Miss Mary Ann Bournes 1791 - A New Reproduction Sampler

Miss Mary Ann Bournes 1791 from Hands Across the Sea Samplers

I have some exciting news to share with my stitching friends.

Sandra of Sampler Lovers Blog and I have joined forces and formed a new design studio reproducing fine antique needlework - Hands Across the Sea Samplers.

Please visit our website hands-across-the-sea-samplers.com to find our more information about our studio and full information on our first release. There are lots of close up photos for you to enjoy together with some free downloads and useful tools.

Mary Ann is a stunner - besides some small areas of satin stitch and a handful of eyelets the sampler is worked in cross stitch over 2 threads with Mary Ann's name in cross stitch over 1 thread.

Mary Ann's beautiful sampler is her legacy to us and we hope you enjoy stitching her as much as we enjoyed reproducing her.

Here is an introductory video to enjoy.

Vintage Bouquet

I have been working on another quilt Vintage Bouquet by Jo Colwill of The Cowslip Workshops , the pattern is from her new book.

I was anxious to complete the second border in was the most complicated I have done to date  on joining up the corners. 

Now for the large third border which has oodles of appliqué.

Another weekend has been and gone. We were eagerly awaiting this last one as The National Youth Choir were performing at Truro Cathedral as part of their SummerFest 2015.

The programme started with Ave Regina Caelorum from Mexico, then we journeyed to Brazil, Canada, Haiti, Uruguay, Times Square, Appalachians, then home to the west country and folk songs from Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.

A very enjoyable evening with a choir performing at the highest standard plus we had brilliant seats, we were even in front of the Mayor and Mayoress!!

We had company today as Kian joined us. Truro was buzzing with a local produce market. 

At this time of year the flower displays were at their best and it was a pleasure to wander the cobbled streets in the sunshine.

We had a pre-performance dinner at our favourite Truro restaurant. Kian at 14 was too young to sample the champagne bar but still enjoyed the setting and the food.

Ray had me in stitches yesterday morning.

He was washing his balls and cleaning his golf shoes in my breakfast room. If you look closely you will see that Poppy is holding onto her ball just in case Daddy washes that too .

Faded Roses

Faded Roses from Jo Colwill's (The Cowslip) book Cushions and Quilts. At 72" square it took a while to quilt.

I am pleased how it came out though.

I had a very special visitor this week, one of my dearest friends, there have been several occasions in the last eighteen months when I never thought she would be here to visit Trewoon again.

DAY THREE OF KIAN'S QUILT

This week's session with Kian was today.

He cut and attached the four borders around the central patchwork panel.

We focused on how to achieve perfect seams with pattern matching on the joins and making sure our corners were at right angles.

Kian picked this up quickly, he does well in Mathematics at school and he put his geometry to good use.

He finished the quilt top and put his quilt sandwich together with supervision from Poppy and Blue.

We even had time to digitize a pattern of some dog paws and start the quilting.

We will be having a two week break now as Kian is away followed by me being away.

The weekend saw a visit from the family and we spent Saturday morning in The Craft Box in Helston.

The boys made treasure chests.

Theo also painted a mug and Rhys a lighthouse.

 It was home for lunch then a stroll through the garden onto the beach. It was a glorious day.

Ray participated in the warm up exercises !!!

Time to go home.

We then enjoyed an evening meal at The Halsezephron Inn at Gunwalloe. They will be doing some filming in September at Gunwalloe for Poldark.

The next morning we were off to Crealy Park for some fun.

Slightly wet !!!

Drying off in a hot air machine

Nana "I feel sick". Rhys "Good, I will spin us faster" Nana "ooooooeeeee"

Always wanted to try a zip wire

The end of the weekend saw two very tired but extremely happy grandparents.