Stitching beside the ditch!

Having said I was going to work on my poem piece next I started stitching the letters as the words were fairly indecipherable.  This was two arm lengths away and who can tell where I stitched?

Well!  It was here:

To be honest, I was a bit downhearted about this so decided I would work on something else instead.

At Summer School I had put this together:

I put wadding and a backing behind it.

On one of those reels that turns up on Facebook I saw about a sewing machine foot for doing 'stitch-in-the-ditch' quilting.  I did try this style of quilting once before on a hanging with limited success.  I looked on the internet and there is such a foot for my Janome machine.

Much to my surprise I discovered - once I knew what one looked like - that I already owned one.  So armed with the correct tool, I gave it a go!  With various rates of success.

Firstly I found it really difficult to see the guide blade against the fabric.  Secondly a lot depended on how well I had pressed the seams which is the ditch you are supposed to sew in.

And thirdly, a lot depended on where the needle was positioned in relation to the blade.

So several lines of the stitches are beside the ditch rather than in the ditch.  C'est la vie!

It's stitched and the binding put on.  I could call it finished but I do want to add something else to it.

I have bits of cords left over from the river piece which I wondered about making into letters and have raised words on top.  I've also thought about using the cords to make chains.  Or maybe cut out words.

Watch this space!

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Remember the sneak peek?

Do you remember the Sneak Peek post?  It was before the birthday posts.

Anyway - whether you remember it or not - here is the finished piece.  Firstly close-ups

And then the whole thing

I'm now onto the next piece: stitching this piece that I started on Summer School.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

More celebrations

My last post, Just the Start, was about the first day of celebrating my 75th birthday with a visit to Coventry.

The next day, my actual birthday, Roger took me to see the musical Hamilton.

The stage, Birmingham Hippodrome

We went on the train into Birmingham to have dinner before the show.  We went to The Malaya Classic where we had the set meal for two which included the unlikely Honey Marmite Chicken.

In a moment of madness in the theatre we took a selfie - is there another name for a selfie that has two people in it?

 We enjoyed Hamilton although I was somewhat befuddled by the 3 wedding scenes.

Part 3 of my birthday celebrations was having coffee with two friends yesterday.  One had her birthday recently and the other has her birthday on Friday.

Actually when I say having coffee - they had tea and I had hot chocolate.  But we were in a coffee shop!

The birthday celebrations are on hold now until a birthday party in three weeks time.  One of the problems of having an August birthday is that so many people are away on holiday.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice