Stay at home Robin - block 4

Finally got Block 4 added to the Stay at Home Robin held by Kate North.  The size is 3" x 9" and is added to the left hand side of the other three blocks. I wanted to move away from the more straight line blocks of 1 and 2 but keep the same fabrics.  I free cut wonky strips and sewed them back to form the block.  I wanted broad and narrow strips.  When I finished for some reason it was just a tad short of the 9" so I cut the striped piece in half and added narrow bands.  Now of course it was too long and had to be shortened but all in all I'm happy with it.

Really got to get on with some of my outstanding pieces for the Contemporary Quilters journal pages.  I still have not done Septembers.  I want to do a piece on Marc and Alix's wedding but need one of their photos. They are coming up at the weekend so hopefully they will bring some with them.  None of mine are quite right for what I have in mind and a wedding isn't something you can go back and retake.

Italian holiday photos

Photo heavy posting but I'll keep my mouth closed and let you look at them.



Bording the boat in Riva for a cruise round Lake Garda

Limone Harbour

Malcesine

Heading across the Lagoon towards /Venice

St Marks, couldn't get inside as there were too many people.

I loved this little balcony down one of the canals.

The Rialto Bridge plus gondola

My own little Canoletto, two view of the /Grand Canal.

Juliette's balcony - Verona,

Loved the striped brickwork on the Regional Offices in Verona

Verona Arena Christians and Lions no longer performing but plenty of opera still.

Promised these earlier but went to the Quilt Museum in York instead.  I missed the last exhibition, kept saying I was going but by the time I found time the exhibition had finished.  This time I went as soon as it started.  Can't for the life of me remember the title, something about stitch but the work there was extrodinary.  Julia Capara, Alice Kettle, Paddy Killer, Jan Beaney to name just a few.  Can't say I was impressed with Michael Brennan-Woods piece though.

back again

Although we've been back from Italy for a few days now the time has just flown by.  I came back to a host of postcards and atcs but not scanned all of them in yet.  Here's a couple that I have scanned in.

Thes are P is for Pink, P is for Passion Flower and O is for Ocean made by Jennifer Morlock and Hetty van Boven of Art4Mail fame.

We had a lovely time in Italy, we went to Lake Garda, Verona and Venice, walked our feet off, sailed on the lake, ate mountains of food and drank gallons of wine.  Now we have to repair the damage ugh....  but it was worth it.  The weather had been forecast as dull, cloudy and wet but it was wrong, we had sun, sun and more sun.  I've got loads of photos but blogger is playing up and won't let me upload any more so I'll call it a day and try again tomorrow.

Off to Italy in the Morning

 So I thought I'd better catch up with my blog,   I'm conscious that I'm not doing very well in blogland so far as keeping things up to date but I promise to try harder in future.   That was always on my school reports, must try harder in future.  The two cards below are from the Arts4Mail group, the pretty Sunbonnet Sue is from Vicky in Canada and the other card is from Charlie in the USA.  Charlie's card is her response to the Challenge card. 

 

I've been busy finishing off all my October swaps and trying to get them into the post before I go to Italy in the morning.   I just managed to catch the last post with my 'Pink' cards for the BQLPC group.

I also managed to finish my P, Q andGold atcs for the Art4Mail group but posted them before I'd remembered to take a photo or scan them.   I do have a spare P for Petal atc but its lost under the mountain of stuff we still have yet to pack so I'll post about that when I get back.

My last October swap was with the BLQPC group ' gateways' and I didn't quite finish them.  Here is where I've got to so far.   

The gateway in question is in Portofino, Italy (where Rod Steward has a villa).  I took the photo last year, the gateway led nowhere.   I think it may have been part of someones grounds at one time but the cliff may have crumbled over time.   It looks out over the harbour where all the lovely yachts are but the photo isn't good enough to see them unfortunately.   I printed the photo onto fabric three times (I needed six so two sheets were printed) then free motion stitched the gateway and part of the crumbly wall.   That's as far as I've got but I now need to put a backing and border on it.  I hope to do that when I get back  so I meet the deadline.

BIG news in our household is - Simon and Julie got engaged yesterday.   They are thinking of September 12 for the wedding to keep up with the Jeavons tradition of September weddings.

Off to finish packing and find some embroidery to do while travelling.

Challenge cards

I enjoy making postcards but admit that I really enjoy the design challenge most of all.   One challenge that has made me think about what I'm doing is the Art4Mail 'Challenge' card where you pick five numbers and are later sent the technique relating to that number to incorporate into your postcard.  My five numbers this time were 5, 7, 13, 27 and 44 and the techniques relating to these numbers were, add a pocket, origami fold, different fabric type, something organic and something that sparkles.

This is the result.

Jeanette's number challenge card

 This is Jeanettes to me, not sure what her numbers were but she had to 1 piece something, 2 add an ethnic element, add 3 more colours, unusual texture and 5 add a character button.

Today I also received a 'Pink' card from Carole as part of the BQLPC Pink swap.

Rosemarie's Autumn Quiltie arrived yesterday, it's the first one she had made and I think she has made it very well.  Each middle section has a tiny embellishment relating to Autumn.  I'm really pleased with it.

Not a lot going on at home at the moment just going from day to day doing the normal things.  It's lovely after a hectic few weeks.   We go to Italy a week Sunday and I'm looking forward to that but for now I'm enjoying a bit of peace and quiet just doodling along.