Strolling and Jelly-Rolling

I often see blogs where people post photos of their neighbourhoods and I always love to get a feel for where they live. In the past I've put up photos of various parts of Cornwall, but I don't think I've ever posted one of the village where I live. I think this is because whilst it is a wonderful place to live it lacks the picture postcard, chocolate box lid good looks of many of the other villages around here, but it occurred to me the other day that maybe it's ordinary everydayness is because I see it everyday, and maybe you'd like to see anyway, and since I was taking a stroll down the lane to pick blackberries I took the camera along.

This is a section of a typical Cornish Wall, they differ from the traditional dry stone walls you find further north in that they have a central bank of earth within them, so that after a while, plants grow on them and the actual wall disappears. If any of you have ever been down here on holiday and thought we were just being ignorant, this is the reason we tend to be disinclined to pull our cars "into the hedge" to let people past. Those "hedges" are hard.

This is the stile going from the lane into the field

And this is a view back across the village from the field, showing the church and a few of the houses.

On the sewing front I came across the concept of a Jelly-Roll Race Quilt and I was intrigued, so I bought myself a roll (Ruby Black from Fabric Freedom), and added in a few extra strips I had left over from another Fabric Freedom Roll (they actually call them "strippers" because the term Jelly-Roll is apparently trade marked to Moda, but it's not a good idea to try and find them on the internet using that search term!), and off I went.

Ta Da!  It was so much fun it was scary, and so quick too, I reckon it took me a shade over 4 1/2 hours start to finish. There is an excellent tutorial at Crafty Garden Mom here. It still needs backing and binding, but I'm really pleased with it.

I also made this Harley Quinn cushion cover for Eloise this week, inspired by a picture I saw online.
Why yes, it was on Pinterest, how ever did you guess?
Now to make a Mr J cushion to go with it...

Knock Knock

Oh, there is some one at the door, I wonder who it could be.
Everyone's favourite Consulting Detective perhaps?

Eloise and I made this from a 1/12th scale doll's house door following instructions found here.
The original plan was to make it into an ornament for the Geekmas Tree but it seems too big so we made it into a free standing ornament instead.
I think I'm going to make another for the tree using a 1/24th scale door, maybe put a little wreath on it.

This Month in Gotham Vogue

Eloise decided she wanted to learn how to sew, so fabric was purchased (depicting Gotham's Most Wanted and our hero of course) and a pattern selected, and off we went. This is the result. Pretty good for a first attempt huh? Jinx seems to approve anyway.

The pattern is McCall's 5094. We used a contrast plain black for the midriff band and straps, and made a plain gathered skirt instead of using the flared skirt from the pattern because of the vertical stripes in the fabric. The iron on Arkham Asylum patch came from EvilBay (here).

In other Batman related news, I walked into the living room the other day and look what had happened to my glass penguin ornament.

Not the penguin Gotham deserves, but the one it needs right now.

There was a little girl and she had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead

When she was good she was very very good

But when she was bad she was horrid

I used to tell that nursery rhyme to Naomi all the time when she was little because she was a very curly girl, and I was reminded of it when I saw a dear little red girl embroidery here on Cherise's blog earlier this year, and determined to make my own version. Here she is:-

Her dress is made from a piece of vintage fabric from the wonderful Rag Rescue trimmed with a bit of old lace. I mounted her in an embroidery hoop and tied a bit more of the lace and some ribbon (from a Christmas cracker!) on the top. I've had to hang her in my study because the rest of the family say she is too twee. I like to think she is an ironic post-modern take on tweeness...

In other news it was the village show this weekend. Here a few snaps of the wonderful flowers and vegetables on display. Mostly not grown by me I have to admit, though some of the rhubarb is mine. Any fool can grow rhubarb, the trick is stopping it from taking over half the garden.

And part of the floral art display

And here is my attempt at a floral arrangement incorporating sea shells.

I do have rather a lot of sea shells lying about the place...

Avast Ye Landlubbers

I do like me a bit of a brooding pirate.
Here is Colin O'Donoghue as Hook from Once Upon a Time. I make no apologies for having shared this picture before. It bears a second glance I think.

Anyway, I've been playing with my pastels again. Drawn myself my very own Captain Hook.
Quick swashbuckle round the Spanish Main anyone?

Barefoot in the Park

Well, the back garden actually, the park would have healthier looking grass.

The girls and I were very taken with these barefoot sandals at the craft fair at the Carnival last week. Several pairs were purchased. Does this count as buying shoes I wonder. I did get some new converse this week...
Having worn mine for days I had a sudden brainwave and raided my button tin. The seashell pair on the right are the ones I bought, the ones on the left are my own creation.
It is ridiculously difficult to take a photo of your own feet. They end up looking stubby and foreshortened due to the angle you are shooting from. I asked Eloise to come and take a picture, but as you can see Jinx hijacked the photoshoot

I also thought you'd be amused to see this. Not everything creative in this house always turns out just how we'd planned it. Here we see the "Tropical Fruit Roulade" Naomi was attempting to make, and her finished version:-

Nailed it!  Tasted great mind you.

Summer Postcard Blog Hop

Jo from Serendipitous Stitching is organising a Summer Post Card Blog Hop
Here is the stitched postcard I received from Debbie.  Pop on over to Debbie's blog and say hello, and be sure to visit Jo's blog  too, to find out more about the Blog Hop

"All's Good in the 'Hood":  Hi, Stitcher!  I hope everything is good in your neighborhood!  I made this for my son, instead of the typical 'Home Sweet Home' sampler.  It will look great in his new apartment in the big city!