Enjoying the summer weather

I’ve been tying thread ends this afternoon and sewing them in.  Now that doesn’t sound very exciting, does it?  Actually, it’s been rather pleasant, and restful, sitting outside in the shade of the sun umbrella, with a cold drink at hand.  There’s a gentle breeze, the song of birds chirping, the occasional hum of traffic over the back fence.

Enjoying the warm summer weather

But………I’ve got a little problem and hope someone will know the answer.   I’ve had to remove a few applique pieces, stuck down with Steam-a-Seam, which I had ironed.  Now I have a couple of sticky white patches from the adhesive.  Does anyone know how to safely remove this sticky mess?  I had thought that perhaps I could place my applique mat over top, then press with my iron, and maybe that might make the gunk easier to scrape off.  Or maybe there is some solution I could dab on.  Any ideas will be very much appreciated.

Our elderly cat Muffy wants nothing more than to keep up close and personal to one or other of us.  Presently she is squashed up on my lap against the table as I’m blogging.  It can’t be terribly comfy for her, as she keeps slipping and sliding, and I have to readjust her legs.  But she is determined that this is the place she wants to be right at this moment, and that’s where she is staying, squashed up or not!  At her age, we feel she can have what she likes, anything to keep her happy – and quiet!  Senile vocalisation can get rather trying!

Muffy is helping with blogging

Tapestry Cushions Project at St Stephen’s Church

First stop on our Probus bus trip yesterday was at St Stephen’s Church, Marton.   And what a treasure the church is.  Made of beautiful native timbers, with the sunlight flooding through the stained glass windows, and featuring a gorgeous array of hand stitched tapestry cushions.

Tree of Life window at St Stephen’s Church

Back in 2007 a suggestion was made to the Women’s Fellowship that tapestry cushions would enhance the lovely old church.  A committee was set up, and the members were soon enthusiastically stitching away.  The design brief for the project was: Traditional designs featuring a cross or other religious symbol, or historic buildings of the area, or farming activities, or flora and fauna of the area.  It was decided not to restrict the background colour, and for the stitchers to decide which colours best suited their designs.

Cushion kits were made up, photos and some graphs were supplied if required,  although some stitchers chose to develop their own design.  The project was well publicised, and this led to a number of new stitchers in to join in.  An amazing  total of 80 cushions were stitched by 60 people.  At a service in June 2009, Archdeacon Elizabeth Body dedicated the cushions and gave thanks to those who had stitched them.

 

Although I don’t do tapestry and failed miserably at cross stitch, I can certainly appreciate all the work and love which went in to making these lovely tapestry cushions.  Well done, ladies of Marton.

You can read about the rest of our big day out on our Probus bus trip here.

Art Deco Buttons

With just a week or so  to go till the exhibition ended, I finally made it down to the Hutt Valley to the Dowse Art Museum to view the Art Deco Button Exhibition.   Drawn from Ruth Meier’s  fabulous collection, this exhibition show cases some of her special Art Deco beauties.  Art Deco began in the Roaring Twenties,  through to the share market crash of 1929 and the financial depression of the 1930s.

The rather subdued lighting made it essential to get up close the the wall cabinets at see what was on show.  I preferred the floor cabinets with their different categories well set out.

English Glass buttons

French buttons

For dog lovers

Cheeky Silk Garter buttons

I have heard Ruth speak about her button collection previously, and she always happy for crafters to look through the cards and cards of buttons she brought along to illustrate her talk.  Most of the buttons were bought one at a time, painstakingly building up the collection over 40 years. However once she acquired 700 kilos of buttons in a single purchase, requiring Ruth and her husband to hire a truck and drive through Switzerland in a snowstorm to retrieve hundreds of buttons stored in old tea chests. Her collection started when she purchased a small Oxo tin filled with buttons at an antiques fair in Manchester. They intrigued her and from that moment, as she describes, “it was like a love affair and I couldn’t stop”.

Two more Christmas ABCs

Slowly but surely, my Christmas ABC blocks are coming along.  A bit of stitching here, and a bit there, and they are soon done.  I have now completed “I is for Ivy” and “J is for Joy”.  As mentioned before, I am using Michelle Ridgeway’s Alphabet Noel patterns for inspiration, and made a couple of small changes again this time. 

Christmas Alphabet I and J blocks

I have the next few blocks all traced out, ready and waiting for some more stitching time.  My stitching bag always comes away with me when we have a trip away in the caravan.  And with a  long holiday  weekend coming up, I should be able to find a little time to make a start on the next block – it really depends on how busy the weekend will be.

First Finish of 2016

Finished –   two cute place mats for our caravan.   I found the pattern on Suzy’s Artsy Crafty SitCom, a fun blog I follow which is full of all sorts of things.  Craft, cooking, dogs, and living in a  RV.  I used Suzy’s pattern for her free Happy Camper potholder pattern and made it into a set of place mats.  And here they are set out on the caravan table.

Set of place mats for the caravan

All colour coordinated of course, to go with the burgundy furnishings in the caravan.  So cute, and the stripey sun shade really adds a little something, I feel.  These were fun to make, and I appreciate Suzy’s Sitcom making the pattern available to a fellow happy camper from this side of the world.

Dept of Conservation Camp

Works in Progress

I shouldn’t really be doing this “new” project – certainly not with the number of UFOs I have.  But then, sometimes you just want to start something new don’t you?  What do you think it is?  It certainly looks like a caravan or two in there, don’t you think?  With any luck I’ll have it finished shortly.

What’s hiding here?

Our other work in progress is this: large quantities of Christmas chocolates, gifts from family and friends.  Oh dear, they are a bit like a siren song, calling to us, “eat me, eat me”.  We are trying to be sensible, and just enjoy two or three each evening after dinner.  (The After Dinner Mints, my favourite,  are long gone).  It’s not as if the pair of us really need to eat chocolate.  But since they were gifts, it would be rude not to, we feel.  That’s our excuse, anyway!

We won’t run out of choccies

Parcels in the Post

It’s always exciting getting parcels in the post, and I was expecting a little gift from my pen-friend Carol before Christmas, but it didn’t arrive in time.  While we were away over New Year, we had arranged for the Post Office to stop and hold our mail.  And sure enough, on our return, the missing parcel was delivered.   It wasn’t really missing, of course, just held safely until we arrived back home.

Christmas gift from Carol, of South Dakota

Carol had sent me two patterns, both from Chickadee Hollow Designs.  One was a little miniature, Baby Steps, featuring four patch blocks and embroidery.  The other was a pattern for Butterfly Memories, and Carol had included a great selection of 1930s squares for the butterflies.  She also writes such lovely newsy letters too, so it is always a joy to hear from her.

Another recent arrival was this lovely new book I had ordered, Splash of Colour, by Jackie Kunkel.  I don’t buy many quilting books, but was really taken with what I had read about it.  Lots of lovely projects, and it is quite interesting to see that all quilts have been made in two colour-ways, which can give quite a different look. 

My new book

It is certainly so much more fun to receive a parcel or two, rather than a pile of bills, wouldn’t you say.