It is one of my old school friend’s 60th birthday next week, she’s having a party but as she lives down on the south coast (about six plus hours drive) I suggested going to visit a different weekend as we wouldn’t have much time to chat at a party. Four of us went through secondary school together and we’ve kept in touch, so I contacted the other two and we all went down together last weekend.

We had a fab time, talked and laughed all weekend, we worked out the last time we were all together was in 1991 at one of our weddings!

I wanted to make a little something and had the idea of making a decorated cotton reel, like the Christmas one I made earlier in the year…

At first I was going to embroider a scene, representing the different places she lived, maybe putting major milestones on it. I was chatting to one of my friends at Skipton Stitchers and she suggested Aida bands. The idea grew on me…I found some in my stash and started writing out words to stitch. I got some inside help from her willing spouse and eventually had a good collection of places she’s lived, things she liked and major dates. I managed to arrange them in rough chronological order as a wordplay.

I stitched them in different colours depending on their relevance – teal for roles, blue for places, one soft variegated for people and a brighter variegated for things she likes to do. I filled in the spaces with flowers and butterflies to reflect her love of nature, a Yorkshire rose and pink flowers as pink is her favourite colour.

It took a few evenings but it was finally done. I called it 0-60 in 15″…

I backed it with a pretty floral cotton and stitched it to a wooden reel I had ordered from Etsy. I attached some narrow organza ribbon and a button to secure it. All I had to do was decorate the top.

I tried to buy a little silk flower, I couldn’t find one locally so I made one out of wider organza ribbon. I rummaged in my button box for a variety of pink buttons, I found a mini cotton reel and I basically dabbed a generous layer of PVA glue on the top and arranged them all. The little bird button was the finishing touch which I think works perfectly. Once dry it seems to have held everything on nicely…

I’m really pleased with how it came out, it didn’t take too long to make but it’s a very personal present. I gave it to my friend and she was delighted with it.

I’ll be linking up with Kathy’s Quilt’s for Slow Stitching Sunday, please follow the links to see what everyone has been stitching.