Postcard Stitchery & Mousing Pursuits

 

As I haven't fixed the photo problem

yet,

and I don't like to post without a photo,

I found this one

sitting in a draft post.

Not sure when it's from

but I think I must have made it for a postcard swop.

It probably dates back at least a couple of years.

We've had a mouse in the house.

It's evaded capture until today,

or last night to be more precise.

We've tried to capture it humanely,

but the traps were proving useless.

This morning however,

I found a mouse,

dead,

on one of the dog's beds.

We think Danny caught it.

He's always looking for mice in the long grass when we're out for walks.

One day he was walking alongside me,

on the lead,

when his attention was caught by something,

and in one swift movement

his head turned down into the grass

and when he turned back round,

he had a mouse in his mouth.

Dead.

He didn't even break step.

His nickname is

Mouser.

Well one of his nicknames.

Let's hope

last night's mouse

was the only one.



Happy Valentine's Day

Not long now until Mike gets home.

Hot and Bothered

Yesterday I was hot.

The thermometer on the balcony,

in the shade,

was reading 30 degrees centigrade.

Which is hot for me.

I decided to get my hexagon quilt out.

Truth be known,

it was already out,

just waiting for me to

leave the crocheting I have been doing,

and start stitching instead.

I've always thought that I tend to have

lots of projects on the go

so that :-

I don't get bored;

there is a project to suit my mood;

there's a project to suit the time (such as crochet in front of the TV);

or location (such as hand sewing to take on holiday).

I'm sure there are other reasons I could add.

But yesterday,

I realised that I have all these projects

because I can get a different one out when:-

I can't find the thread I need for the first one,

(that's the thread I found sorted out last week

and thought I had put in the tin with the hexagons).

Even if I did find the thread,

that I simply MUST use,

no other will do...

I can't find my sewing glasses.

When I get the next project out,

I can't decide on the layout for it.

And when I do decide on the layout,

I think,

I really do need to prewash the fabric.

In the process,

of all of this,

I come across some fabric left over from some other project,

(completed I might add),

and think,

shall I start a new project?

Do you have days like that?

In the end

I watched this bird for a while

helping himself to our plums

that aren't quite ready.

If you are interested,

you can see the right side of the quilt

from the first 4 photos here,

Just don't look at the date!

P.S. Can you tell I like hexagons?

Just Stitchin'

One day a month,

Mike and I aim,

to give the other one,

a day off.

This means we are not obliged to

partake in the early morning walks with the dogs,

cough, cough!

If only they were early,

these walks tend to be a lot later these days.

Or any of their other walks apart from the last one at night.

And for me,

I don't have to think about what we're going to eat

and have to prepare it.

In other words,

no responsibilities on those days other than

deciding how we would like to spend the day.

Today, it was my turn,

and I just stitched away,

all day!

Little Pink Flowers and Biscuit Cake

Sunny warm weather,

which we are still enjoying here in Germany,

calls for some

light summer dresses.

I bought a couple when in the UK recently

and was so pleased with them,

I rashly went and bought a dress pattern and fabric.

The best thing is,

I've made the dress!

It must be years since I've made myself a dress,

though my daughter

got me back into sewing dresses

when she asked me to make one for her.

That was two years ago.

I made the 'ghost dress'

mentioned above,

an odd choice and some very slippery fabric it was too,

but I also made a second dress for her in some Happy Hippo fabric.

Another odd choice.

But they both looked lovely.

The best thing is though,

is that it got my daughter interested in sewing.

She still sews,

though she doesn't seem to blog much now.

I've sewn

for as long as I can remember.

Taught by both my mother and grandmother.

Sewing my own clothes all those years ago

led me to taking up patchwork.

An obvious detour

what with all the lovely scraps of fabric left over from dressmaking,

I just had to put them to good use.

Another love of mine,

is baking.

Yesterday, I decided to make some date scones.

I tend to use my food processor for the job these days.

I thought I would whip up a Victoria sponge while I was at it.

An easy cake to make,

but I thought I'd make it even easier by using the food processor

to make it even simpler and quicker,

(always important when you fancy a slice).

Unfortunately, it turned out on the thin side.

I did wonder at using the food processor for the job,

but it was one of the recipes that came with it.

So I've called it Biscuit Cake.

Sponge cake with a crunch to it.

It's still nice,

but it wouldn't win any competitions!

Well I'm off to sew some buttons on my dress now.

They are really quite tiny.

It's just a very small basket.

Inspiring Words~ Colour

I love colour.

The brighter the better

I'm attracted to colour,

like a Magpie attracted

to shiny objects,

I'm that way with colour.

I love it.

Need I say More?

Except to say,

pop over to Yiota's

for more inspirational words.

A Free Day

It's been rather dull here.

So I haven't been taking many photos.

But I did take the camera out the other day

when we went a bit further afield for our walk with the hounds.

The first photo shows just how dull it's been.

The next one is something that I don't remember seeing before,

Mistletoe growing wild.

When we looked around

we noticed quite a lot of it.

Handy for next Christmas.

There's been more colour inside.

I've spent the day playing with fabric,

stitching and sewing away.

Mike and I give each other a day off every now and then.

So today Mike has walked the hounds, fed them,

and us,

while I've faffed about

enjoying myself,

creating.

I may show you what I made next time.

In fact those 20 minutes a day are accumulating.

So much so that

I may even have some reveals

to show soon.

Or what Lucy calls Ta Dah! moments.

What have you been up to?

Sewing, Flowers and Skeletons

Earlier this month I showed you hints of what I had been sewing

and said that I would show you properly once they had been received by the recipients.
Well they should all have reached their destinations by now.

Throughout the year I have been taking part in an ATC swap.

ATC's are Artists Trading Cards measuring only three and a half by two and a half inches.

So they are quite small.

That in itself makes them challenging.

They can be in any media that you choose.

Initially I struggled for ages trying to make something with paper and card

but all my efforts looked pathetic.

So I resorted to my first love, fabric.

Something that I was comfortable with.

The idea was to send out an ATC to people in the swop when it was their birthday month.

I think the original idea behind ATC's is that the artist would have left over materials that they would make up into one of these cards.

I found that I didn't really have anything suitable so had to make everything from scratch. I found it really tough to get going with them.

I might have an idea but wouldn't have all the materials I needed.
I tend to have plenty of fabrics but not so many of them are plain.
And I think I needed some plain fabrics for most of my ideas.

I really enjoyed making some ATC's out of some felt I had made.

I embroidered some pine trees and flowers onto the felt.

I showed some of them back in March.

I really enjoyed making them but they were time consuming

and I needed a change.

So then I turned to machine applique.

This is where I really struggled to find the right fabrics.

Some plain fabric here would have been useful.

Again I used a flower as inspiration

cutting a bold flower shape and stitching it onto a pieced background

adding a ribbon for some of them.

Again I loved these,

but it was time for a change.

It also coincided with the move to Germany and I got seriously behind with making them.

I struggled and struggled with ideas

with even fewer resources, as I couldn't bring everything with me.

Before leaving Sweden, I called at the sewing machine shop where I bought my Huskvarna sewing machine.

I had been trying out free motion machine sewing

but wasn't sure I was doing it correctly.

I wanted to start using this technique on some quilts I want to finish.

I tried the technique but wasn't happy with it so called at the shop for some advice.

They were very helpful and gave me some tips mostly about tension.

So off I went with a new skill

which once we got to Germany and finally more or less unpacked,

I tried some free machine quilting.

I really liked the effect and so decided to use it for my next batch of ATC's.

Mike thought it made a lovely fabric and thought I should send the cards just quilted.

It was a lovely effect.

But I added some flowers,

notice a theme here?

And so all my ATC's finally got away to their new homes.
I have found it an interesting experience.

Now it is my birthday month,
and ATC's are starting to arrive in the post.
But I will save those for another day.

On a different theme.

I made this skeleton for my grandson. It was for Halloween. I saw a photo on Womans Day Magazine, which you can Google. I couldn't find the photo again. I made my skeleton out of felt, I think they had made their's out of wool.
They had included a heart on their's but I made mine detachable and suggested he gave it to his Mum if he didn't want it. I must find out what he did with it. I know he carried the skeleton around with him all the time, even though it arrived late.

I thought it was so sweet I think I'll have to make another,

just for me!

Catching Up

This morning I woke to a dull

grey

day.

Not at all like the picture above which was taken on

Valentines Day.

After walking the dogs,

feeding the birds,
lighting the fire to keep cosy,

I set too to

do some sewing.

I had a deadline

and it was up.

Last night I spent the evening sewing,

hand sewing,

something I enjoy.

So I only had a little left to do,

and some cards to make.

Once all was complete,

(the dogs were being very patient waiting for their walk)

I looked to see that it was snowing,

still snowing.

It had been snowing since I started sewing.

Very poetic!

The sewing and cards I had made were destined to go on a long journey.

They couldn't stay in Bun Mountain Cottage.

They had a journey to make.

Six seperate journeys to:

England,

Ireland,

Australia,

The Netherlands,

and two to the USA.

Their journey began with me hoping that once I made it down the track to the road

we could make it back up the track!

Fortunately although it was snowing steadily,

it was thin,

wet,

snow.

So whilst out posting my little packets,

I took the hounds out for a walk

somewhere different.

They were quite excited

to be out somewhere different.

I was quite excited that I had at last managed to complete

this part of the swap I am involved in.

A little late,

(the deadline had been extended,

fortunately for me).

So onto the next round of the swap.

I hope to show you some photos

of what I've been up to.

Once the packets

have reached their destinations.

And in working on my sewing.

I had the idea of what I can offer

in the way of a give away

for my

hundredth post,

which is coming up soon.

I must just check when.

I'd best get sewing.

Catch you later.

Keeping Cosy

It's been grey these last two days, especially today.

So only one thing for it.

Hunker down and sew to some good music.

A candle or two are a nice touch. It's what they do in Sewden. That's a good 'spoonerism,' not quite the word I'm looking for, it's getting late, but I'm sure you get my drift.

I turned a mistake into a cupcake.

You can't see what I've made here, but it's being worn tonight to keep someone warm?

Maybe I'll get a photo tomorrow.

A Long Two Weeks

Did I say two weeks?

Well yes we were away two weeks, and we had a lovely time. But I was wrong when I thought I would have lots of lovely photos to show, particularly of Norway.



We had delibrately decided to travel on 2 bikes and take our time to enjoy Norway. We have travelled through Norway before on bikes and in a car with a caravan, but each time it had a purpose to get us to the ferry. This time we wanted to linger. And enjoy.



The pictures above and below are taken from the ferry. The weather doesn't look too bad does it? But by the time we got off the ferry in Bergen, it was dark grey nearly black (first thing in the morning) and pouring with rain. The policeman who checked my passport said,

"Welcome to our rainy country," as he looked up at the sky.

And so it continued. I am quite used to riding my motor bike in the rain having toured parts of Europe by motor bike on several occasions. No matter how lovely the weather or perhaps because of it there will always be one day at least when we have been caught in a torrential downpour. But it has usually happened on part of the journey or has been on a day out from where we have been staying. But this was different. It rained from before getting off the ferry until we finally made it into Sweden where the sun was shining. Boy did we get wet. Despite wearing the correct gear for the conditions, it cannot prevent the rain dripping down your clothes to form a constant puddle in which you are sitting and in your boots. And did I mention my gloves. My hands were wet and cold, not good when you are riding a bike.
These are the bikes we were riding, laden up with tent and sleeping bags, but it was so wet we didn't camp we stayed in the stuga for one night before crossing over into Sweden for midsommer.

No sooner were we home (in Sweden) than we were off to friends to help them celebrate. We had two parties to go to and very good they were to. It was great to see our friends again.

It was lovely to be back in our Swedish home which we had missed. Everything was looking so lush. And I loved being back in the garden. I even did a bit of gardening.

I had plenty of time to do some sewing. So I:-

• started a dinosaur cushion for my grandson to match his quilt
• completed the stitching on some foundation piecing ready to become a small cushion
• finished the binding on a potholder that I was trying out a quilting design
• and did a bit more to my hexagon quilt that I started years ago. It's travelled with me on various holidays

We travelled back a different route, and this little fella was hitching a ride on the ferry.

Mike relaxing in the cabin...

Mike back home with his pals.