Postcard Challenge

In my last post I said I would show you what I'd been up to with my 20 minutes a day

and my free day.

Following on from making artist trading cards

I took up Leah's challenge of making a postcard a month.

Leah was also in the ATC swap that I took part in.

For January she challenged us to make a postcard

using a bird and yellow.

So this is what I came up with.

The bird is quite small

and attached to the background using free machining.

The background is machine embroidered.

Because the leaves are so small,

I attached them by hand.

I'm a bit late with January's postcard.

I think I was too busy with my hexagon quilt to get my machine out.

The theme for February was

'things we love'.

I was going to do something to do with chocolate

but decided against it.

Instead I chose

flowers,

bright colours, though I've only used red,

butterflies,

stripes,

stitching,

stars and hearts.

I suppose you could say the butterfly and red spotted fabric are vintage.

I've had them that long.

That must make me vintage as well!

I had fun making them.

Although the photos don't show it

I have finished off the edges of the postcards

but then left a border.

I thought I would frame them and use them for pictures for our walls.

After all we didn't bring any of our art work with us when we left Sweden.

It's still in storage there.

I really enjoy making something like this.

It does take me a while to think up the design,

and it doesn't help that I have a limited choice of fabrics here.

My main stash is also in Sweden.

The postcard size is only four by six inches,

so they make quite small pictures.

The postcard with the bird is nice close up with the detail,

but the bird is too small to be seen across a room.

The second postcard would have benefitted from being quilted.

It would have added more 'substance' to the overall look of it.

It's nearly March

and the theme is 'words to live by'.

I've already got my ideas for the next postcard in my head.

I'll show you how I get on with it

when I've made it!

In the meantime,

pop on over to Leah's to see who else has joined the challenge,

and how they have interpreted the themes.

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?

Wild Eyes

The sun was shining again today

and nice for walking.

So we drove up the hill behind our village

to walk through the higher vineyards.

Once you get up there

the roads are fairly level.

Most of the snow has gone.

There are a number of these crosses at strategic points up and down the valley.

I think we can see at least three from our village.

It is a very religious area.

You will have seen some of the shrines in the vineyards in my photos from the summer

as well as in the last two posts.

Mike walked on ahead with Paddy and Jewel

while I stopped to take photos.

Can you see them a bit clearer here?

Something has caught Arthur and Jewel's eye.

Rufus has seen it too.

It's a man walking down the vineyard.

He's just above the van

more or less centre of the photo.

Can you see him?

This is looking in the same direction

but further away.

I like the way the sunshine mirrors

the horizontal rows of houses.

Mike suggested I take a photo looking up at the hounds.

Nice don't you think?

We've turned to go back now but returning on a higher road.

There's quite a bit of waste land in between the vineyards.

Great for wildlife.

Just after taking this photo Jewel slipped her lead.

It wasn't tight enough and she has a very slim head.

She just slipped it and darted off.

Fortunately after running a short distance,

she turned and ran back towards us.

Before running off again!

But she tires very easily

and after a mad few runs,

she walked back towards us.

Safe once more.

What a minx,

and after what I told you yesterday about her running off.

I did notice her eyes though.

She has quite sharp looking eyes and when she gets excited they get a wild look about them.

That's what they were like.

I think she'd enjoyed herself.

All the boys could do was to watch quietly at her mad antics.

Maybe a little envious at having had a run.

I took this last photo towards the sun

just before getting back in the van.

All hounds present and correct.

Sun Shiny Day

It has been such a lovely sunny day here today

that I just had to share some photos with you.

They are taken from and of the vineyards up above our house

where we walk the hounds most mornings.

I'm fascinated by the patterns

the vines make.

So I am always stopping to take a different shot or two.

Lovely for a picnic perhaps?

Maybe another day.

This is the road we often walk back down.

It looks a long way but it isn't.

It's quite icy tho'.

The views are of the other side of the river.

Here's a closer view.

Ohh and here's Jewel.

I stopped to take a few photos

and that's all she needs for an excuse to lie down,

and eat snow!

Back home this is the view from the house

looking down our little street

across the river.

The sun must have thawed the ground.

Mike has been hammering in fence posts

in order to put up a fence for the hounds.

It will give them a little area to run around and play outside.

Supervised of course.

Did I ever tell you of the time Jewel and Rufus ran off?

No?

It happened one night the first week we had moved to Germany,

so everything was all a bit new to us.

We had just come in from the nightime walk,

which meant we would be going upstairs to bed.

But on getting upstairs,

only Paddy was there.

Jewel and Rufus were no where to be seen!

We went back downstairs

and unable to find them,

we came to the conclusion

that they had escaped!

We didn't know how.

We just knew that they weren't

anywhere inside.

Mike got in the car to

cover more ground.

Well greyhounds can move fast!

And I stayed close to home in case they showed up.

I also looked in the allotments/vineyards close by,

but it was very dark.

It was frightening to think

about how we would get them back.

Did they know their own way home?

After 45 minutes or so

Mike spotted Rufus trotting back through the vineyards towards him.

He was in fact heading back in the direction of the house!

We like to think that Rufus knew which way was home

and he'd had enough freedom and it was time for bed.

Mike got him into the car and travelled a bit further afield in search of Jewel.

She's always been a little minx.

He was nearly in the neighbouring village when he happened to see her nosing around along the edges of the gardens.

When he called to her she was very happy to see him and came over straight away and got in the car.

But I also think she would not have known her way home and would have carried on going further and further away until she eventually stopped and wondered where we were.

And how did they get out?

A certain someone hadn't shut the workshop door properly,

and Jewel being Jewel,

was the first one to go through and find it.

Rufus followed.

It was very fortunate to get them back safe.

Since then we have been very careful to check that doors are closed.

After this mornings walk

the hounds spent time on the balcony

chewing bones,

and relaxing in the sunshine.

Who was out there the longest?
Jewel.

Hope your day has been a sunny one.

Winter Frivolities

A little more snow has fallen over the weekend

keeping the vineyards under a light covering,

defining the lines of the vines.

Elsewhere,

down in our village,

they were celebrating.

We're not sure what

as we didn't get a satisfactory answer from anyone.

The hounds found it interesting.

Although Paddy jumped a mile when a band struck up a tune next to us.

I think it was the beating of the drum that made him jump.

There was also a lot of dressing up too.

Even the buggies were in fancy dress.

Hat off.

Hat on.

Neighbours that we haven't seen in a while

stopped to say hello.

People (and mushrooms)

taking part in the parade were pouring Gluhwein for the onlookers.

An unexpected bonus.
The children didn't miss out either.
Sweets were thrown which they collected in carrier bags.

After all the fun,

I went home and carried on with my rippling.

A bit of colour in an otherwise, so far monochrome month.








 

Hearts n Vines

Whether you celebrate it or not,

Valentines Day is a good excuse

for playing around.

Even the vines are shaped like hearts.

For future creations.

I made some crocheted hearts

from a pattern here.

And had fun in the kitchen.

I hope your weekend was a good one.

Anticipating

Spring.

More snow?

Mike returning home.

Yes that will do.

Actually he arrived safe yesterday teatime
after I thought up this post
but before I got round to writing it.

Stitch, Stitchin Away

I may have been away from my blog for a week or so

but not my stitching.

Far from it.

My hexagon quilt has taken over.

Every spare moment is taken up with hand sewing

the hexagons together.

The diamonds are all stitched together

as can be seen from the photo above.

I held it while Mike took the photo

just to show you that they are indeed all stitched together.

The photo was taken last week

and a dark green border of hexagons completely surround the diamonds now.

Next I will start filling in the gaps with rosettes.

It keeps me occupied while Mike is away.

He's been away in the UK for a week now.

So I am the sole looker afterer

of the Hounds!

In return for keeping me company.

In fact we have just come back from a walk.

We went by car first of all out of the village.

But everywhere is a bit muddy

and when they got back in the car

it was with muddy paws.

Oooops!

I then decided to have a short drive along the river.

Once again the river has flooded over it's banks.

It's done this a few times already this winter.

The photos below were taken on Boxing Day.

It's similiar to that now but without the sunshine.

Yesterday, I got a lovely surprise when I visited the Quilt Along blog of which I'm a member.

I discovered that I was the winner of a giveaway

a lovely book

on quilting of course.

So I am anticipating it's arrival.

Something to look forward to.

With a bit of luck

I may be as lucky with Noelle's giveaway.

She makes the loveliest of felt houses.

Do take a look.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.