And She's Back...

Dear Friends,

How are you all?

I really cannot believe that I have been away from Blogland for so long! Losing my little dog threw me and sitting blogging without him curled up next to me just wasn't something I was able to do.

 

But, even though I still miss him I'm ready to move on and I have so missed catching up with all the blogs I love to follow.

 

Just to ease me in gently, here are a few pics of things I've made over the last couple of months.

 



 

Off to do some visiting now...

Back soon!

xXx

 

Beside the Sea

My favourite projects are those that evolve while I am working on them.
This is one of them.

I am rather fond of seagulls (I know I'm in the minority!) and wanted to do a machine embroidery incorporating a seagull. 

It started out just as a seagull on a patchwork background

that I was going to put in a frame. 

But then I thought it needed a bit of texture so I added the crochet lace.

It looked a bit bare on the right hand side so I added some beach huts

and because everything looks better with buttons on (in my opinion) I added some buttons, it still seemed to be lacking something so I sewed the red running stitch, and then because I had some embroidery floss still in the needle, I added the X's!

After adding all that texture it seemed a shame to put the picture behind glass so I changed it into a wall hanging.

I rather like it, it seems just right for the current weather conditions 

(back)

and,

 Mr B and myself have a week off work so I'm getting into the holiday mood!

Hope you are all enjoying sunshine wherever you are.

Thanks for visiting

xXx

Thank you

Just popping by to say thanks for your comments about my last post. What a lovely lot you are, I am so grateful for your kind words.

Writing the post and your response has helped me enormously.

Again, thank you.

xXx

A Little Blue....

Dear Friends,

Thought I'd just pop in to let you know why I have not been visiting and commenting on your blogs.

I am coming to terms with the loss of my adorable sewing buddy

He was such a funny and sweet dog who never really grew up - it took him almost his entire life to learn how to say please/shake a paw! He used to follow me around, he loved company and was always with me when I was at home.

He loved nothing more than someone to cuddle up with

We only had him seven years and that doesn't seem long enough. Then again, we could have had him 17 years and it wouldn't have been long enough...

 

Missing him LOTS!

Back soon

xXx

Pottering...

I was so looking forward to having a weekend of pottering around doing very little, and that's exactly what I did! The furthest I went was to the herb nursery and Hobbycraft.

Then it was a weekend of a bit of planting, a bit of making and a bit of sorting through magazines for recycling (always takes a long time as I have to look at them again just to make sure it's OK to ditch them!)

This free motion embroidery is a trial run, just to see how it turned out. I'm pleased with the design but think I'll put a border on. This one is not good enough to sell so I'll display it in my craft room for a while.

Do you remember I showed you my decanter that I bought in the charity shop recently? 

This is what I did with it

I take no credit for this idea as I saw it somewhere on the internet (unfortunately I can't remember where). I'm waiting for Mr B to drill a hole in the glass for the wire to go through so that I can put the stopper back in. I spent more time watching this than the TV the other night as it looks so fab!!

Hope you all had a lovely and relaxing weekend.

Thanks for visiting

xXx

Floral Fringe Fair

Yesterday Mr B, myself and Youngest Boy had a lovely day out to this fair close to where we live.

I'd heard a lot about this fair but it was my first visit and it certainly lived up to expectations...

It is in a beautiful location and the weather was gorgeous, a bit hazy at times but warm.

The fair included vintage stalls, vintage transport, plants, handmade stalls and lots of local food stalls. We all really enjoyed it and I can't wait for next year!!!

  

This is the view we had when eating our picnic lunch, bought at the fair

and this is my favourite purchase of the day

I'm going to make a herb garden in it.

Although I worked on Saturday I had such a lovely weekend that I'm still feeling very relaxed - I just hope I don't forget to go in to work later!

How was your weekend?

Thanks for visiting

xXx

Procrastinating

Oh, I can waste time so easily, me.

This morning I received an email from Paperchase promoting their Father's Day cards and I was rather taken with a few of their designs. 

This, in turn, led me to look at FD cards on Etsy

thepixelrainbow

SheMakesSheBakes

Solitaire

Hannah Stevens

and then to Not on the High Street

Old English Company

Becka Griffin Illustration

Doodle Love

Oh yes, and I don't actually have anyone to send one to!

See, very good at time wasting me!

Thanks for visiting

Have a lovely weekend - I have it on good authority that the sun will shine EVERYWHERE!

xXx

Take Note

Hello

How was your (bank holiday in the UK) weekend?

Here in

it was extremely soggy!

Saturday wasn't too bad so Mr B and I pottered around locally, visiting various places including a couple of large charity shops and the farm shop. Sunday and Monday were spent pottering in the garden and doing a bit of sewing.

I have to say I have fallen completely in love with freehand machine embroidery! 

This is my weekend project, something I've been thinking about for a little while

A5 loose covered notebooks

These are made using a combination of applique, fabric paints and free motion embroidery.

My ideas are running away with me now - I'm going to do a range called 'Pretty Dresess' and make coordinating items like glasses cases, pocket mirrors, badges, cushion covers and key rings, and possibly brooches too! I'm also thinking of doing other themes including

Home Sweet Home

Sew Lovely

Life is a Journey

Free as a bird

See what I mean?!! Quite when I'm going to find the time I do not know...

I've been lucky with my charity shop finds recently - lots of wooden cotton reels, buttons and pretty cloths...

I've also bought these for a project I saw somewhere on the internet!

I'll show you when I get around to doing it.

By far my favourite find is this

dinky vintage suitcase.

I am fortunate to have a collection of vintage suitcases (great for storage), several of them have been given to me by friends.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings...

Thanks for visiting

xXx

I have Been...

...inspired by 10 year old Mabel who invited me to have a table at her Fun Day.

(should have tidied my table before taking the photo!)

Mabel is aiming to raise £1,000 for Water Aid. So far she has raised over £500. Amazing!

...working to finish my free motion embroidery pictures that I started at the class taught by Lara Sparks

and trying not to notice the not-so-good bits!

...finally listing some items in my Etsy shop, after setting it up several years ago,

and sold them to one of my lovely blog friends, Joy

...making presents for (and based on) a friend

...listening to the new album from the wonderfully talented Paul Heaton and Jaqui Abbott

it's excellent!

...reading, reading, reading! Can't get enough of fiction books at the moment

this is the one I've just finished, you probably won't be surprised to learn that I was drawn to it by the buttons on the cover! It's a good (and quick) read.

Plus, of course, a lot of gardening and trips out enjoying the sunshine!

Youngest Boy is taking his GCSE exams at the moment and is making the most of the lovely weather by revising in the garden.

How are you spending your time at the moment?

Thanks for visiting

xXx

Pin Here

Hello All,
How are you?
 I'm recovering from yet another stinky cold - I've never had a year like it for colds!!
Yet again I am playing catch up with blogland...

Someone said to me very recently that there's no point making pincushions to sell as people only ever use one pincushion.

I must be the odd one out then because I LOVE pincushions and actually have several - and I use them all!

This one is vintage and an Ebay buy, bought on a whim because I'm rather fond of seagulls. I must admit to not using this one much as it's really difficult to get the pins into.

I made this one several years ago. I saw the egg cup in a vintage shop with it's gorgeous cross stitch pattern and knew immediately what I'd do with it. I use this a lot - it's a great portable pincushion.

A bought pincushion from Cath Kidston, good to look at but not very practical as it's very lightweight and keeps falling over. I may actually get rid of this one...

This fab strawberry pincushion was a handmade gift a couple of years ago. It's really useful and hangs from the lamp on my sewing table.

A handmade (by me) pincushion - good because of it's small size, it fits nicely into my sewing box. And it means I can keep a bit of the fab green floral fabric that I love and look at it often.

Paul, as this pincushion is called (I know he's got pastel floral buttons but he's in touch with his feminine side), is currently my favourite. He's not truly a pincushion but a (rejected) lavender bunny that I managed to poke a hole in when turning through. He hangs usefully from my sewing machine and I love his happy, friendly face. He says he's happy to be useful and it doesn't hurt a bit having pins stuck in him, he rather likes the smell of lavender anyway!

And of course, Penelope who I introduced you to in a previous post...

Finally, here are my first two pincushion people that I've made to sell.

 I'm going to try selling them on Etsy (I've had a shop for a couple of years but have never listed anything!), if I ever get around to listing them that is!

Do you have more than one pincushion, or one that you always use?

Thanks for visiting

xXx