Summertime

We harvested the first of our strawberries this week, all six of them! Rosie was very interested in the process and spent quite a while just sniffing them, she wouldn't try eating them but that just meant more for me...

The roses are looking particularly gorgeous this year:

As is the clematis that's grown over my water butt.

Thank you all for the comments on my sewing room. It's not normally that tidy, I'd had a friend over for a stitching session so it had been all picked up.

My Sewing Room

Susan asked us to show her our sewing rooms to inspire her now she is going to have a dedicated sewing room again so here is mine.

I am lucky enough to have the attic of our house for my sewing room but it does have to double up as our guest room on occasion, so there is a futon bed against one wall. This is a very popular napping spot for one of our cats LOL

On one side of the room I have my worktable, this is usually where I will sit and stitch as it has the best natural light in the room from the Velux windows. The tall chest of drawers behind my chair contains the majority of my threads.

On the other side is the chest of drawers I keep my fabric and some of my kits in. It originally belonged to my Gran and was part of the bedroom set she bought when she got married in 1932.

The end of the room is all shelving, this is where the rest of my stash lives. In front of them is my rocking chair and an antique sewing box that we were given as a wedding present.

I hope you have all enjoyed the tour of my sewing room

Americana Sewing Case

While I was at Dove Farm I took the opportunity to have some uninterrupted finishing time and the first project that I completed was the Americana Sewing Case by Merry Cox. I took the class online through the Shining Needle Society and I decided when considering the personalisation that I would anglicise the design. So I've stitched the flag of St George and changed the verse to the first stanza of William Blake's poem Jerusalem.

And did these feet in Ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green

The case front

The back

and the inside of the case. Needless to state I am thrilled with how it turned out!

The other piece I took with me for finishing was Two Friends and a Flower from The Needles Content. It's one of the Breast Cancer fundraisers from Elegant Stitch and the finishing instructions where for making it into a pincushion. It has to be said that I hadn't registered just how big the finished piece would be but again I'm really pleased with it.

Dove Farm 2009

I spent last weekend on a farm in the Peak District along with some of my stitching friends. We spent the time chatting, stitching, knitting, quilting and lots and lots of laughing!

This is the third year that we've been to the farm and the owner Jane commissioned us to make a wall hanging that can hang in their conference room. I wasn't able to take part but everyone who did take part did a stunning job. Here is the completed hanging:

The farm has a growing flock of alpaca, sheep, cows and poultry. I was only able to get photo's of the alpaca and the hens due to the weather which was distinctly on the soggy side.

Due to the weather we weren't able to enjoy the courtyard but the flowers were looking lovely

You can see more photos of Dove Farm from previous years here and here
and in my photo album if you follow the link in my side bar.

Baa Ram Ewe

There has been a degree of excitement genereated by knitters in Leeds this week as we've gained a new wool shop - Baa Ram Ewe. Rosie and I went over yesterday to have a browse and had a lovely time. We had a lovely welcome from the owner Verity and she was very tolerant of Rosie's desire to fondle all the wool that was at her eye level.

After much contemplation Rosie and I decided on a skein of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn. As you can see Rosie is very taken with it!

I've also managed to finish my latest pair of socks, knit in Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color using a generic top down pattern.

A small Just Nan binge

I had room in my rotation for two new starts last month and after a very happy time diving into my stash, I came up for air with these Just Nan designs.

First was the Hop Needlebook fob from the In the Tin range from last year. This was my small project for May (I'm trying to stitch one small project a month) I stitched the tin top last year but don't hold your breath for me getting round to the finishing on either of them.

And as I also had an opening for a mid-sized project I pulled the kit for Regency Roses out and made a start. This lovely sampler is a shop exclusive that was designed for Susan at Hanging by a Thread to celebrate the shops 10th Anniversary.