Covering my Book of Days

Posted on February 2, 2021 by craftycreeky

After working out how to bind my fabric book, the next stage was to make a cover. Having found how attractive the binding can be, another time I might make the covers the same way and just bind the whole book together, but that will wait for another project.

Please note that this is a description of how I made this one, mistakes and all, it’s not instructions of how to do it as such!!

Making the covers is basically a measuring job, working out just how long it needs to be. I’ve included my measurements to just to try and illustrate it.

I measured the book by wrapping the tape measure round it, allowing a little extra at the edges, including front, back and spine, plus of course, a bit for seam allowances. (for this book, that was 15″) I then added extra on for a fold over on each side, I added 9″ in total, so 4.5″ each side as I wanted it to cover the flange I had left myself which was a bit on the skimpy side!!) Width is obviously top to bottom with a bit extra and the seam allowance. (Piece needed was therefore 24″ x 7″)

I chose to make the outside from three different fabrics, a plain one around the spine, a narrow fold in dark blue and a bee fabric for the rest. As soon as I saw this fabric was called ‘The Earth Laughs in Flowers’ I had to use it! The maths again was a matter of working out how big I wanted the spine, adding seam allowances again. (My spine fabric was cut at 5.5″ and the bee fabric was cut with a bit extra at 10.5″ twice) The tuck was just a strip cut at 1.5″, folded in half and stitched in the seam.

I stitched the outer cover together then cut a piece of fabric the same size for the lining. I stitched these together leaving one short side unstitched. I turned it and pressed it.

I used Bosal as a stiffener. This is like a super thick vilene which is either adhesive on one or both sides. I like it for textile books as it’s very firm but does have that flexibility which I think blends well with fabric pages. It also takes a fold reasonably well. I cut the bosal to the finished size of the cover (14.25 x 6.5″) I could then slide it inside my cover, checking the spine was in the right place before ironing it to activate the adhesive. I then slip-stitched the end closed and edge stitched right round the cover on my machine.

I had left myself a fairly small flange front and back to stitch the pages to the cover, not through choice, but my fabric stash of 32 count linen was pretty depleted! You may also remember that I had a slip up with the scissors when trimming the front page. Of course this ended up in a crucial place!

Having bound the book so it would lie flat beautifully, I also realised that if I stitched right next to the page, the pages would lose this feature as the spine of the cover wasn’t flexible. I decided to leave a centimetre for movement, which of course ended up right where the accidental snip was! I did some fudging! I used a strip of bondaweb which stopped 1cm from the pages! It gave me the support in the middle which I couldn’t easily stitch. I stitched down the flap over the edge of the flange and slip-stitched the top and bottom edges of the flap to the front.

The snip was still concerning me as it was clearly going to be a weak spot. Another fudge required! I cut a little square of linen, used bondaweb to stick it over the offending snip a bit like a sticky plaster…then stitched a strip of lace over the top!!

The back page was a bit simpler. I decided to extend the flange with a strip of the lining fabric as I wanted to use the pocket formed by the flap at the back. Lesson learned here, if you’re using this method, make your flanges big enough! I used bondaweb again to give me that 1cm gap then I could just stitch the extended flange down and slip stitch the flap at the sides.

I blame Anne Brooke of the Stitching 4 the Soul Book for the next bit!!

I noticed the selvedge on the bee fabric with the name of the fabric and the colour spots, I decided to include it, so I stitched it onto the inside of the back cover with another strip of lace to cover the raw edge!

All that was left was the finishing touches. I do like tied books, so I found a pretty button, stitched it to the front with a length of braid I made from two DMC threads. I felt it needed a title on the front, so I embroidered Anthea on a scrap of linen, frayed the edges and used bondaweb to stick it on.

All these posts explaining how I’ve made my book have been linked together on the page above called Textile Books. If anything doesn’t make sense, please ask!

Now I’m sure many of you are hoping for the big reveal, the happy dance photos, well I think this post is long enough so I promise I will post my finished Book of Days tomorrow!

Posted in embroidery, Stitch-a-long, Textile Books | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Stitch Wheel SAL

Posted on February 1, 2021 by craftycreeky

Over the weekend I’ve managed to catch up with the Stitch Wheel SAL. This is a stitch-a-long on YouTube organised by Cathy Reavy of Threads. Every Thursday she is releasing a video or two of a different stitch to stitch on our wheel. By the end there will be over fifty stitches. This was my wheel when I last shared it…

I’d stitched the outlines of the wheel, together with the first two stitches, french knots and pistil stitch.

The first ring was concentrating on knots, so there’s colonial knots, which are very similar to french knots, bullion knots and a rose made from bullion knots. Some stitches I already knew, but it was nice to get some practise and see different uses for them, others are new to me.

Cast-on stitch was sort of both really in that I had done something similar when dress-making, making a thread bar for a hook, Cathy made the knots on the needle and then pulled the thread through. Drizzle stitch was completely new and fun, it makes like an upright bullion bar! The two lines are palestrina stitch and coral knot.

The next circle is different ways to stitch a leaf. So far we’ve used closed fly stitch and open fly stitch. I like the way Cathy is teaching us new stitches in context of what you can use them for, rather than just samples of stitches. I used a variegated DMC thread for the closed fly stitch on the left and a variegated perle thread for the open fly stitch.

Cathy starts each video showing us samples of where she has used the stitch in her own embroideries, the demonstrations are clear and she also shows them stitched left-handed.

I’m stitching mine in mainly shades of green and purple as it’s going to hang on my sewing room wall when I’ve finished.

Posted in embroidery, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Binding the Book of Days

Posted on January 31, 2021 by craftycreeky

Having finally stitched all my pages for my Book of days, the next task was to bind them together.

I’ve been pondering for a few days how to bind my Book of Days. I’ve never done bookbinding, when I made my Stitchbook a couple of years ago I had embroidered the pages as double page spreads, so it was fairly straight forward to just whip-stitch the pages together.

This time the pages were individual squares, so it wasn’t so easy. I was also concerned that due to the folding at the corners, the pages were thinner in the middle than at the corners, I didn’t want the spine to have an hourglass figure!

I searched on pinterest for binding textile books, but most images were of paper pages with a fabric cover. I did however come across the term coptic stitching. I did a bit more searching on my computer for information on coptic stitching. It seems to be a traditional stitch for binding paper books, creating a sort of twisted chain stitch on the spine, which can be pretty decorative. The problem was that all the instructions involved a long stitch down the centre of a fold of paper, I didn’t have the equivalent of a centre fold.

I decided to do my version of the coptic stitch, I’m calling it the Coptic Creek stitch!!! I took photos at the various stages of the stitch so if anyone is in a similar predicament, this is how I did it…

I divided the spine into 4 and marked the 5 points with a pin. I used a perle thread, I wanted something stronger than DMC and I had the perfect colour on a reel of Anchor perle. I used a double thread for extra strength. Having secured at the back, the first pair of pages stitching was a bit of a fudge but I then got a pattern;

I stitched through the edge of the next page, trying to catch a couple of threads of linen on each side, not just the whip-stitch…

I then looped the thread under the stitch TWO pages before…

Before pulling it all the way through I took the needle through the loop of thread, making something a bit like a twisted chain, I tried to always loop the same way…

I then pulled the ‘knot’ neatly into place and carried on to the next stitch…

I did five rows in total, I found it easier in the middle rows to have a marker pin at the other side too to aim for. I didn’t pull the middle ones as firmly as the end rows either so it would sit flat. At one point I was considering putting beads as spacers in the three middle rows, but I decided I was over-complicating things!

The book feels quite fluid at the moment, which I quite like, the pages are not tightly stitched together. It also lies open flat with a neat row of knots just visible…

True Coptic stitch is designed to be visible, if I’d made my front and back cover as separate squares I could have bound it altogether like this. However I’m planning to make a wrap around cover, so watch this space!

I’ve linked all the posts about the making of this book on the page above called Fabric Books.

Posted in cross-stitch, embroidery, Serendipity, Textile Books | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Peppermint Purple SAL 2021

Posted on January 29, 2021 by craftycreeky

Four weeks in to this SAL and I’m up to date, though I still haven’t started my borders, mainly because I still haven’t quite decided on colours. This is the free stitch-a-long by Claire of Peppermint Purple, there’s two layouts, an oblong one and a square one and a new block pattern is released every Wednesday for the rest of the year. There’s a friendly facebook group too where you can see lots of colour options.

Having been inspired last year by someone who created an image of a candle on their blackstitch, I’m hopefully stitching a picture of my special place, Catbells.

Last time I shared this I’d just done the two blocks…

The fabric is a lovely dyed one in shades of blue, I’m hoping it will help with sky and the reflection of Catbells in the lake.

The third block took a lot of concentration, it took quite a while and a bit of frogging before I got the hang of the pattern. I’ve also discovered that unpicking (or frogging) is not that easy with blackwork!! I did hear on facebook (so it must be true!!) that in French the phrase used instead of frogging is ‘a visit from Penelope’. In Greek mythology Penelope agrees to choose a suitor once she has finished her weaving, but every night she unpicks some of her work so it is never finished. I think that’s a much nicer phrase! I had several visits from Penelope stitching this block!!

The fourth block was much simpler – and smaller! The hardest bit is working out the outline of Catbells, once I get below the outline it will be much easier.

The top of Catbells in starting to take shape. It’s interesting how the colours change with the background, the skeins I’ve used for Catbells are soft purples, but they look quite brown stitched. Not sure what the brown ones will look like!

I’ll probably decide on the background once I’ve stitched most of Catbells, so at the half way point. The background I’m thinking of is like a basketweave pattern. The options I’ve thought of so far are to use one colour throughout, possible a soft blue grey, or to continue the shape of the fells across to the outer border, maybe using a variegated thread. Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!

Posted in embroidery, Peppermint Purple 2021 SAL, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

A Trio of Skirts

Posted on January 28, 2021 by craftycreeky

Since having an operation on my neck I’m trying to vary the sewing I do each day,so a bit of dressmaking one day, quilting another and hand-sewing too. This has resulted in me doing a bit more dress-making – which is good as my stash needs using!

Earlier in the month I made a jersey top, I pulled another length out of my cupboard, thinking I’d make another top, even if it wasn’t the same pattern. Unfortunately the patterns I looked at I never had quite enough fabric, particularly as I felt it would suit a long sleeved top, rather than sleeveless or short sleeved. I played with the fabric a bit and I loved the drapiness of it, it has that nice weight that you just know will hang nicely. I decided to make a simple skirt…a very simple skirt!

Due to the size of the piece I literally just stitched a back-seam and rolled the top over some broad elastic and stitched it down to form a waistband! The skirt was as basic as that! As jersey is prone to stretch a bit I put it on my dressmakers dummy to hang for a couple of days which turned into a couple of weeks. Today I decided to have a finishing day and I did a narrow hem using a stretch stitch and my skirt was finished. I wanted a real maxi length, if I find it’s a pain I can always shorten it, but I can see this skirt getting a lot of wear in the summer.

The next length of fabric to fall out of my stash cupboard was a beautiful length of Abraham Moon fine wool in a gorgeous teal colour. It feels wonderful! We’re very lucky as the Abraham Moon mill is in the next town and they have a mill shop where everything is £20 a metre where as usually it’s £35 upwards. I spotted this teal remnant folded on the side, I think I got 1.80m for £30.

I decided to make a straight skirt, again I didn’t have much choice with the size of the remnant. I picked out a new pattern, Simplicity 8792. I measured myself and to my dismay all numbers pointed to at least a size 16, I say dismay, as my pattern only went up to a 14!! Over the last few months with all the lockdowns, I haven’t gained weight but I think everything has moved a bit south!! Having said that, all the straight skirts which I’ve made over the last few years still fit me.

I decided to still use the pattern but cut it generously on the adjusting seams. With 1/4 ” added here and there I added about 2″ altogether. The pattern went together nicely, the wool was a dream to sew. I found some lining in my stash which worked colourwise. It was a tad short but I thought by the time the hem was stitched on the skirt it would be fine. It wasn’t, it was too short and looked it. I then remembered a tip on another blog, she added a lace trim to her skirt linings so if anyone got a glimpse it would look like a pretty underskirt! Of course I didn’t have any in my stash but after a furtle on ebay I had some on order. In a couple of days it had arrived and I love the effect.

I also ordered some buttons. I find it really hard to buy buttons on line, the colours on screen are so hard to marry with fabric in your sewing room. I decided that the chances of me getting teal to match were small, but navy blue would work well. I decided I just wanted very simple matte buttons. I’ve used this style for years but never known what they are called. They’re smartie buttons! They come is a wide range of colours and sizes, I like them and the navy works perfectly.

Not sure what happened to the colour here – winter lighting!!

Right up to the final fitting I was worried that it would be too small, I even had a back up plan of putting a placket behind the centre front so I could move the buttons to the edge. In the end it fit’s nicely. I’m not sure about the deep waistband yet, though I think maybe I just need to make some pretty blouses. It feels lovely to wear too.

When I bought the buttons they came in a packet of 8, typically the pattern called for 9, so I ordered two packets…and used 8!! The pattern I used also included some wrap skirts with an asymmetrical buttoned front. I remembered the linen skirt I made last summer, the wrap one which flashed far too much leg – like all of it! It was a navy blue skirt…this one –

I found it and added some buttons – I think there is a chance of this being worn in public now, it’s a beautiful weight of linen and the buttons matched perfectly.

So a top, two skirts and an upgrade and it’s not even the end of January yet!

Posted in Dressmaking | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Anthea Book of Days

Posted on January 27, 2021 by craftycreeky

I’m making good progress with my Anthe Book of Days, having completed all twelve flower pages and wordplays I started stitching the pages together last week. However I still needed a front title page and a back page, otherwise January and December would have to be attached to the cover.

Having decided on a name for my book, I wrote it out on graph paper in my usual cross-stitch font. In case you’re wondering, Anthea means blossom or flower in Greek, the flower pages were designed by Faby Reilly and called the Anthea Calendar. Back in the day, a book of days was a journal in which the writer would record the minutae of their lives. I also found out today about the song by Enya called Book of Days, it’s meaning is described as

“Life may bring both ups and downs to me, but I will still be fighting and staying brave, come what may and wherever I may go, daring to believe in my dreams.”

…which isn’t a bad quote for last year!!

I decided as a background to the title to embroider the names of some of my favourite flowers, just in a light green so it would almost blend in with the background, not competing with the title. I used one of the borders from Faby’s designs which I think looks really pretty.

When I was cutting my linen for this page I cut it so I could have a wide border on the inside edge, my thinking being that I can use this to attach the book to the cover. It would have helped if I hadn’t started to trim this side when preparing to stitch the page!! You can see the snip on the bottom photo! I’m hoping a square of iron-on interfacing will sort that out, and maybe a little embroidery!

I repeated the wide edge on the back page. I’ve been stitching the pages together along the back-stitched edge using whip-stitch. This wasn’t possible with the front cover if I was to keep the wide inside edge, I therefore used a ladder stitch for this seam instead.

I kept the back page much simpler with just a short paragraph and my name, I was going to do a pretty border but I decided it would be too squashed..

…and with the spelling mistake corrected! Thanks Claire 🙂 Typical it’s the last line of the last page, I knew there was a reason for leaving three spaces between words instead of my usual two…

I’ve stitched nine pages together so far, so just four more to do. Then I need to work out how to bind the pages together and make the cover. I’ve started a new tab at the top called textile books and in it I’m linking all these posts about the making of the actual book.

Posted in cross-stitch, embroidery, Stitch-a-long, Textile Books, Tutorials | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Cottage Garden Quilt HQAL

Posted on January 24, 2021 by craftycreeky

It’s three weeks since I lasted posted about my cottage garden quilt, it was a very brief post as I was freshly out of hospital, I’m now thankfully feeling much better so I’ll elaborate a little on the blocks I showed you then…

The wheelbarrow block is about 6″ square, I love the little cat peeping over the edge and the vegetables standing in a row. The butterfly ones are quite clever, they’re only small, the finished size is 2″. The wings are made from three parts, two of them use the wrong side of a fabric. It took a while to find the right bit of fabric as many I’ve used showed very little colour on the wrong side. However I eventually found an area of one with big dark roses on which was a dusky pink on the back. I think it’s a very effective way of making the underneath of a butterfly’s wing. Kathryn (the designer) suggested finding a fabric for the background with a flower on so they could be just about to land on it.

Having completed three embroidered blocks I set about sashing them. I found the butterflies surprising tricky to choose sashings for due to the blue background – all the others are on various cream backgrounds. I liked the darker green with pink flowers, in fact it was the only one that really worked, so I was happy with that as the first sashing. Initially for the outer sashing I used a mid green, but having looked at it on my design wall for a few days I really wasn’t happy with it, it made the whole block too dark. Eventually I unpicked one block and started to try other fabrics. Eventually I hit on the pale pink ditsy flowers, I think it works. Here’s the two blocks together…

For the wheelbarrow I wanted to use the cream oak leaf fabric for the outer sash and a light to medium fabric for the inside. I realised fairly early on in this quilt that Kathryn keeps her quilt balanced by having four lighter block sashings, this is one of them.

The partner to this block is a lovely square of a watering can and a trug, every cottage garden has it’s watering can. The little kitty makes an appearance again, watching the robin on the watering can handle. In the book examples are made of flowers etc which add to the design, but free rein is encouraged, I enjoyed choosing flowers to embroider.

The centre block of the quilt has a bird box with a kitty looking hopefully up at it, it’s a gorgeous block. I’m particularly pleased with how by chance the fabric markings have worked out on the cat, the brown is actually a leaf from a floral fabric. In case you’re wondering, Kathryn gives clear instructions on how to embroider a bumble bee! Again there’s lots of room for flowers next to the cat.

I’ve made two churn blocks which I’m not 100% on, my thought when I chose the fabrics was that they would link up with the two ‘red’ corner blocks, whereas the other diagonal has the green stars and corner blocks, we shall see! I’m also almost finished with embroidering a length of ivy, then there’s just one more block to embroider and it all joins together with quite a few 2 1/2″ blocks. This shows the rough layout with the top and bottom row…

Hopefully when I next share the cootage garden quilt with you in three weeks time then the middle row will be complete and the three rows stitched together. Then I’ll just have four corner stones to embroider before attaching the outer borders.

I’m really enjoying making this quilt, it’s coming together beautifully. The design is in a book by Kathryn Whittingham, it includes all the templates and well written, clear instructions. Having had a fair bit of interest from abroad she has now opened shipping to USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on her website, Patchwork Katy.

Kathryn has also recently published her next book with a gorgeous seaside design. I’m not usually that into seaside stuff but this quilt brought back so many memories of holidays with my children in Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast. This was hardly surprising as when I read the book seaside holidays in Whitby and the coastline there was the inspiration for the quilt.

Kathryn kindly sent me a copy of the book and I’ve already started collecting fabrics for my seaside quilt!

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, Gretchen, Daisy, Connie, Monica and Sherrie

I’ll also be linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday, please follow the links for lots of hand-stitched inspiration.

Posted in embroidery, Quilt-a-long, Quilting | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Making my Book of Days

Posted on January 23, 2021 by craftycreeky

When I made my stitchbook a couple of years ago a few readers asked me to write a tutorial on how to make the actual book. Life got in the way and apologies but it was never written. The double page spreads were evenweave linen whip-stitched together with a textile cover…

  • Stitch Sampler; www.thecraftycreek

As I’m just starting to make my Anthea Calendar SAL and wordplays into a book, I thought rather than writing an actual tutorial, I would write posts as I’m going along with the various stages and link them together on a separate page. Hope that helps everyone. It’s hard to write an actual tutorial when so much depends on how the pages are made in the first place and how you want it to feel. I’m also making it up as I go along!

Preparing the pages.

These embroideries were all stitched on a square of even-weave linen, supposedly 36 count, though a 28 count sneaked in ! One factor that has become apparent whilst stitching this book is that all 36 counts are not equal! There is variation between manufacturers, so I tried to keep to the same make, I usually use Permin linen as I like the crispness and they have a wonderful colour range. Linen, I also discovered this time, also varies between the warp and the weft thread. The warp thread runs along the length of the piece, the weft goes from weft to wight (sic! sad, but thats how I remember it!!) Usually if you are creating a single picture that doesn’t make a difference, but if you are wanting pages to match up to be stitched together, it does. Once I realised this I tried to always have my linen the same way up, using the selvedge as a marker.

Once each page was stitched I stitched another row of back-stitch where the page edge would be. I stitched over four threads rather than two (equivalent to two cross-stitches) both for time and also as it does give a little wriggle room if I needed to fudge it!

Once the embroideries were complete I applied a square of interfacing to the back, just inside from the back-stitching line. This gives strength to the pages and also makes ones on a thinner linen more opaque. It also has the advantage of showing clearly if any squares are a bit out size-wise.

Stitching the pages

I trimmed the outer edge to about 1cm from the back-stitched line. I tried on one page to trim the corners to reduce bulk. However it didn’t seem to noticeably reduce bulk at the corners and made it more difficult to get a neat finish as corners were more likely to fray.

I double and triple check that the pages are the right way up and in the right order!

I finger-pressed the seam over at the back-stitched line and then whip-stitched the two rows of back-stitch together. I just used an embroidery floss that coordinated with one of the pages, you could also use a contrasting stitch to make a feature. I’ve also seen books with beads added say every 5th stitch which looks really pretty. It also crossed my mind whilst stitching it that you could use a blanket-stitch to link the two back-stitch rows, probably giving a clearer edge. I just kept it simple!

I also decided to always start at the upper outer corner of the page. My theory here is that if the pages don’t match perfectly (and they don’t always!) the fudge side will be in the spine of the book or the lower edge! I had one page which was about two stitches out, I could have stitched another row of back-stitch, but instead I just caught two linen threads instead of the back-stitch. It also taught me to check the sides of the page before I start stitching, just by holding them together. This means if I need to make alterations I can do it more evenly, rather than having the design not central to the page.

Once stitched together I’m pressing the corners and seams initially with steam and my tailors press on my wool pressing mat. I’m then just pressing the edge with the steam iron, avoiding the stitching where possible.

I’ve stitched six pairs of pages together so far, so half way through the year, though I still have to embroider a title page and a back page. Last night I thought up a design, so hopefully they won’t take too long.

Next stage will be binding the pages together, though I’m still working my methods out for that bit!

Posted in cross-stitch, embroidery, Serendipity, Stitch-a-long, Textile Books | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

A Stitch-a-long or Two

Posted on January 21, 2021 by craftycreeky

Every year I tell myself no more stitch-a-longs, and every year I fall for one…or two! This time though they should both be fairly quick to do!

I’ve been tempted to try blackwork ever since Claire and Avis started a blackwork sampler and last autumn I found the Peppermint Purple facebook page. Claire from Peppermint Purple has lots of lovely blackwork patterns but she was also running a free stitch-a-long, a different pattern each week for a year. It was lovely seeing all the different colour combinations as people shared their progress. When Claire announce she would run another SAL for 2021 I decided to have a go. One sampler which really caught my eye was one which incorporated a picture of a candle using colour across the various blocks…well I wasn’t going to make it easy for myself!!

There are two choices of layout, oblong and square. The square is actually on point but border and filler options are included to make it square. This is the layout I’m using. I’ve drawn the outline on the layout pattern of my special place, Catbells of course! So I’m planning to use mountain colours to outline the fell and then blocks of colour for the interior of the mountain, in greens, purples, browns, I’ve sorted myself a bag of mountain colours to potentially use. I’ve stitched two blocks so far and the third one has just been released…

The blocks are less than an inch square or or under 1 x 2″ oblong so they shouldn’t take long each week. I’m using a lovely hand-dyed evenweave which I’ve had for a while in my stash, I’m hoping it will help with the sky and lake with it’s blue shades. I’ve realised I have a gap in my floss collection of mid blues, so I’ve just ordered a selection so I can use different shades in different blocks. It’s not easy getting the tone right with the sky, I want the pattern to show but I don’t want to use a dark blue. Ideally the blue I’ve used in the second block would be a bit darker, but I’ve stitched it now and I’m not unpicking!

Some people have already stitched the whole of their border, but I still haven’t decided on the colours I want to use, so I’m waiting until the picture takes shape. I might use a neutral shade to fill in or I might decide to continue the picture across the filler area and just do a darker outer border…decisions!

The second SAL is by Cathy Reavy of Threads, it’s a stitch wheel and eventually it will include about fifty stitches. Although I did a stitch book a couple of years ago I do find I tend to use the same few stitches in my work, I’m hoping this will widen my repertoire! I was particularly attracted to the second ring which is lots of stitches to use to stitch leaves.

It’s all on Youtube so you can easily start whenever you want. She provided a template for the wheel if you didn’t fancy drawing your own. It all fits in a 10″ hoop. I’m using a Kona cotton in snow white for the background. Although it’s a quilting cotton I was surprised how much stretch there was in it when you start putting it in a hoop, so I’ve put a fine muslin on the back which is very fine but has no give at all, so hopefully it will support the kona. It’s also useful for starting and finishing threads at the back.

The outline is stitched with split backstitch which is then whipped to make it more raised. She’s converted me to split back-stitch, it’ll be great for stems and such like as I seem to get a smoother outline than stem stitch. It’s also very economical with thread if you use the method which involves coming up through the last stitch. I used a variegated thread which I’ve had a while in my stash, I’ve lost the label so I’ve no idea what it is, but there’s four strands to the thread and each strand is like a fine perle. I like it! I used two strands for the outline.

The centre circle is french knots, I used two shades of soft gold with three wraps in the middle and two wraps round the edge. I’ve selected a palette of purples, greens and golds with the idea that it will go on the wall in my sewing room as hoop art once it is finished. It will hopefully act as inspiration for stitches when I’m embroidering.

The first circle is I think going to be in shades of purple, I used two shades of DMC thread to make pistil knots which are like french knots on stalks, I use these quite a lot.

The next three blocks have been released, bullion knot, colonial knot and a bullion knot rose, so I have a bit of catching up to do. Like the previous SAL, they’re only small areas so hopefully they won’t take too long each week.

Posted in embroidery, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

December Wordplay

Posted on January 18, 2021 by craftycreeky

I’ve finally stitched the final wordplay for my Anthea Calendar book. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, I could think of lots of words or phrases, but most of them were Christmas rather than December, I managed to think of a few non Christmas ones to balance it.

The design for December was poinsettias and hellebores, or Christmas roses, together with holly and mistletoe. It’s lovely and bright and feels Christmassy…

Poinsettias are not my favourite plant but the always remind me of my mum as she always bought one for Christmas. I have quite a few hellebores in my garden, mostly lenten roses which flower in the spring, though I do have one little Christmas rose which is still trying to flower despite the snow we had last week.

We don’t get snow like we used to do and although a white Christmas sounds lovely it does cause chaos. As a child I remember snow being on the ground for weeks on end, these days it’s usually gone in a couple of days. We had a heavy snowfall last week, the garden looked very pretty and luckily I didn’t have to go anywhere.

I always associate the smell of gingerbread with December, I used to make about twenty gingerbread houses to sell so the house was filled with the lovely smell of gingerbread for most of December.

I think Christingle services started in the 1970’s, partially as a fund-raiser for the Church of England’s Childrens Society. I find them very moving, all the children are given a Christingle, which is an orange (to represent the world) with a candle stuck in the top (Light of Christ), four pieces of dried fruit or sweets on cocktail sticks (can’t remember if thats fruits of the world or seasons!) and a red ribbon round the middle (blood of Christ). At the end of the service all the Christingles are lit and the children stand in a circle around the church, making a circle of candle-light. The main lights are turned off and everyone sings Away in a Manger. It makes me cry every time!!

For a quote for December I was tempted by some of the morning after the storm quotes which Laura shared on her blog, it has been such a stormy year…

Every storm runs out of rain, just like every dark night turns into day. -Gary Allan

In the end I decided to go for happy memories instead. I grew up at the bottom of a cul-de-sac and it seemed that every Christmas Eve the Salvation Army band would come to the Grove and stand outside our house to play carols as they went door to door with a collecting tin. I would stand on the doorstep with my mum and dad and sister to listen. We could request any carol and I always requested O Little Town of Bethlehem.

During winter we have a lot less birds visiting our garden, many will go off to warmer climes, I think other just go further into the woodland nearby. The little wren was seen quite a few times hopping round the undergrowth. They’re tiny little birds though they do have a very loud song.

I do like the twinkly fairy lights of Christmas, they used to be limited to the tree, but now we hang them everywhere, inside and out. It does make the place look cheerful. I often use holly and ivy to make a display for our back door, I used to use it for my Advent ring, but now I’m trying to avid oasis I just use artificial or dried things instead, with a few fairy light stoo of course…

21st December is the shortest day here in the UK, it doesn’t get light until about 8.30 and it starts getting dark at about 3.30, it’shard when you work somewhere that doesn’t have any windows like I do as you arrive in the dark and go home in the dark! Vitamin D deficiency from lack of sunlight is quite a problem here. At least once the shortest day is past we know the days are getting longer and spring is on it’s way.

So, here is my December wordplay…

I’ve enjoyed stitching these wordplays, it’s not turned out as I anticipated with weddings, holidays and lots of fun things, I don’t think any of us could have foreseen last year, but I think it will be interesting to look back on. I am planning to write a little notebook to slip inside my fabric book explaining my thoughts and the quotes I’ve included each month, I think otherwise in a few years time I may wonder what I was thinking of!!

Here’s all twelve together…

All I need to do now is stitch them all together with the flower pages to make my book.

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