Barn Renovation 2

First the roof came off of the workshop.

The next thing to come down was the walls.

Within a few days there was only one wall of the wood store left.

Soon that was gone as well and the builders moved around the back of the buildings.

The builders then started working back up the side of the cottage, first removing the small retaining wall and then lots of earth as the ground slopes upwards.

Barn Renovation 1

My blog postings have been few and far between these past few months as we have been renovating the workshop and log store areas of the barn. This is the back of the cottage area which is attached to the barn with the back of the old workshop at the end. We are intending to infill this area with an extra room to make a new kitchen.

Looking up the other direction is the remainder of an old retaining wall and the greenhouse frame we moved last year after removal of lots of trees and undergrowth.

This is a view from the front of the barn showing the front of the workshop and an old wall which are to be taken down and rebuilt as they were too un safe to renovate.

From the bridle way the log store can be seen.  The roof has already been removed as it was asbestos.

Inside the workshop.

The work started at the beginning of October 2015 and so now it is well on its way.  As I sort the photos I will record the progress of the build and hopefully time permitting catch up to where we are now.

Capability Brown Embroidery

I am a member of Newbury Embroiderers Guild, and we were asked to take part in an exhibition to celebrate the 300 year anniversary of Capability Brown. Our guild was paired with Blenheim Palace and we took a trip there last summer to form some ideas and take some photographs.

My piece of work was inspired by one of the small bridges that spanned the Great Lake.  I liked the way the lines of the bridge contrasted with the softness of the surrounding foliage, and decided to study the bridge from three different viewpoints. The piece is approximately A2 in size.

Although I did take a great many photographs on the trip, I was more inspired with those taken by my friend Gail who kindly shared hers with our group.  Thank you Gail!

My piece of work was constructed of papers, various fabric, wool, ribbon, photo transfer and paint with machine and hand embroidery.  The exhibition starts on February 13th and runs until the 2nd May 2016

TextileArt07 Christmas Decoration 2015

Happy Christmas!

The Christmas challenge set by the TextArt07 group this year was to do something with a small double metal hoop.  It did not have to have a Christmas theme but I was very short of time and thought it could be my Christmas decoration tutorial.

Then I came down with a dreadful chest infection and although I had finished the wreath, missed the party and did not have time to do the tutorial. I did take a few photos and so decided here on Christmas morning to show you how I made it.

 This is rare I might add as I usually host Christmas Dinner for lots of people but with all the building work going on we were invited to family. This means I am calm and relaxed instead of running around in a flap.

I painted the hoop with some white paint to soften the colour.  I then made lots of small sandwiches of angelina fibre, silver fabric and lace, and organza, covered with a layer of chiffon and placed it in a large sewing hoop.

I then free machine stitched some five petalled flowers with silver thread.

I cut each one out with a border.
I then took some silver wire and knotted on some crystal beads leaving gaps.  I wrapped the wire in the gaps along a pencil to make them curly. 

I made a circle of angelina fibre and laid it at the back of the hoop.  I stitched the flowers on the front of the hoop, through  onto the angelina at the back, and added a crystal bead in each centre.  I then carefully wound the wire around and around the hoop.  I touched the wire up with a little white paint to highlight it in places.

Being very short of time this year I decided to place the wreath on the top of my Christmas cake.

Hanging on a cupboard door.

Have a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

Pineapple Palace Christmas Spectacular

Come and join us down at the Pineapple for our Christmas event. We are open on a Sunday as well as the usual four days and we are packed with beautiful thigs to buy or be inspired by.  Why not treat yourself to some yummy homemade soup, panini or cake in the cafe.

The event starts on November 20th and ends on Sunday 20th December.

Blue Linen Jacket

My sister Jeannie kindly agreed to model the blue linen jacket I made earlier this year.  The jacket is unlined with a draw string at the waist and hem.

You can see she really got into the modelling!

She actually did a brilliant job.  I wish she could model all of my hand made clothes for this Blog, but she lives too far away.

I was very pleased with the jacket and found it was straight forward to construct.

I couldnt resist putting this one in!

The pattern I used was this Burda Young number 7047.

Mushrooms

I found these sweet mushrooms growing out of a tree stump in the garden.