Summer is over so time to get sewing!

Sadly this week our lovely weather has finally disappeared and it is definitely autumn. It has been fantastic to be able to enjoy the beach in warm sunshine for so long. Today is very windy and a little wet. We had a busy summer, especially with our daughter’s wedding in the very picturesque Lake District. Everything came together beautifully for her vintage and handmade style wedding in the gorgeous Cragwood Country House hotel on the side of Lake Windermere. (Highly recommended for anyone wanting a wedding venue up there!) A photo later. Now it is back to my daily sewing and beside the sea life.

The Embroidery Crazy website has been updated with six new designs this month plus two designs free to download as usual. We have three designs especially for dog lovers, a new snowman design, a cute little fox and a cupcake design for those making kitchen items.

I said I would post a photograph of the wedding venue, so here it is.

 

The stunning wedding venue

The next photo is one of my beautiful daughter in her vintage style lace wedding dress, accompanied down to the outdoor pagoda for the ceremony by my two very cute grandsons. The eldest one, who is only five, was very proud to walk his mum along. Two year old Ben was not so sure and started to cry!

The beautiful bride.

 

 

Signs of spring.

At last our weather seems to be picking up, after what seems like months of rain. We are in a luckier part of the country too, with not nearly as much rain as the west coast of Britain has had. We have however had some really bad windy spells and our local beach front is in a terrible mess, so much damage to beach huts and the promenade. Hopefully gradually it will get sorted over the next few months. There are lots of signs that spring is coming, daffodils galore in my front garden, lots of early flowers – in fact the roses haven’t stopped flowering all winter as, although very wet and windy, it has not been really cold. Lots of trees in our town are coming into blossom, which is really early. Today the sun is shining and it looks very inviting outside. A walk on the beach later!

The website has been updated with three new designs this month. With thoughts of spring there is this cute seasonal design. I also added a design made for anyone who sews. There is also a pretty butterfly design.

Our free machine embroidery designs to download for March are an Easter design and a ballerina silhouette.

My Singer 15K

I painted my sewing room lilac to brighten it up and I am pleased with it. I also had a good clear out in the process and reorganised everything. I even managed to fit another sewing table into the room after moving it round without cluttering it up more! I found a bargain in a local charity shop, which was a vintage Singer in lovely condition. After an oil it sews beautifully. It was too pretty to leave!

My Singer 15K

I found a couple of  lilac flowered single sheets in a charity shop and recycled them into a patchwork double duvet cover and pillowcases for the guest bed in my sewing room. It worked really well, I’m pleased with how pretty they look.

Finally I can’t post without spring photographs, so here are a couple of my spring flowers.

My front garden daffodils.

Pulmonaria is flowering on the shady side of my garden.

Our elderly cat, Cyrus, was also enjoying the sunshine this morning. This photo of him made me smile as I caught him with his tongue out!

16 year old Cyrus

 

Time for a change as summer ends.

Well the changes to our website took far longer than expected so apologies for the big gap in blogging. The new shop software was so different it presented challenges to get it all working properly, but my lovely hubby has done an excellent job and the new site is finally up and running. It doesn’t look very different on the surface, but the shop format has lots of changes and we do hope customers will find it a lot more user friendly. We felt the site update was also time to increase our prices for the first time, so to compensate we will be having a launch sale, starting tomorrow, until the end of September.

The September free embroidery downloads reflect the arrival of Autumn and are our popular silver birch leaf, and a black bat. The new embroidery designs this month are aimed at children. There is a large design for young football fans.Any child who likes the circus will enjoy this colourful clown. This cute little starfish would look lovely on any make for a baby or toddler.

Finally a humorous design for the ‘little monkey’ in your life. I know who I am going to use this one for!I think his mum would agree with me!

We have had a really lovely summer here on the Essex sunshine coast. It has certainly lived up to it’s name! Our little town has been bursting at the seams every day for the last couple of months, which is great news for the local traders. We had our eldest two grandchildren to stay without parents for a week and had a lovely time taking them out and about. Of course we spent lots of time on the beach too. It all went far too quickly.

One of the highlights of the summer was the air show on Clacton seafront. As usual this was a fantastic show. My favourite is always The Red Arrows, photographed below.

I was also very impressed by the huge Vulcan bomber. This seagull must certainly have got a surprise!

We hope you like the new site software and changes. Do let us know what you think.

 

Change is on the way.

We decided our website needs an update and so my other half has been working hard on using new software to run the site. It won’t look too different, but hopefully will be a lot more user friendly and more informative. The new site will be ready to publish very soon. Meanwhile I have added some new designs and will be adding more once the site is updated. We will also be having a sale to launch the new changes.

Our new designs this month are varied. This bright red dragon comes in two sizes so is suitable for a variety of projects.

It looks great with the gold parts done in metallic thread. I am going to put one on my jacket.

This floral design is pretty and would look lovely on a T-shirt. There is one for cat lovers in this little brown cat with lovely green eyes. Finally I have added a large flamingo as they are a current trend. I think it would look gorgeous stitched on to a cushion.

I have not been out with my camera very much recently as we have had so much happening so I am posting a few old favourites for my photos  this time.

First of all on our pier we have the oldest carousel in the country, and I love the colours in the horses, so here is my photo of one of them. The painted detail is so beautiful.

The next photo was taken on the backwaters. I just love the contrast in colour between the dark skies and the jumble of rowing boats on the quay.

 Finally I just like the reflections in this one. I have no idea what the old wreck is or if the man actually lives on it!

Happy summer days to all my readers.

 

Too many birthdays!

This time of year is such a busy one for birthdays in our family and this year we have several ending in a 0, so special occasions. Both my other half and I have a big one this year so our lovely daughters booked us a weekend away in Norfolk, which fell last weekend.

We stayed in a lovely Victorian guest house in the quaint fishing town of Blakeney. It was a really lovely weekend. Our room was fantastic and the house was set in beautiful gardens. we were right on the High Street, minutes walk from the quay. Blakeney is full of pretty flint cottages 

and the wildlife to be seen there is great. We had a long walk out on the salt marshes and saw lots of seabirds. I took loads of photos, my favourite one being the Redshank sitting on a post.

We had a lovely meal in ‘The Moorings’ restaurant, all paid for by our daughters too. The food was of a very high quality, and delicious. On Sunday morning we were booked on a boat trip out to Blakeney Point to see the seals. The weather was perfect and it was a brilliant trip. There is a huge colony of common seals and also grey seals and the water was full of them. Lots were lying out on the beach so we could photograph them.

The island was full of nesting seabirds too, an amazing sight and sound!

Blakeney is very popular with sailors and I would recommend a trip to anyone who likes wildlife.

Due to our weekend away I was a bit late updating the website but this has been completed and this month my machine embroidery designs are all linked to cooking. This comical chef design is great for an apron.

Or how about this for a kitchen wall. It could easily be framed.

This design would look great on a teacosy or an apron.

 

Happy May Day

It’s a beautiful sunny day on the North Essex coast today. Perfect  May Day weather. It is also a special day in our family as it is my eldest daughter’s birthday. She is a supermum who juggles three (and some times four) small children and 7 miles of school run walking every weekday. I don’t know how she does it!

I have updated my machine embroidery design website for May with new free downloads and four new designs. This month I have added this colourful sailing design.   There is a fun, retro, liquorice allsorts design, which those with a sweet tooth, or of course children would like.

This new floral design is pretty for home accessories or clothing. Finally there is this rainbow added to the weather designs.

Seagulls are everywhere in our small coastal town . They are obvious subjects for photography but can be difficult to photograph while flying. However I had some success recently when coming across a huge flock on the seafront. They had been feeding, so did not fly off like they normally would. I really like this shot I managed to take of one in the air. I also got a dog walker framed nicely in this photo! It made me smile!

Have a lovely May Day whatever you are doing today. I am off for lunch with friends.

 

Good sewing weather!

I can’t believe it is April already. It is still so cold in the UK that it seems like summer will never arrive. Here we are a week in to April and we are still going out wrapped in scarves, hats and gloves. Last weekend we went on an Easter egg hunt with the grandchildren in the gardens of  beautiful  Chippenham Park, near Newmarket. It was dry but really cold. The grounds of this stately home are lovely and it was great fun trying to find hidden wooden rabbits, which are then swopped for a  chocolate egg. I even managed to find a golden rabbit, which gave my granddaughter a star prize of a large Lindt Golden Bunny. She was thrilled.   I love these bronze boxing hare sculptures by the side of the lake.

The Embroidery Crazy website has been updated with new machine embroidery designs for April and the  downloadable free designs for April are available. There is this spring flower trug design, perfect for home decor items.

There is a new butterfly design which would look pretty on both clothing and home makes.

There is also a castle in the fantasy section and some fish. The free designs are this pretty campanula flower design.

I love the blue bell shaped flowers. There is also a cute little duckling.

As it is still so cold of course I was busy sewing yesterday. I made this backpack for my pirate loving grandson, who will be four on Friday.

Although I make lots of bags, it was quite challenging as I have never sewn piping round a bag before and I also had to make the piping first. I am quite pleased with the end result though, as I like the red against the blue of the pirate fabric.

At least while it is freezing outside I have lots of time to sew!!

 

A free Valentine’s design

I have finally updated my machine embroidery design shop after several weeks. Due to family problems I have not been at home very much. My poor eldest daughter slipped a disc in her back a few weeks ago. She has 3 small children, the youngest is only 16 months old. As her partner has an important medical science job he had to still go to work and she desperately needed help. She lives 75 miles away so I have been staying with her to help with the children and do the three times daily, two mile walk to take my older two grandchildren to school/ pre-school and back. Now she is beginning to mend and not in so much pain I am back at home.

While there I took her a no longer used Brother Innovis sewing machine I had. She has never used a sewing machine before so I gave her a few lessons and now she is off on a new addiction! She has discovered a new creative streak and in a couple of weeks has become sewing obsessed.

I am amazed at what she is now making without help. It has helped take her mind off her back problem too!

I have now added a new set of embroidery designs to my shop which I created especially with  bedroom decor in mind. They would look great on cushions to decorate a bed. There is this pretty cuddling lovebirds design, a baby bird sleeping, a cute sleepy owl,

and this decorative moons and stars design. They are available as a set. As it’s February my free machine embroidery downloads this month are both romantic designs. This Love Hearts design is a new one. Our weather in England has been very cold and we have had a fair amount of snow for the Eastern part of England. It looks like there is more to come this week. While I was staying with my daughter I took some photos around her pretty village. I love this little cottage by the river. It looked really cosy in the snow.

Opposite the school is a lovely old church. I liked how the churchyard looked covered with snow.

There is an old antiques shop on the main road. Sadly no longer in business but the building is beautiful.

My little grandson enjoyed his first snowy experiences. This photo made me laugh! Bless him! His new coat is a little on the big side! This is him – he has big blue eyes and long blonde curls.I think he’s gorgeous, but I’m biased of course!!

 

November and a Craft Fair looming.

This will be a very busy few weeks as our first large craft fair is being held in 3 weeks time! There seems so much to do still. It is a 2 day fair so we need to have plenty to sell, just in case! My poor embroidery machine has been busy every day and I feel like I work in a sewing workshop. I’ve made lots of these little Christmas stockings which will hang on a tree.

Meanwhile I haven’t much time to spend blogging or creating new designs for my website. I have updated the website for November though and there are 5 new designs. I like this peace dove, it would make a lovely card.This  Chrysanthemum design is a pretty autumnal flower, which would look good on clothing.

This Christmas candle is pretty with the flame stitched in metallic gold.

Our free machine embroidery downloads are a robin and a purple snowflake.

I can’t post without adding some photos so here are a few recent ones I’ve taken. On a recent walk into town this couple of seagulls on the sea wall were brave enough to let me take this photo.

Our winter visitors, the little Turnstones are much in evidence around the beaches and on the sea walls as we walk. I snapped these ones walking to the pier to go bowling.

As the weather worsens the boats on the Backwaters are disappearing. But I did use the zoom on my new camera to spot this little pirate ship out of my bedroom window!

I wouldn’t have seen the Jolly Roger without a zoom lens. As you can see we get lots of little yachts too on the Walton Backwaters on sunny weekends. I hope they made it safely past the Pirates!

 

Sewing like crazy and October designs.

I am now extremely busy getting ready for our big two day craft fair at the end of November. So many things I still want to make and the time seems to be running away with me! Okay I’ve still got 6 weeks, but it will fly past. My lovely other half, Alec at Photo Crazy, is also doing the fair so he is creating wonderful photo art to sell. I have spent a week making I-pad and Kindle covers so next week I am back to making more embroidered bags as they take the longest time.

I have also updated the website for October, with some new designs and new free downloads. We have a bat and a pumpkin free for Halloween projects. There is this cute skiing snowman. As crafters are already making Christmas things I have also added a Santa Elf.

Santa Elf

I have of course been using my new camera with the super zoom a lot in the past few weeks. I had to laugh when I looked out my kitchen window and saw this photo opportunity though!

My cat and ‘dinner’.

Our cat Cyrus must have thought it was his birthday when he spotted an enormous pheasant planning to land in the garden.

The pheasant on our back gate.

He was quite a beautiful bird, as you can see from this closer photo of him on our back gate.

Mentioning birds, I took this photo of a young seagull sitting on the sea wall this week. I love the markings on it. It seems a shame they disappear later.

Young seagull

I always love the view from our bedroom, we are so lucky to see sights like this orange sunset.

Sunset on Walton-On-The-Naze backwaters.

I can zoom in on the boats in the Marina with my new camera too.

Marina boats.

But my favourite photo taken this week was the other morning when I was up at sunrise and looked out my kitchen window. There are some tall trees nearby and sitting in one  silhouetted was this fully grown heron! I grabbed my camera quickly and managed to get some shots of it.

Resting heron at sunrise.

It was quite far away so I wouldn’t have got it without the decent zoom lens.