Symmetry Challenge

The Photograph This! Flickr Group's new challenge is symmetry. These are my favourite three of the five photos I submitted.  They were all taken in the town centre of Rugby.  It's amazing what you can see when you are looking for it! LOL

I have always admired the architecture of the building above.  Such detailing in those columns.  The picture itself was cropped and a texture added in Gimp.

These are the back doors to St. Andrews Church in Rugby Town centre.  I love how the morning sunlight caught the shapes in the wood.

This has to be my favourite of the bunch.  I made it black and white and then colourise it with a sepia tone...nice and moody and old looking :o)

Until next time...

Have a guess...

D
o you know what this is? 

It's out-of-focus raindrops!!  Aren't they pretty!
Below is the same picture, but in-focus.  Who knew my kitchen windows could be so interesting!!

Until next time...

Ooops where did the time go?!

It was never my intention to be away for so long and I wish I had a picture heavy post to show I'd been spending the time sewing...but alas it is not the case...well that isn't exactly true.  I have been sewing bits and pieces, but nothing really worthy of being photographed.  I, believe it or not, have started a tree skirt which I'm hoping to have finished in time to be of practical use this year and as soon as there is something to show I will :o)

One of the things that took a lot of my time last week was the cutting and assembling of charm squares which were given out as a early Christmas gifts to my sewing group.  The work was divided between three of us but it still seemed never ending!  I love this pic I snapped of them all stacked up.

Until next time...

Another one for Project Linus

You're going to like this one :o)  A little while back Lynda gave me some large 1/2 square triangle blocks that someone else made and donated to Linus.  I had seen a technique that made good use of these types of blocks and I thought I would share it with you.



First you need a selection of large 1/2 square triangle blocks that measure a raw size of 7.5", 9" or 12".  The size doesn't really matter as long as the are all the same size and the number is divisible by 3.  In my case the blocks Lynda gave me were 10" so I squared them down to 9" before I moved onto the next step.  Once you've got your blocks cut them equally in thirds both ways.  In my case my 9" block gave me 9  - 3" blocks.  3 little 1/2 square triangle blocks and 6 solid blocks 3 of each colour. This technique would work great for blocks that had a high contrast between the two colours..so a light side and a dark side.  But in my case my blocks seem to fall into red and greens and yellows and this provided a design challenge.  Are you still with me?



Once all the blocks were chopped up I then started rearranging the little blocks into new 9 patch blocks.  I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of this step so look at the next picture at the basting stage and you should be able to see what I did.  I kept all the reds together and all the greens together and spaced out the yellows to create a repeating pattern in the corners.  You can see how this pattern would work really well with lights and darks.



Here is the finished quilt, all machine quilted and ready to by past on to Linus.  I could have sewn the 1/2 square triangle blocks together, but chopping them up and playing with colours created something a bit more interesting....or at least I think so :o)



Until next time...

Pictures to Share

I have three pictures I want to share.  The first is a picture that I've added to the PhotographThis! Pool on flickr.  Kitty told me about the group and suggested it would be a way to stretch my photography.  The current theme of this challenge is chair/bench so I took a picture of the stocks.  This was literally taken as I was on the school run with my daughter.  It is the newly built stocks in the village.  I think the old ones had rotted away and although they aren't used now (thank goodness!) they would have been used in medieval times as a form of torture, public humiliation and corporal punishment.  More info HERE is you are interested.  I used Gimp to age the picture in an attempt to make it look more oldy-worldy.

Next is this delicious mocha coffee that my lovely DH bought me on Sunday.  I think everyone was getting hearts on their drinks, but I like to think he asked for it especially for me :o)  It's not often that we get a chance to go for coffee as two adults (sans enfants) so it was extra special.

Lastly I had to share this fab picture I caught of the moon.  For those of you intrested in the technical side.  I used a manual setting aperture f/11.0, shutter 1/200 sec and a 200mm focal length at iso 200. (following the Moon f/11 rule)  I was "over the moon" with how well this came out!!

Until next time...

Bonfire Night 2009

Over the weekend we celebrated Bonfire Night.  We got together with some friends, had hotdogs and roasted marshmallows over a BBQ.  This bucket BBQ was perfect and it was a great way to keep warm!  Who needs a patio heater!?

Although this bolt of light is going up, I thought it almost looked like an alien hit from outerspace!  I love taking pictures of the fireworks as it captures what is too fast for the human eye to see.

Until next time...

Halloween Review 2009

Another Halloween done and dusted.  Every year Halloween seems to get a little bit more popular here in the UK and every year there are more and more decorations to be found.  Even the cost of a pumpkin has gone down in price.  Seven years ago I can remember spending £4 on a pumpkin...I know, madness spending that much only to carve it up and then throw it away!!  This year I spent £1.50 per pumpkin and splurged and bought 2.  The girls had a wonderful time designing the faces and my eldest was allowed to carve hers completely on her own...I just looked away while she was using a knife!!

Until next time...

Quilt For Project Linus

Another quilt completed for Project Linus. The blocks are choppy stars à la Buggy Barn style and the quilt is sashed using scraps of blue fabric from my 2 1/2" scrap bin. I'm really pleased how this one turned out.  The pink fabric used in the borders was one I got from Lynda from the Linus fabric bin.  I thought it went well with the stars..bright and cheerful!




I machine quilted around the squares and then did some big stitch hand quilting in the stars with some crochet cotton that I picked up at the car boot for 50p.





Until next time...

Random Ramblings...

Over the weekend we visited some friends for Sunday lunch and while I was there I snapped a few photos from around their home that I thought would be interesting to share. 

They have 4 chickens which they keep for eggs...here is just one of them that I managed to catch on camera.  It wasn't easy as these birds never stay still!!

In their kitchen they had this lovely ceramic chicken..just as cute as the real thing ;o)

On the front of their house which dates back to 1836 they have a RoyalMail mail box which is still in use.  Apparently there aren't very many boxes that have V R on them from the Victorian Reign (most have G R from George V or E II R from Elizabeth II)  Just a little piece of history that you just don't see everyday.

Many thanks to D & S for letting me snap away... :o)

Until next time...

A bit of sewing going on...

It's birthday season, or so it seems, and my DD2 has had a couple of friends who have recently celebrated their birthdays.  In an effort to be a bit more creative, I've made aprons for the girls and then bundled that with a cookbook, a wooden spoon and some cupcake papers.  I think there is nothing better than baking with children and whipping something sweet up.

Until next time...