It's Monday so........

once again I'm playing catch-up!!!! First I finished my Tag for Tag Tuesday. This week's theme is "birds" so I adapted a pattern by Bronwyn Hayes and stitched it in red on a cream background.

Next I used another of Bronwyn's patterns to make this cute little purse. Bronwyn has kindly allowed me to use her patterns to make items to sell for charity. You may see more of them posted here!

I then managed to finsh making my Japanese doll. I bought this kit at one of the craft shows several years ago but she got put away in the cupboard and forgotten about as I was ill. I remembered her when we started talking about our quilt show which is being held in October. We have decided to have a Japanese themed area so she can go with the other Japanese items!

Finally I made these two little bunny bags to hold Easter eggs. Just the right size to hold one small egg or a few creme eggs.

Tomorrow will be another busy stitching day. We are having a day making items to sell at our exhibition.

Tag Tuesday -catch up.

I have two tags to show this week as I posted last week's one late! The theme from last week was poetry and I illustrated "The sun has set" by Emily Bronte. The background was coloured with inks and I then stamped grasses and plants with black ink to create a sunset effect. The poem is printed on the back of the tag.

This week's theme is books and I knew I had to choose my all time favourite book fom childhood-Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies. The books bring back so many happy memories for me- times spent looking at the pictures with my mother and grandmother. I still love the illustrations and I have kept my books which have been shared with younger members of the family.

Textiles in Focus

This weekend it was the Textiles in Focus Exhibition at Cottenham in Cambridge and once again Pauline Verrinder did a wonderful job organising the Exhibition.  Yesterday I taught two workshops making Victorian style cuffs with two lovely groups of ladies. Here they all are working hard!

This is a finished cuff being modelled by the young lady who made it.

Back home last night to make my tag for this week. The theme was "Valentines" I just managed to post before tonight's deadline

Tonight it was Chelmsford Embroiderers' Guild monthly meeting and Annette Morgan came along to show her inspiring work. It was a very enjoyable evening.!

Textiles in Focus

This weekend it is the Textiles In Focus Exhibition at Cottenham in Cambridge. It's a really great weekend with exhibitions, stalls, demos and workshops. It finishes tomorrow so there is still time to visit if you live near enough. I am teaching two workshops tomorrow- making antique style cuffs so I have spent the last few days getting ready. I am there now and the packs of materials are pictured below. I just need to pack the car with the equipment I need and I will be ready for an early start in the morning.

I have also managed to finish making this little quilt which was featured in the latest edition of Magic Patch magazine. I have altered it slightly and I am really pleased with the result. I love the combination of patchwork, applique and embroidery. 

I now need to catch up with making my tags for Tag Tuesday

This Week's Tag

I have had a busy week so I didn't get my tag finished in time to post on Tuesday- but here it is late! This week's theme was "hearts". I stencilled and stamped the tag using a heart stamp. The heart is made with card covered with sheet music called "First Love". This was stitched to two layers of sheer fabric. I added the button and key charm and finished the tag with a ribbon.

Catching Up

Today is catch up day. I was without my computer for most of last week as it was hit by a virus and had to go away to be repaired. i am making up for the postings I couldn't do. First here is a picture of my tag for last week's Tag Tuesday. The theme was "Lace". There are so many talented people taking part it's worth going to the blog to see all the wonderful interpretations of the theme.

This morning I woke up to see this outside my windows. I was supposed to be going to Milton Keynes today to take part in the BBC Choir of the Year competition with the Swift Singers. We were going to leave by coach at 5.45 in order to reach the venue by 9am. Needless to say the weather had other ideas! These pictures are of my garden.

 February is the second month of the journal challenge organised by Kate Crane Here is my page. I coloured the page with Koh-i-Nor dyes which were then stamped and stencilled. The hearts were stamped using the free stamp from the February edition of Craft Stamper and the image was a free download from this wonderful blog

Vintage Tag

This week's theme for Tag Tuesday is Vintage. I had great fun making this one as I love anything vintage. I used sheet music and lace for the background. The picture is of my wonderful paternal grandparents, George and Ellen, on their wedding day. They were married for almost 65 years.

The tag was finished off with more lace, the words "I do", ribbons and a pearl bead.