Peppermint Purple SAL

Posted on January 9, 2022 by craftycreeky

It’s three weeks since I last shared my progress on my Peppermint Purple blackwork. This is the free SAL that Claire from Peppermint Purple has kindly published for at least the last two years. She gives layout options and colour suggestions then releases a pattern each week. They’re only little so it doesn’t take long. This years SAL has just started, if you fancy trying blackwork it’s a good way to test the water and see how the different patterns work.

Last time I’d just done some frogging as my reflection of Catbells in the lake was rapidly disappearing…

As all the patterns have now been released I decided to stitch the reflection first and then go back to complete the rest of the squares. I’ve not spent a lot of time on it as I’ve been concentrating on my gingerbread house, like I didn’t pick it up til yesterday afternoon! However it is starting to take shape…

I’ve not found it easy choosing the colours for the water, colours often look quite dark but with just one thread they lighten considerably. I decided to use pretty light grey’s for the squares on the skyline, even so they’re not as light as they look once stitched. At the moment I’m thinking I’ll outline the top of Catbells maybe in a darker grey and then outline the reflection in more of a mid grey, just to make it show up a bit more. This is the piece so far…

In my last post I forgot that many of you won’t have heard of Catbells! Catbells is one of my favourite hills in the English Lake District, I first climbed under my own steam when I was four years old and I’ve climbed it many times since. It’s a hill that thinks it’s a mountain! It’s not an easy walk, especially now with all the erosion and rocks polished smooth by thousands of visitors but the views from the top are amazing, over to Skiddaw and Blencathra, Bassenthwaite Lake, Borrowdale, Newlands Valley and of course Derwentwater. In my younger days I walked to the top to watch the sunrise, it was stunning with mist forming over the lake, the sun rose over Blencathra and everything was bathed in a golden light.

I’ve often stitched Catbells as it has a nice recognisable outline and it means a lot to me…

This SAL group is organised by Avis from Stitching by the Sea, please follow the links to see what everyone else has been stitching over the festive season…

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Posted in embroidery, Peppermint Purple 2021 SAL, Serendipity | Tagged , , | 25 Comments

A Dress for Christmas

Posted on January 8, 2022 by craftycreeky

In mid December I decided to make myself a new dress for Christmas, not a Christmas dress as such, just a nice one to wear this year. In the summer I had splashed out and bought three Deer and Doe dress patterns, one of which was the Passeflore, a shirt waister style wrap dress. I’ve always had an issue with wrap dresses showing more than I want when the wind blew but as this pattern has a double breasted button style, I’m hoping that’s not going to be a problem.

In the autumn I’d also fallen for some gorgeous baby needlecord in kingfisher blue from Fabrics for All in Armley, Leeds. I’d bought it on line and when it arrived I did think oh gosh, that’s quite a bright colour but I decided that with some navy blue buttons to tone it down a touch it would look great. I even wondered about doing the cuff and collar linings in a contrasting blue but I didn’t have anything suitable in my stash. The fabric feels gorgeous, so soft to touch.

According to the info on the back of the pattern packet I had just enough fabric, I rarely follow the suggested pattern layouts so I was a bit miffed initially having cut everything out to see I still had 1.5m left…then I started sewing…step 2, stitch second pair of fronts to yoke lining…second pair, what second pair!! So I did actually have just the right amount of fabric! The only change I made to the pattern was to cut the skirt pieces as one length rather than having a deep strip round the bottom of the skirt.

The dress went together really easily, it took a while but the instructions were nice and clear. When it came to buttons I wanted the plain flat navy buttons, I think they’re called smartie buttons. I had a look in my button drawer, I had exactly what I wanted, but only seven, I needed ten. The local shops didn’t have any so instead I found some almost matching ones in my stash, some of them are actually the back of a button to get that flat matt look. I used the matching ones for the lower ones on the front and used the oddments for the ones under the belt or hidden by the collar. I’ll try and replace them with some matching ones in time but I think I’ve got away with it.

I bought a broad elastic navy belt on ebay which just finishes the dress perfectly. I’m really pleased with it, it’s lovely to wear, my only change next time would be to add pockets, I did think about it at the time but decided to make it as was, but every time I put it on my hands want to find pockets!

I think the passeflore is going to prove quite a useful pattern as there’s also a short sleeved version and suggested fabrics include linen and cotton lawn, so it would make a lovely summer dress too. I’m tempted to get some more of this needlecord to as they had it in several colours, though I’m trying to use my stash rather than buy more fabric at the moment!

Posted in Dressmaking | Tagged , , , | 28 Comments

Gingerbread House

Posted on January 3, 2022 by craftycreeky

During December I was madly stitching my latest cross-stitch kit, I bought it at the knitting and stitching show at the end of November. It’s a kit by Nutmeg Designs for a 3d gingerbread house. Last time I shared it I was still working on the walls…

I finished the cross-stitch and added the back-stitch, I’ve just got some beads to stitch on now, I’m waiting to finish all the stitching before I start the beads…

The little rectangle at the top is going to be the porch roof.

Once the walls were stitched I just had the roof to do, I say just, but it actually seems quite big as the roof has a steep pitch. I thought it would be a bit monotonous but actiually it was quite a good one to stitch over Christmas as once I worked the pattern out I could just stitch it whilst watching a film without having to constantly look at the pattern…

I just need to finish the white border, each white square has a coloured centre too, then I can stitch a bead in the centre of each ginger square.

It’s grown pretty quickly really, just not quick enough to finish it before Christmas! I need to remember next time to buy them earlier in the autumn – there’s another house, a church and a Christmas tree in the set so it would be nice to do one each year.

Posted in Christmas, cross-stitch, kits | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Happy New Year

Posted on January 2, 2022 by craftycreeky

I’ve had a little break from posting over Christmas and New Year, I’ve been pretty busy though, both sewing and trying to sort my sewing room out a bit.

One of my Christmas presents was a bobbin storage unit from Creations by Rod, this is my third unit, they’re designed to fit in a Ikea Kallax unit. I’ve got one with DMC threads in, just before Christmas I treated myself to a set of bobbins by Pip and Chip, this was a big treat as they’re not cheap. I love them though, they’re acrylic bobbins, each probably a couple of millimetres thick, with the number and colour of each DMC thread at one end. I spent several evenings transferring my threads onto the new bobbins…

I’m using the second unit for other types of embroidery thread, I seem to have acquired quite a bit over the last couple of years and my mum’s old floss box was falling apart and not well designed for my needs, so I’ve started winding all the other threads onto bobbins too. At the moment I’m arranging these in colour groups, as they’re ones I use for embroidery, I may change my mind and go for thread types but I’ll just see what works best. Here’s my green threads so far…

There’s all sorts of different thread types such as chenille, metallic, stranded, perle. There’s one group of threads which are proving difficult to wind onto a bobbin, they are beautiful variegated threads but they’re twisted into a large hank and they’re proving tricky as they’re tangling a lot. Unfortunately I’ve got about twenty hanks – and they’re 50m each!

There’s five drawers in each cabinet and I also have one with very shallow drawers which I use for dies, templates, rulers, rotary blades etc. One day I will paint all the fronts and make them pretty …

…one day I will be organised!

Posted in embroidery, Serendipity, sewing room | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Peppermint Purple SAL

Posted on December 19, 2021 by craftycreeky

Since I finished my Jacquie Magic Needle-case I’ve been mulling over whether to start a new project I have several in the pipeline!) or whether to finish something first. I put my sensible hat on for once and I’m going to be sharing my progress on my Peppermint Purple SAL every three weeks. This will hopefully keep my motivation going as it does go hot and cold with this blackwork piece.

This is a free year-long SAL organised by Claire of Peppermint Purple, every week she releases a new blackwork pattern so by the end of the year you have a lovely blackwork sampler. The squares are only 1″ square or a 2×1″ rectangle, so they don’t take too long. Claire does suggest a colour scheme but I decided to go off-piste and choose colours so a picture of Catbells emerges.

Last time I shared it with you I was unhappy with the way the reflection of Catbells in Derwentwater was working out, I was losing the effect…

Last night I decided to bite the bullet and do some frogging, unpicking the dark square on the left and the bottom part of the 1st square on the left. It’s not as easy as it looks picking shades for blackwork – as I have found out, as the density of the design makes a huge difference in how dark it looks.

All the patterns are out now bar the last two, so I could stitch most of the shape of Catbells’ reflection and then plan which shades to do the rest of the lake. This is the reflection so far…

I’m much happier with it now, it’s not perfect but I think it’s definitely an improvement! I’m using very light greys next to the outline and then I’ll use slightly darker ones for the rest. Once the squares are complete I can work on the filler design in the corners which square it off and then a final border.

If you fancy trying blackwork Clare has just release details of the 2022 blackwork sampler, or she has some lovely designs, both modern and traditional, on the Peppermint Purple website.

Our SAL group posts every three weeks with our progress on a chosen project, it does help to keep the motivation going. Please follow the links to see what everyone else has been stitching…

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Posted in embroidery, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Stitching on the go

Posted on December 16, 2021 by craftycreeky

I always have a little stitching project in my handbag for those odd moments when I’m sitting around waiting…at the dentist, in a cafe. It’s usually something small but over autumn it’s been a slightly bigger project which will end up as a wall hanging in my sewing room. It’s a cross-stitch design by Stoney Creek which includes quilting squares, cotton reels and a vintage sewing machine…what more could I want on a sewing room hanging!

The central image is of a vintage sewing machine and it’s taken me quite a while, there’s a lot of dark greys! The design is traditional in that there aren’t any half stitches and the eventual back-stitch goes round the squares rather than rounding them off. This is how far I’ve got so far…

I’m changing the colours for the rest of the design as it’s all dusky pinks, whereas my sewing room is purple. The only bit I’m hesitating on is the tomato pin-cushion which is sitting on the sewing machine. It works in pinks but I’m not sure it will work in purple, but then it could just be a pin-cushion! This decision will wait a while however as since the Knitting and Stitching show this has been put on hold…

I bought a kit from Nutmeg Designs, they’re a small company based up in the village of Reeth in Swaledale, I’ve stitched a few of their designs most recently a cross-stitch postcard of Swaledale.

Nutmeg Designs do a lot of 3D designs, such as boxes or models. On their stand at the K&S show I spotted some gorgeous gingerbread house designs, well there was a cottage and a big house, but also a church and a Christmas tree. I bought the kit to make the cottage, it’s stitched on aida and then laced round plastic canvas, I’ve been stitching it as my main project this month, trying to get it finished for Christmas, it’s going to be a close run thing if I do get it finished as there’s an awful lot of stitching. I’m working on the walls of the cottage at the moment…

I’ve still got lots of back-stitching to do and beads to stitch on, then there’s the roof and the porch to stitch! I think I’m pushing it to get it finished for Christmas Day!

I think it will be nice to do one of these kits each year, maybe try and buy them earlier in the autumn, then I’ll have a little gingerbread village!

Posted in Christmas, Crafts, cross-stitch | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Christmas Smalls

Posted on December 15, 2021 by craftycreeky

Each month I try and have a seasonal display of cross-stitch smalls, I’ve made a box full so it does mean they all get a chance to be on display. Obviously this month it’s all my Christmassy ones.

Four of these are Faby Reilly designs, the two humbugs with mistletoe and holly on, the heart and the Merry Christmas one. These last two were from the Christie SAL she did a couple of years ago, I just changed the colours to more traditional ones. The mistletoe was a mini kit from Hobbycraft and the robin is a kit from Fido Stitch Designs, I’ve stitched several of their birds. The tiny mouse at the front which you may miss if I don’t point it out is one from Just Nan, it’s very cute but very tiny!

I’ve a few other cross-stitch or crafty pieces around the house for Christmas…

Stained Glass Nativity
Felt Embroidered Santa

I like unpacking the Christmas decorations, all the memories that come with them whether they’re one’s I’ve bought or one’s I’ve made. Some of my decorations are ones I made thirty years ago! Happy times!

Posted in Christmas | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Christmas Baking

Posted on December 14, 2021 by craftycreeky

For many years I’ve tried to have a weeks annual leave at the beginning of December to get everything ready for Christmas, organise presents, order food, write Christmas cards…and decorate cakes. So I’ve been off all last week and managed to get most things done – except Christmas cards, I’ve now managed to buy them but not written one yet!!! Last weekend our two new granddaughters came round to decorate Christmas cakes and gingerbread houses. They’re six and nine and it was lovely to see how excited they were.

We started with gingerbread houses. I’ve been making these for years, I used to get the houses from Ikea (flat-packed obviously!!) but I found the ones from Morrisons may not be quite so cute (no chimneys or open windows) but the gingerbread tastes a lot nicer. It’s also a lot handier for me to buy! I’d bought four, one for us, two for the girls and a spare in case of breakages.

I set everything up in the conservatory with a tray each to work off, lots of cake decorations like stars, glitter bits, hundreds and thousands, silver draghees to break your teeth on!! We’d got icing bags ready and some ready made tubes…and of course a Santa each. We had a great time decorating them and then putting them together. I forgot to take photos at the time but here’s a photo James took yesterday, still wrapped in the snowflake cellophane and not nibbled to my surprise…

They did so well with the icing in piping bags. I think I helped the youngest with the roof icing on the far gingerbread house, but the nearest one is all the nine year old’s work.

A few weeks ago they came round so we could make Christmas cakes, these are what we call rich fruit cakes, they need a good six weeks to mature and last a good while too. You only need a small slice as it’s very rich and filling. Here in Yorkshire we like to serve it with Wensleydale cheese, delicious! I’ve got my truckle of cheese ready in the fridge. So once the gingerbread houses were done we started on decorating their cake.

I showed them how to roll out marzipan, filling in holes in the cakes and using apricot jam to make it stick before smoothing it round the cake. We then rolled out the sugar paste and covered the cake, polishing it with the smoothers. They did a great job. I’d previously made the sleigh and reindeer with royal icing but they helped make houses round the bottom and added the stars. I’ve made this Christmas cake design a few times, it’s from a book on Christmas Cakes I bought when my too were little, it’s such a gorgeous design…

The next day I decorated our gingerbread house, the little holly wreaths and berries were in a cake sprinkles set from Waitrose, they add just that little bit of colour.

I covered our Christmas cake with white icing and then added different sized stars and put some gold stars in the gaps and made a circle of candles and stars…

It’s very simple and quick to do, but I think it’s pretty effective. I just need to make some mince pies and then I think that’s all the Christmas baking ready!

Posted in Christmas, Serendipity | Tagged , | 17 Comments

Christmas Traditions

Posted on December 12, 2021 by craftycreeky

It’s the third Sunday in Advent today, so I lit another candle on my Advent ring. We always had an Advent ring when I was little and it’s a tradition I’ve carried on. I think it’s nice to see family traditions carrying on through the generations…and just as nice when traditions we start are carried on by our children.

When my kids were little we started a tradition of having a box of Christmas books which came out on 1st December, new ones would be added each year and carol music was included so we could have a little sing song round the piano, read a Christmas story and light the Advent candle. The books were both Christmassy stories and nativity books. There was one classic year when I was ‘reading’ a picture book of the nativity and when it came to the picture of Jesus in his manger Helen said ‘But I want to call him Rachel!!!’ She insisted on calling him Rachel for the rest of the festive season…the vicar looked decidedly nonplussed!

I was delighted a couple of years ago when it was my great nephew’s first Christmas, Helen bought him a Christmas box with some books in, all ready to continue the tradition in a new branch of the family.

Back to my Advent ring… I always used to use fresh foliage from the garden or the back lane, such as ivy, osmanthus, holly, rosemary…anything looking reasonable in the garden! I put them in an oasis ring to keep it going for the four weeks. Three or four years ago I discovered oasis never decomposes, so I started to try and make an oasis free ring. I think the first year I tried a ring of wet straw – not good! Since then I’ve used artificial or dried stuff. The artificial pieces are ones I’ve had for years, I’ve not bought anything new and each year I’m getting better at putting the wreath together.

The wreath is set on a five candle candelabra, I use the centre one for the Advent candle and have the remaining four for the ring. I used an artificial length of foliage twisted round the four candles for the basis and then added various floral pics, pine cones, poppy seed heads, dried limes etc. I add some extra Christmas lights so even when the candles aren’t lit it still looks festive.

Today we lit the third candle as it’s the third Sunday in Advent…

… it looks lovely through our stained glass window.

Posted in Christmas | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

A Pinny or Two

Posted on December 11, 2021 by craftycreeky

It’s been fun having two little girls to choose gifts for this Christmas, these are my son’s partners children and as they’re buying a house together it seems pretty permanent, so they’re my new to me granddaughters, age six and nine. I’ve made the youngest a mouse from the Luna Lapin books with a bag to match.

The eldest is into baking, so a cookery book was suggested. I found two nice ones in the bookshop in Otley and bought a couple of baking things such as a whisk and a cake tester to go with it. Having made the lovely Miss Mouse for the youngest, I wanted to make a little something to go with the cook books. An apron seemed the obvious thing.

Colour wise she’s into neutrals at the moment, not my forte, but I found a nice light grey print with hares on it. I found a free pattern on the Porcupine Patterns website for a Japanese apron, it’s one of those that crosses over at the back but doesn’t have any straps. I have one for crafty stuff and they’re very easy to wear.

I cut it out and started to sew before I realised I didn’t have enough binding for all the edges, I needed about 5m. In the end I popped into Leeds, did some Christmas shopping at the same time, and called into the haberdashers, Samuel Taylors. I didn’t really want a plain bias binding, they had a nice one which was grey with white flowers, it would have been perfect if it wasn’t so wide! In the end I bought a spotty one as it includes grey spots.

The pattern went together very easily, especially as I did away with a side seam and cut it as one piece. Having finished it I just wasn’t happy with it, the binding was too…well, dotty! It dominated the apron and just looked unbalanced with the hares. This is the back view with the curved edges.

I rummaged through my stash to see if there was anything suitable, I needed a metre, most of my quilting cottons are less than that. Finally I found one, in my seaside quilt box, it’s grey with seagulls on and little yellow flowers. I had just enough if I pieced the shoulders, this also had the advantage that it meant the seagulls were the right way up when they came over the shoulder. As it was quilting cotton, I decided to make it double sided, to give it a bit more body. I found some sandy yellow which needed a bit of fiddling to get it out, but I got there in the end.

As I was making it double sided, I stitched right round the edges, just leaving the top at the front open, I turned it through there and then stitched it up once the shoulders were in place. I top-stitched right round too. I wanted to put a pocket on and found some grey bumbleberry fabric which went well but looked a bit flat, another rummage through a layer cake of bumbleberry fabric and I found the mustardy gold one which really made it pop, I felt the whole pocket in gold was a bit much, but tried with just a top border and it worked, so I lined the pocket with the gold and stitched it to have a gold top.

I decided to add her nick-name on the front together with a little yellow flower, I used bondaweb to attach it and then blanket-stitch round the edge.

I’m pretty pleased with it, I just hope it fits her! There was only one children’s size and she’s a very slim young lady, I can always add a bit to the straps if need be. For now it just needs a good press and then wrapping up. The spare apron can be used here…I just need to make another one!

Posted in Christmas, Dressmaking | Tagged , , | 9 Comments