… the finish line!

Feb 15th, 2013 17 Comments
Posted in: Made by hand

A special feel good friday celebration this week ~ as I have finally completed the quilt I started over twelve months ago!! Oh yes! A big ta-dah moment indeed!

HST Quilt

I have been following a quilt block tutorial by Jeni at In Color Order ~ she posted instructions for one block each month, throughout the year, so that all twelve blocks could be stitched together to make a completed quilt! And I am quite impressed with myself that I managed to keep up with it and to actually finish the quilt properly!

HST Quilt

So here it is ~ in all its completed glory!

HST Quilt

I chose to use up the remaining print fabrics as sashing around each of the blocks … I have noticed that people often use white which gives a lovely clean and fresh look … but I was inspired by this quilt on flickr to use colours, and I love the brightness it brings to the finished quilt.

For the reverse I used one of my favourite vintage sheets …

HST Quilt - back

… which has a beautiful soft feel to it.

You can see on the picture above that I kept the quilting to a minimum … using tramlines horizontally and vertically … this is partly because I am still very much a learner … but also … I like to feel some movement in the fabrics of a finished quilt, I find that some very decorative quilting is so dense that you kind of lose the feeling of layers … maybe that’s the point … but I just like it this way!

You can see the quilted tramlines on the front in these pictures …

HST Quilt

HST Quilt

I am especially pleased with the binding … I adapted a really helpful tutorial from Petit Design Co I found that using a double layer of fabric has given the binding a density and weight which is very pleasing … and machine stitching it meant that I was able to bind it in an afternoon … my previous hand stitched binding on a much smaller quilt took me about two months!!

HST Quilt

There is still so much for me to learn in the world of quilting ~ skills to hone ~ techniques to perfect … and I am sure many experienced quilters will see nothing but faults in this one … but it is my third completed quilt, and with each one I finish I see progress. And that is a good thing.

So there it is! And it is all mine! Completed and beautiful.

HST Quilt

And a few other little highlights of the week include …

~ a lovely snow-dusted woodland walk with a favourite friend ~

~ two … yes, two dinners and a lunch cooked by friends last weekend ~

~ BBC Radio … so much variety … I am loving it ~

~ watching Wallander on DVD under a blanket in front of the fire while it is snowing outside … perfect cold weather viewing ~

~ eccles cakes … made for winter ~

and

~ Pinterest … you can find me here ~

 

Wishing you all weekend full of good things and shining lights!

 

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… snow

Jan 21st, 2013 1 Comment
Posted in: Out and About

How the land changes when coated in snow.

Snowscape ~ Herefordshire

Tree in snow field ~ Herefordshire

Trees in snow field ~ Herefordshire

Apple orchard in snow

Sheep in snow ~ Herefordshire

No longer an oil painting; a delicate watercolour; a bright pastel rainbow. Now an etch. A pen and ink sketch.

Landscape in snow ~ Herefordshire

The bare bones of the land. A pared down feast for the eye. And it is still enough. And more.

 

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… feel good friday :)

Dec 14th, 2012 9 Comments
Posted in: Home Life, Out and About

I hereby declare this week to have been a ‘good week’! Full of bright moments, beauty, appreciation and positive challenges! And most of it passed without my camera by my side.

I would so love to share with you the beauty of the winter sunlight on Wednesday afternoon as it glanced across a landscape of fields which really did roll and undulate.

I was travelling along the ‘B’ roads of East Dorset, from Verwood, through the delightfully named Sixpenny Handley up to Shaftesbury to join the A350. It was mid afternoon and the fields were still heavy with frost, muted in tones of blue and green, sparkling where the sunlight danced across the hedgerows. Naked trees punctuating the scene with their stately skeletons, throwing long shadows across empty fields. A hint of mist played in the valleys, fracturing the weak sunlight, gently lighting up the scene. It was, literally, breathtaking.

Later, on the same journey, now travelling by train, through Bath, the towering stone townhouses alongside the track were glowing proudly in the last glances of sunlight. And then, whizzing across that narrow strand of countryside between Bristol and the Severn tunnel, the flat flood plains darkening, preparing for another biting night, the sun just dipping below the horizon leaving a pale orange smear low in the sky in front of which, briefly, stood a tall row of ancient twisted winter trees; natures sculpture in natures fading spotlight. I did capture it, not with my camera, but with my mind. It was beautiful.

To make up for the absence of misty, hauntingly beautiful landscape pictures, I wanted to share with you some of my favourite blogs right now … these are some of the places which keep my ‘feel good factor’ alive and well.

First up …

… I am loving Srapiana, for her scraps & scribblings on sewing, thrift, upcycling & vintage haberdashery, and especially for these gloriously simple christmas decoration ideas …

Scrapiana Christmas Decorations

Image courtesy of Scrapiana

The ‘love what you wear’ project has given my current lack of clothing allowance a new meaning and purpose, and I am now connected to a creative and innovative group of women who are inspiring me with new ideas every day!

the 'Love what you Wear' project

Image courtesy of the 'Love What you Wear' project

For the wit of her writing, the angle of her view and the humour and beauty of her creations I am so glad I recently discovered the blog of the lovely Fiona T.

Fiona T blog

Image courtesy of Fiona T

To satisfy my cravings for Scandi design, beautiful interiors and general all round gorgeousness I hop over to Little Birdie … I am especially loving her ’52 weeks of Happy’ series …

Little Birdie Blog

Image courtesy of Little Birdie

… and for fabulous, floral, retro inspiration of the cosiest kind I find myself drawn to the cheery home of Modflowers …

Modflowers cushions

Image courtesy of Modflowers

… gorgeous huh!

The web is full of wonderful inspiring blogs, and I love a little tour of my favourites, just as much as I enjoy discovering new and exciting places to visit … hope that some of these bring the feel good factor into your lives too.

Other bright spots this week have included …

~ a lovely pub-grub evening out with friends ~

~ watching the crazy birds in my garden scrapping over food and water ~

~ a couple of very productive work days ~

~ lovely feedback and appreciation ~

~ the yummiest carrot cake ever ~

Hoping the bright spots in your week are staying with you ~ and wishing you all a warm and cosy weekend.

 

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… The Whimble

Feb 6th, 2012 5 Comments
Posted in: Out and About

My diary for Friday clearly stated ‘coursework’. And yet the skies were blue, the sun was shining and my heart needed some time outside.

As we drove out of town heading north we could see that the Welsh hills on the horizon were glistening with a dusting of snow, and so we detoured westwards, crossed the border and parked by a little stream in the village of New Radnor. We headed off to conquer The Whimble. From many of my favourite walks in Herefordshire the distinctive nobbly shape of the Whimble is visible on the horizon, and yet I have walked up it maybe only three or four times before. Friday was the perfect day to walk that steep path again.

The Whimble walk from New Radnor

On top of the Whimble ~ looking into Wales ~ for miles and miles.

As we walked back down, the sun dropped, the landscape appeared colder and more graphic, but the moon kept us company as we followed the valley.

The Whimble walk from New Radnor

The Whimble walk from New Radnor

It was a beautiful, breath~taking, head~clearing, muscle~stretching kind of walk. And it could only have happened on a Friday.

 

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… subtlety

Jan 31st, 2012 6 Comments
Posted in: Out and About

If nothing else, this winter has been consistent. It hasn’t been one of those beautiful, stunning, breath-taking kind of winters. No, it has been more a subtle, consistent, every-shade-of-grey kind of winter.

In November we enjoyed the beauty of a monotone seascape on the South Coast of England …

Bexhill on Sea November

… in December, the mystery of hidden horizons shrouded by low cloud in North Herefordshire …

Clee Hill under cloud December

… and in January, the subtlety of trees awaiting their new leaves, layering pale upon pale into the distance.

Tree shapes at Brockington January

Every shade of grey. And yet, the nuances of light, the shape of the land and the textures of nature still bring a calm and patient beauty to the seeking eye.

I won’t lie ~ I am craving some Springness now ~ I have already seen snowdrops and even a tiny early lamb ~ and I am so ready for colour, light, the freshness and vitality of new growth.

Oh yes, I am ready. Come on nature, let the show begin!

 

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… a consolation prize!

Jan 18th, 2012 4 Comments
Posted in: News

Last Saturday was officially declared (by me) the most beautiful day of this winter so far! I know this because as I drove out of town, early in the morning, into the Herefordshire countryside I couldn’t help but exclaim out loud at the wonder nature had worked over night. The landscape was white and sparkling, a hoarfrost had coated every blade of grass, every gatepost, every twig and branch in delicious spiky white fingers of frost. A low sun was creating glittery beauty and the fields bordering the river bank were blanketed in a fine mist. It was breathtaking.

I was on my way to spend the day in a classroom. I so wanted to stop my car and stare. I wanted to turn back and grab my camera. I wanted to skip the Day School and spend the day walking instead. But I drove on and phoned my husband to tell him to go out walking with his camera instead. You can see some of the results here.

Sunday, was not the most beautiful day of the winter so far. But it was the day that I had time to go for a walk, and this is what I saw.

Tree Planting at Aymestrey

I have walked a path through this woodland often, previously I have been surrounded by tall pines and conifers, their needles cushioning the floor beneath my feet. Now they are gone, a huge area of the hillside is bare, open and covered with swathes of these plastic tubes.

Tree planting at Aymestrey

Each tube is nurturing a new tree. A deciduous tree. Keeping it safe from deer and other nibbling creatures. This is a landscape in transition. From coniferous to deciduous. The new planting will return the landscape to a more natural woodland, and will create new habitats for woodland wildlife.

Tree planting at Aymestrey

The afternoon sun shining through these plastic tubes created a new kind of beauty, mellow warmth, silhouettes of leaves, the promise of something new.

In just ten years time this landscape will be transformed and I am so looking forward to watching the change take place.

Trees at Aymestrey

The light was low, wintery and hazy.

Sunrays

Once we walked out of the woodland onto a hilltop the sun welcomed us. It shone like this for maybe ten or fifteen minutes before disappearing again, leaving us to complete our walk in dusk-light.

Winter sunlight at Aymestrey

So, maybe not the most beautiful day of the winter so far. But certainly a worthy consolation.

Thank you for joining me!

 

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