Summer On Route

At least I like to think it's on route, sure we've been having a lot of the customary spring showers but still June is only a week away so I thought I would bring at a little closer. How? Well, I've been stitching the sample for the next free seasonal pattern, summer. 

In fact the sample is very much complete, just needs me to rustle up the pattern and then, bingo it will be ready for you lovely lot. As ever my newsletter subscribers will get first dibs on downloading it, which I am aiming to send out next Saturday, 31st May. Then it will be available on the blog as a download. 

I've kept it bright and cheery, as with the spring design and the stitches are simple but very effective, so that you can perfect the stitches and whip it up in no time at all. Speaking of the spring design, I would love to know if anyone has stitched it yet?

With this stitched has now meant I can start working on the Pretty Little San Francisco pattern by Jody Rice (Satsuma Street Designs). I did have to unpick some of it as I was stitched some of the top bar of the cross-stitch in the wrong direction to the rest of it, that's what you get for watching stand-up comedy on the tele whilst stitching! Oops.

I'm going to try and keep it as my evening/chill out stitching go to project, as I hope to get back to embroidering something a little more complex:

It's been sat, lurking on the table behind me with a load of threads and materials, but as of yet I haven't been in the right frame of mind to stitch it. That was until the other night when I felt that its about time I do something with it. It's going to take a bit of playing and experimenting at each stage, so very much a kin to the other two stumpwork pieces I've done, Paradise Bird and Peacock Paradise. I hope to get some of the prep work under-way on Monday, or least jot down how I want to start it. Then I'll just jump on in and get on with it. Bit like the rest of my ever growing to do list, which is finally seeing that I stop dilly-dallying about the postcard / greeting card idea that I know I've mentioned countless times. I procrastinate something rotten. So I'll get an order sorted on Monday, and keep you posted when they are listed. It will be a small batch to see how they go down, and then go from there, I should add thanks to Laura Howard for the advice/suggestions on this one! 

What else has been happening, well I've finally got my Frida Kahlo cushion cover back from the now sadly gone, Crafty Magazine. Which means folks I'll be turning it into a downloadable pattern, aiming to get that complete sometime in early June. Again, I'll keep you posted on this one.

I shall end this week's post with a naughty little purchase, picked up during a lovely day spent with an old friend's from Canada and Malasia (online buddies, never met face to face till Friday just gone!). I didn't need to buy any more notebooks but dammit I had to go and spot that Moleskine have opened up a store in Covent Garden! I was like a moth to a flame....

What do you always buying, even though you know you have a lot in you stash? 

All about Family and Quilting

Another week at work goes by at a rate of knots whilst also at the same time dragging it's itself towards the weekend. Weird how that happens even for a four day 'working' week. As you may gathered from my weekly posts I am very much a homebody, always looking forward to times when I can have time to myself or spend it in the company of friends and family, without the worry of deadlines, unexpected phone calls, the bombardment of emails, and the daily commute.  

I can happily spend the weekend pottering about my flat or even popping to the shops to run an errand and I'll be quietly content. As much as I was equally content spending a rather all over the place Saturday with my family.Seeing pretty much all of them over the course of one day. From a multi-generation visit to the crematorium to lay flowers in memory of my nan too seeing my sister's new abode. A brief visit to Tenterden was also on the cards, along with dinner with my mum and a late night journey back to my flat  in order to save a very early journey this morning. 

It might have been stupidly windy, with crazy on off showers and downpours but it was great and loved every minute of it, especially the mad singing along session on the various journeys on the way to and around Kent with my mum. 

Needless to say little crafting was done yesterday. Though I did get the chance to visit Hoop whilst in Tenterden, been on my 'to visit' list for a while now and picked up some rather lovely grey hue, 32 count linen for me to stitch the Pretty Little San Francisco cross stitch pattern onto by the fab designer Satsuma Street (finally caved). Also purchased another French cross stitch pattern book, have a bit of a thing for there designs, along with Japanese embroidery books and magazines.

Well I couldn't spend a little bit of money whilst I was there...

I would say if you are in or around the area you should totally pop in it's so bright, fresh with great collection of stock and the owner, Vanessa, is super lovely too. Me and my mum were trying persuade her to open another branch in Farnham....because like me she's surprised there isn't one already in the town. There was but they've all since closed. 

Also couldn't resist taking this little fella home too yesterday!

As for today well it was the usual catching up on household chores, trying persuade BT to give me a better deal for the new contract...man I hate haggling. And finally finishing off the mini quilt! 

Ain't it cute. I wasn't sure I was going to like the way it turned out as it's not entirely like the sketch but now that it's hanging on the wall I am rather smitten by it's bold blocks of colour, and the use of the bag handle to hang it. I look forward to coming up with another design. 

And that my friends, was my weekend in a nutshell. The coming week is going to be a nutso with work commitments, and my best friend's little boy's baptism. So there will be a break in the usual weekly blog posts, but never fear I'll return for the Bank Holiday post, probably showing off my new hallway lighting, and fingers crossed the next seasonal pattern will be done by then too!

I hope everyone is safe and well, and happy.

All About the Flowers

I hadn't realised till I dropped various images into this blog that there was a inadvertent theme to my Bank Holiday weekend. As it turns out it was all about flowers, in some shape or another. I've really come to love flowers more and more since moving to my current abode. I love nothing more than buying a bunch of flowers to brighten up the hallway or add a bit more life to the livingroom, aside from Hamish. And yes, whilst I do suffer from hayfever, thankfully its more from grass than flowers. 

Anyway, the Friday kicked it all off. I've lived in and around Surrey for well over a decade now but had never been to RHS Wisley, passed it on many trips to Kent, or driving home late on Sunday back to East Molesey ready to begin another week at the RSN as part of the apprenticeship. But aside from saying should go and have a look, never have that was until last week.

Thinking of a way to celebrate my mum's birthday we decided to hit several things with one stone, to see the gardens, attend the Contemporary Craft and Design fair and to have a spot afternoon tea. The weather wasn't exactly on our side for walking about all day, it was frickin cold and I wasn't entirely dressed for it. Still we were thankful we didn't get wet, even though it was threatening to do so all day. There was some interesting items on display at the fair, some amazingly draw dropping and others not entirely to my taste but still it was a good mix. Also taking place at Wisley, but not part of the fair, was a mini silver exhibition called 'Festival of Silver' held by the Goldsmith's Company. Needless to say the work was utterly jaw dropping. My inner magpie was drooling.

Oh and the flowers were pretty too...

I'll certainly be going back to Wisley, this time to venture out into the gardens and to do some drawing and painting. Something I've not done in a rather long time. Despite always having a sketchbook with me, I didn't take it on a Friday. 

On a non-flower related note, just wanted to share a wee shot of the finished monogram that I've been working on for the past couple of weeks, it is now all packed up and ready to wing it's way to my friend in the States. After a small discussion it's been mounted into a round, wooden hoop, and I've attached the embroidery in a way that if she wanted to paint the hoop she can, without damaging the fabric. Managed to get it all finished before a friend of my came down for the weekend. 

Which was how I came to have these rather wonderful flowers, which was rather thoughtful and are looking blooming lovely in the livingroom, pardon the pun! The coral coloured roses are becoming my fave. Needless to say little in the way of stitching was done for majority of Saturday and Sunday, as we were mostly consuming lots of yummy food, drinking plenty of tea and watching silly flicks added with our own commentary. Which comes easy when your watching Disney...

But of course, I always end up reverting back to stitching. So once I cleaned up, sorted out the boring chores and did some more painting (at last the walls are all finished, oh god just the woodwork left...GAH). I played about with quilting fabric for a design I doodled last week for using with the bag handle. I started it last night and had originally thought about using Liberty fabric to make the flower shapes but by this morning with a little help from my mum who had briefly popped by to pick something up, and my own thoughts on it, the flowers changed from...

...this.

Granted didn't mean I toned down the colours, rather opted for a slightly less detailed fabric, and one that I had originally purchased with pink and lilac fabric. It's not entirely like the design I had doodled, and I realise now that the completed paper pieced flower is bigger than I had originally planned...but I still love it and it will be interesting to see how it turns out when complete.

I've got a busy month ahead with work and family commitments, I also have the next season embroidery pattern to sample to stitch but I hope to make some time for finishing it because I really want to get it hung up on the wall!

Did you find you had an unexpected theme to your weekend? What lays ahead for your May?