Well the other day I cleaned out our little pond (which is in fact a old pig trough) and in doing so upset the little frog who promptly left after being disturbed in such a manner. Then the other day I noticed something glinting in the spring sunshine and saw these
Can you see the tiny eggs – I was so pleased. My thinking was frog spawn – can you imagine my delight when this lovely creature was spotted by my husband …. introducing “Norman (or Norma) the newt. (and maybe lots of little newtlets (what are baby newts called?)
As you will see from the photo below I have managed to put in a few stitches for Sophia amongst the other sewing projects I have on the go.
March 2022
And now ….
May 2022
My husband is really pleased how she is developing.
I have also been sewing various blocks of “Memoirs” quilt. Here are some photos – this is not the layout just a scattering of the blocks.
As well as sewing I have now taken up the hobby of Scrapbooking. I received a Scrap Book for Christmas. In truth it is not a new hobby as I have always kept a journal of my holidays and typed up the details and put them in a scrap book with entry tickets to various museums, archaeological sites, airplane tickets etc etc. This new book will contain collected recipes, ideas in magazines that I want to try, favourite books, music, artworks and crafts that I like. Basically things that pique my interest and things about me.
Doing this has certainly diminished the amount of magazines I had stored. I purchased the papers online from “The Mad Scrapper” and am sticking the items with a Crafters Companion glue reel and also using stickers I purchased from Amazon along with some lace designed washi tape. It is quite good fun and a little similar to patchwork just a different medium.
Hope you enjoy the holiday if living in good old Blighty!
I have been sewing loads of 1 1/2″ squares both in cream and black. Some have been added to blocks others are in various stages. So without further ado here is where I was last time
And here is where I am now
AS you can see I have added another round to the floor area and started on the next one. Also I have added two lines of black between the images from the top row and the image above, as well as started on the stage area (right of this image).
Well that is me for this week, please click on the links below to see what has been occurring with the other members and their sewing projects.
Well I am fully recovered and have made some good inroads with regard to my Fruits of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery so without further ado here is where i was last time…….
And here is where I am now …….
So that is me, why not pop along to see what the other members of this SAL have achieved in three weeks.
Hope you have all enjoyed the Easter Holidays. The weather in my part of old Blighty has been most enjoyable. Small jobs have got done in the garden, today I was on pond cleaning duties which is quite smelly as the water had gone very green and it reminded me of a seaweed estuary. It was very satisfying when completed. Birds do not seem to mind the horrible water and we had one frog which I rescued and he hopped away – hope he comes back. Anyway at 9:30 this morning I took the following photograph and there was a bright rainbow halo to the sun – does this have a special name?
Also the fern is beginning to unfurl – they look so mysterious
And to end a pretty picture in pink
That is the pond before being cleaned.
Bye for now
Sorry forgot to mention that we have a blackbird nesting and a robin nesting as well as the return of the bats or rather they came from their roosting site because of the warmer weather. They whizz around the garden faster than Lewis Hamilton (not quite sure on that fact) but they are delightful to watch. Do you have any unusual creatures visit your garden?
Hope you have lots of chocolate, flowers and hot cross buns to delight you.
I have finished my Daybreak Quilt – here is a photo
This is my first quilt finish totally, I have various other quilts in the quilting stage and am getting more confident with every stitch. I haven’t measured this but would say it makes a lap quilt.
Thats all for now, hope you have a few nice days over the Easter Period.
Feeling much better now and have been sewing my Nashville Quilt. I need so many little 1.5″ squares in black and ivory. I’ve also had a problem with one of the blocks already made but I have re-jigged how the quilt will look and that has solved the problem. So much mathematics – you need a degree to work it out sometimes. I much prefer language to maths anyday.
Well enough of that – here are the photos
I have sewn the two silhouettes together and they make 15″ which is good and then the strap line “Spirit of Nashville” will sit as shown but needs an inch either end and then that leaves me with 12″ divided by 2. Perfect! The area above will be 1.5″ black squares and then according to my original projections I think that 2 rows of black 1.5″ squares are required underneath.
On the middle section I have sewn loads of ivory squares together in strips and attached them to the chair sections. I thought it would look too pale so decided to fussy cut the star and make that the centre of the dance floor. At the moment it measures 9″ square and my feeling is to sew two more rounds giving me a 15″ square, the next row to be in red 18″ square, and then ivory making it 21″ square.
Lets hope that all works out otherwise back to the drawing board.
Bye for now
Daisy
Now why not pop along to the other members to see how they have progressed on their individual projects.
Well as I have been off ill from paid work, the opportunity to sit and watch the garden in the spring sunshine was one not to pass up as Mrs Blackbird is fervently building her nest. To my dismay, she arrived on her second forage with a piece of plastic and before I reached the door ( not very speedy on one crutch), she was in the nest area in the Choisia. Why we leave plastic lying around I do not know! A few minutes later she left and Mr Blackbird arrived, he isn’t helping with the nest building but he dived straight in and to my delight had the plastic in his beak and promptly flew off with it. Mrs Blackbird arrived with several long pieces of grass and shrubbery. She didn’t seem to notice that the plastic was missing and there was no screeching at the husband so his good deed passes without remark.
I have also managed a little sewing between the coughing fits and headaches – so do you remember this
Well it is now hand quilted – I didn’t really have a plan but decided to stitch closely to the seams making complete squares of the central designs and then a concentric square around that. Photos show it best. I chose three different threads Aurifil No. 2312 a light beige, Aurifil thread 2318 a golden colour and Aurifil variegated thread 4668.
reverse of quilted design Daybreak
The backing fabric is from “Folklore” Moda fabrics.
My apologies for missing the SAL on Sunday 3rd April but I have been terribly ill with a heavy cold and a mega migraine attack. I will have something to show next time though.
I haven’t done a garden update for what seems like ages, so here are loads of photos of wildlife and flowers amongst the various trees in our garden. I like knowing that we are doing our bit to help the wildlife, especially the bees. Very large bumble bees love the Pieris forest flame flowers – some with white bums some with yellow. Can you see his little wings in the second frame?
My husband refurbished this jackdaw (which he purchased last halloween) with some black Hammerite paint – it has a nice sheen to it. The robin pays no attention to it and blatantly sits on his head – bold as brass!
Rhododendrum buds awaiting to burst and Camelia bud just opening.
Photinia – Crispy Pink and Pieris – Forest Flame in full bloom.
Last but not least – an “arty” photo of our palm tree
I love to share my Quilting projects with other Quilters. My goal is to share my progress on projects that I am working on. I would love for you to follow along with me during my endeavors. I hope you enjoy watching me tackle new techniques and projects. Hopefully you can learn from my "hiccups" and mistakes and make your journey easier.
Daisy Stitches and Art 