Little Boxes

These little boxes are so easy and quick to make. Each box takes a square of fabric bondawebbed to paper. An eight and a half inch square makes a 3" box. The size to cut for the lid is always 1/4" larger than the base. The little box above was made from 5.5 and 5.75 inch squares. Start by marking the centre by folding the sides together. Then fold each corner into the centre as shown in the diagram below.


When all the corners have been folded into the middle fold each corner up again to the crease mark already formed as shown in the picture below.


Now open up the square and cut as shown below stopping at the centre square. Only cut on one set of opposite corners.


Now fold the corner in and then fold it again. Make sure that each fold is creased well. Do this on the two sides that weren't cut.


Unfold this second fold to the first fold and crease back the edges on each side as shown in the picture below. Then fold these 'flaps' in towards each other.

Now fold the end over and crease the tip flat onto the base of the box. A dab of glue can be put under this flap to hold it in place or a square of plain paper can be placed onto the bottom of the box and glued to hold all the flaps down and make it look neat.


Here are a few of the boxes I've made and decorated. To make a box once the paper and fabric have been bonded takes about 10 minutes. To decorate can take longer as one can get carried away! I hope you have fun!

This year's table runner!

One year I made 13 of these table runners as Christmas presents for various friends and family. They were quick (fairly!) and easy to do and very effective when finished. The one I kept for myself was going to be blue but because my sister changed her colour scheme at the last minute I ended up with a very elegant one in grey and black with lovely pinky red flowers. However this wasn't Christmassy enough to use as a sample for my recent workshop so I made another one. In fact I made two! The one you see above plus one in Christmas fabrics in green and red. The one above is a piece of a Japanese cotton print with sand and rust strips in silk dupion. They catch the light beautifully and look different depending on where they are viewed from. I hadn't made this version of a table runner for a couple of years so brought it out of retirement. I'm glad I did as I've now ended up with one that goes with my colour scheme! There is a silver lining to everything I find.
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I have become addicted to free machine applique. I spent the whole of yesterday evening machining my lemon block and got quite carried away. My Bernina 180 is a joy to sew with and even manages to work with some of the odd embroidery silks that I have bought in the market which come from the far east somewhere. These threads are in lovely colours but not known for their ease of sewing being liable to fray at the drop of a hat. I find if I use a metallic or top stitch needle they behave themselves.
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My copy of The Quilting Arts Book arrived last week and it is a wonderful book full of great ideas and techniques. Just the kind of book to sit in front of the fire dipping into and being inspired. Also I had a book on quick makes taken from the Threads magazine. I have always enjoyed the page in the magazine where they showed a quick make and this book has collected many of these together. One that quickly caught my eye was the pattern for a small origami fabric box. So quick to do. I cut out a square of paper and practised in front of the fire while having coffee with Martin and my mum this afternoon and it took all of five minutes! Cool! Obviously this was very basic but once one has bondawebbed some fabric to paper and done some embellishing on the fabric it wouldn't take much longer to create the real thing. And then embellishing the lid would be fun too! The one I did made a 3" box but I shall try other sizes. Pictures when they are done but don't hold your breath as I won't have any time for a few days. And instead of fabric one could bondaweb hand-made paper to a backing instead. Oh the possibilities are endless!

A Prickly Visitor!

Now that it is dark when I come home from work I am not really aware of anything other than putting my key in the front door. I did wonder why someone had left a brush on my step but something made me look more closely and I saw I had a prickly visitor. Usually we have hedgehogs in the back garden and it was quite unusual to see one at the front. I wanted to take him/her round to the back in case of him/her being run over on the road but Martin said that I might be taking him/her away from it's loved ones who might not be in the back garden. This made me feel so sad that I left the little hedgehog where it was and hoped it would be sensible and not wander off to the road. As I didn't see a squashed hedgehog this morning I am assuming that he/she knew where he/she was going! I hoped to get a better photo but I rather felt that if I went up close the hedgehog might roll up into a ball.
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There are now only about 6 weeks to Christmas and I have at least nine cushions to make and three sets of table mats. Some of these have been started but the faux chenille cushions are still just a thought. First I have to dye some mandela fabric in the right colours and then make the faux chenille squares. It is amazing how long it actually takes to cut the fabric and then wash it and all this before actually making the cushion! So I am going to be very busy especially as I am also working on the fruit applique blocks for class on Fridays. No more reading of books for a while! But I do now have a CD player in my workroom so I could listen to books on disk. What a good idea!

Christmas is over at last!

I feel as if I've been running a marathon. For the last few weeks I've been making Christmassy things as if there were no tomorrow. But today I ran my Christmas workshop which was great fun and I can now relax. As well as the tree decorations shown above I also did table runners, cards, gift boxes,sachets and star hangings. There was something for everyone. The most popular item was the gift box which I had done in several sizes. Also the yo-yo tree decorations. I had sprayed some branches in silver and used those to show case the various items. Why is it that good branches arn't around when one wants them! Now I can relax and get back to the ordinary stuff. But first a grand clear up! And I have to say that my new SewEzi sewing table came into it's own as I was so cramped for space I was able to set it up and use if for cutting out on. Brilliant!

Dyeing Fun!

I had a great afternoon yesterday doing some dyeing. I have to dye nearly every week to keep up with demand and ensure that I have a good supply of fabric at all times. Yesterday I decided to experiment. It was pretty cold but I mixed my soda ash with quite hot water so that the fabric was warm when it went into the dye and I mixed the dyes with a warm salt mix. So warmth all around except in the air!


This piece crumpled and folded and I just dripped the dyes on indiscrimately. I am very pleased with the results which would be good on a piece of faux chenille.


Another randomly dripped piece but what isn't so easy to see is that I sat the fabric on a piece of plastic mesh and the mesh marks are visible if one looks closely. I want to do more with this technique and see what other marks I can make the dye show.


This piece was truly experimental in that I sprinkled the dye powder directly onto soda ash soaked scrumpled fabric. I was a tad heavy handed but I like the effect very much. I shall do this again and try it especially with black and brown dyes which have so many colours in them.




I was truly experimental here as I sprayed soda ash soaked scrumpled fabric with aluminium car spray paint to see what happened. Then I spooned two blues over the fabric which pooled in the hollows and ran off the aluminium. When I came to rinse it out after curing the aluminium stayed fast so I was quite excited to see what would come out of the washing machine. I wash my fabric on a 60 degree wash with extra rinses so it is quite hot and takes nearly two hours. Sadly the heat did for the aluminium and it all washed out - wouldn't have done if it had been on a bit of clothing! However the result is lovely and I will try using aluminium spray paint again as a resist with a bit more planning!


This was another multi-coloured dye piece with a mixture of pleating and scrumpling. As is the piece below which has a look of feathers about it.


This piece was very successful in that I wanted to portray rocks and rocks is what I've got. However can I do it again?


And this last piece was using up left over dyes without any thought as to colour mixing. They were just thrown on as I emptied the jars. The colours I was using were mustard, turquoise, slate blue, tarton green and violet. I also had a Christmas red on the go made from cerise and orange but I don't think any of that went into this mix.

All in all I was pleased with my results and it will be hard to let them all go. I shall want to squirrel a couple away for my own use.

Old stuff revisited!

While tidying up my pictures folder I came across some old stuff that I did several years ago. And not having any new stuff to show I thought I'd put in a few of the old ones.


This is a silk ribbon embroidery that I had great fun doing. I spilt coffee on the silk and had to paint over it which is why it is as it is. The coffee stains actually helped the paving colour! And I can remember that all the while I was painting the gate my tongue was hanging out I was concentrating that hard! But it is one of my favourite pieces even today!

This piece is even older. It must be all of thirty or even forty years old. It is a collage using mainly nets and some velveteen for the sun. It was meant to represent the sun sinking into the horizon with a dark and choppy sea. Very abstract! I wonder how I would tackle this today. Perhaps when I have a moment I'll try it!

This is my favourite piece of crazy patchwork. It is called Autumn Leaves. So original! I had such fun doing it. And I even did some needle tatting to make motifs for it. The sashing is gorgeous silk dupion. The colour is heavenly! I now have it as a throw and the colours are as bright as ever.

And last but not least a more recent unfinished piece. In fact if I'm truthful I will tell you that I had completely forgotten about this series of leaf pictures. There are four of them in all. Two in greeny browns and two in this bluey pink colouring. These are meant to be leaves in the moonlight while the other two are leaves in the day. I really must finish them. It is amazing how many pieces I do that have leaves in them. The leaves here are all hand painted and the backgrounds are woven fabrics overstitched with thread and heavier wools. I am ashamed of myself for not finishing these off years ago. They must have been hidden up for at least two if not three years now. So much to do, so little time. Story of my life!

Bitterly cold!

It is bitterly cold here and I am huddled in front of a roaring log fire. Fires are so warming and cosy. I am determined not to put the central heating on until it is really cold. Like three inches of snow on the ground! One of the joys of having a lap top computer is that it is portable and can be set up wherever one wants. Of course that means no printing or scanning but warmth is more important at the moment.


I have been wicked and bought a supply of fabrics. Mostly Christmas fabrics but some I couldn't resist like the African prints above and the lovely metallic green underneath them. I needed more Christmas fabrics for making samples for my Christmas workshop next week but unfortunately for my bank account there were lots of other delectable fabrics in the shop as well. I have taken this Friday and the following Monday as holidays so that I can have a long weekend in which to achieve stuff. I like to offer the students lots of choice as everyone has different needs when it comes to Christmas decorations, gifts or cards so I try to cater for all. And it's fun!
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I have treated myself to Marian Barnett's book on using Lutradur. As I have a large roll of this which has been languishing (isn't that a great word!) in my workroom, when I read about her CD book I knew I had to have it. From reading the content's list it sounds most exiting and although I have used Lutrudur and blogged about it in the past I need something to get me going again. This will be it!

SewEzi Sewing Table!

I really love this sewing table. The picture above is of it folded up having just come out of it's carrying case. It is so easy to put up!


This is it up with my Husqvarna 1100 in it. I had it made to take both my Husqvarna and my Bernina 180. The Bernina being the bigger of the two machines I have to put in small disks to raise up the Husqvarna. Very simple to do.


This is a close up.


You can see from this picture that when the Bernina is in it there will be plenty of room for the knee lift to operate. This was an important point for me as I use the knee lift all the time and really miss it when I'm using the 1100. A point to note is that if one rolls the table in wet weather it would be necessary to wipe the wheels as they are in close proximity to the sewing area. Just a thought!


This view is with the clear insert so that the table can be used as a light box. I really like this idea and it will be so useful when I'm taking a class.


This is the insert that turns it into a table. In this mode it would be useful for rotary cutting, ironing using a pressing cloth or even as a spare table for a buffet or whatever,as well as taking the machine so that the free arm can be used.


And here it is ready to roll all packed up in it's carrying bag. It has a handle at the top and also at the side (on the right in the picture above). It is very simple to pack up and cover and it stands on it's own too. There is a large pocket at the front for all the inserts and a smaller pocket at the back for the disks. All in all I think it is wonderful and even my husband was impressed. Two of my friends have seen it and are keen to have one. It is ideal for anyone with a lack of space as it takes up so little room. I'm in love!

Exhaustion!

I spent Thursday morning searching for some beads that I knew I had somewhere and felt that I'd seen them recently while searching for something else! Of course I didn't remember where! By the time I had to go to work I was totally frustrated so I spent some time re-designing my workroom so that I could go through EVERYTHING! I came home, fed my husband and then started stripping out everything in the room, furniture and all. It all got piled on the spareroom bed and at one stage I completely marooned myself in the room not being able to get out! Then I started to putting the furniture all back in the new arrangement and wonder of wonders my plan actually worked! Stand back in amazement! But then I had to bring back all the bits and pieces and sewing paraphenalia. By the time I cleared half the bed I was beginning to feel like an old woman of 100! The next evening I finished it all off. I didn't think everything was going to go back but with a bit of organisation there were only a couple of things that ended up in the attic or under the spare room bed. Well if those things had gone in the attic I would never have used them again! Things like the frame for doing large machine embroideries on the Bernina. The pictures above are of the new layout. A very strange one but it does work. The views work round the room looking in from the door; then the left wall; window; right wall; and then looking at the back wall with the bookcase; and finally underneath the workbench and table. Not an inch of space is wasted. Oh, did I tell you this room is 7 foot by 7 foot 6 inches. Not overly big! But with this arrangement I have my ironing pad AND cutting board out next to each other.AND I can get at everything without having to move things. So useful! Of course my husband reckons I've got to much stuff! Of course I haven't!
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Oh yes and I've bought the SewEzi sewing table and I'm in love! It is wonderful. I have already thought of five uses for it. But more of that tomorrow when I've taken some pictures.

Finished Place Mats

This is a mixed 9-patch piece with appliqued holly leaves across it. I had some left over from the leaf mats. These will be place mats as they are too wide for the tray. The lighting isn't very good I'm afraid. Sorry!

This is the piece that I put up a few days ago but now it is finished. I decided to do applique on this one as well with the last remaining holly leaf. This fits as the mustardy tan fabric has a pattern of swirling holly leaves. And I've been able to find more of this fabric so I'll be able to make a complete set! I like them even if no one else does! Obviously they look better in the flesh!
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I am feeling very cheerful as I've had good results back from my chest X-rays so I'm going to live to fight another day or two! I have to take care not to get stressed, not to over do it and not to get any chest infections in the near future. As there are at least two people in my place of work with streaming colds this could be hard but I'll do my best.
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It has been a lovely sunny day here and I've just picked a handful of baby courgettes with more to come. Plus a couple of dozen round carrots. Very late in the season but they have taken that long to grow. If the weather is nice at the weekend I want to do some sun printing as the sun is surprisingly still quite hot. Well when out of the wind. Today was as still as a mill pond so hopefully it will remain that way.
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I still can't make my mind up about the Sew-Ezi sewing table. Do I want to spend all that money when we are on the edge of a recession. Hard decision to make! I could buy loads of yummy fabric or even a new mattress for the spare room bed. Not easy!

More black and white

The second block in the black and white series. This one was to use the quick technique for 1/2 square triangles. I love pin wheels and in black and white they certainly stand out. I also made the block below which isn't yet quilted or pressed, but is destined to be a mat of some description. If I put an applique in the centre it will be a table centre otherwise I expect it will join the others in this colouring and be a place mat. I did one in this colouring using the quick nine patch technique. Stupidly I chose the tan print without really thinking about it and if I can't get more then I'll have to change the colouring. The bluey piece is fine as it is a hand-dye and I can always dye similar but the holly print will be harder to get more. I don't often use prints (bought ones) so I'm not used to thinking about quantities when I'm playing. For a large project obviously I would have been better prepared.



It is bitterly cold here and I didn't get round to lighting a fire before it became to late to bother so a quick burst of heat is in order I think. That is the trouble with working. It is such a rush when one arrives home. At least I only work in the afternoons so I get a lot of stuff done in the morning. Into town in the morning so there won't be much accomplished tomorrow!

All this time!

It is bitterly cold here and I am wrapped up in several sweaters and thick socks because I don't want to put the heating on! Sad isn't it that we have come to this to save money on the gas which is forever going up!
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But my hands are warm and I can still feel the keys on the keyboard. I was interested to see that I have been blogging for over three years now. In the first year I actually made 852 posts which means I must have been putting up loads of pictures as I am sure I wasn't blogging twice a day, every day! And since then on average I have managed a post at least once a week. And also in that time I have had over 54,000 hits on the site which I think is quite amazing. But it is also quite sad that in all that time and with all those hits the comments are far and few between. I have got to know some bloggers really well and I find that I look for new posts on a daily basis to see what they have been up to. Other bloggers whose blogs had a lot on offer have just dropped off the face of the earth. Is there perhaps a limit on how long the interest to blog remains? I know I'm not quite as enthusiastic as I was originally, but I couldn't tell you why. Perhaps it's a time thing. I know that I am quite busy now. Or it could be that my main computer is now up in the spare bedroom in it's own little cupboard. A real neat contraption. However making the effort of going upstairs isn't always what I want to do and getting the lap-top out is a fag. I'm so lazy! At the moment it is permanently ensconced on the dining room table as I've been having to do our tax returns (which are now finished)and so it's been a piece of cake to blog and read blogs. Ah well just a few thoughts on the whys and wherefores.
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Tomorrow I am going to light the first fire of the season as it will be cheery and warming.It used to be government policy that heating went off on May 1st and came on again on October 1st regardless of weather. Often when teaching in Adult Education in September our hands would be so cold that we couldn't feel the needle. Have you ever tried sewing in gloves? I can tell you it's not good! When the rain stops I shall bring in wood and coal to dry out overnight. Well I hope the rain will stop! I didn't light a fire today as I am going to be in my workroom finishing off samples. This week I did the quick method for nine patch blocks and next week I am going to do the quick method for 1/2 square triangles. As I have a surfeit of quilts these will no doubt be turned into place mats or tray cloths. Quick and simple to do and very effective. Pictures tomorrow if I can get them to download. The laptop doesn't like my camera card! But tomorrow I might go and use the big computer!
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Well having rambled on about not a lot I shall go and make a smoothie for tea. When I'm on my own I can't be doing with making a proper meal and this will be a nutrionally sound smoothie. Before I do that I might even put on a bouncy compilation CD with tracks like the Scissor Sister's 'I don't feel like Dancing', and Rod Stewart's 'Do ya think I'm sexy', and then do twenty minutes bouncing on my mini trampoline to warm me up! Can only be good!

Total Confusion!

Confusion!

When I started this piece I thought I knew what I was doing. I had sketched out some ideas and chosen the sketch that most emplified what I wanted to do and I'd chosen the fabrics that I wanted to use. And then somehow I got lost. I was confused. It wasn't what I'd had in mind when I started. In fact it was a mess! But rather than call it 'Mess' I have called it 'Confusion'. I'm sure lots of us have this happen but that doesn't make me feel any happier. I now realise that if I was going to use this very busy piece of hand-dyed fabric as a background then the foreground fabrics should have been much, much stronger, especially the lilac. Or better still I should have used a plain background fabric. And really when one comes to look at closely it isn't going to work anyway! But hey! I'm not going to worry when it gets coffee dripped on it am I!
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It's freezing cold here so I'm going to make a courgette and asparagus risotto for tea using the last of our courgettes. Good comfort food!

Sunny Afternoon with a Stick Insect!

It has been a lovely sunny afternoon; in fact a lovely sunny weekend. So I decided to completely decimate the overgrown evergreen honeysuckle on the fence as it never flowers and is a mass of dead wood. I was pretty ruthless but am very pleased with my clear space. It gives more light on that side of the garden and more room as the plant was overhanging the border buy about two foot! While admiring my hard labour I noticed a stick insect on this late flowering rose. If it had been on the leaves I would never have seen it as they blend in so well. We had another one appear on the rosemary bush in July which was twice the size of this one but minus one leg. Where they come from I don't know and where they go to I don't know either. Are they related or have two separate individual stick insects landed here for reasons unknown. They are amazing creatures as once it moved off the pink flower it was very hard to see it especially when it moved onto the lavender bush. The warm weather is probably to its liking but what happens when it rains and is cold as it has been for most of the summer? It certainly makes gardening interesting.

Definitely the very last leaf!

Sewezi sewing table

I am thinking of buying a Sewezi fold up sewing table. If there is anyone out there who has one of these and would like to comment I'd really appreciate it. Is it worth the money? Is it useful? And what happens if you have a knee lift on your machine? Thanks in advance...hopefully!

This week's project!

Leaves on Mud II

Close up
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This came about because of the dyeing results I got from my black dyeing exercise. I had several ideas that I had doodled with in my sketch book but when I took my fabric from the washing machine I found that some of them were not really black as the dye had split giving me lots of colours. As you may or may not know, black is not a pure colour and I had lovely streaks of yellow and bronze with hints of blue and lots of gray. In fact very little black at all. This happens and one gets the most lovely results from split colours even though they arn't what has been wanted. The photographs don't do the background fabric justice! But it was just like mud with pools of water lying on it so I decided to do another piece in the Leaf series. A little play on words with it's title as there are two leaves. The leaf fabric is also hand-dyed and overlayed with nets. The red net is from an orange bag; quite thick and chunky, and the blue net is ordinary dress net. I used a variegated thread to quilt the leaves and silver for the background. I had fun doing this but I think this week I'll move onto another subject though I'm sure I'll come back to leaves.

This and that!

This is a small origami type purse that I made as an exercise for my students. It is just a rectangle of fabric with batting and a backing that is decorated with the more useful of the embroidery stitches on my Bernina. It is so simple to make and is a useful reminder of my stitches. Well of some of my stitches. I keep machine embroidery threads in it while working on a project and hang it from a hook on my sewing table. Tres useful!

I am enamoured of black and white fabric at the moment. The blocks above are simple nine patch pieces in different sizes using black and white dotted fabric. The method I use for making a nine patch piece makes two pieces so one of the above blocks will be part of a larger black and white piece while the other one I shall layer up with batting and quilt it; then back it by bagging it out and finally I'll over-dye it. I have been dyeing some black and white fabric patterns while I write and I'm interested to see how they turn out. Black and white fabric lends itself beautifully to over-dyeing and discharging further. Can't wait to play!

This is our resident squirrel burying acorns on our lawn. Left to their own devices by next spring I should have a forest as he (or she) never seems to find them all as is demonstrated by the number of hazel trees we have growing everywhere. He has even been seen sitting in the bird table chewing on sunflower seeds. Cute!

Leaf Project

Leaves on Mud in situ!



Close up of 'Leaves on Mud'
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I was inspired to make this piece by seeing the falling autumn leaves lying on the muddy ground. The contrast of the autumn colours of yellow and red against the brown of the mud was inspiring. When I'd fused the leaves in place I added strips of yellow net to represent the ploughed muddy fields and to mute the colours of the leaves as if they had been there a long time! Then I stitched through the top layers (top, wadding and backing) in diagonal lines with silver thread to represent rain. That commodity that we have had so much of over the last few months. The edges of the net I stitched with fancy leaf stitches to be the slick shine of water lying on the ground. It reminded me of frosty mornings when there would be a rime of frost on the furrows of the ploughed fields. Then I bagged it all out, edge stitched it all and voila one tray cloth. I was actually quite pleased with it and feel inspired to go and do another one. The ideas are coming thick and fast!

The Return

Reflected Flamingoes

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This hasn't been a good summer for me. I've been a bad blogger but in mitigation I haven't been well. I'm still waiting to have another X-ray and tests but I feel better so I'm sure I am better! Positive thinking!
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I have been dyeing and I've put new fabric pictures up on my website as all of the old pieces have been sold. Well all bar one! I've also been getting ready to start classes again this autumn. The first class was last Friday and I have ten students which for a private class I feel is good. The project this term is appliquéd fruit blocks. I've designed six plus a joining strip with trailing strawberries. Pictures to come later. They were a lot of fun to do and I have to say that some of the tips for using fabric pens I picked up from Gabrielle have come in most useful. Not only have I hand-dyed the fabrics but I've also taken a painterly approach and added highlights and extras using fabric paints and pencils. I really enjoyed this part and I hope my students do too.
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Because I had so much fun with the fruit project (and it still has to be finished completely) I have decided to make a small fused item each week. This is making a rod for my back but I think it will help to focus me. And because I wanted something small that wouldn't have me losing the will to live half way through I have decided that they will be of a size to fit my small 'butler's tray' coffee table. Then I can ring the changes and show off my 'art' in my living room to all and sundry. I started with something simple and made a collage of leaves because leaves, and especially autumn leaves, are my favourite things. Again pictures later as I can't take any at the moment. And finally to add to that rod I am going to make a big effort to write in the blog once a week. Ensuring that I have something to write about will push me into completing the weekly project - I hope! So I'm looking forward to an autumn full of log fires, good books and lots of quilting and dyeing!

Out driving!

On Sunday afternoon we went for a drive to Porthlevan via Helston. It was a glorious afternoon with the sun shining and the fields and hedgerows full of Spring flowers. Lovely! The pictures above are of our trip.
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The first one on the left is of the first Cosmos flower to come out in my garden and nothing to do with the trip at all!The next two are of an old Georgian house in a back road in Helston. This is the old part of the town. The next one is of Porthlevan harbour. The tide was in and there were lots of boats moored there. Under the picture of the Cosmos is a picture of a brass band which was playing in front of the pub on the harbour wall. Brass bands are a common feature in Cornwall and are to be found at most events as well as in places like this. Then there is me sitting on the pier wall with the sea behind me. Lovely waves with a glorious curl to them. Future inspiration! And next is a picture of a fishing boat coming back surrounded by seagulls. Not as common a sight as it used to be! Martin found a shop which had a row of carved beach huts for sale. I would have bought one only the shop was closed! And they sell delicious icecream. Such a shame but saved me all those calories! Under the brass band are two pictures of the boating lake on the outskirts of Helston. I couldn't resist the picture of the ducks tail up in the water. Then home through Helston town this time. And views of old mining chimneys and chimneys complete with engine house. There are heaps of these all over - a most common site in this part of the world where tin mining used to be the occupation! Lovely foxgloves with views behind of the new modern windmills. Not a patch on the old windmills of yore! No soul! To me they are an alien force straight from science fiction! Views of the sea and estuary of the river Fal as we come down Mabe hill and last but not least daisies hiding in the rushes at the petrol station we stopped at near home. All in all a good afternoon's outing; much enjoyed by both of us!

The Road to Hell!

Well I am probably well on my way to Hell as my intentions have been good but not unfortunately brought to fruition. I am of course talking about my lack of content for the blog! I would like to thank all those people who so kindly leave comments or email me. Please do keep them coming as they are a spur to my conscience. They are much appreciated and make me feel really bad that I'm not more regular in my writings. However I am now going to make up for my tardiness!
At the end of May my quilting group had a demonstration table in one of the tents at Mabe Shindig and Steam rally. As my group holds it's classes in Mabe we thought this would be a good advertisment. However sometimes one's plans go adrift. We hadn't counted on the weather being so appalling. Rain and high winds. It was so bad that the show was called off in the afternoon which was so sad for the organisers. I felt really sorry for all the folk in the craft tent trying to sell their goods as few people ventured out into the misery of the weather. We had a good time among ourselves drinking coffee and eating biscuits. In the picture below Yvonne is showing Eileen how to make Yo Yo's using the Clover tool. The quilt on the tent wall is the first large quilt that Yvonne made and lovely it is too!


Here are some pictures of the Disperse Dyeing I did (all on originally white poly/cotton). From the top left: dyed background with stamped shapes to use as base for an applique eventually; then two pieces with leaf panels to use as borders.In the middle row from the left two pieces which were randomly printed to use as backgrounds and on the right a piece made up of various prints to make a fishy scene. Bottom left is a graduation of prints making up a landscape type piece. Disperse dyes being transparent some interesting effects and colours can be made. And the last two are done on Lutradur which I shall burn and distress for my class on Fabric Postcards in a fortnight's time. I thoroughly enjoyed this and the class had a great time. I like to keep painted papers by me so that I can print whenever I need to.


As well as this I have been doing some Trapunto by Machine. I love the effect of Trapunto and this is such an easy way of achieving it. And as well one ends up with a usable back.






And as well as all this quilting I have been working hard in the garden. I am only a spring-summer gardener and this year Spring came late or so it seemed! I have sown seeds and planted plants and now I'm waiting for them to do things. The Avocado has weathered the winter sans it's little tent...it's now too big for it. The leaves looked very sad but there are masses of new ones coming and the old ones are dropping off. Not the world's best example of an avocado but it is mine own and I like it! I really ought to dust off my other blog now that I'm doing something in the gardening but it takes me all my time to remember to add to this one. One of the problems being that now the computer is upstairs I don't use it as much! I don't quite know how to over come this! I have a lap top but it's not the same!
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I shall have to make more effort soon as I have to design and make next year's quilt for class. I'm hoping to do an applique quilt this year in some shape or other so if I'm on the computer designing that there will be no excuse for not keeping up the blog. I already have some rough ideas sketched out and now it is a matter of playing with them in Photoshop or EQ6.
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I have to hang my head in shame and say that I dropped out of the Take it Further Challenge as I just couldn't keep up. Too much going on that took precedence! Including reading a book now and then! At the moment I am wading or should say galloping through the Father Cadfael books by Ellis Peters! I'm amazed I've only just found them. I now want to go to Shrewsbury to visit all the places in the books! My mother comes from Shropshire so it would be interesting to have a leisurely look around rather than just driving through the county on the way to Scotland. Perhaps I'll arrange a week's holiday to coincide with our Wedding Anniversary in July. 42 years married! Doesn't seem nearly as long as that! I wonder if Martin would say the same? Big Grin!