2023 October

 So we now wave goodbye to October: I cant believe how quickly this year is going!

At the beginning of the month the Chertsey Museum group did some needle felting, but I only got a few photos

Jackie came over for a quick visit: we went to the Knitting & Stitching show, and managed to get a bit of sewing done: vinyl pouches,

and little zipped bags.

I got some puffin fabric at K&S S, and had a play with some self-cover buttons

Towards the end of the month Mum, Niki and I had 24 hours in Norway, sadly for my uncle's funeral.  It was a lovely service, and we re-connected with family we haven't seen for ages - we also saw snow!

I managed a few finishes sewing in front of the TV: this EPP hug finally got a binding

These tapestries (done by mum) got changed into zippy pouches

and this shirt quilt got finished and delivered to a customer

2023 September

It's been a lovely month!  It started with me *attending* the Chertsey Museum class, not teaching it!  One of the regulars is a spinner, so she brought in a sleeping beauty spinning wheel, and had made us all drop spindles so we could do our own spinning.  I really enjoyed the session, thanks Kate

The painted beads from last month were made into necklaces and paired with two dresses:

I started adding 'grass' to my EPP flowers - they will tesselate when they lay flat

I finished one of many quilts on my to-do pile!  In fact I finished two - both for baby girls called Freya!

One of the Freyas with her cousin Amelia

I made by "blue whale" cousin a new zippy pouch: the old one had finally worn out!

Like me she's a bag lady 😂 

I had been trying to ignore that fact that time was galloping towards my 60th, but the lovely ladies at Coffee Morning were not going to let me !  I felt very spoiled!

 

It was also Plum's birthday, so there was a mixture of EPP, gingers, needle felting and zippy pouch that went in the post to her . . .

and in the post FROM her was a lot of awesome Puffin themed stuff plus a lovely necklace and a pouch with a miniature house: she's so good at the tiny blocks!

To be honest, I was spoiled by a lot of people!  Jackie sent the most amazing set of sashiko inspirational instructions (watch this space).

Hayley sent me a painted card of stacked stones, and also made a necklace of stacked pebbles - she and her husband actually drilled through these pebbles!!!

There were also a lot of garden themed gifts!  These and more from the girls and their boys

The Acer tree in the blue pot

These lovely gardening tools,

And over the weekend Niki, George and Brian make huge inroads into uncovering the back half of the garden which had been covered with blackberries and weeds for the last 25 years: my new garden area will be a lovely place to sit and relax!

Lisa made me two crocheted baskets which are perfect for the stuff that can be hidden in the bathroom

We had a lovely family weekend in the Cotswolds for my birthday

I really wanted to stay near a stony stream ... I got it!

Then I had another fab weekend away with girlfriends: a really chilled time at Center Parcs, and our favourite new activity is willow weaving!

 

We also did some needle felting onto calico bags,  and Santa making!

 

2023 August

 Well this is another month where I have been astonished by the number of photos I have to show you!

I have been painting flat wooden beads to match two colourful dresses

There was a great variety of show and tell at Chertsey as the ladies brought in projects they had finished

I finished two EPP (hexies and pentagons) balls

These are made in two halves: 10 hexies and 6 pentagons in each half, sewn together like this

I then experimented with other alternatives: One central hexi surrounded by pantagons (x2) makes a flattened ball

but a pentagon surrounded by pentagons (x2) makes a very satisfying little ball (I think these were 1/2 inch sides)

that with the help of a wooden base and a hot glue gun becomes a sweet little pin cushion

I managed to get to Jackie's for a few days.  We had a go at making pouches with an internal pocket, 

but I think I must have not been concentrating as I was handing her stuff to sew that had been assembled incorrectly so some handles were on the inside

We also mode some bags that would hold projects but I maganed to pin the zipwrong on one of them too😱

These two vinyl zippy pouches weren't too bad

I'm making a quilt for a friend from her B-i-L's shirts.  I don't have space to spread the blocks out at home so take advantage for the village hall. All laid out

and the rows all stitched.

My Tula Pink EPP just about fits on the sitting room floor, but not much longer!  I've got some purple to go in the triangles

And I have been working on a smaller EPP travel project.  I've been making the flowers on and off this year and have now decided it's going to be a flower garden (my first).  I found some 'grass' fabric and have started  preparing grass hexies to be added to the flowers

Once they all have the grass I can lay them out and speed date them

Still on the subject of Hexies - I received the August swap flowers, and got mine posted just before the end of the month