I looked out of the window this morning and thought Yes! it’s definitely a sewing day! It’s the first snow we’ve had this winter, I like snow when I don’t have to go anywhere, it looks so pretty when it’s on every branch, the chickens weren’t impressed though, they took one look  and stayed inside!

A Snowy Garden

I’ve made good progress this week on my Periwinkle Box, it’s a kit from Nutmeg Designs in North Yorkshire which makes a tiny box, embroidered round the sides and on the lid. This week I’ve managed to finish the cross-stitch for the sides, complete the cross-stitch for the lid sides and start the lid. It’s surprising how long the sides are for such a tiny box! I wasn’t sure about the silver thread at first but it’s just enough to add a little sparkle.

Ripple Blanket

My first proper attempt at crochet is also going well, I started this Ripple Blanket at Christmas after being inspired by the Coast Ripple on Attik 24.  I’ve not posted since as there’s not a lot to show, a few more rows! I’m on my 7th ripple but as it’s meant to be single bed size, I’ve got quite a few to go! It’s quite a nice feeling though when you have to find a bigger bag to put your crochet in!

Today I’ve been concentrating on my latest sewing project, a new skirt using the Fumeterre pattern from Doe and Deer which I bought at Guthrie and Ghani last week. I’ll write a proper post tomorrow when I will hopefully have some photos but as a taster…today has been buttonholes, buttons and hems. As there’s thirteen buttons down the front it’s taken quite a while.

The hem is stitched using a facing which does give a nice finish, I decided to do my usual thing of using bias binding to stitch the hem down. Unfortunately the fabric is one of those colours which is hard to  match, especially with bias binding. When I was in Guthrie & Ghani I bought a pretty length of floral binding, it co-ordinates quite nicely and as I had just enough with 3″ to spare, I decided it was meant to be! I’ve never used a contrast for binding before, my theory is that it will hardly show, and when it does it’s better to have a pretty contrast than a mismatch! I hand-stitched it down which did take quite a while as the hem is about 2m. So lots of hand-sewing today…

Over on Kathy’s Quilts it’s Slow Stitching Sunday, why not have a look what everyone else has been sewing?

Oh and good news…James loves his quilt, it was his birthday yesterday, my little boy is 21 years old!!!

James’s Quilt