Going Round the Rabbit Hole HQAL

Posted on May 26, 2019 by

It’s three weeks since I last showed you my Down the Rabbit Hole quilt, I’d just finished the sunflower border and I was on a bit of a roll…

Unfortunately I came to an abrupt halt and failed miserably with my two threads a day! Like I didn’t do anything until last night!! It was a mixture of very busy days at work and walks left me at times too tired to think straight, never mind sew in a straight line! I was also prevaricating on how to quilt this border…

I wanted to accentuate the rope effect but I couldn’t work out a simple way of doing it. I’ve worked out that I only like quilting from right to left, I struggle going ‘backwards’, I started stitching quarter of an inch from the edge and doing a sort of diamond in the middle where the two pieces meet, it didn’t really work so I then changed to just stitching round to a triangle at the join, as the triangles are slightly staggered I think it works fairly well and as I can just have two threads on the go, it’s fairly quick to stitch as well. I’ve already stitched almost one side.

Now I’ve got going again I think I’ll fair yomp through this border, then the next difficult decision will be how to quilt the rabbit border. I’m almost wondering about just cross-hatching the background as I really don’t fancy going round everything! I’ll have a good think over the next few evenings.

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Lori, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, and Gretchen

I’m also linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday, please follow the link for more hand-stitching inspiration.

Posted in Down The Rabbit Hole, Quilt-a-long, Quilting | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on May 20, 2019 by

Every time I wander round the garden at the moment I seem to spot another plant in flower, or another perennial appearing. I’m keeping up with my weeding with a big session by the high fence and round the roses.

This week some of the irises have started to flower, these are the bearded ones, I just love them, they’re both delicate and in your face! One of my favourites at the moment is one I bought at Thornton Hall gardens a couple of years ago, it has the most beautiful deep purple, almost black petals, it looks like velvet!

iris

At this years Harrogate Flower Show I bought three irises with variegated leaves, it was the leaves that attracted me to them. They have now flowered and I love them even more, they are a gorgeous soft purple, they are so pretty and delicate.

iris

The aquilegias are all flowering too, the other names for these are columbines or Granny’s Bonnets, they seem to like my soil, they make a good clump too so I’ve bought several over the years in different colours and sizes. This pretty cream one is one of the taller ones, it’s in the bed by the conservatory which is mainly creams and soft blues.

aquilegia

Some of the aquilegia flowers look really complicated, these white and blue ones are alot shorter, you can just see them in the background of the photo above…

aquilegia

They also love to cross-fertilize and self seed, this beautiful little one in the palest blush pink is in a crack on the side of the path!

aquilegia

The raised bed by the patio always surprises me, it always looks pretty empty during the winter with just a few bare shrubs and a couple of evergreens, but come spring all the perennials suddenly appear and fill it, here you can see geranium at the front, spirea goldflame with it’s yellowy leaves, an allium or two, magnolia, roses and box…and of course a dandelion head!

Garden in May

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with alliums, I love them peeping through the beds, dottied here and there, but one year, having seen a rather nice show garden at Harrogate flower show, I planted a circle of them round the patio. They went crazy and I very quickly seemed to have dozens! When I cleared the beds last year I must have dug up well over a hundred bulbs, I only planted six!!

alliums

The other day as I came back from walking the dogs on the back lane I suddenly realised how pretty it looks from the gate… this is how it looks as I walk through from the back lane, under the arch which now has clematis growing up it! To the left is the pond, summerhouse and the lawn, with the rose and shrub bed opposite…

Garden in May

To the right is my Amber & Amethyst garden with my new arbour. I sat on my bench this afternoon with a cup of tea with my walking buddy, recovering from almost a 10 mile walk! Just in front is the newly planted autumn bed and our lovely compost heap! The obelisk in the corner is almost disappearing under the rose and the clematis, you can just see the top peaking out!

Garden in May

I’m really please with the back garden at the moment, I just need to keep on top of those pesky weeds and keep my fingers crossed that the mole that has been digging hills just a couple of feet into the garden doesn’t decide to explore further!

Posted in Garden | Tagged , | 25 Comments

The Finery of Nature SAL

Posted on May 19, 2019 by

It’s three weeks since I last showed you my Finery of Nature cross-stitch, it’s a Dimensions kit I spotted on the sales table at Embroiderers Guild. It was meant to be stitched on black aida but my eyes aren’t up to black so I’m using a duck egg blue linen instead. Three weeks ago I was just finishing the first quarter…

The Finery of Nature

I didn’t think I’d stitched that much this time, but looking at the photos is quite encouraging! I’ve stitched the top border, I’m trying to do this as I go along as I think doing it all at the end would not be a good move, I’d lose motivation very quickly!

There’s meant to be some french knots dotted around the edge of the flowers, on the pattern they are yellow and gold, I was thinking of changing to a more subtle colour, but at the moment I’m feeling it’s busy enough as it is, so they might not appear at all, or I might use a shade which will just give a bit of texture.

The Finery of Nature

I’ve just started the next quarter with another lily of the valley. This part has a birds nest with three eggs and a huge dragonfly. I think the nest could be quite tricky in that it would be very easy to miscount. I think I’ll keep up with the flowers around it so I have a few points of reference.

The Finery of Nature

This stitch-a-long is organised by Avis from Stitching by the Sea, we post our progress on a chosen project every three weeks, it’s perfect for keeping the motivation going. If you would like to join us please send a message to Avis. Please follow the links to see lots of stitching inspiration.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Catherine, Deborah, Connie, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

I’ll also be linking in with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.

Posted in embroidery, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , | 31 Comments

From Wharfedale to Wensleydale

Posted on May 17, 2019 by

A couple of weeks ago three of us walked another section of the Lady Anne Way. This is a long distance path which runs from Skipton to Penrith in Cumbria, 100 miles altogether, we’re doing it in little chunks! We walked the first two sections last month, this time we jumped a head and walked part five, it’s all to do with how many cars we have available and whether we can use public transport. This section definately needed two cars, so it was a good one to do with three of us.

It was a very misty morning when we set off, but it was one of those mists you know will burn off to a glorious day and if you can get above the cloud level it’s stunning.

We drove up to the top end of Wharfedale, through Buckden, up the steep hill past Cray and over the tops to Bishopdale. I’ve driven this way many times and the view when you first see Bishopdale is I think one of the best in the dales, unfortunately it’s on a very steep, bendy road where there is no where to stop to take a photo!

We drove to Worton in Wensleydale, a little village where the day’s walk would end. We parked a car and then all piled into the second car and retraced our steps over the tops. The mist was just starting to lift and Wensleydale looked beautiful.

Wensleydale

We parked by the wonderfully named Hell Gate, just above the hamlet of Cray. Our walk was mainly along old drovers lanes and after a sharp climb up it was interesting to look back to where it joined the tarmacced road over to Bishopdale, you could imagine how they were just as important as each other once.

Hell Gap

As we climbed on to the moorland, Wharfedale still had wisps of mist and looked hazy in the morning light.

Wharfedale to Wensleydale

We realised as we walked along that we could just see all of Yorkshire’s Three Peaks, their summits just peeping over the skyline, Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside. I’ll hopefully be on the top of Pen-y-ghent tomorrow! If you’re still looking for the third peak, I did say just peeking over!!

Wharfedale to Wensleydale

At this time of year the moors have lots of ground nesting birds, there were lots of lapwings but we didn’t see any curlews. Once when we were walking at this time of year we saw a lapwing do the classic distraction technique of pretending to be injured to lead us away from her nest, she hopped along with a wing dragging just ahead of us. It was fascinating to watch.

Wharfedale to Wensleydale

We followed old green lanes for most of the walk, these tracks will have been there for centuries, I love that feeling of history as we walk along them. This one is called Busk Lane.

Wharfedale to Wensleydale

The views from the top over Wensleydale and the hills beyond were amazing. If you look closely the sheep has a tiny lamb hiding underneath her.

Wharfedale to Wensleydale

As we started to descend into Wensleydale, Addlebrough hill really stood out, it had such a distinctive shape. Apparently there was a Roman fort on the top. What puzzled me is that I’ve had many, many holidays in Wensleydale as my mum had a cottage just a couple of miles further down for about twenty years, but I’ve never noticed Addlebrough before, I can only think it’s other side looks completely different!

Wharfedale to Wensleydale

Walking further down into Wensleydale we got a brief glimpse of Semerwater, I think it’s the second largest natural lake in Yorkshire and it’s only little, but it’s very pretty, as are the cute lambs!

Wharfedale to Wensleydale

Wensleydale is very different to Wharfedale, it’s a much softer landscape. We meandered down the farm track until we reached the road that would lead us back to Worton.

Wharfedale to Wensleydale

I was pleasantly surprised by this walk, having driven over from Wharfedale to Bishopdale many times in the past it can be a pretty bleak landscape, it could have seemed endless, but we had an amazing walk, the scenery was stunning, the tracks were good, we did around 8 miles altogether, a great day out.

Posted in Serendipity, Walking | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Jelly Roll Workshop; A Quilt in a Day

Posted on May 16, 2019 by

I’m quite excited at the moment, I fixed a date at the weekend to run my first quilting workshop. It’s on June 29th!!

A little while ago one of my local fabric shops, B&M fabrics, opened a workshop in the basement of their shop, they were looking for teachers! B&M fabrics have a big fabric stall on Leeds market selling all sorts of fabrics, but they also have a bricks and mortar shop on the outside of the market building that has a lovely range of quilting fabrics.

This happened around the time I gave a talk to my Embroiderers Guild about my journey in quilting. One of the quilts I showed was a jelly roll race quilt I made for my walking buddy, it’s all the colours of the moors we walk across. I told them how easy a jelly roll race quilt was and at the following meeting several mentioned that I’d inspired them to have a go and I ended up offering to teach a friend how to make one for a baby quilt.

Jelly Roll Race

A full jelly roll is around 40 strips, 2.5″ wide by the width of the fabric (WOF) it will make a twin size bed quilt, but you can also get half size jelly rolls which only have about 25 strips of fabric, still WOF, and they will make a baby size quilt.

In one day of fairly steady sewing, my friend, having never quilted before, pieced, sandwiched, quilted and bound a quilt, all she had to do at home was to hand stitch the binding down. An idea was sown…

I had a chat with Sue from B&M Fabrics and they were very keen, she doesn’t usually sell jelly rolls but she got one for me to make up a sample.

Last week I finally got round to making up my sample. The colours aren’t ideal for a baby quilt but customers will be able to choose a jelly roll from a selection. It went together pretty quickly. I used spray adhesive to baste the sandwich together and then quilted it in a wavy design.

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I tried diagonal lines first, but the fabric moved too much. I then hit on the idea of double wavy lines, I put a line of pins down the middle and then stitched a slalom round them down the middle.Once the first line was down the rest were easy to stitch, I think it will be a great pattern for those new to quilting.

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I took my sample in at the weekend and fixed the date, I just need to write an advert for the shop and then wait to see if anyone books!

If anyone lives nearby and is interested, just leave a message below and I’ll give you more information.

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Posted in Quilting | Tagged | 17 Comments

Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on May 13, 2019 by

I worked pretty hard in the garden this week, especially yesterday, the weather was warm and sunny so I spent most of the day out there – and boy, are my hips complaining today!

Yesterday was the day the seed from the pussy willow on the back lane decided to fly, it’s weird how it happens every year, all the fluffy seeds seem to fall all on one day, a whole trees worth! They’re a bit like dandelion seeds, they float around aimlessly round so it looks like it’s snowing and land in heaps on the ground, dusting everything with white. To add to the picture we were inundated with millions of midges – not a day for lots of chatter!

Spring garden

I managed to do several bigger jobs yesterday, rather than the usual round of weeding. I moved the old metal arch to it’s new position over the back gate. I planted a clematis montana there last year in preparation – it’s the mile-a-minute clematis that is covered in pink bloom in the spring. I’m hoping in time it will cover the arch and meander up and down the fence. You can just make it out in the photo above.

Last winter I was given some garden vouchers, I dragged my OH to the garden centre so I could buy some metal obelisks, I bought three. When we took the chicken run apart I left some of the fence uprights and a length of wire with the idea of growing clematis up them. The clematis clearly had no intention of climbing a post, so I sawed them down and put the obelisk over the clematis. I tried to space them evenly but I was a little limited by huge stones which still hide under the soil. I think they make a nice gentle break between the Amber & Amethyst garden and the autumn bed behind. I’m looking forward to them being cloaked with purple clematis.

Autumn bed

My non-flowering hydrangea has been moved to a pot in more dappled sun, if it still doesn’t flower in the next two years then I’ll give up and stick it at the back of a border somewhere! At the moment it’s in amongst my blue pot corner. The acer there is looking stunning, I planted it 24 years ago when my son was born. Unfortunately the one I planted for my daughter didn’t survive, a fact which she loves to remind me about with mock indignation! I planted a rose for her afterwards called ‘The Spirit of Freedom’, it suits her personality!

Potted garden

The garden is really filling out, plants seem to grow by the day, the Solomons Seal by the pond is still looking good with the cammassia growing through it and the little blue flowers of brunnera Jack Frost just in front. I saw a toad sunning itself by the pond yesterady, I’m hoping there’s a few more in the pond to keep my slugs under control! You can just see the golden hosta leaves through the variegated iris leaves.

Pond garden

The Amber & Amethyst garden is starting to fill out with suitably coloured foliage and flowers, the orange geums are just starting to flower, I always have to be careful with these in the winter as they look awfully like weeds! I tend to buy bigger plants now in the hope of not being mistaken. The arbour is proving a lovely place to sit and drink coffee or read a book, it gives just the right amount of shade.

AA Garden

In amongst the pebbles under all my pots I noticed a gorgeous combination of self seeded plants, it’s an ajuga plant with lovely purple leaves and a saxifrage flowering through it.

Saxifrage and ajuga

I’ve got a couple of large gaps in my borders now, I guess I’ll have to wander down and peruse the plants at our local nursery, especially as they’ve opened a tea shop there!

Posted in Garden, Serendipity | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Zoe SAL

Posted on May 11, 2019 by

I’ve just finished the second installment of the Zoe stitch-a-long by Faby Reilly, it’s going to be a box, we’re stitching the sides at the moment. We don’t know what the finished design is like, but having stitched quite a few of her designs I trust her to make it beautiful!

The patterns are being released every two weeks, which is plenty of time to complete the stitching. The first pattern was just the cross-stitch of one of the sides…

Zoe SAL

This time we did all the titivating! We back-stitched round the leaves and the robin and added the stems. Faby has a really good tutorial on back-stitching with six strands of embroidery thread, I learnt several useful tips.

The rice-stitch along the bottom is stitched with a variegated DMC thread and some silver thread over the top. I used some silver thread I had in my stash. It was typical that with the variegated thread of purple, green, pink and beige, it was mainly beige in this stretch, I think I’ll try and be a bit more selective next time!

The beads are some I had in my stash but the sequins are some I bought specially. I found some that were more of a satin finish, which is much more me! They still pick up other colours but they’re a little more subtle than the usual shiny ones.

Zoe SAL

It’s another week before the next pattern is released, that one might give us a bit more of a clueas to the general theme of the box.

I’m linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday, why not follow the link for lots of hand-stitched inspiration.

Posted in embroidery, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Nineteen for 19

Posted on May 9, 2019 by

May is whizzing by and I haven’t even worked out how I’m doing with my Nineteen for 19 challenge for April, so here goes…

  • 1 Scrap Quilt I was planning to start a new BOM with scraps, I’ve even sorted my scrap boxes out in preparation!! Then for once I got my sensible head on and decided I had quite enough projects on the go!
  • 2 Tutorials; I’ve not had time to start this one yet.
  • 3 sessions in the garden; The garden is coming on nicely, I built an arbour over Easter and after a visit to the Harrogate Flower Show I had lots of plants to sort out (still got a handful to plant!) I’ve been doing at least three sessions a week as the weeds are coming up as fast as the plants.
Spring garden
  • 4 workshops; I’ve got three booked at Fabbadashery in Halifax, the first one is in about 4 weeks time, I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be stitch a Harold the Hare!
  • 5 presents; I made a quilt for a friends charity, so I’m counting that as a gift, so it’ll be three so far this year.
  • 6 quilts; I finished the Tula Pink quilt last month, it’s getting auctioned on Saturday, so fingers crossed it does OK. That brings my total up to two with lots on the go!
Tula Pink quilt
  • 7 new patterns; I’m just in the process of cutting out a new pattern, but at the moment I’ve still just used 1 new pattern.
  • 8 kits; My tally remains at two.
  • 9 mini embroideries; I stitched a seascape this month for the travelling sketchbooks, so I’ve now done three mini embroideries.
Seascape embroidery
  • 10 things; I’ve not made any ‘things’ this month so my total so far is still three.
  • 11 cross-stitch smalls; I’ve slowed down a bit this month as production was getting a bit mad! I have actually finished stitching one but I haven’t made it up yet, so it doesn’t count! I’ve got two other cross-stitches on the go so I’m trying to prioritise those, keeping my smalls for when I’m out and about. My total is nine so far anyway, so I can afford to slack off a bit!
  • 12 pages in my book;I’m trying to clear the decks a bit before I start on this one as it’s going to be a pretty sentimental piece. It’s going to have all the pieces of my mums craftwork I found when clearing her house.
    13 clothes made; Still just 1! I got a bit of a wake-up call at the weekend when I struggled to find anything smart enough to wear for a funeral, if it had been winter I would have been OK, but spring is more difficult. It was a Hindu ceremony so it didn’t even need to be black. I need to spend a bit more time on clothes and less on quilting! I’ve just cut out some cullottes…
  • 14 drawers organised;I’ve had a big sort out of my scraps and a general move round of stuff. I emptied my three IKEA cubes which were jam packed with scraps onto the floor on the landing and sorted them into colours, also removing bits that were just too small. My OH came up just at the wrong moment as I’d emptied one box out, he looked a bit shocked when I said there was another two…I now have six boxes of scraps!! …but they are colour sorted plus one just for batiks, so I think it will be much easier to use them. In order to spread out my scraps I’ve moved my linings into a peacock box and quilt waddings into a big knitting bag I made a couple of years ago.So altogether that’s five boxes sorted, so that takes my total to a respectable 8.
scrap sorting

  • 15 minutes tidy-up at the end of a sewing session; I’m getting better at this and it does make a difference!
    16 books; Now I’ve found slots in my daily routine for reading I’m really enjoying it again. I do most of my reading on the bus or the train. It takes an hour to get to visit my mum on the bus, it’s only 6 miles but the bus goes all round the houses, the advantage being it’s door to door…and it gives me useful reading time! I’ve discovered a new genre of books, books about walking, but they are more about the feelings walking up mountains can instill and the nature around, rather than a route book. They are what I would call slow reading books, I’m a bit of a one for skimming pages of a book, with these you can’t, they are beautifully written and deserve to be read properly! The first book is by Simon Ingram, called Between the Sunset and the Sea, I’ve not quite finished that one as it’s my bedtime reading book (the writing is too small to read on a bus!!) I have read The Old Ways by Robert McFarlane and Common Ground by Rob Cowan, I’ll do a proper write up when I’ve finished the Simon Ingram book. I’ve got quite a stack of books I’ve read now, eight so far this year.
Books
  • 17 blogs a month;I wrote 20 posts in April.
  • 18 walks; We’ve done pretty well with our walks, which is lucky as it’s not long to our big walk in June. We walked up Pen-y-ghent which was a practise for next weekend when 40 of us from work are climbing the Three Peaks (well I’m just doing one!) We also started the Lady Anne Way and walked two sections from Skipton to Grassington. So with all that energy I’ve managed to double my tally to six walks.
Wharfedale
  • 19 Splendid Sampler blocks;I’m trying to crack on with this one (part of my clearing the decks!!) so last month I managed five new blocks, so 14 so far this year, but 30 altogether!
Splendid Sampler 2


So, with a third of the year gone I’ve done a fair bit, some challenges haven’t got off the ground yet and others are racing to the finish!

Posted in embroidery, Garden, Nineteen for 19, Quilting, Serendipity, Splendid Sampler Quilt, The Travelling Sketchbook, Walking | Tagged | 10 Comments

Woodland Spring Wreath Quilt

Posted on May 8, 2019 by

A couple of days ago I embroidered another piece of the border for my Woodland Spring Wreath quilt, this is a BOM from Raggedy Ruff Designs, I’ve just got one more month to stitch and it’s finished.

This month I tackled half the borders, there’s four swags of flowers and foliage around the quilt to give the impression of a wreath. I showed you the makings of the first swag a few days ago…

Woodland Spring Wreath Quilt

Before any of the stitching there were five 4″ strips of border patchwork to stitch, some of these could be attached straight away, others are to be put to one side for next month.. It’s lovely to see the stars taking shape around the edges.

Woodland Spring Wreath Quilt

The second swag is smaller, with just clematis and blossom to stitch. It didn’t take too long to put together and stitch. This one lies just above the squirrel and the owl, at the top of the quilt.

Woodland Spring Wreath Quilt

Once it was complete I pulled out all my blocks and started arranging them on my design wall.. I’m so pleased with this quilt, I think it’s beautiful, I’m even more amazed that I managed to do free machine embroidery! The final pack arrived yesterday, so I can crack on and finish it, I’ve then to decide how to quilt it!

Woodland Spring Wreath Quilt
Posted in embroidery, Quilt-a-long, Quilting | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Windows for May

Posted on May 7, 2019 by

Wild Daffodil is organising a photo challenge this year when each month the subject is windows. It does mean I keep my eyes open during the month for possible photo opportunities.

Last week I walked over the moors from Wharfedale to Wensleydale, it was a stunning walk which I will share with you in the next few days. It finished in a little village called Worton.

Just on the main road is a beautiful old farmhouse, I seem to remember the date above the door was about 1729, so it’s nearly 300 years old. This isn’t actually that old in this village, Worton Hall dates back to 1600. I’ve since found out it’s called Summer Tree House.

Summer Tree Cottage, Worton.

I loved the stone mullioned windows, even the barn is a nice old stone building. It’s interesting to see how there is only a stone lintel between the barn door and the access door above.

At the side of the house there were two small windows, one was half blocked off by a stone plinth with the inscription ‘Michael Smith Mechanick but he that built all things is God. Heb 3 ‘ It’s interesting how big the surround is, it looks out of proportion for the size of the window.

Summer Tree Cottage, Worton.

I haven’t been able to find out anything about Michael Smith, however MS are the initials above the door with the date, so I presume he built the house or his ancestor did. It’s a Grade 2 listed building which means the outside is protected against unsympathetic development.

Summer Tree Cottage, Worton.

The other window on the side, again was only small, it’s an old sash window and through it you could see traditional English shutters. I always wanted a house with proper shutters! Here the shutters are always on the inside, closed on a night like curtains. A friend of mine lives in an old vicarage and she has shutters. It was amazing how much light they blocked out!

I’ll keep looking for more interesting windows this month, in the meantime why not pop over to Wild Daffodil to see more windows.

Posted in Photo Challenge | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments