Second Half

Hi everyone,
This is the second half of the post I started yesterday.
First up is cross stitch. This ornament is from the Prairie Schooler Just Hatched book #107 stitched with the recommended DMC threads.


back view



next is a Lizzie Kate design finished as a pillow. Design is from the first series of Flip its



a very small start on Sunflower Bell Pull - an oldie but goodie by The Drawn Thread



and an equally small start on The Red House Sampler by Brenda Keyes



now for some pretty gifts I have received. This teeny tiny mermaid swam all the way to Spain from France. To give you an idea of just how miniature this little pillow is I laid it on the post card it came with



it is stitched on impossibly high count linen and the mermaid tail is even done in specialty stitches!


next is a beautiful crazy patchwork needle book done in silk fabrics from my dear friend Caz in UK


back view



Thank you so much Caz I really love it.

I'm no quilter but I decided I would have a go at a lap quilt. I saw the pattern here and I thought it would be easy. It probably is but there are so many points and junctions to match up and some of it is on the bias so I'm just not finding it easy.
Anyway here are my 16 patch blocks done in two older lines by Three Sisters for Moda. One is Simplicity and the other is Aviary.

and here's how the X blocks are going to look


We were in UK at the beginning of May to visit family. My daughter and I came across a shop called Sally's Shabby Chic where the owner was rescuing old furniture from the dump and upcycling chairs, dressers etc and giving them a new lease of life.
I loved the chairs that she had painted white and covered in Cath Kidston fabrics.
Anyway, there were lots of vintage bits and pieces and I spied an old embroidery which I was admiring when the shop owner told me I could have it.
It is stitched on a good linen fabric. I think it is charming and plan on having it framed.


I don't buy many magazines these days but this one caught my eye

so I bought it because there were three projects in it that interested me.
One is this miniature quilt by Camille Roskelley which I have bought fabric for


there is also a Union Jack pillow pattern and this cute dog that I'd love to make but really, how many more projects do I need?



So I think that's just about it. Thanks for visiting my blog today and thank you for all the lovely comments received on my previous post.
Margaret

Two for One

Hi everyone,
Well, there's rather a lot to show this time so I think I'm going to split this post into two.
Starting off with a skirt I made after seeing a sew-along on Daisy's blog and being inspired to do a bit of garment sewing.


The pattern is McCalls 3341 as used in the first series of the Great British Sewing Bee.
Of course by the time I bought my fabric (on a recent trip to UK) and got it sewn up everyone else had finished but I enjoyed it for all that.
I was so pleased with the skirt that I decided to tackle a dress next which is presently at the cutting out stage

The fabric is inside out - much nicer than it looks here.

I've done quite a bit of knitting and spinning.
Last time I showed some fibre I was spinning and here's the shawl (details on my Ravelry page) I knitted up from the spun yarn



and I've spun some merino silk fibre into this very soft and smooshy yarn. The colour is not showing up very well on my monitor. It's a kind of rich blackberry colour. I'm not sure what I'm going to knit with it yet.


Margaret asked to see a picture of my spinning wheel so here it is.
Isn't she pretty?



Now on to the knitting.............a pair of socks were finished a few weeks ago



and here's a very small start on the Entangled Vines cardigan I've started


So I think that's it for this knitting/sewing post. I'll be back tomorrow with the cross stitch.
Thanks as always for visiting :)

Margaret