Well of course I took some stitching on holiday! I may not have done a huge amount but I did a little most days.
I decided to take my Strawberry Sampler Book kit with me, it’s a kit by the Cross-stitch Guild which I bought last year at the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate. There’s a different page for different types of counted work, all on a strawberry theme. Here’s a previous page…
This time I was working on the hemstitch page, probably not ideal after a long walk as it does take some concentration. I haven’t found the instructions the easiest to follow with this bit, so I’m not sure I’ve neatened the threads off at the back correctly, particularly with the two big squares, but it looks neat from the front! There’s some red silk included in the kit to put behind the page.
As you can see I’ve removed the threads ready for the next border, you basically take one thread out as far as you need and then weave the end in to the next row. There’s then certain stitches to create the patterns in the threads left behind. The third row is somersault stitch, the fifth row is diamond hem-stitch. The one I’m working on at the moment is zig-zag stitch, though I haven’t found the instructions for that particular stitch yet!!
There’s still some beads to stitch on and another row like the top one, these two will have ribbon slotted through them. Once that is done I just need to edge stitch the page and then it’s finished. Each page is then folded in half and stitched round the edge, I haven’t started doing that yet as I’m still undecided whether to add a little stiffener of some kind in between the pages.
I think there’s another three pages to do altogether. This kit is certainly pushing me to try new techniques!
We’d been psyching ourselves up for our third day, it was not only the longest day of the walk at 13 miles, it was the furthest we’d walked for a loooong time! South Cave to Shiptonthorpe. We got ourselves organised for an early start. The weather was a bit cooler which we were more than happy about. Things were looking good…
Then one mile in I twisted my ankle on a deep rut hidden by grass and did a full face plant!! I carefully straightened it again and after a few minutes I gingerly stood up. We always wear proper walking boots with good ankle support and I think that saved the day, I found if I kept my ankle straight I could walk on it. Only 12 miles to go that day and about 65 altogether!! It swelled up somewhat but it survived for the rest of the week with a liberal application of Volterol gel!
We walked along our first ‘wold’, a wold is a dry valley, often with very steep sides, it’s typical I think of a chalk landscape. The blossom on the hawthorn bushes was stunning.. This photo was taken as we descended down the steep side, we then walked along the valley bottom.
We also came across the first of the YWW poetry benches, these were made some years ago by Angus Ross out of steam bent oak. There are six altogether, each inscribed with a poem by John Wedgewood Clarke it was part of WANDER, art along the YWW project. I loved their sinuous curves, although they weren’t necessarily the most practical seats to sit on!
We stayed in Robeanne House which was about a mile off route. We had to walk along a pretty busy road with no verge, so we were very relieved that the passing drivers were so considerate and gave us plenty of space. Robeanne House was lovely, we had a room off a courtyard which had a shower room, kitchenette with breakfast stuff provided. It was great. The main negative thing from our point of view was that there was nowhere nice to have dinner without getting a taxi. Luckily there was a McDonalds nearby so we had an uninspiring meal there.
We had a later start the next day, so late in fact that Mal from the Goaties turned up to collect our bags, it was nice to put a face to the name. He very kindly gave us a lift back up the road to the path so we didn’t have to walk along there again.
Day 4 was 9 miles from Shiptonthorpe to Millington. We had great views which stretched for miles. One thing we particularly noticed on this whole walk was the birdsong, we were serenaded by skylarks whilst passing through the fields. This photo is taken just before we descended into Millington for our night at the Ramblers Rest.
Day 5 was a very long and very very wet 8 miles from Millington to Fridaythorpe!! Last year when I had a weekend in the Lakes with my daughter she recommended a rain shelter, they’re a bit like a tent with no poles! Well we christened it that day!! It just gives a bit of shelter from the wind and rain whilst you have a snack.
It was a shame that our two wettest and darkest days should have been the prettiest as that was when we were walking through a lot of the wolds. We were absolutely dripping and squelching when we arrived at Seaways Glamping in Fridaythorpe. We were staying in a little wooden cabin, it was petite but had everything we needed and Michael, the owner helped us to find somewhere to dry our stuff out, especially our boots!
On that wet note, I will sign off for another day!
I feel the need for a few finishes before I embark on anything else, I seem to have a few things that I’ve done the stitching for and not made it into anything or finished it off. Today I decided to tackle my embroidered tote bag.
This is a bag I bought at the Harrogate show last November from Sew Enchanting. The design was pre-printed onto a calico bag, I just had to embroider it how ever I liked. I chose pretty colourful threads and this was the bag last time I posted about it…
I could have just left it as it was, but I felt with all the work that had gone into it it deserved to be lined. I had a rummage through my stash and found a batik whose colours matched perfectly, all blues, turquoise, green, purple and pink. I washed both the bag and the batik first as I thought it would be just my luck for the calico to shrink significantly.
I made new straps first, just 1″ wide as that was what the original straps were. I top-stitched them either side to keep them neat and pinned them in place.
I cheated a little on the actual lining…rather than accurately measure and then cut out the lining, I stitched the top seam1″ below the top of the bag, then worked out where the side seam should be, cut and stitched that. I then top-stitched the mock-binding and did the reinforcement cross on the ends of the straps.
I then pinned where the base should be, cut and stitched there too. I left a hole in the middle of the lining bottom so I could turn or ‘birth’ the bag. I could then stitch the hole closed and my bag was essentially finished. As a final touch I added the ‘Handmade’ wooden tag.
I’m really pleased with how it’s come out, lining it has made it feel much more substantial and didn’t really take long once I knuckled down to it.
Well it’s nearly a week since I finished the Yorkshire Wolds Way (YWW) and I’ve just about recovered! Here in the UK we have quite a lot of official long distance paths, my friend and I were doing one a year until covid struck and we haven’t done one since for various reasons, lock-downs, operations and just life getting in the way. So although I think this is the 8th or 9th long walk we’ve done, we’re five years older and we didn’t manage to do the practise walks we usually do. What I’m trying to say is that we did find it quite a challenge!
The Yorkshire Wolds Way is 79 miles from Hessle, near the Humber Bridge, inland to Market Weighton, then out to Filey Brigg. It finishes at the the end of the Cleveland Way which we walked back in 2019. There’s not much accommodation in the area so we usually had a mile or so to walk to our B&B too. In recent years we’ve always used a baggage transfer service, they collect your suitcase from the B&B in the morning and take it on to the next one, so you only have to carry a day sack and you can have clean clothes on an evening…and a glass of gin! We’ve used a couple of different companies over the years but this time we used a different one, the Weather Goat Walk Support, AKA the Goaties, they were great and I would certainly recommend them. They don’t just transfer your luggage, they’ll pick up people too, so rather than use a taxi service on top, they collected us if needed at the end of a walk and took us to our B&B. They also give general support so if there are any problems during the walk they will help – very reassuring!
A lot of people walk the YWW in 3 or 4 days, walking 20 plus miles a day. We like to enjoy our walks, we like to have time to look at the changing landscape, puzzle over certain features, watch the lambs or the sunlight coming through the trees. We also have various health issues, I for one, have MS and a major balance problem, so we aim to do about ten miles a day, knowing we can push ourselves further if we need to. We had one thirteen mile day this time, that was quite far enough! We walked the eighty miles over eight days, so we averaged ten miles a day.
We started on Saturday 18th May, on our first day we quite often plan a shorter walk so we can drive over, have lunch and then get dropped off at the beginning whilst our designated driver takes our stuff to the first B&B. Here’s us looking nice and fresh at the beginning…
The long distance walks quite often have a feature seat at each end of the walks which go together, so this is one half of the YWW seat. We’re on the banks of the river Humber and as you can see it’s a warm and sunny day.
The walk passes under the Humber bridge, I remember being taken to see the bridge when it was being built – that’s what happened with a dad who was an engineer, a coach trip to see the foundations of a bridge 🙂
It was pretty busy on the path along the river, but after a while we turned off the river side and had a lovely walk through a wooded area and across some fields until we reached the outskirts of Melton.
After nearly seven miles we reached our first B&B which was in the village of Melton, called Eastdale, It was probably just under a mile off the route, so not too far. It was very comfortable, we walked to the Green Dragon pub in Welton for our evening meal and had a delicious steak and ale pie.
Day 2 was walking over nine miles to South Cave. We walked through some more woodland, which we much appreciated as it was a pretty hot day for walking. We passed a very pretty cottage in the woods…
We also started to get some of the huge views which were a feature of this walk. They don’t always photograph well just because they are distant and hazy. This was one of our last views of the Humber…
We stayed at the Fox and Coney in South Cave. Very comfortable and lovely not to have to walk anywhere for our evening meal! We had a good night’s sleep, ready for our big day, the 13 miler!
I think this walk is going to take about three posts, so watch this space!
Well after nine days away the garden had lots of lovely surprises for me. One of my favourite paeonies is a very delicate shade of the lightest pink, it’s sited under a standard rose, which is fortunate as just before I got home yesterday there was a huge thunder and hail storm! The blooms have nearly all survived and smell gorgeous as you’re walking up the path.
I love irises and I’ve several clumps in the garden, I think a few need dividing as I’ve not so many flower spikes this year. These ones are doing OK though. They came from my mum’s garden and have a beautiful silver edge to the rich blue leaf. They’re all round the bird bath down by the patio, it’s very heavy clay soil there but they seem fairly happy.
Up round the pond everything seems to have grown about 6″! The pond has all but disappeared from view, as has Hubert the heron. The hostas are looking amazing at the moment and to my surprise the purple rodgersia is also looking good – it’s a surprise as I dug it up when I was trying to get on top of the couch grass earlier in the year and I haven’t got round to planting it yet – job for this week I think!
One area which I don’t often feature here is my deep bed, it’s just not usually interesting enough, but it’s looking really good at the moment. The purple continus coggyria has come into leaf, purple alliums are hovering above the paeony and the astrantia. The white blossom at the back is a philadelphus which smells wonderful. The climbing rose to the right is just starting to flower and the wisteria is draping itself across the top of the fence.
This was my first view as I walked (or rather staggered!!) up the drive after my week long walk, it’s not often I think wow! as I look at my garden but it did bring a smile to my face!
I’m still away walking the Yorkshire Wolds Way, hopefully finishing today. I haven’t had chance to work on my quilt over the last three weeks so no progress to share unfortunately. I’m still undecided about sashings!
I’m sure everyone else has been beavering away, so please follow the links to see what everyone has been stitching.
Hand Quilt Along Links
This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.
I finally plucked up the courage and started stitching the pages together for my garden book. I’ve been prevaricating for a while on how to do it, I discussed it with one of my friends from my stitching group who has made lots of textile books and made a plan I was happy with…
Each page is backed with pelmet interfacing, it’s actually double-sided iron-on, which I didn’t realise initially, but it’s actually been quite useful. I worked out what size I wanted the pages to end up and trimmed the stitching with a half inch border. The hardest bit was lining up the embroidery onto the vilene as I had to press it from the fabric side and I couldn’t see through it easily. Here’s a pile waiting to be stitched together…
Four blocks need making a little bigger, mainly early stitchings before I’d really settled into the project. Two of them are crazy patchwork ones so I can just add a narrow border on two of the sides. The other two are embroideries I can put a border round. One I’ve already done is the trees embroidery…
I’m slip stitching the pages together – I’ll work out later how to bind them together! I’ve made four pages so far, I think I’ll end up with about ten or twelve. I’m pleased with how they’re coming together.
Having put the pages into a sensible order, I realised I was one page short, I needed another page about the patio area. I decided to do one about the birds that visit the garden as the feeding station is in that area. I remembered some mini panels I bought at the Harrogate show last year, they were of beautiful paintings of birds. Perfect! I chose the bluetit as they are regular visitors. It has a nice splogy background, I decided to write the names of birds that visit the garden or that we see from the garden. I wanted it to look like the bird painting was on top of the words, so a couple of the less common sightings are disappearing behind the blue tit. I’ve used a variegated DMC thread which is subtle enough to be seen without dominating the image.
I’ve just got the last four letters to stitch and then a label below on linen. I’ve still got a fair bit of work to do before this project is finished, so I’m not polishing my dancing shoes just yet!
This stitch-a-long is organised by Avis from Stitching by the Sea, please follow the links to see what everyone else has been stitching.
I start my first big walk since 2020 today, the Yorkshire Wold Way, 79 miles from the Humber Bridge, inland to Malton then back out again to Filey Brigg.
My friend and I used to do a long distance walk every year until covid, since then life has plotted against us, but this year we’re back on the trail. We like to do about 10 miles a day, this year we’ve got a 12 mile day, which usually wouldn’t be a problem, but this year we haven’t managed any practise walks together, I’ve just been dog walking!
The bluebells have been particularly glorious this year, so I’m hoping we will see a few on the walk, here’s some from the Chevin a couple of weeks ago when I did 8 miles with Bella.
I think spring is one of my favourite times of year, I love the fresh greenness of the new foliage, we’ve had a particularly wet start to the year so it’s been lovely recently to have some nice warm spring days. This is another photo from Otley Chevin…
Bella decided she’d had enough after 6 miles, she just sat down mid path! I persuaded her on to a seat a few minutes further and after a little rest she was ready to go again.
I’ll be updating my progress each day on Strava, so if anyone can find me (Margaret Creek) you’re welcome to follow me and see how I do. Hopefully I’ll be finishing next Sunday afternoon.
I’ve just finished embroidering my tote bag. I bought it at the Knitting and Stitching Show in November, it was from a company called Sew Enchanting. It was pre-printed with the design and I could choose what threads and stitches I used. I started it whilst I was on holiday over Christmas – I used it to carry my other stitching projects too, so it was quite a useful bag.
The threads are mainly from Paint Box Threads, they’re single ply and subtly variegated. They were a nice weight for the chain stitch which I used for all the lines. I think the only DMC one was the pink flower at the bottom.
This is where I was last time I shared it with you…
I cracked on and finished all the words. The hymn ‘Morning has broken’ always takes me back to my childhood as it was a regular at school assemblies in those days. Here’s the finished embroidery…
I’m really pleased with how the colours have worked out, it’s all the rich jewel colours I like. I’m planning to line the bag now, I think I’ve done too much work on it to leave it as a simple tote bag!
Apologies for the radio silence, I’ve had major internet problems! My computer is in my sewing room on a desk that is about as far away from where the internet comes in as it could be, it’s been getting ridiculously slow and despite a booster thing nearby it got to the point where I just couldn’t get on the internet. Very frustrating! Last night I suddenly had the idea to move the desk to the other side of the sewing room, when I suggested it to my OH he suggested moving onto the landing where the booster is.,,well it’s a game changer!! So now I can catch up on all those posts I haven’t read as well as tell you what I’ve been up to.
The sun has finally started shining here in the UK and I’ve managed to do several good sessions in the garden. I’ve tried to be a bit more methodical rather than my usual trick of flitting here and there.
I started clearing the autumn bed at he top of the garden, it’s where the chickens and the compost heap used to be and I still get an awful lot of weeds here though it is getting better. I still need to sort the path out at the end as I’m pretty sure there’s crazy paving under the weedy bit.
Yesterday I tackled the other side of this bed, the Amber and Amethyst garden. I only managed half of it but I filled a large garden sack with weeds, there was a new to me weed which was rather prolific in the corner, so I’m hoping it’s one that is easy to control. This photo was taken on a wider setting, so it’s a bit distorted but it gives a better idea of the space.
Down by the patio the choisya is in full bloom, that’s the shrub with lots of white flowers on. I don’t think I’ve seen it quite so floriferous before! The pale pink blossom you can see behind by the lawn is a deutzia, that’s also looking rather splendid. The purple acer in the pottery has come into leaf and is looking very graceful. There’s a few pots need sorting out but they will wait a while.
Up by the pond the Solomons seal is still trying to take over despite a heavy thinning last year, so I think it’s going to have to be moved to somewhere where it can spread to it’s heart’s content. The hostas have all unfurled their leaves over the past couple of weeks so the bed has really filled out. The pond is disappearing behind all the foliage! I have a contact for someone from the local wildlife group who will come and look at garden ponds to advise on how to make them more wildlife friendly, I’m hoping they will be able to suggest something to sort out the duckweed which is safe for the newts.
I’m taking stock of the garden a bit at the moment, seeing which beds need an overhaul and which just need a tidy up, there’s a fair bit of work to do as usual!
thecraftycreek 