Coffee, Cake & Sewing......

....no better way to spend the day in my book. As Carolyn mentioned tomorrow is the last of our Taster Sessions at Fraddon Village Hall.
We have a wide selection of techniques for you to sample and be inspired, from free machine stitching, painted papers, fabric and Bondaweb to name just a few.
We supply all the art material you'll need, so it's the perfect opportunity to try something new before investing in a product.

Our techniques are suitable for patchwork, embroidery, sketchbook work, mixed media and all levels of ability, only £10 per 2 hour sessions - 10am - 12 or 2pm - 4pm or you're welcome to stay all day!

We carry a range of fabrics and threads from Coast & Country Crafts & Quilts, our Handmade items, Recipes and Cards. We'll also have our new Workshop List and Diary Dates, so please feel free to pop in and have a browse.....plus Carolyn is making cake, so that alone should tempt you.

We'd love to see you

Sue

New home!!

We made the most of yesterday and spent the day out in the Sun, and hoped to have a relaxing evening with a BBQ, but the rain arrived early and we had to retreat inside!!

Anyway, with the return of the rain, I had the chance to finish off my Marvellous Markels cushion today.  This is the third time I have used this naive style of houses, but the first time with Markels.  You may remember the Transfer Dye wall hanging.

The background fabric for the cushion, was coloured again, using transfer dye.  I am really pleased with the finished cushion and I am looking forward to our workshop in November, when we can share it with you.

Marvellous Markels

We have also got a new Doodle Day Cushion recipe to add to our Shopping Shed.  We will be adding some new items to the Shopping Shed in the next few months, so please check in regularly, to avoid missing anything.

Doodle Day Recipe #2

This week sees the start of family visits, so I will mainly be doing a little bit of hand-sewing in August and it starts with two of our grand-daughters this week.  Hopefully the weather will be kind and we can get down on the beach every day. 

Sue & I are looking forward to the last of our Taster Sessions on Tuesday.  Hope to see you there!!  Thank you for stopping by.

Carolyn 

American Museum Quilts.....

Hi everyone,

Goodness, I have been absent for a while and I've just been told off for it by my sister. All for a good reason though. We've been visiting our daughters and attending our eldest MA Graduation. Earlier this year our youngest graduated, so that should be it now and we're very proud parents.

One of our trips was to Bath and we took the opportunity to visit the American Museum. If you ever get the chance it's well worth a visit, not only for their quilt collection.

The Native American collection is beautiful with intricate beading patterns, horse blankets and rugs etc.
As usual my camera was in action, I've been through and selected a few of the images to show you.....

Native American Head-dress

Moccasins

Everything was behind glass so you'll have excuse the light and more often than not my reflection, sorry.

The same goes for the quilts, they were behind plastic sheeting and it was a real struggle to take photos, I'd have much preferred to buy a book. They have a large collection but display around 50 at a time and rotate them, so another visit is on the cards. Be prepared for a flurry of quilts now........

Baltimore Album Quilt Top 1850

Log Cabin Quilt 1863 by Ellen Bryant Smith

The picture on the information card above is the beautiful back of the Log Cabin Quilt and was made by Sarah Bryant in 1886, a sister to Ellen.

Crazy Patchwork Portière (door curtain)

Embroidered in the top corner of the above quilt was 'January 24th 87'. In the lower corner 'Finis August 1890'. It was covered in embroidery stitches.

Turkey Tracks Quilt 1845 - tiny hand quilting stitches

Dresden Plate Quilt 1920 Mrs Sam Skeen

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt 1840

This one is for Carolyn, her favourite technique...Hexagons

detail

Some of the groups of three hexagons were cut in one piece, omitting the two centre seams, clever!

Here is the final one and well done for sticking with me....

Diamonds Navajo Rug 1890 New Mexico

As you can imagine I had such itchy fingers after being with these beauties. I'll leave you with those images for now but obviously that's not all of them, so if you want to see more then leave a message and I'll post another batch.

Thanks for reading, back soon
Sue

Another Day Out!!

Well, we have had a lovely day today, firstly down to Coast & Country Craft & Quilts for a little browse and chat with Sally, then off to Mylor Churchtown for the Falmouth quilters Exhibition.  We should have been going to Mylor Bridge for their open day but got a little lost and followed the wrong directions.  Anyway eventually we got to where we were supposed to be and had a lovely day meeting some old friends and seeing some beautiful  quilts and generally having a great time.  Now I am sitting in my garden watching the RAF doing a display just for me.  Only thing that is missing a glass of red!!


Tomorrow will be a sewing day, I reckon as it has been a little while since I have done any and I am rather missing it.  Next week is the start of the annual family visits, so not much will get done then either!

Sorry that there are no photos, but I know that Sue as a few to share with you so I will leave that with her.

Thanks again for reading

Carolyn

Day Out at the Eden Project

My parents have been visiting for a few days after our trip to Bristol for the 'Grand Celebrations'. 

Pride of place!

The Fuchsia boxes looked great as the table decorations, showed their versatility by becoming card holders too!

 So before they went home we decided to spend the day at the Eden Project.  The weather wasn't sure what it wanted to do, but thankfully it stayed dry.

One of the pretty Dahlia is full bloom

  It was great to see so many young families enjoying the flowers and plants and also the den making and other activities for the children. 

Perfect display in the Biome

We didn't get to do  the Rainforest Biome, but we had a lovely wonder around the Mediterranean Biome and outside. 

 

The displays of our home grown plants and flowers was as usual very lovely and we couldn't miss the

Sweet Peas and their beautiful fragrance.

My favourite - wild flowers and sweet peas!!

So after several pit stops and a few 'oohs and arrhs' we came home tired but very relaxed and happy.

Off to see Sue today and catch up before our last 'Taster Session' on Tuesday.  The weather looks like it may be better, so I reckon a good day is ahead of us!

Thank you for reading.

Carolyn

Dartmoor in all its glory!

Just beautiful

As promised I have had a look through my photos from our weekend on Dartmoor and decided that you probably didn't want to see us swimming in the River Dart!! But thought you may like this photo. 

We stayed at Runnage Farm, which is very near to Postbridge, with our son and his girlfriend.  The weather was perfect and we had a fabulous time!!  This was the second time we had stayed at Runnage and we were not disappointed, last time was with the rest of the family and we took over a rather large plot right beside the stream.  What more could you want!

Base camp!!

Unfortunately we didn't take too many photos, too busy walking from Runnage to Badgers Holt, where the swim in the Dart was just bliss.  No such luck after the walk home but it was a little cooler so not quite so needed. 

Sadly our son had to leave then to go back to work.  We are now looking forward to November when we will get to see him again!

After such a relaxing weekend I have no excuse but to get busy with our new projects and our Open Day on Thursday 5 December at Fraddon Village Hall (more news to follow).

We are having our last 'Taster Session'  for the time being, on Tuesday 30 July, again at Fraddon Village Hall.  It is an ideal opportunity to try your hand at a new skill or brush up on an old one.  The sessions run from 10am -12noon and 2pm -4pm and cost £10 per session, and include coffee and biscuits and as it is our last session, we will be having some homemade cake to tempt you!  Please email us on beyondpatchwork@btinternet.com for more information.

Off now to get ready for the day, hoping to see my daughters for an hour or two in Plymouth so rather excited!

Thank for reading.

Carolyn

New Adventures!!

Recently I had the chance to do something that I have fancied for a little while..........

.............a ride in a Hot Air Balloon!! 

Up and away-ish!

It sounds rather grand, but in fact we only went about 10 feet in the air, and we were securely attached to the ground all the time!   But hey we did go up and it was very lovely.  

The occasion was the Summer Ball and this was one of the attractions.  I loved it so much I dragged my husband up later for a second go (and he is not into heights!)

I have also been busy with my neighbour Lesley making 12 Fuchsia Boxes for a family party.  They are going to be the table decorations and it has been a labour of love.  Lesley has acquired new skills that she didn't know that she had.  Perfect, don't you think.

 

Just a few boxes!!

Sue and I have also been busy getting new workshops ready for the Autumn, which we are very excited about and hope that you will like them too.

  We have posted the dates for the workshops on our website, so please take a look.

I'm off now to have a look through some recent photos taken over the weekend at Runnage Farm on Dartmoor.  I will post a couple later so you can too enjoy the scenery!

Thank for reading

Carolyn

Birthday stitching..........

It's my birthday today, so I decided to spend it in the sewing shed with the door open and the sunshine pouring in. I couldn't ask for a better place. Now that the veg and herbs are looking nice and green I thought I would show you my view from the shed door.

I have tried sitting on the swing seat and sewing, but doubling up with glasses and sunglasses just doesn't work and it's a real sun trap.

As for my stitching today, I've been quilting a fabric collage piece we showed you a while back. Here's a small section during quilting that's finished now and I'm adding the hand embellishments which is always the best bit and adds character to a piece.

Fabric Collage Workshop

The collage is for one of our new Autumn workshops, as is the next image.

Marvellous Markels Workshop

I know what you're thinking, I've mentioned Markels before and how much I like them and we have a number of samples, but I can't seem to stop making more. Markels Paintstiks create such a lovely soft image, these are hanging above the ironing board waiting to be fixed.

That's it for now, hope you enjoyed seeing what I got up to today and I'll be back soon
Sue

Sunday Breakfast & Castles

Welcome on another gorgeous sunny day.

Many years ago my then hairdresser said they went out for breakfast on a Sunday. I know they do this a lot in America but apart from when on holiday I never thought it was necessary. However, my husband suggested we might give a go, so that's what we did yesterday and may I say, this will be repeated.

This was our view from the The Lewinnick Lodge, Newquay, in the distance is Fistral beach. We sat inside for our meal and then moved out onto the decking area for coffee which is perched over the cliff.

This is the view from where I was sitting, pretty spectacular don't you think!

After lingering there a while we decided to have a Cornish day out and drove to St Mawes where we visited the Castle built by Henry V111.
No apologies now on my part, here's a selection of photos predominately blue and probably too many......

Pendennis Castle in the distance

looking toward St. Mawes

Agapanthus

Much to the dismay of my very patient husband I never tire of taking photos of the sea, boats and of course Agapanthus, but who could resist and I hope they have brought you some pleasure as well.
A quick trot down into St. Mawes for a cooling ice cream and it was time for home, with my camera full of inspiration.

Now back to business, we only have two more Taster Sessions left, so if you want try something new come along tomorrow Tuesday 9th and the last one will be Tuesday 30th July, both at Fraddon Village Hall..

You're welcome to come and take a look at our workshop samples or browse our Handmade items, fabrics, jelly rolls, machine threads, Lana & Perle threads, machine needles etc. or pop in for a coffee and a chat, we always like a good natter.

Our Summer Workshops at Fraddon Village Hall.......
July 25th - Painted Bondaweb
August 15th - Strip Cushion

Thanks for reading
Sue

Mixed Media, a Pheasant & a Black Bird....

Hi everyone,

I have a mixed bag to share with you today. Firstly, here is a snap of what we got up to today.

Patchwork Purse, Books, Samples and a little weave

We had a quiet Taster Session, so we got busy producing Handmade items for our sales table and developing more samples towards one of new Autumn workshop Marvellous Markels.

This next photo is a finished cushion for the above workshop, using the very lovely buttery Markel Paintstiks (do you get the feeling I like them) on hand dyed fabric, with free machine quilting, French knots, beads and seed stitching. It's always a pleasure adding the finishing touches with a little embellishment!

Marvellous Markles workshop

detail 

Lastly, I haven't shown you the No.2 man in my life for a while, so here he is looking splendid as always.

The black bird in the background has gotten wise, along with a vast amount of sparrows, that a visit from Mr. Pheasant means extra food!

Just a quick note, we have re-vamped our workshop list, deleting some existing workshops and adding new ones, we'll keep you posted here and on our web site with all the information soon.

Thanks for reading, back soon
Sue