Picture heavy catch up. :o)

 It has been quite a year with one thing and another and I am afraid my blog has suffered because of it. Thanks to everyone for all the nudges to get posting again!
Things are really looking up now and a lot of loose odds and ends should be resolved soon. :o)
 So it's time for a catch up!

 

It was our Golden Wedding Anniversary in August and on the day itself we just went up to Crummock Water and had a picnic. We have been so fortunate to have had a happy,whole half century together.  

The weather was kind and there was a "glass on the water"------pure magic!

The fantastic summer we have had this year was just what was needed to get things growing again along our river wall after the rebuilding work.

 

Because of the weather we have been outside a lot but I have still been sewing, knitting and crocheting.

 

 

In July an anxiously awaited grandson arrived! All well. :o)

 

This was my contribution to the P&Q magazine's 250 Shades of Red competition. It is pictured in this month's magazine. 

 

This is a clothesline basket made just to prove to myself that my Bernina really can sew rope! Would you believe there are 25 yards of rope in it?

 

 

 Came across some white sweat shirting fabric in my stash so used some of the lovely Paisley patterns in my Bernina 830 on the fronts and back of a jacket.

 

When it was done I popped it in the washer and dyed it a sort of dark dusky pink so that the embroidery is now tone on tone.

  

 

I rarely use patterns for quilts but Love Entwined caught my imagination as it is based on an C18 coverlet. Our house is at least as old as that so I thought it would fit right in even done in more modern colours. The pattern is all still freely available thanks to Esther's generosity.

 

 I am amazed that I have nearly finished it and also how big it is! Would you believe there is a three seater sofa hidden under it on the above picture!

 

 

 

Last corners ready to add.

 

 

 

Last border ready.

 

 

Also downloaded a pattern for Bionic Gear Bag from Craftsy. It gave me opportunity to use fabric on which I had tried out one of my own applique designs that was just the right size!

 

It gave plenty of practice on inserting zips as well as making inroads into my stash!

Nearly there!

Loved seeing the light hitting the quilting today.
I have spent a couple of hours ,in a good light, sewing in the tails of thread into the back. Think I have them all now. After that the quilt had to be trimmed it to square it up. I think that is the one bit of quilting that I really dislike but perhaps it is just because I am apprehensive of taking the rotary cutter to a nearly finished quilt?
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These are my tools of choice for the sewing in of tails and general tidying up :

The tweezers ,from my Bernina 830 toolbox, are ideal for teasing out any threads that have been caught by stitching and also for holding threads so that the ends can be trimmed very close to the fabric.

 The scissors were an Ebay purchase. They are very pointed and also have stayed sharp
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The black handled tool on the right is a Clover Soft Touch Thread Pic. It has a very fine, crochet type hook similar to a tambour needle. Sometimes I use it for pulling the threads down into the batting, but more often to tweeze out any errant dark threads or fluff that have somehow got between the quilt top and the batting.

Lastly is a needle, threaded double ,with the ends going through the needle and the loop hanging down. Insert the needle close to the thread ends and exit an inch or two away. Pull through till just a loop remains and then tuck in the tails. Continue pulling and then trim the thread.

All I have to do now is make and attach the binding and a label. It is about six metres all round so plenty of hand stitching to look forward to. :o)

Time for the fun part now :o)

I love the point when quilting can begin!
I have now added the fabric backing and a wool batting. All the coloured thread work has now been closely outlined with invisible thread which has stabilised the layers really well and now allows me to doodle in the "background".
All the coloured thread work was worked with the no.24 open toe free motion foot on my Bernina 830 but now I am having a change and using the BSR foot . This is how I tend to work between the two--I prefer using the 24 foot for the more detailed work and the BSR for the more flowing stuff.
I used Isacord for the coloured threads and eventually found a good colour in Madeira Polyneon for the background.

Done !

Excuse the fingers peeping over the top :o)
It looks a bit squinty but it is just 'cos it moved a little at the bottom when the door was opened. It is straight when hung on a wall!

This is a painted wholecloth quilt that has been in my head for years! I always thought that a dry stone wall would make a brilliant quilting project!
I took photos and looked at walls but in the end drew this one with imaginary stones starting at the bottom as a proper waller would begin. Initially the colours were very pale but I intensified them and added shadows as I went on. The wall, fields and sky are mainly coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils but Pentel Watercolor Dyes and Fabrico dual point have also been used and all the stitching was done with Bernina 830.

The dandelion from the previous posting is on the bottom right hand side. All the flowers at the bottom are the early spring flowers. Above the wall the early orange tip butterflies are dancing watched by a nest building Robin. Sheep and lambs are on the slopes where the tree has not yet come into leaf. Bottom left a little bank vole is looking for a crevice in the wall for its nest.

In view of the very late spring /long winter we have had this year perhaps I should have included a little snow in the background!
I think I might eventually make a summer and autumn version  of this.

Back at the machine :o)

I am alternating my time at the moment between the garden and the sewing machine.

 Nothing much got done in the garden after I started being unwell in July ,last year,so there are vast tracts of brambles and sycamore seedlings to clear . I can nearly see all the daffodils now! Their position will be taken by a carpet of bluebells will be here in a few weeks so I need to keep at it.

The current quilt has a few flowers too.
They were painted and coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils and Pentel water colour dyes before sewing was involved..:o)
My Bernina 830 was updated recently and is still a bit tetchy with a couple of functions but it is humming away happily stitching on this which is just free motion work with the feed dogs down.

First finish for 2013

Happy New Year!
The days are getting longer and the snowdrops are out and I have just finished this which I started in the holidays.

He is a present -----hope she likes him! :o)
Total size is 50 x 31 inches and he is some sparkle in the form of metallic thread, foils, and crystals. You can just see them on the closeup of his head. The metallic thread is Madeira FS and my Bernina 830 did all those free motion feathery bits effortlessly.

It is good to be back into sewing and to start the year off with a "finish"----that sounds weird doesn't it?
:o)

Solstice

Crumbs after all this time with no blogging I have blogged three times today!

Nights will start to draw in soon so the urge to curl up with some handwork over machine stitches is

 tempting.

The combination of the two methods came about after watching a Quilt Show programme with Carol Ann Waugh called Stupendous Stitching. It was a good way to practise couching and trying out the decorative stitches on the Bernina 830 too. A lot of fun!

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Of course playing at the machine with new ideas is fun too.

These both were started as cases for my pc tablet but now I am not sure? Perhaps slippery satin isn't the best idea------though it does show the stitching so well.

There is a last flurry of flowers and at last some butterflies. We have really missed them this year.

 

I can't remember whether these sunflowers are supposed to be small or they are just stunted as they were late being transplanted?

Welcome colour though!

Cooler days mean the woodstove will be giving us a welcoming glow so there are logs to split! 

 

I hope those logs don't squash my little box hedge next to them!

Still here!

A lot of sewing going on although not any that can be shown here as it is all Christmas stuff.

I can show the new cover, though,I have made for my Bernina. It is always out on the table and until this week all it has had is a piece of fabric thrown over as protection. I have had the machine for a year now and am still as thrilled with it as when it arrived! The welcome screen that it shows as it boots up is set to say "Funtime again" which I guess says it all!

The design on the front is a free design downloaded from the Bernina USA site for the Bernina 830 machine.

The cover design is my own. I opted for a sort of two piece design as it is such a complicated shape with the embroidery unit attached . It means if I ever get a table where the 830 can be lowered the cover can still be used. It also allowed for a more tailored shape around the arm of the embroidery unit.

(My DH says that all it needs is some wheels to turn it into a tractor!!!)

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I am linking this to WOW-------check to see what others are doing!

Gales and a design to download.

This is the logo on the front of the new Bernina 830 LE and it is now available as an embroidery download from  Bernina. I altered the colours to introduce a littl bit of red to the design. Although the rest all looks white part of it is actually sewn with a silver metallic thread. I think parts of this design will be useful in other settings.

Stitching this out distracted me from the howling gales tonight. Our evening meal was postponed when two of our trees were blown over onto our neighbour's house. Luckily nobody was hurt and the damage doesn't appear to be too bad.

Daylight will reveal all.

A mixed month so far

A very belated Happy New Year! Where has January disappeared to?
The days seem to have flown past.

The biggest thing we have had to deal with so far was working out where a temporary drive could be driven through our garden and cause the least disturbance. We haven't been able to get any vehicles to the house since the 2009 floods and the way the powers that be are talking it could be autumn 2011 before our river wall and lane are rebuilt.The gate leads out into the lane along by the river that was our usual route pre-flood.

We are not feeling too happy about the time the insurance company have taken and this drive is a bittersweet pill!

However we can now drive home and will also be able to get rid of the 14 month accumulation of items for recycling thus making space in the garage. Sadly the drive has had to be cut through two mature hedges which will take a long time to restore. Some of the trees have had their roots bruised and cut through too.

I am trying not to think too much about the potential damage to them.

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On a brighter note I have been gradually getting back into sewing both playing with decorative stitches on some silk and also learning my new Bernina Cutwork tool and software.

I was very wary of it at first but am getting quite familiar with it now. The applique names were an experiment in using fonts from the computer to make applique shapes and they worked beautifully and very easily.
The cushion was another experiment of using a simple shape that had rows of decorative stitches programmed in as borders. The alternate squares are quilted with a design built into the 830. I hadn't made a couple of borders wide enough but I joined them into a cushion anyways and will just add a little hand embroidery later.
What was really good was that I starched and ironed 10 layers of batik cotton and the Cutwork Tool just went through the pile like a hot knife through butter. Now I have sussed those bits out I can start to be a little more adventurous.:o)