Slow Sunday Stitching

Hi Kathy, and blogging friends,


I was just passing by, hadn't intended to say hello, but I couldn't resist!

No embroidery, but I am using tiny hand stitches to complete my polka dot lady.

Don't forget, click on any photo to get a bigger picture!

There is a close up of her embroidered face here and, of course, if you are seeing the full web picture of my blog today she's in the header too. (Once she's finished I'll write a full post and give you all the details of where the pattern came from, if you're interested.)


Kathy asked what the weather was like, and if we are stitching outdoors ..... afraid not, not here! This is my preferred outdoor stitching area:

and my second choice, depending on where the sun is ....

Boy is it raining now! I heard on the radio that it had been a very windy night, but I didn't hear a sound, I must have slept heavily!

Oh, and you wouldn't believe it DH and a neighbour are out walking in it ..... there was a pre-booked guided walk they didn't want to miss! They are each wearing double layers of waterproofs. Poor things!

Our dear furbabies aren't too happy ..... rainy day routine! (Oops couldn't get a picture of our other cat, he doesn't show up very well being totally black!

So that's all from me, but I'm wondering ..... what are you stitching .....and are you stitching outdoors?

Looking forward to hearing from you.


And a really BIG "thank you" to all who commented on my last post!



Hugs,
Barbara xxx
Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching

Gifted Gorgeousness - September and a RAK

Hello Dear Readers

"GIFTED GORGEOUSNESS" is a monthly link party run by the wonderful Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, where we post about stitching gifts we have received or given, or indeed anything related to the word "gift". Link runs from the 15th until the end of the month. If you would like to find out more and maybe join up go HERE!

Read all about who's joining in with the September GG HERE (on Jo's blog).

Seagulls and Stripes from CrossStitcher Issue 332

This free kit came from CrossStitcher magazine, actually the same magazine that "Camper Van" came from ..... so the magazine was really good value. The fabric isn't great though, and the needle catches a little bit, and it's hard to put the needle through the fabric actually through the fabric holes...... that said, I think it's a cute stitch and I'm looking forward to being able to hang the sachet on one of our bathroom cupboard doors ..... the doors open very close to wall tiles and I'm so afraid the tiles will be damaged! I just hope I haven't started stitching too close to the top of the fabric! So this is a gift for our bathroom!

~~~~~~~~~~

RAK (Random Act of Kindness)

And this next one is a teeny gift for a non-blogging friend who wanted a way of carrying her front door key when she is gardening ..... in her front garden ..... so that she doesn't have to put the key down anywhere. She wanted some way of secreting her key about her person. She was talking of a "Dorothy bag" ..... so I thought I'd make this ..... and hopefully she might like it!

I am going to add a badge pin to the back so that she can clip it to whatever top she is wearing at the time, or maybe a couple of poppers so that she can attach it to her bra strap, not quite sure yet.

The little purple felt bag on the right slips inside the drawstring bag for extra security (and to stop the key pushing through the fabric).

Finishes at: 3 1/4" x 2 1/2" ( 8.5 x 6 cm) approx.

Someone commented about all my dotty fabric the other day, and tee hee there's more polka dot fabric here again!

~~~~~~~~~

And for those who saw my little "polka dot lady" on my last past, here is an update on how she is progressing ..... which is ..... very slowly. 

When she is complete I will give you a little more detail about her. Oh, she's not a gift (well, not at the moment)

I hope you are all keeping well and that the stitching bug is with you!

Now, I'm off to visit the link party, see you there!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

TUSAL - September

Hello Dear Blogging Friends,

I'm linking to Daffycat's blog for this month's TUSAL report. 

TUSAL is where we show pictures of our ORTs (leftover threads), for no particular reason (other than that they look kind of pretty)!

I’m also linking to Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitch Sunday here.

Today I’ve been stitching the second free gift from CrossStitcher (Summer Issue) No: 332 - Seagulls & Stripes ..... although I don’t have an up to date photo, this is last week’s stitching ..... I will have another photo to share on my next post (Gifted Gorgeousness), probably tomorrow.

 I’ve also been trying to finish this little lady ..... but as I’m stitching the face differently to the tutorial it’s taken me a while to decide what stitches to use.

  August’s ORTS - fabric and cotton next to new pincushion in progress.

she’s from a tutorial I found on Pinterest but I’ll have to give you the details on my next post as I don’t have them to hand at the moment!

See you soon,

Hugs,

Barbara xx

A DrEAmi Finish! Coffee Koozie

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for the lovely comments on my last post, I really appreciate them!

Today is all about my Coffee Koozie! This is my DrEAmi (Drop Everything and Make It) project which I will be linking to Sandra's DrEAMi party! And as it is a finish I will also be linking to Crazy Mom Quilts on Friday for Finish it up Friday.

But first of all, just to let you know, I'm still working on my CV bag (Camper Van)

..... oooh! I nearly forgot to say, I am making this from a tutorial “Just a little Purse” which I found on Pinterest from SewMamaSew, but, like you do, I am changing a few things slightly as I'm making it.

One of those changes being the lining. "Don't do this at home!" as they used to say on some programme on TV ..... was it Blue Peter? well, maybe not! But anyway, I put my front and back together, stitched them, bound the edges and then decided I had to quilt the inside as well as the back of the bag .....

it wasn't easy! I had to have one hand inside the bag to make sure the stitches didn't go through to the back (front actually!).

I decided to quilt the inside because the lining sagged
once the bag was turned through.

I only quilted the middle, it didn't really
need quilting all over.

..... but I got totally distracted when I visited Patty's blog and saw her Coffee Koozie! Patty has a link to the tutorial! (Mind, if you go to visit her right now, don't forget to come back!) 

Anyway, I couldn't resist making one, could I?! 

Well it all started with the idea that the squares could be "leaders and enders" while I stitched my CV bag .....

Edited 31.08.18:  Adding the binding: 

I was really happy with the finish of the binding,
bit hard to see maybe, but it's gone really well.

but, once I got as far as stitching the blocks together this was where my Coffee Koozie  became my DrEAmi project which I just had to carry on and finish!

Made using the "Quilt as you go" method (see it on the tutorial).

Everything went swimmingly ..... until I started "top stitching" .....

Disaster struck big time!

I machine stitched all the way round but wasn't happy with the way the stitching looked and had to pull all the stitches out, which was tricky because when my machine had hit the joining seams they had gone from size 4 to 0 .... it was almost impossible to get that lovely pink thread undone.

Anyway, I eventually finished the Coffee Koozie, replacing the machine top stitching with hand stitching.

Don't you just love that apple green lining ..... ?

Soooo ...... this does mean my poor CV bag is still waiting to be FFO (Fully finished off)!

Oh, and this is my latest little cross stitch kit ..... just started. More about the details next time. 

and no doubt you can tell ..... I can't decide which method to use to keep my place!



 Anyway, you can see I still have plenty of stitching to amuse me!


Hope you are all keeping well! I'm off to try to catch up on visiting all you guys now!

See you soon!!!





Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Linking to: Sandra's DrEAMi party

and            Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday

P.S. Sorry guys, that header is a bit big, I'll try to find something smaller next time!

Gifted Gorgeousness and TUSAL - August 2018

Hello Dear Blogging Friends,


I'm linking to Daffycat's blog for this month's TUSAL report. 
TUSAL is where we show pictures of our ORTs (leftover threads), for no particular reason (other than that they look kind of pretty)!

Both of the items I'm making also come under the category of "Gifted Gorgeousness" which, in case you don't know, is where we write about stitchy gifts given and received. Both of the following are gifts from magazines so I am shoehorning them in!

Jo! Don't faint ...... I've done it! I worked out how to add the Gifted Gorgeousness photo at last! 

To discover who else is joining in visit Jo at Serendipitous Stitching by clicking ..... HERE!

~~~~~~~~~

No new projects just yet as I'm trying to make sure I finish these two before I start working on my next project for Art Quilt group I'm a member of ..... The Endeavourers.

Our next challenge is an Improve Quilt!! I haven't done Improv before so it'll be a crash course in learning "how to"! It's funny though, last quarter the challenge was "Spiral" and I just couldn't think what to make ..... it was hard to think of something original, most things have been done before after all! I was really nervous, but, after a false start ..... eventually, I thoroughly enjoyed making my piece.


But, anyhow, I digress! Back to the subject .....

My ORTs are mainly from my Bee needle case which is finished except for stitching the case itself together, and some were from finishing the Camper Van, and, before you say it, I know they don't look much, but I do use each thread as close to the end as possible, so there isn't much left to gather!

Almost finished!

If only I didn't hate back stitch so!

But, of course, it actually didn't take long, once I made myself sit down and stitch!

These fabric ORTs are from my Spiral quilt and also from the little Summer pouch I'm making for Camper Van. 

(If you haven't read about either the Camper Van or the Bee needle case you can read more about them here!)

A little irksome cutting up a zip for the pocket, but at least I've used something that has been in the "Dreaded Cupboard" for forever (it seems).

Of course I got this far and then decided the back would look better quilted (that's the pink fabric). Took a while before I decided how to quilt it, but I made my mind up eventually. 

I'm going to "box" the corners, it's so much easier to find things when you've got a flat bottom, don't you think? Then, I'll attach the Camper Van to the front, oh, and I need to make and add a strap.

~~~~~~~~


I couldn't finish today without a picture from the garden .....

DH and I were watching "Gardeners' World" on TV last week when Monty Don showed a phenomenon we hadn't seen before!

..... these amazing little chaps will grow up to be Ostrich Ferns!!!! 

At least, that's what I think that's what they're called .... and they will grow up to look like this:

Ostrich Fern which just happens to be growing in our
garden, and we never knew how it propagated itself before!

Strangely enough the little guys don't grow under the main plant, and the little chaps had suddenly sprung up in a plant pot quite a distance from any other ferns.

~~~~~~~

Well, what have you been stitching?

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

And if you want to know what TUSAL is, why not pop over to Daffycat's blog to find out more!