Well I've had the most AMAZING birthday! I have been thoroughly spoiled by both friends and family, and I really am a very lucky girl! My daughter took this picture of me this morning with some of my cards and flowers and presents then this afternoon my sister-in-law held a tea party for me - and Mr F surprised me with the most AMAZING cake that my friend Wendy Ellis had made. I'm a very lucky girl as I've spent the weekend with special friends and family - it really has been the best birthday ever!
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Well the car is loaded up and ready to take Alice on a very exciting journey as she's off to university! Goodness only knows how Alice will fit int he car - she's so tall, she'll be travelling with her knees tucked up under her chin! Anyway, she's off to UEA to study English Literature with Creative Writing. How exciting!! My eldest daughter, Beth, went back to her uni in Birmingham last weekend (Philosophy with Ethics and Religion - goodness only knows where they get their brains from!!) and I just can't begin to imagine how quiet it is going to be at Foreman Towers without them both. Anyway, I've got a HUGE box of tissues for the journey home as I'm sure there will be lots of tears. And I'm sure I'll be counting down the days until the Christmas holidays when they'll both be home again!!
My husband's brother and his wife are celebrating their Ruby Wedding Anniversary today, and so I've been rather busy making their present. I borrowed one of their wedding photographs from my mother-in-law, which I then copied onto an EQ printable fabric sheet, and gathered together a collection of fabrics and lace and buttons and set about making it... ...I made the cushion using the quilt-as-you-go method, and added an assortment of buttons - some of these were the ones my mother-in-law gave me, and then decorated the cushion with some lace fabric and lace trimming too... ...it always looks "sew" much better once it's filled with a nice plump cushion pad! I normally use feather ones, but this one is foam, and does the job just as well... ...then I inserted a covered zipper on the back and added one of my labels too. I then machined the binding into place, and hand finished this on the back. Then it was time for the photo shoot out in the garden. Happy Ruby Wedding Anniversary Stephen and Betty!!
Some of you may or may not know, that I am lucky enough to have three sisters, and that one of my sisters, Lisa, is even MORE crafty and quilty than I am. She has been quilting for much longer than I have, and her work is always amazing. She does all sorts of crafty stuff, and one of my other VERY crafty sisters, Becky, has helped her with her blog. (Becky bought my domain name for me and made my blog for me and started me off with all the technical thingummy staff a few years ago as a birthday pressie - and I haven't looked back!!). So I am proud to be able to blog about Lisa, otherwise known as ericka eckles, and say please please PLEEEEASE pop over and have a look at what she's up too. I'd added a link to my sidebar too, so she's easy to find. Oh and she has a website too www.erickaeckles.com incase you're interested in buying any of her wonderful things!
Here is the finished cushion that I made to celebrate our Silver wedding anniversary - I used a photograph from our wedding album, and used a mix of cream and white fabrics and some wide crocheted vintage lace for trimming and used an assortment of buttons for embellishment too. I also added a prairie point with a button, using some inspiration from a wall-hanging in issue 01/2013 of a Norwegian magazine, MyQuilt..... .....I used 2 different fabrics for the back of the cushion - some cream fabric that I just LOVE and also part of a an old duvet cover that had worn out but I couldn't bear to part with - this was an old Laura Ashley duvet cover that we'd had for a wedding present! I also inserted a zipper, using a flap to cover it with, as this looks neater than leaving the zipper exposed, oh and one of my "made with the hand, given from the heart" labels was added to the back too of course! I can hardly believe it was 25 years ago today that I became Mrs F - wherever have those years gone to?!! It was Easter weekend when we got married, although the weather was VERY different to what we experienced this weekend - luckily 25 years ago we had glorious sunshine all day..... .....I've made several of these "Memory Cushions" for friends and family, and I've had a few commissions for these too, but I've never had time to make one for ourselves, so this weekend all that changed, as I decided to make one as an anniversary gift to Mr F - and yes I added one of my labels to the back, just to remind him what a superbly talented and crafty wife he has hehe!!..... .....my mother-in-law surprised us too - she had ordered this beautiful cake for us! We're off out for a meal tonight with our girls, and then at the weekend we'll have some of our family round for a glass of fizz and a slice of cake to help us celebrate! Last year when I went to the Autumn Quilt Festival at Chilford, I bought some fabric to make Mr F a waistcoat to wear when he goes shooting. Well I had put the fabric away and and busied myself making bags and quilts, and then Mr F reminded me he's going on a very special shoot on Tuesday - the one where he gets all dressed up in his posh shooting coat and his best moleskin trousers and freshly polished boots and his smart new waistcoat - what?? His smart new handmade waistcoat?? Oh dear - I hadn't made it yet!!..... .....a few months ago my friend Sherry had given me a pattern for this waistcoat - (McCalls 2447). She had made one for her son and it looked FABULOUS. I was a bit wary of making this - for a start I don't really like sewing clothes as I'd much rather be making bags and runners and quilts, and secondly, although I have an O-level in dressmaking, I really don't like sewing button-holes. Anyway, as I was working to a bit of a deadline, I set too and soon had the pattern all laid out ready for cutting - I can't remember the last time I actually used scissors to cut anything, as I normally use my rotary cutter for cutting fabric! and this was the first time for ages that I wasn't using ¼" seams or using my walking foot..... .....once I had matched notches and pinned fabric, my Bernina was soon whizzing along, sewing shoulder seams and darts and facings. (Philippa Naylor would've been proud of how flat my curved facings were - and it's amazing what fantastic results a bit of brute force and a steam iron can produce)!! Now as I said before, I really really don't like sewing button-holes - or rather they don't like me. However my Bernina soon had me converted as there were 5 of these dastardly things - and they all look PERFECT thanks to the automatic button-hole maker..... .....I ran out of "duck" fabric for the back lining so used some left-over Moda from my stash. And I even sneaked a label into the side seam. Oh yippee my button holes are the perfect size for the buttons!..... .....as you can see, I used the "ducks" fabric for the back, and I even managed to sew an adjustable buckle on too..... .....and finally here is the very handsome Mr F wearing a stunning waist coat made by his incredibly talented wife - although Mr F didn't make a very good dressmakers dummy - he shouted if I jabbed a pin in him, and he complained about the accuracy of the tape measure when it revealed his girth was greater than his chest - hence this is rather a snug fit. Mr F will look VERY smart when he's shooting those pheasants and partridges ;) A few weeks ago, I was in Cyprus with Mr F and lots of his family to celebrate our niece's wedding. Michelle was one of my bridesmaids, and now she's all grown up and as you can see from this photograph, she was a beautiful bride. I really love this photograph of them, and wanted to make a very special present for them - so I set to work with fabrics and thread and lace and buttons..... .....firstly I edited the photo into black and white to give it a vintage feel, then I printed the photograph onto inkjet fabric sheets, by EQ Printables, and added all my usual bits and bobs to make a truely unique gift. I used some vintage lace to trim this cushion, and some old buttons. Once the back and front had been completed, I machine sewed around all four sides about one eighth of an inch away form the raw edge to keep everything together, then added the binding..... .....I used a double-fold binding, which was attached to front by machine and then hand-stitched in place to the back - I like to finish off by hand, as this gives a lovely neat finish. One of my labels as a final flourish? Of course!..... .....congratulations to the happy couple Simon and Michelle! Thank you for letting us be part of your wedding celebrations! Hope you like your wedding present! It's my mum's 70th Birthday today - and now I can finally reveal her pressie!! I had blogged about making this cushion a few days ago, and here it is finally completed. My sister helped by sneakily "borrowing" some old photographs from my mum's house, scanning them and emailing them to me. I can remember this photograph being taken, and was so pleased when this was one of the photographs she sent me! Just incase you're wondering, that's me in the middle aged 10yrs old, with my sister Becky sitting on my lap - my sister Rachel on one side and my sister Lisa on the other. You can see I used some vintage lace and buttons to embellish the cushion..... .....then I quilted some of the panels in straight rows, and one panel with free motion quilting. The quality of the fabric used in these printable sheets is excellent and it sews together beautifully. (Last year I bought a cheaper brand from a quilt show, but the pictures distorted when the backing sheet was removed, no matter how careful I was)..... .....I've sewn one of my labels onto the back, along with a zipper to fasten the opening and some more vintage lace trimming. I used a couple of different fabrics for the binding..... .....and I'm really pleased with the finished result, and as you can see my mum is really pleased with it too!! Happy Birthday mum!xx What a lovely time we had this afternoon! We were going out to celebrate my mum's birthday (she's got a very SPECIAL birthday later this week!) and we were going out for afternoon tea at Tilly's Tea Rooms, in Southwold. And just look what turned up at my mum's house to transport us to Southwold - the Tilly's Tour Bus!! We all hopped aboard, and the driver took us on an easy-paced drive to Southwold, and gave us the guided tour - it was a gloriously sunny afternoon, and we had a wonderful time as we went past the pier and onwards past Adnams brewery, past the Southwold museum, and past the church then over the common and past the golf course and then headed off towards the harbour..... .....we carried on through the streets of Southwold, getting some admiring looks from passers-by - all the while hearing all about the history of Southwold from the very charming driver! Finally we drove down the high street, and stopped outside Tilly's Tea Rooms - and oh what a feast was waiting for us inside!..... .....we were transported back to the 1930's for a real proper high tea - we had pots of proper tea (no tea bags for us today!!), and plates of dainty sandwiches with the crusts cut off (the brie and cranberry ones were my favourites!) and warm sausage rolls and buttered cheese scones, and Victoria Sponge and the most delicious chocolate cake and scones with jam and cream topped off with a strawberry - it was just an absolutely splendid afternoon. (Note: I checked out the menu, and I can't wait to go back and try their "boozy tiered tea" with a glass of fizz)!! |
About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
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