this and that, and some stitching too

The weather has changed a lot since my last post; drop in the temperatures, 

lots of heavy rain, thunderstorms, and the odd nice day as well.

Early August at Lytes Cary Manor(NT) to see the changes in the gardens there.

Back in the kitchen,

small batch of one of my mixed fruit jams,

which we will appreciate during the cold winter months.

One of our favourite biscuit recipes, with dried fruit, honey, nuts and white chocolate.

and experimenting with a new bread recipe -

I was really pleased with the result, 

and I plan to make it again this week.

There is a slow but steady progress with the Arabian Nights crochet blanket, I am well past the mid point now, but I am out of the red wool, so I need to re-order.

I have put together some of small blocks of the Awakening quilt, 

so this is the top 1/3 of the quilt,

and I have a couple of large blocks ready for the lower part.

In the post this week - "Stitches to Savor" by Sue Spargo.

I know many of you know this book already; I have been looking for a good second hand one, but Sue's books do hold their price. Last week I came across an unused copy on ebay, at a half price of any price on Amazon, an opportunity not to be missed.
I am well pleased!

This is not a project book, there are not patterns or instructions, this is simply a showcase of her work; twelve of her quilts on show, a mixture of fabric and wool applique, embellished with lots of embroidery stitching, and beautifully quilted - a feast for the eyes!

The photography is first class, with lots of close up details.

I have been browsing through every day since it arrived, constantly finding new bits.

I have been very much in the "reading mode" in the last few weeks, and since my last post I got through another "Department Q" thriller, 

and at the moment I am reading  "Drums of Autumn", which is book no 4 (of 8) in the "Outlander" saga.

All the Outlander books are pretty "hefty" and so is this one, with over 1,000 pages.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019

summer embroidery

It is this time of year when I embroider most, I find it so much more enjoyable to do outside in the summer light.

This is a cushion kit by Nancy Nicholson, which I bought a couple years ago. All her kits come in their own canvas bag, decorated with a bonus design on the outside, which you can also embroider.

I did that right at the beginning. 

There is still lots to do here.

Today I managed to find (in the depth of my room) "Heartsong", 

a design by Rosalie Quinlan, which I bought ages ago. 

The pattern comes with two design options (one being Christmas), and two sizes; the smaller sizes have  iron-on transfers included, the larger can be traced on to the fabric.

 I don't really feel like Christmas, so I am making the "summer" version.

Which colour should I go for?

In the end I went for the pinks.

Yesterday we happened to be on the Somerset Levels, 

so we made a brief visit to Barrington Court (NT),

to see how the gardens are doing in this heat.

Like everywhere in this part of England, it is very dry here and desperate for some rain, but still there is lots of colour around.

In the old stable block are several small shops;

while DH was browsing in the secondhand book shop,

I "popped in" to the Barrington Patchwork shop.

Unusually I did not buy any fabric this time,

but I did come away with a selection of 

pearl cotton No16 (to add to my stash),

which I like to use for some colourful quilting.

I always buy some when I am this way, as this is the only shop in my area (that I am aware of),
which stocks it.

The lavender in our front garden is loving this weather.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019

The summer arrived at last, be it too hot!

It is Glastonbury Festival weekend , just down the road from us; usually it is either too hot, or swimming in muddy puddles. It was a scorcher yesterday, but today is a beautiful day, pleasantly warm and sunny.

But of course the heat we were getting last week was nothing comparing to the mainland Europe, they did get it bad!

Because the summer is definitively here (for the next week at least!), my "Summer play cloth" has found its way out of the box and into the garden.

For those new to my blog - I call this project "summer" one, because I work on it only during summer, outside in the garden. It just started like that, and now it has become a symbol of summer, when I can sit outside and stitch, when summer is really here.

This quilt is exactly that - a play cloth. There is no plan as such, I simply stitch on it what I feel like at the time.

The inspiration came a long time ago, after seeing one of Tiggy Rawling's quilts, which she brought to her workshop.

The hand dyed pieces of fabric, which form the background, also came from Tiggy's "store", as do many of the threads. The only plan here is to fill every block; I have included embroideries from women of Afganistan ,

and a couple made by ladies from African Tambani project.

Today I started to stitch another block.

The "fish" idea came from the cover of the latest issue of Quiltmania Moderne magazine, which arrived a couple of days ago.

There are several projects I really like in this issue:

But this is my favourite, and the one which has already gone on to my "do" list, a wall hanging by 

Linda Guy 

(who designed "Calling All Birds" quilt, which I really enjoyed making and which you can see on the left hand side of this blog).

I have also been working on the next block for the Awakening quilt.

 

If the weather forecast is to be believed, we are in for a nice summer week; 

not too hot, just right for "stitching in the garden" !

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019