Sunday, February 26, 2023

A Trove of Hexies♡



Hello lovely lovelies♡ Welcome to my little place where the last of summer days are ever so slightly beginning to drift into autumn. There is a change in the light. That soft, opalescent light which autumn shimmers upon everything, has arrived. The early misty mornings are beautiful. The sun is beginning to rise later and the evenings casting darkness sooner. I must enjoy these days while I can. I must make the most of these lovely days.

This week I have fashioned more flower hexies. A trove of little hexies bursting with bright, happy colour and pattern. A treasure trove of gorgeousness. The little flower gems all puddled together cause me to smile. A ric rac line of the flower hexies hanging out with the dahlias and cosmos are a delight to my eyes.

I have now begun to stitch the hexies together to begin forming the Flower Meadow quilt, to get a sense of what patterns and colours may be needed when I fashion more flowers. Little hexies made from a fabric called Flights of Fancy by Momo for Moda, are dotted here and there among the flower hexies because I want a muted and soft impressionist feel among the florid-hued hexies. I love the painterly look of grass and flowers these sweet little hexies will give to the quilt.











Sunday♡ The day of the week where I endeavour to join other slow hand stitchers from all over the globe and delight in a little hand stitching♡ I must say I spent a good part of my afternoon beginning to stitch my hexies together......growing my little Flower Meadow. Slowly stitching my little Flower Meadow hexies, delighting in the pretty, flowery prints; delighting in the tiny stitches which form the flower hexies♡ It's been one of those weeks....days.....when the meditative slowness of slow stitching has been balm to the soul♡ May your Sunday be a blessed one......when it comes aknocking on your door♡

Until the next time................. 


Sunday, February 19, 2023

A Bag For My Friend ♡


 


Hello lovely lovelies♡ A lovely Sunday welcome to you♡ I hope you enjoyed a pleasant week. I did. I had fun stitching a bag for my friend, and indeed, added the finishing touches this morning....hand stitching the lining to the bag.....hand stitching the handles on......sewing the flap closure. Why do the finishing touches always take so long??!! My friend fashions lovely crochet pretties, so she wanted a carry-all to hold her yarns, patterns and whatever other woolly accoutrements needed for what she is working on. Of course, this is not quite like any knitting/crochet bag one would find in a shop. Snippets of lace, a fabulous, rather large, doily butterfly; a needlepoint, twirls and twirls of ribbon meandering through a buckle, ribbon flowers, doilies, vintage jewellery, needlepoints and whatever else tumbles out of my treasure trove of pretties seem to find a place on any one of my bags, giving each one a little bit of oomph!

The lining is a fabric with phrases of lyrics from old hymns printed on it. I used this fabric with a wry smile. Back in the days of my friend's and my youth, we would sing hymns and choruses in church and youth group. Alas, my friend never did sing in the church choir. Let's just say she made a "joyful noise unto the Lord"; something of which she would remind me constantly.....and still does, actually. Alas, she was (and is) tone deaf. Yes indeed, she always found it a bit tricky to distinguish the variances in pitch of different tones. But, she always enjoyed singing, which really is the only thing that matters, isn't it?? When we do get together we still chuckle about those youth group days and her discordant voice rising above the mellifluous strains of others. I must say though that my beautiful friend has so many other talents and gifts and blesses others' lives each and every day. She wouldn't mind at all my mentioning her unmelodic singing; why, she would only too happily tell you herself. =)

When my friend espies the lining fabric, I hope her mind will wander back through the years, to those fun days of church youth group and smile at all the memories. There are so many happy memories of church youth group days. I must say, as I fashioned leaves and pansies from lengths of ribbons and stitched all the pretties onto the bag all these wonderful old hymns came to mind......This is the day that the Lord has made.....Amazing Grace......Great is Thy faithfulnessMorning by morning new mercies I see......♡ Aah yes, every morning I am reminded of God's mercies and blessings to me; His love for me. Love, love, love those grand old hymns.














A new bag for my friend. A bag which was fun to fashion. But then, playing with ribbons, cast off needlepoints, vintage pretties and bits and bobs is always fun to me. I hope my friend is not adverse to a knitting/crochet bag embellished to the hilt. If one is going to have a bag why not have  one dripping with a saturation of pretties smothering it. =)  As my friend happily crochets or knits away perhaps those grand old hymns will traverse down the corridors of sweet memories, and she will make a joyful noise unto the Lord As it is Sunday, later this evening I will pop into Kathy's lovely place to see what the merry band of slow stitchers are stitching. Have a lovely day, lovely lovelies♡

Until the next time.....



Sunday, February 12, 2023

Just......More♡



Hello lovely lovelies♡ 'Tis a lovely Sunday morning♡ The beginning of another week♡ I must say last week was one with lots of snapshots of  moments of a little more of this and a little more of that. A week where the things that had to get done were punctuated with more, more, more of the things that bring me contentment♡

More......walks in the garden with my Maisie♡ More misty mornings♡ More blue, blue, summery skies♡ More gossamer, silky, shawl-like spider webs with beaded droplets of dew glistening in the mist♡



More.....floribunda......flowers♡ More Dahlias♡ More Roses♡ More Sweet Peas♡ More Hydrangeas♡  More Gladdies♡ 


















More....hand quilting♡ Just a little. I have begun the begin of hand quilting  my quilt,  Crazy Flowers, with an explosion of crazy fabrics forming even crazier flowers. Simple, little hand-quilted stitches, do-si-do-ing round and round and round the octagon-shaped flowers; giving a sense of petals tightly wrapped together before they unfurl to reveal blooming crazy flowers. The little squares in between the flowers have a simple cross skipping through them. I was going to machine quilt this pretty, but on second thoughts I just wanted to sit and enjoy slow hand quilting. I really didn't want to wrestle with the quilt and the sewing machine. Sore shoulders, hunched back.....no, noNO!!!!


More.....tea and cake.........book readin'.......magazine browsing♡ Actually, if truth be told, much, much, much more tea and cake. I am enjoying Renegrades, Born In The USA, the dialogue between Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen, and I am loving reading The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

More......playing, designing and stitching another bag♡ When my very dear friend visited me last year she happened to see my pretty blue bag, and my pink bag she asked if I would make her one. I said "well.....if you can find bag handles of similar ilk, yes, I will whip you up a pretty bag". Now, I must say at this interval I was quite smug about my friend not finding handles such as the ones I had, as these days they are pretty much rare as hen's teeth. I might also add that I was quite certain that because of this I wouldn't have to make yet another bag. =) Yes indeed...very smug. Wrong!! Believe it or not, the next day we went shopping, my friend darkened the door of an op shop and lo and behold she came out with similar bag handles in her hand!! I might add at this juncture that she was beaming with a wide lookity-look-at-what-I-found smile on her face! Needless to say I am now fashioning my lovely friend a one-of-a-kind-Kim-Sharman bag. Be careful what you say, Kim. =)



More sweet little hexies♡ Hexies fashioned from my new Tilda, Pie In The Sky fabrics♡

A week with little bits of more, more, more♡ A week just doing more of what adds a smile to my day. How about you?? Were there more moments of beauty in your days?? More moments of doing what you love, squeezed in between the mundane, the 'must do's' of  the everyday?? I hope so♡ I have to hurry off now. It is a day where my good husband and I will be travelling over mountain and down dale as he is preaching at a couple of little country churches. On days such as this I call him the 'travellin' preacher man'. =) It will be a pleasant day where I will catch up with beautiful people and enjoy a little hand stitching as the beautiful countryside rolls by with the blue, blue, summery sky above. A little hand quilting perhaps.....or a few sweet hexies. I will just go with the flow and hand stitch some more, more, more. But then, I may just want to relax as the scenery whizzes by and read my book. In any case I will enjoy some hand quilting later this evening. As it is Sunday when all things slow stitching is celebrated, later this evening I will pop by Kathy's lovely place and see what all the other lovely lovelies are stitching. Love, love, love Sundays♡  Have a lovely day, lovely lovelies♡

Until the next time....................