MK Gems exhibition of Machine Embroidery

This morning Chris and I went to an exhibition at Woburn Sands by the MK Gems group in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

WOW WOW WOW it was wonderful and full of inspiration. I will let the photo's I took tell the story.

Love the setting

The black makes the ME zing

Worked in a large frame, love the bird

Some great ideas, including flashing lights

Just wonderful



love the different fairies



Table mats and table runner

A table full of great ideas

Such a pretty little bag

mounted on boxes

The flower is 3D

The 3D flower in the middle is great

Pretty use of colours

Worked in "glow in the dark" threads

Design by JuJu their Ninja set



Delicate colours for a lap quilt



Brenda had to have an emergency op this morning! Brenda being my Brother Innovis 4000D she packed up in the middle of me trying to ME 30 little angels to put on the festive table at church. Luckily Mike the engineer was at the shop and fixed it while I waited. She is purring away sewing out angels like there is no tomorrow. Bonus was he did not charge me!
.

30 Little Angels in the making

12 Days of Christmas and a jacket

I managed to sew together, quilt and bind my 12 Days of Christmas table runner. It measures 52 x 16 inches and will look nice on my table for the holidays.

For some time I have wanted to embroider on a sweatshirt or T shirt, so today I bought a zippered jacket from Asda for £8 to have a go. Decided this would not be too much of a great loss if it didn't work out OK.

I choose one of Anita Goodesign patterns for an eagle and I am so pleased with the result. I may go back and buy another jacket and do a Christmasy design!

The Eagle has landed!

12 days of Christmas

Machine Embroidery Day

Spent the day yesterday with a Machine Embroidery group at Bedford.
We decided to sew out the 12 days of Christmas in 5 inch blocks together with a larger middle block with the words 12 Days of Christmas.
Needless to say there was a lot of singing as we sewed to work out the order of the blocks!

As my friend Penny was away there was an empty machine beside me so I decided to use both of them, sliding back and forward between two machines was exhausting, but I did manage to get 11 of the 12 blocks and the larger block completed. This morning I sewed out the missing 12th block and now just need to put it all together.

Using two machines at the same time!

The central panel

Happy Birthday to me...

Woke this morning to a pile of cards, that had been arriving over the last few days, and some lovely gifts from family and friends.
Am I really 69 today? Do not feel that old!
A post card exchange group I belong to made for an interesting time as I had received 12 fabric cards. No idea why the photo is on its side.


Self portrait in the mirror



12 fabric postcards hanging on a ribbon

Christmas cards and postcards

I've been busy making Christmas postcards for a swap I am in with BQLPC yahoo group.
I think about 10 or 11 people have signed up for it [ sign up does not end for a few days] so I have managed to complete 12 PC's some in red and some in cream.

I also like to make a few special Christmas cards for frineds, and have managed to make nine so far on my embroidery machine. The design is called Christmas Classics from Anita Goodesign.

How are you all doing with making cards? getting ready for Christmas?

Drop me a comment and let me know.


12 candle postcards and 9 cards made on my EM



Birthday lunch

Richard and Jacq invited us over yesterday [Sunday] for lunch to celebrate my birthday.

After Church we dropped by friend Pauline's who is home from hospital [arthroscope] to say hello, she was busy quilting and resting her knee.

Then onto the family for a lovely lunch and birthday cake made by my son Richard. Then while we chatted the granddaughters did what most children seem to do these days...



Playing on their tablets!



The new furniture

A "lets just look" in a furniture shop led to buying two sofa's !

We had not even measured them to see if they would fit in our lounge, but luckily they did. I am really pleased with them and they are very comfy. Of course this has led to other changes, curtains, rug etc.. and I will probably make new cushions.

Gel Nail Polish help needed

Anyone any tips on removing Gel Nail polish? I thought I could use ordinary nail polish remover, but apparently not! I will have to remove my new nail polish in a couple of weeks when I go into hospital.

I've been "gelled"

My finger nails are not normally very good as they break easily but I bought a £9 offer on Groupon to have them manicured with Gel polish [ normally £21!]. I thought it would be a nice treat for my birthday next week, but discovered I have to remove all nail polish before I can have my knee replacement op the beginning of December. To make the most of my new fancy nails I had them done today. While in town Chris bought me my birthday gift which I will now have to wait until next week to get. We also went mad and bought new lounge furniture that will arrive tomorrow!

Here's a picture of my new nails with two of my miniature sewing machines.

Pretty new nails.

Lone Star Log Cabin opps!!!

Black strips do not match

Thought I would do a trial log cabin block for my new quilt, and was really too tired.. So opps I cut the wrong fabrics and the matching black strips are wrong, but I am pleased with the size of 1 1/2 inch strips and now need to make about 130 to 150 log blocks! I will work out the actual number as I go along. This is going to be quite an "I Spy" quilt with all the different black and white fabrics I have.

Yahoo group items

The BQLPC yahoo group [British Quilters List Post Card] run a yearly Birthday post card exchange list and there are four birthdays in November including mine! These are the PC's I've made for the exchange.

PC to Inge in Berlin



PC to Avril in Twickenham




PC to Sue in Poole

The Stitch Specialist yahoo group occasionally have a sign up for a RAK [ Random Act of Kindness ] and I have just received a gift from Patsy in Texas.. thank you so much.


RAK from Patsy in Texas



Lone Star in Log Cabin Quilt

4 sets of strips in order

Using the 45degree angle on my ruler

4 sets of 8 cut strips

I have been working on my Lone Star in Log Cabin quilt this afternoon.
I started by choosing six black fabrics and one red that I would use twice.
Cut them into 1 3/4 inch strips the width of the fabric [42"] and lettered them A to G [A and G being Red].
From my little scribbled plan I needed the following strips:

1 x A ; 2 x B ; 3 x C ; 4 x D ; 3 x E ; 2 x F ; and 1 X G

Next I joined then in groups of four ABCD ; BCDE ; CDEF ; DEFG
Using my ruler I made the first cut at a 45 degree angle [ marked on most rulers] and then cut 1 3/4 inch strips eight times.
Keeping everything in order I joined the strips together carefully matching the seams.
The final piece of the puzzle was to attach the white squares and triangles. Four 7 1/2 inch squares. One square 11 3/16 inch cut on the diagonals to give me four triangles.
Everything went together fairly easily. My next move will be to border the Lone Star and work out the size of my Log Cabin blocks that will surround it.


Lone Star completed











New Project in the design stage

About two years ago I started saving black, white and red fabric with plans to make a new quilt for our bed. I now think I have enough fabric and I'm "in the mood" to start something new.

I have decided to make a Lone Star on point centre with log cabins surrounding it.
Having played about with rulers and paper I have decided on the star size and think I will make this first. I intend to use the strip method and will cut 1 3/4" strips.
Next I will decide on the log cabin size.. probably be 2" cut [ 1 1/2" finish ] strips. If I have my measurements right I will need about 72 full size log cabin blocks and 12 half size log cabins.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Some of my fabrics for the new quilt.

Friday heading home

As the Land Rover was completed yesterday morning we went out for lunch together and then shopping. Managed to get the last of the Christmas gifts I needed, so decided to go home today.

It has been an interesting few days here in Yorkshire, a lot of mist and rain, but occasionally some nice bright days. Looks like today will be nice for driving home.

While I have had lots of free time I have planned lots of quilt, machine embroidery projects and cross stitch samplers I want to make, now to find the time when I get home and real life kicks in!

Thursday at the Old Police House

Chris relaxes

Wow what a game and score!

Looks like today may be our last here as the Land Rover is nearly completed.

Originally the mechanic  said he might need it for two weeks, but we hoped with Chris helping it might be finished in the week... Looks like it is only going to take three and a half days.



A little progress on my sampler



Last night when I collected Chris the mechanic, Paul, said for me to follow The Land Rover home with a bucket to pick up any bits that drop off!! I do hope he was joking after spending about £2500 on it.

Plan to spend the morning on my cross stitch. It is nowhere near finished.

Wednesday at the Old Police House




More shopping!



  Decided today I would make more of an effort on my cross stitch, I would like to get it finished before I go home.
Dropped Chris off as usual and planed to just return something to BHS, but on the way saw some shops I had not visited in a long time... Yes you've guessed I came back with a boot full of shopping AGAIN. Still at least three things are Christmas presents.

Tuesday at The Old Police House



Pretty avenue of trees



Decided to drive to Bakewell through the Peaks National Park today after dropping Chris off.

The weather is awful very misty and raining on and off... Guess it could be worse, it's snowing a little further north.



Aim of going to Bakewell was to visit the Needlework shop.. Could not find a thing I wanted so it was a cheap visit. Wandering back to the car I managed to buy two pairs of slippers and some great bargain clothes in two Charity shops.

Misty Lady Bower Reservoir

Took my sandwich to Lady Bower reservoir as I thought it would be a nice place to eat but the mist and rain were so bad I could hardly see across the water. Drove home to do some of my Amish cross stitch.

Some of my bargain buys!

Took a quick look at the Land Rover and it already has the old chassis out and the nice new shinny one in places when I picked him up later.

A week in Rotherham

Yesterday we made the trip to Rawmarsh near Rotherham in both cars. We are here for a week to enable Chris to get a new chassis for his Land Rover.

Having arrived at the Old Police House we settled in and I started dinner... Then BANG the element in the oven blew up and after some resetting the electricity I managed to cook on the hob and with the microwave.

Today Chris set off for the garage and spent the day getting covered in oil/grease and goodness knows what ! Helping the mechanic remove the main body of the car. Sounded like he enjoyed helping and will be back there all week.




Body off the Land Rover



My day was spent at the Parkgate shopping centre, where I shopped until I was ready to drop!

Although I did find a little cross stitch time before collecting Chris from the garage.

Santa Napkins

Yesterday was IAM day and 7 of us spent the day laughing and working on our different crafts. I managed to cut out and prepare TEN Santas for napkin holders. I just need to put them around red napkins and stick the backs together. This pattern has always been a favorite and last Christmas my DIL's sister asked if I'd make her some, so she is getting ten for her present this year.

The show and tell we held after lunch was very varied, with a crochet bowl by Shirley, pretty floral cushion by Maureen, great cards by Ann, door stop by Penny, quilt in the making by Jenny, and heart by Dorn amongst the items.

Shape for fur, add pink card google eyes and red nose!

Halloween Fun

Last night from about 6.30pm to 8pm I had lots of Trick or Treaters, many in wonderful costumes. Three little boys came to the door not looking very dressed up so I commented they had not made much of an effort only for them to open their shirts to expose T shirts with fake blood dripping down... ugh... they all got goodies.

Halloween seems to have really taken off around here, as a child I do not remember celebrating this day. I love to see parents with their children making an effort and having some fun.