Stitching on Felt

I always thought of felt as a material that children used for crafts until I made this little purse that was part of a doll pattern. I was surprised at how it turned out and gradually have started using felt for more projects. I then saw all the fabulous bottle cap pin cushions here and had a go at making some, then I made a few needlecases too. I love making sewing accessory items and have lost count of the number of needle cases and pin cushions I've made.

White Rose Teapot

If you read the answers to the ABC tag I got from Melissa you will see that I don't have a favourite day but I do have days I dislike. They are the days when I have to go to the dentist and today was one of those days. So, each time I have to go I pass a charity shop on my way home and pop in to see if I can find a treasure. Today I found this beautiful teapot, it's in perfect condition too. There is another charity shop not too far away but they seem to think they are some sort of up-market antique shop and their prices reflect this. This other shop has a gorgeous teapot that I would love but it's much too expensive for me to consider buying - £24.99 or almost $50 US.

Canvas Work

My favourite type of embroidery is free-style but every so often I like to try something different. I've done a couple of canvas work pieces but the trouble I have with them is what to do with them when they are finished. This piece is done on mono canvas and I've also done some on plastic canvas. Never mind - it was fun to stitch anyway!

Tagged

I've been tagged by Melissa here's what we are to do - Here are the rules. Tag the ABCs about you. Each player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

A -Attached or single: Attached

B- Best Friend: ‘A sewing machine, a sewing machine is a girl’s best friend!’ Remember that song? My best friend is Jennie and my best cyber-friend is Barb.

C-Cake or Pie: Pie – Lemon Meringue, apple, apple & apricot, apple & raspberry…….

D-Day: Every day is good except the days I have to go to the dentist.

E- Essential Item: My washing machine, I remember how horrible it was when I first got married 40 years ago and had to wash by hand, my knuckles were raw.

F- Favorite Color: Blue with Lavender coming a close second.

G-Gummi Bears or Worms: Neither, I don’t often eat sweets but I eat chocolate every day.

H-Home town: Nottingham, England

I- Indulgences: Custard donuts and pork crunch.

J- January or July?: July – the garden still looks good and usually it’s warm and sunny.

K-Kids: Colin, he’s 38, married and still I worry about him!!!

L-Life is incomplete without: my home.

M- Marriage Date: April 6th 1968

N- Number of Siblings: Two sisters and two brothers.

O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges, especially navels or blood oranges.

P- Phobias or Fears: Spiders – I even find it difficult looking at pictures of them.

Q- Quote: ‘Be completely humble and gentle: be patient, bearing with one another in love.’ (Ephesians 4:2) Unfortunately I’m not always like this but strive to be.

R- Reason To Smile: My little dog – he’ll do something really silly or cute and I can’t help but smile. When someone admires something I’ve done or made.

S- Season: Spring, when everything looks new and fresh but also winter, I love to see the trees looking like silhouettes against a misty background.

T- Tag Three: Barb, Lori and Kristine

U- Unknown fact about me: I have a huge, embarrassing mole on my stomach!!!

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: Tried being a vegetarian but can’t cope without my meat.

W- Worst Habit: I sometimes wash my hands so often they become red raw and really hurt, can’t stand the thought of germs on my hands – I know it’s silly!

Y-Your favorite food: A good dinner, meat, potatoes, veg and gravy.

Z: Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius.

A Treat For Me

I've always had difficulty in the past treating myself to things I don't 'need' - I'm sure many of you will understand this. One area that I always felt was a bit over-indulgent and extravagant was buying myself a Woods of Windsor gift box. Last week I saw this box of lavender scented goodies and I just had to have it. It smells gorgeous and looks beautiful - even the box is gorgeous. So far I can't bring myself to remove things from the box, I just keep opening the lid and sniffing!!!

Colonial Pocket

The sewing group I'm in has occasional challenges. This month the challenge is to make a colonial pocket. These were apparently used before the invention of pockets in clothes. They were tied around the waist underneath the top layer of clothing, this also made them a secure way to carry personal items. Often they were richly embroidered. The one I've made is from calico with applique. The applique I used is from a piece of flowered fabric ironed on to Bondaweb/Wonderunder, then I've blanket stitched around each flower and added a few bullion stitches for the flower centres.

Lucky Find

I haven't posted for over a week because I've been away in the Lake District. We had a great time, the weather was beautifully sunny and the house we stayed in had some fabulous views of Windermere. Of course while I was there I not only went for walks, on boat trips and general sight seeing, I visited every charity shop we came across. That's where I found this very pretty set of teacups, saucers and plates - six of each. I'm not sure how old it is, not very I think, I can't seem to find one with this pattern on the internet sites, it's a Johnson Bros Old English but none I saw had this particular rose pattern on it.

Thanks

Thank you Tales from an o.c. cottage, nyperosa and charityinalaska, for you nice comments about the clematis I showed and also thanks ahmui for admiring my cats. I have thanked Melissa and Mia for their comments but, being new to blogging, I'm not sure of the etiquette for letting you all know that I appreciate your comments, especially those of you who don't have a blog for me to leave a comment on.

Clematis

We have this Clematis Montana Rubens growing over our garage, I think it has been here for about fifteen years. Every year it has an unbelievable amount of flowers on it and it has grown HUGE. This picture is just a small part of it. When the sun shines on it the perfume is absolutely gorgeous and I can stand there for ages just breathing it in.

Clematis Close-up

The flowers are a lovely pinkish white with yellow centres.

Bullion Stitch

Some stitchers find bullion stitch and french knots difficult to master but it's typical of me to be able to do them quite easily. Ask me to turn up a hem though and I say I don't do that sort of stitching - I hate hems!!! I saw an embroidery recently that was a garden scene all done in french knots, it just looked like a pointillist painting and I want to try this myself.

Blackberries

My son was here this evening with his wife, they came for dinner. While he was here he showed me how to take a photo with my digital camera so that there wouldn't be a glare when I photographed something that was behind glass. This is the result, which I'm pleased with. I stitched this a couple of years ago. At first I wasn't very pleased with the leaves. They are stitched with rayon thread and I didn't follow the instructions for the colours that came with the kit, they just didn't look right so I used my own judgement with the colour and decided they look ok. The blackberries are stitched exactly according to the kit and they really do look like real berries.

Tray Cloth & Tea Cups

These pretty tea cups are from a charity fair I attended last year. Since I bought them I've noticed that charity shops and fairs often have part tea sets for sale and I now have quite a collection of them. Well, I had to make some tray cloths and this one shown here is made from calico with a crocheted lace edging. Eventually I will probably embroider it.

Hussif

When I'd made this hussif (also known as housewife or sewing roll) I went a bit mad and made eight more! Most have been given away though, if I kept everything I made I'd have to have a storage room as well as a craft room. These little hussifs are very useful, I have one that I take with me when I'm away from home and I enjoy just using it as well as it being practical.

Vintage

I'm not sure if this is a nightgown case or a pillow case. It belonged to my husband's grandmother so it's quite old but I've no ideas how old. It did have ribbon woven through it but I think this was silk and it has disintegrated. It is so pretty.

Sewing Set

My favourite flower to stitch is lavender, I love the colour, I love doing bullion stitch, it's an easy flower to stitch and I love the smell of lavender. The bees on this one were the first insects I'd had a go at stitching and they were quite simple to do. After I'd stitched the pincushion piece I used the inside cardboard from a roll of sticky tape and attached the embroidery to it with double sided tape (the bottom was covered first in the same way and it was stuffed with wadding). The join is hidden with the ribbon. It turned out nice and I've wanted to make another pincushion this way but sticky tapes seems to last a long time so I've not had another cardboard roll to do it with yet.

Dolly

Sorry this photo is a bit dark. I've made a few rag dolls over the years, this one has very thin legs and it looks like she has varicose veins her legs are so lumpy!

Painted Background

An embroidery done on a painted polycotton background.

Elf Slipper

It's only recently that I've started to use felt for my stitching projects. This little slipper was fun to make, I did make another one to complete the pair, they are now with a lady who wanted them for one of her dolls that she collects.

Teapot

I've got a small collection of tea cups, saucers and plates that I have on display in my sitting room. Sometimes I use them but mostly they are for decoration. Anyway, I've been on the lookout for a pretty teapot that would fit in with the roses theme and I found this one in a charity shop last week. It only cost 80p (about $1.50 US) so it was a bargain, the lid is a bit crazed but I don't care.

Biscornu

Cross-stitching isn't my favourite style of hand stitching, I can spend as much time unpicking as I can stitching. For some reason I find the counting difficult to follow. I had to unpick the stitching on this biscornu several times before I got it right.