Foragers Stitch Journal HQAL

Posted on October 25, 2026 by craftycreeky

My sewing room feels a bit like the calm at the centre of a storm as we are being battered by the second storm within a matter of days. I’ve just been out and done the quickest prune ever of my two standard roses as they were in danger of breaking off the trunks! There’s already several trees down on the back lane, so my OH is happy collecting firewood for our log burner!

Back to my sewing room, three weeks ago I was almost up to date having nearly finished stitching Septembers page of my Foragers Stitch journal, a monthly SAL from Pretty Fabrics and Trims…

I cracked straight on and finished it a few days later with three more blackberries and a fly stitch border. I think I rounded off a couple of the blackberries too, as they were looking a little square, although looking at it again, maybe the top blackberry could do with a bit of rounding off too!. I like this page, the colours a nice and soft somehow.

This months didn’t arrive until Thursday, it’s usually about this time as we pay each month on the 20th. I was wondering what October’s would be and I was pleased to see it was chestnuts, when I was young we used to roast them on the fire and dip them in salt. One of the signs of winter when I was training in London used to be when the chestnut sellers arrived on Oxford Street with their roasters. You can still buy chestnuts on the markets, I remember it being hard work stabbing through the shell before roasting them.

I’ve started the stitching, having done all the back-stitched letters and I’ve stitched the tree trunk and branches with split stitch. I’m now doing leaves with French knots.

Once the embroidery is done I can stitch the two pages together and quilt and bind them. Then I just need to wait for the next instalment, which I think will be the front cover.

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Deb, Sharon, Margaret , and Daisy

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Stitching in my bag

Posted on October 21, 2026 by craftycreeky

I always have stitching in my handbag, for opportune moments to do a little stitching, train journeys, doctors waiting rooms, cafes…I’ll stitch anywhere!

Last weekend I travelled down to London for the day for a nurses reunion. We had a fab time but it was probably nearly five hours travelling in total. Of course I made sure I had my sewing packed and booked a seat with a table.

I shared my stitching on Instagram on the way there…

With time on the train and waiting at the station I made good progress, last night I managed to finish the cross-stitch part and I started the back-stitch. This is where Faby Reilly’s designs really become special. There’s beads, sequins and other stitches to do yet, but here’s my snowdrops so far…

Once I’ve finished this one I’ve a couple more patterns already lined up, they’re meant to be biscornus but I love the designs as they are, mine are going in a book. I stitched the blue iris design earlier in the year, I seemed to have shared it part way through but not the finished piece, so here it is…

I think the other designs I’ve got lined up so far are the magnolia one and apple blossom…the wisteria one looks lovely too. They’re perfect for my handbag projects.

Do have a look at Faby Reilly’s website, she has some gorgeous designs, I’ve stitched quite a few over the years, here’s a photo I took a few years ago showing a few of her designs I’ve stitched.

Posted in cross-stitch, Serendipity, Textile Books | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Violets SAL

Posted on October 18, 2026 by craftycreeky

Three weeks ago I had just finished my phenology wheel. I also mentioned a BIG project I wanted to do, which intrigued several of you! Well I’m not starting it just yet as with my sensible hat on, I need to clear the decks of some smaller kits first. However I will give you a sneak preview!!

I’m stitching it on white – I’m not daft enough to even contemplate using the black aida provided 🙂 I’ll use some evenweave linen, it measures 80 x 50cm, so my biggest ponderance at the moment is whether it will work using a quilting ring or larger embroidery hoop, as the traditional tapestry frames (of which I have several) are more comfortable to use if the linen is going to be rolled upwards, rather than left to right, otherwise I’d be reaching across a tall frame to stitch at the top…I’m probably not explaining this well but I know what I mean!!

In the meantime I’ve started a little flower embroidery. It’s a kit I bought a few years ago from Caroline Zoob, I do like her designs, I’ve got this one of violets and another of foxgloves.

It’s probably a good job I’m doing this as the stitch-a-long as I’m not enthused with my stitching so far. The design is pre-printed onto the background fabric and silks and instructions are provided. Unfortunately the instructions are not as detailed as I would like, leaving a lot open to my interpretation…and at the moment I’m not keen on my interpretation!

I’m probably not helping myself as the embroidery is meant to be stitched with a single strand of DMC, I started that way but it was taking sooo long I changed over to two strands half way through the first (lower) leaf. The second leaf does look better, maybe I’ll stitch some more of the middle shade of green on the lower one to try to merge the colours better.

Hopefully in three weeks time I’ll be a bit more into it and have finished the leaves.

This SAL is organised by Avis, we share our progress on our chosen project every three weeks. Please follow the links to see what everyone else has been stitching.


Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen, Sharon

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Winter Dresses

Posted on October 17, 2026 by craftycreeky

I’ve been pretty busy in my sewing room over the last couple of weeks, as well as the skirt I posted about yesterday I’ve also made a dress. I’ve only just managed to get a belt for it so I can show you now…

I love a corduroy dress in winter, I find the warm and comfortable. I’ve a two or three lengths in my stash so I decided to make a Terra dress by Vivian Shao Cheng. I’ve used the pattern before to make a summer dress, but as the pattern says it’s also suitable for linens I decided it would be OK with a fine needlecord. I used one which is a beautiful wine colour. This is my summer version I made in 2024 with Bella sneaking in the photo at the back…

The Terra dress is lovely, it’s very full with deep cuffs on the sleeves and lots of buttons down the front. I think corduroy shrinks a little over time with washing, so I added an inch to the sleeve length and a few inches to the skirt. I like using a co-ordinating cotton for collar facings, it just adds a little interest to a dress, I found a fine batik print in my stash which I’ve had for years, the fine print matched the wine colour perfectly and I thought the lighter background would be OK.

The dress goes together very easily, it’s well designed and the instructions are good. The only thing I added were pockets – I do like a dress with pockets! There’s a poem about women’s pockets by Sharon Owen, I love it…

Someone clever once said
Women were not allowed pockets
In case they carried leaflets
To spread sedition
Which means unrest
To you & me
A grandiose word
For commonsense
Fairness
Kindness
Equality
So ladies, start sewing
Dangerous coats
Made of pockets & sedition

…so I always add pockets!

The dress is very button greedy! I managed to find a perfect match colour-wise in Duttons for Buttons, I used 24 including the three on each cuff! I have an automatic button hole foot on my machine but I still approach buttons with trepidation as there’s usually at least one where it has a strop. To my amazement my machine did all 24 buttonholes perfectly! I just had to stitch them all on.

Having made the dress I felt the fabric I’d used for the collar wasn’t right, the light background made it stand out too much. I did think about washing the dress to see if the colour ran a bit but instead I decided to use my silk paints! I mixed some paint with plum, magenta and red, thinned it a bit and painted the collar and the cuff opening. These silk paints are permanent once they’re ironed and I think it looks much better.

I was thinking of finding either a black or a dark navy belt but I popped in a little shop in Otley and found a leather belt that matches perfectly. I might just trim the end off so it’s not quite so long. I think next time I make this dress I might down size a bit, as it is pretty roomy, especially if it is a fabric that won’t shrink!

All ready for winter!

Posted in Dressmaking, Serendipity, Sewing | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Tweed Skirt

Posted on October 16, 2026 by craftycreeky

I love wool skirts for winter, I have often made straight skirts but a few years ago in 2022 I made a softly pleated skirt with Vogue pattern 9090. According to my blog post it was already the third time I’d used this pattern. The picture on the front of the pattern isn’t very inspiring but it’s a lovely skirt to wear. To my surprise it’s also had several compliments from complete strangers! When I mentioned this to my daughter she informed me that long tweed skirts are very in at the moment. They do say if you wait long enough everything comes back into fashion! Here I am back in 2022…

We are lucky here as Abraham Moon has it’s mill in the next town and they have a Mill shop, it’s beautiful tweed, used in many high end fashion shops. Usually even in the mill shop it’s £20 a metre but Helen and I went in once and they had a pile of rolls at £5 a metre – we went home with our arms full!! I decided to make Vogue 9090 in one of the tweeds. I chose a gorgeous dark blue one which has a fine reddish check in it too, very subtle but it’s there.

I cut out the longer length as I do like my skirts long, at least mid calf. I only just squeezed the pattern pieces onto my 2m of wool, though in the end I trimmed 2″ off the bottom as even for me it was long!. I went down a size as the skirt above is a bit big, I lost weight a couple of years ago and whilst it still fits it does sit lower than it should.

I used a jacquard lining fabric both for the inside of the waistband and also one side of the pockets.As a pattern it goes together really easily, I hand stitched the zip in, which I find easier and neater than machine stitching. I used my overlocker to finish all the raw edges and for the hem I used a length of bias binding rather than turning the tweed twice. The bias helps reduce the bulk of the hem and also looks nice and neat.

I’ve got a reunion lunch on Saturday with the girls I trained as a nurse with back in the 1980’s, it’s down in London so I’m just going for the day on the train. I think I’ll wear my new skirt.

Posted in Dressmaking, Serendipity, Sewing | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Charity Quilt

Posted on October 15, 2026 by craftycreeky

About six or seven years ago I made some quilts for care-leavers. I had another one half done when they changed the size of quilt they would accept. The maximum width is 48″, they want them long and thin with the idea that they can be wrapped round like a hug. Whilst I appreciate the concept, I think making them a bit wider makes them more useful as they would fit a single bed but still be big enough to snuggle into. Anyway, my quilt was 50″ by 60″.

I had the top made, sandwiched and half-quilted…and there it sat in a bottom drawer…until January when I was doing my sewing room declutter! I pulled it out, together with another UFO and sat them on my work table so I would hopefully get them finished.

This week I set too, all it took me was one afternoon to finish the quilting and another to do the binding! It had been sat there for over six years!! It was quite gratifying though to see that my free motion quilting had improved in the intervening years!

Having finished the quilt, I then had to find a home for it. It isn’t really my colours and I’m not exactly short of quilts at home! I decided to contact Project Linus, they give quilts and blankets to children in hospital or in some kind of crisis. I sent an e-mail and got a quick response, Yes! They would be happy to receive it, there’s a craft shop in Saltaire where I can hand it over.

Saltaire is pretty close but not easy to get to by public transport from Otley. I’ve fancied a look round this shop for a while as I’ve heard good reports, so I asked a friend if she fancied a trip to Saltaire, we can have lunch and a mooch round the village, maybe visit the David Hockney art gallery. Saltaire is an interesting place anyway, it was the model village built by Sir Titus Salt in the 1800’s for his mill workers, to get them out of the unhealthy city slums. It was very forward thinking, providing libraries, public baths, washing facilities,a hospital, but he was very strict on what they could and couldn’t do. It’s an interesting place to have a tour round if ever you’re nearby.

Posted in Quilting, Serendipity | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Hardanger Embroidery

Posted on October 9, 2026 by craftycreeky

A few months ago we had a visitor to our Skipton Stitchers. It was a lady called Sue asking for our help, her mother had died and when clearing her house they found two unfinished hardanger tray mats, could anyone finish them? I was called over to have a look together with another member, I was quite touched that they thought of me but it was also a big responsibility to finish a piece of such sentimental value. At first glance they basically just needed hemming, or edging in some way. I took one and the other member took the other. I did warn Sue it would be several months before I even looked at it as this was before my big European holiday.

I’ve done a little hardanger work, but it is really just a dabble, usually when a kit had a small part of hardanger such as the Strawberry Sampler book. I’ve never done a big piece of hardanger so I am by no means an expert.

When I returned from my holiday I looked into different ways of finishing a piece of hardanger. After googling various stitches I gradually realised it wasn’t meant to be hemmed, the stitched edge was the edge of the cloth, it just needed trimming. I messaged Sue to see if she had any other examples of tray cloths her mother had stitched, she sent me some photos of absolutely beautiful tray cloths, they confirmed my thought that these were meant to have a cut edge.

It was a while before I plucked up the courage to cut round the stitching. The tray cloth is edged with closely stitched buttonhole, so I had to cut right next to the stitching without catching the actual thread. I found my sharpest embroidery scissors and using my thumbnail to push the stitches out of the way.

It was fiddly and took ages but it was finally finished and I handed it over. Sue was delighted with it. When I spoke to the other member…I ended up with the second one to trim as well. This time I thought I’d take some photos in case it helps anyone else with a similar task.

I cut the bulk of the fabric off first to make it easier to handle. As I mentioned before, I used my sharpest embroidery scissors. You need a pair that’s got small blades but that are sharp to the tip, as it is the tip that is most important.

I found it easier this time to cut from the back, that was you can see clearly the threads that need cutting. This was stitched on a fine aida and I also found from the back I could see the grey of the blade though the holes so I knew I wasn’t catching the buttonhole stitch which partially covers the threads from the front. The sharp scissors meant I could easily and precisely cut into the corners.

It took a while, but here’s the finished tray cloth…

I’m pretty sure the central area was originally meant to be covered in embroidery, but I certainly wasn’t going to start trying to do that. Sue has a usable cloth of her mum’s beautiful work.

Posted in embroidery, Serendipity | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Book-Binding

Posted on October 7, 2026 by craftycreeky

Last week I went on a book-binding course at the Leeds Print Workshop, it’s just outside Leeds city centre but within walking distance (10minutes) of the bus station, so ideal for non-drivers like myself. It was an introductory course so I hoped I would learn techniques which would transfer to my fabric books and maybe inspire a new hobby!

It was great, the tutor was great, good at explaining techniques, helpful where needed, very knowledgeable and interesting. There were only six on the course so we could all see and hear easily and the tutor had plenty of time for us.

We made four different books over the day, starting with a notebook made using pamphlet stitch which is certainly usable with fabric books. Our second book was made with stab binding, its the one with the stitching on the outside. I like this but it would certainly need more planning as each page needs extra space on the side for the binding.

After lunch we made the concertina book. This was our introduction to making a hard backed cover using a piece of buckram to cover the grey card. This is a no stitch technique, it’s all glue.

Our final book blew my mind! I’m calling it the magic book, or the exploding book!! It’s the little teal coloured square book in the photo. It’s made with three squares of paper which are folded diagonally and straight before being glued together at an overlapping square. It can then be folded flat but bursts out when you start to open it. I was lucky too in finding three sheets of gelli-printed paper which followed into each other. I love this one and I’m now trying to work out how to make one in fabric!! A variation on English paper piecing is what I’m thinking of at the moment!!

Isn’t that clever!!

I’d definitely recommend the Leeds Print workshops, I’m hoping to go back for another day, either on different aspects of book-binding or a print making technique. It’s run as a co-operative with various printmakers and artists all sharing the space, running workshops etc. If you join as a member you can also use the facilities there to do your own work.

Posted in Serendipity, Textile Books, Workshops | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Foragers Stitch Journal HQAL

Posted on October 4, 2026 by craftycreeky

My foragers journal is coming along nicely, three weeks ago I was up to date waiting for the next instalment to arrive from Pretty Fabrics and Trims...

When my September parcel arrived I was pleased to see it was of blackberries. There are quite a lot of blackberry bushes on the back lane and I often go blackberry picking with the dog – I think she gets a bit bored but then she’s happy to go slow and sniff at times too! I put cartons of blackberries in the freezer so I can make blackberry and apple crumble in the winter. This summer I also made summer pudding with them which was delicious. This year the blackberries are quite small due to the lack of rain, a friend of mine grows them in a pot up a wigwam, he gets loads and they’re easy to pick – I’m tempted to try this!

I’ve stitched most of the letters, I tend to do a threads worth then do a bit of the picture, then another thread…then I’m not left with all the writing to do at once. The stem and the leaves were stitched first, split stitch for the stem and fishbone stitch for the leaves.

The blackberries are stitched with French knots in four different shades of red, purple and grey. I’ve just used two shades so far. Some of my blackberries are coming out a bit square so I think I need to round the off a bit. I’ve done the French knots a little bigger than the instructions – three threads rather than two and I’ve done two wraps on most of them which I think gives a nice plump effect. There’s six blackberries altogether – you can just see the outline of the sixth one under one of the leaves.

The border round the blackberries is fly stitch if I remember correctly, so that should be fairly quick to stitch.

October’s design isn’t due until the end of the month, so hopefully I’ll be ready and waiting by then. I think this will be the last page to stitch before November and December when I reckon we will make the cover and put it all together.

This Hand Quilt-a-long is organised by Kathy, we post our progress every three weeks, please follow the links and see what everyone else has been stitching. We are delighted that Sharon has rejoined our little group again.

Kathy, Deb, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy

I’ll also be linking up to Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.

Posted in embroidery, Quilt-a-long, Quilting, Serendipity, Textile Books | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Lace Journal Construction

Posted on September 28, 2026 by craftycreeky

I did promise a post on how I put my lace journal together, we then had family to stay, holidays…recovery from holidays…and the days go by!

I posted about the various different pages I put together and the embroidery I added. I ended up with eight double page spreads, all double-sided too. I also had several pages which were simply one length of lace. I included a piece of my wedding dress lace, some beautiful wide vintage lace I had in my stash and other laces I had collected over the years.

I folded the pages and put them in an order I was happy with, some of the thinner pages had extra pieces of lace added, bulkier pages were just on their own. I ended up with nine groups of pages to be stitched in.

I puzzled for a while what type of fabric I should use as the binding as it did need to be fairly firm. By chance one of our members brought a pile of fabrics to my Skipton Stitchers meeting which she didn’t want anymore. Amongst them was a piece of stiff canvas type fabric…Perfect!

I worked out the size I wanted the cover – extra long as I wanted a tri-fold cover. I then worked our the spacings if I was to have six stitches. I made a cardboard stencil which I used both for marking the pages and also for marking the cover.

On the spine I measured out nine lines 1/4″ apart. I marked the lines on the outside with a frixion pen. The fabric was very dense so I used the awl end of one of my seam rippers to make holes ready for stitching. This worked really well and certainly made it much easier.

I added a piece of lace to lie between the spine and the pages, the idea being that it wouldn’t be so obvious when you could see in between the pages. The photo above is after I had stitched five pages in. I used perle thread as I felt it was pretty strong. The photo below shows the lace underneath and the second page going in before I tightened the threads.

I tried to keep the stitches firm but not so tight they would distort the pages or the spine. I went from one page straight to the next one and tied it off at the end. For once all the preparation in measuring and marking worked and it all went together first time.

To cover the outer canvas I used a piece of my wedding dress lace which was quite a heavy, beaded lace. I turned it over the edges and also extended the flap with it by about 1.5″ as I wanted a bit more of a wrap around. For the inside I used some beautiful silk satin which was left over from a wedding dress I made for a friend.

I stitched the title on some linen and stitched it onto a piece of vintage lace before using bondaweb to secure to the first page.I wanted a tie round the book, I tried various things, a length of sari silk, some lace, I eventually decided on some satin edged tule ribbon, I used the sari silk strip to make a flower with a lace motif flower in the middle to cover where the ribbon was attached.

My lace journal was finally finished. I love it, it has the overflowing with lace feel to it that I wanted.

I have a short video of the book on my instagram page, here’s a link if you want to see inside the finished book.

Posted in embroidery, Serendipity, Textile Books | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments