Tall Year Square Etui SAL

Posted on June 17, 2018 by craftycreeky

It’s three weeks since I last showed you my etui box, it’s a design in Classic Inspirations by Betsy Morgan. Three weeks ago I was about half way through summer, the frog was leaping from the lily pads and I was just about to start stitching my favourite part…Tall Year Square

…the dragonflies! Three weeks later and it’s mini happy dance time!! I have finished summer!

I have to admit I was so keen to stitch the dragonflies I had finished them within a couple of days of the last post, I’m really pleased with them, I love their wings, I used DMC 4030 which has gorgeous shades of blue and green, perfect for a dragonfly! The bodies were stitched on DMC 4515 which is a lovely mix of brown and teal. By chance the first one I stitched had the head in brown and the tail in blue, it worked so well I tried to replicate it with the other three, not so easy with variegated threads!Tall Year Square Etui

The top borders stitched up fairly easily, I even managed the numbers without any major mistakes! At the end of the row I could put my initials and the date, I’ve optimistically put this year, so I hope I get it finished in time!Tall Year Square Etui

I just need to find some small enough beads for my frog’s googly eyes, otherwise it will be french knots! In the centre of the dragonflies there will be a pearl button too, but I think I’ll wait to finish all four sides before I add them. Apart from those two minor points, summer is complete…Tall Year Square Etui

I even managed to stitch the extra frog for the correlating side of the thimbleholder inside, I do like the way the variegated threads change so much around the square, this is stitched using one floss for the big cross-stitch and another for the little embossing stitches at the corners…Tall Year Square Etui

I’m really pleased with how the colours worked out in the end, I really wasn’t sure at the beginning, particularly with the purple, but I think it looks very English cottage garden. Next time I post I will hopefully have chosen my colours for autumn and made a start.

The border patterns run around the sides so spring and summer together look like this;

This stitch-a-long is organised by Avis, we post our progress every three weeks, it’s a great incentive to crack on with a project. If you would like to join in please just send Avis a message, otherwise just follow the links to see everyone else’s hand stitching.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina,

Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Mary Margaret,

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Tony, Megan, Timothy

 

 

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Tiny Photos

Posted on June 15, 2018 by craftycreeky

It’s Friday already so it’s time for the Friday Photo Challenge organised by Postcard from Gibraltar. Today’s theme is tiny, so I looked back through my photos for little things…Blackbird by Nicola Jarvis

The seeding stitches on my blackbird are pretty tiny. I’ve stitched a little more on this one but not enough to show you yet!Needlepoint cat pillow

The stitches on this cat embroidery are seriously small, needlepoint over one thread, I made it about 25 years ago, I don’t think I would tackle it now!

This pincushion is pretty tiny, I made it several years ago, it was a pattern in Classic Inspirations magasine. It holds a thimble inside too.

Splendid Sampler Blocks so far!

These were some of the early Splendid Sampler blocks, some of the pieces were tiny, I used to drown them in spray starch to make them more controllable! There’s a new Splendid Sampler starting this week over on Pat Sloans website, it’s a great way to learn new techniques, I’m thinking of making one just from my scrap box. It’s the same format as before, one 6.5″ block each week, the main difference is that only the first twenty will be free, after that you need to buy the book. I’ll see how I feel when I get to twenty whether I just make a throw with what I’ve got or take the plunge and buy the book.

If you fancy seeing more tiny things, follow the link to Postcard from Gibraltar. In the meantime I’ll leave you with a picture of Zach trying to be tiny!

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Travelling Sketchbook Time

Posted on June 13, 2018 by craftycreeky

Our travelling sketchbooks are on the rounds again at my Embroiderers Guild, we have each book for a month so we can have a think and stitch a little embroidery on the chosen theme. The theme of the book I have for this month is ‘Down the Microscope’…

I pondered for a long time about this one, trust me, there’s not a lot on Pinterest if you try a search on there! Someone at Guild suggested I did something from work, I work part-time in a Cardiac Catheter Lab, so we’re putting stents in peoples hearts when they have heart attacks, pacemakers and defibs, babies with heart problems and electrical studies too. I pointed out that it was actually all done under X-ray, not a microscope, she felt it was near enough!!

The next day I was working in the electro-physiology lab, looking after people with problems with the electrics of their heart, usually resulting in it going too fast or in the wrong rhythm. One nifty piece of kit we use is called Carto, it maps how the impulse travels across the heart making in the process some very colourful images. It’s quite amazing to watch, this is a photo of what we’re looking at.

Ooh, I thought, that could make an embroidery! After the case I asked the consultant if he happened to have any pictures of Carto I could have, he asked what for…an embroidery, I replied with a smile! His face was a picture!! He sort of glazed over when I started talking about sequins and french knots! The next day he sorted out a picture for me, it was quite amusing as he was flicking through images trying to find a perfect image, despite me explaining that it wasn’t going to be an anatomically correct embroidery, just a general impression.

As usual I’ve left it til pretty much the eleventh hour. Initially I tried silk painting the main colours, but they actually looked too drab. I started looking through my scrap box, silks first but they were the wrong shades. I then spotted scraps left over from my Kaffe Fassett quilt, red and blue, I found another scrap of green and purple and a square of dappled black and I was sorted.

I used bondaweb to fix the shapes, on the whole I cut out the individual shapes rather than layering them so the piece didn’t get too thick to stitch. I started the embroidery with the yellow line, using buttonhole and then chain stitch. The bright blue line is a length of woven tape in a mixed embroidery thread bag, I stitched it on with herringbone stitch. Some shiny purple thread joined the blue and the purple using feather stitch and fly stitch.

The pink sequins represent the areas we have ablated (treated with a small burn) and the french knots are the measuring points used to construct the 3D image.

I took it into work today to show the consultant, I think he liked it as he said he needs a set of twelve in A4 size!!! My colleague diagnosed it as a focal tachycardia!Carto embroidery

It’s not my usual style at all, but it was fun to stitch, let’s hope next month’s sketchbook is an easier topic 🙂

Posted in embroidery, Serendipity, The Travelling Sketchbook | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

A Field of Flowers Finish!

Posted on June 12, 2018 by craftycreeky

A couple of days ago I showed you my field of flowers embroidery, the actual embroidery was a kit from Anne Brooke, I then decided to make it into a little wall hanging using log cabin patchwork.

This is where I was when I last showed you…Embroidered filed of flowers

I spray basted the finished piece onto some batting with that pretty meadow-sweet fabric on the back. I did some very simple quilting, just a square round the flowers and again next to the next seam.

Just in time I remembered Claire had a clever way of adding hanging corners by folding a square in two to make a triangle and stitching one either side of the top edge. I think it makes a pretty neat hanger!

I added another strip of the purple flowered fabric to bind the bottom edge and then hand stitched them all over to the backing.

The front needed a little something else…

A while ago I bought some tiny mother of pearl buttons just for this kind of project, I think they are 8mm and 6mm, I stitched an 8mm one in each square along the bottom. I was planning to put a charm in the top right hand corner but the only ones I had were silver and it just looked too shiney, I tried a bigger button, still not right. In the end I stitched a tiny pink bead at the end of each feather stitch and called it a day!Field of Flowers Embroidery

I rather like my field of flowers, I think I will hang it just next to my computer in my sewing room.

 

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Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on June 11, 2018 by craftycreeky

I spent most of Saturday working in the garden, weeding (the never-ending job!!) planting and also cutting back some shrubs on the drive that had got a bit out of hand. I realised whilst I was deep in the shrubbery that my viburnum was looking very miserable, all it’s leaves were shredded, I think I’ve got an attack of the viburnum beetle! I don’t know if it was the best thing to do but I’ve cut it back hard and taken all the waste to the tip. My other viburnum is just the same so I’m going to have to cut that one back too!

The top of the drive is looking happier, the ceanothus is in full flower and it is buzzing with bees, they are so loud it’s like walking past a hive! It smells lovely too, like honey, the scent mixes in with the philadelphus on the other side, gorgeous!Ceanothus

There’s another philadelphus in the patio area, if anyone fancies one but doesn’t have much room I can recommend this one, I’m pretty sure it’s called Belle Etoile, it must be over ten years old now but it’s barely 2′ tall. It has the usual pretty creamy white flowers.Philadelphus Belle Etoile

Sometimes when I’m gardening I happen to see something from a different angle and it takes me by surprise. I was weeding the AA garden, spraying the bindweed and the marestail and I stood at the back of the bed by the shed roof, just a few feet from the obelisk. It did look pretty, foxgloves in all shades of pink and purple, with bees going in and out, two types of clematis with huge flowers, a gorgeous plum poppy which has just come out and a deep burgandy astrantia at the far side. Alot of it is self seeded, it’s also where I ‘dumped’ a lot of plants when I was trying to clear the beds, it was like a holding bay and things haven’t necessarily been moved on. It looked a bit messy earlier in the year but it looks great now!

I’m not sure which poppy it is, I don’t think it’s Patties Plum, but it has lovely shaggy, pleated petals, there’s a few more come into flower today.English summer garden

Over by the summerhouse I have huge peony, like it must be 3′ tall and across, it has just started flowering and they are beautiful, huge bowls of a sort of deep coral pink, much simpler than the usual peony flower. It’s just in front of the Cotinus Coggrhia with it’s dark red leaves, so they look good together.peony

The pond garden is still looking good, the solomons seal hasn’t been shredded by flies this year so it still looks OK, the hostas are seriously huge! On the far side blue iris are just coming into flower and some candelabra primulas are just hiding from the camera! I think the white fluffy plant on the right is thalictrum.Pond Garden

The best irises at the moment are down in the patio around the bird bath, they are a wonderful intense blue with a fine silver edge. My mum gave me a clump years ago, it’s been divided several times, they are in awful soil but thety just seem to thrive!Iris

I’ve just started a major clearance job in the front garden, marestail, thistle and bindweed, I think I need to bulk buy some weed killer!

 

 

 

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A Field of Flowers

Posted on June 10, 2018 by craftycreeky

In my attempt to sew some of my stock of kits this year I decided to stitch a little embroidery I bought probably over two years ago at Yarndale. It’s a design by Anne Brooke, I love her designs, especially Harold the Hare, I saw him first at an Embroiderers Guild meeting, he is amazing. At Yarndale she had some little kits of pre-printed cotton just waiting to be embroidered.

I have to be honest and say |I was a little disappointed when I got home to find there wasn’t any instructions, or even a picture suggesting ways to embroider it, all there was with the printed design was a hoop, grey and ecru floss and a few mini buttons. Hence it has sat in my to do box ever since! To be fair to Anne, looking on her website these kits are no longer sold, her current kits include suggestions of stitches and a photo, they generally look a lot more comprehensive… and mine was just a little inexpensive one!Embroidered filed of flowers

I decided to bite the bullet and start! I chose a few variegated DMC threads which I thought would give a pretty but more muted effect. I started to stitch the grass seed heads first, I used fly stitch, making it a bit bigger than the printed area to make it look feathery. The stalks are stem stitch. Both are stitched in DMC 4065.

Half way through the seedheads I thought I really should embroider this from the background to the foreground so I stitched the wavy lines next, I’m not sure if they are hills or clouds, but I just used a running stitch in 4020.Embroidered filed of flowers

I stitched the tall, spindly plant next, I decided it could be like a wild lupin with tiny blue flowers. I used 4506 which is green, blue, grey and beige. Where possible I used the green and the blue for the french knot flowers and the lighter shades for the stems.

I thought the big flowers with their tall centres could be echinacea (purple cone flower) I stitched the cones with long and short stitch and just lazy-daisy for the petals. My only niggle with these is I feel the cones are a bit big, but I love the way the long and short stitch has worked out!

The buttercups were just edged in split-stitch, mainly because I couldn’t think what else to do with them! The grass along the bottom is actually buttonhole stitch made with irregular stitches.Embroidered filed of flowers

Having stitched it I then had to decide what to do with it! A pincushion, a needlecase, a hoop picture…I decided to make a mini wall hanging with different fabrics and stitching, I’ve seen rather a lot on Pinterest and I do like the effect. This would be a bit of a practise piece too as I’ve lots of my mothers work, both finished and unfinished and I’d like to put them in a textile book made up of pages like this.

I like the ones with a mismatch of squares and rectangles, but it was a bit too random for me to try first! I started with log cabin, light at the top and darker at the bottom, using mainly bits from my scrap bin. The bee was added because my chosen fabric wasn’t quite long enough! The bottom squares was a strip left over from my Down the Rabbit Hole quilt.Embroidered filed of flowers

Having made a two strip wide log cabin I felt it didn’t quite look right. I turned the two sides in a bit and the balance looked so much better!Embroidered filed of flowers

I’ve stitched a little embroidery along the inner strips using feather, fly and herringbone stitch. I then stitched three flowers up the final side.Embroidered filed of flowers

My plan now is to sandwich it with some batting, do some very simple quilting before turning the extra borders over as binding. I’ll stitch a final purple binding along the bottom. Some mini buttons, maybe some beads or a charm will just finish it off.

 

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Friday Photo Challenge

Posted on June 8, 2018 by craftycreeky

This weeks photo challenge is taking a bit more thinking. The themes are set by Postcard form Gibraltar and this week the word is line. I started flicking back through my photos…

My quilting lines are getting better, practice makes perfect…well maybe not quite perfect but good enough for me!hand quilting

The classical lines of Piece Hall in Halifax. This original cloth market has been fully restored recently.DSC_0018 (1)

The quilting lines on the back of my Chanel jacket, this is the lining which shows the lines much better. I’ve just collected it from having the buttonholes stitched as I couldn’t get the layers underneath my buttonhole foot without damaging the loose weave of the tweed. Hopefully it will soon be finished.Making a Chanel Jacket

Helens quilt had lines of elephants in lots of different colours of batik fabric.Nelly's Parade

Of course I had to find some garden photos, these are lines of echinacea, tulips and helenium.

Finally, lines of cross-stitch on my Tall Year Square Etui box, I’ve managed to do a fair bit of stitching on this over the last few days so I’ll have plenty to show you at the next SAL in ten days time!Tall Year Square

There will be links to lots of lines over on Postcard from Gibraltar, so follow the link at the top to see everyone elses photos.

Posted in Photo Challenge, Serendipity | 6 Comments

One Stitch at a Time

Posted on June 6, 2018 by craftycreeky

This is a cross-stitch I started on holiday in March, finished in mid April and it’s been sitting, patiently waiting to be made up ever since. I finally got round to it over the last couple of days.Craft by Rovaris

The design is by Rovaris, a designer from Italy who sells on Etsy, the two little charms come with the pattern. The chart was nice and easy to follow and it made up nicely, all I had to do was make it into something!

I decided to double mount it with a blue fabric underneath. I cut some card and laced the cross-stitch round it. I chose some blue quilting cotton that came from my mums, she’d made it into a tablecloth and napkins and I did have an idea of cutting it up to make a quilt as there were lots of different blue prints. That idea has now gone out of the window as I found to my surprise that it has a significant one way stretch! It’s not quilting cotton after all!! I decided to keep going with this particular fabric as I felt it wouldn’t make that much difference, it would be manageable.

I glued the blue to the backing card, trying to have some of the pink pattern round each side. I thought I’d cracked it until I tried the cross-stitch on top, pink pattern on three sides only and it stood out a mile!Craft by Rovaris

I rescued it by using the back instead, which was the side fully covered by fabric. I glued the two sides together and left it overnight with a heavy book on top!Craft by Rovaris

The back is still unfinished, I’m planning to buy some soft blue felt from Cool Crafting next time I’m in Skipton to finish it off. This colour looks fine, but that’s the only piece I have.

I felt it needed a little trimmimg, I made some cord from three lengths of floss, blue, red and beige, to coordinate with the cross-stitch. It was a long piece to twist, the longest I’ve ever done, the general rule is three times the length of cord you need. Usually I’m stood by the door with it attached to the spool holder of my sewing machine, twisting away. This time I was half way across the landing! I get to get my OH to help with folding it in half!

After all that trouble, it didn’t look right!! The colours just looked too drab. I played around with trims in my stash and found that the soft pink ric-rac looked best. I put a fine line of glue down the edge and eased the trim half under the cross-stitch.

I still needed a hanger, so I used a length of the cord I had made and just hand-stitched it to each corner.

It’s already hanging in my sewing room, though I might leave it under a heavy book for the night as it seems to have developed a slight twirl!Craft by Rovaris

 

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Eighteen for 18 Update

Posted on June 5, 2018 by craftycreeky

May has flown by and has been a pretty busy month, I painted Mum’s house, baked cakes for Askwith Show, stitched for three days in Grassington as well as all the usual stuff like gardening, sewing etc. So how have I done with my eighteen challenges;

  • 1 Etsy store opened; Still at the thinking stage, but I’ve just applied to have a stall at Crafts in the Pen in Skipton, so that gives me something to aim for!
  • 2 Tutorials; Nothing as yet.
  • 3 Sessions a week in the garden; I’m still doing well at this, my three sessions are getting longer too in the nice weather, though the weeds are starting to get me down again, planning to buy Pathclear in bulk!Garden in May
  • 4 Quilts; I’ve started quilting my peacock panel, so although my tally remains at 1.5 there is progress! Pat Sloan is starting a new Splendid Sampler soon and I must admit I’m tempted, however this time I am thinking of only using fabrics from my scrap bins, which are overflowing!  I’ve started hand-quilting a mini quilt to practise for my DTRH quilt when I get it back next month. So there’s a few in progress!hand quilting
  • 5 Craftsy Classes; I started watching the Leah Day Free Motion Quilting class last month and I’ve watched a few more classes, I’m adapting things slightly as Leah is demonstrating on a specific quilt which you can make or buy as a panel, I’m using my Peacock panel which isn’t ideal but is a lot prettier! I’ll try and post about it later this week.DSC_0049 (2)
  • 6 New Patterns; I’ve tried another new pattern, my evening dress, which turned out pretty well, so my tally is now three, so half way there!
  • 7 Kits stitched; I started my Blackbird this month at the Stitching in the Dales retreat, I’ve still a bit to do but Bertie is looking splendid! So my tally remains at two with another on the way.Blackbird Embroidery by Nicola Jarvis
  • 8 Pages in my stitch sampler book;I’ve not stitched any more pages but with six completed I’m well ahead on this one.
  • 9 Pounds Lost!!! I think I’ve plateaued this month, which is better than last month! I lost the plot a bit with baking etc as I do like licking the bowl out and I need to do the occasional quality control!!
  • 10 Mini Embroideries; Total for the year remains at four; I’ve one to do for the travelling sketchbook in the next couple of weeks on the subject of Down the Microscope! I think mine might be more down the flouroscope but I do have an idea…just got to get it to work! This is a mapping system we use at work called Carto, could look pretty in silk with sequins 🙂
  • 11 Letters to friends; I wrote another letter to a school friend this month, so two so far. I’ve also found lots of A5 cards my mum had made of her drawings, I thought they would be a nice size to write letters in without being too long!
  • 12 Boxes or Drawers sorted in sewing room; My running total here is seven as I’ve been too busy trying to amalgamate my mums stuff to do much with mine. I have reorganised a few drawers on the landing though. We’ve got an old pine chest which used to be my Grandad’s workbench, I’ve emptied three drawers to the bureau downstairs which we’ve just got from my mum’s so I’m thinking of putting my quilting fabric in those drawers. It’s a bit cheeky really as it does mean my stash is creeping out of my sewing room! Hopefully I’ll sort them this month, but for the time being the total stays at seven.
  • 13 New Recipes; I’ve done quite well at this in May, I tried two recipes from the Weightwatchers cookbook which went down well, I also baked a lime and elderflower cake for the show as I thought it might sell well after the Royal Wedding, it tasted delicious and got quite a few compliments from customers! My tally is now five, so doing a bit better now!
  • 14 Less Lengths in my stash! Two lengths down as my evening dress took a length of taffeta and a length of sequins. I’m just about to cut out another dress too! On the downside I’m off to London for a weekend soon and I might just visit Goldhawk Road on the Friday when I first arrive 🙂
  • 15 Posts a month; I actually managed 23 posts in May! The photo challenges help but I would still be ahead without them.Catbells 2
  • 16 cross-stitch smalls; I’ve finished four this month after having a couple of evenings concentrating on finishes. I think the poppies is my favourite one. I’ve another one almost finished so there should be at least one more in June! So my running total is now eleven!
    Faby Reilly Poppy Humbug
  • 17 items of clothing made. With my evening dress I’ve now made three things this year, I’ve just collected my Chanel jacket from having buttonholes made, so hopefully that will be finished this month, but I’ve a bit of catching up to do on this one.Making a Chanel Jacket
  • 18 Walks; WI walking club started again this month with a lovely walk in the sunshine, my friend and I have now also planned in our diraies on or two walks a month until we do St Cuthberts Way, so only two so far but hopefully more to come!DSC_0080

 

Posted in Eighteen for 18, embroidery, Quilting, Serendipity, Sewing | 6 Comments

Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on June 4, 2018 by craftycreeky

It smells lovely as we open the back door at the moment, a philadelphus is in full flower and the scent fills the air, it’s quite a heady scent, it’s other name is mock orange blossom. This is the golden leafed version, it’s in a shady spot so the leaf colour stays pretty good all season.philadelphus

The roses are just starting to bloom, there’s lots of buds but just the occasional one open. The gorgeous coppery pink one is called Lady Emma Hamilton, I bought three last year for the AA garden, I often plant three close together to give the impression of one big bush. The little copper one is a rescue from my mums garden, it’s called Port Sunlight which is where she had childhood holidays as family lived there. The rose was still in it’s pot looking decidedly sorry for itself. It’s a patio rose so I’ve planted it at the front of the border on the AA garden. I think the pink one is the Alnwick rose.

Different irises are flowering each week, these ones are from bulbs, rather than corms, I do find them easier to grow! The blue one is gorgeous, it’s a deep blue delicately edged with a thin silver line. There’s a big patch of them surrounding the birdbath on the patio. The yellow one is up by the pond and in the pond!

It’s the week for foxgloves too, a huge clump has flowered down by the conservatory, I think this one is self sown but it is beautiful, even my OH has commented on it! Up by the obelisk there’s a lovely array of different coloured foxgloves, purple, pink, light ones and dark ones, there’s also a stunning white one which you can just see on the photo of the whole garden.

The clematis are starting to climb the fence. I had to chuckle yesterday when my OH said there was already bindweed growing up the fence, I pointed out that actually they were clematis, already over half way up. He couldn’t believe they had grown so quickly!Clematis

The weeds are growing quickly as well, I’ve had several good sessions in the garden but I think I’m going to have to resort to lots of weedkiller and just hope there’s not too much collateral damage, I’ve some that can be painted on which does help me to be more precise, my other trick is to unwind bindweed and put it in a nappy bag (AKA dog poop bag!) I can then spary it liberally inside the bag and then tie the handles loosely. I can then easily tell which ones have been sprayed and it makes me less likely to get impatient and pull them up before the poison had had chance to reach the roots.Garden in June

From a distance there’s lots of green in the garden and not so much colour, but hopefully that will change over the next month as the roses really put on a show.DSC_0320 (2)

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