not such a clever girl

thought I was being very clever doing my car boot blog but the descriptions are rather haywire, never mind things can only get better.

Had a lovely break down in Buckingham, I got the coach to Milton Keynes where Sarah met me and we spent a while at a small farm/nursery where Sarah bought some plants and I bought one for her called Sarah.
Next day we spent in the garden and on the saturday morning we went to the car boot sale.
Peter and Wayne who I had gone down to see got delayed due to Peter`s Dad being poorly but they arrived in the afternoon and I got some quality time with them prior to coming home on sunday afternoon. They are now on their way home to Australia ready for their next show in Sydney next week. Think they have twisted my arm enough to make me go out next year and do a couple of shows with them, it will be like old times, did not realise how much I had missed them until I saw them saturday, silly me I even cried!!

Down south everyone  is gearing up to the Queens jubilee but here where I live there seems to be nothing going on, will have to drink a toast to her and her family. Fingers crossed the weather keeps nice but think it is doubtful to last that long, the temperature has fallen a bit today.

Car boot bonanza

car boot buys

                                          a cute little tin and for 20p who could resist, not sure
                                         what to use it for yet but will soon find something to fill it

                                         A pretty little tray, another impulse buy but just loved it
                                         so had to have it, another snip at £1

.                                        This is a very very pretty dish, Royal Worcester so a
                                         real bargain at £1, I already have one in the poppy
                                         design, they are now sitting side by side on a cabinet

                                       
                                         Now I am feeling generous, they wanted £1 on the
                                         cancer charity stall and I gave them £2, really wanted the
                                         handles but now I  want to try crazy quilting will save
                                         the fabric too.

                                       
                                         This was my useful buy,will use it for work in hand
                                         only £2 and I put some of my clothes in it for coming
                                         home and the fragiles went in the case.Wrapped it up
                                         in a large plastic bag with tape and had one handle
                                         sticking out to carry it by, worked a treat.

                                         a small bundle of linen threads with a bit of string, no
                                         doubt they will come in handy.

                                         How could I have nearly forgotten this, a crazy quilt,
                                         man selling it knew nothing about it but wanted £4
                                         I came home and naughty girl put it in the washer and
                                         it is now looking very sorry for itself. Think all I can
                                         do is use bits when I do attempt my crazy quilt.
                                         Unphotographed is a book, the encyclopedia of
                                        embroidery techniques by Pauline Brown for £1
                                        Think I had a very fruitful day and will go again if
                                        and when I next get to Buckingham.

the one that got away

I have just checked and see I have missed posting the small bullion sample I did last week so will add it now, I had cheated and put on some previously stitched pieces but said I would try and do another

holiday

I have been rather lazy of late, have been looking to se what others have done on their blog but rather neglected adding to mine.
Must make an effort today as tomorrow I am away for a few days, two lads I used to work with at the stitching shows in the UK and who now do the shows in Australia are back for a short visit to England so I am catching up with them at Sarah and Vartan`s  (sew it all) the company we all worked for which is now also in Australia and America.
It will be a great time, lots of laughs and catching up to do and no doubt we will have a few tipples.

I have buckled down and done a couple of examples of butterfly chain stitch which I have not comne accross before so will put the photos on.Had not come across this stitch before but enjoyed stitching it.

I am now working on the sampler for my daughter Catherine who will be 40 in july. All the wording is drafted out and the bit of hardanger, I am now going to decide what pulled and counted stitches to use to break up the wording.

butterfly chain stitch

How delighted I was when I found it was bullion stitch for Sharon`s stitch this week. Bullion is one of my all time favourite stitches and have made quite a few things with bullions in.
I am posting three of them all made a good while ago but will make an effort to make a new piece during the week, allready have something in mind but will not commit it to my blog in case I change my mind.

here is my handkerchief case, I stitched this whilst I was doing C & G part 1 in the early 1990`s, throughly enjoyed stitching it and it is still in use, seem to have lost a lot of the hankies that I kept in it but better to lose the hankies than the case!

This is a cute little bear I made for my Mum must be about 14 years ago which I gave her on Mothering Sunday, he is now back home living with me and I am sure missing Mum as much as I do.I have used bullion, french knots and feather stitch on it.

A little brooch, such an adorable hedgehog with a beaded eye and loads of bullion stitches.

Saturday was my birthday and my 2 daughters and granddaughter came to visit. I cooked lunch then Catherine produced a very nice birthday cake with a lovely special candle decoration on it, see attached photo.

Had a book A-Z of embroidery stitches 2 have quite a few in the series and find them very informative. Also had the greatest hits of Queen which I will enjoy listening to and will put on my walkman for when I am out and about. All in all it was a good day.

Yesterday I motivated myself to cut the lawns, not a good idea, I managed to do the front then disaster struck, I went through the electric cable. Panic, phoned my brother who said to join the wires together with a bit of tape. this was unsuccessful but my next door neighbour was working in his garden so gave him a shout and he said I needed to use a connection box. What a good fellow he is, he repaired it for me so I managed to finish off the job in hand. First time I have done that but I did have some hedge trimmers which I went through three times, brother had repaired them for me, but after the last time gave up and now use hand shears. Gave the electric ones to my neighbour who manages to use them successfully. I do have a new set of electric ones, much lighter but have not tried them out yet, have had them about 2 years, silly really as I have a lot of privet hedges and they take for ever to cut manually. Sorry I rabbited on there.

After recovering from the mower incident I had a quiet afternoon stitching a small sample of half chevron which I enjoyed doing. See photo.

Today I have started thinking about a sampler for Catherine my elder daughter who will be 40 in July. Have got some vague ideas and will do it on 28ct evenweave but need to find one or two sayings to put on it, hopefully the internet will come up with some but if any of you have any ideas they will be greatly received.

Will have some hardanger on it probably a heart, quite a bit of stitching in green her favourite colour along with brownish shades.

Have not worked out how to get the photos where I want them yet but maybe one day!!!

Taday I have caught up with TAST 2012, have 8 photos to add.
couching, (somehow missed this one when I added previously)
barred chain and alternating barred chain
satin stitch
stem stitch
french knots
wheatear stitch
crossed buttonhole stitch
half chevron stitch

So glad to have caught up. I think had I given these samples more thought I would have worked them on an evenweave fabric which I am more at home with, my first love being the hardanger technique.
Now, I am glad that I did them in this way as it has made me want to do more embroidery using this method. I would like to stitch some more intricate designs based on gardens.Not sure when I will get around to this however.

When I look back this is the kind of embroidery I did before I took up counted techniques so I am looking forward to having another go.

another two sample stitches,  running stitch and whipped wheel. rather like the wheel with 10 spokes, slowly catching up and then can`t wait to start doing more with each stitch, maybe making a sampler of stitches instead of just samples

as you can see have been playing around with my blog, not sure if I like the finnished page but at least was able to alter it.