Summersville Sunday: Blocks 33 - 36

This long-term project was started in 2012 with the intention of it being my default 'sitting on the settee and watching telly' sewing when I wasn't up to preparing anything else.  All the blocks are now embroidered, but I fell way behind in blogging about them so I'm playing catch up with a weekly post.  There are three posts left after this one so I'll have to start thinking about another weekly stalwart post as I've enjoyed having a regular thing to blog about and I'm in a nice routine of getting to the weekend and thinking about a Summersville post.  It might be a 'what I've done this week'-type post with progress photos, etc.  How does that sound?  Of course, I also need to catch up with blogging about my FAL finishes (all small things, don't get too excited!) so that may come first.  Hmmm, decisions, decisions!

You can find the other posts in the series here: blocks 1 - 4; blocks 5 - 8; blocks 9 - 12; blocks 13 - 16; blocks 17 - 20; blocks 21- 24; blocks 25 - 28; blocks 29 - 32.

As I've said before, the squares currently measure 7" square, but will be trimmed to 6.5" square before they're pieced into the quilt top.  I did this so that any ragged edges/fraying could be removed, rather than being in the seam allowance.  Once again, all this week's blocks have been embroidered using back stitch, and this week there's definitely a bit of a 'Where's Wally?' theme to finding the embroidery on each square!  I did this because I wanted some squares to have a light touch and others to be quite heavily embroidered; once I lay them all out I can decide whether some need bits adding to them (probably not, if I'm honest!).  I don't know how I'm going to get a half-decent photo of all 49 blocks but I'll give it a go.  Might need the steps out of the shed for that photo...

There's a very lonely tree in block 33, feeling a bit conspicuous as the only tree in the village in full fig and, at the same time, a bit hidden among all the drab houses and trees.  Can you see it?!  It's embroidered using two shades of green for its canopy and brown for its trunk.

The owners of the house in block 34 are hoping to start a colourful revolution in their village.  They asked the house owners from the streets in block 28 for any tips and they said 'go bright, go rainbow' so they did!  Using oddments of paint they found in the back of the shed (which were there when they moved in), they used a rainbow of six colours and are now waiting for the neighbours to catch on and copy:

I'm not sure what they're putting in their wood burning stove but it's to be hoped the environmental officer doesn't notice!

In the next village along there are four trees which are also in full fig - they must be in a micro climate!  Their foliage is made up of two shades of green (a different combination for each tree type) and their trunks are subtly different, too:

The owner of the house in block 36 is friends with the owner of the house in block 32.  He's also a bit short of money but wanted to liven up the outside of his house, so he copied his friend and used paint as close to marigold yellow and fuchsia pink as he could find as they're his favourite plants and his garden is full to the brim of them.  (Quite a sight in the height of summer, let me tell you!)

This week I've been busy with some Japanese import fabric and have made a pin cushion.  If you read Sheila's blog, then you'll know that she's asked for donations to a lucky dip at her annual (and final) open day.  She's raising funds for Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow and hopes to go out on a bang and raise the highest sum ever from this open day.  Sheila has asked for donations of a fat quarter or similar (and has had a wonderful response so far), but I emailed to ask if she'd like me to make a pin cushion instead.  I was going to make a teeny tiny one as I thought that would be good in a lucky dip, but the fabric demanded otherwise and I ended up with one about 3" x 3.5" x 1.75" - a good size to have either next to your machine or in your hand sewing tin, I hope.  Here's how the making went (yes, I really did add embroidery round the sides after I'd done all but the stuffing and closing the gap - I decided late on that it was a bit plain), click on the links in the caption to go to a larger photo on Flickr:

1. Lucky dip pin cushion, 2. Embroidery for a pin cushion, 3. Embroider for a pin cushion - back, 4. All laid out, 5. Assembled..., 6. Finished

The embroidery was done using a gorgeous stranded silk thread that Salley sent a while back (thank you, Salley!), called Soie d'Alger, and I thought the colour would suggest the Emerald City.  (I've found the thread here, if you're in the UK and want to try it - it's lovely to stitch with!)

And here's the finished pin cushion, which will be wending its way to Ayr tomorrow:

Archie has read blog posts where an item was added to a photo 'for scale' and he insisted on being that item for the pin cushion.  I tried to explain that the item was usually something which was universally recognised for its size but I'm afraid he became a bit indignant and thought I was suggesting he wasn't universally recognised.  In the end, it was easier to just take the photo:

I'm here 'for scale'.  You all knew that, didn't you?!

Thanks for popping in!

P.S.  Sheila also sells Aurifil through her IG account, if you're interested - she's my first port of call (through email as I don't have an IG account) when I need more thread and can vouch for her good service and prices!