Stitiching at Sugar Plum Tearoom

My friend and I treated ourselves to a lovely evening of creative stitching with the fabulously talented Vicky Trainor of The Linen Garden yesterday.  She held a workshop at our favourite Sugar Plum Tearoom at Homeward Bound.

What a lovely time we had cutting, stitching, chatting and enjoying tea and cake and we all created something beautiful. 

There's nothing like getting together with other like-minded crafters to give yourself a boost of creativity and I think we'll all be rifling through our fabric stashes today looking for bits and pieces to make another brooch that will of course be better than the first.

But just look at the beautiful creations we all took home!  A whole gardenful of prettiness!

I'm really looking forward to the next workshop - whenever that is - but in the meantime Vicky now has her own mini-shop within Homeward Bound to inspire and delight. 

And of course, even if you are not a stitcher or even a local, Sugar Plum is always worth a visit when in the area - afternoon tea there is to die for! :)

An Easter Af-Fair

Yet again I've been neglecting my blog - no wonder my audience as fallen away (according to bloggers statistics) but I want you, my faithful followers, to know how very much I do appreciate your visits even if there is no time to comment - and I know how hard it is to keep up with commenting on everything we see in blogland no matter how much we enjoy and admire the talent out there.

Anyway, last Saturday was my first fair of the year, Vintage in the Vale Easter Fair at Trelawnyd Memorial Hall.  Yet again Gill and her team pulled off an inspiring, creative and happy event through sheer hard work and meticulous attention to detail.  For the first time there was a professional photographer in attendance and I do hope she won't mind me using a couple of her photos here.  In all the usual last minute panic I didn't photo-record what I'd taken with me so I was delighted with her photo of my pompom Easter blooms which sold out by early afternoon. :o)  Thank you Love Luella Photography!  You can see the whole album on my facebook page should you be interested.

Here's my stall all set up and (almost!) ready to go.  Its such a friendly event and it was lovely meeting up with other lovely regular stallholders and meeting some new ones.  Here are a few to inspire you.

My lovely VIV neighbour Nia whose gorgeous shop Wish in Rhuddlan High Street is not to be missed if you are in the area. 

Emma's colourful Hobo Heart Collective stall full of reclaimed wooden delights.

The Way to Blue - Sarah's beautiful blue cyanotypes.  Don't you just love that pop of yellow from the daffodils.

Woolly wonders from Lost in the Wood - it was Laura's first time at VIV but I surely hope it wasn't the last!

And I'm not missing out all the stalls full of hard to resist vintage goodness!  I do wish I'd got round everyone with my camera but take it from me they were ALL fabulous.  The next fair is on 2nd August so plenty of time to arrange your diary if you are anywhere near the North East Wales coast this summer.  You won't regret a visit, not least for a nice sit down with tea and cake enjoying vocalist Paula Rose singing all those iconic songs from the 30s and 40s.

See you there?????

Nordic/FairIsle Shawl Finished!

I've finished my Nordic Shawl - I was hoping to finish it during our short break away two weeks ago but it didn't happen.  I found the shawl pattern on Annette's gorgeous blog My Rose Valley and it seems to have become rather an obsession with many crocheters.  I'm a bit obsessed myself and am already planning my next shawl.

The original pattern uses double knit but I was determined I was not going to buy yarn for my shawl as my stash mountain is threatening to take over my small craft room!  But I didn't have enough of anything suitable to be the main colour, ie 250gms.  So I decided to make my shawl using this vintage 2ply fair isle wool I bought some years ago in a charity shop.  Its a lovely silvery grey - but of course is much finer than double knit!

So I had to add lots of extra rows and stitches to the pattern - which in case you need to know, was absolutely no problem at all apart from it taking a lot more time to complete my shawl.  The colours for the striped panel were also skeins of various 2ply and 3ply yarns I've collected.

 

 

So I'm rather pleased with my shawl - its a cosy extra layer to put on when I'm sitting still crafting either over my shoulders or on my knees, and I'm very glad I went with the vintage yarn option.  My next shawl will be in double knitting however and I have a summery version in mind. 

Do take a look at Annette's blog - even if you are not a fan of crochet it will make your mouth water!

On the Eighth Day of Christmas.....

Thought you might like to see the fabulous sunset we had yesterday - the colours were so strong they reflected onto the clouds on the other side of the vale.  There was a sprinkling of snow on the hills too.  Beautiful!

Its time to get out the decorations from their long hibernation under the stairs.  I've been collecting old decorations for years and I'm very fond of these 50s transparent plastic ones I remember we had on our tree when I was a child.  I got these pictures the other day in that short window of sunlight I'm treated to around midday in my front room. 

The reindeer is my favourite design but I love them all even if others think they are a bit naff!

I'm still collecting - mostly on ebay, but they are becoming quite difficult to find. 

I remember these plastic swallows too....... 

and the tinsel stars.  The human brain is a strange thing - I wonder why these decorations from long ago invoke such strong memories of my childhood.

And who would have thought old bits of plastic could look so beautiful! 

An Embroidered Wedding Day

I made this wedding memento recently for a colleague.  Yesterday was her wedding day so now I can post without worrying she will see it before the day.  I was inspired by these lovely embroidered hoops from Little A Designs, though instead of cutting up one of my tablecloths I used an old embroidered doily.  I added some of my crochet flowers and buttons after stitching the happy couple's names and the date.  This would be a nice idea for a baby's birth too I think - and it just so happens another colleague is about to give birth any day now!

I made a card too and used my Very Vintage Florals stamp set from Wplus9, which matches up with my embroidery very nicely.  I hope Dot and Peter had a wonderfully happy day and didn't melt in the heat!

I must admit I'm finding the heat rather oppressive at the moment and look forward to a couple of hours sitting on my mother's front porch in the evening.  Watching the birds on the lawn, getting on with my crochet, and enjoying the wonderful scent of the Mock Orange (Philadelphus) each evening is a nice way to cool off after a long hot day.  And for some reason those pretty white blossoms always remind me of wedding days.

Beautiful bobbins

Pictured above are some of the vintage embroidery and crochet yarns I've been adding to my stash lately.  I did buy/collect them with the intention of actually stitching and hooking with them - but its oh so hard.  With new yarn its easy - you use it and if you love it you buy some more, but these bobbins are at least 60 years old and are not easy to find.

Lots of them are silk or artificial silk and I also like yarns labelled rayon, which I was pleased to find is made from cellulose fibre and not completely created by some industrial process.  The colours are soft and beautiful and have a lovely sheen.

However its daft to have them just sitting there, looking beautiful but gathering dust.  So I'm using them sparingly in my crocheted garlands and hopefully they will last out until I find some more.  The little crochet motifs have plain crochet cotton centres and vintage yarn petals.  I make them into a garland by crocheting a chain and attaching them as I go along, spacing them out with natural beechwood beads.  If you want to try something similar don't forget to thread the beads onto the yarn before you start hooking your chain.

Here's the pattern for the motifs - you can of course make them in a single colour.  (UK crochet terms)

Chain 6 and join into a ring with a slip stitch

Chain 1 for first double crochet and then 14 double crochet into the ring.  Join with a slip stitch to first double crochet.

Chain 1 for double crochet, *4 chain, miss 2 chain, double crochet into next stitch.  Repeat from * around and slip stitch into first chain (5 chain spaces created)

Fasten off yarn here if changing colours (or carry on if making a single colour motif).

Attach new colour to a chain space and 7 double crochet into same space.  Slip stitch into double crochet.  *7 double crochet into chain space.  Slip stitch into double crochet.  Repeat from * around and fasten off.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus Pawb!

Well I may have said this last month, but really! can someone tell me where February went??  I know its a short month but this is ridiculous!  Anyway, Happy St David's Day to all my fellow countrymen whether at home or abroad.  As children I remember we made and wore paper leeks at school but the daffodil is much prettier and now its the emblem of the Marie Curie charity as well, I wear my latest daffodil pin on St David's Day.  Each year they are slightly different in design and as I never throw them away I now have quite a little collection.

I'm always on the lookout for anything with a Welsh theme when I'm browsing the charity and vintage shops and this sweet little daffodil brooch is my latest acquisition, found last weekend at  Becnicks Wonder Emporium in Chester.  Its plastic or Bakelite and I can't make up my mind whether its 50s or 30s.  I love it anyway.  The Welsh lady in trousers vase is a curiosity I've had for some time.  It looks like a lady but it may be a man I suppose - I've not seen anything like it anywhere else!

However, these are definitely ladies..... my Nain (grandmother) is 8th from the left in the middle row.


And finally......

To be born in Wales,
Not with a silver spoon in your mouth,
But, with music in your blood
And with poetry in your soul,
Is a privilege indeed. 

                                                                                                 In Passing, Brian Harris

Back to the 70s

I just had to have this portable typewriter when I saw it at a Collectables fair in Chester last week - why I don't know.  But it was very cheap, in lovely clean condition and being sold by a charming Japanese gentleman who reminisced with me about learning to touch type on those heavy old manual machines in the 1970s.  And there is something very pleasing about the look of the font, the typos, misalignments and irregular pressure on the keys, not to mention the jolly  ping of the bell at the end of the line.


To practise my typing I typed out a couple of recipes for my file and added some stamping to decorate the page.  After 30 years and more of electric typewriters, word processors and finally PCs in the workplace I need a lot of practise to get back my manual typing skills - such as they were!  The wonderful Typewriter Heaven thinks it dates from the late 70s.

 


Carrying on the retro theme, I nabbed this electric blue Sparklets soda syphon in a charity shop a few weeks ago for £3.  When I got it home I was relieved to find the bulbs to charge it up are freely available on line.  Such a satisfying shape don't you think and I love the vibrant colour.  This design is a Hostmaster and I can just imagine it sitting on the sideboard at a 70s/80s dinner party.  And surely there must have been one on Beverly and Laurence's drinks bar in Abigail's Party, though I can't see one in the photos.


Recipe stamps: Darkroom Door's From the Kitchen

Vintage images for modern cards

I've been collecting vintage homecraft magazines for a long time now and recently discovered a new to me title, Good Needlework.  Published in the 1930s, the pages contain many illustrations suitable for use on greetings cards - especially cards for those who like the old fashioned or vintage style.  

I scanned these pretty cover images, manipulated and resized them, then printed and cut them out to fit on my cards.  Of course I had to add a little suitable stamping too. 

I've put some of the images on an A4 sheet so that anyone can use them -  they are long out of copyright.  Right click on the image and then click on 'open in a new tab'.  You can then enlarge and save the page to your computer and either print or use digitally.  If you have any problem downloading let me know and I can email you a PDF.  I'd love to see if anyone does make anything with them. 

Knit Me a Man Please!

I went through a phase of buying old knitting patterns a few years ago and looking through them last night I was reminded of Christmas 2005 when my sister jokingly said "knit me a man" when I asked her if there was anything she would like for her gift.  So I did!  And here he is photographed just after I finished him and when my sister unwrapped him.  She named him Jim, after my Mother's wartime GI boyfriend. He's an airman - I had wanted to knit the soldier but didn't have the right colour yarn for his uniform at the time.

In case you would like to knit yourself or a friend a man for Christmas, here is the pattern. As with the cut-out crib in my last post, you can download the images by right clicking and saving to your hard disk.

As you can tell, the pattern was published during WW2 and I find the lines below each doll pattern quite touching.  I can't bear to think how many Daddies didn't come home after the war.  But in jollier mood, here's another from the same era - Father Christmas and one of his Gnomes.