I was desperate to make it extra special when my daughter came home from her travels, and decided to make a large banner that I could wave at the airport when Mr F and me went to the airport to meet her! First of all I found a font that I liked on the computer, and printed a selection of letters onto sheets of A4 paper. I traced the letters in reverse onto Steam-a-seam 2 Lite, which was then fused onto the back of the batik fabric, and cut out exactly on the drawn lines. The backing paper was carefully removed and the letters were laid into place on the background fabric. Weave line fusible interfacing has already been ironed onto the reverse of the background fabric as stabiliser. (Tear away stabiliser could be used instead). A wide cutting ruler was used to make sure the lettering was straight. Once the letters were fused into place using a warm iron and a Teflon non-stick sheet, they were then raw edge appliqued onto the background fabric using Aurifil 50wt threads in matching colours...

...the front of the banner was fused to some Pellon, a fine felted polyester wadding, and backed with a super bright batik fabric. Finally I stitched through all the layers close to the letters using white Aurifil 40wt thread. A batik fabric single fold binding was used to neaten all the edges. On the back of the banner, 2 channels were hand stitched into place on the 2 short sides, (similar to a quilt sleeve, closed at one end). Some dowelling was inserted into the channels so i could hold the banner, and give it a bit of a wiggle!...

...and here it is - welcome home Alice! As you know we only just made it to the airport in time, and luckily got to the arrivals hall with about 2 minutes to spare! When she came through the doors, the first thing she saw was her very proud mum and dad with this banner! I have missed my girlie so much while she was away. She is full of tales about her travels and her amazing adventures in New Zealand and Australia. I'm looking forward to life at home with her again as it's been far too quiet while she's been away, although she'll soon be job hunting and saving all her pennies ready for another epic adventure.

It's fantastic having my girlie back home after her travels! She brought me some Kiwiana fabrics too, from The Stitching Post in Arrowtown. These will be used for some very special projects!

This is my "secret" project that I've been busy making! The trip to Wickes last night was to get some dowels to put in the channels that I stitched on the back of the banner. I did a trial run with it yesterday evening, and as you can hear, my sewing friends thought it was hilarious!! My daughter Alice has been travelling in New Zealand since the beginning of June, and includex a 6 week jaunt over to Australia. She has had an amazing time, and we went to collect her from the airport today. We had a horrendous journey to the Heathrow, with a tree down blocking the road in Woodbridge, the Orwell bridge closed, and an accident on the A12 at Colchester meant waiting in a traffic jam for over an hour! Luckily we made it to the arrivals hall with 2 minutes to spare. I was waving this as Alice walked through the doors - thank goodness I wasn't arrested for disorderly conduct!

I did a bit of a detour after work this evening, as I needed to do a quick trip to Wickes, to buy something for my latest "secret" sewing project. You're probably thinking whatever could she be buying from there!? Well - it's a SECRET so I can't show you yet, but I promise that all will be revealed in a couple of days!

Another six stitchery designs in six evenings! Pattern is Sweet Christmas Ornaments by Lynette Anderson Designs bought online from Cross Patch in Wales. These have been hand embroidered using Presencia Finca Perle 16 thread shade 1915.

Six stitchery designs in six evenings. Halfway there! Pattern is Sweet Christmas Ornaments by Lynette Anderson Designs bought online as a kit from Cross Patch in Wales. These have been hand embroidered using Presencia Finca Perle 16 thread shade 1915. Each pattern contains a cute raw wood button for embellishment, and the kit contained the patterns, buttons and all the fabrics needed to make these ornaments. Just 6 more to stitch!

I'm teaching a "cushion" class at my local quilt shop KIS Quilting Ltd in Ipswich, Suffolk, on 17th February and this is one of my samples. We'll cover lots of techniques, including stitchery, applique, machine piecing, machine quilting, binding, AND inserting a zipper! The fabrics I've used for this one are from My Hearts at Home collection by Lynette Anderson Designs (and this applique/stitchery design is a free download from Lynette's website).

"Sweet Christmas Ornaments" - I bought this kit last month from Cross Patch in Wales. It includes the set of 12 patterns, with raw wood buttons, and fabrics all by one of my favourite designers - Lynette Anderson Designs. Weaveline interfacing was fused to the wrong side of the background fabric, the design was traced using a lightpad and a fine Micron Pigma pen, then hand embroidered with Presencia Finca Perle No 16 in shade 1915. Now there's just 11 more to embroider, before they're made into ornaments.

All 12 of these blocks have been hand embroidered using Presencia Finca Perle No 16 thread, and machined together. I absolutely love these fabrics, which are from the Rouenneries collection, by French General for Moda. This pattern is by the Australian designer Natalie Bird, of The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs (she also designed Bluebird Lane, too) and this was bought as a kit from Cross Patch in Wales. I tend do most of my fabric shopping online, and buy several kits and patterns from Julia as her customer service is excellent and she stocks a super range of patterns and fabrics. Julia puts some GORGEOUS kits together, and this one was no exception!

These small stitchery designs are very portable, so I've packed a couple in my sewing bag and I'm heading off to Kis Quilting Ltd for a Saturday morning sewing session. Stitchery designs are from Tis the Season by The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs bought online from Cross Patch in Wales a few weeks ago.