Friday Foliage

Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon with mums and children from Oakfield School. We have been working on a wall hanging to celebrate the school's 50th anniversary later this month.

The school is called Oakfield for a big oak tree in the field that is part of the playground, so we took the tree as our inspiration. Fifty leaves, and fifty inspirational words, six owls to represent the six head teachers, and one tree.

Today I brought in the embroidery machine and the embroidery design software on a lap top. "A" took a basic leaf design and with a brief lesson created the whole name of the school in embroidery

(for more info of what "A" had to learn, and images of his creation, click here)

The other children each had a go at programming the embroidery machine to stitch their own name  . . . 

 . . .  While the mums stitched leaves and owls to the wall hanging

And this is our achievement to date:

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Finishing at the Fringe

So while I was "working" at the fringe festival earlier in the week I had plenty of time to sew while I was chatting to visitors

So this I-spy got bound

And photographed

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Fringe Festival

I'm typing this post on my phone whilst sat at Windsor Baptist Church doing my stint for the Fringe Festival.  It's lovely to see my quilts on display rather than folded in a drawer

And it's lovely to see some of the art work created by others:

Making Memories

A very long time ago, (it seems like a hundred years or so ago,) I got married, and this year we found ourselves celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.  As a treat for putting up with each other for so long we booked a holiday we had talked of for many years.

We flew to the very north of Norway, inside the Arctic Circle and took a rather luxurious ferry for a six day trip south to Bergen.  We had the most amazing time, and saw some of the most beautiful parts of the world during the six days (see here for just a few of the thousand or so photos we took) but one of the highlights was seeing the Northern Lights

I knew that one day this image would be made into a quilt, and even bought the Kona solids from Cindy at Fluffy Sheep quilting (Cindy was amazing, I emailed her this photo and she sorted the colours for me).  And the fabrics sat on my desk waiting for me to start.

The push came when Fiona at Celtic Thistle opened up a Holiday Memories virtual quilt competition.

So I cut and stitched and pressed and cut and stitched and pressed, and unstitched and stitched, and unstitched and stitched, and then pressed and embroidered and finally finished.  It finished about 26.5 x 18 inches - as with most of my patchworks it chose the size it wanted to be - nothing to do with me!

And here is my version

 I decided to use mostly black as the nights were really dark.  The couple watching the lights were machine embroidered black on black, but I tilted the stitches at different angles so they would show as two people rather than as one. 

 

It is difficult to photograph as there is so much black.  Below is a screen shot of the embroidery of the couple.  It's not really based on Brian and I as obviously we are not in our own photos,  but I think with artistic licence it could be us, we were there after all!

The ship's railing were created by black satin stitch.

I used Bargello to create the staggered effect, and also to echo the vertical lines that were suggested by the lights themselves.   I then FMQed more almost vertical lines in three shades of green and in black to sort of drag each band of colour up into it's neighbour's band

 
The inspiration for using Bargello for this was this quilt made by Eldrid Røyset Førde who blogs at Kameleon Quilts.    If I was to make mine again I think I would use more shades of green rather than just the three

Eldrid made my all time favourite quilt, Blue Night, and she emailed me some much appreciated suggestions of things to see while we were on our trip, so it seemed very fitting that the style should be inspired by her too

** Pictures 'borrowed' from Eldrid's site, permission has been requested **

So Near So Spa

The final part of my very extended birthday celebration was a spa visit with girlfriends.  I'm not very high maintenance, but some treatments were included so I had a salt massage and a pedicure, but the best bits were being with friends, and having 24 hours without deadlines, responsibilities, or questions (where is my ..? Can you just .. Did you ..? Etc)

We chatted and laughed, and caught up on each others' parents and siblings and husbands and children (and grand children), we drank and ate yummy food that isn't on the diet list, and we had meals cooked for us, and we didn't have to make beds, tidy up or wash up!!!!

The others also swam, and did aqua aerobics,  but as I'm still full of lurgy I sat and stitched and watched

And finished the binding on the ispy bricks (pistachio pictures)

Bliss.  

Tomorrow? Back to work, and the boring business of being Fifty, sigh !

However, I do have a flotation experience, Lion King on stage, afternoon tea, and a trip up the Shard to look forward to!!!

Mystery Make

Do you know my friend Jen, "Quilter in the Closet"?  We met through the Star of Africa bee - she refers to herself as a quilting beginner, but I think she's made some amazing quilts and bag

(Just have a look at these pics I've taken from her blog)

 

And this one shows she is an amazing photographer as well as an awesome patchworker

Jen recently showed a machine mat she had made

which I thought was fantastic.  A bit of a conversation went back and forth over the Atlantic, and the end result was me making an iPad case for Jen, and her making a sewing machine mat for me

We haven't discussed whether we are showing our makes, but I took a few teaser photos today as I started, so I figured it was safe to show them,  Jen suggested aqua, and I know she has a little bit of a grey thing going on, so here are some fabrics I used

She also has three little girls, so I have made it reversible: it's lined with some lovely Japanese I-Spy charm squares from a swap I took part in last year

There is some machine embroidery

And a few hexies

And I hope it is turning into something that she will be happy with

Benta's Birthday

Thanks for all the birthday wishes: I had a great day, ending in a meal out with the family, a boyfriend, the girls' God parents and their daughter, and both mothers.  I completely forgot to take any photos at the meal, but I got some pics of the lovely pressies people were kind enough to give me

A floatation experience - I've wanted to do this for years - Carol and I are going to go together

I got some gorgeous troll beads for my bracelet: poppies from the girls, and buttons from friends

 

Knowing I am not a natural baker, I had yummy yummy cupcakes baked for me (thank you Sally), and, my all time favourite: Apple Crumble, which arrived still warm from the oven (thank you Carol & Alice)

I had bunches of flowers from lots of lovely people

Sewing goodies from family and friends (Thank you Plum and A&A)

Balloons, *just* in case I forgot how old I am

Honey flavoured smellies from the girls, and a gorgeous hand made glass dish from mum

Also wine (thank you Sally and Lizzie) and chocolates (thank you Sam), and Amazon and Hobbycraft vouchers (thank you S&S and Lindsey & Frances, I'm going to have a lovely time spending those), and most exciting of all - two more experiences - Lion King with the girls and the God parents, and Segway with the family (Niki and Brian went this summer and loved it!)

(Hope I've remembered everything!  Thank you all)

Bricks and Blocks

I've come down with the "i work with children" lurgy!  The little darlings have breathed on me and now, less than three weeks into the new term I'm full of snuffles!  I have a hundred or so Bloglovin posts to read but I marked them all as read and did done sewing instead!  An hour or so turned this pile of 8 x 4 inch picture fabrics and 1.5 x 4 inch strips

into this

 
But unfortunately I've run out of the light green (pistachio?) so I need to find something else to bind it.  It's not a colour I would usually choose, but it's lovely and fresh: certainly something I would use again

Now? I'm off to bed, night night x

Virtual Birthday Cake

No, I'm not teasing you with virtual cake again, this time I am being teased - my 'adopted' Irish nieces and nephews sent me this cake photo and greeting

But looking at the forks in the boys' hands I suspect it's all gone by now!

Thank you Jackie - I love your family :-)

Birthday Bash

After the lovely surprise cake at Chertsey Museum on Friday I met up with friends for a bit of a birthday bash.  I'd arranged a room at the local village club, and booked some nibbles: Jules and Fiona did a great job!

A friend, Jane, who is just 48 hours younger than me, had graffiti-ed one of the walls,

 and another, Nicky, had created this board with lots of photos of me!!!

None of which I'd had any ideas about.  The biggest surprise was this cake:

In Norway we call it Kransekake (it translates as wreath cake), and it is made from ground almond, egg whites and sugar.  It is a celebration cake rather than an every day cake, and it's my favourite. 

Jane and I took both our daughters plus two other 16 year olds to Norway 3 years ago, and I introduced Jane to the cake then, and I did vaguely know that she had one of the special baking trays, but I never expected that she'd make me one!

Thank you Jane

The birthday plans continue - the day itself is later on in the week.  A friend's daughter is making cupcakes for me to take to work and to have at home, and ten or eleven of us are going out for a meal in the evening.  On Friday Jane's husband has invited half the village to a surprise party for Jane, and then on Saturday I am off to a  spa weekend with girlfriends  Is it a bit over the top to celebrate over ten days?  Yes probably, but d'you know what?  I don't care!!!!!

Plum Perfect Poultry Pin Cushions

OK, first off, I apologise for the awful alliteration! But my ladies at this afternoon's class did make some perfect pincushions, and they are mostly chickens, and the instructions did originate from Plum, so I feel I am justified!!!!  (Thank you Plum)
 
The plan was that we would all make chickens, but there are always some who play up, so two made mice instead!

The ladies also brought their 'homework' from last month - we always hold a show and tell session!

And the lovely ladies at the museum started my birthday celebrations with a lovely surprise cake - ginger cake, I'm trying not to eat cake, but when your birthday is one of those 'oh' ones, and you manage to celebrate over a week, that's clearly not going to work very well!  I took one photo, but then I felt the urge to, urm, tidy up the cake!!!!

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Museum Making

This time I have been making something FOR the museum, rather than AT the museum.

The curator asked me if I could embroider some t-shirts for the staff to wear when they go out to do school talks: perhaps the Museum logo on polo shirts.  I very cautiously said I would look at it, as the logo is a tad complicated:

Its based on a clay tile in the museum, so cant be simplified too much before it looses its relationship with the museum.  I started OK on the outer section, but the two characters in the middle were just too detailed.  Then Emma said it could just have "Chertsey Museum" if it was too difficult.  As I'd already designed the outer section, and I was looking forward to doing the gargoyle  . . . I worked on a compromise:

Not too shabby for a first stitch out!  I need to tidy up Mr Gargoyle's teeth, and the jumps in the writing annoy me, but I think it's recognisable!

Windsor Wednesday

There are a lot of Open Studio schemes around the country, and Windsor is no exception. I haven't joined in as such for various reasons: it's promoted as a walking route and I'm 5 miles away, you can't get more than one person in my "studio",  and there is a certain expectation that I am at work rather than at home in my studio!

However the team at the Baptist Church host the Windsor Fringe, and I have been invited to exhibit there over the last week of September.

I've known about it for ages, and knew which patchworks I was going to enter, and knew I had to do some work on them, but I've suddenly realised just how close 'end of September' really is!

So I've tidied up I Spy Bricks (it's being exhibited as a work in progress: it's been hand pieced, and I wanted to hand quilt it too, I have started, but it will take a while to finish)

And I've finished I Spy Hexi Stars - into a pillow for my mother-in-law for her birthday - yes, she asked for the picture hexies!

Doesn't take long when I get down to it!  Now just need to get them to the church on time ( for Gawd's sake get them to the church on time!) (sorry if that song is now stuck in your head)