wet Monday

It is holiday here in UK today, the last one before Christmas. And true to the tradition, it is raining....

What is there to do? Stitching, of course! 

A chance to finish the 3rd block of Yoko Saito's Mystery Quilt.

Block no4 is already at the planing stage.

Next week we will be in September, the first of the autumn months, but the summer has been so short here in UK, if you can call it summer at all! We can only hope for warm and sunny autumn.....

And the garden is soggy again...

I wish you all a busy stitching week!

I remember

  21 August 1968


if you don't know this date, you can read about it here

        Memorial to victims of 21 August 1968 in Liberec, my home town.

A very sad list here.

this week's update

It has been a wonderful weekend, the weather has settled down to summer one at last and we have been making most of it; we moved out into the garden; relaxing, reading, eating all our meals outside....

I have been making most of this "stitching in garden " weather and finished no2 block of Yoko Saito's mystery quilt. Even the black cat seems to be jumping with joy (or has it just been pushed of the roof by the mystery bird and has not landed yet?)

But the building continues, block no3 is well under way.

Ideally I would like to finish this and no4 block by the time no5 is published in the next issue of the Quilmania magazine next month, but may be I am being too optimistic. Still, if this weather continues, there will be less housework and more "stitching in the garden"!

Also, the stitchery for block 4 of Fernhill, Lynette Anderson's BOM is finished and I am starting block 5.

The "Three Angels" from Sweden arrived this week, a pattern I ordered from Helena at Syverkstan, to add to my pattern stash.

I could not decide which one I liked best, so I got all three! You can see more details here .

I think I will be ready to stitch this when the days will be getting short and long evenings arrive. 

But not yet.....

Have a wonderful week!

you have to get up early for this

Most weekends we go for an early walk, preferably before breakfast. It feels like we have earned the pot of fresh coffee and warm croissants after that!

Our favourite place for a walk is a forest around the Stourhead estate, a few miles by car from our house.

There always seems to be something new to see,

like this spider's new creation.

Our first wild blackberry of the season.

I was taking pictures of unusual shapes around,

when from the corner of my eye I could see a pair of dark eyes watching me. 

I nearly dropped my camera! I managed somehow to signal to DH not to move, while I lifted the camera in the direction of the dark eyes. 

Please, please, you gorgeous creature, don't run away, let me take your picture!

She waited, as if she could read my mind, then slowly turned around and walked away.

Isn't she beautiful!

Yes, you have to come early for this!

Friday morning at Pythouse

This has become a little tradition; DD, grandchildren and myself visiting Pythouse garden at the start of the summer school holiday. This year we had to wait until nearly half way through the holiday to get a sunny warm day together.

And so, across the county border to Wiltshire. Pythouse kitchen garden and coffee shop is situated inside old walls, near Selmley.

The vegetables they grow here are use in their kitchen and sold in the shop.

You can read more about the garden and it's history

here.

While having a cup of coffee and one of their scrumptious cakes, the children can get safely lost among the vegetables and flowers.

Children had great fun picking their own raspberries.

An added interest this year, in the grounds of the garden -Daisy and Kims Little Shop, selling clothes "to be loved again" for children and ladies.

A very enjoyable way to spend a summer morning!

building continues

The "stitching in the garden" weather is eluding us again, we are back to very changeable one, nevertheless I have finished the first block of Yoko Saito's Mistery quilt, a pattern for which is being published in Quiltmania magazine.

I am not very happy with the reverse applique and I have decided to go back to the iron on applique in the next block. Also, I find small shapes too fiddly to stitch by needle turn method as per instructions, so again I prefer to use an iron on and a blanked stitch. But overall I am happy with the block and the fabrics I used.

Despite the strange weather, the garden is doing quite well and it is pleasant to walk around and take some pictures.

And so, on with the next block!

I am certainly having fun with this project. All hand stitching, so I can take it with me anywhere. And it is a nice change to do something which is not too precise, and just to play with fabrics.