A long time since my last post!

It has been ages since my last post but I don't know where the time goes. We had a trip to UK to look after my Dad after he had an operation - only a small one but at 87 anything like that is a bit traumatic!

I have made a small wall panel to send to my friend Melanie in UK for her birthday. Bears are high on her list of favourite things so I hope she will like it!

I have also finished another UFO! My tray cloth with the small 'Jours Cilaos'.

I love the effect made using the variegated thread, it makes a change from the traditional white on white.

One UFO finished!

I have just finished the Schwalm whitework tray cloth!! There are a few bits I am not too happy with but it was my first attempt at this style of embroidery, hopefully the next one will be better.

With winter back in full flow here now I might get time to finish some more projects! Today it is 3 degrees C and we have hail, sleet and snow, and a bitterly cold wind. I hope it gets better before we go to UK next week.

How to make owls.

I recently made another little owl to send to my friend Birgit in Germany. I think she will enjoy making some too! I took some photos to show how they're done. There are three different sizes and I will post the patterns when I have worked out how to get them onto my blog in a way they can be printed out and used.

Sew the folded piece from the top to the 'V'.

Open out the folded piece and sew the flat piece in under the sewn point.

Stuff the body of the owl leaving the point empty. Run a thread around the bottom and draw up together to hold the stuffing in. Cover the bottom with a small piece of felt to cover the stitches.

Fold over the point and stitch to the body. Add eyes made from anything you like!!

Time to be bored? Never!!

When I came to live here almost 6 years ago I stopped working although I was only 49. I had always worked as I had not had any children - to be honest I always thought working full time was a whole lot easier than bring up children!!
One of my colleagues said to me 'Whatever are you going to do all day after being used to working full time? Won't you be bored?' No chance of that.
Today is a lovely sunny day, Ron has gone off to play golf and I have just come back from shopping. My friend Dom phoned early this morning to ask if I wanted to go and do some target practise this morning so he will be here to pick me up at 10.45. Then it will be home for a snack before I'm off to Roscoff for patchwork club this afternoon. Ron and I will meet up agin this evening to eat and fill each other in on the days activities. Most days are similar - we do have days when we actually get to do things together! I think it is important to have our own interests as however well you get on being together 24/7 can be stressful.

On Sunday there was a 'Puces' in a nearby town. It's a bit like a car boot sale but in a hall with tables. This one was especially for all things needlework. There were a few commercial people and then ladies who were selling off all the things in their stash which they didn't want anymore (well we all have lots of things like that). Ron had a quick look around and then said he would come back and pick me up in an hour.

I bought these coupons of patchwork material.

I have my next couple of projects in mind so these will come in useful.

Cushions!

The cushions on our sofa and armchair are really old and worn. I was going to go and get some new covers but I thought I might make lots of different ones using different techniques and designs to make an interesting mix. The first one is finished.

The embroidery is 'Broderie Blanche' and the arabesque pattern was designed by my embroidery teacher David Le Gac. The centre area has pulled threads in each section which are then embroidered. This was our study piece for one of our trimestres. I finished it off with a 'Jour Anciene - Maccaron' around the outside and made it into the first cushion. (Sorry for the descriptions in French but as I have learnt all my embroidery here in France I often don't know the English words for it)!!

Now I have to decide what the second one will be - probably a patchwork/applique.

What is the weather doing????

From a beautiful spring day on Saturday we had arctic winds from Sunday night until this morning. Yesterday we woke up to snow blizzards which luckily did not settle here - we were much luckier then more northern areas of France.

This was the view from our bedroom window. Today, another spring like sunny day and nothing like as cold.

When I was shopping this morning I bought one of these.....

......it is wonderful for embroidery and patchwork. It is a rollerball which gives a nice black line. When you put a hot iron onto it the ink vanishes - it is going to be so useful. It came with three refills and all for 3 euro 50 cents.

Window onto the sea

We live very close to the sea, when we open the doors and windows we can hear and smell the sea. There are sand dunes between the house and the sea so we cannot actually see it! I decided to make this quilted panel so now we have a sea view through our new 'window'.

A Beautiful Day!

A good day to start my blog. The sun is shining and perhaps at last spring has arrived!
I had some help this morning when I was hanging out the washing....

I think she was happy with the way I did it, she surveyed the results from on high!

This is Emmy, my beautiful little cat. She is my companion on and off throughout the day although she takes time off from looking after me to catch a few mice and explore the neighbourhood.

Once the washing was blowing in the breeze I went to the English conversation group which we have once a month in the village. I go to the group to meet people not to learn English!! It is a good way to meet French people and to help them learn English. Today we learnt how to draw a face, the lesson was given in English of course. Here is my effort, I am trying to learn to be more arty with a paintbrush.......a needle is sooooo much easier!

Then I finished off a family of little owls I have made for a friend in England.