Summer Frock Take 2

Posted on August 25, 2019 by craftycreeky

Well I did say I was on a bit of a roll! I’ve just finished another summer dress using McCall’s 6958. I cut this one out as soon as I finished the first one…

McCall's 6958

This time I used a length of Liberty tana lawn which I bought during my last trip to London – they had a big sale on, I seem to remember a 3m length cost about £30. This one is a wonderful mix of pinks, purples, blues, greens… it sort of reminds me of impressionist paintings, I love it!

McCall's 6958

I used french seams throughout again, I did add a quarter inch to the side seams as the first one was just a touch snug and as this fabric is a lot lighter I felt it needed a bit more ease. I also added quarter of an inch to the shoulder seams, as a way of lowering the bust / waist a little, on the first one I stitched a narrow seam instead. The only other change I made was to cut the skirt 6″ longer than the pattern which allowed me to stitch a more generous 2″ hem. The fabric was also 54″ wide which gave me the width for the extra length, allowing for the wider A-line skirt.

McCall's 6958

It’s been a bit of an interesting afternoon listening to the Ashes cricket match, it’s being held just up the road in Headingley. I’m not particularly into sport, but this one was pretty exciting! I’m Yorkshire through and through whereas my OH is Australian, I kept my cool sitting with some hand-sewing, stitching the facings down and then a bit of cross-stitch! As an aside, my aunt and uncle used to live on Kirkstall road and until the new stand was built they could watch the cricket from their attic window! I persuaded my OH to take some photos before he went for a walk to de-stress – he was well chuffed how many people liked his last arty-farty shot, so he did another one!

McCall's 6958

I really like this pattern, the dresses are comfortable and easy to wear, I think it’s also surprisingly flattering, all the pleats at the front could have made it bulky but it doesn’t. I think I’ll be using this pattern again, though maybe not this summer!

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A Tahriri Bookmark

Posted on August 25, 2019 by craftycreeky

A few weeks back I went on a workshop at Fabbadashery by Deborah Mullins. We had a talk by her at my Embroiderers Guild and her work was beautiful. I’d already pencilled in her workshops at Fabbadashery so seeing her work just made me even more interested in attending.

Deborah spent three months in Palestine studying their embroidery whilst her husband was on sabbatical there. Originally each area had a distinct style and their own patterns but with all the troubles over the last few decades techniques and styles are being lost. The course I went on was on Tahriri embroidery. These are strips of embroidery that adorned their dresses, making panels for the bodice and also down the skirt.

The embroidery is predominantly couching with the pattern worked out so it’s one continuous thread. Having mastered basic couching with the outer straight lines and the central wiggle, we moved on to the more intricate flowers and hearts bit. We drew the pattern before hand on paper so our brains could get the design in our minds, a bit like we do with quilting patterns.

When I left the class, this is how far I’d got…

Tahriri Embroidery

I popped it in my travelling sewing kit, so whenever I had a few minutes to spare I could do a bit more.Once I finished the couching I started filling in the flowers and hearts with satin stitch, with hindsight I’d probably have been better with a plain thread instead of a variegated, but I was away from home when I started that bit with limited choice of threads.

Today I went to Harrogate for a zip, arriving an hour before the shop opened, so I sat in the sunshine on a park bench and finished it.

Tahriri Embroidery

I decided to make it into a bookmark, I usually have two books on the go and I only have one decent bookmark! I found some batik that matched the colours pretty well, so I stitched up the two sides and hand-stitched the top and bottom over.

Tahriri Embroidery

I’m pretty pleased with my Tahriri embroidery, it’s not perfect by a long stretch, but it’s pretty and having seen how colours and threads work I’ll be much better placed to choose colour schemes when I do the next workshop on Bethlehem embroidery in September.

I’ll be linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday, why not follow the link to find lots of hand-sewn inspiartion.

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Summer Frock Time

Posted on August 23, 2019 by craftycreeky

I’m on a bit of a roll now, I’ve just finished another dress, this time it’s a pretty summer cotton frock. I do like my summer dresses.

I used McCall’s 6958 which is labelled as ‘easy, make it today!’ I have to say, if I concentrated and didn’t get distracted by the internet, then yes, it could be made in a day.

Summer dress

It’s a deceptively simple dress, there are only two main pieces, the front and the back (plus obviously a couple of facings) all the shaping is done by the four pleats front and back. The fabric is some I’ve had in my stash for a while, I think I picked it up on Goldhawk Road. It’s only 45″ wide which is sufficient, but if you want to pattern match and lengthen the dress by 4″…well I couldn’t do both! I decided to lengthen by 4″ and just aim to have the pattern level round the dress. The pattern has come out surprising well at the front, not perfectly central but it could have been a lot worse!

Summer dress

It went together very easily, I used french seams for all the main seams, the facing is deep enough that (so far) it doesn’t seem to wiggle out to the front. I hand-stitched the zip in, which is my usual method as I find it easier to get a neat result by hand.

Summer dress

I cut out a straight size 12, it fits me neatly, I could have done with a little more ease but not much. Despit adding about 4″ I didn’t want to lose any more length with a deep hem so I used a decorative stitch to make a narrow hem.

Summer dress

I like it, my OH likes it, in fact I’ve already cut another one out in a Liberty Tana lawn – with a little more ease at the sides!

Here’s an arty-farty shot my OH decided to take!

Summer dress
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Keeping Up with the SALs

Posted on August 21, 2019 by craftycreeky

I’ve got two cross-stitch stitch-a-longs on the go, each releases a new section of the pattern every two weeks, luckily not on the same day! I’m just about managing to keep up with them both, along with everything else! Life will be so quiet by Christmas when these finish together with a quilt-a-long!

The Zoe box SAL is by Faby Reilly, last time I shared it with you I’d just finished the four sides of the box, each side represents a different season, it looks gorgeous!..

Zoe SAL

These sections took 4 weeks each, two weeks for the cross stitches and two weeks for the back-stitch and the decorative stitches and embellishments. This time we’re stitching the inside of the box, as there’s not as much stitching we’ve completed winter and spring in two weeks. I love the robin and the ladybird, I think they’re so sweet!

Zoe SAL

These are actually stitched upside down on the design as they will be folded upwards when we’re constructing the box. I’ve already started the next section which was released on Monday, it has a butterfly and another squirrel on it.

Zoe SAL

The second SAL is by Deborah Dick of Tempting Tangles, it’s called Enlightenment; Words of Wisdom. It’s theme is trees and it’s stitched with just four colours of floss, well I’m using five, not being one to stick slavishly to a pattern!

Last time I showed you I’d just finished the second section, this is much simpler stitching so it grows pretty quickly…

Enlightenment SAL

…which is lucky as I only started this section on Monday and I finished it today, the next section comes out on Friday! The border is in a gorgeous thread by Dinky Dyes, it is a lovely thread to stitch with and I think the colours are beautiful. Deborah gives DMC alternatives to the threads. I felt 3847dark green was a bit too dark, so I stitched the first ‘tree’ in a thread I got from De Vere’s in their Advent calendar, it was just a slightly softer colour. I decided to do the centre one in the 3847 and then return to the De Vere one for the last tree.

Enlightenment SAL

It will be interesting to see how this one pans out – it’s not a designer I’ve used before. The top row (this is three out of sixteen sections) is a bit more repetitive than I anticipated, but having seen other designs by Deborah I’m sure it will be lovely when finished.

Posted in embroidery, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on August 19, 2019 by craftycreeky

We’ve had some pretty wet weather so far this month, but hopefully it’s getting a bit better for a while – not that we believe the weather forecasters! I managed several hours on Sunday, mainly tidying up the patio area, some of the geraniums needed cutting back and I found quite a few weeds hiding amongst the plants!

August garden

There’s still a fair bit of colour in the garden, some of the veronicas are past it, but these smaller ones down by the conservatory look lovely.

August garden

Another flower which braved the weather last week is this beautiful pink one, it’s name escapes me, it’s like a lily but the leaves are different. Unfortunately it didn’t last long before it was battered by wind and rain.

August garden

You can just see underneath the pink flower are white daisy flowers of the leucothemum, it’s been flowering for several weeks now, it certainly earns it’s spot in the garden.

August garden

Whilst I was tidying the patio area I sat down in the rose arbour for my cup of coffee, I noticed the plants I bought just before the open garden to go in pots are doing really well. The creamy white hydrangea is just gorgeous, I’m hoping the non-flowering hydrangea in the pot behind gets the idea of what it’s meant to do, it’s in last chance saloon as I’ve had it about 4 years and it’s not flowered once, it’s looking the best it has done since I got it, so fingers crossed for next year! The variegated fuchsia has doubled in size in a matter of weeks and the lamium behind it is nicely trailing over the edge of the pot. The three plants together make a nice corner with lots of interest.

August garden

We’re heading into the time of year when foliage plants become more centre stage. Last year I planted a rogersia, I’ve got one somewhere near the pond but it’s got a bit swamped by alchemilla and crocosmia. I decided to plant another one on the edge of the pond border. It’s neat, bronzed leaves are looking really pretty.

Rogersia

Back down by the patio there’s still a blue geranium happily flowering away. It’s always quite late in the year when I cut this one back, I love the way it spreads over the bed, gently mingling with the other plants. I always struggle to remember where the actual plant is as it twines over such a large area without being invasive. It’s a very sociable plant!

August garden

After a little hiatus I need to step up with the garden again as we’ll soon be heading into autumn with all the tidying up that involves, if I have an early start I’ve a fair chance of getting it finished in time.

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Skirting Round the Rabbit Hole

Posted on August 18, 2019 by craftycreeky

It’s three weeks since I last shared my Down the Rabbit Hole quilt, this is the king size quilt I decided to hand quilt in a moment of madness! I’m glad I’m hand-quilting it, honestly, it’s just an awfully big quilt!

Three weeks ago I’d just started the last big border, the one with the rabbits running round, I’m doing the outer diamonds at the same time, so when I finally get round this bit it will be finished! Three weeks ago I was here…

Down the Rabbit Hole

I was struggling with marking the quilting lines – there’s lots of straight lines here so I couldn’t just wing it. As you can see I was trying masking tape but I found it difficult to mark in the order I wanted to stitch, which was like a zig-zag. I’ve also found it’s made that area a bit tacky, probably because I left it on too long, but even so it wasn’t working for me.

Luckily Kate from Tall Tales from Chiconia recommended ceramic pencils. I ordered one and it’s worked brilliantly, so thanks Kate! I’ve marked the whole of one side and so far the lines have stayed and they’re nice clear white lines, which works well on my coloured fabric.

I’ve made fair progress this time, I’m now at the halfway point along the first border, so I feel I’ve got somewhere. I think these will be the fiddliest sides as well as I’m quilting round each of the rabbits. I find quilting easiest from right to left so even with the rabbit I’m stitching in that direction, even though it means stopping and starting several times.

Down the Rabbit Hole

I think the nearer I get to the end the more progress I’ll make as the light at the end of the tunnel gets a bit brighter!

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, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi

I’ll also be linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday, please follow the link for more hand-stitching inspiration.

Posted in Down The Rabbit Hole, Quilt-a-long, Quilting | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Nineteen for 19

Posted on August 14, 2019 by craftycreeky

We’re nearly half way through August already so I thought I’d better see how I was doing with my nineteen challenges for the year, so this is the end of July report…

July was a busy month as I worked hard for our open garden and quilt show, so less sewing, but more gardening got done!

  • 1 Scrap Quilt; Still not started but I’ve had a few ideas.
  • 2 Tutorials; I’ve got a couple of weeks holiday from work coming up, hoping to sort some then.
  • 3 Sessions a week in the garden; I’ve probably exceeded that this month! The open garden went well though and I was pretty proud of our garden.
  • 4 Workshops; I went on another embroidery workshop at Fabbadashery, this time it was on Palestinian embroidery, I’ve another one booked in September and a gardening one too. So my tally is two so far this year.
  • 5 presents; Nothing this month but Christmas is sneaking up so I’ll start soon. I’ve made three so far.
  • 6 Quilts; My Spring Wreath quilt was my big finish last month, I’m still really proud of it! I’ve made five quilts so far this year, so doing pretty well!
  • 7 New Patterns; July was quiet for sewing, so this remains at two, but I’ve cracked on since so August will be much better!
  • 8 Kits; Last month I stitched a robin bookmark, it’s been used every night since in my bedtime reading book! This brings my total up to three.
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  • 9 Mini Embroideries; Last month I stitched a pair of fairy wings for a travelling sketchbook, I loved them! My total is now 4
  • 10 Things; I made a needlecase last month, it’s proved really useful, it lives next to my sewing machine so it’s always handy. I also made two cushions, one from a quilting practice piece and one from an embroidery I did a year or two back. They look good on the settee in the conservatory. So this doubles my total up to a respectable 6.
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  • 11 Cross-stitch Smalls; No new ones, but I’ve already completed this challenge! I do need to stitch another three so I have the complete set for the twelve months of the year by Snowflower Diaries.
  • 12 pages in my book; I’m hoping to start this during my holiday, I’ve just sourced some lovely fabric pages which I’m toying with using. I need to get my box of inspiration out and work out if their size will work, if not I know how I’ll make my own!
  • 13 Clothes made; this was still just three in July, though I’ve already doubled that in August! I shared my cullottes this month which I’d counted in June!
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  • 14 Drawers organised; I had a sort out of my machine threads last month, my standard Gutermann threads are now vaguely colour arranged, I’ve put my machine quilting and embroidery threads in a separate box, I’m tempted to stick some golf tees to the base of a box to stand them on. This brings my total up to 9, so reasonable progress!
  • 15 Minutes tidy up; I’ve got a bit slack at this one, I need to get back on as it does help.
  • 16 Books; My piles are getting bigger!! This is going so much better than I ever thought,I have two books on the go at any one time, one for bedtime and one for on the go – trains, buses etc. I read another 4 books in July – helped by reading a whole book in a day! This brings my total to 16 with more to share for August, so challenge complete! I think I’m due another book post!
  • 17 blogs a month; after a quieter June I managed a whopping 25 posts last month!
  • 18 Walks; I’ve not done any more walks this month, still recovering from a virus, but I’ve already reached my target of 18 walks. We’re still hoping to do at least another three day walks so we can finish the Cleveland Way.
  • 19 Splendid Sampler Blocks; This has been on the back burner whilst I concentrated on my Spring Wreath quilt, so I really need to get cracking with it now. I’ve made 14 so far this year, so not bad, but I want to get the quilt finished.

So I’ve a real mix of progress, some challenges complete or almost there, others not even started, hopefully August and September will be pretty productive, I’ve had a good start to August anyway!

Posted in Books, Crafts, embroidery, Garden, Nineteen for 19, Quilting | Tagged | 18 Comments

A Touch of the 80’s!

Posted on August 14, 2019 by craftycreeky

Last night I finally finished a jacket to go with my white rose dress. I needed something smart to go to a family funeral and managed to find everything except lining in my stash for the whole outfit – though that probably says more about the size of my stash than luck!

The pattern I used is Simplicity 7667, I think I picked it up from a fabric swop table at a sewing meet-up. Having made it up it does look a bit ’80’s, and having just found a date on it…1992 – not a bad guess!!

I wanted a simple shift dress and collarless, easy to wear jacket. This is my dress I made last week…

For the jacket I used some fine cashmere which I bought in a fabric shop in Armley, it’s beautiful, I originally bought it to make a winter dress, and if ever I see it again I’ll be tempted to buy some more as it is a beautiful fabric. It’s just about heavy enough to make a lightweight jacket for cooler summer days, of which we get quite a few here in Yorkshire!

The pattern is for an unlined jacket, I’m not keen on unlined jackets, so I made a second jacket in a habotai weight lining, basted the two together down the front edges and simply stitched the facing over both layers.It meant fudging it a bit where the facing met the hem, but it looks fine.

There’s just one central button, though I think it hangs better unbuttoned.

I do like the nice big pockets on the jacket! The pattern calls for shoulder pads and my first thought was to leave them off. I cut out a straight size 12 which is fine, but I didn’t realise from the picture how wide the shoulders were, so I ended up having to put some in. It does make it a bit boxy and 1980’s ish!

I’m pretty pleased with it, I’d prefer it not quite so 80’s, but it makes a nice simple jacket which I’ll hopefully be able to wear for other occasions. I felt it needed a brooch and I remembered one I bought was I was in my 20’s, it’s just the right colours. I think I need some tights on though, my legs look nearly as white as the roses!!!

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The Finery of Nature SAL

Posted on August 11, 2019 by craftycreeky

It’s three weeks since I last shared my Finery of Nature cross-stitch and if I say so myself, I’ve made pretty good progress! Three weeks ago this is where I was…

The Finery of Nature

I’ve now finished the cross-stitch on the last bit of the nest together with the tip of the dragonfly wing and I’ve started the back-stitching. I do find back-stitching a bit tedious, so the amount needed on the nest was hard work, so I stitched a couple of threads on the nest and then did a couple of threads on the flowers around it. I’m getting there! I’ve started the flowers around the nest and I’m trying to stitch the border as I go along, rather than being left with the border to do at the end.

The Finery of Nature

Decision time!!!

The border round the edge is meant to have gold thread couched onto it, but then again the whole cross-stitch was meant to be stitched on black aida with lots of gold thread. I didn’t want gold thread, I tried silver on earlier bits and that didn’t work either.

I decided to try few different colours – not too many as I’m not keen on undoing back-stitch! I tried a single thread of dark green first (middle one!) that just seems to disappear. I tried a double thread of dark blue (left), I think that’s my favourite so far. I also tried two strands of back, (right) as there is a lot of black back-stitches in the design. I feel that’s too harsh but I am open to opinions. So which do you think is best, or do I need to try and find a nice dark charcoal grey or darker blue. It is quite a dominant feature in the original design.

The Finery of Nature

This Stitch-a-long is organised by Avis, if you would like to join us please send her a message. We post our own projects every three weeks, it’s great for motivation and encouragement. Please follow the links to see many more inspiring projects;

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

The Finery of Nature

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

Posted in Crafts, embroidery, Serendipity, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , | 34 Comments

August Smalls

Posted on August 10, 2019 by craftycreeky

I was a bit late this month arranging my selection of smalls for August, mainly because most of them were out on display anyway for the needlework part of my open garden and I hadn’t quite got round to putting them away!

I’ve decided August is going to be on a theme of creatures, all kinds included! It started because the August cross-stitch from Snow-Flower Diaries has a border collie on it.

Cross-stitch smalls

I then found my cat one, I originally stitched this in my 20’s and it warped a bit – too much to frame it, so it sat in my workbox for far too many years, decades in fact, until I decided to turn it into a small. I think it was a Lanarte kit, it’s very fine, too fine for my eyes now!

Needlepoint cat pillow

The lavender bag is one I made for my mum a couple of years ago, it’s got a pretty little butterfly on it. This is a design by Faby Reilly who’s Zoe box I’m stitching at the moment.

Lavender Bag; Faby Reilly
Faby Reilly Design

In the middle of the soft green/teal one is a tiny butterfly charm. I bought the pattern quite a few years ago at the knitting and stitching show, it included the charm. I think I’ve over done this one a bit with the lace, but it’s very pretty.

Butterfly Dance

I stitched the brown rabbit holding a daisy last spring, it’s one of my favourites, the design is so simple but effective. The design is by Dany Chevallier, I’ve another one to stitch of a rabbit holding a daffodil.

Cross-stitch smalls

The three hopping rabbits are over 20 years old, it was originally on a bib I embroidered for my children (who are now in their twenties!) I found it in a box in the loft a few months ago and decided to turn it into a small.

Cross-stitch smalls

Last but not least is my blackwork sheep, he was a practice piece for a square I had to fill on a joint piece with my Embroiderers Guild. Skipton name originates from sheep town, so I felt we ought to have a sheep in the design!

Blackwork Sheep

So that’s my little seasonal display for August, I still haven’t stitched the last three months of the year (only had twelve months to do it in!!) so I need to get myself organised!

Cross-stitch smalls
Posted in embroidery, Smalls of the Month | Tagged , | 15 Comments