Autumn sewings

Where the last three weeks have gone is a mystery - I seem to have been constantly on the move with not a huge amount of time for patchwork sadly, but have managed lots of cross-stitch.  The days are getting shorter and colder, Autumn is definitely here.  Time for log fires and home-made soups!  Plus I do need to get out into the garden for a winter shutdown - but the weather has been so wet - again.  Excuses, excuses.........!  I would much rather sew!
I am currently busily cross-stitching Christmas stockings:

Here are the first 2 of the 10 that I need to sew - then there is the fiddly part of making them into an actual stocking with a cuff etc. - all good fun, and I hope an heirloom of the future.
I have been back at Cowslip Workshops for my Monday Applique class, and Jo loved her sewing:  here it is hung in the work shop by the door so everyone admires it as they go in and out!

The workshop is just full of delights - including on the right the Bronze Medal quilt from the FOQ:

There are quilts hanging off the beams and inspirational patchwork books everywhere, it is such a wonderful room to work in:

I shall be out at Cowslip for an extra two day treat this coming week as the wonderful Mary Berry will be there demonstrating her cooking ideas on the Aga.  I first met Mary about 20 years ago when I used to go to her home for Aga cooking demonstrations.  She taught me to cook and she is a Hero is my kitchen.  When Jo installed an Aga into the Cowslip Cafe she contacted Mary, and over the past few years Mary has come down annually for a cooking delight.  I go along each time and help her with her Sales Table - her books and some wonderful pans etc. - we have big fun, a big catch up and I just look forward to this time so much.  I shall be able to tell you all about it next weekend.  Of course we will all be wanting to know who won the Great British Bake off this year, but I am sure Mary's lips will be tightly sealed!!  Only 2 more programs to go - such a great show.

I collected from Carole at Butterfly Quilters my two baby quilts which she long-arm quilted for me with stars and swirls - one has now arrived in Holland for Tom, and the family I heard this morning are just thrilled - it is very bright and full of fun:

I chose the most gorgeous Noah's Ark fabric for the backing:

and here is little Tom waving on his quilt - he looks so gorgeous!

 The other quilt is still winging it's way to Australia for Sofia:

Last weekend we drove up to London to help son Robbie move out of one flat and into another, and we took some bits up for youngest daughter Dot.  It was a gloriously sunny Saturday, this is Stonehenge which we passed looking as impressive as ever:

And this was Buckingham Palace early Saturday evening:

We stayed with our New Zealand friends who have a flat in London, and here is Nina's quilt which I made for a Special Birthday:  so lovely to see it being used, I worry that sometimes all my hard work ends up stuffed in a cupboard! - but not this one!!:

On Sunday morning before we drove back to Devon we went and visited Nina's daughter Emma and we met the beautiful Ida: so at last I was able to give Ida her Noah's Ark picture -here is Emma with Nina and Ida admiring the cross-stitch:

And here is Ida playing on her quilt:

Well I shall finish as I started with a Xmas Stocking - I am just having a go at making this one into a stocking for William:  three sewn - seven to go!:

I hope everyone has a good productive week - thanks for popping by my Blog, and thanks to all those who leave encouraging comments!


 

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!
 

FOQ Masterpieces!

Well - as always the Festival of Quilts lived up to expectations - wonderful quilts on display, there is so much talent within the quilting world, it is a joy to behold. There were many great stalls full of tempting fabric - I was fairly restrained and limited myself to a handful (large) of fabric which I knew would bring me joy and fun!  With a wee extra bit here and there......!

The first quilt I must show you is "Scandinavian Journey" from the Cowslip Workshop Team in St. Stephans, just outside Launceston in Cornwall - as some of you will know who follow my blog, Jo at Cowslip is a dear friend and this is the quilt she made for her niece Henrietta who lives in Norway:  the organic wool wadding was made from the wool of Jo's own sheep and it was quilted by Sandy Chandler who lives just down the road from Jo:

There were so many different quilts that caught my eye - so I will try and give a varied selection here for you to see: 

This Hawaiian style quilt was made by Pippa Moss, and is called Piilani after the greatest and best known King of Maui.  The hand applique and hand quilting are fantastic.  I just loved it.

I have many more to show you, but this will do for now - too many at once is overwhelming!

I left Birmingham late Saturday afternoon and drove on up to Nottingham to spend the next 3 days with my dear old Mum.  She has become very frail and confused, even more so than when I visited with her 10 days ago after her fall.  My sister and I have managed to get some care organised for her and someone will come in every morning now to help her get dressed etc.  She is not at all happy about this, but hopefully - fingers crossed - she will get used to the help and begin to accept it.  I realise it must be so difficult for her, she is a proud lady and has valued her independence.  But at 92 the time has come to let others who care help her.  It is very sad and stressful for us, her family, we just hope she can carry on living in her flat for some time yet.
I drove home yesterday evening through torrental rain - and the forecast is not good for the Bank Holiday weekend - typical!  My son Robbie and his girlfriend Nisha are coming down from London, so I am really looking forward to that. 

I will update with more FOQ pictures later - thank you for all your recent comments, all so encouraging - and a big Hello to the new followers of my Blog!

FOQ - here I come!

Hello everyone:  this is just a quick blog to say I am off up to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts later today -  2 days of pure inspiration and fun, and lots of tempting fabric!
I shall take many photos to share with you so will Blog again next week on my return.

My current cross-stitch WIP is the "Stitch Me Club 2012" sampler  - www.atelierperdu.fr - it is such fun.  Part 2 arrived a few days ago and I have saved this to sew when I am in Nottingham with my Mum for a few days after the FOQ.  This is how it is looking so far - I am sewing on 32 count over 2 - the colours of the variagated threads are just lovely: 

I would just like to say how much I appreciate the comments that are left on my Blog - and a big Hello to new followers!

What a wonderful hobby we all have in common!

Looking forward.....

Well what a wonderful 2 weeks of sport - I have so enjoyed watching the Olympics and feel quite lost this morning with no rowing, swimming/diving, athletics or gymnastics to watch!  Although I am not normally what one would call a "sporty person" I became totally absorbed and addicted.  I feel so proud of what we as a country produced, and amazed at the dedication and committment of all the participants from around the world.  Congratulations to everyone.

Sadly 10 days ago my dear Mum had a fall and had to have stitches in her head.  Her confidence has been shattered and she really does seem extremely frail bless her.  I went off up to Nottingham and spent 4 days looking after her.  We watched the Olympics together, and I took my cross stitch and managed to complete this:

The majority of this is from the Shakespeare's Peddler design "Spring at Bean Family Farm" but I have personalised it and moved things around:  I have sewn this for my friend Jo who runs Cowslip Workshops - she has been so thoughtful and generous to me these past months when I have been so low, and it is a small gift to say "thank you".  Instead of a red brick house it is a blue/grey cornish stone farmhouse, and I added a row of quilts on a washing line plus some extra lambs - all this gives it the "Cowslip" feel.  It is now off to the framers - something rustic I think!

In my last blog  told you about the problems I was experiencing tryng to make a strip quilt from a jelly roll - well in the end I unpicked the whole quilt - it was over 2 ins out from one side to another, and I also found that the quarter-square triangle borders I was trying to make from a Layer Cake also caused me problems as some of the pre-cut squares were up to a quarter inch out from others.
So I made log cabin squares - and by doing this was able to square up every round and then I squared up the quarter-square triangles - and this is the end result:

It took me a lot of unpicking, but I got there in the end - and the result is fresh and bright.  I shall be VERY careful when using jelly rolls/layer cakes in the future - perhaps I was just unlucky this time.  When this has been quilted it is going to be a 70th birthday gift for a friend who loves pink!

My youngest daughter Dot paid us a flying visit at the end of July as she went to a wedding reception very close by - it was a bonus to see her as she has just started a new job as "Manager" of "Opening Ceremony" - a shop in Covent Garden.  OC had only previously been in the USA and Japan, but wanted to come to London.  She is loving it - and seems really happy which is great.

Off to the wedding looking gorgeous in a dress previously modelled by Kate Moss.  Then back up to London, still looking gorgeous!:

The weather was kind, and our home and garden looks so lovely when the sun shines - such a rare occurance this summer:

And now it is that time of year again:  the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham!  I am so excited!  A wonderful source of inspiration.............. and so much fabric!  Of course I DO NOT NEED ANY FABRIC!!  Watch this space...............I shall come back with many photos to share with you.
I will spend 2 days at the show, and then I will drive on up to Nottngham and spend another 4 days with my Mum.  I can hardly believe a whole year has passed since the last FOQ - such a difficult year for us where so much has changed.  But my love of quilting and sewing continues - long may it do so.

Here comes Summer

What a difference, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and it is 27 degrees on our porch this afternoon. 
But I have two finishes to show you, so I have come into the cool of the study so I can post these:
First of all I have finished the "Seeds of Time" quilt and it is now with Carole at Butterfly Quilters so she can cover it with a close vermacelli design:

Our black cat Bosun loves this quilt!

And I have today collected my latest framed cross-stitch:  I am delighted, it is so pretty and I feel the dark rustic wooden frame sets it off perfectly:  not sure where to put it yet, but I'll find room somewhere!

On one of my previous blogs I showed the little fieldmouse eating from the bird feeder outside my kitchen window:  well we now have another frequent uninvited guest:

I wondered why the nuts were disappearing so quickly!  He must think his luck's changed!

Well, I am off back to sit on the porch, and shall do some unpicking of that quilt - not my favourite pastime, but will pour myself a large glass of ginger beer with lime cordial and put on some music - I have just purchased a great CD by Carlos Bonell, Magical Mystery Guitar Tour - he is playing Beatles songs on the classical guitar, it is great!  Perfect for a sunny summer's day!
Cheers everybody - thank you for visiting my Devon Life.

A finish and more Noah's Ark - hence the rain?!

Well, what a weekend -  more rain, floods, Wimbledon Tennis - almost too much to cope with.  I just love "Wimbledon Fortnight", it is such a good excuse - as if the continuing rain isn't enough - to sit and sew whilst watching fantastic tennis.  Despite the outcome I have loved every minute and feel quite lost this afternoon without it!
I have a finished cross-stitch to show you:

I am so pleased with this, and it was fun to sew.  It is now with the framers -  I have chosen a dark rustic wooden frame which I hope will look in keeping.  And I have collected my two latest Noah's Ark pictures:

When I was up in Surrey last week taking care of my friend Lise after her 3rd hip operation, she gave me this fantastic Noah's Ark as a Thank You for being such a good nurse!:

Our kitchen dresser just keeps filling up:  the beautiful soup tureen to the left of The Ark was a present from Stella, one Lise's friends, so roll on winter then I can fill it with delicious home made soups:

I also managed to see my friends Tim and Helen for coffee Sunday morning, and meet their grandson Otto:

Here is Otto on the "Cheese Quilt" I made for them, he is utterly gorgeous!

So all in all I had a lovely time in Cobham, the kids all came down to see us which was fantastic and I managed to see old neighbours and friends.  Lise is one of those rare girlfriends who always manages to raise my mood, and she tries to keep me focused on what really matters in life. I love spending time with her. I know I have lost that optimistic feeling over the last year due to being badly let down by someone we trusted - and it has been hard for me to "bounce back".  I am still struggling as everything has changed so much, but with three terrific kids and a few true friends "things can only get better" - the rain has matched my mood recently.  Never mind - onwards and upwards!  The sun has to shine again soon.

I am now off to work on my patchwork which has taken a back seat during my trip away and the tennis.  Now I have no excuse, nor do I want one - I only have two rows left to do plus the border and I am excited about finishing it. 

So I hope to show you the finished article in my next Blog, plus I have a baby quilt to sew for little Emily who was born in the early hours of Saturday morning - and I need to start another cross-stitch project - I really want to sew this Shakespeare's Peddler pattern:

I'm feeling more cheerful already!