Bits and Bobbins Box

Posted on January 20, 2024 by craftycreeky

Whenever I go on holiday, I always pack a little stitching to do, as we were away for nearly four weeks this time I took several projects, a cross-stitch kit and also two pre-printed embroidery panels. The panels proved great for the trip as all I needed was a bag of threads, no pattern to fiddle with on an airplane or to blow away on a breezy ships deck.

The first project was the embroidery to go on the lid of a sewing box. It’s a kit I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show last autumn by Sew Enchanting. You could buy a kit which included everything to make the box but I decided to just get one with the embroidered panel and instructions. I’ve just googled it and it’s available at Craft and Create at the moment.

I took a selection of DMC threads with me, both plain and variegated ones – I do like a variegated thread! I varied the stitches slightly from the instructions – instead of detached chain stitch for the leaves, I used fishbone stitch. I felt if I used chain-stitch the chances of me covering the printed lines were slight…and I like fishbone stitch for leaves. Otherwise it’s mainly back-stitch and French knots.

It’s about 10″ diameter, it’s going to be made into a zipped drum shaped fabric basket using bosal to stiffen it. I’m thinking of using a batik fabric for the outside which has blues, greens and purples in, I need something fairly practical as it’s going to live next to my chair in the lounge for when I’m sewing in front of the TV. I need to buy a 36″ double ended zip and also check I have enough bosal in my stash. The box in the pattern is plain inside but I am tempted to put pockets round the sides inside the box, it helps keep little things like threads or embroidery scissors tidy.

So this is the finished top…

I finished it midway through the cruise, I’m pleased with it, it’s a cute design and it has lots of happy memories stitched into it too.

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

Posted in embroidery, Serendipity | Tagged , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Stitching my Garden SAL

Posted on January 14, 2024 by craftycreeky

Well we finally returned home yesterday after nearly four weeks away, visiting family in Sydney and then cruising round New Zealand. We had a fabulous time, but after over 30 hours travelling to get home, I’m feeling somewhat jetlagged, hopefully this post won’t be too much gobble-de-gook!!

It’s quite a while since I shared any progress with my embroidered garden book as I had to put it to one side to stitch my grandson’s birth sampler. Whilst I haven’t any progress to share I have got plans!

My last bit of stitching was the amethyst and amber garden AKA the beer garden, this completed the three main areas of the garden…

I’ve quite a few ‘filler’ pages which have little embroideries on, so I think I have enough pages now, but there is one more I want to do. I stitched a map of our street for my book, but what I want to do now is a simple map of the garden, showing the different areas and how they relate to each other and the house. I measured the garden a while ago and used google maps to try and get a fairly accurate representation of the garden, I’ve managed to draw it out on paper, now I just need to stitch it. I’m going to keep it fairly simple using bondaweb for applique-ing the different areas. I just need to get started. Hopefully once I’m over the jetlag I’ll get myself motivated again so next time I’ll have some progress to share.

This SAL is organised by Avis from Stitching by the Sea, we post our progress on our projects every three weeks. Please follow the links to see what everyone else has been stitching.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, 

Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Posted in embroidery, Garden, Stitch-a-long, Stitching my Garden, Textile Books | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

Owl and Hare Hollow HQAL

Posted on December 31, 2023 by craftycreeky

Before I went away I managed to finish another embroidered block for my Owl and Hare Hollow quilt,,,

I just need to add the hexie blocks when I return from my holidays. I think there’s just one more embroidered block to do and a few pieced ones before I can start putting the quilt together.

Here are some of the other blocks;

They all have hexies round them, nineteen on each one, so a fair number of hexies!

Happy New Year everyone, here’s to lots of 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.


Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

Posted in Owl and Hare Hollow BOM, Quilt-a-long, Quilting | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Seasons Greetings

Posted on December 24, 2023 by craftycreeky

Merry Christmas everyone, here’s a few of my Christmassy makes from the last few years;

A Christmas dachshund and a cute pug in cross-stitch
Holly Humbug gorgeous cross-stitch decoration
Faby Reilly Christie SAL
Christie SAL Faby Reilly
Faby Reilly Christie SAL

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas.

Posted in Serendipity | 10 Comments

Holiday Sewing

Posted on December 21, 2023 by craftycreeky

I made a few new clothes for our holiday, having realised that after losing two stone many items in my wardrobe didn’t fit me…on the plus side several fitted me again!

I bought two new patterns over the summer, similar but slightly different, McCalls 2795 and 2755. They’re both what I would call comfortable and casual. They have sleeveless tops, skirt and dress, over shirts and trousers, a complete holiday wardrobe really…if I started early enough to make them all!

I made two pairs of trousers, both in batik fabrics, the green pair is another inside out pair in that I used the back of the fabric which was slightly toned down. The blue pair were second, I sized down one size and made them in less than two hours…

Please excuse the hair!!

I made two tops with a rouleaux loop fastening…

I also made the bias cut linen skirt above which I just love. I’d also used the same pattern to make a bias skirt in the summer using a fine cotton, I used three panels instead of two to give it more of a floaty feel. With a short length of navy I had in my stash I also made a waistcoat style top, which I lined with a remnant of Liberty I had left. Hopefully I’ll have photos of me wearing these two after the holiday,

For once I managed to have the sense to look at the fabrics that went together rather than just ending up with a group of random clothes. They’re all loose fitting with elasticated waists – ideal for a long holiday!

Posted in Dressmaking | Tagged , | 10 Comments

A Quilt for Pip

Posted on December 18, 2023 by craftycreeky

I managed to finish Pip’s quilt just in time, I think last time I shared it I had just sandwiched it together…

I decided to quilt it with a meandering heart pattern, it fitted in with the hearts on some of the fabrics. Of course it wasn’t as neat as I would have liked, some hearts are better than others and annoyingly I ended up with a crease on the back, something that’s never happened before. Luckily it looks a bit like a seam so it’s not as noticeable as it could have been. It’s backed with a lovely soft feeling cotton, not sure where I bought it but it’s quilt weight but manages to feel soft and cuddly.

The border is not as wavy as it looks in the photo, I think I just didn’t lay it out very well.

Due to a lack of a sizeable piece of fabric I decided to do a scrappy border, mixing silver and gold fabrics, the positioning couldn’t have worked out better with a strip of silver in the centre of each side. I machine stitched it on, remembering to stitch it to the back first so I could do a neat line along the edge on the front, which pretty much ended up in the ditch on the back.

Every quilt needs a name and I decided to call this one Heart of Gold, I had started the quilting in the centre gold square with a heart. I embroidered the name on the back together with my initials, following the line of quilting.

I gave her it yesterday as we’re going on holiday so we’ll miss her birthday, she loves it!

We’re away for four weeks now, my daughter is coming home to house sit and dog sit fortunately – we weren’t planning to get a dog until after the holiday! So, if I don’t reply or posts seem a bit thin on the ground…that’s why!

Posted in grandchildren, Quilting, Sewing for Grandchildren | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Peter Rabbit Sampler

Posted on December 17, 2023 by craftycreeky

I promised a quick update when my Peter Rabbit Sampler was framed…it’s going to be very quick as I’m off on holiday tomorrow and I haven’t even started packing!!

So without further ado, here is my finished sampler. It’s for my grandson and it’s a pattern from the 1980’s that I originally stitched for my niece.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Beatrix Potter books, the design is from the frontispiece (I think that’s the right word – inside cover pages!) of her books, here’s a photo I shared at the beginning of the project.

Top left is Mrs Tiggywinkle, then one of the two bad mice, Jeremy Fisher, the Flopsy Bunnies, Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck.

Happy dance time!

Posted in cross-stitch, embroidery, grandchildren | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Owl and Hare Hollow HQAL

Posted on December 10, 2023 by craftycreeky

Over the last three weeks I’ve been concentrating on finishing the Peter Rabbit sampler and the quilt, so I haven’t had much time for my Owl and Hare Hollow quilt, I have made some progress though.

Three weeks ago I’d been finishing several half made blocks…

I then started another embroidery, another cute owl one, he’ll have tiny button eyes when I’ve worked out how I’m going to quilt this one. I love the hanging plant holder and the spider!

As you can see I even managed to make and stitch all the hexagons on, though it still needs a good press to remove the frixion pen circle and it needs the tacking threads removing.

In the last couple of days I’ve started another embroidery, this one has a birds and flowers theme…

I’m on the homeward straight with these blocks now, there’s one more embroidered block from this magasine and a few pieced ones, oh and an applique one too. The last magasine I think has just one embroidered block and maybe one or two pieced ones, it’s mainly instructions on how to put the quilt together. So I’m nearly there 🙂

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.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

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

Posted in embroidery, Owl and Hare Hollow BOM, Quilt-a-long | Tagged , | 7 Comments

A Quilt for my Granddaughter

Posted on December 4, 2023 by craftycreeky

Over the summer I decided to make bed quilts for my granddaughters, my original plan was to make them in time to give them for Christmas, it rapidly became apparent that even for me this timescale was being somewhat unrealistic! I decided to give them for birthday’s instead, which meant I only had to have one of them ready for Christmas (her birthday is New Year’s Day)

Colourwise Pip is a neutrals girl, not that easy to do in quilts as most have a little something to make them ‘pop’. I found a pattern on pinterest by Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Springs, it’s called Making Friends and I thought colourwise it was perfect.It’s all soft creamy golds and silvery greys.

The pattern was published in the Quilting Quickly magazine back in 2016 and it’s on the Quilting Daily website. The original quilt is a wall hanging about 32″ by 40″, so I knew I would have to upsize it, however I was happy to buy the pattern for the proportions and the instructions. Unfortunately when I tried to buy it it seems you can only buy the patterns if you subscribe to the magasine! I ended up watching the video on how to make it and working out the measurements from that, I didn’t like doing that as I do think if a designer has gone to the effort of writing a pattern it’s only fair to buy it…but I didn’t want to subscribe!

The original pattern used 5″ squares as the original block. I wanted the quilt to be throw size so after lots of calculations on the size of squares on point, I cut 8″ squares to make 7.5″ half square triangle blocks. I made lots of half square triangles, some of which got abandoned pretty early on. I’ve got a bit of a heart theme with fabrics and I have a lovely old gold fabric with ‘threaded with love’ printed on it, but it was too dark. I also got the white version of a hearts one I have used in pale gold, silver and and copper colourways, but that was too white against the warm white I used for sashing. This was my first layout…

I’d rearranged the blocks a little from the original pattern and although I liked the overall effect I wasn’t happy with the middle. The middle blocks are meant to use fabrics that combine silver and gold, Whilst the flowery one perfectly matches colourwise, it just didn’t look right. The original used a plaid too but I couldn’t find one at the Knit and Stitch Show. I ordered a couple on line but when they arrived they were a lovely shade of grey, but too white. I then hit on the idea of dyeing the plaid, I tried my silk paints first but I couldn’t get the right shade. I then decided to try my Inktense pencils…

I’ve been doing an on-line course on using Inktense pencils by Laura of Sew Nature. It’s been really helpful, teaching us different techniques with these watercolour pencils. One lesson was how to do backgrounds, she taught us to use a pencil sharpener to shave off bits of colour. I had a play on some spare fabric and managed to get a good colour match on the plaid, it’s not perfectly even but I’m happy with it. Interestingly I also tried colouring a grey check which looked a similar colour, but that came out too dark. Once dry it should be colourfast.

Layout two with the sashing half done…

I started sewing the rows of blocks together, the quilt was over half made. I still wasn’t 100% happy with the golds but having exhausted my supply I decided it would do. Whilst I was doing a brief tidy-up I found a fat quarter that I’d bought at the Knitting and Stitching show, it was left at the bottom of my shopping bag, forgotten about. It was a lighter softer shade of gold. I decided to change the darker gold blocks (with little dots on) for the lighter one. I spent an evening with my seam ripper removing the six offending blocks and replaced them the next day.

I trimmed the quilt and added a narrow pale gold border and a wider white one and the quilt top was finished. Here it is all neatly sandwiched on the floor…

I started quilting it yesterday so hopefully it will be all finished soon…I still want to make some more clothes for our holiday and we go in two weeks time!

Posted in grandchildren, Quilting, Serendipity | Tagged , | 18 Comments

Peter Rabbit Birth Sampler

Posted on December 3, 2023 by craftycreeky

I’ve got my happy dancing shoes on today as I’ve managed to finish the Peter Rabbit birth sampler comfortably in time to have it framed for Christmas!

Three weeks ago I had just started Jeremy Fisher…

I soon had Jeremy stitched and decided to stitch his pulled stitch border next. It was at this point that I realised I had miscounted Jeremy’s position so frustratingly his border was one stitch out!!! It’s not quite in alignment with the one below. There was no way I was going to undo the whole of Jeremy so I moved straight on to the mouse at the top, who apparently is one of the ‘Two Bad Mice’. I finished stitching all the blue tendrils and then stitched his border which lines up with Jeremy Fisher’s.

My next task was the writing. I had to rejig the spacing a little as my grandson hasn’t got a middle name so that was one line less. I also changed the font slightly making the letters one stitch taller and also spacing them closer together. The pattern was also all in lower case whereas I wanted capitals where appropriate. I drew it all out on graph paper and then centralised it. The only change I would make with hindsight is one stitch more gap between June and 22nd, otherwise I’m pretty pleased with it.

With the lettering stitched it was almost finished, last thing to do was to lightly stitch my initials and the date in the corner before I gave it a good press and took it down to Artworks, the framers I use in Otley. Hopefully my little mistake won’t be obvious, I did mention to the framer that he has the choice of following the grain or giving it a wiggle to line up the pulled thread frames, whichever looks best! I’ve chosen a warm white mount with a fine blue mount underneath and a simple chalk white frame, hopefully it will look good.

Three weeks time when we’re due to post next it’s Christmas Eve so Avis decided quite sensibly that we’re having a break, so the next SAL post is six weeks time. I might therefore do a quick post when I get the sampler back from the framers.

This SAL is organised by Avis from Stitching by the Sea, we post our progress every three weeks (usually!) please follow the links to see what everyone else has been stitching.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, 

Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Posted in cross-stitch, embroidery, grandchildren, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments