Now to make up for lost time . . .

. . . post a pic or two . .

. . . of a quick visit to Munich via Heathrow just before Christmas to visit DD3 and some Christmas markets, for which Germany is famous.

 Sun going down over southern England ... and beyond.

 Willkommen in Bayern . . . with a speciality or two.

 The view out the back.  Why the view of this field beyond the garden fence to the Stadtbahn rails by the line of trees fascinated me I don't know, but I had to keep looking at it!

 Visit to the Christkindlmarkt in Regensburg - angels in the arty section . . .

 . . .  nice blue house, one of the oldest in town . . .

 . . . a bit of snow . . . and more nice coloured houses . . .

 . . . a bit of Glühwein . .

 . . .  off to the oldest Wurst restaurant in the world, by the Danube, which was looking a bit generous . . .

 . . . and on the way home, a queue on the motorway.  I know its blurred, but its an interesting image! Try clicking on it.

 Next day, into central Munich, and the Viktualienmarkt for fabulous piles of food . . .

 It was a rather chilli day, minus about 5 degrees.

 Down in the Ubahn, lovely curved roof.

 Waiting for the train to the airport, orderly graffitti.

 And auf Wiedersehen snowy Munich.

 And hallo London, with the Thames looping away and the millenium dome visible in the first curve.

 Back home, now to try out these lovely Valdani quilting threads bought in the quilt shop I found right in the centre, behind the Stadmuseum - Quilt und Textilkunst.  They had a small Quilt Art exhibit there, some of the pieces that had been at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham back in August, and a lovely stock of fabrics.  Pity the euro was so high!

Has it really been so long . . .

. . . since I put anything on this blog?  I've been a bit preoccupied with too many other things, that's the trouble.  Anyway, this mixture of photos will maybe get me going again. 

Its going back a bit now, but here is a very brave little summer marigold, surviving in the December snow and ice.  (The eyes behind the glass are on a paper plane DH made - supposed to be the best flyer of all paper planes.  Didn't notice it when taking the pic.  It looks as surprised to see the flower as I am, considering how cold its been!)

 And this is Alvin, made and names by daughter and grandchildren.

 .. and a winter moon, nice and atmospheric . . .

 . . .  lovely frosty edges . . .

 . . .  and patterns of crystals . . .

 . . .  and a nice little snowman story, bonded appliqué, started at a Quilters' Guild workshop day in November and finished at home in time for Christmas.

 He came to the same end as Alvin, sad to say.

 And we also made this cute bag on that day, from the Omiyage book by Kumiko Sudo.

 And after some talk about couching on the CQ group list I had to have a go.  If only I'd made it bigger i could have used it for a book cover, but I just wanted to get stitching, not spend time thinking!  I never learn.  That's why there are so many bits of samples around that it is hard to find something to do with.

 This collection of hearts and hand-embroidered bags sat waiting to be posted to people for #christmas presents. 

Yes I did paint it . . .

 . . . and here it is, and I think, much better. . . .. . . or does it still look like butterflies?

But this is what the little plants were based on, marigold seedlings in pots. 

The idea in the jq was plants coming up in rows in fields. We tried out a technique at Infinity, our local CQ group, using fused appliqué, including cutting straight strips on the bias and making them curve as you iron them down. It came from a book I can't remember but will post title and link when I can find it out. Pix below of the piece worked on, which I finished and can hang, wow.

 (Should have cropped it and tidied it up) And I now realise I've not taken a photo of the square top left, which has the best curved strips , aargh.  Never mind, here are some others.

 Beaded edges, as in a video on the Kemshalls' Design Matters TV, link in previous post.

Journal Quilts

 I didn't join in with the official Contemporary Quilt Group journal quilts challenge this year, just wanted a break from it.  The local CQ group i go to, Infinity, encourages the jq thing by picking a theme every 2 months for us to work to.  Last year i used the themes and did 2 quilts for each.  this time I wasn't going to do even those, but, ideas started arriving, so i did something for all 6 themes in the end.  Guess which is which.  No prizes.  Emotions, birds, jewellery, pockets, doors, plants.  They are 7" x 10"

I wanted to try out the narrow strippy lines, with something shiny, and used lamé, which is a pig to stitch, especially such narrow bits:

Woven strips with some sides left open to insert something:

Pieced, quilted and painted.  Acknowledgements to Margaret Ramsay for her articles in Workshop on the Web:

Bondawebbed straight strips, curved as you press them down. We had marigolds growing in pots and the early shoots looked rather like this.  Though DH said the plants look like butterflies, so i am thinking of painting them, a la Linda Kemshall and will put another pic up if i do.

new books

The need to produce a requirements list for a workshop I've just been booked for with West Country Embroiderers next year sent me back to the book making. I've not done any for a while so it was good to have a reason for doing it again. The idea is to make one nice book in the day, so i had to make one or two, .. or three .. or even four... We'll do the stitching the spine over tapes variety and I've devised an easier and quicker cover using painted paper and a trickier and longer stitched fabric version.

These have signatures with coloured outer pages and i didn't want to cover them up so I've done them this way, with alots of lines across so the threads are a feature. The top one uses stitched pieces i had about the place, and the bottom row is a pamphlet style, with the cover a quilted and painted piece, another sample/UFO.

Lake District Weekend

The Big White House, Greengill, near Cockermouth in Cumbria, where DH and i have just spent a great weekend with church friends from where we used to live.

 The view from our window . . . (something about the colours and the arrangement appeals to me)

 . . .but not the only view around!  Off on a scenic drive . . .

 . . . in among the fells . . .

 (amazing colours)

 . . . . and lakes . . .

 . . . Crummock Water . . .

 . . . and Buttermere . . .

 . . . and up to the Honister Pass . . .

  . . .and down again . . .

 Aerial view of Derwent Water near Keswick.

 And we couldn't stay away from the beach, up the coast from Maryport . . .

 . . . with views over the sea, no, not to Skye, but across the Solway Firth to Dumfries and Galloway.