Monday, June 24, 2013

End of June Round Up

Hi everyone,
I'm happy to say that quite a few finishes have rolled off the production line this month.

This is a bag that I've made a few times before. It is the Bow Tucks Tote by Quilts Illustrated.
The fabrics I used this time are an old line by Blackbird Designs for Moda called Rhubarb and Ginger.



Back view. The schoolgirl sampler print fabric is perfect for an enthusiastic stitcher.



No bag is complete without at least a couple of things to go inside so using my scraps I squeezed a zippered pouch and a pincushion out of the fabrics I had left.


See the cute little scissor charm on the zipper pull? It came from Nancy's Victorian Motto Shoppe. I love this charm and need to order more



A couple of cross stitch finishes ...... First is the May Word Play by Country Stitches



The fabrics I used in making the bag were a perfect match for the backing.



Another pillow - this one is Bloom Sampler by Threadwork Primitives. Stitched on 40ct linen using the recommended threads,

Both of these pillows are edged with the hand dyed chenille trim from Nancy's Victorian Motto Shoppe.

I didn't manage to keep up with my May project for Chooky Blue's Stitch-a Long blog but I'm happy to say I did manage the one for June.
This cute pincushion is in Natalie Bird's Red Home book



The fabrics I used (except the one with the big bird) are Rural Jardin by French General for Moda



I also forgot to show the April project which was this little wall hanging from Natalie Bird's book Tis the Season



I think that's it for this post. My friend Angela is arriving from UK tomorrow and we have plans for lots of crafting besides sitting by the pool or on the beach not to mention baking and eating!
How much crafting we actually manage to get done will be another story but you will have to wait til the end of July to find out :)

As always a big thank you for visiting my blog and for your lovely comments.

Margaret


Thursday, June 20, 2013

Friday, June 7, 2013

May (late)

Hi everyone,


It seems I've been absent from my blog for even longer than is normal for me. I didn't manage to get a blog post done at all in May. It was a busy month and we went to UK to visit family as well.

I haven't had much to blog about really but I've finally scraped a few pictures together for this post.
This is a zippered pouch, needlebook and pincushion that I made using Cath Kidston fabrics.








The needlebook is one I've done many times before from the Remembering Adelia book by Kathleen Tracy




I've been doing some crochet granny squares to be made into a pillow. The link for the pattern I used is here
I used Stylecraft Special DK which was thinner than the yearn used in the pattern so I did an extra row of squares to get the size I wanted. I plan on doing a buttoned back in double crochet using the cream yarn.




A little bit of stitching and finishing on this Prairie Schooler piece which I turned into a pinkeep. I used some blending filament along with the thread used for the raindrops to add a bit of sparkle. Hard to see in this picture but it is subtle and looks quite effective. The picture should be clickable if you want to see it closer up.



Backing fabric is Rural Jardin by French General for Moda. I used velvet ribbon for the trim around the side and bow on the top.



Friend Sheila was stitching Glad Tidings by Shepherd's Bush but she seems to have mostly given up cross stitch in favour of quilting. Sheila decided she didn't want to finish the piece so it has been adopted by me and will be finished one of these days although I have yet to put a stitch in it. The work you see here is Sheila's.



and still on the subject of Sheila and her stitching she stitched Cherished Workes by Ellen Chester way back in 2006 and it is still sitting patiently in her finishing pile.
So now I'm stitching it as well so that we can work on the finishing together at some stage. I have to say this is not a fast stitch for me as it has several areas of over one - not my favourite thing to do!
Picture shows my WIP at the front and Sheila's finish behind it.



I have a bit of a thing for tins and boxes so was delighted to received this one as a gift.
It is now housing my reproduction fabric hexagons.



I still haven't decided what to do with these hexagons so they just sit there looking pretty.

Friend Angela will be coming to stay again this year and will be here in less than three weeks. I'm very excited and we have a long list of things we want to work on while she is here so hopefully I will have more to show you next time.

Until then thanks as always for visiting my blog and welcome to new followers. Soon I have to decide what to do about this Google reader thing. For now my head is in the sand!

Margaret