Button-it

Summer time makes

2010-07-18T11:45:00.001+01:00

I've not been well the last 2 weeks but somehow have managed to keep sewing in between losing my voice and sneezing for England! Here are pics of the not yet finished log cabin, made from a jelly roll given to me by a lovely friend. I'm planning to put it on the wall of my workroom as the colours go really well. It needs a border and I'm still contemplating how to do that!

I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turning out - it took a bit of planning to get the right colours in the right places!

And also been making a beach bag to take to France next week - can't go on holiday without a great bag! I thought these bleached out colours looked right for the beach - also they look a bit like deck chairs!

2010-07-05T18:44:00.001+01:00

Summer so far has been so beautiful! I just have to keep taking photos of the flowers around - especially the roses. Had a little trip to Sandwich and discovered 'The secret garden'

( http://www.the-secretgardens.co.uk/the-secret-gardens/ )

It was a complete joy to look at - and better still smell! you can take photos and capture some of the beauty but you can't capture the scent of a fully flowering garden on a hot June day.

so at the risk of being repetitive here are some photos I took that day.

lettuces lined up in stripes

This little beauty was only a couple of centimetres wide and hiding in the shade.

I wanted to dive right into these poppies!

will have to use this as an inspiration for a colour scheme for a quilt

ok - so I think this is my favourite photo of the year so far! These grasses and Alium heads were part of a spring meadow left to grow and flower before being cut later on. The colours are so beautiful - soft and understated - definite inspiration for something!

Happy days, sad days

2010-06-22T10:39:00.000+01:00

Busy, busy weekend helping my friend run her first Country Living Bring and Buy sale in her garden. We had a fantastic turnout despite the rather changeable weather! Lots of things to buy, eat and drink and friends to catch up with. And best of all we raised £350 for a charity helping children in Africa! here's a few pictures of the day...

Then on Sunday I visited the National Patchwork Championships at Sandown race course - another lovely day with a friend shopping and looking at the quilts. We thought the standard of quilts was really good this year and there seemed to be a good positive atmosphere amongst the sellers. I was very restrained in my purchases!

2 wooden stamps from Colouricious - 2 lovely ladies who scour the world for wooden printing blocks - they had an amazing selection and were very inspiring. Check them out on

http://www.colouricious.com/

Also some great stripes I'm planning on using for a beach bag for my French beach holiday in August and a little bundle of fabric from the American Jane line called 'Happy Campers' .

So a lovely day until I came home to my elderly and sick cat who had developed breathing difficulties and needed to be rushed to the vet. Sadly it was to be her last trip. R.I.P. Tabby - you were a great friend and companion, sitting near me when I sewed and usually on top of any paper patterns or especially precious fabric. I'll miss you x.

This was taken last week when the blackbirds brought their fledging down for the first time - Tabby just gave it a glance and went back to sleep!

Spring at Painshill Park, Cobham Surry

2010-06-08T17:48:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have an extra day off school so I had a day trip to Painshill Park, Cobham, Surrey - just off the A3. A complete undiscovered treasure with landscaped gardens, crazy follies and amazing wildlife, it was almost deserted on a changeable Monday. Here are some highlights...

I just love these guys - 15 cygnets in 2 clutches all preening themselves after a swim in the lake with Mum!

Trip to Kentucky, USA

2010-06-06T19:04:00.000+01:00

Just back from week in Kentucky visiting daughter who has just graduated! extremely hot over there all the time, even at night, thank god for air con! here are a few photos I took on visits out - just things that caught my eye...

beautiful waterfall in hills near Richmond KY

water erosion on the rocks

heart shaped stone!

never seen a quilted window before...

I loved the reflections in the windows in Louisville

Had lovely time but glad to be home - even though husband has now abandoned me for 4 weeks for work trip to Sydney! so home alone with the cat catching up on last week's tv and eating 'something with salad' every day!

Flower week

2010-05-26T16:40:00.000+01:00

It's May, it's Chelsea flower show week and I thought I'd have my own flower show right here!

Macro shots on my Finepix S2000HD of flowers from my garden.

Nature walk

2010-05-22T20:39:00.000+01:00

Beautiful sunny, warm day so we went for a nature walk in the fields about 2 miles from home. Lambs, bluebells, buttercups, apple blossom and a beer were all to be seen!

Obviously the beer has nothing to do with nature but it was refreshing after the walk!

And we came across the cutest little house ever! - We've lived in Kent for over 25 years and never seen it before!

Ten favourite things in my sewing room

2010-05-10T17:38:00.000+01:00

1. My lovely Janome sewing machine

2. My collection of old tins

3. Odds and ends waiting to be knitted!

4. My sewing companion - DAB radio!

5. Sunny window, view of the garden and flowers

6. Comfy chair - a furniture warehouse bargain at £5!

7. Interesting bits and pieces

8. Future projects - so many possibilities

9. My gorgeous Laura Ashley cupboard

10...and of course - antique buttons.

Rainy Sunday, Sunny Monday

2010-05-08T10:09:00.000+01:00

Let's face it - Bank Holiday weekend was a bit of a let down weather wise. Sunday was so wet I don't think I even set foot outside. Instead I made a quilt!

This is made from fair trade fabric that I bought at the Festival of Quilts last year with some plain blue added. I intend hand quilting it with a variety of threads.

Monday looked brighter, although it was freezing, so we set out for Nymans gardens near East Grinstead, which is owned by the National Trust. Gorgeous rhododendrons and lots of bluebells made it a colourful experience.

We went looking for lunch and found another, possibly even lovelier, garden almost next door!

High Beeches is a privately owned hillside garden with lovely trees and streams and lots of colour at this time of year.

Whatever you're doing this weekend hope it goes well!

New things

2010-04-29T16:27:00.001+01:00

It's always to start something new - I think it helps keep us young.

Here's my new patio allotment - well this year's anyway - I've had it going for a few years now. It's very convenient - just outside the back door - easy to water and collect the veggies when they are ready! I'm growing tomatoes, runner beans, courgettes and broad beans so far.

Also new are these patches which are the start of a bag. I bonded the circles on and am machine blanket stitching around them. I will sew them together and construct a bag, maybe adding a button or two?!

I am also obsessed at the moment with all the new growth in the garden - some of it looks like it's been quilted! This is a leaf from my pot hostas - in a pot so the snails don't get them (they always do in the end, but it slows them down!)

'Let's blog again - like we did last summer...'

2010-04-26T18:05:00.002+01:00

Well - 2 summers ago actually! I seem to have been very remiss in not blogging for 2 years!! not sure where that time went. Anyway I've decided to have another go and see if I can keep going this time!

So what have I been up to lately? Here's 5 things I've been doing in the last few weeks.

1. Making things for my new Folksy shop!

Please take a look sometime.

2. Making a Block of the Month from the fabulous Quilt Room in Dorking - I'm on Month 3 of the Civil War Tribute quilt - looks like it will be gorgeous when it's done.

3.Enjoying using my new camera - especially on Macro mode.

4. Pampering my ageing cat who loves the warmer weather.

5. Still rooting round charity and antique shops for finds like this vintage French linen and threads found in Lewes.

Oh - and updating and changing my blog appearance so it (hopefully) looks better.

Thanks for dropping by - I promise not to be away so long this time!

Green

2008-05-03T10:28:00.004+01:00

I love green! especially at this time of year in the garden as there are so many shades of green and so much life and growth. Everywhere you look plants are bursting with life and all the rain means everything is a vibrant shade of green.

Of course there ae exceptions! this is my purple acer in the front garden.

Fabulous Florence

2008-04-29T13:10:00.009+01:00

We took a week's break in the school holidays and travelled to Florence - our first visit. We had a new camera to try out and hence took a lot of photos! It can very cleverly help you make a panorama with some sotfware back on the laptop and this is the view from Piazza Michelangelo - it was snowing back in England but we were in the beautiful sunshine.

This amazing view of Santa Maria Novella church is the one that greeted us from our apartment window! Just 5 minutes from the train station and the main sites of the city it was the perfect place to spend a week.

Our camera loves taking night shots - this is the Duomo at about 9 o'clock taken with no flash. it is an extraordinary sight for the amount of detail in the marble facing as you can see below.

My favourite place in Florence is Piazza della Signoria - a square near the Uffizi containing a unique outdoor sculpture gallery, including the famous 'David' by Michelangelo. It's very busy of course but a special place.

The interiors are, of course, equally spectacular. This is the dome of the Duomo painted by Vasari and depicting the last judgement.

Below is some painted detail from a wall inside Santa Croce church.

Of course there is loads more - I'll save it for another post!

Embellishing fun!

2008-03-31T16:20:00.006+01:00

My lovely friend lent me her embellishing machine for a few days - what a lot of fun you can have with that! The piece above started as a section of a felted jumper onto which I fused wool, felt pieces and braids. The design just kind of grew organically and then I machine stitched on top for some more texture and sewed beads on to finish it off. I have to find a use for it now!

This piece is felt, wool, and wool fibres fused on by the machine onto scrim which is very fine and loosely woven. When the piece is turned over and you run the embellisher on the back some of the fibres show through to give more texture.

After I had embellished the whole piece, I cut it into sections, then repostioned them and, using the embellisher, worked over the joins so them met together again. This gave the piece added texture and interest. It seems the only limit is your imagination!

Venice colours

2008-03-17T13:08:00.004Z

Take a look at this gorgeous wool I bought in the lovely Loop shop in Islington, London! (http://www.loop.gb.com/) It's so amazing I shall have to have it sitting out in my workroom for a while until I decide how to use it. We had a great day out on Saturday - first finding the Loop shop and a great little antiques/junk market - then seeing an exhibition in the Tate Modern. It was so spring-like we sat outside several times for coffee etc. It struck me afterwards that the wool at the bottom of the picture is Venice colours - below are a couple of pictures of the book I made after visiting Venice last year. Those colours have obviously got into my system!

Blue and yellow

2008-03-07T16:09:00.006Z

I love this time of year when everything is waking up in the garden and the light is getting brighter. There seem to be colour themes in the garden through the year and in Spring it is blue and yellow. These tiny daffodils and pulmonaria are so delicate and the colours are so pretty together.

These great big daffodils in my kitchen look great in the sunshine and against the blue tiles, mirroring the colours outside.

And even my knitting seems to be following the same colour theme - blue wool and yellow needles!

Seaside Rose quilt

2008-02-25T15:35:00.002Z

Here's my latest quilt - finished! I have had these Moda Seaside Rose fabrics for a while and wanted to make something for myself for a change! I chose the block 'Cups and Saucers' and added tiny shirt buttons in the centre of some of the squares. I think it's very pretty and it makes me think of springtime.

Childhood Treaures

2008-02-03T11:13:00.000Z

Whilst I was hunting in the loft for something important - which I failed to find - I came across these pieces of sewing again. I made them when I was about 6 or 7 out of scraps from my Mum's dress making. It's true that what you love as a child stays in your heart forever! They are just simple applique held on by huge stitches but they have such character! I am so grateful that they were saved - first by my parents through lots of house moves and now treasured by me. I shall probably frame them and keep them safe from now on. So don't clear out everything when you move house!

Get organised!

2008-01-15T17:31:00.000Z

I've been longing to sort out my craft and needlework bits for ages and finally got to it today. I looked at buying another storage unit but gave up and came home to find the perfect one lurking on the garage! It's not very pretty but I might give it a coat of paint when I get the chance. I feel very organised now and even found baskets, shoe boxes and other bits to fit. And it is the perfect place to show off my assemblages.

Too many goodbyes

2008-01-13T21:52:00.000Z

It's been a difficult few days with way too many goodbyes. With lots of tears we said a final farewell to a brave little boy on Friday. On Saturday we waved our daughter off at Gatwick airport for her fourth term at uni in Kentucky. It leaves you feeling blue and the house feels a bit empty but tomorrow is a new day and there is comfort to be had in friends, family and the routines of life. On Friday after the funeral I came home and sorted out some of my craft stuff - it seemed to be something I could do that didn't involve too much effort but the routine of it was comforting. Today I have quilted and used my sewing machine and done some knitting - the routine of the stitching again doesn't take much thought but it has a comforting feel. It's times like these I really appreciate my crafts.

felting fun

2008-01-12T16:29:00.000Z

I've had a thing about knitting lately - plus a new found skill of felting so what better fun than to combine the two! Of course there are loads of books and websites about felting - knitted or not - but this is my take on it. I had no idea how this bag would turn out - or indeed how big or small it would be - so it is an experiment. However I think it was a pretty successful one - here is the bag unfelted. It was knitted mainly from pure wool but some were chunkier than others.

And here it is felted!! I put it in the washing machine on 60 degrees F with a couple of towels and prayed! It measures about 6" high and about 12" across - so not huge but just right for holding a few balls of wool. I may even use it as a handbag on the right occasion!

I also had a go at some slipper socks for my daughter to wear in her dorm at uni - her feet are always cold! I followed a pattern from 'Felt Frenzy' by Heather Brack and Shannon Okey - (fantastic book with 26 projects for all kinds of felting). The toes didn't felt as well as the rest but they turned out pretty well I think. I felted these by hand with hot water, soap flakes and plenty of elbow grease and could keep an eye on how small they were getting! With the washing machine it's a bit hit and miss!

Chocolate brown and turquoise

2008-01-07T20:49:00.000Z

Back in September my niece got married and this is the quilt I made for their wedding present. It is a sampler quilt with applique borders and chocolate brown sashing. Everyone who sees it says they like the turquoise colour the best. It was big - 108" square and took a lot of quilting!

Art Gallery crawl

2008-01-06T19:20:00.000Z

We decided yesterday to go up to London and do an Art Gallery crawl. We started at the amazing V and A which has always been a favourite of mine. They were showing an exhibition of artists who turn the mundane and ordinary into works of art.

These 2 images show the work of artist Anne Wilson who crochets and knits tiny pieces from black thread and then mounts them to show a large map-like drawing.

The V and A building stole the prize for me though - this is the cafe!

Then we caught a black cab to the Tate Modern through the lit up streets - London always looks better at night. This is a not very good photo of St. Paul's cathedral from across the river outside the Tate Modern.

Inside is the world famous 'Shibboleth' by Doris Salcedo - she has broken open the floor of the museum rather than create an item to put in it. As we walked along the length of the crack in the floor we noticed everyone had to follow its line and peer into it - it was impossible not to. At times it is about 18" deep. Apparently when the exhibition is over they are simply going to fill it in - so it will always be there.

Waggas

2008-01-05T11:55:00.000Z

My lovely friend made me this Wagga for Christmas - a traditional aboriginal quilt from Australia, often made by men from old feed sacks, and usually in this stripey pattern. She used all recycled fabric for my quilt and added clothes labels for interest! I love it - it's warm and snuggly and just the right size for sitting under on the sofa. Of course you could make it any size you like.

These are my recycled shirt fabrics for a Wagga of my own - mostly my husband's cast offs and a few charity shop ones. I was amazed when I cut them up how well they co-ordinated. Here they are all pressed and ready for rotary cutting into strips. It's very pleasing to get things ready for a new project - I'm already anticipating the finished result!

If you are interested in finding out more about waggas try folowing this link: http://discover.collectionsaustralia.net/nqr/index.php

Perfect antidote to Christmas!

2008-01-04T13:25:00.000Z

My friends and I found the perfect way to dispel those post Christmas blues by having a craft day together - we had all collected far too many enticing old and interesting pieces of needlework history via ebay and the like and decided to create an assemblage with them. All that is required is and old box - the first photo shows a cigar box bought for 50p at a boot fair and the second is some very nice packaging that came with a Christmas present. Get the glue gun heated up, arrange your bits just how you like them and you are away! We lined the boxes with old paper patterns and pages from a vintage magazine to set off the threads, thimbles and so on. A lot of fun was had by all!