Seashells on the seashore

Welcome to this week's TGIFF link party where I am delighted to share my latest finish with you.





I shared some of my progress on the Shoreline embroidery with the new stitches that I have tried in my recent New to Me post, so I am pleased to be able to share the whole embroidery with you as it is now finished (finally!).

The whole process of creating this piece has been a joy from start to finish and I have tried so many new techniques and stitches along the way.

I fell absolutely in love with the Spiders Web stitch, used to attach the button and sea glass above and also on its' own at the top left in blue.

There were lots and lots of French knots and quite a few buttonhole circles!

I had a lot of fun adding the buttons, pieces of sea glass and even the odd sequin to the embroidery as well as the shells I started out with.

Now I have to work out how to frame it!

Over to you now to link up your wonderful finishes this week. Share the celebrations by checking out your fellow finishers posts and give them a virtual pat on the back too :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Stitches and Sealife

Welcome to this month's New to Me Link Party, where we celebrate the triumphs and disasters of trying out new and exciting things!

This month I have visited a New to Me place.

We visited the Bristol Aquarium with the gorgeous grandson and whilst he wasn't overly impressed with the fishy display, I was definitely inspired by the amazing textures of the coral and the colourful fish. I suppose when the Rays are as big as yourself it can be rather daunting :)

Sticking with the seaside theme I have also been exploring some new to me stitches in my Shoreline embroidery (yes I am still plugging away at that!).

First up Sorbello Stitch

next was Scroll Stitch , which was the perfect stitch for a wave don't you think.

I really like trying out new stitches in my embroidery projects and anything that replaces that old stalwart the French knot as a filler stitch is always a winner in my book!

So, that's my New to Me's for this month, now it is your turn to link up and show off the new techniques, patterns or anything else that you have tried out for the first time. As always, the link party will remain open until the end of the month, so if you have tried out something new but not yet blogged about it you still have plenty of time left. As Sandra can confirm the New to Me party accepts link ups right up to the deadline :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Life's a beach!

Welcome to the TGIFF link party where we celebrate that great feeling that finishing a project brings!



I had hoped to be sharing a completed Shoreline embroidery with you today, but sadly I am still plugging away at it so that will have to wait for a (hopefully not too far in the) future post :(

Instead I have another long time in the making completing finish to share.

It doesn't look like and shouldn't have been a long time in the making project but that is what it turned out to be.  The partner lampshade was made ages ago and my intention had always been to make a pair, but the beach hut fabric had disappeared when I first went to complete the second lampshade. That problem was solved when I found the fabric at the Knitting and Stitching Show (over a year ago!). Of course, a short while later I found the original fabric!

I have no excuses for why once I had more than enough fabric I didn't actually set to and finish this, but isn't it amazing the difference that a looming deadline for a finished project can make :)

The lampshade was made using a Dannells kit and it was, again, really straightforward to put together. The hardest part was trying to get the backing off of the double-sided sticky tape!

This was the original lampshade so you can see why it needed replaced!

And here are the pair of matching bedside lamps in situ, there is a definite seaside feel to that bedroom isn't there?

I have some sewing themed fabric that is meant for a new lampshade for my sewing room, hopefully it will not be waiting around as long to be made up as that beach hut fabric was.

So now it is your turn to link up your finishes and, of course, check out your fellow bloggers and congratulate them on finishing too. Add the TGIFF blog button to your blog post so that your readers can join the party too!

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict