the north side of the city walls.

The Wrinkled Stocking Cafe with the Summer Wine Museum underneath

Monday saw us going to Holmfirth and the “Last of the Summer Wine” exhibition based on the famous TV series. The museum is below the “Wrinkled Stocking café”. We were going to the Colne Valley Museum towards Huddersfield but never got there. Instead going to the Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, they aren’t kidding it is narrow, just enough room for the boat trip in and reverse out again.
(above) the Cow and Calf rocks on Ilkley Moor and (below) Betty's Tea Room at Ilkley

Tuesday was an at home day for David and me as we thought we’d catch up on odd bits and pieces, but Wednesday off out to Ilkley to try Betty’s Tea Rooms (which has always been busy when we’ve been to York or Harrogate). It is an experience that has to be tried, with old fashioned service that just isn’t seen any where else. From there we went to Howath village and the Bronte Parsonage. Amazing bit of history and the story about the Bronte family, not just the 3 sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Ann but their siblings 2 other girls who died aged 11 and 12 and Branwell. Their father outlived his wife and all 6 children. The village graveyard was jam packed with gravestones as the village suffered from high mortality due to bad sanitation in Victorian times.(above) the sign outside the Bronte Parsonage)

Thursday we went off to York again this time by train so our first port of call was the National Railway Museum, almost next to the station. Walking across the town we then went to the Castle Museum. York as ever was busy with tourists.

Friday we took things a little easier and went to Brodsworth House near Doncaster in the afternoon, spent longer than we thought and left just before the house closed for the day! It has lovely gardens and is close enough to us to go back there and enjoy another day.The front of Brodsworth House(above) the rear of the house and (below) the Italian style fountain

After our visitors left David and I decided to go to Bradford Model Railway exhibition today. I bought some tombola tickets and won a prize! I got a cuddly lion and an Easter egg. After deciding where we should go we went onto Salts Mill at Saltaire, near Shipley. The mill building is now mainly art gallery and shops and the village is now a United Nations heritage site.

My prize (pictured sideways!)

Tomorrow will see David and I getting the house sorted and thinking about returning to work. It was quite a busy week and it just flew by!

As for sewing - I hope I can post what I’ve been up to very soon.

Mellow Yellow

After a weekend in Dorset last week, the first time we've visited the area since we moved to Yorkshire 5 months ago (where did the time go?), we've returned to work and had to catch up with things all week. So it was lovely to receive a quilt in the post, a lovely sunshiny yellow one, isn't it super? DH was working at home on Thursday, so he was able to pick up the package from the Post Office. The quilt was from Lucy, of My Byrd House, who's taken part in the Four Seasons Quilt Swap in which I'd made a quilt that I'd sent to Vanessa earlier in March (here's the link to my post about that quilt)

Inside the package was also this lovely batik fabric. This is called Solo by Timeless Treasures, which can be cut up and arranged to make different patterns. Seems a shame to cut it up!

By coincidence, on a yellow theme, I met up with Quarterjack Quilters, the group I used to belong to in Wimborne. Pat , the chairman of the group, demonstrated making this little bag, from one on Kumiko Sudo's patterns, on a spring theme with green and yellow, isn't it sweet. The little bit of blue shining inside the bag is a foil wrapped mini egg.This last photo shows the resulting postcards that were in progress from my last post. Suddenly realising that the last posting date for these were tomorrow (though no post on Sundays) I had to get them sent today. I did make 4 but only 3 were needed for this swap, so one extra will be kept as a sample.

Making postcards

Haven't made any postcards recently so good to go back to making a few of these little wonders. This swap is for Arts in the Mail Yahoo group with folds and tucks. I like making 3-d bow tie blocks and these are in progress with some small bits of folded fabric for prairie points which will go under the bow ties. As DH is working overtime this afternoon, sewing and singing along to Queen makes for a relaxing afternoon. I'll hand sew the prairie points during the evenings.

Visit to the Quilt Museum and March quilt

To anyone who is a quilter most will know that today is International Quilting Day (or to the Americans it's National Quilting Day). Last year Brenda and I ran our 4th IQD event in Sturminster Marshall - little did I know then I'd be on the move later in the year.Pauline (of Pauline's Patchwork) and her daughter Sarah are running this year's event, which Brenda and her daughter attended so I hope to hear something about today.

For my part I decided I would go to he Quilt Museum at St Anthony's Hall in York and see the exhibitions held there. I couldn't take pictures of the exhibits, to preserve them flash photography would not be allowed and the modern exhibits would probably be subject to copyright. There were some volunteers doing demonstrations and it was nice to chat to them. Here's some photo's of the outside, the building though old seems unassuming, but inside it's a very old building which has had many uses over the years including that of a school for orphans, which is depicted by a plaque on the wall outside the building. Going through the gateway there is a view to part of the city walls above the town. It is a lovely spring day (as DH pointed out, the weathers always been nice when the Quilting Days have been held).

This pic shows the outside of the Quilt Museum
This is the view across to the city wall

The plaque dedicated to the orphans to went to the school here in the 1700's.And just to show that I have been sewing this week here is my completed March Challenge Quilt. I used some Japanese style fabric and teamed it with some pink fabric which coordinated with the flowers in the printed fabric. I used the Cranesbill Geranium picture that BQL list moderator, Kandy Newton, supplied with the instructions for this quilt which was printed onto treated fabric. Not being able to resist a little bit of glitz, I put a few flower sequin/bead flowers on it. I'd also added some chain stitch around the fabric photo as some bits of the white edge showed a little.

A New Arrival

On Monday there was a new arrival to the Wild family as Isobel Rose was born on Monday morning at Chichester Hospital. Here's proud mum Mary and big sister Sophie welcoming her into the world.

And equally proud dad Alex, my son, cuddling her too. He wasted no time in forwarding these pics on the same evening and she's even on Alex's facebook page. Its great when technology is so quick as DH and I won't be able to see her until our visit down South at the end of the month. Can't wait!

Swap received and visit to Bristol

I can reveal the wallhanging that I made for the Four Seasons Monochrome Swap in its finished state and it's flown its way to the US and Vanessa was delighted to receive it and put it on her blog. It was posted to her just last Saturday and she received it yesterday - I was amazed how quickly it got to her.

I was inspired by Kumiko Sudo's book of Fabled Flowers and was able to use the various shades of greens to create this wallhanging of Lily of the Valley. I knew that Vanessa also liked blues so have fused a blue butterfly to decorate and also used blue green threads to embroider the stems and the shashiko pattern. There's a close up below of the flowers and butterfly and also a few sequins which I've used to represent dew on the leaves. I hand appliqued the quilt which I was able to do in the evenings.

And amazingly for me, I even remembered a label. How many of us finish a quilt project without a label on it - I'll hold my hand up straightaway!

This was also packed and posted last Saturday morning before a weekend visit to daughter Sarah in Bristol. Didn't take my camera so only 2 pics to show for a weekend away, both taken with my mobile. In the back streets near the Bristol Royal Infirmary (where she works) is the Bristol Eye Hospital. I had to take pics of two of the brick panel on the side of the building. This one of animals

and another of a mother and baby. Aren't they wonderful?

I didn't read the description on the panel and only just noticed that there was any writing when uploading. I looked for the Eye Hospital website and there is no mention of this work of art. I'll try and be more observant if I come across the panels again.

There is some more sewing going on and hope to post some more photo's soon.

Spring is on its way

The trouble with working full time is that the weekend goes so darned quick! After shopping, washing and other chores (which do need doing, no getting out of it!). We did have time to go into Wakefield this Saturday and see the food fair. Wakefield is in the area that includes Bradford and Leeds, is known as the Rhubarb Triangle, where traditionally rhubarb was force grown in large sheds heated by cheap coal that used to be mined. Nowadays there are only a few growers and this time of year is the forced rhubarb is in season so this was on sale together with other local food producers like bakers, cheesemakers, butchers and brewers.

Today we have discovered a couple of local large garden centres between Featherstone and Wakefield. It was lovely to see a lot of spring flowers - primroses, daffodils and lots of others and having a meander round. We do have a garden at this house, but it's all grass and being rented there's not a lot we can do about that, so it was good to have a wander to see what we could have in our virtual garden!

Thought that I would share a couple of pictures of some daffodils that I bought in the Simply Food M&S store at Leeds station. For just 99p I bought these daffodils in bud. By Saturday a couple had flowered (above) but by today most of them had flowered (below). Don't they look great.

Just to show that I have done some sewing (as I haven't blogged about any lately) here's a pic of what I've been up to below.

I've worked on a wallhanging about 17" square and this is the progress so far. I've used a pattern from Kumiko Sudo's book of Fabled Flowers to make this Lily of the Valley quilt for a Secret swap in the theme of monocolour quilts. I have progressed this since taking the photo yesterday as I've made more of the flowers and sewn them onto the quilt. This has been hand appliqued throughout so I've been able to do this in the evenings while watching the TV. I hope to have this finished during the course of this week to send out at on Saturday. The deadline is in mid March so I am on course to get this done and sent.

After this I'll be working on March's BQL calendar quilt. It will require a photo so I've sent off for some fabric sheets for inkjet printers, but I've got my fabric all ready to go with that.

Visit to Leeds

Nothing special about going to Leeds as I go to work there! Where I'm working heads away from the city centre and I don't get a lunchbreak to be able to explore the city itself, so today as DH was working overtime I had the opportunity to use my season ticket and go there to wander. Another reason for my visit was to see the Vintage Fashion Fair at the Town Hall which took place today. A fascinating mix of clothes, accessories, jewellry, old knitting and sewing patterns and haberdashery. Some women went there dressed in vintage clothing looking to add to their wardrobes. What was really fascinating was the building itself. Very grand Victorian architecture and the colours on the walls and ceilings it was all I could do not to stare at the ceiling.

This is the outside of the Town Hall. As you can see a lovely clear blue sky.

Below is a pic of the very ornate organ pipesAnd below looking towards the circle at the back of the hall. It was so light with the lighting and the sun shining in there was no need for using flash.

After there was a visit to the Art Gallery just next door to the Town Hall. Outside was this Reclining Woman sculpture by Henry Moore, who was a Yorkshire born sculptor. She wouldn't have looked this relaxed over a week ago with the cold weather and snow!

I had lunch in the Tiled Gallery coffee shop before going to see the exhibits in this Victorian building with a modern extenstion. There's more info about the gallery here. Janet has put some more pictures of the Tiled Gallery on her blog after her visit to the Gallery earlier this week (and she's taken better photo's of the cafe than me!).

Above is the wall with it's montage of tiles and below is one of the arched ceilings with hexagon tiles. There is a patch where some have been damaged, but otherwise a very impressive ceiling.Pictures above and below are of the stained glass windows in the library in the old part of the galleryAfter being at the gallery I had a chance to see some shops, went to Borders (I love that bookshop) and came away from that with a quilting magazine, Fabrications, to read on the train home. They have quite a few craft books, but I resisted the temptation.

Got a job and visit to Royal Amouries

I've now got a little less time for sewing as I have a job! This is temporary and could lead to a permanent job, which I will have to think about. It's in Leeds city centre, so I have to leave the car at home and DH gives me a lift to the local station and I join all the other commuters at the ridiculously early hour of 7.30 am! He does a day's work and still has time to collect me from the station in the evening so it's a long day. But I should be grateful - it is work - I was hoping for a better work/life balance may be that will come later.

This Saturday, after much mucking about in the afternoon we went to the Royal Armouries in Leeds. DH has been wanting to visit here for a while. It is big and really want a whole day here, but this is what we've managed to see while here.

This wonderful staircase which has swords, pistols, daggers and armour on the inside of the staircase. The pic above shows up to the skylight at the top.

This pic is taken from the fourth floor looking out to one of the porthole windows. There are more on the outside of the staircase.

In the oriental collection was this Indian elephant with its amour. There are little flower and elephant patterns in the squares of the armour.

And this pic shows the front.

This pic shows a replica of a Chinese soldier with his horse.

The Royal Armouries are in a development called Clarence Dock which has a canal basin off the Calder and Aire Canal which runs through Leeds and there were windows in the museum to get views across the city. As I said it does need quite a bit of time to see all of the museum so a chance to go again. We'd also been to Pizza Express there, so I was taken for a meal for Valentines Day, though it was hardly romantic!

I hope that tomorrow I'll have a chance to stitch so I may have something of a sewing nature to show then.

Ouch!

After the weekend in Richmond, I got in the car awkwardly and have got a bad back, ouch! My lower back is very sore and am getting a pain in the hip and down my right leg to the knee. Have had it checked out and am now taking ibuprofen and told to keep moving. Awkward to sit for very long, bit of a pain. I was looking forward to a weekend away in Devon this weekend, but have had to call it off as I can't drive for very long.

Meanwhile the story in the news yesterday was this...

Lots of snow. There were snow showers during the day yesterday and this was the view from the back bedroom window. 30cm of snow was expected yesterday night but it didn't materialise here.

Somewhere under there is my car! Today was a lot better; the sun came out and it's starting to thaw. The temperatures will drop tonight so will be very icy. Don't like the sound of that.

So yesterday I spent in hibernation. Stayed in and done some creative stuff. Above is my attempt at mixed media. This is my version of an item in Stitch magazine by Angie Hughes, but I had to improvise as I didn't have some of the items listed. The pink part is some scrim Bondawebbed onto a PVA'd calico base with strips of daisies on it. The blue bit is scrunched up tissue Bondawebbed onto the same base, with some slubby yarn zig-zagged on top. After painting some embossing powder was sprinkled on while the paint was slightly damp and I used a heat gun on that.

Also made was the BQL Calendar quilt challenge for February, with flip and sew strips. I used a variety of blue strips from my scrap bag, plus what remained of some blue bamboo print fabric that I had. I noticed that a couple of the fabrics used had frogs on, so they had to be included. So I named this little quilt "Frogs for February".

This is the back of the quilt on which I've used some of my hand-dyed fabric. I hadn't found a use for this and wouldn't use on the front of the quilt but is made ideal backing. Being virtuous and using up what fabric I've got, did it make any difference to my stash? None whatsoever!