book bag

Last Monday I joined a workshop "Indian Stitching: Embroidered Book Bag" at Hansons Fabrics.
I always enjoy Hansons workshops, they are so well run. All the materials are included in the cost, as are all the refreshments; tea, coffee and biscuits on arrival, a splendid buffet lunch and afternoon tea and cake, all this organised by Sheila. Thank you, Sheila, for looking after us so well!

Our tutor was Tiggy Rawling. Do visit her blog here, to see her fabric dyeing and read about her travels to India.
The object of the workshop was a sample of a cloth book bag. This type of bag is used in Asia to protect precious books.

First of all we traced the embroidery pattern into the fabric, then embroidered the design using chain stitch for the outline and Indian filling stitch ( Romanian stitch) and closed herringbone stitch as a filling stitches, with shishas in the centre of the flowers.

After completing the embroidery, we made up the bag, including the lining.

 

 

my Indian book bag

Another very enjoyable day spent in the company of Tiggy Rawling.

starting indigo quilt

I have been really busy last few days, including a workshop with Tiggy Rawling yesterday, but that will be another post, when I'll finish a project started at the workshop.


I have at last started working on the Indigo quilt. I have stitched together all the pieces, plus the wadding and the backing.
I don't have a clear plan, but my intention is to cover each section in some embroidery, Indian or some other form of ethnic stitching.

To make a start (a warm up), I have been playing with some stitches and mirrors.

my news

A phone call from the hospital this afternoon - all is well, my test result is normal!!!

I can get on with my life.

Thank you all, you beautiful people, for holding your thumbs, crossing your fingers or whatever you hold or cross in your part of the world, for all your lovely messages and thoughts, it all helped me during a very scary time. I will never forget your love, support and care you have shown me during this past week.

There is nothing "virtual" about you, you are all very real to me, my blogging friends.

And now - back to stitching.

I will come and visit you soon, to see what you have been up to!

something for Easter

Stitching is a bliss. And this week it proved to be a good therapy, because it helped me to calm down and carry on.

Last week I showed you the start of "something small for Easter". And here it is, a small spring tablecloth.

All applique and quilting is hand stitched.

Have a wonderful week !

thank you

I would like to say BIG THANK YOU to all of you who commented on my last post, or have sent me personal emails. Thank you all, you lovely people! Many of you have already taken this journey before me and I am so pleased that for you it has turned out well. Statistics show that increasing number of us will be taken this journey, partly due to the wonderful technical equipment now available, which picks up more details, but this also can cause a lot anxiety, until the "all clear" is given, during which time a support is so important.
Yet again I am overwhelmed by the wonderful friendship of the blogging community, the care and mutual support. What did we do before the Internet arrived?

                                                            THANK YOU

not just good journeys

I called my blog "my stitching and other journeys", because it is not just about stitching, and sometimes I  have taken you with me on "other " journeys, visits to nice and interesting places.
So, I was very undecided if I should take you with me this time, a journey of a different kind.
Because I have been using my blog as a kind of a journal, in the end I have decided to record this journey also. As far as I know, most of my blog visitors are women, and therefore will understand. It will also explain why I haven't kept up with your blogs past week or so.

As most of you of a certain age would have been called from time to time for a routine breast screening, so have I. In the past my every visit to a mobile screening unit was followed by a "all clear" letter.
Unfortunately not this time, they found something which wasn't there before. When the letter arrived last Tuesday, it gave me a shock, as you can understand. I was given an appointment in two days time for a second screening, this time at our county hospital some 40 miles away. Needless to say that two sleepless nights followed, during which my mind was conjuring up all sorts of scenarios. It was difficult to go on with the day to day routine. So, on Thursday DH and I (him for moral support, trying hard not to show how worried he was) drove to the hospital.
I am not going to bore you with the details, but after another mammogram and an ultrasound, some prodding with a needle to take a sample to be sent for testing, I am now waiting for the results. A week they said. However, I am calmer now. The staff at the breast care unit were friendly and smiling, the female doctor young and chatty, explaining all, while she was doing her job. I know now where the problem is and that it is being dealt with. It was the fear of the unknown which temporarily sent me spinning out of my orbit. If I'll have to go back, I will know what to expect.
There is an English saying that "an ignorance is a bliss", what do you think?
Oh, shall I mention the terrible coffee in the hospital restaurant? Or the machine at the hospital car park "pay station", which would not take our money ( high fees charged in most English hospital car parks) until a "technical help" was called, by which time a long queue formed behind us? They are all small details.........

I wish you all a pleasant weekend!

sunny Saturday

We had a wonderful spring day today, sunny and warm. It was a real pleasure to spend the afternoon working in the garden, pruning and generally tidying up. The washing on the line was flapping  in the sunshine, simple things in life.......It has been a good day.

My Easter project is now ready for hand quilting and embroidery, which I hope to start tomorrow.

You might remember indigo fabrics I bought from Tiggy Rawling's Indigo Shop in the autumn.
I am now starting to plan the quilt/wall hanging. I keep changing my mind about what exactly I am going to do with it. Initially it was going to be covered in Indian stitching, but I have been looking at some other ethnic embroideries since, so now I think it will end up as a mix of various stitching. In any case, I am prepared for the fact that this is going to be a long project, I hope to get inspired as I go along. For now I am just planning the outline.

I hope tomorrow will be another good day...

this week's progress

Not much to report, but at last I have started to hand quilt my "Summer quilt".

I have also decided to make "something small" for Easter, the idea being that it will be something quick, so it doesn't become another UFO (I hope).

I wish you all a very good weekend!

By the way, I have turned of the word verification on my blog (at least I think I have - please let me know).

The new version has been driving me mad on other blogs. I am sure there is a good reason why the blogger changed it, but I can't see what was wrong with the old version.

 

Radstock 2012

On Friday I came out of my winter hibernation to visit "Patchwork and Quilting" at Radstock Museum.

This is the third major exhibition arranged by Midsomer Quilting and hosted by Radstock Museum. If you click on the link, you can view the virtual gallery from the exhibition. There are over 200 quilts on show,  quote: "although you will find here only quilts that have bee made or lent by MQ's customers, some from as far away as California, the vast majority have been made by quilters who live within twenty miles of the museum".
The Radstock Museum itself is well worth a visit. It covers the "social and industrial heritage of the communities of the Somerset Coalfield". Also a good place to leave someone not interested in quilts.

As I said above, you can visit the virtual gallery on the MQ website, I just would like to show you some of the quilts I liked or found interesting.

The exhibiton is open until 31st May'12, plenty of time to visit.

I finish this post by another quote from the exhibition guide:

"Last year a study carried out at Glasgow University concluded that quilting, more than any other craft or a pastime, was hugely beneficial to health and well-being (but we knew that, anyway)."

Happy stitching!