Autumn Projects

 When the quilt show was on in Tavistock I met the delightful Katy Choroszewska who lives closeby, she hand dyes threads and fabrics - www.TamarEmbroideries.co.uk - they are such gorgeous colours, and as I found it so difficult to choose I ended up buying 10!:

I have just finished sewing this lovely little "I do" wedding sampler using the variagated colours:

And I sewed this one for my niece's son who got married over the Bank Holiday weekend, and made it into a Memory Cushion:

I sat down last night before Downton Abbey - so very good to have a Sunday night drama worth watching back on TV - and counted up how many cross-stitch Christmas stockings I need to sew for all the new babies born over the past 18 months:  10 - yes 10!  I think I had better get started and get sewing SOON - and the lovely variagated threads will make them extra special.
I have also been busy with my patchwork baby quilts:  these 2 are waiting to be quilted:

This one is for baby Tom born in Holland recently and he is the grandson of my cousin Margi - she and I went for many years with no contact, but are now back in touch and it is so very lovely, she means the world to me and we are now trying to make up for the lost years.
This next quilt will be going to Australia - don't worry Michelle if you read this - I am in the process of altering the spelling of Sophia - F instead of PH - so glad you told me before I quilted it!!!:

I bought some gorgeous children's fabrics at the FOQ:  this will be my next start for some lucky youngster - I so love these farm animal fabrics:

I collected my latest sampler from the framers - it had to go back after the first collection as it had been framed far too "tight" - cutting off some of the bottom flower border, not sure what she was thinking of, but it is fixed now and looks lovely:

So when I go over to Cowslip next week for the start of my Applique course (back to the Noah's Ark - hurray!) I will give this to Jo as a "thank you" for all she has done for me, especially over the last difficult year - she has been so generous and I appreiciate it so very much.

I am off up to Nottingham again tomorrow till the end of the week to spend time with my Mum, so I can make a start on those Christmas stockings, it will be the perfect opportunity.
Thank you all for your encouraging comments - and I hope everyone has a good creative week!
 

September in the West Country

First of all I would like to say Welcome to my new followers, and thank you to those who have left comments.  Always so encouraging....
I really want to mention that Goosey Quilters are having an Exhibition in Tavistock Town Hall from the 6-8th September, and if ANY of you are down in the West Country next week it will be well worth a visit: these two quilts have been made by one of the GQ members and are being raffled for Asthma UK and the Tavistock Triangle Centre, they are gorgeous:

The one above has been quilted by Sandy Chandler - she quilted the Cowslip Team Quilt which was shown at the FOQ - the other one has been hand quilted.  I shall be buying lots of tickets!  If any of you are able to visit do leave me a comment as we could meet up there for a coffee.  Although I am not a member of Goosey Quilters I know many who are, and always support them in all they do.
My friend Lyn is much involved with organising the Exhibition: here she is with a gorgeous cross-stich cushion she has just made for her sister-in-law:

 

I have been cross-stitching away at my "Mystery Sampler project" and have almost fnished Part 2:  it is great fun, I am looking forward to Part 3 which should be arriving in a week's time:

I am busy making three baby quilts - my Studio has childrens fabric EVERYWHERE!
And then I shall decide what to make with this gorgous old-fashoned fabric which I bought at the show:

I had a real problem with my email account on Thursday evening - after trying several times to email my daughter regarding a possible meet up I kept being told the email could not be sent because of it's sensitive content - what? lunch with Fran sensitive?  Ridiculous - then suddenly the email went - then they closed my Hotmail account down!!  Absolute nightmare - complicated forms to fill in, time and again - trying to prove I am me - what is wrong with these people?  Eventually with my son Robbie's help I got it sorted and now - fingers crossed microsoft have decided I am ME!  Strangely I have seen on another Blog I follow that someone else had a similar problem at about the same time - who knows what goes on.... fingers crossed it all stays up and running now.

That aside and despite the dreadful weather I have had a good week - but am missing Robbie and Nisha after their visit:  I love living down in Devon but do miss more regular contact with my 3 children as they are all in London, and have such busy lives.  I feel quite bereft when they leave ....

Here they are just before we left for Plymouth Train Station .....
This morning in the mail I received the latest copy of Simply Vintage:  so I shall settle down later - beside the fire and enjoy, even though I do not speak French I can manage to understand most of it - it is a fun challenge!

Have a great weekend everyone!