Sampler

I've got several finished cross-stitch projects that haven't been made into anything.  They were stitched mainly because I like the design.  This one is a free one from Mon Ami Pierre.  I haven't done any embroidery for months now, I need good light to enjoy it and the weather has been so dull...

All winter I've been making things on my sewing machine, mostly patchwork or doll clothes.  Maybe now that spring is almost here and we get a bit more sunshine, I'll start embroidering again.

Hand Quilting

I recently had a go at hand piecing and hand quilting.  At one time I would have been too impatient to sit and do this so something must have changed in the way I think!?!

This little quilt only measure just over fifteen inches square and I can't see me doing anything by hand that is much bigger than this.  But then again, bed sized quilts are just not for me, these little ones satisfy my need to do patchwork.

Heart Swap

Here's what I received from Karen for the heart swap we were in at a Yahoo group....

Karen's embroidery is gorgeous, I think it is the best example of embroidery I've ever received.  All the other lovely things she sent me were the extras we include in our swaps - two cross-stitch charts, silk thread, wool thread, gorgeous lace and some Maple Candie.  What an enjoyable swap this was - thanks Karen.

Not much blogging going on here again.  My front bedroom has been stripped out in preparation for my new wardrobes to be fitted.  This means that everything that was in there is in the rest of the house, there isn't one room that is tidy.  By tomorrow we won't be able to use our bed either, so one of us will be sleeping in the little bedroom and one of us on the fold up bed that will be downstairs.  This should be for about a week and I just know it's going to drive me crazy!!!

January

I don't think I've ever felt so lethargic as I've felt this January.  I think it is because of the weather being so cold and dull.  It's time I made an effort to get myself going again.  Here are a couple of things I've made recently...

A heart for a Valentine swap I'm in, this was very easy to do and turned out quite pretty.  Because I wasn't sure who I'd be swapping with and I wanted to get the hearts made in plenty of time, I also made this pot holder...

It wasn't until I took the picture that I noticed one edge isn't lined up properly, good job my swap partner wanted the fancy one!  Here's a picture of the hearts I've received in previous swaps...

I also bought a new doll, this one is very dainty compared to my Gotz one...

When I sat them together I decided that they looked just like Bridgette and Marie, two of the daughters in Medium, starring Patricia Arquette.

I sent for another book from Amazon, it's called Prairie Children and Their Quilts, but I have a horrible feeling I won't get it.  Three times the delivery date has been changed, it's now due in February, something to do with waiting for new stock to come in.  Never mind, there are plenty of other choices.

Once again, I apologise for some comments not showing up, I don't know why they keep going into the moderation page, I don't moderate comments so this is a puzzle to me.  It's not like they are going to the spam folder either.

New Hobby or Second Childhood?

What woman in her right mind buys herself a doll?  Well, it seems I'm not alone giving in to the temptation to buy a doll to make clothes for.  The doll I chose was a Gotz Precious Day Girl from here.  The American Girl doll, apart from being very expensive, has a rather toothy look that I didn't like, the Gotz doll has a more neutral look to her.  The clothes my doll came in were very well made but too modern.  I want make the more old fashioned style.

The shoes she came in don't go with the look I want, that is something else I'll make.  So, after making this first dress I decided she needed a nightdress...

These patterns are definitely not for the beginner, there is as much work in them as there is in a real person pattern.  But I think they are lovely.  Here's where I got these patterns from.

I'm glad to have this new hobby, after all there are only so many cushion covers that I need, I have enough table cloths, aprons, bags etc and I was running out of things to make.  Making doll clothes should keep me busy for quite a while I think.

Dolls Clothes

I've been having fun recently making dolls clothes.  A friend of mine has three granddaughters and they are all getting a doll each for Christmas.  The doll they are getting is similar to the American Girl doll so it's quite a big size.  When my friend said she was going to try and make clothes for them I couldn't help but volunteer to make some too.  I have made a few cloth dolls and I remembered buying a pattern about ten years ago for dolls dresses.  I don't really know why I bought this pattern, I think I just liked how it looked!  Well, when I checked the pattern it is for American Girl.  What a coincidence!!!

The first thing I made was this petticoat.

I found a pattern for it online.

Then I made the vest to match...

Also online was this dress pattern that I made next...

And then this one...

Now that I've had a bit of practise I'll have a go with the pattern I bought.

Sewing Kit

Even though I expect to be quite busy during out trip to Bournemouth, with lots of trips out and walks on the beach, I still have to take a bit of something for those odd moments when there might be nothing to do.  So, I've made up a kit to take with me....

It all fits nicely into the box I decorated a couple of months ago.  Some people take cross-stitch, some take crochet or knitting.  Up until I came across this paper piecing patchwork I didn't have anything that I found really suitable as a take-along project.  And of course I couldn't take my sewing machine with me could I!!!  These hexagons take minimal concentration to assemble and you really can't get them wrong, so there will be no unpicking of mistakes.  As I sat cutting out the card shapes this morning I had an interesting thought, a kit of ready cut out shapes would make a lovely give-away.  I haven't done a give-away for quite some time now, due to circumstances this year, so look out for a give-away in the next few weeks.

Stitching Corner

I spend quite a bit of time sitting here in my kitchen.

You can just about make out all the hexagons I've been producing, there are more than a hundred now, It'll be some time before there are enough to make into a quilt!  The cushion you can see on the chair is one I bought to use on our patio set, not that we've used that very much this last couple of years.  The chair itself has quite a hard seat and I was getting a bit uncomfortable on the posterior, I could just see me explaining to the doctor why I had pressure sores there!  So I thought this cushion would give me a bit of relief.

As well as stitching the hexagons to the card shapes I've been busy getting together the clothes I will need for our upcoming trip to Bournemouth.  After years of self-catering it feels a bit strange to be going to a hotel and I thought I'd better search out some of my decent clothes.  I've got a red jumper and cardigan (£12 for the two at the Sainsbury's 25% off sale) and a red check skirt to go with it.  I haven't worn the skirt for years, I think I've only ever worn it a couple of times, if that.  To travel I've decided on trousers, tee shirt and blouse, got to wear a tee shirt under the blouse, I might get cold, you never know with our weather these days.  Then for trips out during the stay, another pair of trousers, tee shirt, blouse and cardigan.  The trip is only for five days so I think that will be enough apart from underwear and night shirt of course.  That's one advantage of being older, I don't feel so obliged to be so obsessed with looking fashionable.  I'm also taking flat shoes to wear with the skirt, I would never have worn a skirt without wearing heels when I was younger, now I just can't wear them, I go for comfort.

Swaps

The internet has always fascinated me.  I even did an Open University course on the history of it.  It's through the internet that I've 'met' a lot of very interesting and inspirational people.  Often these people come and go for different reasons but isn't that the same in 'real' life anyway.  You all know how I join in with swaps and one particular hand-stitching group I'm in has them regularly.  Here are pictures of two swap packages I've received recently.

This one is an ongoing Secret Sister Swap.  Each month for five months we send a package to our Secret Sister.  They are not supposed to know who we are but being an international group it's a bit difficult to hide our identity!  Above is what my Secret Sister sent for the August package.  She sent more than she should have I think, not that I'm complaining.  The book you see is fabulous, I'm constantly referring to it for ideas.

This package is for the Christmas swap.  We had to send each other things that we could use to make Christmas items.  As usual there were lots of extras included.

It's fun to receive these packages, I wonder if the postmen everywhere wonder why certain people are now receiving regular packages from all over the world. 

More Sewing

This apron will be a Christmas present for a friend who loves rag dolls.  There is no pocket on this one so it was even quicker to make than the other ones.  The printed dolls on the fabric wouldn't allow for a pocket because of where they were placed so, rather than fiddle about and get on my own nerves, I decided this one was fine without.

While I was in a sewing mood I decided to make these decorations

They have an overlapping envelope style back so that scented stuff (word won't come to mind) can be put into them, maybe cinnamon or something.  I've made quite a few of these hangie decorations, they are fun to make and add to my hand-made Christmas look that I like.  I expect I'll be making more because the fabric I have has lots of these pictures to the yard.

Some Sewing, Some Stitching

I must be feeling a bit better because I'm getting more things done.  Grief is a horrible feeling, while it's happening I think to myself "It's something to be got through".  At the time I think the feeling will never go away but it does gradually sort of become 'background noise', then I'll have an hour or so of feeling ok.  I hope for a year of nothing horrible happening, the last few years have been one thing after another and it's dragged me down.

Anyway, here are a couple more sewing/stitching projects I finished this last week.  First is a table runner.  I've stockpiled a ton of cotton fabric while I could afford it, then I've panicked, thinking that I'll never use it all but table runners and aprons are perfect for using up some of my stash.  This table runner is another very quick and easy project

Even with my fab new camera I don't think my photography skills have improved!

For years I've wanted to try free-motion machine embroidery and I intend to give it a serious try this week.  Last week I had a timid go at it and came up with these

A needlecase and pincushion, the flower stems on the left are my first small efforts, the stems are done on my machine then I've added french-knots to the stems.  A good simple starter, no use trying to be too ambitious and putting myself off.

I've also got more aprons planned, one is cut out and waiting to be sewn together.  These aprons seem to have taken over from my obsession with making those handy bags.  I'm also wondering about making pillow cases.  The problem I'm having with starting one of these is the idea of having pillow cases that don't match the rest of my bedding, would it look odd do you think?  Would they make nice gifts or would the recipients not use them if they don't match their bed linen?  I'd love to know what you think about this.  I wonder if square pillow cases would be better, that way ordinary cushion pads could be used and the pillows would be more for decoration on the bed.  That might be a better idea don't you think?

Baking, Stitching and Other Stuff

We had a few day in Norfolk last week.  The weather was quite good considering the really crap August we've had.  I did get a trip out to Taverham, I wanted some Milliners needles and some Christmas card making supplies but couldn't find either but did end up buying stuff from the kitchen shop.  Several years ago I bought a Silverline cake tin, then I bought extra dividers for it (it's one of those tins that you can slot in the sides to make different size cakes).  But, the extra dividers were for the new, bigger sized tin, so I had to buy that too.  Plus I bought some preserving jars.  I'd used up all the recycled jars I had and the ones a friend had given me because of my chutney making.  As well as the rhubarb chutney I've made tomato & marrow and plum & damson.  The damsons were from my own tree, it's the first year this tree has actually produced fruit.  Usually it gets infested with some sort of pest and doesn't do very well.  I don't like spraying pests but this year I just had to, of course I used a spray that wouldn't harm birds but I still felt guilty for doing it.  We did get a few damsons though

We made these Apple & Apricot Treacle Tart Bars today, that dark bit around the edge is lovely and chewy due to the syrup that was in the topping, delicious!  It's got a shortcake base, apple, apricot and sugar stewed together (then pureed) in the middle and is topped with orange zest and juice, syrup and oats.  It was quite a time consuming recipe to do but tastes lovely.

While we were away I stitched this little embroidery, it's to cover the lid of a storage jar for my craft room.  I wanted to do this one because I wanted to stitch some bees, just got to put it on the lid now.

A Quiet House

For 34 years there has been at least one dog in my house.  At one time there were three dogs and a cat.  Now there is no one to bark at the postman or to scramble to sit on my knee.  It feels very strange.  It will take a bit of getting used to.

I have started to get back into a bit of crafting, another pincushion

This one to match a sewing roll I made a while ago.

Yet another pincushion, this one because I wanted to try the spider web roses.  They were very quick to do and I'll definitely be using this stitch a lot.

I also made a button pin

It only took a few minutes to make and is for a swap.  I used wool to embroider the flower, I bought the wool years ago with the intention of trying some crewel work but this is the first time I've actually got round to using it.

I'm also trying to catch up with some 'almost finished' cross stitch pieces.  They are only small designs but have been hanging about for ages.  There is just the border to finish on one piece, then I've got to decide what to do with it, maybe another box top, we'll see.

Pincushions

I've spent the last couple of days making pincushions, amongst doing other things, like cooking, housework, washing etc.  I wanted something sewing related to do on Thursday afternoon when I have friends round for a crafting session.  Well my mind was blank so I asked the handstitching group I'm in for suggestions and Laurie suggested this pincushion idea

After I'd made this one I thought I would have a go making another one that was slightly different and came up with this

and then I had to make a matching scissor fob.  I really enjoyed making these and my friends did too, so it was a successful afternoon of crafting.

When I'm making anything I have to have lots of breaks for cups of tea and a bit of a search around the blogs.  Yesterday I was searching 'pincushions' and came across a pincushion I thought looked like a bit of fun to make so I had to have a go

Apart from handstitching the gap closed after I'd stuffed it, this is all made on the sewing machine so it's really quick - and a lot of fun to look at!

Decorated Box Top

A few weeks ago a friend turned up at my house with a pile of lovely boxes.  They are just the right size for using in crafting, the sort of box that originally contained toiletries mostly, the expensive sort.  The friend knew that I'd find good use for them.  This was a bit of luck for me because I'm entering a decorated sewing box challenge we are having at a group I'm in.  After a lot of thought and blog surfing I came up with this using one of the smaller boxes as a trial effort

You may notice that I've used some of the fabrics that Gillie sent me that I showed in my previous post.  The squares of fabric are stuck on to the calico using Bondaweb, then stitched around using blanket stitch.  The covered button and the lace are stuck on using craft glue.  I've used a combination of double sided sticky tape and craft glue to attached the fabric and the fancy top to the box.  I got a lot of inspiration for my box by looking at French stitching blogs, a few links for their blogs are here on the right.

Swaps Received

Last week I received swaps from two different exchanges, there's nothing like receiving a package in the mail to really cheer you up is there. 

First there was the gorgeous pincushion and fabric from Gillie.  I love the design of this one and the fabric she sent carries on the garden theme of the pincushion which Gillie chose because she know how I love my garden.

Then I received what should just have been a pincushion but included tons of other stitching related stuff from Carla.  I think Carla went a bit over the top with what she sent me, not that I minded at all :)  Carla sent me enough cross-stitch patterns to keep me going for a couple of years, I'm a very slow stitcher!

I love the motivation that these swaps give me.

Project Bag Tutorial

Over the years I've acquired quite a few vintage table cloths and runners, some from my mother's aunt, some from my DH's grandmother and some from fairs I've attended.  Usually they just lie in a drawer, occasionally I use them.  What will happen to them when I go - they probably will get thrown away.  So I decided to make something useful out of some of them and ended up using one for a project bag.

Cut out the piece of cloth you want to use in your project, I cut a piece of card the size I wanted and then drew around it with a water soluble pen. 

Mine measured 8 ¼ inches wide x 6 inches long.

Cut out a piece of coordinating fabric the same width as the embroidered piece and approximately 7 inches long but you can decide how long you want this piece. Sew these two pieces together using a quarter inch seam.  

 

Cut out three pieces of fabric the same size as the embroidered/patterned piece.

I used calico/muslin.

 Sew together as shown.

With the two lengths right sides together and starting at the plain end (this will be the lining), sew around the whole piece leaving a gap for turning.

Turn right side out and sew the gap closed.

Tuck the piece that has the plain fabric inside the piece that has the embroidered/patterned front and plain back.

On the inside of the back, stitch a loop and on the inside of the front, stitch a flat loop, the back loop will pass through the flat loop as the hanger. You can use ribbon or a strip of the fabric for these loops.

Any problems understanding my instructions let me know and I'll help.

Once you've made one of these you'll realise how quick and easy they are and how many decorative ideas you could use.  I've made them in Christmas themed fabric and used them as gift bags.

Life Happens

Remembering Sadie 1920 - 2010, my mother-in-law.

There have been a few cheerful incidents this last couple of weeks and one of them was receiving this give-away from Fiona in Australia

I was only expecting the blackwork box that you can see at the front right but Fiona included all the other beautiful things too.  Thank you Fiona, you are too generous!!!  It's amazing how receiving these things from fellow bloggers adds that bit extra to our lives.  Another example of how the internet can be a good place.  Apart from the occasional virus, when it became the fashion for idiots to try and ruin the internet experience for everyone, I can't say I've had any negative contacts and now that virus checkers and fire walls are much more sophisticated there is less chance of being infected by these morons.  A bit of common sense helps too, where scams and such like are concerned.  It's meeting people like Fiona that make my life more interesting.

So, to celebrate the all-round niceness I've experienced with friends I've made through the internet, I'm having a give-away too.

You can never have enough of these project bags!!!  They are so handy for all those projects that you have on the go or all those bits and pieces that need to be kept together.  This one includes the pincushion and strawberry shaped scissor fob.  The scissor fob is my latest addition to the accessories I enjoy making.  I was going to give a link to the tutorial that I used but of course I can't find it now.

Just leave a comment and I will draw the winner on 6th June

May Showers

Well, the weather has certainly changed.  After a lovely April we now have a cold, northerly wind and heavy showers.  I wanted to get some more plants into the ground but it's just not suitable gardening weather for me.  What have I been doing instead {>(  - getting fed up hearing and reading about the upcoming election for one thing - now that is depressing!!!

I did get a swap finished

Yes, it's yet another project bag set.  The pincushion is the actual swap item but I couldn't resist making it up into a set.  This time I tried the strawberry shaped scissor fob but used the same fabric to make it and added cream felt 'leaves'.  Making this cheered me up a lot.  I love the fabric I used for this, it was one of those bargain lengths I got last time I visited The Fabric Guild in Leicester.

I also gathered together some of the items I'll need for the hutch/dresser challenge on the mini group I'm a member of

I spray painted the furniture cream and I'm making a wedding cake out of Sculpey.  The cake is terrible, mainly because I'm not very good with clay and also because I didn't have any white clay so I'm having to paint brown clay white, I have resorted to spray painting that too.  I think it will look ok for a first go so it will do.  I found a really good Youtube video on how to make a wedding cake but this was after I'd started mine, maybe I'll make another one following the video directions, that is after I buy the proper colour clay!

Stitching Season

Today is dull and cold so I won't be doing any gardening, I'm also a bit tired, I think I need a break from all the physical activity I've enjoyed recently.  I'm amazed at how well my back has behaved, I think going to the chiropractor did help.

It's about this time of year I start thinking about what stitching projects I want to do over the summer.  I spend about one week each month away in our caravan in Norfolk from April - October and always take plenty of stitching projects with me in case of bad weather when I can't get out and about (which, in recent years, has been more often than not).  Last summer it was cross-stitch.  This morning I decided to sort out some charts in readiness for my stitching season and came across quite a few that I had stitched but not used in a finish.  This is a bit of luck really because I have an exchange coming up, I'll be able to use something already stitched if I want to.   Here are three of them.

A free chart from Nathalie

I love this one from Mon Ami Pierre

This one is very pretty from Elizabeth's Designs

You will notice that I like cross-stitch that has alphabets or writing on the design.  I only stitch small cross-stitch designs, it would get on my nerves to do anything big.  I don't stitch anything that will end up as a picture in a frame either, it would be put away and never seen.  I incorporate these small designs into something that can be used, that way I feel that my time hasn't been wasted.