June 2026

Hello and welcome to the June furtle 😊

I have been away (Croatia, lovely, hot, but a swimming pool just *there* made it so much more comfortable than being in the blistering UK heat!) and, of course, took hand sewing with me.  The Rainbow Kitchen sink blocks have multiplied:

The Chertsey Museum ladies made reversible cutting / pressing boards

I reduced an *enormous* pile of unused prepared binding and joined it into a single piece that felt it could reach to the moon and back

and then joined it end to end and made a jelly roll race quilt top.  Not finished yet but a fairly quick fix if a need an adult / teenanger quilt

I have been making Gingers based on National Days: in June we had a Yoga Day (21st)

Blood donor Day (14th) 

and Cycle awareness (18th)

#Craftivism 😊

I helped one of my favourite teenagers prepare her school shirt for Leavers Day: she designed this and stitched it on the embroidery machine and then used fabric pens and paint to add the other details: didn't she do well!!!!

 

I've prepared some samples for a class I'm teaching in a few weeks time . . .

and ChatGPT created a lovely poster for the class  

2024 July

Welcome to my July in photos: also known as The Wedding Month

I didn't have much to make for Niki's wedding, so I could make fun things.  I made 50m of white bunting (that I never got a photo of!)

I made sashes for the bridesmaids as they weren't wearing traditional bridesmaid dresses

So I could make Gingers for them too!!!!

I made sashes for the Bride and Groom . . . 

. . .  for the same reason

"Most" of them wore their sashes 😂

I made a Guest Book by sectioning cotton lawn into 7" squares and providing fabric pens

  

And I finished the binding while watching Dirty Dancing - a perfect combo!

I think most people signed it

Chertsey Museum saw us making felt cottage pin cushions, and Peter Rabbit came in for Show and Tell from last month

    

A few photos from the wedding: I resisted the temptation to show you ALL of them!

The following week I booked myself in for a few classes at Gerrard's Cross Summer School - I can thoroughly recommend it if you are local.  I did needle felting . . .

. . . Silver Clay jewellery . . .

. . . and then willow weaving (prizes will be offered for anyone who can correctly guess what the middle one is!)

The Coffee Morning / Stitch and Crafty Church regulars decorated the hall for the borough's Gardens in Bloom

And then at the end of the month I had a playdate with our youngest Great Niece: in 24 hours we did (deep breath) lots of needle felting, kit sewing, colouring, bag making, weaving, waffle making, embroidery design on the computer and stitching a cat in a box (which was too shy to have a pic taken!)

 

 

 

 

I was exhausted but looking forward to her coming again!!!

2024 May

 Here comes the usual photo bomb of crafty things from my May:

Chertsey Fun With Fabric group brought show and tell in the shape of these cute rabbits we made in April with Stephanie's help

And for May's class we made pinch pouches for scissors or other treasures

  

I made my sample out of a patchwork orphan block and still have some left over so I used it on a pouch for Niki's Kindle which I was using for holidays

I did some embroidery for customers

and helped Lisa bind this awesome quilt.  She had a vision of adding orange, for a while it might have had orange sashing, but it changed to orange backing . . . 

. . . and a flange on the binding which was a first for me

Brian and I spent half of May in Texas at dad's.  Lisa took advantage of us being there and ordered fabric for us to bring back (this is just part of her haul)

I may have bought some too

I did some hand sewing while I was there, a brick I-Spy quilt

And this "Kawandi" style cowl for the winter, and as a class sample.   Kawandi is a combination of 'plonk applique' and kantha stitching

The edges can be turned under but I went with raw edge.  It's all tacked, I just need to start the final stitching

Lisa used up some of her left over orange fabric to trial a quilt-as-you-go mini quilt while she waited for me to bring back her purchases

And I picked up some wool for a few crochet projects

This started as a blanket but then I decided to see if I can make a cardigan.  I'm sure I don't need instructions????

Eileen also bought some wool and asked me to start her off, I may have got a bit carried away!

See you next month xx