getting stitchy with it

So I have chosen to use pink, red and green cottons

along with a cream for the background.

Hand quilting for me is on a par with hand piecing.

There are no fixed rules,

which can be confusing,

with so much choice..

I am toying with the idea of quilting 

petal shapes within the white 

like a daisy with a hex centre..

I might make a trial run to see if I like it.

Any guesses to which backing I went with?

garden chit chat

 Let this be the first of many garden chit chats on the blog!

As is now usual with me

I have had my 360 degree spin of horror moment in the garden.

The moment when I whisper...help....

and then just crack on with it!

I have become accustomed to it now, so lets put that one to bed

(for another year)

and look at the pretty things.

The above are snakes head fritillarys

a gift from a friend,

I wasnt sure they would make it through the winter

but they did!

That said I have lost a number of plants this year

the first being ALL of my lupins

see here for last years show.

Our garden is on clay

so when it rains the beds become lakes..

I guess lupins can only take so much.

Also lost are all my echinacea, a euphorbia, a penstemon and 

quite possibly my catmint.

Thank goodness for the selfsowns!

 A year on from our pond dig and things are getting established

though I have decided to let this area become ungardened  wild.

Bird Cam

Ever felt like you were being watched?

This is how I do it

weeding that is..

keep it real x

macaroon monday

Wish they were macaroons..

however they are my sweet new perle cottons!

You may think ooh now they're Clare colours,

but no

this was an online bundle

colours already selected.

Totally getting this hand quilting lark

but,

 oh 

(think John Travolta singing Summer Nights)

 the possibilities are endless!

Add them to my modest yet growing cotton stash

and I can't help thinking they remind me of something....?

making it work

 Well this took me back to my technical drawing classes!

Not as easy to reproduce as it was to draw willy nilly.

 After taping some A4 sheets together I strolled back and forth with my ruler in hand.

It was actually quite fun

a bit like dot to dot!

 I do love our new space...

I am in between the radio, the kettle and the toilet

why go any where else?

This is how far I got.

I numbered the templates on the back 

and remembered to take a photo

to help me assemble correctly!

I'm thinking now that the orange should be red,

I used orange in the painting, but the tone is a lot darker 

than this orange I have....in other news

still waiting on some perle cotton 

so I can get on with 

some hand quilting.....hurry up already!

perfectly pastel...

 Last year the house and the garden both went through changes.

A pond in the garden and an extension on the house.

Needless to say the latter was by far the most stressful.

With the days now getting longer and warmer

we are hanging out more often in the new bit.

We still have flooring, skirting, door frames and a patio to do,

but we're getting there.

Which leads me to our latest house guest

my our welsh dresser.

 I quite literally stumbled upon this dresser in my local town

I couldn't quite believe it..

if you knew my town you'd know that

 poundland* is the very heart of the community.

So you can imagine my surprise

when I found Junk and Disorderly.

I had been scouring websites trying to find one to do up

but I wanted a wood dresser

and as painted furniture is the in thing

I was finding it hard.

The lady seller had rubbed it down herself

she said it took 2 weeks.

Normally I would rather do the work and pay less,

but sometimes when somethings right

you should just go for it.

That said I did haggle her down some!

With these hard times I think we need to support 

our high street shops and the people trying to make a living.

And besides I wouldn't be sharing these photos with you now

had I not fallen in love...

 I am a girl who's love affair with old things runs deep,

and have been collecting quirky objects for many a year

(and yes more loft delving)

Having said that my husband picked up some great things

from carboot sells back in the day when deco mirrors cost a pound.

In fact the ice creams and the bread bin are his.

 A dtawer for my aprons...how decadent!

 This charming lady came from the loft

I've had her years

she is utterly broken

but I cant throw her away.

So now I have a place for everything and everything in place.

Really every girl should have one!

And breathe....

*nothing wrong with poundland I shop there too!

Le Challenge ~ Geometrics

 Sometimes all you need is a little nudge

to set you off.

 It's been way too long since I've picked up a paint brush and oils.

I had forgotten how much I LOVE it!

 I have had this painting in my head for awhile

and had the canvas for even longer.

I originally had an idea for an even scrappier style painting,

that can wait.

So when Lucy and Nat came up with their 

Le Challenge

Geometrics.

I knew what I wanted to do.

I drew a somewhat random pattern

with a pencil and ruler.

The basis for the colour palette was 

my summer of love quilt

(yep still rolling that out)

Although the colours are not all faithful to the quilt

the values remain well balanced.

 So well balanced in fact I'm turning it into a mini.

I mean it would be rude not too right?

English Paper Pieced but of course!

So there we are.

The hardest part with painting is knowing when to stop.

For now I'm calling it Love/Hate.

If I was having a crit I'd have to come up with something meaningful as to why.

Well the love part comes from my quilt

 and the hate because it has a somewhat angst kind of feeling.
Either way I have a feeling this will be the first of many
paintings of quilts and quilts of paintings!

a quick quilting quandary

Can I make a confession?

I really feel like I don't know what I'm doing

most of the time!

And when it comes to quilting

I'm lost.

I read my quilting books and all your blogs for inspiration,

I just wish it came naturally to me.

With my wadding purchased from John Lewis

(80% cotton 20% polyester)

I've reached that dilemma.

I was thinking about using the pink for the backing

and the stripe for the binding...

But maybe the other way round?

Or not at all?

I'm definitely going with some hand quilting,

possibly a blender on the hexagons

and some more colourful stitching on the stars...

decisions decisions!

sew solid crew

Okay so I can't share my latest creation until Monday

but I can share my fabrics for my next mini.

I wonder what I could be up to?

In other news...whilst lingering around John Lewis fabric department

pondering on their wadding

I met an older lady who quilts.

Actually it was the presewn patchwork fabric that we were both tutting at

that got us talking.

She told me about the Japanese folding technique,

I think its a bit like making cathedral windows.

ps. 

they have flea market fancy in John Lewis

and no I was good.

pps.

I have wadding...we all know what that means!

ppps.

I'm using cheap cotton

remember my mantra!

So the moral?

Time spent lingering over fabric is NEVER wasted.

Molly's Den

 I know it's hard to believe

but sometimes I do leave the house.

You see I heard along the grapevine

of a new vintage warehouse local to me

called Molly's Den...

not to be confused with Molly Flanders.

Both are equally fine places to visit

except the latter being of the virtual kind of course.

 

 Remember our nest of tables?

Well they were purchased at MD

and at a very reasonable price too.

 We have been crying out for a place like this.

The sort of place that turns my eyes into jolly ranchers...

and my brain into jam.

 They have a great mix of old and new, vintage and retro.

I'm now wondering if I could sell my vintage inspired quilts there...

If you live near Bournemouth and fancy a visit

check out their facebook page for more info and pics..

Now I'm off to write a shopping list for my next visit
which can't come soon enough!

le sneaky peek

Thanks for all your lovely comments regarding my painting,

I know how single minded we get in the quilting world

so I really value your support.

This is my Le Challenge entry

still in progress.

It's very big and very bright

just what we need with our current climate.

I'm thinking wouldnt this make an awesome mini quilt?

do you mind if I paint?

 You may think that quilting is my first love?

But for me it's always been (in a non pretentious way) about art.

If you ask me where my favourite place to hangout is...

I may give you a handful of answers

a garden centre..a fabric shop..portobello market..an antique fair

but really my number one favourite place

is in an art gallery.

There's nothing more inspiring than a whitewashed wall

splashed with vibrant canvases.

Or dark walls with a moody oil or two.

My biggest regret in life is rebelling against 

my art college student life..

and the fact that I never did go back to study..

something about having a life of my own,

with no rules.

I was taught that to create art

there must always be thought behind it,

something that appalled the 17 year old me.

But now that I'm older and wiser

I totally agree.

Don't get me wrong I'm not going all artsy on you,

I'm just realising how my art college years have 

shaped the way I quilt and why I have to be different,

and to show my working out.

Just like quilts I have had paintings floating about in my head.

So when this months Le Challenge theme was announced

as geometric

I knew I had to crack on.

My first attempt in oils 

I'm calling severence.

 Having the book;

  Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (thanks Lisa)

 fall apart as I read it

I knew I wanted to recycle it.

I feel very in tune with Virginia Woolf

and her fractious view of high society and
the continuous present.

This is just a start

not my le challenge entry

 I have bigger fish to fry...

dog tagged

For those who can read between my lines...

I don't have a dog,

though maybe one day,

so for now virtual dogs will have to do.

My favourite right now would have to be the handsome scarf wearing Duke

 from Duke Says Sew What

I'm pleased to announce that my little giveaway mini

has found it's home in the US

as has this label.

All handstitched Kris!