June Postcard Swap

The BQLPC yahoo group I belong to have just had a Naked flower Swap, where postcards had to be send "naked" through the post.

The five I have received starting from the top left reading clockwise, were from Lesley, Jan, Heather. Miriam and Jacquie. They are all so different using different techniques.

Only Miriam's bead work got a little damaged in the post and lost a few beads, but I love them all.

The two day retreat

A friend from Church,  Rachael, and I have just been on a two day visit to the London Temple.

The trip down was much too long, as the Sat Nav decided to play up, but we got there eventually and signed into our rooms.

The peace and quiet and friendly faces were a real blessing and we had a very nice time.

This photo was taken at 8am when the sun was warm and everything looked calm and peaceful.
Thankfully the trip home was quick and uneventful.

Summer Tree Sampler

A stitch sampler Summer Tree

This is a picture of my Summer Tree Part 1, 2 & 3.. I am trying to get upto date with the SAL, but only joined the StitchSpecailist yahoo group a few days ago.
So far I have used the wrong even weave fabric .. I only had 22 count so used that! [Should probably have been 26 or smaller!]
 I have a zillion DMC threads in every colour so have been using those, three strands for everything except stage 3 when I used two strands. I also started the tree in green and thought half way through it should be brown, so mixed green and brown for a while and then changed to all brown !
It has been a real learning process but I so enjoy doing it. Will start stage 4 this afternoon while watching Wimbledon Tennis!

Bag Day

My bag

Just home from a great day at Milton Keynes making a bag with Tiny.

I can see this bag being quite a favourite, as it's small enough but with a pocket on the outside and two on the inside it will be really useful. Great Day.

The Die Cutting Machine



The Sizzix Big Shot

 After much deliberating I have purchased a Sizzix Big Shot Machine.

A trip to Snettisham on Saturday to collect the machine and buy some extra dies and plates etc., plus some wild bidding on Ebay means I have a very nice collection of items to play with.

My main reason for wanting a cutting machine was to cut 5 inch squares and 2 1.2 inch strips, this machine does both.

My final choice of machine between the Accuquilt and the Sizzix was the fact you can use Accuquilt dies on the Sizzix but not the other way around.

BSK machine Embroidery day

Spent today at BSK Bedford working on a flowerpots in a window scene.

The day was great as usual and I managed to sew out 6 of the 9 flowerpot pictures, hope to complete it tomorrow if I get time.

Naked Flower Swap

The June BQLPC swap theme was Flowers that had to be posted "naked" in other words .. no envelopes.



Six of us signed up for the exchange, and my five will be in the post this afternoon.

Hamtune Quilters

Ineke Berlyn

Quilts, quilts and more quilts

Tuesday evening was the regular meeting of Hamtune Quilters with speaker Ineke Berlyn. She gave a very interesting talk from A to Z.

At the end of the meeting the quilts that had been shown at Bramble Patch were given back to their owners but we all had a chance to see them again.

The Heron!

Awoke Sunday morning to find we had had a visit from a heron!  There looked to be only one fish left in the pond, which meant the heron had eaten 28, some quite large! I was very upset, as many have names and have been with us for years.

Monday we discovered more fish, they were so scared they had been hiding, and the final count was 16, meaning we had lost 13.
Tuesday we purchased 10 small gold fish and 3 shabunkins, I hope they like their new home.

Accuquilt v Sizzix

Having sold some things on Ebay I had a little splurge yesterday and bought some fabric.
I love the fabric that looks like bolts of fabric... wonder what I will do with that! In fact I wonder what I will do with any of it, as I already have cupboards full!

I have also decided to buy a cutting machine for fabric, and cannot decide  between the Accuquilt and the Sizzix, if you have either [or both] these machines please leave me a message with any thoughts you have about them.

BQS day

Today was BQS at Bedford's quilting and Stitching day.

On arrival you can choose from a number of different workshops, some only half a day and some all day.

I choose to attend Shirley Nash's class on Drawn Thread work, something I had not done before.

We worked on Linen Scrim with Perle 8 thread.
I really enjoyed the class and although I still have a lot to learn feel quite happy with my first sampler.

Bramble Patch Exhibition

Friday I visited Bramble Patch at Weedon to see their exhibition. I had my Family Tree quilt on show. This is just a selection of some of the quilts etc.. that I really liked.

 

 

 

Poppy Patch Sit-n-Sew Day

Penny & Christine

Lynda

Val, Ginette, Charmain, Janet & Marie

Feely bags game

Document and credit card purses

A really nice day at Poppy Patch where I managed to make 25 little bags each with a small item in for a feely game to be held at Church.
I also managed to make a wallet with 4 pockets for some index cards, plus 6 little credit card holders. One of the credit card holders is to match my latest bag and purse, the rest will be given as gifts.

Green Lane Friday

Yes we managed to get through this gate!

A wonderful view of the lane ahead

Interesting sign on one of the gates just before we saw a barn owl



Lunch break




Overgrown and locked!




A Byway with a very small gate!



Lower Shuckburgh Church



Lower Shuckburgh Stocks



After getting stuck in the rut!



Part of our route around Northamptonshire



Chris opening a gate

Friday was a beautiful sunny day so Chris and I set off to drive the Byways around Northamptonshire. This is a wonderful way to see the countryside and appreciate the County we live in.

Chris does almost all the driving, but on occasion I do some, and it was while I was driving I got the car stuck in a very deep rut, so deep Chris could not get out of the car to help drive it out of the rut. Eventually I manged to 'fall' out of myside, which was high off the ground and he crawled over the cubby box to perform his magic and get us out of the rut. Needless to say both me and the car were covered in mud! What fun we have.  Thank goodness we had already passed the stocks at Lower Shuckburgh or I might have found myself in them!
A number of the Byways that should be open we found locked which was a shame and Chris will contact the council about them.

Main gate locked and barbwired!

IAM 6th June

Jenny Dorn and Shirley

Maureen Clare and Ann



Purse Day



Another great IAM day spent making purses.
Everyone worked really hard to complete their purse amid much bantering and laughter..
Show and tell [ should have taken photos!] after lunch was a real mix of items, from wonderful crocheted cushions to Jenny's star quilt. Clare had made a lovely Linus quilt and we all loved the Lucy Attwell backing.  I showed two bags I had recently made plus a pair of socks I had won at Curves for loosing 4.2lbs in the past 4 weeks ;-)

Memory

I can so relate to this, can you?

May Challenge update

This was my May challenge, and I did quite well but not everything got completed.
8 bookmarks need machining.. NOT DONE

3 cushion fronts need backing.. ALL COMPLETED AND MADE INTO CUSHIONS

2 bags need making.. BOTH MADE

1 Linus quilt needs some work.. TOP COMPLETED BUT STILL NEEDS QUILTING AND BINDING

3 Postcards need machining.. DONE, PLUS 4 MORE MADE

1 ME exchange block need a lot of work to make into a quilt.. COMPLETED AND HANGING ON WALL.

Total items 18 some easy some not so easy.  

Sewing with the Flaxton's

Olivia

Jenny

At the last school holiday Jenny and graddaughter Olivia come and started making the top of a quilt with me.

This school holiday another visit and they managed to sew on the borders, and using a fleece backing quilt the tops and put on the binding.

Some homework is required to finish everything but well done both of you.

Snuggling with Grandad

Anyone would think we only had one chair in the house?
But then Grandad is always there for a snuggle!

This is the end of a busy day and getting ready to watch TV for a while.

The fish pond

Using the nets

Grandad in the pond

 Thursday was  "Clean out the Pond" day. Not a great job at the best of times, and usually only tackled about once every 5 or 6 years.

The girls were excited as I had bought them nets to catch the fish and move them to the paddling pool we had set up on the lawn.

Moved to the paddling pool

Moving back home

While I cleaned out the baskets of water lilies, and plants the girls and Grandad moved 29 fish 4 or 5 newts and a few frogs and tadpoles to the paddling pool.


We were quite excited to find we had a rare crested newt.

Towards the end of the session Abigail 9yrs fell into the paddling pool and was soaked to the waist, after the shock and finding she was OK we managed to sort out some clothes and a pair of my boots [ miles too big] for her to wear! She was soon outside helping again.

• The water in the paddling pool was put back into the pond next day together with a top up from the waterbutts and some tap water.  The fish and other's all seem happy in their new home.