VARIETY

Looking at many stitching blogs I realise that I am not the only one who likes variety when stitching. I always have so many different projects on the go and as soon as I finish one I start another despite still having many others to complete. My clam shell mini is slowly growing.

I  have finished stitching the 2nd bird and have started another one. I love stitching on to the flour sack fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

I found a lovely applique project in one of my Simply Vintage mags. The pieces are all cut out ready to applique but I can't decide which fabric to put them on to. I bought the lighter coloured fabric last week and I already had the grey fabric in my stash. Now I am not sure about either of them.

 

The lighter one is actually a creamy yellowish colour which isn't showing up here.

 

 

 

The grey.

 

 

 

I have finished reading a lovely biography which is the first of a few that Maya Angelou wrote about her very interesting life. I have tried to get back into the habit of reading every night and have enjoyed it immensely. The current book I am reading is a novel based on fact and I have nearly finished that one too.

 

 

 

So now I shall take you back to my travels.

 

On 21st June, 2015 we left Chippenham at 11.00am headed for the M4 and M5 to Cornwall. We stopped for a break after driving for 2 hours then continued our journey arriving in Cornwall at 2.50pm . We needed another break before arriving in Penzance on a very cold, wet and dreary day. We had booked a Bed and Breakfast place to stay in and they didn't have any parking so we had to park the car about a block away opposite the beach. More struggling with luggage!

 

 

 

It was a quaint little room. We had our own bathroom and it was very comfortable.

 

 

After checking in and having a small rest we headed on out in the rain

 

 

 

 

St Michael's Mount in the distance.

 

 

 

We walked to a lovely character filled Inn for dinner. 

 

 

The next day we walked around Penzance to explore the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved this house just around the corner.

 

 

The next day we went to St Ives. I will show you some pics next time. 

 

Thankyou for taking the time to visit my blog and sharing fond memories of my trip.

 

Angel Blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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STITCHING AND TRAVELS

 This cold weather has been the perfect time to sit and stitch while watching a good movie. My hubby is constantly amazed how I can do these 2 things at the same time. I suppose it is a balance of simply listening to the dialogue and glancing up at the screen as I stitch.  I am still having a bit of trouble stitching these days as my eyes need a check up which is long overdue but, nevertheless, I have persevered determined to finish the 2 BOM blocks.

Recently I was gifted  some flour sack fabric to use for my stitcheries. I usually use hankie linen or light fabrics to trace designs onto so I was thrilled to be able to try this fabric as an alternative.  I decided to trace a few bird designs to stitch on it and I found this fabric easy for tracing and rather nice to stitch . I love this tiny little birdie. And, yes, I chose Jenny's birds to stitch. No surprise there. Hehehe.

 

 

Thus endeth the crafty part of my post. I shall now go back to my travels back in 2015. 

 

On the 18th June 2015 we picked up the hire car in Cardiff and managed to get lost as soon as we drove out of the street. We eventually found our way to the correct motor way headed for Chippenham, Wiltshire which was the birthplace of my grandfather. My great great great grandfather was Mayor of Chippenham for a while.We arrived in Chipp ( as it is called by the locals) but couldn't find the correct street to park at the hotel. The street was blocked off as a mall so after much confusion and many U turns we asked someone for directions and eventually got there. After settling in our hotel room we explored Market St to buy some water and other supplies.

 

 

 

We had arranged to meet my grandfather's best mate's widow, Mary, who my family had been in contact with for decades via hand written letters. No one had ever met her so we were delighted to be able to fulfil this dream. We received a call from Mary arranging to meet us at 6.30pm in the Mall which we did before all getting in our car and driving to her home for a little visit.

 

The next morning we had breakfast , hopped in the car and headed for Salisbury Plains to visit Stonehenge. It was a pleasant drive through beautiful countryside but I had no idea what the speed was and didn't want to get booked. The roadway was narrow and had lots of bends so there was very little chance for anyone to pass me if I was too slow. Yep, I was one of those irritating tourists. At one point I had several cars trailing behind me. We passed through beautiful chocolate box villages  with thatched cottages that had doorsteps almost on the road. We finally reached Stonehenge, parked the car , bought tickets and wandered through the information area before boarding a bus which took us closer to the stones . It was still a fair walk but it was a beautiful warm and sunny day. The stones were roped off but still quite close. The next day or 2 was the weekend of the Summer Solstice there .

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a display of little cottages that reminded me of Yerts. These were replicas of the homes that people who built and used Stonehenge probably lived in.

 

 

 

 

The next day, 20th June , Mary took us on a personal tour of Chipp. She had located my grandfather's brother's grave at the local cemetery. He was only 41 when he died after a war effort fundraising tug of war. He ruptured something internally and died. So sad, especially as my grandfather never returned to Chipp to see his parents, brother or friends. I like to think that grandad was with me as we walked around his home town. We found the school that my grandfather attended from the age of 3.

 

 

 

We couldn't locate his childhood home but we did find the house that his parents lived in after he came to Australia.

 

 

 

We wandered through beautiful laneways.

 

 

 

 

And alongside a river that I can't remember the name of.

 

 

 

Next time we are off to Penzance, Cornwall. Thankyou for visiting me.

 

Angel Blessings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

CLAM SHELLS AND STITCHERIES

I don't seem to have done much since my last post but I have started a little project using 1" clam shells. It takes a lot of 1' clam shells to make a mini quilt so I have cut a lot of my charm squares into 6 clam shells ready to EPP. I have followed Sue Daley's method to piece them but I am still having trouble lining them up correctly on the 2nd row. Hopefully, I shall overcome this problem with practice.

 

 

I have been happily stitching Jenny's latest BOM and just need to whipstitch the hexies together and applique them on.

 

 

 

 

I stitched a previous block and made it into a  heart to hang up. I am now stitching this block again in different colours so I can put it in a quilt with all the other blocks when they are completed. That will be interesting as I have no idea how I am going to do that without a pattern. Nonetheless, there's nothing like a bit of a challenge!

 

 

 

Next post I shall have some pics of Stonehenge which I visited in June 2015.

 

Angel Blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

OPAM, MUNCHKIN AND PROJECTS ON THE GO

 

 

 

Another month has come and gone so quickly again. However, this time I have completed several projects .

 

I table runner. ( A bit of a challenge for me binding the triangular edges). I completed this earlier in the month and then yesterday it dawned on me that I hadn't made any coasters to match it. So, I managed to hand piece and hand quilt 4 hexie coasters yesterday. Yey!

 

 

I made a hanging heart from one of Jenny's free BOM stitchery designs. Her latest one has been released today so I shall be printing that one up and choosing threads and fabric

this afternoon.

 

 

3 crocheted pot holders grew into 6.

 

 

I finally completed the last of a series of minis I made . Hmm, is it a bit late or a bit early?

 

 

So, that gives me a grand total of 13 projects completed in July. I think that is a personal record.

 

I have been busy doing heaps of crocheted granny squares and have finished the 2nd rounds on them.

 

 

 

I am currently playing with 1" clam shells to EPP with some gorgeous charm squares that Sue gave to me for my birthday back in April. Gee, one can get a lot of clam shells from 1 square when they are so teeny tiny. I just hope I can join them all together efficiently.  

 

 

As well as completing sewing projects each month I have been trying to read a couple of books each month too and I succeeded in July.

 

 

Now, don't worry. I am not going to show pics of my travels today. I can hear your sighs of relief. It has been a long post. However, hehehehe, I am going to show you the latest pic I took of my munchkin on Saturday when he came to visit. 

 

 

 

 

Angel Blessings.