Friday Stitch-A-Long with Jenny

These cute little stitcherys are quick and easy to do and I have been able to keep up with Jenny and the Friday stitch-a-long.

I decided last week to trace out a few so that when I have some spare time I could work on them. This enabled me to get a little ahead of time and on the weekend I made up a couple of extra blocks.

Sorry about the blurred picture, just to tired to check!

I am pretty pleased with how I am motoring along and have another 4 traced and ready to go!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

A Little Cooking Also

While on holidays I tried a few new recipes as well.

I made Chicken and Leek Pie. A real comfort food if ever there was one!

Pumpkin fruit cake by the oven full! Plenty to share around.

Cauliflower soup, made with roasted cauliflower and loads of leeks. Something to warm you on a cold night, and served with crusty bread.

Sweets for my lovely friends

I love trying out new dishes and it's even better when you get to eat them.

Thanks for visiting.

Holidays are over!

Now that I am back at work I don't get as much time to stitch, but I'll show you some of the things I did while off.

A little turtle for my granddaughter. She picked the fabrics and assisted by handing me the pins.

Finished my "Life is Beautiful" cushion. Can't remember who designed this, blame it on work!

 And framed the "Sparrow" stitchery by Jennifer Reynolds. Couldn't find a bigger frame so didn't add the two borders. 

Hope you enjoyed the show and tell.

FNSI August.

Thanks to the lovely Wendy for hosting Friday Night Sew-In again, love the idea of stitching/sewing away with wonderful like minded people across the web.

It had been a wet and cool day (does she need an excuse) and the cat decided it wanted to sit on my lap while I stitched.

Guess who won!

I stitched block 3 of Jenny's Shabby Roses Churn Dash Stitch-along.

I found the same fabric range as Jenny's at a local craft shop a couple of weeks ago,  so decided to redo the first block. I know crazy!! but I now have 3 blocks completed. Wish I could keep up to date with all my sewing/stitching projects!

I feel really please with how quick they come together and can't wait to do more. I'm going to pop over to Wendy's blog and see what everyone else got up to on Friday night. I am sure it will be inspiring!

Together

Yesterday was our Wedding Anniversary. It has been 41 years together, through good times and difficult times but together we got through it all.

I didn't want to go out last night and decided to make something special at home. As we are from Italian heritage something from that cuisine is a must and an easy one is Gnocchi. I have been making it for years and usually it is a family affair with large quantities made, so it was a pleasant change to just make enough for  two. Maybe I do this again!

Making the dough

Rolling the pasta. You have to roll it over a fork or special tool to make the indentations to collect the sauce. My mum used a fork and that's what I use.

Finished results with bolognese sauce. Yum! Tasty morsels that make you forget diets!

But it's not all cooking here and there has been some stitching going on of course! This is a beautiful design by Jenny of Elefantz . There was a border on the original pattern but not having the right size frame resulted in a smaller version, but I love it just the same.

I also made this gorgeous door hanger as I fell in love with it on first sight. I used some lavender in the stuffing and it smells divine! Thanks Jen for your gorgeous designs.

Well it's another day of cooking, crafting and pottering around..........you have to love holidays.

What I did on Friday Night

Love the incentive of stitching on line with everyone and last night was no exception. So instead of going to bed early I decided to follow along with Jenny's latest project the Shabby Roses Churn Dash Stitch-a-Long. There is an easy to follow tutorial on her blog.

There was plenty of company for me while stitching and watching Better Homes and Gardens, with this cat insisting of sitting on my lap the whole time!

Stitching completed and ready for cutting pieces for the churn dash part. Dug in the scrap box for some left-overs for this part. Oh! I do love Flower Sugar by Lecien!

Completed block ready for the next.

As this didn't take a long time I also made a little tea bag holder from Red Brolly. Was initially going to use paper for this but decided on fabric. I put mine together a little differently from Bronwyn but next time I will definitely hand stitch and not use the machine. I like it anyway and will also try paper next time. Great little gift idea - it is a good size for stuffing with chocolate or other little goodies including the odd tea bag!

Thanks Cheryll for hosting last night and I will certainly be heading on over to her blog to check out what everyone else was up to later.