Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Storygraph July 2024

 Goodness! OK this was my first month with covid so yep I read a lot! 11! But a lot were quite quick reads, so without further ado! The wayward alliance, do you know I do t actually remember much about this! Maybe more to do with my mindset than the book? Hold your tongue, I had forgotten about this one! Really good and it's set in Aberdeen too, must look at getting more of hers, I do like a gruesome serial killer story and this fitted the bill, enough twists and turns to keep me engaged. Vampire knitting club and Tagnghles and Treason, the first and the prequel in the vampire knitting club series, I ADORE these hooks,don't know why I didn't rate them I should have, writing a cozy is actually quite difficult and Nancy Warren does it marvellously I'm invested in the characters and the plot skips along nicely. Year of wonders what an amazing book based on the true story of the village of Eyam which cut itself off to stop the spread of the plague, loved this one. Vow of silence, just cojld not get to grips with this book, I have more in the series so will try with the next one. Trial of Gwen Foley, loved this book, engaging loved the characters plot skipped along nicelywell deserved 5 stars.  Next 2 - False Truths and Dangerous Lessons - Bunbury mysteries,  i have to declare i know the author, Olga Wojtas writing as Helena Marchmont, a lovely lovely lady but her books deserve 5 stars, great character development loveable characters and great story lines and the plots fairly skip along too, love them. A rising man, I really really really wanted to like this one  but I inky gave ut 3 stars and I remember why I didn't like it, too over blown, it just felt in dire need of a good edit. Kings investigator, yup DNF it was dire sorry but 😬it was. Wool on Audible well another DNF but thus time it was the narrator I really couldn't take to them, will ftry the book, lov3d the TV series. Bluebird bluebird,  yes this didnt really grab me not enough to DNF but maybe I wasn't in the mood? 






 

July furtle

Apologies to anyone offended by a wee sweary word, but I do love a wee sweary word as sometimes they perfectly sum things up! July has been full of covid and it's aftermath,  the aftermath is brutal, zero energy for anything so patchwork is on hold for a while.
Embroidery and cross stitch are my salvation thankfully I'm able to do little bits when I can
Below is my emotions tracker for 2024, green is happy or calm, purple is meh, blue is tired or sad for the darker blue, orange is worried or nervous and red is angry excited is yellow. There is a lot of purple and light blue in July but that's only natural there is also quite a lot of green, it's all about seeing the bigger picture 
And here is one of the sweary ones!! I love these patterns from get stitch done, perfectly sum up feelings about life at the moment 🀣 
And here is the finished article! I like the precision of using sovly but it is harder pulling needle through that extra layer. I'll only use it for darker fabrics going on I think
I had such a good time with it I did another! They are really great quick patterns to do, love them
Oh this was my first finish this month and I love it, these trees were a freebie from Victoria Sampler in 2023, I am going to pair them with my Temperature embroideries from 2023 and put i to a book of all my 2023 embroidery projects
So a very different July but I'm adaptable! I think it will be embroidery/cross stitch for a while but that's not a bad thing
As ever huge thanks to Archie the Wonderdog for hosting the furtle

Wednesday, 17 July 2024

Monthly trees for 2023

I have completed all my Temperature embroideries for 2023, it was the last year I did it in the spiders Web pattern before switching to the little light stitchery fabric and pattern. 
For the previous 2 years of Temperature patterns I paired each month with a corresponding embroidery, when Victoria Sampler brought out these monthly tree patterns for 2023 I thought they were ideal for this. But I also underestimated just how much extra work they would be 🀣 I know how unlike me ...
My very first bout of covid gave me an ideal opportunity to get cracking with them, so here are January to March



And here they all are! All ready to put together in an embroidery book  that will have to wait till I've recovered a bit more and also got some firm interfacing. I really enjoyed making these I thought it would take me a lot longer they seemed so fiddly at first but hey this is one finish I need to thank Covid for!

Tuesday, 2 July 2024

Mid Fettle check in 2024

Right! Since I'm laid up with Lurgy and forced bed rest lets have a mid year fettle check in?
I did think I hadn't really done as much because of travel and new interest of dooking but I think I've still achieved loads which is good 😊
Ticked off in 1st half of 2024
Spare bobble hat for me  removed June 2024 no longer needed.

List update-I haven't made any significant changes to the list, I really dont want to add anything because I want to keep moving the list along, I may add some ideas as I find them and there is the big elephant in the room of the upcoming FOQ 🀣🀣 but the beauty of fettling and furtling for me is that it keeps me on track

Blossom Jane - major progress was taking out the black sashing, I really need to get stuck into the blocks again but that can wait till I'm better

Floral big cats no progress but this seems to be a winter project for me, it would be great to get another 2 done this year but they are "intense" 🀣 -Panther liontiger, lynx, cheetah, Jaguar, mountain lion, snow leopard, cloud leopard

OK I've looked through the list and the waiting list below, really want to crack on with some Sea Parrot bird blocks I had them all cut out for coming back from France, also the Bargello it's the last of my '"Pandemic quilt ideas" left to do. Some others may morph into other ideas or get taken off, let's see but for now I'm pretty happy with the list as is 😊
Many thanks as ever to Archie for hosting, Fettling really helps keep me on track 😊

Bargello Angels wings with Tula (serenity pattern)
Moda Blockheads done in donated fabric 
Scrap quilt drunkards path
Sisters quilt 
Block holders to take to classes

Sew Alongs 2024 Weekly Monthly Other
In the meadow by quiet play in speckled, January-June
Riley Blake BOM January-May
Repro quilter scrappy nine patch

The waiting list
Applique quilt - Threadneedle street
7 charm pack Quilts
Oval drunkards path blocks with Vintage table cloths
Janet Clare minincharm pack Quilts
8 sea parrot Quilts (may combine some)
Vintage flower sampler quilt
Tilda quilt
Birds and baskets quilt in AMH echinacea
Sweet William quilt?
Tula butterfly in capel and castaway or using left over speckled?
Medallion quilt in liberty big prints
Orphan block quilts?
Jen Kingwell Bakers dozen, Blockheads or pluses quilt in Lucy Engles bundles?
Tamara Kate beetle pattern

Non quilting crafts - In progress
Temperature embroideries 2023 + 2024
Trees from Victoria Sampler
Mood wheel of the year for 2024
Get Stitch Done - f**k Rose stitch (somehow got missed off added back in July 24)
Get stitch done Oval f**k
Non quilting crafts - Waiting list
Woodland embroidery 
Michael Powell snowy chapel X stitch
Michael Powell snowy street X stitch
2x Michael Powell bookmarks
Floral Alphabet sampler
Phenology Wheel

Monday, 1 July 2024

Versailles June 2024

 Versailles πŸ’— I have wanted to come here ever since I read the Jean Plaidy Sun King trilogy as a teenager, so I chose this as my birthday celebration for my 60th. We pootled off on the thursday, a nice and easy flight from Glasgow, train from CDG to Paris then change at Notre Dame to get to Versailles. Turns out our lovely Air BNB was 10 mins from the train station

First evening we went to restaurant next door for dinner then chilled back home with wine and snax 😊
This was my meal at the restaurant, squid and polenta, very nice, you can just see Scoobs mash in the background also very nice!
A man intently studying his mash πŸ˜‚
22/6/2024
Monets Gardens was out first stop on the friday as it did involve a fair bit of travel, a bit more than we bargained for as it turns out because one of our trains just vanished from the board when it was 2 mins away! We eventually just threw money at it and got a taxi from the connecting train station
Below was on the way to the gardens, all so pretty

The gardens were very very busy, but it was OK thats to be expected and oh my it was worth it





























The Lily ponds were just stunning, so gald I got to see these at their best













Love seeing the world with this gorgeous man


The house really suprised me! I hadnt realised it would be part of the experience it was gorgeous




























This was my favourite room I think





There is an impressionist museum a few minutes up the road from the gardens, so we went there after. A lovely exhibition on "Impressionism and the Sea" Many artists I hadnt come across. Really enjoyed this.

















When we were not eating out we made meals from the super market, right next to the super market was this cheese shop, OMG I never got a chance to buy any cheese from here and to be honest I am not sure my tummy could have coped ... but they were so beautiful



We went to another lovely restaurant - Azuli where I had a beautiful Mojito, best i have had
My meal was also amazing, lovely pork and candied Aubergine with capers, amazing and delicious.
The following morning we found a lovely cafe and I had a fantastic flat white
This was a trompe l'oile electrical box, how pretty
Had to have a look at the gates on my wee wander, we were heading there the next day
But first some wine πŸ˜‚
The next day was when I started to feel really bad but still managed to get to see the Palace, OMG the queues!







Some beautiful sculptures, but to be honest the whole place was very very overwhelming and thats not just because I was feeling ill. I am so glad I went but I can totally see why they had a revolution, so much excess



































































Ah this was better, the gardens were quite formal but still a breath of fresh air after the interior




The fountains were my favourite

On the wee train which takes you up to the Grand Trianon







I was so chuffed there was an exhibition on of embroidered silks from Napoleons time, this was its last day





























The rooms in the Petite Trianon were a bit less excessive which was nice




Thr grounds were very pretty, I did like it here a lot more
This fountain was incredible, one of my favourites





















And so this was the final day in Versailles! I knew I was coming down with something but really wasnt expecting this, it was both a shock and a relief, I knew I had to get it at some point, and this was not the worst place to get it
I dont want to finishe with that though, so let have a montage of Monets Gardens and the fountains at Versailles




















Scoobs did one of his lovely videos for this πŸ₯°πŸ₯°