Little house cards

This is one of the cards mid way through it's making, some done on the machine and some hand embroidered. If you look in the bottom left hand card in the next picture you will see I had added roses round the door and a window in the next-door house.

Click on the picture if you want a detailed look.

This wool is so nice and just right for it's earthy colours and will be used on the landscape cards and pictures, it's mohair so it feels very soft. I have used the white bit of it for smoke coming out of the chimney pots.

Finished after 5 years!

This quilt was finished this morning. I cut it out about 5 years ago for no particular reason except I liked the colours! Recently I remembered it and have just the person to give it to, so I got on with it.

It's quite basic and just the few 9 patch squares to give it some softness.

Now I need to start on a cot quilt which I have been commissioned to make.
This is how the next lot of 6 cards start, I haven't embellished them yet. I will add smoke from chimneys, nests on chimneys, flowers and pots, doors and windows, birds and anything else that enters my head! One of my family has suggested making it into a long picture which I must admit would be quite nice.

This is quite a bright and bold quilt that I recently finished. It's not to everyones taste but I do like playing with colour and it's entirely made from scraps which makes it a bit cheaper! Most of the quilt is hand pieced and it's hand quilted too so it took quite a while to make.

What NOT to do when you have a craft fair in your lounge!

1. DON'T put a card near a candle...or this happens, as in the photo!
2. DON'T bake too many cakes!
3. DON'T choose a rainy day!
Actually I never did like the card in the above picture as I'm not keen on the painted flowers on the card! I think I can save the embroidery and sell it as smoke damaged!

I sold a lot of cards so have started restocking again. as it's summer I'm well into beach huts and summer scenes.

Garden Party...indoors!

The garden party day arrived after days of cake baking and chaos in the kitchen! The cups and saucers were ready, the gazebo up, garden tables laid with embroidered cloths and jugs of wild flowers on the tables.....and then the rain came down! So we had to hastily regroup, move furniture around and have the party indoors!A bucket of flowers by the front door.

The lounge became the craft table, ably manned by my son's girlfriend and the dining room had the cakes.

Despite the awful weather we made £328 and money is still coming in for the poor and street children in India where my daughter will be going to do some voluntary work in the summer. I had aimed to make £200 so my target was well exceeded. Just as it ended...the sun came out!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

P.S. Since I wrote the total has risen to £358!

Losing sleep about tomorrow!

HELP...why ever did I choose to have a garden party to raise money for an Indian volunteering trip my daughter is doing this year! Am I mad!
The crafts are made and ready, 200+ cakes are made and waiting to be iced....but the weather forecast is awful............
Major panic...my house is not big enough so it will have to be in the garden, please pray for dry weather!

Charity shop bits I meant to buy...and some I didn't!

I went purposely to the charity shops today to look for embroidered tablecloths and china tea cups and I found these. They are for a garden party I am having in 2 weeks time here at home. I will be selling tea, home made cakes and hopefully my textile landscapes!I blogged about the idea back on March 7th 2010 on my snowgoosey blog . Anyway, as you see I found a couple of nice little tea cups and saucers, a nice plate and a beautiful tablecloth that I got for £2! It's sad that something that has taken someone so long to make ends up in a 2nd hand shop for next to nothing.

This, if you squint and look carefully is one corner of a linen tablecloth with the crinoline ladies on each corner. It's a bit faded but there is enough left for me to embroider it. I love this design.

A cushion cover, again printed ready for me to sew!

A large piece of linen, I shall remove the blue bit and reuse it for something else and use the linen as I need it. Linen is really expensive so this is a good way to buy it.

So, a bit more spent than I needed but the summer evenings are taken care of with all that sewing to do!