Our Big Adventure 2

Posted on May 10, 2026 by craftycreeky

After visiting Ghent and Bruges we took the train to Maastricht in the Netherlands. My sister recommended it as she loves coming here for a city break. When we first arrived we went straight to the market Square as my sister had told me that on a Friday there was a fabric sale and we just happened to be arriving on a Friday!! Well, it’s worth a visit, it’s not just fabric but there is lots of stalls selling all sorts of fabrics, linens, cotton’s, jersey, sparkly stuff, upholstery…lots!!! We were pretty restrained and just bought two lengths each, I bought a very pretty bamboo tulip design and a gorgeous soft striped cotton with a very pretty broderie anglais border. We’ve posted them home, it weighed two kilos so it’s a good job we didn’t go mad!!

We weren’t sure about Maastricht at first as there isn’t much in the way of tourist sites to visit, we went to the two cathedrals and up the tower to see the view. I think it is probably the most untouristy place I’ve been to, we didn’t even manage to buy a postcard, but I think that is the attraction. Maastricht has a lively and friendly vibe, it’s a lovely place to just meander around. We relaxed and chilled out without feeling we should be doing tourist things. We were staying on a boat which was a little cramped but we could sit on the deck in the sunshine filling in our journals. I would certainly go back to Maastricht, especially on a Friday 🙂

Today we travelled to Cologne in Germany. We’ve been to the cathedral which is pretty impressive, we’ve wandered over the bridge and headed for the old part of the city. Unfortunately this seems to be full of bars and nothing much else. Neither of us get good vibes from Cologne, we might be doing it a great injustice but we both feel we wouldn’t like to be here on our own.

We’re staying in a very comfortable art themed hotel, each bedroom is decorated in a different style. I asked the receptionist if he could recommend a German restaurant nearby. He suggested a local brewery. We would never have gone in without the recommendation, you had to push through two heavy leather curtains, at the end of a corridor there were two outdoor eating areas. The waiters wore traditional long aprons and carried a glass holder which held about 12 200ml glasses which they filled from a keg. Now I’ve never liked beer, I usually drink wine or gin, but I felt we should at least try it, I asked if they had a mild one to try, he said that was easy, they only had one beer! So I had bratwurst and a glass of beer for my tea, I still prefer wine or gin though 🙂

Tomorrow we travel to Trier on the German French border, we’ll be visiting Luxembourg from there.

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Foragers Journal HQAL

Posted on May 10, 2026 by craftycreeky

I did manage to make some progress on my foragers journal before I left for my big adventure with my daughter. Three weeks ago I had made good progress stitching February, which is about Gorse…

I have managed to finish the embroidery. I haven’t done anything with it yet, but at least the stitching is done…

I do think the gorse sprig could have done with a slightly darker green, I don’t think of gorse as being so pale, but it doesn’t upset me enough to re-stitch it in a darker shade!

When I get back I need to stitch this page to the January page (nettle), then I can hand quilt them before folding them in half and binding the edge with Liberty tana lawn, but that won’t be until the end of June!


I’m posting this as part of the Hand Quilt-a-long. Pleas follow the links to see what everyone else has been quilting:


Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy

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Our big adventure stage 1

Posted on May 7, 2026 by craftycreeky

Well we’ve had a good start to our big adventure, we left our local station in Yorkshire at 07.20 and arrived in Ghent in Belgium around 6pm. We travelled 1st class which is a big treat for us. Yesterday we wandered round Ghent, today we had a day trip to Bruges. Both a beautiful historic cities based around rivers and canals. We loved looking at the architecture, so different from the UK.

We’ve also enjoyed trying the local cuisine, yesterday we had a delicious Belgian Stew, today we had Bruges waffles !!

We also stumbled across a lovely embroidery shop, though the shopkeeper wasn’t the most welcoming – you had to put on pvc gloves to touch anything, even like a kit in a plastic sleeve, she said it was due to chocolate and waffles. We both saw little kits we liked and the company has their main shop in Paris, our last stop!

Tomorrow we travel to Maastricht…and there just happens to be a fabric market on 😄

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Bird Alphabet

Posted on May 4, 2026 by craftycreeky

This is a bit of a catch up post as I’ve just realised I haven’t posted about my bird alphabet for a while, in fact I had just finished the letter K, I’ve done five letters since then and also managed to catch up with the back-stitch square round each one which I will use to stitch the pages together when I am making my book.

Last night I managed to finish the letter P, just in time before going on holiday. I say ‘just in time’ as I’m taking the pattern sheet with QRST on holiday with me! I think this one is a thrush with it’s speckled breast, though I feel there’s a touch too much yellow really. I love the fuchsias dangling down.

Here’s the previous four letters. I think L maybe a wagtail, M could be a yellowhammer. The next two are easy, N is a nuthatch, we get them feeding regularly in the garden over winter. When you see the shape of their head you can appreciate why they are in the woodpecker family. O is a bullfinch, they are very striking birds here in the UK as we don’t have many brightly coloured birds. This is a male bullfinch, the females have a much duller breast. Again, they feed regularly on the seed feeders over winter.

We get a lot of finches in winter in the garden, they love the sunflower seed hearts and get through them so quickly we bought a sack this year. We have goldfinch, greenfinch, siskins and occasional chaffinch. We’ve stopped putting seed out for them this week as the RSPB are asking people not to use seed feeders from May to October to help stop the spread of a fungal disease which is affecting finches in particular. We still have the peanuts and the fat balls up which the tits and the blackbirds love.

We have at least two sets of birds nesting in the garden, there are great tits in a nest box and blackbirds in the ivy. The female blackbird is very tame, coming within a couple of feet of me when I’m gardening or sitting having a cup of tea, hoping for a tasty worm! I’ve named her Betty and her other half is Basil! We have two other female identifiable blackbirds visiting the garden, so they are Ruby and Dot – Dot has a tiny white spot on her cheek!

I’m looking forward to seeing all the baby birds when I come back from holiday.

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Phenology Wheel SAL

Posted on May 3, 2026 by craftycreeky

Well I’ve still not finished my catkins, I have made a little progress but life has got in the way over the last few weeks. This retirement lark is pretty busy!!

Three weeks ago I had started the catkins…

I think I’ve made the mistake of using a single thread of floss for these French knots, so they are taking AGES!! I have, after several evenings work, almost finished the first catkin…

…maybe there will just be two catkins rather than three!!

As I’m away now until mid June, there won’t be any progress with my wheel for a while but please do visit the other SAL members and see what they have been stitching.


Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,  

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, 

Linda, MaryMargaret, Helen

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Holiday Sewing

Posted on May 2, 2026 by craftycreeky

I’ve been doing a little sewing and stitching for my big holiday – we leave on Tuesday to go interrailing round Europe for six weeks, just me and my daughter, I’m so excited!!

I’ve not been sewing clothes for my holiday, but a sewing bag! I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear I’m taking a little stitching on my travels, both something to stitch on long train journeys and something to record our holiday in stitch.

I decided I needed a new bag for my embroidery, the one I’m using is a simple draw string I got with an order, it suffices in my handbag, but it’s quite bulky and space is tight on this trip so I wanted something which would slip easily into my cross-body bag.

I rummaged around in my stash and found a fat quarter of sewing themed cotton, nice and cheerful. I made a very simple bag by folding it in half and sewing the side and the bottom. I then turned the top over twice to make a channel for my ribbon. I realised that only having one side seam meant there wasn’t a seam to leave open for the second ribbon. I decided to make a button hole at each side, I folded the fabric and marked with a Frixion pen where I wanted the button holes to be. Somehow they ended up higher than I planned but it all worked out OK as the button holes are across the top fold.

I threaded two lengths of ribbon and the bag was finished, it wouldn’t win any prizes but it’s pretty and it will do the job!!

As you can see, I’m taking some of the bird alphabet patterns.

I also want to make a record in stitch of our trip, my idea is to just stitch a little something in each place, it might be a flower or a simple scene, it might just be abstract stitching. I found a long thin piece of linen in my stash, it’s a lovely duck egg blue sort of colour. I’m not sure where I got it but it had already been overlocked down each long edge. My plan is to stitch a long running stitch for our route the length of the linen with places etc stitched along the way. I’ll then turn it into a concertina book.

As I want to make it into a book I decided to divide the pages off so I wouldn’t end up with a lovely bit of stitching folded in half. I just finger pressed it to start, but thinking ahead to packing and travelling, the creases could get lost! Instead I did a big running stitch in some basic sewing thread up each crease.

Thinking ahead, I thought the blank pages of linen could get a bit overwhelming, so I’ve cut several snippets of fabric and lace so I can add to the pages if I want. I’ve packed some of my favourite DMC colours but I’m planning to use the colours from the bird alphabet, it’s a lovely palette and I’m taking plenty of each colour.

You can also see on the photo above that I pulled a thread out top and bottom. I realised it hadn’t been cut straight, at first I tried to trim it straight, but then I thought the overlocked edge would be quite useful on the trip, so I pulled one thread out to show the top and bottom line of the finished piece.

I’m hoping to write short posts on here along the way, but they will be short as I’ll be writing them on my phone! First stop is Ghent 🙂

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Foragers Journal HQAL

Posted on April 19, 2026 by craftycreeky

I’ve made a little progress with my foragers journal, but not as much as I hoped as life has been somewhat hectic over the last month – however did I ever find time to work!!

Three weeks ago I had started the February page which is gorse…

This is a subscription from Pretty Fabrics and Trims, each month I get everything I need for another page. So far it’s been lovely to stitch, the instructions are nice and clear and the design is well printed on the cloth.

I’ve not done a huge amount but I have done some…

I’ve stitched the stems of the gorse using stem and straight stitch and I’m just doing the flowers with satin stitch. I’ve finished all the lettering too. I’ve got my Skipton Stitchers meeting tomorrow so I’m hoping to finish it then.

Once it is finished I then stitch it to the January one, apply wadding to the back and hand quilt it before binding the pages together with some Liberty tana lawn. I don’t think I’ll get the quilting done (or even started!) before I go on my big adventure in two weeks time, but I’ll post whatever I’ve managed to do in three weeks time.

I’m posting this as part of the Hand Quilt-a-long. Pleas follow the links to see what everyone else has been quilting:


Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy

Posted in embroidery, Quilt-a-long, Serendipity, Textile Books | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Phenology Wheel SAL

Posted on April 12, 2026 by craftycreeky

This year Skipton Stitchers are doing phenology wheels as a group project. I was delighted when this was suggested as I’ve been toying with the idea of stitching one for a couple of years. A phenology wheel is a circular visual nature journal, you can paint them, stitch them, create the picture however you wish. I’m stitching flowers and plants which are in the garden or on the back lane each month.

Last time I posted about my wheel I had just finished the snowdrops for January…

Well I’m not much further on! We’ve just this week had wardrobes fitted in our bedroom for the first time, so of course we had to completely empty the room, so there’s furniture everywhere, bedding and clothes heaped up, I’m the chief decorator in this house so I repainted the walls, hung wallpaper, glossed…the house is in chaos! Luckily the carpet goes down tomorrow so we can start finding a new home for everything and get back to normality!

Yesterday evening I finally managed a little stitching on my wheel.

I decided to stitch catkins, they were particularly lovely this year. Catkins are the petal-less flowers of certain trees, willow and hazel are most common down the back lane. They are long dangly flowers, apparently there are male and female catkins, I didn’t know that until just now! They appear in February, before the leaves, usually hanging in twos or threes, it’s lovely to see them dancing in the breeze.

I decided to use French knots in a variegated greeny-yellow. I’ve also another variegated which is slightly darker and more orange, I might use that where the catkins overlap. I’m pleased with the way the catkin does looked rounded. I’ve not done much as you can see but at least I’ve started!

The next SAL post will be on May 3rd, two days before I go on my big adventure interrailing round Europe with my daughter. I’ve a lot to do in the next three weeks including trips to London to see friends, visiting my daughter, sorting out the garden, never mind the house…so I’ll do my best to get this project up to date but I’m not promising :-/

Please follow the links to see what everyone else is stitching.

Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Helen

Posted in embroidery, Serendipity, Skipton Stitchers, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Harvest Mice Quilt

Posted on April 11, 2026 by craftycreeky

I’ve just finished this wall hanging of harvest mice for my sewing room. I actually started this in January last year as part of the declutter challenge, I did the right hand side and then it just stayed on my design wall, waiting for the other half. When the declutter challenge came round again this year, I knew what to do as my ‘treat’ project, the left hand side!

Here it is a couple of weeks ago, both sides machine embroidered, it just needed quilting.

I’d already chosen a thread for quilting, the purple and gold thread you can see in the photo. I felt it was too dark for the pale gold and light mauve areas so I also used a variegated pale gold thread, they’re both Wonderfil threads which are nice and fine for this kind of quilting.

I mulled over how to quilt it for quite some time, Andrea (the designer) used a double flame shape but I felt I wanted something a bit easier, it wasn’t the quilt to try a new pattern on. I decided in the end to do a fairly small meander. I sandwiched the quilt with some 80/20 batting and backed it with a batik fabric which has a fine purple leaf design over a pale gold background. I’ve had it for several years in my stash, I bought it on impulse as I loved the colours but it was always too busy for any quilt I tried it with. The colours matched perfectly with this quilt and I even had just enough left for binding.

I started quilting with the darker thread, meandering up and down the various spaces, I overlapped a little onto the lighter blocks to help it to blend. I then changed to the light gold variegated which has also got some very pale mauve in, meandering over the lighter blocks. I’m really pleased how the two colour threads have worked out as you can’t actually tell, it all just blends together. My free motion quilting is improving, there is still a few wobbles when I’ve lost the plot where to go but I’m happy with it.

I bound it with the backing fabric, a plain might have been better but it’s on! I remembered to put triangles in the top corners to catch the hanging pole in. I hand-stitched the binding down at my patchwork group, it was a nice easy project to take along to stitch and chat.

Here is my finished wall hanging, it’s going in my sewing room. I just need to get a length of dowling.

I’ve still quite a few kits to make from Raggedy Ruff Designs, so I need to keep going with them.

Posted in kits, Quilting, Raggedy Ruff Designs, Serendipity | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Foragers Journal

Posted on March 29, 2026 by craftycreeky

I’ve started another monthly subscription! This one is for a fabric book which is embroidered and then hand quilted. It’s by Sarah Edgar who has a company called ‘Pretty Fabrics and Trims’, this is the fourth journal she has stitched though I think she is now on her fifth or even sixth. I liked the fact that I could see the whole book before I committed, there’s nothing worse than starting a stitch-a-long and then finding you don’t really like it!

The theme of this book is foraging, so there’s a different plant featured on each page. The designs are pre-printed and the kit includes all the threads and fabrics we need to make it into a book.

January’s page is nettle, so there’s a recipe for nettle tea, not that I fancy trying it! There’s lots of nettles on the back lane which is good as they’re an important food for caterpillers. The words are all stitched with back-stitch. The plant is a mixture of satin, fishbone and stem stitch with a few French knots.

I’ve started February, the plant of the month is gorse, a prickly shrub, apparently the little yellow flowers can be eaten raw, in salads for example, they can also be made into wine or infused in gin!

Once these two pages are embroidered, they are stitched together down one side and basted onto batting, they are then quilted before putting back to back and binding with Liberty cotton.

I’m rejoining the hand-quilt-a-long next month, so hopefully by then I’ll be on with the quilting.

Posted in embroidery, Quilt-a-long, Serendipity, Textile Books | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments