July ....

Dear July, you came and went in a blur of fun happy times spent with friends and family. 

What a busy month its been since I last posted, computer time has just not happened this month.  It's my birthday month and there have been lots of other things happening too.

A month of beautiful sunshine for the most part. The local station looked so lovely as i waited for a train to meet a friend for an early birthday lunch last week.....

with the odd stormy weather thrown in to surprise us, some getting more than others here in the UK.

 

A visit to the theatre with the Book Borrowers to see A Midsummer Nights Dream, a wonderful performance, loved by all.  Meetings with the powers that be about the new library service that will definitely be coming and should be all up and running in October, changes afoot for all.

 

For the World War I centenary, the Craftshare group have made a wall hanging for the Community Centre.  Everyone took part.....

 

I was asked to chart and stitch the 4 famous lines from the poem The Fallen by Laurence Binyon

 

 

We tried our hand at glass painting too, the poppy seemed a good idea .....

 

 

very effective when the candle is lit ....

A long weekend at the seaside spent with family...

It was the weekend of the supermoon.  11pm and the moon was so bright, it looked so close as if you could reach out and touch it....

 

Family gatherings at home, they arrived bearing flowers ....

 

 

and I baked some cakes.....

 

 

 

Workmen were here for 3 days, that caused some disruption but I now have a lovely new replacement conservatory to sit in ....

 

 

A gift arrived in the post from Jacqui.  She's such a happy lady, she's sent smiles to lots of us, thank you Jacqui its beautiful.  Pop over to Jacquis and see what other crafting she is having a go at, there's always something lovely to read and see.

 

 

A little blip, and I was in the hospital having xrays on an old ankle injury.  Much better now after some rest and taking care, but not back to normal - it never will be, but for a while it looked like it might be worse.... phew!  Monitor the situation they said.

 

Paper flower making at the Crafshare, something else new to try ...

 

 

and a bit of ribbon weaving, I used mine for the background of a fun card ....

 

 

Last week was an exciting whole day.  6 hours of learning patchwork and quilting at a beginners class.  Having recently got a new sewing machine, it was wonderful.  Look what I made in that time -

 

A disappearing 9 patch, cut once and made into a cushion, you could cut more times but the fabric that was in my pack would have not showed the fruits if I had.

 

 

and 2 patchwork squares.....

 

It's very addictive, do I need another hobby??

 

Just a little stitching since last blog post, a finish on Gingerbread Emporium ....

 

 

and I was asked to stitch a card by our local councillor for the family of a well respected member of the community centre who sadly lost his battle with the big 'c'.  She didn't want a sympathy card, but asked for these words to be stitched onto it.... "The joyfulness of knowing you" and she was to write some poetic words herself inside that she had penned for the family. 

 

 

Yesterday was my birthday, a lovely end to a lovely month.  A full day filled with happiness, love and laughter, spent with family and friends.  Lovely flowers from my DH, and wonderful gifts received too.

 

From Maggie, Barb and Clare...

From Sally, Angi, Kathy, Christine and Fi

 

Trish from the Craftshare hand crocheted me this wonderful set of coasters I just had to share with you.  I need to learn to do this!

 

In the evening DH and I enjoyed some quiet time in the countryside with a lovely picnic ....

 

Bosworth Water Park, a short drive away from home...

 

the swans were gracefully swimming ....

 

 

we watched Mrs Duck and her babies .....

 

We sat and read awhile, soaked up the evening sunshine, had a lovely walk around the lake, there were lots of families with the same idea on a lovely summers evening and lots of children playing in the play area and in the sand and water. Happy times in the sunshine for them all.

 

 

Soon the sun was going down and it was time to head home....

 

 

Thank you to all who sent cards, gifts and messages to help celebrate my birthday, I felt very spoiled indeed.

 

Tomorrow will see us head into August, I wonder what that will bring my way.  Whatever it does, i'll embrace and perhaps I might just get a bit more stitching and crafting done.  You know I really do have to set too with the best in show sampler, there's only the first 4 letters done so far and September will be here before I know it the rate this year is moving along. 

 

I hope July was a good month for you too and it held happy memories of long summer days spent enjoying yourselves, although I do know some that have had quite difficult times and send you love and {hugs} as you walk along that pathway.

 

Thanks for stopping by, see you next month!

 

 

 

Sewing - 2 ~~~ Stitching - 2

What a weekend it was for sports fans.  The Tour de France started up in Yorkshire.  Stage 1 was from Leeds to Harrogate on Saturday, followed by York to Sheffield on Sunday for Stage 2 and what a turn out of supporters there were here in the UK.  Monday saw the final stage starting in Cambridge and ending in London. 

There was the lawn tennis finals at Wimbledon, and also the British Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone - that was quite a race.

Were you sitting glued to your seat all weekend stitching away with the excitement or even better were you there in person and your stitching was sitting at home awaiting your return.  I'm not much of a sports fan, but DH follows all the motorsports, so it was F1 and World Superbikes here on the TV ...... *yawn*

For me, the weekend held something else, the new sewing machine was out and I was having a little play all by myself.    After some practice pieces and seeing what the machine could do here's my very first project all finished, a little apron for my granddaughter Isabelle.  Mummy has a fabric apron when she cooks and Isabelle wanted one for when she helps to bake cakes.

Thursday Craftshare for the past couple of weeks we have been making something we have already done to see how we have improved over the weeks.  My friend Trish and I decided to make the rag doll bunny again.  

I'm really pleased with how Rowena Rabbit turned out this time, a huge improvement on Daisy bunny my first attempt!

.........although the folks that live in the dolls house are not so keen on her, she's a little on the large side for their liking lol.

Not a lot of hand stitching happening last week with just a birthday card finished and sent off in the post to a friend.  Happy Birthday Karan, I hope you enjoyed a lovely day.

Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching kindly sent word that the latest World of Cross Stitch magazine had a booklet in with the most lovely rose alphabet charted.   A copy duly picked up in the supermarket when doing the weekly shop. 

The committee loved it so it's going to be this years design for the Best in Show sampler for the Horticultural and Craft Show in September.  Regular readers will know that I stitch the gift that accompanies the trophy - the sampler can be kept as a reminder of the win and the trophy returned after one year.  We've had some really lovely designs in the past.   This will be my focus stitching project for now as it has a deadline date.

I made a start Monday and got the first letter stitched up.  A couple more letters have been added since I took this picture, so its growing well.

The title of my post is my sporting final score for last weeks crafting!!

The weathers been lovely again, a few little raindrops with mostly lovely sunshine well into the evenings.  Flowers are blooming well in the garden and its been nice to soak up the peace and quiet with a book.

Pink hydrandea looks the best it has for many years...

The sun flowers are opening their heads .......

and the montbretia is stunning, such a vibrant colour with the green foliage ......

Hope you are having a good week. 

F..... is for Five Finishes

It's always lovely to do a Stitch-A-Long with overseas friends and last week I put my final stitch into Nature's Alphabet that Gillie over in the USA and I have been doing each Tuesday.

An old design by Elizabeth Designs and a chart that will be so useful in the future to make lovely scissor fobs and other things using a single letter.

 

H for Hare..... he's cute....

 

N for nest..... where the little blueish beads were added (not charted but you can't have an empty nest!)....

 

JAS .... my initials and the little tulip bead that completes the bottom left hand square.....

 

 

F for finish ......... a tah dah moment and the final design all ready for the framers .....

 

 

A for Anniversary.... Clare and her hubby celebrated 25 years of marriage,  I stitched this little keepsake for them.

 

 

C for crochet .... a flower cushion finish for the newly acquired and refurbished Lloyd loom chair in my bedroom

 

M for Monthly challenge ... the last Sunday of the month and another lovely design can be revealed that was chosen for us by Christine over at Needlecraft Haven for the month of June.  Stitch and finish the free design any way you choose... always popular and great to get ideas for future challenges.

 

E for Exchange .... back when we had the meet up with other stitchers earlier this year we had a filled in card to choose with 5 questions asked.  We had to stitch a summer themed coaster and I chose the card from Gill (no blog) and here's what I put together in response to her answers. Opening day was 30th June.

 

Angie chose my card, and this is the lovely parcel I received.  Thanks Angie.

 

S for squirrel..... The squirrel with attitude is still around, and can be seen here sending his friend off to the second feeder we have at the bottom of the garden to get a treat....

 

and sweet peas...... - in abundance and so many I've given away to friends and neighbours for them to enjoy.  I wish you could smell this bucketful of loveliness.....

 

 

J for Jam... made from the latest strawberry pickings ......

 

 

P for potatoes........ after the lovely sunshine and rain we've had last month the first crop of the year were delicious......

 

 

B for beetroot ..... a super food, very healthy and good for you, how do you cook yours?

 

 

 

An alphabet of simple but nice things from the past week. 

 

Today see's us starting another month, it's July and the summers here already, the schools will soon be breaking up for the long summer holidays.  Does your stitching suffer in the summer months with the hot weather, or perhaps you spend more time tending your garden?   What plans do you have for July's crafting?  I have a project that needs attention this month and will be the focus... can you guess what it might be?

 

 

Edit - I've had an email asking for the link to the Noel free chart I used for the monthly challenge, here's the link in case anyone else wants it.