A New Online Quilt Shop and Come to Japan with Me

Well, I have no progress to report after my morning at Crafty Time Out.  Several regulars didn't make it today (one is on a Mediterranean cruise celebrating a big anniversary, I hope she's having an amazing time) and the meeting turned into a relaxed coffee and chat session.  I didn't even get my sewing out of my bag!  I did gain a new recruit for Country Roads Quilters and think we'll get some sewing done when we begin our Fat Quarter Frenzy quilts next week.  I do want to give you a couple of links in this post though.

Firstly,  I want to alert you to a new online shop, Kiki's Craft Corner run by Keira, a friend of my quilting guru, Teresa.  My first rush of delight at looking at Keira's site for the first time was that she sells Aurifil threads, mmmm, and then I clicked through to her "Out of Africa" hand quilting thread sets, be still my beating heart.  Apart from wanting them all for myself I also think the sets of three threads, all hand dyed (and colourfast) would make lovely gifts for sewing friends and to add to swaps and Christmas goodybags.  There is a lovely range of fabric, including some 3D fabrics which would be great for children's quilts and the website works really smoothly.  Click over there and have a look please.

Secondly, I heard today that there are remaining places on the fantastic Japanese Textile Study Tour that I am joining next April.  If you think you would like to join Nat, Bryan and a lovely group of people in Japan for dyeing, weaving and almost endless delights please have a look at the tour brochure.  Nat is doing a fantastic job of organising the tour and Bryan is going out of his way to make the tour (which is based at his home) a wonderful success.  There will be opportunities beyond our wildest textiley dreams and I am already very excited about the tour and planning to travel very, very light in anticipation of the goodies I'll be bringing home.

Sewing All Day

This morning "Crafty Time Out" met at my house (good excuse for posher biscuits) and although there were only a few of us we had a lovely time, sitting stitching, chatting and having a nice cup of tea (and biscuits).
This afternoon I headed to Sibsey to meet with my friend Tina.  We are starting a quilting group in the village and needed to discuss our plans for the day.  It's very exciting, I hope lots of people come along and can be involved right from the beginning with the way the group is going to run.  The first meeting is on 20th September and we're having a trader (oooh, fabric buying), a raffle and a gentle show and tell.  We'll also be chatting, sewing, planning and we'll need to decide on a name for our group.  If you're local and want more details, send me an email please.
Tina was telling me about "Wonderfil" thread which is now sold by the Quilters' Guild.  It has received some very good reports and favourable comparisons with my beloved Aurifil apparently.  I'm going to give some a try and I'll get back to you - mainly as it will be easier to get hold of than Aurifil and buying it will benefit the QGBI.  Have any of you lovely people used this thread yet?  What do you think?
Apart from all that lovely sewing-related stuff it's been a dull and miserable day, weather-wise, here in Lincolnshire so it's time for winter food.  I've got a slow cooker full of savoury mince and I'm making Yorkshire pudding to have with it, plus French beans from the garden which are still going strong.  Sounds warming eh?  When we've eaten I'll be back with a needle in my hand working on the little blocks for the bag I'm making - Southern Belle from Monkey Buttons.  Life's pretty good really and tomorrow I'm having a day with DD :) so that's be a good day too, we're going to have a browse in John Lewis among other things.

Dragonfly In Blowing Grasses - Getting Started

I've got my Dragonfly in Blowing Grasses marked up ready for stitching. 
I used an ordinary permanent marker to trace the design - the kind that comes with a packet of labels for ironing onto children's school uniform - it does the job. The last thing we want is for the ink to transfer to the white thread.  I'm using DMC Coton Perle in weight 8 by the way. 
I'm still not sure I like this method of transferring the design to the back of the work but do like the way the interfacing supports the sashiko fabric. I think for my next piece I will use interfacing on the back and mark the design on the front.
I have a meeting of Crafty Time Out tomorrow (the first one I've been to for some time after my spell in hospital) so I'll take my sashiko with me and should be able to make a good start if I don't chat too much. 
So, here goes.  If you want to join in with Susan's second tutorial the details are here.

Progress Report

I've been at my craft group this morning and worked on my Norfolk Broads WIP.  I did some sashiko-style handquilting using a hand dyed variegated thread by Valdini.  It's 35wt and I'm using it double after some experimentation.  The colour is Mediterrana - M95 and it's 100% highly merc long staple cotton.  Very nice to use, except when it gets caught around my quilting pins. 

We had a bit of a bonus at Crafty Time Out, in addition to chocolate biscuits and friendly chat - a lady turned up with a box of "crafty stuff" for us "if we are interested".  Bees around a honeypot is the expression that springs to mind.  We all went home with a new project, mainly tablecloths or runners to embroider or cross stitch and a selection of lovely threads.  A very successful morning all round.  (There are some goodies left for those who didn't make it to the group this week, don't worry).

A Christmas Party and an Exciting Parcel

These are my lovely friends (and Father Christmas) at our Crafty Time Out Christmas party this morning.  We stitched until about 11.00 a.m. (and I finished my "Life's Journey" holdall pictured below) and then we put the needles away and hit the chocolate cake.  Crafts and cake are such a lovely combination.

This is the holdall I finished which will hopefully be my carry-on bag for our forthcoming trip to Australasia.  It's pieced with a bargain selection of fabrics all with a retro-travel theme and is the first bag I've made.  The pattern was from Blue Willow Cottage based in Australia, which seems appropriate.

Returning home I found the lovely postman waiting with a parcel for me to sign for, all the way from Japan.  Please pop over to my sashiko blog to see what was inside and while you're surfing around please go and see the lovely work in Natalia's Show n' Tell.