It's beginning to feel like spring

Well the sun is shining at least. In my garden primroses and crocuses ...

... and above my desk, a spring banner

A couple of weeks ago I went to a workshop entitled 'Quilt as you Go', at a new shop which opened last autumn in Halifax (Yorkshire) called Fabbadashery. I didn't really know what to expect but I made this cute little needlebook.

The idea is that you choose fabrics which don't match, team them with embroidery thread which clashes and then embellish to your heart's content. I added a little pocket on the inside of the front cover to hold a needle threader. I shall make little fabric labels to tell me which needles are kept on each page.





I've also been stitching lace - I knew you wouldn't be surprised :-)

Isabella is almost finished. It's difficult to tell from the photo but she and Magda are around 35cm tall so they will make a striking pair mounted on grey fabric in black frames.

I've also been hem stitching napkins for my daughter - for the past few months but they're finally finished. There are six in all, two of each of three colours, a dusky pink, slate blue and a dusty purple. Hope she will be pleased with them!

A group of us (five in all) from my Embroiderers Guild branch have begun a travelling book. Each of us owns an A5 book and we've started our own books off this month by making a cover, a title page and our signature piece. Next Monday at the monthly meeting we will pass our book onto the next person in the group and they too will stitch a piece to fit into the book. The left hand page holds the inspiration for the piece - which might be anything ... a poem, a collage, a piece of embroidery ...
My signature piece had to be needlelace didn't it?

And finally ...

my 1/4" scale stationmaster's cottage is at last beginning to take shape. Lots of furniture to make yet but the exterior is almost finished.

A lace mask and some miniatures

Yes, I have actually been working on some miniatures. I know its been a while but other things (like holidays and visitors, exhibitions and competitions) have been getting in the way. However, this week I've been working on the quarter scale cottages. These are semi-detached and will have a thatched roof eventually, which will make them the only thatched cottages in the street but that's ok.

 The right hand cottage is quite large with four rooms and rendered walls

The one on the left just has one room downstairs and one upstairs and I've given the exterior walls of this one a stone finish.

This is the smaller cottage. It still needs a few pieces of furniture - a small table to go with that dining chair and an armchair by the fire I think as well as a comfortable rug by the hearth and some pictures on the walls to make it look a little cosier.

 The larger cottage already has its dining table (just noticed that dining chair that has fallen over).

 The furniture in this cottage has a 1940s feel - including the fireplace in the sitting room.

 There will be a settee and armchair in this room too - eventually.

Even the bathroom is a little old fashioned with that high cistern toilet.

The kitchen is small but I've managed to squeeze in a cooker and a sink unit with cupboards.

This is the lace mask. It's taken me a while to work out exactly how to fix it onto the plastic mask that I had bought for the purpose and I finally covered the front of the mask with gold lame and the back with red silk dupion, then stitched the lace onto that. I have to admit to being pretty pleased with the final result of this piece which has taken countless hours of work.

Oh ... and this morning I also framed this piece.

This was a kit from Stef Francis with a small embossed metal panel in the centre - and now hanging on my lounge wall.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I'm leaving you with a little autumn colour in the shape of a potted maple in my garden. In real life it's even redder than it looks in this photograph - really scarlet. It cheers me even on the gloomiest day.

A trip to London and new cottages

Sorry I've been away for a while but I've been down to London for a few days so I'm going to begin this post with a few of the photos I took whilst I was there.

My son and I had tickets for centre court at Wimbledon - on the day that Federer left the competition. Such an exciting experience ... and another one ticked off the list of things to do whilst I still can. Do you have one of those lists? I don't call it a bucket list, though I know that some people do.

Yes, we were a long way back but actually we had a brilliant view of all the action.

I also made a visit to the William Morris Gallery. I love his designs and found lots of inspiration for embroideries whilst I was there. The gallery is situated inside a park, and as the weather was glorious I spent quite a while looking around the gardens there too.

No photos but my daughter and I went to see Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall - my favourite ballet (it's actually the 9th time I've seen it - all by different ballet companies) and with 127 dancers in total, including 60 swans, this production was certainly impressive!

I've also been busy with my 1/48th scale cottages. There are two in a row this time - one is tiny and the other has obviously been extended at some time as it's twice the size.

I've put false walls in the back of some of the rooms so it appears that there is at least a staircase to the upstairs level.

 This is the ground floor of the smaller cottage - complete with cooker and dresser...

... and here is the bedroom - tiny but there will be enough room for a bed and chest of drawers at least and perhaps a dressing table in front of the window.

The larger cottage now has a separate kitchen with a cooker and sink unit (I still need to put taps on the sink). Probably some wall shelves will complete this room.

Lots of space in the living room for bookshelves, sideboard and comfy armchairs.

Upstairs is a large bedroom and ...

... a tiny bathroom.

The front wall has been covered with air-drying clay with the smaller cottage being given a stonework finish while the larger cottage has plain rendered walls.

There is still lots of work to do on these but I'll show my progress over the coming week or so.