Stitching and slashing

Welcome to September's New to Me link party, your chance to share your experiences good or bad when trying something for the first time this month.

This month I attended my first ever Quilt Retreat and took part in my first (and maybe only!) Drum Workshop!

I have also been trying out a New to Me tool.

 A Slash Cutter, as I have been having a go at some Chenille squares.

Some of my stitching on this square was so close together that the cutter wouldn't fit through so I had to resort to using scissors, but I am really pleased with the effect that was achieved, so will definitely be having another go.

By the time you read this I will have chalked up another New to Me, a New to Me city - San Sebastian in Northern Spain. I am really looking forward to visiting such an amazing region.

So, that's my New to Me's for September now it is your turn to link up and share the trials and tribulations of trying out something or somewhere for the first time. We keep it real here so whether it works out or not we want to read about it :)

As ever the Link Party will remain open until the end of the month so if you have been procrastinating over trying that new technique, consider this a nudge to jump off that fence and give it a go!

An InLinkz Link-up

Sounding the Retreat

Several months ago I signed myself up for my first ever Quilt Retreat, and as the time to head off drew closer I began to regret my decision! So, I headed off with a car boot stuffed with sewing supplies and some trepidation. Getting lost on the way there did nothing to ease the apprehension I can tell you :)

The Retreat, which was held in Netherurd the Activity Centre for Girl Guiding in the Scottish Borders, is tucked away down a country lane hence the difficulty in finding it. There were 21 of us on the Retreat, only a couple of whom I had met before hence too, some of the nerves :)

Once I was set up in the bright and airy sewing room things definitely began to look up. My companions were a delight and the securing of an agreement to share a bottle of wine that night certainly lifted my spirits :)

Despite these being in close proximity spirits were the only things being lifted though :)

We had a visit from the very enthusiastic proprietor of Biggar Stitches who brought along a lovely selection of pre-cuts for our perusal

as well as these lovely quilts to showcase the charm squares, layer cakes and jelly rolls. Needless to say some retail therapy might have been indulged in!

On the second night of the retreat the organisers had arranged a mystery activity for us that everyone had to participate in.

You can probably imagine our surprise when we entered the room to find lots of these laid out for us! Nomad Beat a local music charity had been booked to give us a drum workshop, well we certainly weren't expecting that :)

It was a brilliant way to spend an evening with lots of laughter, noise and fun even if my fingers were looking a bit bruised the next morning.

Well that is my excuse for not actually finishing the project that I had taken with me, although I did make some progress so it was not entirely a lost cause in terms of stitching. (It was in terms of photographs as I completely forgot to take any of my project whilst I was there!)



These are just some of the blocks that I took with me and I am pleased to report that the quilt top is now 5 rows long and ready for the borders.

We ended the Quilt Retreat with a Show and Tell (naturally!) and confirmation of the dates for next year. Where do I sign??

Picking a pocket or two!

A few weeks ago we celebrated National Stitch Day here in the UK. Naturally, my local branch of the Embroiderers Guild had to be involved!

It will be the Branch's 20th Anniversary this year so they are celebrating with an Afternoon Tea Party later this month. They decided to keep with the Afternoon Tea theme and host an Open Day for the National Stitch Day celebrations with the projects all being Afternoon Tea related.

First up though we were asked to create lengths of bunting to hang around the town to advertise the Open Day.

We were given a template for the triangle bunting that you can see in the background, but I decided to come up with something a little bit different as you can see!

I unpicked the pockets from several old shirts, then appliqued letters spelling out Big Stitch and the name of the hall onto the shirt pockets. Some of the letters were machine blanket stitched and some hand stitched to reflect both of the interests of the EG members.

They looked quite effective flapping in the breeze :)

Inside the hall members were busy stitching up and embroidering chocolates, cupcakes and doughnut pincushions. The doughnut pincushion above is made from a tea-dyed white sock with the toe cut off and then rolled around some toy stuffing. The end is stitched down and then a scrap of white felt is stitched over the join. I chose to embellish my doughnut with lots of brown seed beads to resemble chocolate sprinkles as you can see :)

As I was manning the door this was the only project that I had time to make!

It is also the closest that I will get to a doughnut as I really don't like them. Childhood memories of seeing doughnuts sizzling in large pans of oil on a weekend trip to Blackpool have scarred me for life as far as eating them is concerned. Isn't it funny how some experiences can have such a long lasting effect? Fortunately I have never come across anything in the chocolate making process that has had a similar effect upon me :)

What about you? Are you a doughnut fan or not?