Clematis

Browny pink clematis

 I am home from my travels for a day then off again!
There is a clematis growing over the fence and it didn't get properly cut back last year so is now swarming over the arch above the garden seat. It is an unusual browny pink colour, smallish flowers with extra "petals" in the centres.I've lost the label and can't remember its name.

Browny pink swarming over the arch

 

 This is on the other side of the arch, a tangutica, very pretty yellow bells and then fluffy seedheads like Old Man's Beard; it quite often seeds into my pots scattered around the garden.

White clematis

Then there is the white one over the pergola outside my back door. this is growing really well and is the first year it has flowered profusely. Checking around I found another two different clematis today, but didn't have time to photograph them... maybe when I'm back if they're still flowering.
Just off now to sort some stitching. I put pics from my phone onto facebook but can't get them onto here!

Pretty centres!

Just needing binding!

I have arrived in Hampshire after lunch with my daughter no.2 and a quick visit to see my brother Roger and SiSinLaw Pat  then afternoon tea with daughter no.1.
The Broken Dishes quilt top has been beautifully quilted by Mandy Parks
Now I have to get the binding done...

Rattlesnake blocks and poppies

Large chinese type poppy

Here are three of the lovely poppies I have growing in the garden at the moment. Great patches of colour.

Small double poppy

Yellow Welsh type poppy

                                                              
And underneath are the lovely Rattlesnake block that Ruth is working on.
I always love her colour choices and use of unexpected fabrics like the spots here!
I'm feeling guilty now as I've only completed one large one!

Ruth's Rattlesnake blocks on her design wall

Post Card Swap

Here are my "Naked Flowers" postcards. Naked as they are to go through the post without an envelope - well I usually send my cards that way and when I joined the postcard swap, an offshoot of BQL (The British Quilt List) which is free to join, cards were always sent that way. These are made from a 100 year old linen sheet given to me a couple of years ago. It was pink with holes worn in it but was beautifully hand sewn with wide hemstitched hems that were also beautifully hand stitched in the mitred corners. I've included some of the hemstitching on some of the cards. I printed with a thermofax screen bought last year at FOQ in Birmingham, and then added the Periwinkles with a printing block I made. They are FMQ.

Comments

I have been getting lots of automated spam messages so I have enabled the word recognition device which hopefully will prevent a lot getting through. It is lovely to get comments but very annoying to find they are not real!

Fabric Printing

Rattlesnake resized for Jelly roll strips

Having dutifully made 4 more blocks for my Winding ways quilt and another small rattlesnake centre:
 I played with paint on top of the dyed fabric that I had thermofax screen printed with seed heads.

Printing block

Edge of old linen sheet

Hopefully my next Journal quilt when it is stitched.

Daisies for Postcards

The printing blocks are made with Funky Foam self adhesive shapes made for children, but I have cut the shapes up to make my own designs.
The next postcard swap is flowers, so some of my dyed sheet will be printed and stitched into postcards.







Daisies and Periwinkles.Hopefully these will look better after they have been stitched.

You can see the hemstitched edge of the old linen sheet!

Abstract Challenge

There is a Yahoo group called abstract Challenge and I have been wanting to make small experimental pieces. Here is my June quilt, 8" square. The theme is "Storm"
It is hand dyed blanket in a bruised sky colour, with a piece of hand printed dyed cotton appliqued on with some hand stitch and batik applied with machining. Some FMQ to hold the edges together. I used the cleaning cloths that are like a cheap thin felt that come ten in a pack for a pound as wadding!

A good week

I've finished my Broken Dishes Quilt top and it is parcelled up ready to go to Mandy Parks of The Quilt's Whiskers for Quilting. I've prepared quite a few yards of binding too.
Then on Saturday I drove to Spalding to drop off my entry for the British Quilt Championships at Sandown in two weeks time. I was also able to see the quilt exhibition - wonderful to see Gwenfai Rees Griffiths' quilts up close. Her designs are interesting and her execution superb. Her hand quilting is done with amazingly tiny quilt stitches.

There was also an exhibition of quilts for sale by Gill Hutton. I bought one of her quilts, shoo fly blocks in country style, last year for a ridiculously small sum of money. There was another there I was very tempted by, only £100 and wonderful use of colour...

All hand quilted too. These slightly wobbly log gabin blocks have a very modern look and I love the restricted colour scheme. There are quite a few for sale and they will probably be at Sandown, worth looking out for. They are very Amish in style. Apparently she lived abroad for some years where most of her quilts were made. They were bought in a job lot by the chap who runs Grosvenor Exhibitions and some of them have featured in Fabrications magazine.

Darwinian

I have a sewing machine loaded with almost finished blocks but in my early morning walk around my garden I was struck by the variety of Geranium Phaeum flowers in the border. The original plants were grown from seed from Plant World in Devon when we moved here as it was a new garden. I've been digging them out ever since, while they have been quietly breeding!

Some are darkest purple and the one on the right in the centre is almost red the lightest ones almost pink and palest lilac. The centres vary too as do the shape and marking of the leaves.