SUNNY CATCHUP ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a superb weekend. Storm Hannah was supposed to be rumbling thru but it seems she has missed my little corner of the northeast of England. I have no doubt that some kind of bad weather will come thru at some point this week. I am quite appreciative of the lovely sunshine today but a few days ago it was dark a dismal out so I decided to make my own sunshine …

The Dresden Plate happens to be one of my favourite blocks of late. I am currently designing and piecing a new project for which I need a sun. So, I decided to use a yellow Dresden. The Dresden Plate is such a simple buy rather effective block.

With the coming of the good weather, I have been hankering after planting up my planters with summer annual plants. I bought some but I’m still a wee bit worried that we might get some frost at night, so I’m holding off for a few more days. We’ll be entering May in a couple of days and by then we should be past the risk of frost. Although I haven’t planted any annuals yet, I did add three herbaceous perennials to one of my front borders.  They were an absolute bargain and they were calling my name. I will need one or two others to fill in the blank patch in said border but I made a good start for now. My Clematis is starting to bloom nicely. I gave it a really good prune and was worried that it might not reappear this year but it has. Lucky me!

It seems Fridays are the day of week that changes everything in my little quiet world. I was sitting quietly in my little den answering some correspondence when a helicopter came into view. It was hovering over the houses across the road and making its way to the green space just a few doors in readiness for landing. This has happened a few times before. The last time a helicopter landed in the green space it was because one of our Royal family members was bestowing a visit upon our neighbourhood. It was Prince Edward visiting Bede Academy which is just a few minutes away from my home. In previous times, I wasn’t quick enough to grab my beat-up old camera in order to take photos of the event. Well this time, I got a couple of snaps. So, here’s a photo of the helicopter shortly after landing and a photo of Prince Edward walking from the helicopter to the waiting car ready to take the Prince to the school.

 

A couple of weeks ago it was hunky firemen and this week it was a Royal!!! I wonder what will happen this Friday???

With summer looming, life just seems so much better. I look forward to every single day. That isn’t to say that every day is a great day but I pick and choose all the positive aspects of life to focus on. I am on another creative journey at the moment. The project I have been designing is coming together nicely. I’m making plenty of time to concentrate on it. Creativity is my drug of choice. I stay away from drama and toxic people. They seem to put a damper on life which I don’t appreciate considering that I do my best not affect anyone else in adverse ways. Life is simply too short.

Well that’s my report for this week. I am so looking forward to seeing what my garden is going to look like in six weeks time. So, tell my how does your garden grow these days??? 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 TASTE OF HAND QUILTING

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all been enjoying a fine spring day. We’ve supposedly seen the back end of Storm Gareth but the wind is still mighty strong. I stepped out into the garden this morning to pick the litter blown into my borders and that wind was soooo strong. When I finished my little litter picking session my garden was sparkling clean. My new garden waste bin is almost full and will be ready for collection next week.

I have done a little more sewing since I last posted. Every new quilting stitch, whether by hand or machine, brings me closer to a better life. So, working on my big bag and putting the finishing touches on it feels great. I used some of my very favourite background fabric and some funky bright fabric to piece this big bag.

And of course, I added a bright half Dresden Plate to jazz it up and some bright side ties. All in all, it’s a pretty simple project but very useful for what I want to use it for. Can you guess what I’ll be using this bag for? No?

I will be storing my hand quilting project in it while I’m not working on it …..

This is a UFO from years ago. I came across it while I was searching for something else, quite a happy find. I have started the process by stabilising the centre block and its patches.

I’m planning on giving it a simple quilting job. I am a great fan of geometric designs. So, I will be hand stitching nesting circles all over the centre block. I’m not sure how I will proceed with the rest of it yet. By the time I have finished quilting the centre I will probably know exactly what to do with the next section.

So, it’s been a good day in my little world. All little work and a little play make for a happy well lived life. We all have a different definition of a well lived life. My definition is to stay away from drama, be the best me that I can be and I keep my expectations at a reasonable level. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching, it really does make life better.

Lucie x

A BIT OF DOODLING

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fab day. It’s been another of those bright and breezy days in my little world. I didn’t go very far today. I spent a little time in my sewing room  mooching around and then decided to mooch around my bedroom where I finished emptying a wardrobe that will be collected by a charity next week. Collection day can’t come soon enough.

I am very pleased to tell you that I have finally finished My Sweet Dresden Town quilt project. The binding and the label have been added and all in all I am very pleased with my effort. In fact, I think I’m more than pleased, I am ecstatic. This is one of those projects which I took from the drawing board right thru to the label and binding. There’s no better feeling in the world.

One of the quilting designs I used on My Sweet Dresden Town quilt was something I called Double E’s. It fills all the negative areas nicely and it’s rather easy to stitch out. I have doodled it out on my Boogie Board just to give you an idea of how it works. You can stitch this out either using your domestic sewing machine or a longarm.

I’m looking forward to drawing the curtains, lighting a scented candle and doing a bit of knitting while watching some mindless TV. The sun is expected to set at 17:46pm. I love this time of year. I came across a quote that I really liked which I wrote in my notebook recently. The quote is: Paradise is not a place, it’s a feeling. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you who wrote or said it and I couldn’t find it on Google. I totally agree with this quote.

So, I guess that’s my report for today. We’re already halfway thru the week. Can you believe how quick the weeks are disappearing? At this rate, it will be Christmas before we know it. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

GOING TO TOWN STITCHING

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a brilliant day. It’s been pretty productive day here in my little world. You may remember that last week I loaded my latest finished quilt top, my Sweet Dresden Town, in my longarm quilting system.

Well today was the day to start quilting my Sweet Dresden Town. Quilting one of my own designs is always quite exciting. Seeing a project come to fruition is so satisfying. So, I did a little simple stitching in the borders …..

And then did some random stitching in and around the town patches. I call this stitching pattern Double E’s.  I tried to keep the design small in order to fill in the negative spaces enough so that the patches pop.

I spent all day in my sewing room working on this quilt. I managed to finish the stitching but didn’t get the loose thread sewn in. Custom quilting creates a lot of loose threads but only because you travel from one area to next stitching different designs.

I am so thrilled to have gotten as much done as I did today. Tomorrow I will sew in the loose threads and join up leftover scraps for the binding. And I’ll bet that even though I’ll be using some of those scraps for the binding I will still have scraps leftover!!! It seems the more scraps you use the more scraps you have, only they’re smaller. I can’t wait for tomorrow to come now.

I have mentioned several times that I have been doing some knitting in the evening while watching TV. I knitted several pairs of socks and thoroughly enjoyed it so I went on to knit something a pullover. I chose some yarn in a colour I would never have used before. Isn’t it amazing how our colour choices changes after a while. I’ve kept the knitting design really simple because I’m using variegated yarn which makes the whole project more interested because of the colour changes.

It’s been another good day in my little world. As well as quilting my Sweet Dresden Town, I made some soup for our supper. I love chicken vegetable noodle soup which some fresh bread. Oooooh yum. It’s the perfect time of year for soup and other comfort food.

So, I guess that’s my report for today. I sure hope tomorrow is full of as much goodness as today was. I’m quite pleased with today effort. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy doing. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

PUMPKIN SEASON IS HERE

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’re all having great autumn days. The weather has been typical here in my little corner of the northeast of England. It’s been breezy and wet at times but generally I have been enjoying every minute. The heating has been switched on in the evening just to keep the damp away. I have been lighting scented candles; I really enjoy watching the flickering flame.

I have finally completed the centre blocks and inner border of my Sweet Dresden Town. The different components have been hanging on my design wall for months. In the past few days, I have been admiring it and finally took the decision about whether I need another border. And the decision is that yes it needs another border to frame it up. I know exactly what fabric I want as the last border. And it will be purchased this weekend. The backing fabric has been pressed and joined and the whole lot will be ready for longarm quilting very soon. You may not be able to tell but I’m rather excited about getting this one finished.

It seems ages since I last worked on my hexagon project. When I sit down in the evening, I knit. I always seem to get a hankering for knitting when autumn arrives. At the moment I’m knitting socks. I’ve lost count of how many pairs I knitted over the last few weeks. I sure am enjoying it but there will come an evening when I want to do a little hand sewing pretty soon. I’ll let you know when that happens.

I have been keeping quite busy with household chores and making changes to give my home a different feel. It’s a year since I was officially pronounced single by the family court. Making decisions was difficult at times over the last couple of years but I have finally accepted that now I can do as I please when I please in my own home. My top priority was to change the look and feel of my bedroom. This task will be fulfilled this coming week. A few new pieces of furniture will do the trick. And those bits of furniture will be delivered this weekend. I have so been looking forward to this.

Life at happy stitching manor sure has changed over the last few years. Everything is much simpler making mine and my Sarah’s life much easier. There’s rarely any drama. Who knew life could be as good as this???

The leaves are really changing colours now. We’ve had a several blustery days blowing the leaves off the trees and onto the ground. While walking the dog in the morning I have crunched my way thru piles of dried leaves in the park. And the local supermarkets have pumpkins in the produce section. I’m not a pumpkin pie lover but I do like a nicely carved and lit pumpkin.

I guess that’s my report for today. I have been enjoying life of late. My new life seems to finally be taking shape. I still believe in happy ever afters. In fact, I think I’m finally enjoying my happy ever after. I hope you all have a super cosy weekend doing something you truly love doing. We should all be doing more of what we enjoy. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

BLOOMING GRADES

Hello my lovelies. I hope you all had a super weekend. The last couple of weeks have been busy in my little world. My diary seems to be filling up more quickly nowadays. There’s always some place to go not to mention the chores and craft tasks on my To-Do List.

I have been pretty busy with designing new blocks and sewing. Here’s a little progress on my current project …..

I sat quietly and sewed all the roofs and doors on my Dresden Neighbourhood blocks over the last few days.

And once the that sewing was done I cut loads of piano keys, well actually, I cut strips and joined them together and then cut sections to form a piano key border. And after doing some more sewing this morning this is what the piano key border looks like now …..

Now this project is really coming together. I sat at the table for several hours today and drew the next blocks. I managed to draw two 12” x 24” blocks!!!! All that’s left to draw is four 12” x 15” blocks to complete the drawings for this project. I am truly enjoying this one. It’s so very different from my other Whimsies.

Quite of few of you will know that my Sarah and I started a journey which we named Operation Taking Flight a few years ago. The Operation was us getting ready for Sarah to fly the nest. It kicked off four years ago when Sarah started taking driving lessons and then subsequently went off to university. Well today I am so pleased to tell you that Sarah received her grades for this, her last year of university. She has graduated with honours. It seems that all the hard work and despite someone’s best efforts to derail Operation Taking Flight, Sarah has smashed it. She’s ready to face the big bad world now.

Last Friday, we had a girl’s road trip. Three us drove down to Sarah’s uni to see all the work displayed in the Degree Show. I must tell you that some of it was a real eye opener. I got Sarah’s permission to take a few photos of her work. So, here’s a little sneaky peek at her display …..

 

I can hardly believe that three years of university has come to an end. There were times when I thought it would never end. Now we really get to start moving forward.

So, I went out into my garden this morning to sweep and prune a few straggling bits of growth. While I was out there I went into the secret part of my garden to see if my roses needed deadheading. No deadheading required just yet but I did cut these beautiful roses to bring inside as there were masses of blooms!!! They smell every bit as good as they look.

It’s been a good productive day at happy stitching manor. My little visit to the secret garden yielded some beautiful blooms and my short session in my sewing room produced some good progress on my new project. And my quiet time using pencils, rulers and templates produced some great drawings for the next step in said project. Being creative is my favourite thing to be doing.

So, I guess that’s my report for today. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly love to do. Until next time,

Let’s on keep on stitching.

Lucie x

WALKING IN THE SUNSHINE

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all have a grand day. It’s been a busy one in my little world. I spend several hours today in my sewing room playing with my longarm quilting system. I can’t show you what I worked on just now. However, I can show a little bit of progress I made on my Sweet Dresden Town …..

I posted a photo of cut up Dresden Blades last week. I have since cut the Blades different lengths and joined them together giving the units a good press to form this circle. I’ll be adding roofs and doors. I also made even more progress by drawing a few blocks to go with the large Dresden block …..

I find these blocks very happy blocks. You will notice that I have kept the blocks simple, as usual. I find less is always more. I also appreciate cleans lines, that’s what drives me to keep my blocks simple.

I’m quite excited about this project. Once again, it’s a little different from what I have designed in the past. So, watch for more progress reports about this new project.

All is well in my little world lately. Everything is ticking over nicely. I sometimes wonder when things are going to start going wrong again but the main cause of things going wrong is gone. How lucky am I to be able to enjoy life as it comes again? I recently read an interesting quote and it goes something like this; you never know that you’re living under a cloud until you walk in the sunshine. I can’t tell you said this first but it certainly has given me something to think about.

So, that’s my report for today. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something that makes you happy. And perhaps do it in the sunshine. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

UFO PROGRESS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super fine day. It’s been a lovely day here in my little corner of the northeast of England. I find it amazing that although I’m writing from a sunny England that some of you are reading from North America, Australia, the Netherlands and many other places where the weather can be very different.

I’ve spent the last few days living. Along with a few daily chores I’ve worked on one or two UFOs …..

My Dresden Neighbourhood has been hand quilted and ready for the next step. I’m not sure whether I want to add a simple binding and hanging pocket in order to use it as a wall hanging OR have it framed professionally. I have never had any of my work framed professionally. I quite like this particular piece of work so perhaps it’s worth going all out and having it framed.

I worked on one more UFO …..

My Moving Forward quilt project has been on the go for almost two years since I started designing it. It’s the first project that I designed in my new life. It’s rather different from what I used to design in the old days. The colours are very different from the muddy colours I used to use. So, I added some borders to frame up the centre appliqué blocks.

Dragged out some backing fabric which I had been saving for Sunday best ….. I decided that Sunday has arrived and so I will use this backing fabric rather than buy something new. Nice backing fabric is quite hard to source in the quilt shops in my area. So, when I find some I buy it.

Now the quilt is loaded in my longarm quilting system in readiness for quilting over the next couple of days.

I think the threat of frost is over now. So, it’s time for me to plant a few annuals. We headed out this morning to buy a few annuals. I suspect that I might new a few more but I’ll plant up everything I purchased today and see how far my purchases go.

I had a little wander around my garden at lunchtime. Everything is looking quite lush at the moment and will need pruning and trimming soon enough.

I’ve got some raspberry canes …..

Self-seeded Aquilegia …..

A monster Clematis that keeps on growing …..

A border full of interesting colour …..

A close up of Clematis …..

And a single self-seeded pansy …..

This pansy is a real fighter. It survived the winter snows we had in March and is still looking good. What a mighty pansy.

When spring arrives and everything is greening up nicely, it always fills me full of hope. I know that there’s loads of good stuff coming for each and everyone of us. All we need is a bit of hope and a whole lot of patience. Keep your eyes on the prize.

So, that’s my report for today. Looking back, I can see that I’ve done quite well with regards to progress. I reckon any little bit of progress is good progress. I’m pleased with both my Moving Forward and my Dresden Neighbourhood. My Neighbourhood was really good practice as I have planned a whole new project around that one block. 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

SUNNY FRIDAY PROGRESS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super day. It’s been a proper spring day here in the northeast of England. The pollen count is pretty high and I would imagine that those who suffer from hay fever are suffering today. I used to suffer from hay fever but somehow it seems to have all but disappeared. Who knew that would happen!

So, let’s see what’s been going on in happy stitcher land. Well last evening I carried on hand quilting my Dresden Neighbourhood quilt …..

It seems to be taking forever to stabilise the centre but I didn’t give up. I’m hoping to finish the centre this evening and then I will have to decide what to do with the rest. I’m looking for texture so I think I’ll stitch some geometric shapes around the Dresden. I’m going to keep it simple. I have discovered that when we make something too complicated we sometimes turn a project into a UFO. I don’t want to add this Dresden to the UFO pile.

As I sit in front of my laptop looking out the window this afternoon, I notice that the garden shrubs and plants are coming on a treat. My little trees are lush with fresh leaves and my shrubs are growing bushy again. It seems last week it was cold and nothing was growing yet. A few days of sunshine and everything looks and feels very different.

I seem to be more enthusiastic about creating these last few weeks. I have new ideas for projects and my colour choices are changing. I’m not sure why this transformation is taking place but I think it’s all good. So, in view of my changing tastes in colour palette I decided to treat myself to a collection of thread …..

My postman attempted to deliver said threads yesterday while I was out so I went to collect them from the post office this morning. I spent ages just looking at them and trying to choose what colour fabrics to use in my next project. Receiving these thread spools has inspired me. I’m quite excited about starting to design something new. I feel the need to pull my sketchpad and pencil out to get started.

It’s a bank holiday weekend there in England. Monday is the holiday. And the weatherman has promised reasonable weather. I think it will be a good weekend to work in the garden. So, when I’ve tidied a part of the garden I’ll treat myself to a little drawing session. I’m quite sure I’ll find enough inspiration in the garden to design a whole quilt project.

I guess that’s my report for today. I’ve had a brilliant week. And it looks like it’s going to be a great weekend as well. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you enjoy. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x

A BIT OF HAND STITCHING

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fabulous day. I was let out on good behaviour today. While the sun was shining, my Sarah and I set off to run a few errands. It was such a beautiful day and although we didn’t get everything that was on our shopping list we got other things that weren’t!!!

The last couple of days have whizzed by. I didn’t do anything extraordinary. I just plodded along appreciating life as it is. I played in my sewing a wee bit and did some chores. My wee bit of sewing consists of going back to my Neighbourhood Dresden Project.

Originally, I thought I might quilt it by machine. Well I changed my mind and decided that I will hand quilt it. So I gathered up all my favourite tools and supplies …..

I use a hoop because it helps me produce nice stitches. I use hand quilting thread because it’s strong and smooth. For this particular project I am using a sharps needle. I coat said needle with silicone from my Thread Heaven pot. I use a thimble because since the day I started hand quilting I have used a thimble to protect my finger.

After an hour of sitting quietly hand quilting I started to see a change in the quilt. It started showing signs of texture …..

I normally use wool wadding when I know that I’m going to be doing some hand quilting but originally, I had planned to machine quilt so I used a cotton/poly blend which is working out pretty well. It was nice to do some hand stitching on something other than my hexies …..

As you can see my hexie quilt top is growing albeit slowly. There have been evenings when I can hardly keep my eyes open while sitting in front of the TV. However, if I keep my hands busy I seem to be able to stay awake. Being able to craft be it sewing, knitting or paper craft is definitely a God send. It keeps your mind occupied and is something we can share with others. You’ve got to love a crafty person!

So, life has become quite interesting of late. I am busy with this and that. I have been socialising a little more than I did this time last year. And I am thankful for all the positive things that come my way.

I guess that’s my report for today. I hope you all have super cosy evening doing something that makes you happy. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x