Saturday 26 January 2013

Still busy sewing and stitching

Having finished my little throw I had to make cushions to match. I am running out of old cushions to make covers for! I shall have to have a trip to Ikea as most of these were ones I bought for 50p each!
 
Yes that was a few years ago. LOL
And this is my 'Anniversaries of the Heart' by Blackbird designs.
It is my Stitch Along 2013 item and number three in the set.
My 'Welcome' piece has had several evenings work on it as I was determined to start the ginger cat and so you can now see its tail!
My LHN design is coming along too and this I am stitching with the SAL on Needlecraft Haven  on Wednesday evenings

I have also stitched a little on my Chatelaine but not a lot. I was once again thinking to push this to the bottom of all my stitching charts and forget it, but I happened across a blog that was all Chatelaines and Convents Herbal Garden looked beautiful, so I shall give it another chance.
Thank you to all my followers and those who comment it is so lovely to see them all, I am slowly making my way through the list to visit your blog too.
Happy Days even if you're one of those sweltering in the heat of Australia or like me snowy!

Friday 25 January 2013

'A Song for Jenny' a book worth reading.

In 2012 I read 67 books plus the  Bible and various other sewing, quilting and gardening books..

This is one of the first books I have read in this year and what a book!

`A Song for Jenny ` is a mother's account of her life for five weeks and six days - from a beautiful summer’s  morning until her daughter Jenny’s funeral.
It started with a phone call, interrupting her holiday in the family holiday home on Anglesey, from her other daughter to say that Jenny wasn’t answering her phone and that there had been some explosions in London that morning.
At first they all held the hope that Jenny was busy at work and couldn’t answer her phone. But her boyfriend could get her on the phone either and her office reported that she hadn’t arrived. Julie and the family found out four days after that morning, that suicide bombers had taken the life of Julie's daughter. 51 other innocent people also lost their lives and many were injured and maimed on that summer morning July 8th in 2005 
The book is so descriptive and beautifully written, that I could have been standing in Julie's shoes looking out of the window that morning watching the birds and remembering family holidays gone by; but then, of course, she takes us with her into the waiting, the hope, despair, the anger, the disbelief and the guilt for being so focused on the one child who had gone. Julie's description of the pain and longing is heart wrenching to read but with equal skill brings Jenny to life on the page; this beautiful and vivacious daughter. Even though the account concludes with Jenny's funeral, the reader knows that Julie must have Jenny very securely in her heart to have written this and that gives us hope.
That a mother can survive the loss of her daughter in such terrible circumstances and go on to write such a moving account of the experience is an inspiration to us all.
Once I started reading this book I couldn’t put it down and there were many times when my eyes filled with tears. Even though you know the outcome, I recommend that this book is worth reading, because until you do you can never understand or realise the actual effects that these dreadful acts have on those who remain behind after a loved one is taken so suddenly.
 

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Enjoying the snow

This is Nell enjoying the snow..
 
She came in wet with ice bits on her fur which dripped everywhere!LOL
 
Our roads are clear and the pavements in town are clear but all around us the pavements are still thick with snow, and now a bit slushy!
So pretty when it first arrives but now 4 days on I am a bit fed up of it! Possibly if I was still teaching and in a school closed because of the snow, I 'd be happy with 4 plus days!!



PS Thank you for all the comments on my previous post, we have sussed what's wrong, its my laptop as on my DH's laptop my blog is centred.. so I need a new one!!

Monday 21 January 2013

I have broken my blog!!

I can't get my blog as it used to be and the more  I fiddle with it the worse it gets.

Anyone any ideas? I can load different back grounds etc but for some reason my main blog bit is to one side all the time. I have tried different layouts but it hasn't corrected it.

So I need help?

Any suggestions?

Chris xx

Monday 14 January 2013

Latest efforts in patchwork

A while ago on a visit to Hobby Craft I bought this pack of 6 fat quarters
 
And with some white sashing and some contrast fabric I have made this
 
The colours look different but I can assure you they are the same! Although this is just squares and rectangles again, all the cutting and sewing is practice and I am getting much neater and all the corners fit. In the sashing the contrast squares are 2"x 2" so I needed it to be accurate to fit.
It is lovely and bright in the conservatory and I have enough left over to make some matching cushions.
I am loving this sewing and have already started a new quilt!

Wednesday 9 January 2013

A RAK for someone special

A little time before Christmas I decided to give a little some thing to Elisa, she was the very first and only person to write a comment on my blog for several weeks when  I first started.  So I made this Christmas pennie pocket, popped in some chocs and posted it.
It never got there!  I was so disappointed and checked several times with her incase it had taken its time in ths christmas post. But no it never arrived!
So I sent her another.
 
I actually made 14 because  I gave some to my sewing class members and our grand children.
Here are just a few. I loved making them and intend to make more in different colours for pencils and sewing bits when I turn our small bedroom into my own sewing room!

Happy stitching or sewing or what ever takes your fancy.



Friday 4 January 2013

Some progress at last

Well as you can see I have stitched a little on my Chatelaine. This is one evenings work. I am going to try to bead as I go as there is an awful lot of them. Altho' I have stitched this I wasn't enthusiastic, if you get my meaning but I am hoping as  I progress I will get to like it better.
Thank you to all that encouraged me to give this another go!
 
 
 
This is a lot easier to stitch and is Little House Needlework's  'Natures Beauty' which I am stitching in the parlor with Needlecraft Haven on Wednesday evenings..
 
 
 
 
And this is my Sudberry House by designer Donna Vermillion Giampa called 'Welcome.'
Its odd fabric, not quite aida and not quite even weave, but nice  to work on and I like the colour
 
 
I will also be working on my Anniversaries of the Heart by Blackbird designs and this I will be joining in with Stitch A  Long 2013 blog.

 This is a new blog set up by Tara which I will be helping her with. Do come along and join in if you have any UFO s that you want to finish this year or indeed any WIP where you would like to stitch with others..

Happy Stitching

Chris xx

PS I had a dreadful problem loading this pics, now when you open the picture to load the usual browse  box doesn't come up.. any one had a bother to load pics too?