Patience…

Posted on May 5, 2023 by craftycreeky

…is a virtue I clearly haven’t got! Having seen the photos on our Whatsapp group of everyone’s tea-dying, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer!

This was the piece I started at a Deb Cooper workshop at my Skipton Stitchers meeting a couple of weeks ago. The workshop plan was for us to make a strip but she also gave us the option of making a fabric book, which is what I chose to do, I do have a soft spot for textile books.

Just to remind you, this is what the pages looked like before I soaked them in tea…

…one to take note of is the left hand one on the middle row on the left, the gold and copper coloured silk stripe. The idea behind this page is that when overlaid with the round window, it would look a bit like a setting sun. I used three different colours of silk dupion which were left over from my ballgown making days. The middle one is a lovely copper colour shot with crimson, alarm bells didn’t ring at all when I included this silk!

I included a few leaves and flowers from the garden in between the pages, added a sprinkling of iron filings and bound it tightly between two pieces of wood. I soaked it in green tea as it’s meant to give a nice blue/grey colour, rather than the brown of standard tea. I added a drop of white vinegar to the tea too in case it was needed for the dying process. I added my bundle to the mix in a large pan and simmered it for about an hour, I then left it to cool and popped it in a bag, supposedly for a week…

I lasted four days, to be fair I’m not convinced extra time would have changed anything.

When I first started leafing through the wet book, I couldn’t work out where all the pink had come from, then I got to my silk page…

Whilst it has faded a little after rinsing and drying, it’s still pretty pink! For over half the book there are smudges of pink, luckily I like the effect!

Silk does take up (and lose) dye very easily, the embroidered silk in the centre of the book is now a lovely mix of old gold, blues, greens and pinky-purples…

Having allowed the book to dry, I looked through again and felt the later pages didn’t have much colour in them, so I wet those pages and dabbed some silk paints on in greens, blues and purples. I put them on wet fabric and added lots of water until I got a nice gentle blend of colour over the last four pages. I then hung the book on the line to dry.

With the drying process a lot of the silk paint colour seems to have faded, some pages more so than others. The back page has quite a heavy cotton lace, this has taken the colour beautifully, I love it! Whereas two strips of cotton broderie Anglais haven’t taken much at all, so it’s not even the fabric base. Interestingly the strip of gold sari silk took very little colour during the whole process.

The leaves and flowers I added didn’t do much, but I did get some prints. I think the pages had too much texture to get even pressure. The page above had a leaf over the circle, hence the patch, however you can also see the veins of a leaf through the window. I love this one. I’m not sure what kind of leaf it was, possibly purple sage, it has three or four leaves imprinted, together with the stem and veins. This was on a simple linen page with the window opposite, so both pages with not a lot of texture.

The book needed a pretty cover. I’d used some ivory 100% wool felt for the cover when I was stitching the whole book together, this had dyed to a nice warm oatmeal. When I was binding up my book I’d included some scraps of linens and cotton with the idea of maybe using some of it on the cover. I played for ages until I was happy with my arrangement. I embroidered the name of the workshop onto a piece of coarse linen with some variegated thread which nicely picked up colours in the book. I frayed a square of cotton before stitching them onto the felt with simple running stitch, continuing the lines across the cover. The back has a square of eucalyptus fabric so I ended up with a nice criss-cross of lines. The centre needed a little something so I found a tiny scrap of lace which just nicely filled the space.

There’s nine double page spreads altogether so too many to photograph, but I’m wondering about trying to video it so I can put it on instagram, I’ll let you know if I have any success with that!!

I love my little book, I’m not sure how much I’ll dabble in eco-dying but it’s been interesting trying it and at least I know sort of how to do it now! The workshops I attend at my stitch-group are often ones I’d never think to go on on my own, they’re often just not the sort of textile work I’m drawn to, but they push me out of my comfort zone and I always end up really enjoying both the workshop and the piece I’ve created. I really enjoyed this workshop by Deb Cooper, encouraging me to trying lots of new techniques and to create something completely different from my usual style. She’s based up in the North-East of England if anyone fancies going to one of her workshops, I would certainly recommend them. She’s very approachable, she has lots of inspiring samples, she explains stuff simply and takes the mystery out of eco-dying, using common, everyday products!

Posted in embroidery, Skipton Stitchers, Textile Books, Workshops | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

A Flip Clutch Wallet

Posted on May 1, 2023 by craftycreeky

It’s our local agricultural show in a couple of weeks time, it’s the oldest one day show in the country, it’s the 212th show this year! As well as livestock there’s also handicrafts and baking. Over the years I’ve entered the competitions lots of times, mainly handicrafts with the odd foray into baking or flower arranging or maybe photographs. I haven’t entered for a while but I decided this year to put a few things in, especially when I worked out if I entered ten items and therefore got a free ticket, it was cheaper than buying a ticket on the gate!!…and you have to support these shows if you want them to continue.

I’ve entered a couple of cross-stitch pictures and two bags. The cross-stitch ones are pieces I’ve done recently, but I still had to make the bags, so they’re on my to do list whilst I’m recuperating.

My first finish is a Flip Clutch Wallet, a clutch bag pattern by Spencer Ogg. I wanted a clutch bag that will fit in other bags and contain my essentials, bank cards, cash (a rarity these days!) my phone etc. The idea being that this will fit in my handbag but easily transfer to another bag if needed. I like my handbag for general shopping etc, but when I go to work I end up with two bags as I need somewhere for my lunch etc. My next make will be a backpack for work!

The Flip Clutch Wallet had all the elements I wanted, it’s a pdf pattern too and I found fabric in my stash, the patterned ones inside are fat quarters I’ve had for ages, I love the colours and the patterns but I could never find a place for them in a quilt. The outer fabric is a bumbleberry fabric from Lewis and Irene, it’s nice and bright so I’ll hopefully be able to see it in the bottom of a bag!

I’ve made a few bags now, there’s always lots of pieces and stages and you just have to methodically work your way through the instructions. I’ve not used a Spencer Ogg pattern before but on the whole the instructions were really clear with lots of photos. There were a few head scratching moments and the seam ripper came out more than once, but that could have been my post anaesthetic brain too! I think some of the problem is when I don’t necessarily understand how the pattern is working, sometimes I just needed a short break then re-read the instructions.

This is the two main halves ready to be joined! You can see lots of space for bank and shop cards, behind both sets is a notes pocket.

My biggest fiddle came with the zip, it all went in very neatly, but when it came to sewing down both sides it was very messy at the end as you can see in the photo below. It also sat on the side of the purse, rather than proud of the edge like the picture showed.

I might have cut the zip too short, or rather measured to the wrong bit of the zip. Anyway I fiddled and faddled and got it vaguely respectable, though not sure it’s prize-winning stuff now! – to be hoped the judge doesn’t read my blog 😀

It is all finished now except for a wrist strap, I made a cord one initially as I don’t have a split ring small enough to go through the zip pull, I was hoping to put beads etc on it but my beads didn’t have a big enough hole and it looks poxy! I’ve thought of a shop in Otley that might sell the split rings, a cobbler, so I’ve fabric cut out for a proper strap.

And the inside…you see how the zip is on the side, I think it’s meant to be along the edge!

The phone pocket is behind the top card slots, under the main flap. It’s a bit of a squeeze getting my phone in but I have got quite a chunky phone case..

…and opened up, lots of slots for bank and store cards, I like the way this central bit has a magnetic closure too…

For such a complex construction, the instructions and the design in general are amazing, it’s very cleverly put together! I would certainly recommend Spencer Ogg patterns if this one is anything to go by.

I’m hoping the backpack will be a slightly easier construction!

Posted in Sewing | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Wet Lines and Edges

Posted on April 28, 2023 by craftycreeky

I’m having my first foray into eco-dying…

This morning I finished stitching my fabric book from the Deb Cooper workshop at my last Skipton Stitchers meeting. I was waiting for some Bondaweb to arrive and as soon as the postman came this morning I set about finishing my book.

I wanted to put a ring around the round window both to help reinforce it and to cover up the knots on the back. I used a beautiful duchesse silk satin, I just have a small piece left from a wedding dress I made over 25 years ago. It’s got a pattern in the weave so it will be interesting to see what the eco-dying does to it.

At the workshop Deb showed us two or three ways of stitching the book together, I liked the back-stitched effect one best, so that is what I’ve done. I measured the spine of the book and marked on a piece of paper where I wanted my holes to go, Deb suggested marking both the centre inner fold and the outer back and I found that really helpful. I marked the holes with a Frixion pen, spacing them 3/4″ apart, I didn’t have a central hole which I wasn’t sure about at first but it worked out well. I wanted a strong, natural thread and I remembered some linen thread left over from my upholstery days. I pulled a long length off to make sure I had enough.

Deb’s method was to start at the centre (or next to it if you haven’t got a middle hole) then running stitch to the top edge, I took my time to check the needle was going through the ‘dot’ top and bottom each time. Then coming back the running stitch is the other way round to give the appearance of back-stitch you continue to the bottom edge then reverse again back up to the middle. It is then secured by tying tightly in a bow in the middle of the inside. It made a pretty neat spine.

I wanted to use green tea to dye it as it’s meant to be more green/grey colour that standard tea. I also decided to try adding a few leaves and flowers into my book, see if they’ll leave an imprint. I’ve nothing to lose really, if it doesn’t work then I’ve just got a lacy pretty book. I had a wander round the garden and picked a few leaves and flowers. Those of you who do eco-dying can probably tell I’m winging it! I just went for pretty ones or ones that had some texture, a complete mix…

As I was dying a book I had to find some way of binding it flat, tightly. I couldn’t think of anything at home to use. I then had the idea of buying an inexpensive flower press. There were the usual traditional ones with a bolt and butterfly nut at each corner, what concerned me with that was having the nuts seize up after two weeks in the damp. I saw one that was basically two pieces of wood with webbing straps around it. I ordered it and it came this morning.

I arranged the flowers and leaves throughout the book and I also sprinkled some iron finings throughout the book to help with the fixing of the dye. I put the folded book in the press. I did have alarm bells jingling a little when I realised the wood wasn’t solid, there was a join down the middle. My original plan had been to seal the wood in two plastic bags to protect it, however the webbing was firmly attached to the bottom piece so I decided to just use it and see what happened.

I tightened the webbing and then added some seam binding to tighten it further. By now I had a nice little parcel…

I needed my big jam pan to be able to soak the parcel in tea. I added about 15 green tea bags to some boiling water, (well it started off with 8 and gradually got increased!) added a little vinegar in case I needed it as a mordant and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. I then added my bundle, holding it under until the air bubbles stopped escaping. I simmered it for another 30 minutes then left it to stew for another hour.

I finally fished it out. I’ve put it in a sealable plastic bag with some of the tea mixture. It’s sitting in a plastic tray with my spare sewing machine balanced on top to add to the pressure of the binding. My alarm bells were correct, one piece of the wood had split within 30 minutes, so it’s bound, just not as flat, hence the sewing machine!

I’ve now got to leave it for a week, then I take it out of the bath and leave it to dry for a week, before the great unwrapping….time will tell!

Posted in Crafts, embroidery, Serendipity, Skipton Stitchers, Textile Books, Workshops | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Lines and Edges

Posted on April 27, 2023 by craftycreeky

Last week at Skipton Stitchers we had a workshop called Lines and Edges by Deb Cooper, I really wasn’t sure what to expect but I loved it. I think sometimes having no expectations helps as you start with an open mind. All we had to take was a basic sewing kit, some calico as a base fabric and any scraps of fabric, lace, threads we had to hand, ideally natural fabrics such as cotton, linen, silk etc. I had a rummage around in my sewing room, rescued stuff from the charity pile (isn’t it always the way!!) and went along with a bag of goodies.

The idea of the workshop was to tear a long, thin strip of calico and then add different fabrics across it with different stitches, threads, trimmings and such like, making different textures and effects from how it was stitched. The strip could then be bound tightly round a bobbin and tea-dyed, left for a couple of weeks and then see what you have made.

Deb had several samples to show us, including a couple made into books instead of strips. As you know I’m a bit of a sucker for fabric books so I decided to go down that route instead. There was three or four of us doing books, the others were happy stitching strips.

I tore a strip of calico about 5.5″ wide, it took a while but I’m growing to like torn edges…on some things! After a little fiddling I decided that a double page about 9.5″ across would make a nice folded book size. I started playing with my scraps and seeing what worked.

I enjoy making smallish pages like this as however you decide to stitch it, it doesn’t usually take too long. One of my first ones was a line of fly stitches with French knots on a strip of linen, another had a line of feather stitch. One good workshop idea that Deb had was that we all picked a folded piece of paper from a box, on it was written a stitch, the idea being that you then try and incorporate that stitch into your piece, it does help to give you new ideas. My first one was detached chain stitch, I did like half flower shapes on a piece of linen. We then had to pass ours on two people…my new one was to try something new…not quite as helpful, but I decided to do the one my friend Claire had next to me, reverse applique.

Remembering a ‘window’ page in Anne Brookes book I made in 2020, I cut a circle then stitched a square of tulle behind it. Once I got home I stitched round and round in a spiral around the window.

This week I’m having a gentle sewing time as I had an operation on Monday to remove my gall bladder, laparoscopic fortunately, but it still takes time to recover. Sitting with some easy stitching in the conservatory so I can watch the birds has been perfect over the last couple of days.

Sometimes my stitching doesn’t go quite according to plan and I have to think outside the box a bit, the other half of the ‘window’ page is a good example…the beige linen with the feather stitch on ended up decidedly slanted, I’d stitched too much to undo it, so I did lots of wavy lines instead so it’s hopefully not quite so obvious. The gold silk next to it has a length of piping cord in it, I’m having second thoughts about it at the moment as the book is going to be eco-dyed as a whole, flattened and bound tightly, I’m a little concerned that having the prominent piping will affect the pressure of the binding, it won’t be even…I’m still mulling that one over!

As you can probably see from the photo above, only two pages have ended up with the full calico backing. One page has a piece of broderie anglais blanket stitched on, which is further embellished with two short strips of daisytrim and narrow broderie Anglais stitched on with feather stitch and lazy-daisy.

The page with the gold silk strips is designed as the view through the ‘window’, I needed something to mount it on so I used some voile with gold embroidered bees on which I bought probably about 30 years ago in Helmsley! The top piece is from a curtain sample book, it’s just very pretty silk which was too nice to cut smaller so that’s going to be the centre page.

As usual with me projects seem to get bigger than they seemed at the start. Having started making my pages I realised that of course I either had to stitch the backs together or make them pretty. Stitching the backs together would effectively halve the number of pages in my book, so I decided to titivate the backs too.

Some pages I completely covered the back such as the striped linen page with the bow, I wanted something fairly simple for this page as it’s the view the other way through the window. The other half of this page just has a length of lace across the middle. The wavy line of stitching is the reverse of the blanket stitch, I rather like it.

On the page with the blue wiggles I used the stitching from the front and whip-stitched it. I did one in the middle too but that wasn’t very successful, hence the blue trim! The couched thread was threaded up through existing stitching too.

The voile backing the gold silk needed something. I tried a few things but eventually came up with this lace doilley. There’s a vintage shop in Otley which has a basket of scraps, damaged textiles etc, it came out of there. Initially I was going to cut it up so it would just be behind the silk, but then I had the idea of centralising it so it makes the bee side pretty too.

Sometimes the pages worked well together by chance, this is the back of the centre page, it tones beautifully with the linens on the left.

I’ve one more bit to do before I stitch it together and dye it…scary stuff as I’ve not done eco-dying before. The back of the window is going to have a ring of silk , I’m using bondaweb to give the window support…well I would if I could find some! I’m sure I didn’t use the last bit, but I’ve had to order some more. Once that arrives I can stitch the book together, Deb gave us a few different ways of doing this. I’m planning to use wool felt for the cover which I will stitch afterwards, I’m going to add a few extra textiles into the ‘pot’ when I dye it.

The main sample Deb showed us was tea dyed with rusty nails etc. I’m not a brown person, I like blues and greens and purples! However she had one sample made using green tea, which made a much nicer blue/grey colour. So I now have a box a green tea bags ready! I do have some iron filings which I might sprinkle in as I think I might need it as a mordant. I’ve ordered a wooden flower press which is just two pieces of wood and some strapping, I’m hoping that will work as a press. I’m thinking of adding a few leaves and flowers to the pages, see if anything happens, I might just add a few blobs of silk paints too to give a bit of colour.

I’ll try and take some photos before it goes in, then I think it’s a matter of watch this space…

If you get the chance to go on one of Deb Cooper’s workshops I can highly recommend it, it was simple stitching but it still managed to push me out of my comfort zone and inspired me to work on and finish my piece. I loved the way she made the eco-dying simple too, using things we usually have at home. Just follow the link at the top of the post to find out about her workshops .

Posted in embroidery, Skipton Stitchers, Textile Books, Workshops | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on April 24, 2023 by craftycreeky

My friend and I went to Harrogate Spring Flower Show on Thursday, it’s been an annual treat for us for nearly twenty years, we love having the chance to buy direct from the specialist nurseries, getting plants that aren’t easily available locally. Unfortunately this year we were so disappointed in the show it might be our last one. We’ve given it a chance to recover post covid as we do feel you need to support these shows if you want them to continue, however there were so few plant stalls it was ridiculous. The show seems to be full of ‘stuff’ now, not plants.

Anyway, I did manage to buy a few!! Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been clearing a bed where the chickens and the compost heap used to be. As you can imagine the soil is the best in the garden! Unfortunately it’s quite a shady corner up at the top of the garden and it’s got a fair amount of bindweed too. I’ve spent the weekend trying to dig up every scrap of bindweed root I can find, digging out old plant pots, paving slabs, rusty metal, all things that got buried as we added shreddings to the chicken run. There’s still a large sheet of mesh under there too from when we put it under the compost heap to deter rats, as it’s 8-12″ down there’s no way I am digging it out so plant roots will just have to go through it.

A couple of months back we were wandering round Otley Garden Centre when I saw a display of golden leafed plants, it looked really nice, not too much either, so that gave me the inspiration for this bed, it will hopefully light up a dark corner. Gold leafed plants often like a bit of shade too so their leaves don’t get scorched.

So I planted a philadelphus shrub and a pieris at the back of the border, they should both eventually get to about 6′, but it will take a few years, I spotted these on Otley market yesterday. I’ve a cluster of three hostas near the front, a lovely lime green heuchera (which came from Otley market too) and a pretty yellow aquilegia. A variegated euphorbia is mid bed as this should reach about 90cm. There’s also a couple of astilbes and a Japanese anenome mid bed which were bare roots at the show so nothing to see at the moment. It’s a big area, about 8′ by 12′, so a handful of plants doesn’t go very far!

Over by the pond there’s a very pretty erythronium Pagoda. If I see them for sale again I might get some for my new border, this one has been in about 10 years! The iris leaves are appearing and the Solomons Seal, which are the tall droopy stems are still pretty numerous despite being thinned last year. Having picked up a catalogue from a pond plant specialist I’m all enthused about my pond again, I just need to get on top of the duckweed before I order some plants.

I’ve been sorting out my pots too, I got a lovely silver thyme at the show to add to my rosemary, I’m trying to get a few more fresh herbs in the garden. My mini pond cum bird bath now has a little reed and a miniature waterlily. The two big pots which look empty have some lily bulbs and a peony.The violas a bought a couple of weeks back have settled into their pot nicely.

Opposite the pots the Jack Frost brunnera is looking lovely. It’s offspring hasn’t got as much variation as the original but the forget-me-not flowers seem to show up more with the plain foliage. I love the variegated leaves though as they look great for most of the year.

Up in the Amber and Amethyst garden there’s a pretty perennial wallflower already in flower, it’s one I planted a couple of years ago. It’s mingling beautifully with the two pots in front and the skimmea behind. They are more commonly seen with purple flowers but other shades of yellow and reddy-purple are available now. They’re pretty short lived, only a few years, so I do buy new ones fairly regularly. I think they exhaust themselves from flowering so much.

All the perennials are shooting up now, this is the long lefthand bed in the Amber and Amethyst garden, I think the peony is trying to escape from it’s support! The cammassia look ready to flower and I don’t think the Spanish bluebells will be far behind them, I think I need to thin these a bit as they are getting a bit rampant!

I’ve actually managed to get all my plants from the show planted within three days, this is a new record, it usually takes me weeks, mind you it also reflects how few plants we actually bought!

Posted in Garden | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Owl and Hare Hollow HQAL

Posted on April 23, 2023 by craftycreeky

Well I have just started my new project, I think this is going to take a while! I’m doing the Owl and Hare Hollow BOM by Natalie Bird of the Birdhouse. It’s being published in the Homespun magazine which is a bi-monthly Australian magazine with quilting, crochet, embroidery etc, a general crafty magazine. I’m getting it through the UK quilting shop called Coast and Country. The only frustrating thing so far is that it’s obviously coming over to the UK via snail mail, taking a couple of months, so the facebook page is full of the second magazine stitching already and I’ve only just started the first one! At least it gives me an idea of what’s coming!

It’s a lovely design, there’s 48 blocks altogether with a mix of embroidery, applique, pieced and English paper piecing. The patterns are being published over twelve months, so six magazines. There’s lots of little EPP hexagons, like dozens! Each embroidered design is surrounded by a circle of twenty 1/2″ hexagons, so I’m going to get a lot of practice! I quite wisely ordered a set of ready cut paper templates for the EPP, although it wasn’t cheap I think they’ll be worth their weight in gold.

I’ve pulled a selection of fat quarters and scraps mainly from my stash together with two or three purchases. I find with this sort of quilt I tend to have one fabric which is a starting point and then the rest are planned round it. The starting one this time was the flowery one on a teal background on the far right, so I’ve pinks and greens, I need to look out for a couple of peachy ones, I’ve added blue into the mix together with a couple of browns, thinking of things like owls and hares. I’ve tried to go for more mid tones than me usual selection of wishy washy! I’m also hoping that the little ditsy prints will be good for fussy cutting little hexagons.

The first magazine gives instructions for two embroidered designs and four paper pieced blocks with ‘coffin’ blocks, I’ve started on an embroidered block first. I’ve traced the design using a frixion pen, so I can’t iron it for photos until it’s finished or my tracings will disappear. I’ve used a leftover piece of this lovely oak leaf design for the background, I’ve got enough for three blocks left. This is a favourite of mine, one of only a handful of fabrics where if I saw it again I would buy some more.

As you can see I’ve started but not got very far yet. I’m hoping to get a fair bit of sewing done over the next few weeks so watch this space!

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 quilting.

Posted in Owl and Hare Hollow BOM, Quilt-a-long | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Stitching my Garden SAL

Posted on April 16, 2023 by craftycreeky

It’s Happy Dance time! I’ve finally finished the embroidery of the summerhouse garden and I’m well chuffed with it. It’s taken me about six months but apart from the fact that there is a lot of stitching (and thinking time!) I do have a few other projects on at any one time to distract me.

Three weeks ago I was still stitching the pond area…

…I was stitching a pretty geranium which has spread and trailed itself nicely under the roses. I used a variegated DMC thread which is pink and green, using the green bits for lazy daisy leaves and the pink bits for the flowers. Trailing it into the pond just helped break up the pond edges a bit.

The round bush on the right is an elderly rhododendron, it looked fairly mature when we moved here nearly 25 years ago! I used lazy daisy stitch for the upright flowers and the droopy leaves. I stitched a couple of hellebores, one with white french knot flowers which is the slightly prickly one, and one with pinky purple straight stitched petals next to it.

There’s a little round shrub at the front which I just stitched with French knots, the tall frothy plant next to the summerhouse is called a thalictrum I think, it nicely takes up quite a bit of space in my stitched garden! There’s a beautiful camelia in the corner so that has lazy daisy leaves and chunky French knot flowers. The brighter blue flowers at the front are meant to be pulmoniaria

I felt the pond looked a little bare so I added Hubert, my chicken-wire heron which I made quite a few years ago.

Sometimes when I get near to the end of a piece like this and I start to look at it as a whole, I realise there’s some bare patches, they don’t necessarily need filling, just something. On the other side the ground under the white rose looked a little empty so I just used a light variegated pinky brown thread and made a few seed stitches. I wanted to show the path in some way so I just used a variegated greeny-grey thread and some intermittent straight stitches , a solid line would have been to harsh. I thought I’d finished but every time I looked at it my eye was drawn to the paving under the summerhouse. It’s actually just large square flagstones but with the distortion of the angles and perspective in this design that wasn’t going to work so I just did a few random straight stitches that filled the space…artistic license!

I think I’ve finished, though the corner behind the summerhouse is now drawing my eye, so I might add a little to that!

I’m well chuffed with these garden pages, they’re about 5.5″ by 7″, I’m planning to give them about 1/2″ or 1″ border when I make the pages into a book. This is the second ‘big’ page I’ve done, here’s the two together…

I’ve just one more of these ‘big’ garden pages to do, the Amber and Amethyst garden, so lots of purples and oranges. I’m hoping it won’t take quite so long, for a start the gravelled area is much bigger so the borders are smaller.

Stitching my garden has been a long project in the making, so I’m starting to get itchy feet to start putting it together. I started in January 22, I enrolled on a zoom course with Nicki Franklyn from the Stitchery, it was called ‘Stitch-a-garden’. I loved the course, Nicki is a great teacher, very inspiring and easy to listen too. I decided I had enough pictures so I would put them into a book…18 months later I’m still stitching my garden!

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.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, Cindy, MaryMargaret

Posted in embroidery, Stitch-a-long, Stitching my Garden, Textile Books | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Sewing Room Declutter 2023

Posted on April 13, 2023 by craftycreeky

I’m still working through my Sewing Room Declutter Challenge! This is meant to be a 21 day challenge in January but having started at the beginning of February I’m still working on it!! If anyone fancies doing a declutter this is on YouTube, it’s by Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts

Day 12 was electronics, a fairly quick one for me as I don’t have much extra electronic things in my sewing room, two sewing machines, an overlocker and my computer mainly. I have a CD player for when I fancy a little music too. I’ve just bought a second-hand little Janome sewing machine for workshops, so my old machine has now gone. I’ve put all the leads into one drawer and that was about me done.

Day 13 was quite a big one for me, notions, such an innocuous word but it covers a multitude of sins, buttons, zips, interfacings, trimmings, linings…and I’ve got one drawer at least for each of those, it has taken a while!

I seem to have amassed rather a large collection of buttons. I haven’t actually bought that many but several people have given me a button box found when clearing a relatives house. I’ve tried various methods of storage over the years, loose in a button box, tied together in colour, safety pin sets, but I have finally found a system that works for me. A couple of years ago I started changing my bead storage over to little plastic pots made by a company I think called Siesta. They come in a choice of size and come in their own plastic box, so there might be 30 small pots, or 12 bigger pots, different heights too. I love them for beads as I can organise them easily according to colour and take a single pot to a sewing project. It crossed my mind that this would work for buttons too. I now have six trays of button pots! It works really well as I can easily see what I’ve got, they fir nicely into a drawer too. I have a tray of novelty or buttons for embroideries, some bigger pots of buttons sorted by colour, a tray of bigger buttons etc I had a good sort out of buttons I really couldn’t see me using and they’ve gone in a box for the Cone Exchange in Harrogate.

I have two drawers of interfacings, one white and one black, so that one didn’t take long, though I also have a box with rolls of the stiffer interfacing I use in craft projects etc. Similarly linings are just in two drawers, plain and fancy!

Zips have been tidied into a smaller drawer, trimmings are still a bit spread out but I have culled them a bit. I have a little drawer of the trims I use on embroideries, another of bindings, another of bigger trims such as pompoms. Elastics have been sorted with old lengths which had gone off going in the bin. Ribbons have been tidied and very old lenghs or bits I’ve been given which I can’t see me ever using either going in the bin or the Cone Exchange pile.

Lace has two drawers, I’ve been realistic on stuff I’ve had for 20 years and that’s gone on the ever growing Cone Exchange pile.

I’ve separated stretch from non-stretch lace and made a little pile in a drawer of lace that’s there to be cut up for textile projects. It’s been quite nice getting reacquainted with some of my stock, I do have some very pretty lace!

I’ve got several drawer units which over the years have been labelled with a silver marker pen, usually bearing no resemblance to what’s in there now. I’m planning on painting the wooden drawers again but I’m still working out what goes where. I’m thinking of waiting until the end before I finally decide and label the drawers again.

Day 14 was recovery day…I needed one! One week of challenges to go!

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Spring Dress

Posted on April 12, 2023 by craftycreeky

I’ve been on a diet since Christmas, having tried several times over the years on my own I’m doing it with Slimmers World this time and it has made a big difference. I didn’t want to lose a huge amount but I worked out I was putting on a stone a decade and decided to put a stop to it. I’m aiming for a reasonable 10 stone, just comfortably within the healthy guide lines for my height. I’ve lost nearly 1.5 stones so I’m now feeling the difference. One of my colleagues from work goes to the same one and it’s helped us both to have that close support.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make myself a new dress, I wanted to use a soft needlecord from my stash in a lovely mid blue. I think I bought it from Fabrics for All in Armley which has sadly closed now. I measured myself again and I was pleased to see a size 14 should fit me nicely now (this is pattern sizes not clothes shop sizes!)

I chose Simplicity 9260, a semi-fitted princess line dress with three-quarter sleeves. The photo on the pattern envelope shows a nicely fitted silhouette. I wasn’t so sure about the three-quarter length sleeves but I decided to go with it for the first make.

To reduce bulk and add a little interest I used a batik for the collar band, the undercollar and the pocket bags. It’s like a blue/ green/ purple batik which works pretty well and I had enough left for buttons too.

Well having spent what seemed like days making it and having tried it on before I put the sleeves in, I tried it on and it looked huge! Half of me wanted to laugh the other half wanted to cry! I tried a belt on with it but it still felt too big. I decided that rather than trying to alter in on my own and potentially ruin it, I’d wait till Helen came home for Easter.

We had a lovely few days with her. Before she went back I tried it on, she said put a belt on with it and showed me how she makes a fold at the side with a belt when she has her Army tunic on, it did make it feel much better and I could still access my pockets.

I’m happy with it now, I’m thinking next time of maybe making a straight size 12, I’ll have another look at the finished size measurements. I love the long full skirt, just right for cooler spring days.

Posted in Dressmaking, Sewing | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Summer Dress

Posted on April 11, 2023 by craftycreeky

My eldest granddaughter is 12 going on 16, she’s at that stage when she thinks she is so grown up. At Christmas she asked me to make her a top like one she had seen on Shein. In typical shein style this was little more than a handkerchief with a few straps on!!! Grandma found a top pattern that was still strappy but somewhat more covered…

She loved it so I made the dress version for Easter! It’s a pattern by Little Lizard King called Edessa. It has a fairly fitted front but the back has two arcs of fabric going up to the lower neck line where they are tied with straps from the shoulder. The skirt can either be short or floor length so obviously Pip would want as short as Grandma would make it!

I made it out of a lilac cotton from the Remnant shop in Harrogate, it’s a much prettier shade than it looks in the photo! I lined it with a soft cotton lawn that was supposedly made for Liberty which came from the Pound Shop in Dewsbury, I’m not convinced about the Liberty bit but it’s nice cotton lawn! I just had enough left to line the top.

She’s a slim young lady so I made a size 8 lengthened to a size 10. It went together nicely. I’ve made a couple of patterns from Little Lizard King, they are well drawn and the instructions pretty easy to follow. It also helped that having made it before I knew how the back worked. The only instruction I didn’t follow was to stitch the gathered skirt onto an already elasticated waistband at the back, it just sounded too much like hard work trying to ensure gathers are even and actually stitching it on whilst having to stretch the elastic out. I stitched the skirt on first, trying to even out the gathers so the elasticated bit of the back wouldn’t have lots more fabric , It seemed much easier.

I felt that maybe at 12, Pip was maybe a little too old for a Made by Grandma label, so I put a label inside with a little message on. A friend printed these a couple of years ago and it seemed a suitable one.

She loved it, I’m just waiting for mum to send me a photo 🙂

I do like being a Grandma!

Posted in Dressmaking, Sewing for Grandchildren | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments