LOVELY MORNINGS ON THE BEACH

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all been enjoying a super summer. I realise that it’s winter in Australia, so I hope you’re enjoying your winter days too.

I realise that it’s ages since I posted. Nothing much has been going on here in my little corner or the northeast of England. We have been doing what we normally do on summer days but just a little closer to home. I don’t go out much as I too am trying to protect myself and my loved ones from the invisible enemy. However, in recent days I have decided to head over to the beach first thing in the morning before the madding crowd arrives. Yesterday, Friday morning, I was lucky enough to see a rather large ship/boat (there’s some kind of rule regarding whether you call a sea vessel a ship or a boat but I can’t remember what the rule is) leaving our little harbour. I live in a small harbour town on the northeast coast of England and the North Sea. Depending on the time of year, it’s a 3 to 4-minute drive from my home. Here’s a couple of photos of said ship making its way out to sea …..

It was a beautiful morning. And the beach was virtually empty. Notice the paddle boarders in the sea having a lovely time while it’s still quiet. And I came across this architectural marvel in the sand …..

This castle tells me that some child/children had a very enjoyable productive day at the beach the day before.

Today, I have no quilt making progress to show and tell but I do want to let you know that we said goodbye to one of our favourite companions recently …..

Yes folks, our beloved Maisie has finally made her way to Rainbow Bridge. She was 14 years which a jolly good age for a King Charles Spaniel. Maisie was diagnosed with heart disease at the age of 8yo. And we took the very best care eeeking her through the last year or so. This is Maisie approximately a month before she left us ….

Have a good rest my sweet girl and know that you were loved.

On a happier note, today we’re quietly celebrating a birthday …..

So, I guess that’s my news for this week. I hope you all have a super cosy weekend doing things that bring you happiness and joy. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching because stitching really does make the world an easier place to be.

Lucie x

A NEW LODGER

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all safe and in good spirits. This is a summer like no other. The weather has mainly been reasonable. It’s not too hot at the moment.

I have very little in the way of new quilt making progress to be honest. I have been busy doing a wee bit of social distanced socialising for the first time in months. And of course, summer is made for recharging our batteries in readiness for the cooler months ahead.

So, let’s start with the meagre amount of progress on my Brimfield project …..

I layered it up and dragged it outside to take some photos but the colours and freshness don’t come through very well in these shots.

I consider this quilt has a more tradition feel so I have decided to hand quilt when the cooler weather comes along. This will give me plenty of time to work out some tradition looking quilting designs. It was quite nice to piece the block patches even though it was tricky when I first started but once I decided to use my glue pen to keep the patches centred over the papers, things started to get easier.

I kept the borders simple using the same fabric as the block background and adding a contrasting mini border to break up the sameness. I have no idea what I will do with this quilt once it’s finished but I’m sure it will go to good use at some point.

After completing the layering up job on the Brimfield project I was at a loss for something to do of an evening. So, I went searching in my sewing room and found this that was already on the go …..

A few English paper Pieced project which I started more than five years ago. I would come across every now and again and jut move it from place to place in my sewing room. I decided to have a little go on this for a bit. I will turn it into something small because I need that sense of accomplishment that finishing a project brings. And besides, it’s better to work on something small in the warm weather.

Now, I discovered something quite interesting yesterday. I went out into my little garden which lies just outside my sewing to make a plan of action to tidy it up just a wee bit once the flowering shrubs stop flowering. And while I was out there I noticed something quite intriguing.

Notice how this teapot  in the background is full of twiggy bits??? This teapot is a nesting box which is hanging on my fence as an ornament. Well it seems it’s not an ornament anymore …..

I have a little lodger. I imagine it’s a female robin nesting in my teapot. I could barely believe my eyes. And is it nesting time for robins??? Google tells that robins nest between March-August. So, I suppose I’ve got a late bloomer in my garden.

Well, my lovelies, I suppose that’s my news for now. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy doing. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

BRIMFIELD PROGRESS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all having an enjoyably creative day. I spent the last week or so working on my Brimfield quilt project. I finish all the fine hand stitching securing the EPP pieces to the background. And this morning, I trimmed all the blocks to 14-1/2” square …..

And then went on to joining all the blocks together and added some borders …..

I have been on a no purchase kick by trying to use up what I’ve got in my stash but for this one, I feel I need a nice backing because I’m going to hand quilt it. So, now I’m going to put it in the UFO pile until such time as I have saved up a few pennies to buy a nice backing fabric.

Now that I have finished piecing Brimfield I will be needing to start another hand sewing project. I like to have something to work on in the evening. I’m not sure that I have any hand sewing in my UFOs. I have designed a new project; well the drawings and layout are complete. I’ll be tracing the patches onto to freezer paper or fusible web and getting started on that soon but that’s a daytime project. So, it looks like I’ll be turning to hexies once again. I think a scrappy one using up all the small scraps I have accumulated from projects pieced over the last few years would be liberating. No worries about where to place what colour/print would make a nice change. I’ll let you know how it all works out.

Well, my lovely friends, I guess that’s my report for today. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy doing. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

A BIT OF BRIMFIELD

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super weekend. Things were pretty quiet for me. I’m still living life in the slow lane making very little contact with the outside world. I have even started to enjoy my own company.

So, as well as doing a bit of gardening, piles of laundry and tidying the house, I did a little hunting around for some fabric from my stash to complete my Row Quilt backing and also some backing for the next project. A good while back I started an English Paper Pieced project called Brimfield. I completed 10 blocks, 9 of which I have now tacked to background fabric squares in readiness for the fine hand stitching securing the patches in place. I will eventually trim these blocks down to 14” when it’s time to join them together. I haven’t decided yet whether I will make an extra 2 blocks and turn it into a 12-block quilt or just leave it as a 9-block project. I have enough background fabric to add another 3 blocks. So, watch this space. Last week I was hankering to start another project. Well I didn’t have to look too far to find something to turn into my evening armchair project. The tacking is all done on the 9 blocks and I’m going to enjoy the fine hand stitching. I love a bit of quiet hand stitching.

Well, my lovely friends, I guess that my news for today. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly love. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

THE NORMAL

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super week. It’s been a rather interesting week in my little world. I seem to have spent quite a lot of time creating.

A few weeks ago, I came across a quote ….. Always believe something wonderful is about to happen. That’s how I feel right now. Something wonderful is about to happen. I count myself lucky to wake up every morning. Life is precious, so we had better make the most of it.

I have a wee bit of progress to show you today. Do you remember yesterday’s little bit of progress?

Well I hunted around in my stash to find something to add as borders to the centre blocks of my Row Quilt. I auditioned a few different fabrics but these are the two that I chose …..

I was drawn to the teal. I don’t know why but I think once it’s quilted it will all blend together and make me happy. The next step is to piece some kind of backing using what I’ve got. I’m on a no-buy run at the moment. It’s ages since I last purchased any fabric. So, I’ve selected a few larger scraps to sew together to form the background for this newest project. I can’t wait to layer this one up to add a few quilting stitches. The quilt top is pretty busy as it is, so I’m going to try to keep the quilting simple.

I’ve not even finished the Row Quilt yet and I’m itching to start something new that I can hand stitch in front of the TV in the evening. My usual choice is English Paper Piecing. I’ve got plenty of ¾” hexagon papers and plenty of scraps of all sizes. And I will probably start on a hexies project but I have a hankering to do some different kind of patchwork hand sewing. Perhaps different English Paper Piecing shapes might do the trick. In the meantime, I do have some hand quilting to be done.

The sky’s the limit. For the last few months, we have all been limited in what we can do. We have been tied to our homes trying to keep ourselves safe. The restrictions have been eased but we still need to limit our contact with the public at large. During our incarceration, we’ve learned to make do and do without. We have become proficient at repurposing things in our homes. I believe that’s what helped me along in using what I have in my stash. Someday soon, I will be popping into quilt supply shops and replenishing my stash a little bit. I can’t believe just how much room our stash takes up. It’s quite amazing how all of a sudden you discover that you’ve emptied a whole basket of scraps by making do. It’s harder work to use up what you have than it is to buy a selection of fabric to produce a project. So, yes, the sky’s the limit. The only thing holding you back is yourself. Let your imagination run wild and give yourself permission to play.

It’s been a great week in my little world. I am so grateful for everything that’s happening around me. While I sit here composing this post, the sun is shining brightly and there’s quite a lot of traffic going past my home. It’s almost as though there isn’t a pandemic going on at the moment. The new normal has finally become normal.

Well, my lovely readers, I guess that’s my news and thoughts for today. I hope you all have a super cosy weekend doing something interesting that you love. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

MORE THAN JUST A ROW

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all enjoying a fab day. I concentrated on working on a couple of projects over the last few days. So, I have a little progress to show you today.

You may or may not remember a little project I started last summer. I came across this half-done quilt top while I was looking for my fine appliqué thread. It’s a little project that was inspired by my How Does Your Garden Grow quilt from last summer. I worked on doing the rest of the fine hand appliqué stitching which secured all the patches. To be fair there wasn’t much left to do …..

I gave it a good press, hunted around for something to back it and a piece of wadding and here it is all machine quilted and bound ready to be hung on the wall.

I know exactly where to hang it but I may need a little help to accomplish that. I’m really pleased with the finished result. I never imagined it would look like this. You will note that the design is fairly simple and so is the quilting. This piece was small enough that’s it can be quilted on a domestic machine without too much hassle.

Now, there’s more progress. After doing a few household chores this morning, I disappeared into my sewing room and worked on my Row Quilt. I trimmed all the blocks to 6-1/2”, I always cut my background squares ½” larger so that I can square them off. This gives me a better fighting chance of producing a square quilt top. It also means that I can trim away any ragged edges.

I trimmed the blocks row by row and joined each row together as I went along. When I got to the kite row I set it aside because I wanted to add a little machine stitching over the kite. The kite string will be added once the quilting is done. I worked while listening to a story and eventually I managed to piece all the rows together resulting in this …..

Here’s a little close up of some of the rows …..

I’m going to add two borders to this, one inner narrow border and a wider outer border to finish it off. I do like to frame my work. So, I’ll be hunting out some suitable fabric for that soon.

It looks like I’m concentrating on smaller projects these days. To be honest I have plenty of finished larger quilts, more than two people need and I’m grateful to have them because they’re a reminder of what I can do.

It’s been an interestingly quiet week in my little corner of the northeast of England. I have spent many hours sewing and planning my future endeavours. I’m planning on trying some more new things this summer. I’ve been tied down for far too long. It’s time to bust out and try some new creative endeavours. Although I must admit that I have my own style that I will stick to no matter what the craft is.

Well, my lovely readers, I guess that’s my news for today. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy doing. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

MORE ROW QUILT PROGRESS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all enjoying a wonderful weekend. The day started off a little cloudy and grey but it seems to be brightening up a little. The sun always spurs me on to get things done. So, the washing machine is whirring away and I’m doing some cooking for the days to come.

I have a little Row Quilt progress to show you today. Slowly but surely I’m making progress. I’ve done the fine hand stitching on three rows so far …..

These are the bottom three rows of the quilt top. I am working on the next row up which consists of funky suns …..

I have managed to finish three of the six blocks. The blocks that make up this project were inspired by my art journals pages. The shapes and colours vary a little but that’s what inspiration is all about.

I worked on a baby quilt as well but as it’s a gift, I decided not to post any photos of it just yet. However, I enjoyed making the simple baby quilt that I plan on making a few more for future use. I believe that this lockdown will produce a baby boom. I’ll be ready when the babies start arriving.

It’s been a nice relaxing weekend here in my little corner of the northeast of England. I’ve done a few household chores, a little sewing and a lot of planning. This coming week is going to be a busy one, especially now that social distancing is being relaxed and we can form support bubbles. It feels like we’re slowly introducing ourselves back into society. I’m a little apprehensive about mixing again but it needs to be done if we want any kind of normal life.

Well, my lovely friends, I guess that’s my news for this weekend. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy doing. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

MORE ROW QUILT

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all enjoying a fabulous day. I am writing this post first thing in the morning and scheduling it for later because I have a few things to take care of throughout the day. At the moment it’s gloriously sunny and that sunshine is very welcome indeed after a few days of overcast showery weather.

First, I would like to tell you that my mother has made progress since having a fall and breaking a hip a couple of weeks ago. She is now home and hopefully will continue to heal up nicely. So glad you’re home Maw xxx

I have a wee bit of Row Quilt progress to show you today …..

It’s not a great deal to show but it is progress nonetheless. I sat quietly last evening doing some fine hand appliqué work on these three blocks. There one finished and two at different stages. I was trying to work with the same thread colour but I think I prefer to change thread colours and work one block at a time. I will finish the part finished blocks tonight and carry on working on one block at a time. Somehow having different blocks at different stages doesn’t give me that hit of satisfaction that I usually get when I finish one at a time.

I made this sometime ago …..

I plan on turning it into a notebook cover today or in the next couple of day. My current notebook runs out at the end of the month so I had better get on with it. So, my lovely friends, I guess that’s my news and progress for today. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly love. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

IMPERFECT HEARTS PROGRESS

Hello my lovelies. It’s a fabulous wet morning here in my little world. The rain is soooo welcome. All around me the grass is yellowing. Hopefully the rain will bring the moisture our gardens need to survive. I hope you’re all enjoying a day full of happiness and joy no matter what’s going on all around us.

It’s just a quick post today to show you a wee bit of progress on my Row Quilt …..

 

Last evening, I managed to finish all the fine hand appliqué work on my imperfect hearts. These blocks will be trimmed down to 6-1/2” square. This will make the centre of my little quilt 36” square before adding some kind of borders, if I wish to add borders.
Now and again, I have been asked how I get to the point of a finished block. Well, it’s quite simple really, I get inspiration from somewhere and draw my version of the found inspiration. In this case the inspiration came from my art journal …..

As you can see all the tools I use for drawing are simple things. Cereal box card is great for templates. I would say that my favourite tool for prepping hand appliqué blocks is my appliqué pins which are much shorter than regular pins.

They hold everything in place while I tack the patches all the while not overloading the block. It has taken me many years to collect the tools I have at hand for my quilt making endeavours. I like useful tools.

Well, my lovely friends, that’s my news for today. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something that makes you happy. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

THE ROWS ARE GROWING

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all having an enjoyable day. Times are different around here in my little corner of the northeast of England. There’s more traffic going past my house these days. We have a bit more freedom all the while staying alert. I’m still not going very far or very often. I feel quite safe at home at the moment. Like everyone else, I’ll probably soon be venturing out a little further from home while respecting social distancing.

Along with a few household chores and safely welcoming a chartered surveyor into my home, I have made more progress on my row quilt. All the blocks have been prepped ready for fine hand appliqué stitching. Here’s what I’ve got so far …..

And here’s the stack of blocks that will become the last row which doesn’t fit on the display board along with the other five rows …..

Today is not the ideal day for taking photos indoors or out. This afternoon it’s overcast but not raining yet. So, you’ll have to excuse the poor quality of the photos. I have enjoyed prepping these blocks. And now I’ve got a nice quiet job to work on while watching mindless TV in the evening. No doubt there will be endless hot drinks consumed while I work on this little lot. I love a bit of Freezer Paper appliqué work me.

Life is much more relaxed now. The fear of the invisible enemy is dissipating slowly. Each day is more interesting than the last. Progress is being made, just a little every single day. We have to be brave and strong and keep moving forward.

Well, my lovely friends, I guess that’s my news for today. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something that makes you ever so happy. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x