I always have a little stitching project in my handbag for those odd moments when I’m sitting around waiting…at the dentist, in a cafe. It’s usually something small but over autumn it’s been a slightly bigger project which will end up as a wall hanging in my sewing room. It’s a cross-stitch design by Stoney Creek which includes quilting squares, cotton reels and a vintage sewing machine…what more could I want on a sewing room hanging!

The central image is of a vintage sewing machine and it’s taken me quite a while, there’s a lot of dark greys! The design is traditional in that there aren’t any half stitches and the eventual back-stitch goes round the squares rather than rounding them off. This is how far I’ve got so far…

I’m changing the colours for the rest of the design as it’s all dusky pinks, whereas my sewing room is purple. The only bit I’m hesitating on is the tomato pin-cushion which is sitting on the sewing machine. It works in pinks but I’m not sure it will work in purple, but then it could just be a pin-cushion! This decision will wait a while however as since the Knitting and Stitching show this has been put on hold…

I bought a kit from Nutmeg Designs, they’re a small company based up in the village of Reeth in Swaledale, I’ve stitched a few of their designs most recently a cross-stitch postcard of Swaledale.

Nutmeg Designs do a lot of 3D designs, such as boxes or models. On their stand at the K&S show I spotted some gorgeous gingerbread house designs, well there was a cottage and a big house, but also a church and a Christmas tree. I bought the kit to make the cottage, it’s stitched on aida and then laced round plastic canvas, I’ve been stitching it as my main project this month, trying to get it finished for Christmas, it’s going to be a close run thing if I do get it finished as there’s an awful lot of stitching. I’m working on the walls of the cottage at the moment…

I’ve still got lots of back-stitching to do and beads to stitch on, then there’s the roof and the porch to stitch! I think I’m pushing it to get it finished for Christmas Day!

I think it will be nice to do one of these kits each year, maybe try and buy them earlier in the autumn, then I’ll have a little gingerbread village!