Sweetly Stitched

We celebrated Mothering Sunday last weekend here in the UK. My mother is 92 and not in good health so apart from flowers there is nothing she really wants. But I wanted to stitch something for the occasion and as I'd lost my phone case the week before decided to make one.  I based my make on a project for an eyeglasses case in Amy Sinibaldi's Sweetly Stitched Handmades

so I can fit it into the 2017 Sewing Book Challenge over on Instagram. However I have changed the design a bit by decorating the front with some sewing illustration. I've a Pinterest board of mid-century czechoslovakian matchbook labels - such wonderful designs - and adapted this boy and girl to fit in with the Mothers Day theme. I haven't tried to translate but guess these two labels are encouraging a healthy diet but I changed the cabbage into a bunch of flowers and the dish of yogurt(?) into a nice cuppa!

I liked the project so much I just had to try a few more and this time did use Amy's design. Pretty happy with how they turned out. And of course they don't have to be for glasses. My phone fits perfectly into one and I'm sure you can think of other uses - a few sewing notions or crochet hooks for crafting on the go comes to my mind. I like to have a few small items on hand for gifting and these fit the bill nicely.

After all that stitching I awarded myself a Mothers Day treat of a Sunday afternoon walk by the Alwen Reservoir.

After watching an item on BBCs Gardeners World the Friday before I was on the lookout for Lichens and Mosses as I seen lots there before. I wasn't disappointed - just look at those colours!

Then in the evening it was lovely to see that very same area featured on another BBC programme Countryfile.

PS - I found my phone case under a chair a few days later whilst looking for something else!!! Isn't it always the way! 😄

Post Haste Challenge Bag

 

On the last day of the month I'm fitting in my single project for the monthly 2017 Sewing Book Challenge over on Instagram. I only managed one challenge make in February - why does this month always seem to fly by so quickly? It is only 2 days shorter than the other months!!

The Long Handled Bag pattern is from Sew Illustrated by Minki Kim and Kristin Esser and is a gift for a sister whose life has suddenly been turned upsidedown - and not in a good way. I'm hoping the cheerful print and gingham will in some way brighten the dark days she is going through at the moment - and also be useful for carrying little comfort essentials on hospital trips.

Although I used the bag pattern straight from the book I changed the surface decoration as I was bowled over by the gorgeous Stitched Rose Bag Minki blogged last week and tried a simplified version of her design. Because I wanted to get the bag finished quickly I used a patchwork "cheater print" from LECIEN I'd been hoarding for a year or so. And I had a large reel of woven braid found in a charity shop which was just the right colours and the perfect width for the handles.

I used stamps for the flower embroidery, though I didn't actually stamp on the fabric but used a light box to trace the outline image on the stamp set's acetate holding sheet straight onto the linen with a Frixon pen.

And I added a bit of colour with Copic markers - if you try this be careful to colour with the lightest touch and pale colours so as to prevent any bleeding over the stitched lines. It all came together very nicely and was finished in one day - though I have to admit rather late in the day! Now I just need to get it to the Post Office post haste!

Winter into Spring?

February is here and of course Valentine's Day is all over the place. I don't join in the sending and receiving of cards/gifts on the day but a friend asked me to make a couple of small love tokens for her daughter and a dear friend of her mother's so I turned once again to the wonderful Minki Kim and took my inspiration from her Valentine's Day Tags post.  There's a key ring for the daughter and a bookmark for the friend.  Hope they suit.

I do rather feel this yearly celebration of romance marks a turn in the season - especially as the sun has returned to the very bottom of the garden for an hour or two in the mornings. But of course its still cold and winter may well have something in store for us before we can definitely celebrate spring. However the sunlight on the old brick edging and spying one or two of my resident flock of sparrows with feathers and other nesting materials in their beaks is a cheering sight.

So, I wish all you lovebirds a Happy Valentine's Day next week and trust you will receive the appropriate love token.  When I was young we all hoped for an anonymous card from a secret admirer - I never got one but how times have changed!

Picture taking woes!

I finished another project for the Sewing Book Challenge last week and it was another requested gift - this time to cheer my friend's niece who is at college in far away London and missing her home in North Wales.

Its another make from my favourite Sew Illustration, an embroidered needlebook.  I made a pincushion to match and added the recipient's name.

January is not a good time in my house for taking photos of my makes. Even on sunny days the houses opposite shade my windows. I sometimes add my daylight lamp but for some reason it still doesn't make a decent photo so I usually resort to Windows photo editor. But often even that doesn't produce a photo I'm pleased with.

 
I had such problems with this photo of two zip purses this week. Even now I'm not happy with it. I think its something to do with the thread I used - a dark one for the duck and light for the lamb. Too much contrast for the camera.  I found inspiration for the little animals in Francoise's lovely book illustrations. I've loved her books for some time and always thought her simple shapes would make good embroidery motifs.  I'll be trying some more.


Anyway - January is almost over and the sun is rising higher in the sky every week. I'm looking forward to the time when it rises above the houses on the other side of the street and will fill my sewing room with light.
 

Yesterday was sunny and cold - a perfect winter day.  I went for my favourite walk and visited some of my favourite trees. And on the sunny side of the lane the snowdrops were in bloom.

 
These are always the earliest to flower - those in the garden won't come out for another couple of weeks and by then we'll be half way through February and definitely looking forward to Spring!

2017 - a year for some crafty challenges?

Firstly I want to thank you, Julie, Anja, Yve and Simone, for you kind and encouraging comments on my last post. Especially as I never get round to reciprocating on your blogs, though I do visit honestly! I love you guys! :o)

As always I/we start the new year full of intention and enthusiasm, which usually fizzles out by the end of January.  However I have not made resolutions this year but have signed up for a couple of challenges. I've already mentioned Minki Kim's 2017 Pincushion Sew-a-Long and have so far notched up at least one of each design. There's still a couple of weeks before the end of January when the SAL ends and I know I won't be able to resist a few more - yes they are addictive but what do you do with a mountain of pincushions!

Another challenge I've signed up for will last a bit longer - until the end of 2017 in fact.  Like me Carla Peicheff has a shelf of craft books full of wonderful projects seldom utilised. I have to admit I've at least twice as many volumes on my shelves (well at my great age I expect I've been collecting many more years than Carla!) all of which contain at least one project I've intended to make. So the challenge is to make at least one thing from a book on that shelf each month.

And guess what, I've already made two this month!!! It helps when I have some reason for making and I'd been asked to make for a new baby.  So I dipped into Amy Sinibaldi's lovely book Sweetly Stitched Handmades and made the cute teddy bear nursery cushion and a ruffled bib.  I know only that baby is a girl named Mia so do hope these will be to the parents' taste.

There is one more challenge signed up to and its one I've made for myself.  That is NOT to buy ANY fabric, yarn, or haberdashery in 2017. If you could see my sewing room you would have a fit (sorry - I'm certainly not going to share any photos of it here or anywhere else)! Something needs to be done! So unless I absolutely have to buy something, like plain linen or interfacing or something else absolutely necessary for a particular project, I'm not going to be beguiled into buying that oh-so-pretty fabric, that bargain price yarn or anything else I covet on someone's IG feed or blog or pinterest board.

In fact I started off well in December and made all my Christmas gifts from stuff I already had in my huge stash. These makeup brush travel rolls were made for my often travelling nieces and were created from pieces from my scrap bin and braid that was used to tie sets of teatowels I'd bought at Primark earlier in the year. I did however have to buy the wooden toggle buttons. This project is from another favourite book Sew Illustrated.

Now I've got the bug I'm looking for a couple more challenges to keep me busy.  Let me know if you see a good one.

Happy New Creative Year!

Wishing anyone who reads this a Happy, Creative, Peaceful and above all Safe 2017! Its been a pretty awful year for the world and it hasn't been too good for this blog either. I've toyed with the idea of closing it down but there's so much of my life over the past 8 years recorded here I'm lothed to do it. So I'm going to try a different tack in 2017 and write shorter posts but more of them.

I became infatuated with "sewing illustration" in the second half of 2016 and have even bought myself a new sewing machine for Christmas, one more suited to this style of machine embroidery (I just can't get on with free motion - I need more control!)  So to start off the new year, a new sew-a-long from the wonderful Minki Kim. Want to join in? Here's a link to the details: http://www.minkikim.com/pinchushion-2017-sewalong/

Back soon!

Supermoon Monday

Okay! We've had all our September family birthdays; we've had Halloween, and Bonfire Night; and this last week has seen Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday passing in their turn. Every year I get the feeling this is the right time to turn thoughts to the festive season and gift ideas. And tonight there was a supermoon which, apparently, was the largest since 1948, which just happens to be the year I was born!  I think its an omen! Tomorrow let the stitching begin!

I have made a start - I took some inspiration from Minki and Kristin's fabulous book Sew Illustrated and stitched a couple of coaster sets using patterns in the book.  Seeing photos on my Instagram account my sister ordered her Christmas gift and now I have a suspicion "coasters" will be written against quite a few names on my gift list this year! And they look so nice tied up with a matching gift tag don't you think!.

I chose some suitable images from my stamp collection and a piece of lovely red gingham for the Christmas coaster set. Its easy to transfer designs to the fabric by stamping them with a light neutral colour ink like grey or brown and machine stitching over the inked lines. However my preferred way to transfer the patterns is to use the images printed on the stamps' acetate holding sheet and trace them with an erasable pen. Use a light box if you have one or, in the traditional way, tape to a window. Outline stamps work best.

I've also made some bookmarks using stamps.  They are perfect little personal extras to slip in with a gift book - and who doesn't enjoy a new book at Christmas. Now, I need a little Pinterest browsing to fill up some of those other empty spaces on my 'to-make' gift list. Time is slipping past so quickly.... I thought I was writing this post at the beginning of the month but suddenly find its already half way through!!! Agh!!

I bought another gadget!!

I can't resist a gadget - its my Dad's fault, he had to have the latest gadget, but then in his day (sadly he died 20 years ago) there were no electronic knick knacks to fill pockets and bags. Dad bought gadgets for the garden and kitchen - a strimmer, toasted sandwich maker, soda stream, etc. I've inherited his love of little machines and when I saw this one on Pinterest I so wanted it! I do love the Knitting Nancy of my childhood and have a few - a couple of dolls and a red topped mushroom and I remember using the empty cotton reel with four nails in the top.  But I've been asked to do something for the charity shop's Halloween window display and had an idea for bunting made of long strings of knitting with small woolly pumpkins hanging down.  But I'll show these later. In the meantime I made these woolly bracelets.

You can knit SO FAST with this little gadget. It would have taken me days to knit strings long enough for two large shop windows with a Knitting Nancy but I did them in a couple of hours!  Wonderful! Bracelets take about 5 minutes and are just right for this cooler time of year. Here's one on me!

And I've tagged some bracelets for sale using my lovely new stamp from Clarise Crafts. Been wanting to order one for ages and when I saw there was already a design featuring a dandelion clock I knew it was meant for me - Plowmen's Clocks - get it?!

The knitter is quite easy to use once you've realised how it works. There's a video demo here using a different brand machine but it works in exactly the same way. It is quite mesmerising to watch the stitches forming.

I do have a couple of tips learned whilst trying to get started however:-

1. On the first turning of the handle make sure the yarn is hooked on only two opposite hooks.After that the yarn will be taken up by all four hooks.

2. Watch the yarn and turn slowly until you are sure the stitches are forming correctly - you can hear a little click as each stitch is pulled off the hook and through the stitch below. After that you can turn faster.

3. Attach the heavy weight as soon as you've got going to pull the knitting down - otherwise you'll end up with a big tangle at the top of the tube.

4. Make sure you unwind the yarn from the ball as you go and let it feed through without any tension. As soon as you feel any resistance through the handle unwind more yarn.

Happy French Knitty!!

Summery Outdoors Stitching

 

We're enjoying a rather changeable July here in the UK. Sunshiny hot days, the odd heavy thundery shower, and days when the breeze is just too cool to sit out.  But on evenings when I can I like to sit on my Mum's front porch with a bit of stitching, watching the birds and the hedgehogs gobble up the bird seed I've just scattered on the lawn.

This week I've been busy with a small patchwork project from that talented duo at A Spoonful of Sugar.  Who doesn't need a small sewing kit to take on travels - either when holidaying or crafting away from home.  The pattern is an instant PDF download here.

I'm on my third kit already - the first two being gifts for my traveling sewing sisters and the third will be for me.  Such small scale patchwork comes together very quickly and if you enjoy a bit of hand sewing the whole project can be put together without a sewing machine if you choose.  I did resort to my machine for the outside quilting and stitching on the binding but its really not needed.

And sitting out at this time of year I cannot ignore the lovely sweet scent of the Mock Orange (Philadelphus). One boundary of the garden is lined with the shrub and its in full bloom at the moment. It doesn't last very long and soon there will be a shower of confetti-like petals every time the breeze blows. So I'm making the most of it.

Stitching, Baking and Colouring

 

Thank you my lovely readers for your suggestions on fabric tray motifs (see my last post). I think I'm going to go with Anja's suggestion of a strawberry - not least because it should be quite easy to sew! I am still on the fabric tray kick and this week as a variation made this little patchwork coaster set I found in Rashida Coleman-Hale's lovely book I (HEART) Patchwork. Quite time consuming but a lovely gift idea - I'm going to give these to my sister for a house-warming gift as she is moving home (and country) soon.

This week I also tried Mary Berry's recipe for Mini Apple and Almond cakes - it looked so simple on her TV programme last month. I had to buy some baking rings though and stupidly bought the wrong size so though the recipe should make 6 cakes I only got 4. At this time of year there are no cooking apples from the garden so I bought a couple of whoppers from the supermarket - enough for about 20 cakes!!!

I didn't have any flaked almonds for the topping but found a bag of ratafias on the cupboard and crushed them over the tops instead. Yummy with Greek yoghurt or Creme Fraiche!

And it had to happen didn't it! I'm such a sucker for the latest craze in the papercrafting world and THE latest must haves are the Kuretake Clean Colour Pens. Yes, I've started a small collection. I toyed with the idea of getting them from Japan as they are cheaper over there of course but there is that long long wait for them to arrive.  However I ended up buying them from my favourite on-line pen store Cult Pens, which has a really good price with free postage if you spend over £10 - and they usually arrive the next day.

So I can build up a collection slowly by purchasing a few every couple of weeks or so.  There are plenty of reviews on line if you are curious to know what this craze is all about.  I recommend Jennifer Mcguire's blog posts and videos here  and apologise if you catch the craze watching them!!!

A Little Free Stitchy Time

I saw these little fabric trays at A Spoonful of Sugar and thought they would be just right for my Mum's 91st birthday as she is rather untidy by the bedside, with sweets, medication, pens, headache sticks, inhalers, tissues, biscuits, etc, etc, etc, jumbled all over the bed and bedside table. At least the very small items could be gathered in a couple of these.

I tried a patchwork one for variety and then I thought these small fabric spaces were the perfect spot for a little free motion stitching. I took a couple of classes earlier in the spring and really should practise and build on what I learned there. I tried a couple of floral motives and really started enjoying the stitching instead of being rather afraid of lowering those sewing machine teeth!

I like how they turned out so now I'm going to move on to some other motifs - birds, apples, pears and cherries are calling to me!  And Mum liked her gift and is at least putting some of her bits and bobs in them.  We'll see how long that lasts!  I crocheted a jam jar cover for her pens and pencils too as she's a great crossword fan and can never find a pen!