Time to slow down

Hi,
ready with the drink?

So a friend at work told me that '...really if it's Friday, don't take lots of work home and either get it done immediately or do nothing until you are going to do it all. TAKE A BREAK!'

Taking her words to heart I got in and finished all of my work immediately.  I had a long weekend stretching out a head of me, what to do?

Well inspired by the rose stitch used to dress the 'Ladies' I started stitching a scene. Of course, I didn't know that I would be using this for a post so there are no 'in progress' photos.

I completed the foreground and then had a long think about where to go next. I looked on Pinterest and thought about what I wanted to finish the scene with. Then I remembered Glastonbury Tor. 

When I was younger, we spent a lovely weekend visiting a family friend who had moved to Glastonbury. We wandered through the town and climbed the tor; Glastonbury went on my list of places to live. Then there is the festival... :-) 

Well, here is my interpretation of the Tor. I had planned to have a lot of texture in the stitches but not lots of stitches.  I think it's ok.


I am grateful to my friend for yet another way to maximise my time and make sure work fits only into the work time.

Fay Maxwell

Hello,

have you grabbed that drink?  OK, I'll begin.

A few weekends ago I was very lucky to attend a Fay Maxwell workshop.  By all accounts she is highly desirable as a tutor and I would have to say she didn't disappoint.

We were working on 'Ladies with Hattitude'.

I did think "Wow! Fay really wants to get done!" as she sped through the morning session.  We all did our best to keep pace with her and it was worth it! By lunch this lovely lady had joined us.

After lunch we were allowed to create another 'Lady' and DS and DD have named her Amy after Amy Winehouse.

I would have to say that if you get the chance do go to a Fay Maxwell workshop. She is so lively and enthusiastic about what she does. Fay gave lots of tips about what to do with the 'Ladies' after they are finished and ideas about how to make each one individual. 

I'd have to say that I enjoyed the day so much that I made my french 'Lady' the following Tuesday!

I've also got 'Miranda' to finish, although I'm not too sure about her hair style.

Well, I've named two of my 'Ladies', any suggestions for the other two?

I’ve made it through the wilderness

Hello!
It’s been five very long years and a lot has changed in my life.

The biggest change is that I am now a teacher.  That has taken most of the time in the last four years. We also have two new four legged family members. C and D are now over a year old and I am glad we have them.

I haven’t been painting in that time and most of my craft activities stopped.

Why would I start blogging again? Well, I think I’m going to have to hold myself accountable. In tidying up I found 20 UFO quilts!

I’ve also started

  

crocheting blankets

and

knitting hats.

So, hello 👋 nice to hear from you and hopefully we are now back to wonderful days...

Wordless Wednesday

From naked teddy...

to dressed teddy.  



DD got her sewing machine out and with the help of this tutorial and me, teddy was dressed.  Took a bit longer than I expected, but as I can't think of what to sew/finish I can't complain!  I think most of the things I want to do are complicated for me so I'm employing avoidance tactics!

My only finish of the week was this mug rug.



My swap ATC's are waiting to be backed, but the timtex is still in the post and having seen ATC's with timtex I'm prepared to wait. I have started an under the sea themed one, still early days, I'll share later.

This is an early post so there may be more, if not today then during the week, as it is holiday time!!

Got to go sew!

Happy day!!

Oh my!

Sometimes the nicest things happen.  It's been a long week and today was no exception.  As DD told me she lost one sock at school I kept thinking it would be nice to have some happy post to come home to.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this...



I couldn't remember ordering anything from Singapore, but it wouldn't be the first time I had ordered something I forgot about. Even better than a fabric delivery was the arrival of my ATC from the Very Berry Handmade swap!  Happy day!!



I also received some jasmine tea and a lovely note from Angela at Pretty Little Things in a Box.  There are lots of elements to the ATC and it is currently taking centre stage in the lounge so I can study them all.  

Do you Moo?

Hi,
how are things?  I'm ignoring the things I'm not enjoying and focusing on the fun!

So while I was at the LMQG meeting chatting I spotted some rather fetching Moo mini business cards.  There has been much indecision about this step.  The business cards will be useful, but it implies there is a business to run.  
Bullets have been bitten and I've set up an empty shop.  So empty that I'm not even going to share the link yet. It has allowed me to order the business cards though and they are rather nice :-)

I'm sharing a link to refer a friend for a 10% off your first order, I get £4.50 Moo cash. Their business cards are rather nice and not too expensive considering you can upload 100 images for 100 cards!

Moving on.  There were some finishes at the weekend.  




This was just the binding to do.  It's one of the fastest start to finish quilts I've done and I used mitred borders.  



So easy! I followed this tute and used less fabric in the mitring process.  I like it.

The needle books have their beads on and I am waiting for the business cards to put into them so they can be posted.



Everything else got to a hand stitch place and then life got in the way.

Hope your week is going well and maybe we can catch up at the weekend.