Finished Postcard Book

Spent all morning trying to tidy my work room and untangle machine embroidery threads, still looks a little more organised and I can't believe how much stuff I have squirrelled away!!

Anyway, finished the postcard book so the decks are clear for the next project.

Round Britain Rally

Since the sun decided to shine yesterday, Ian went on a round trip of 300 plus miles to bag 4 more landmarks. a Welsh Harp Sculpture at Llangollen, Alleluia Momument at Gwernaffield, Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway at Llanfair Caereinion and the Old River Bridge at Bangor is Y Coed. Not bad for an old bike ( 1982 Suzuki) pictured above during last years rally.

More postcards from Czech

This one is based on the many photos I took of windows and window boxes in Kutna Hora
This is an extract for our holiday journal written on our first night in the Czech Republic.

Originally I kept very brief notes on our holiday in a small A6 note book, these days I pack coloured pencils along with gluestick, scissors and fibre pens together with an A5 sketchbook. I record details from routes, prices, interesting places, conversations, and design ideas.

Hiss free sound

Treated myself to a new radio/cd player on Monday, this time DAB radio and I can now use my sewing machine without causing interference. Makes life so much better.
Still stitching the remaining postcards and trying to figure out how to bind them together into a book.

Did we have summer in May???

Each May,our bike club organises a motorcycle rally near Altarnun close to Bodmin in Cornwall. Most years we have torrential rain, gale force winds and more rain for the whole weekend resulting in a soggy tent being hung around the house for days drying out. This year we managed to bag several RBR Landmarks and see the sun!! here are a couple of photos for those in the UK who have forgotten what a blue sky looks like!!

Two more postcards

Unfortunately the postcard of the bike didn't work out quite as I hoped but I never like doing the same thing twice so it will have to stay as it is.

The trip to the Czech Republic last year was prompted by the programme The Long Way Down in which Ewan Mcgregor and Charley Boorman travelled round the world by motorcycle. Whilst watching the episode that mentioned the Bone Church, we both said immediately that we wanted to go there ourselves and since we can't ride round the world in two weeks, we can certainly visit France, Germany, Czech and Austria.

Postcards From Czech Republic

These are the first two in a series of six 6 x 4 inch fabric postcards based on our trip to Czech Republic in 2006

The first one represents the Bone Church at Sedlec

The second represents the stained glass at the cathedral in Kutna Hora

Patch Murailles 2004 (Giant Patchwork)

Sometimes you see the strangest things from the back of a motorcycle. In 2004 on our way to visit the Museum H R Giger at Gruyeres in Switzerland, we spotted the these patchworks hanging from the town walls of Langres. The Blue one is 4 metre square, the other is a lot bigger, I can't imagine working on anything that big.

We were so intrigued by these that we returned the next week and spent a wonderful day visiting the town and walking round the walls looking at all the other entries.

Holiday Journal

As it is still raining, I used this morning to make a cover for our holiday journal. In previous years I have reused a cover made about 5 years ago but the sketchbook this year has a slightly larger hard cover so wouldn't fit. Anyway, here it is ready to be packed away ready for our next tour to Germany, Austria, Switzerland in a few weeks time

buttons, buttons, buttons

tried to post this photo last night, see if it works now

red hand gang

Yes, I did remember to put the rubber gloves on , No, I did not know they had a hole in them!!!
Bought two cotton vest tops on the way to work thinking they would dye nicely, they are now in the dye bucket but my hands are red/yellow/blue and I can't find the bleach. Should raise comments from my customers tomorrow. The idea is to use leftover discharge paste with some stamps I made up for City and Guilds a few years ago to create something colourful to wear at the next motorcycle rally.

A friend recently asked if I would make some button brooches for her craft stall, this gave me the opportunity to dive into the button stash acquired from the local charity shop at the beginning of the year.

WIP

work in progress for textile group wall hanging, we are each creating an A4 size piece of work to suggest what we would want to do when we get old- mine is for us to ride off into the distance and be able to take time to explore new places.
stitching started Kantha Style

colour and stitch

Before I caught the lurgi, I spend the weekend dyeing fabric simply to cheer myself up after the endless days of rain. Whilst Ian is away, I will be quietly stitching postcards for the Quilting Arts Magazine postcard book challenge- should keep me out of trouble for a while.

Round Britain Rally

Due to having a heavy cold, I have had to pull out of a trip with Ian to Wales this weekend to visit the landmarks required for the Round Britain Rally (RBR) The rally is a challenge, held each year, to visit nominated landmarks round the country and take a photo of your motorcycle with them. There is a least one site in each county, often more. As the challenge does not finish until October, I will only post the odd photo from last years list, such as the one above Wheel of Drams sculpture.

not usually a crazy enthusiast but........

the subject was an embellished heart and I had some wonderful mother of pearl buttons to use
along with sequins and beads collected over the last few years