Little stash, big ideas

May 1, 2011May 1, 2011 stitchesoftime5 Comments

Hello there

I have been having a very lovely week and I do hope you have too. It has been absolutely glorious weather, I have spent lots of time in the garden, doing both boring practical things like cutting the hedge ;-( and nice stuff like having a bbq and enjoying my flowers. My garden has really matured this year , the clematis is about 3 times the size it was last year and everything is looking very lovely so please indulge me while I show you a few pics.

Quite a lot has been going on indoors as well though this has been a relatively quiet week for me (like most of the population here in the UK) with only 3 work days and lots of lovely holiday. I celebrated the Royal Wedding by having a few friends round for cupcakes and Cava during the ceremony and a little buffet lunch afterwards. I thought Kate’s dress was absolutely stunning – just perfect for her. Will not post pics of that as apparently a third of the world’s population watched the wedding so I’m sure you will have seen it! However here are my cupcakes that I made for the do – the first chance I have had to use my cake stand!

On the crafting front I have been working on my pink Sublime baby cardi and my JBW Plum Pudding Xmas ornie – the latter is nearly finished. I also have started a new quilting WIP. I said a while ago that I wanted to organise my quilt fabric stash in a similar way to how I have seen other people sort things on their blogs so bought some plastic storage boxes and was surprised to find that I actually have very little quilt fabric (lots of other types of fabric but that is another story!) This is it basically.

Pretty poor isn’t it compared to some of the big names out there in the quilting world? However I am planning trips to the Malvern Quilt Show at the end of May and the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August so will have a chance to add to the stash. Sorting it all out did give me a chance to mull over a project I have had in mind for a while which is a small throw for the back of one of my sofas in the lounge. It is a brown leather sofa which is quite plain and since I have lots of lovely medieval style fabrics I thought I would make a start on cutting out some squares which I did this afternoon.

This is not the final layout just a bit of a working plan, I am thinking about a large central square of one of the dark red fabrics with gold silk sashing and then strips of all the other squares with red silk sashing in between each square. No time limit for this piece just something to pick up as and when I get time – things are about to get very hectic round here with term starting again and all my re-enactment and other things.

I have finished my Spring Exchange piece for the Seasonal Exchange with a whole 3 days to spare and that has been sent to the USA this week so will post pics of that once it has been received. I got mine from Lisa last week when I got back from holiday so here are the pics of it. Please do go and visit her blog as she has loads of lovely stitching on it.

It is very lovely, the finish is so neat with lots of really even blanket stitch and I love the backing fabric as well. It is hanging on my patio doors with last year’s seasonal exchange Spring ornie making me feel very happy – I do love this season camping, bbqs just being able to be outdoors lots – fabulous!!!

Finally Elmsley Rose asked me in comment a while ago what my header pic was – it is part of a crewel work picture I bought from E-Bay about 4 years ago, unfortunately no info came with it about date or maker but I did promise that I would take a pic of the full thing so here it is. It is not a brilliant pic as it is framed with glass so there are some reflections but I really like this piece – it hangs in my hallway.

Well I will love you and leave you and hope that you have a very good week ahead. I am looking forward to a quilting workshop next Saturday and as much crafting as I can squeeze into my tight schedule!

Bye for now and thank you for visiting.

Autumn exchange pieces

November 6, 2010 stitchesoftime7 Comments

Everything has now been sent and received in the two Autumn exchanges I have participated in so I can now reveal all the stitchy loveliness.

Firstly I will show you the pieces that I stitched – both similar designs but I did experiment with two new finishes.

Both of these are from JBW Designs, one of my current favourites – this ornie went to Karrie in Australia.

Autumn exchange - hanging pillow — JBW A Very Merry Autumn

I made this up as a little hanging pillow adapting a design I saw on a blog somewhere.

The second was an adaptation of another pumpkin design from them – they have several beautiful ones and this I finished as a bordered pillow.

Autumn exchange JBW pumpkins - Lynn — This was sent to Lynn in the USA

I used the same backing fabric for both pillows – can’t remember where I bought it from but it is a really rich design and complemented the autumn colours well I thought.

Autumn exchange - fabric — Wish I could remember where I bought it as would like to get more!

My piece from Karrie was waiting for me when I got back from Spain which was a lovely surprise. She had wrapped it in the backing fabric which is great as I am always keen to get themed fabric for my exchanges and she had included two gorgeous little Halloween buttons.

Autumn exchange - Karrie's buttons — How cute!

Autumn exchange Karrie's piece — Karrie's ornie - appropriately displayed with my pine cones

It is a beautifully stitched piece and finished with little french knots all round the edges and on the hanging braid. Wonderful work.

Then yesterday there were more surprises from Kathy in the USA who sent me two parcels as she included some extras as well ( you didn’t need to but she very generously did so I have sent her some little stitchy goodies in return!).

They were also very beautifully wrapped in material and fabric leaves which I have saved for a future project.

Autumn exchange -wrapping — One of the parcels with leaves and the pumpkin pin cushion she added as an extra (real pumpkin stylist's own soup ingredient!)

The extras were some Autumn ribbon, a pumpkin pie recipe tea towel and a cookie tin – with cookie which the children enjoyed!

Autumn exchange 2 goodies — What lovely pressies!

And then there was the actual exchange piece – another beautifully stitched pillow!

Autumn exchange 2 - cushion — Kathy's Autumn cushion

Apologies for all the wavy lines on my pics – this camera is on its way out and I am going to treat myself to a new one after Xmas.

I really love doing exchanges – people are so kind and put so much effort into their stitching and it really brightens my day to get a parcel.

Not much has been going on here this week as I am still suffering with a very bad back so am out of action for anything requiring concentration all that has been achieved is some lying on the sofa making Xmas ornies – covering myself in pretty ribbon has a very therapeutic effect! Will post pics of the latest batch soon.

Thank you for visiting.

4 things about me

September 28, 2010September 28, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

Hello there

Just came across this on a recent blog so thought I would do the list as well – I love the random ‘find things out about bloggers bit’ so here goes –

4 jobs I’ve had:

Checkout attendant at a garage – lots of late shifts locked in the booth!

Office worker for Child Health Services

Avon Lady

Sales assistant at a chemist shop – my first job at 14

4 Films I could watch over and over

An Officer and a Gentleman

Dirty Dancing

The Wizard of Oz

Gone with the Wind
4 TV shows I watch:

18 Kids and Counting – the Mum, Michelle, is amazing – she is so calm!

How Clean is Your House – my OCD cleaning obsession fixation

Location, Location, Location – because I love looking at property

Nigella’s Cookery programmes

4 places I have lived:

London – for nearly two years after college

Huddersfield – apart from the London years I have been here for the last 28 years

Cheltenham – until I was 20

Cardiff – was born there but moved at the age of one
4 favourite foods:

Prawns

Tuna

Salads of any sort

Baked potatoes
4 favourite colours:

Blue

Brown

Black

Pink
4 places I’d love to be right now:

In bed – one of my favourite places – especially with a good book
In my little house in Spain staring at the mountains and the sea

Porthmadoc, North Wales

Disneyland – any one will do!
4 names I love but could not use for my children

Max

Alex

Connor

Lily Olivia Alice

Hope that you enjoyed that bit of random info – thanks for visiting.

Spring ornament exchange

June 4, 2010 stitchesoftime2 Comments

Just a quick post to show you the ornament that I sent to Terry in the USA – she mailed me to say that it had arrived safely so thought I would share the pics with you.

It is another Quaker design from the freebies at The Workbasket site – I really love these designs and is again stitched on my lovely sparkly evenweave with Silk Mill thread (I know I am getting very predictable!).

Spring ornie 1 — The back of the ornament

The ornament is backed with some beautiful pink paisley fabric that I bought from the quilt fabric sale a while ago and again one of the little scissor charms – I love charms!

Am planning a very nice quiet weekend – and going to finish sewing the baby cardi (have done the boots) so can post pics of those later. Ellie has two friends from Uni arriving tomorrow (they are all off to Spain on Monday) so we may be able to have a BBQ over the weekend – at the moment it is raining very heavily!

Have a lovely time – thanks for visiting.

Doing the mezzaluna

May 21, 2010 stitchesoftime2 Comments

As promised here are some pics of the new Jamie at Home items. Some of these are from the party I attended a while ago but there are also some of my new purchases that arrived yesterday, also got lots of lovely things for people for Xmas which shall remain hidden!

Jamie at Home 2 — My lovely storage jars in various sizes

I couldn’t resist these – ceramic topped versions of the traditional Kilner jars which I thought were very cute and very good value – tiny ones £2.50 and largest ones only £6 each.

Jamie at Home 1 — My mezzaluna, platters and terracotta

And here is my mezzaluna! I have wanted one of these for years – I bought my brother one for Xmas a long time ago but no-one has returned the favour so had to get myself one. It is a device for chopping herbs etc with a shallow bowl and double handled blade.

Underneath that is a round wooden plate and I also bought the long bread and dip server and an assortment of terracotta bowls for tapas. Am planning to do lots of entertaining in this glorious summer we are going to be having!

Well it has been lovely weather here – last night I got home late and so when I had finished tea sat outside with my free Jamie magazine and a couple of glasses of wine and just enjoyed the garden and the birdsong. Today I also sat out after tea for another hour or so – I really do love this time of year! Am planning the first BBQ of the season tomorrow – wish me luck!

I also had a lovely piece of stitching in the post – my Spring Ornament from Terry through ASOE arrived.

It is now hanging on the patio doors to complement all the lovely flowers I can see in the garden. I really like the beaded hanging string – I often get stuck when trying to match stitching colours to braid for hangings and had not thought of doing that before.

Hopefully my piece for her will arrive soon so that I can show you pics of that.

Hope that you all have a lovely sunny weekend – thanks for visiting.

The Bear Necessities!

February 8, 2010 stitchesoftime2 Comments

Sorry but could not resist the post title – am getting on very well with the components of the bear – not got a finished item yet but here are the parts.

Bear pieces — Well it looks a bit like a bear ....... with a strange shaped head!

I am about half way through the gorgeous little dress and have decided that making small knitted animals may well become addictive. Am planning to make another dress to go with this bear and then I remembered that many moons ago when obviously my enthusiasm for buying knitting books far outweighed my prowess in actually knitting anything I bought this book.

The book Knitted Bears by Claire Garland contains patterns for bears but more importantly clothing for said animals – who could resist this dress …..

bear book 4 — A little frilly knitted dress

and these are just the cutest little shoes ……..

A very, very long time ago I knitted and stitched a wardrobe for Barbie (they were great pieces to do – took no time at all) which Ellie really loved. So I may well have to devote some time to toy production – especially since we have more snow here this week which severely lessens my enthusiasm for being in the garden!

Look at these little faces – don’t you just love them all?

I have also today just got my Valentine exchange pice from Maggee in the USA. Look at the detail on this wonderful heart ornie.

It is now hanging on my conservatory door and looks so pretty. It is stitched on 32 count Bone Lugana and I think the design is called Tugtika from HDF. Anyway it is very, very pretty and thank you very much Maggee.

Have today finished stitching a gift which I will be able to reveal next week and have been finishing off another scissor keep – pics of that will have to be posted at some time in the future when I have given it to the recipient.

Hope that you are having a happy time with textiles – thanks for visiting!

My Valentine Exchange

February 6, 2010 stitchesoftime4 Comments

I have just been and checked the ASOE web site and was delighted to find that my Valentine exchange for Maggee in the USA has been delivered – very good considering I posted it on the 29th Jan.

valentine ornie 1 — The front of the ornament - stitched on evenweave with DMC thread, seed beads and heart ribbon

The pattern was an old one that I have had in my pattern collection since the late 1990s from a cross stitch mag and was originally designed as an Xmas ornie in red and green.

valentine ornie 2 — One of my usual little charms on the back - love this gingham - reminds me of primary school summer dresses!

Maggee really likes pink so I decided to stitch it in pink and green and try out a new finish with this little bordered cushion with the pink gingham. The little charm was from my stash – not certain where I got it from – may have been my LNS some time ago.

It was very simple to finish and generally quite a good stitch – not very quick as there is a lot of evenweave to be covered with the check background and it is very tiny! However I interspersed this project with knitting to give my old eyes a rest!

I am pleased that Maggee likes it and eagerly await getting my ornie from her.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy (Knitting) New Year!

January 10, 2010September 11, 2015 stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello and a very happy 2010 to everyone. I am having a very nice unexpectedly quiet and domesticated weekend thanks to the snow. I should have been teaching this Saturday but all classes have been cancelled due to the bad weather so instead I have been concentrating on knitting and making soup!

We arrived back from the sunny shores of Spain on Weds – a little late but safe and sound into a very snowy Manchester Airport. We are now once again fairly snow bound here as our road is pretty bad and the pavements icy but we are near the main road and buses are running and I have been and stocked up with food and lots of soup making and baking ingredients so will not go hungry! More snow arrived today and more is forecast for Mon and Tues so who knows if classes will be running this week!

At Jake’s request I made Tomato and Red Pepper Soup from my Covent Garden Soup Company Recipe book yesterday – doesn’t the veg look pretty ready to be roasted.

Today I have made Cauliflower and Roquefort using the Delia Online recipe (Jake didn’t want any of this one though it was lovely!) Tomorrow will be Parsnip and Sweet Potato (a variation on Nigella’s Butternut and Sweet Potato recipe) using some of my left over veg from before we went away. Am also planning to cook the Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies from Nigella’s Christmas book that we didn’t get around to doing on Xmas Eve.

Have been spending some more time knitting just recently and have decided that 2010 will be my year and improving my knitting skills. In terms of knitting for re-enactment purposes I would love to be able to knit my own socks, stockings and hats so need to get really good with double pointed needles and know how to turn a heel before I can attempt these feats! My fellow knitters at the Woolly Minded and Beady Eyed knit groups assure me that socks are really easy once you can understand the pattern so I shall aspire to master that this year. I have just come across an online resource about historical knitting – from this month’s Let’s Knit mag – called Knitting History so will be looking at that for info.

I do know of a very talented woman called Sally Pointer who I met through re-enactment who makes all sorts of lovely knitted and felted items as well as cosmetics. She has a web site where you can buy her very informative books and patterns and I have just discovered her blog Wicked Woollens as well so shall be reading that as well for inspiration.

So I have decided to make lots of birthday gifts to practise pattern reading and new techniques. since all my knitted Xmas gifts were so well received. My first knitting WIP is a present for a friend of mine’s little girl and comes from the Nov 09 Let’s Knit mag –

Let's Knit mag — The November issue cover

It is a very cute little bear with a knitted dress that has a bed that folds up to be a bag that the bear can be carried round in.

Teddy bag 1 — This is the magazine pic of the finished article

This is my progress so far …

I have altered the design slightly by chain stitching around the edges of the border and all the rectangles in an attempt to neaten them up! The pattern has not been too difficult to follow though there were no instructions on how to prevent getting gaps between rectangles when you swapped wools but I remember reading somewhere about twisting the wools together at the back on each row and that worked. I really like doing Moss stitch which is all around the border as it has such a pretty effect.

I was very pleased yesterday as my long-awaited ASOE Xmas ornie from Marlene in the US arrived. I was concerned as I knew that she had posted it well in time for Xmas but what with the volume of post and the weather issues here it took a long time to come! But it was worth the wait.

It is really lovely so thank you very much Marlene – I have taken the tree and all the other ornies down but this one is going to stay up for a few weeks and have its five minutes of fame!

I hope you all had a very Happy New Year – we had a lovely (warm!) time in Spain and I will be posting some pics of that later on. I hope that 2010 is going to be a very good year for you all. I had a really good 2009 thanks to my lovely family and friends and am really looking forward to this one. Thank you to all those people who have visited the Xmas newsletter page to read the summary of our year.

It is always particularly significant having a new decade and this one is going to be very full of big changes for the family – all very positive and lovely ones. Jake will finish school this year and hopefully go on to 6th form college and Ellie is very well settled at Uni. Who knows I might even be a Granny by the end of this decade – more things to knit!

The 1990s were very much about the kids for me – Ellie being born early in 1991 and Jake in 1994 and the 2000s very much about work and career as I started my full-time job at the University in 2001.

So this next decade is going to be about my new roles as I concentrate hopefully more on developing my ideas for my textile business. I am not in position to do much at the moment but have made a resolution for 2010 that I am going to produce a design from scratch based on my pictures from Spain. This is just the tiniest start but who knows what might happen!

Thank you for visiting, hope you are not too cold or snow bound and Happy New Year!

Travelling transcontinetal textiles!

October 27, 2009January 12, 2010 stitchesoftime1 Comment

I thought I would use a bit of alliteration for the title of this post as I am very relieved to tell you that the ASOE Exchange piece I sent to Wendy Jo in Iowa has arrived! I posted it nearly 3 weeks ago and was getting a bit worried that it had gone walkabout as hers arrived in just over a week.

Wendy Jo said she liked the colour red and as it was an Autumn/Fall exchange theme I chose a design of blackberries done in blackwork stitches using a Silk Mill dark red thread.

The design comes from on old edition of New Stitches magazine edition 53 and it is stitched on my favourite sparkly evenweave – am running out of stocks of this so that will be a definite for the shopping list at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Nov!

This is the first time that I have finished an ornament as a pinkeep – I found some very helpful instructions on how to do this on Heidi’s Stitching Together blog.

On the reverse of the piece I stitched Wendy Jo’s initial using a design from one of my Lesley Wilkins’ blackwork books and added a little thimble needlework charm as well. I have just ordered some more of these charms from Stitch Direct but they will also go on the shopping list!

In knitting progress I have now completed one of a pair of something I have never tried before! It was a bit of a struggle involving much unravelling but I am very proud of myself. Cannot reveal any more as it is a present (or will be when I finish the other one!) The first post after Xmas is going to be massive one showing you all of my recent creations!

I am going to be doing a big baking session this afternoon as I am making little pink iced buns to take to work tomorrow for our Think Pink Breast Cancer awareness fund raising efforts this week. This is a very important issue for all women and I, like many of you I’m sure, have had friends affected by this. So not only (hopefully) lovely cakes but am important cause as well!

Home alone …. with a pumpkin!

October 22, 2009February 23, 2012 stitchesoftime3 Comments

I have had a very rare occurence these last two days as I have been here all by myself! Ellie is of course in Worcester and Jake has gone to London on a drama and media trip. He left very early yesterday morning and is due back very late tonight. He was going to see two shows, visit an art gallery, have a tour of the sights and go to Covent Garden – there was also Pizza Hut for tea which he was very pleased about!

So I have been on my own for the first time in a long time – I think the last time this happened was about three years ago when everyone else had been invited away for the weekend and I was ill so couldn’t go. The house has been very quiet and it has been strange not having to make any meals. This is good preparation for Jake leaving home in a few years – what will I do with all that extra time!

More textiles of course! I can now post pics of the item I have had from Wendy Jo in the US as part of the autumn exchange. As soon as she has posted pics of the ornament I have sent her on the ASOE blog I can post pics of that but in the meantime here is the lovely pumpkin cushion she sent me.

The cushion being modelled on a pumpkin!

It is a really gorgeous pattern from JBW Designs – I have admired their very detailed work for a long time but never stitched any myself. The back of the piece is equally lovely.

Thank you very much Wendy Jo. It is a very appropriate design as at this time of year I always buy a pumpkin for the kids to turn into a lantern and to make what has become a traditional recipe for this time of year – a soup that I really love. It is from Delia Smith’s Winter Collection recipe book and is called ‘Pumpkin soup with melting cheese’ – recipe is at Delia’s site via this link. It is heaven in a bowl and one of the things worth putting up with soggy Autumn days for.

I shall be making the soup this weekend once Jake has cut out his lantern. He doesn’t actually like the soup though – which just means more for me!

The Winter/Xmas exchange is up next for a new partner Marlene (no blog) . I have hundreds of Xmas designs to choose from but think I know which one to pick. That has to be finished and mailed by 5th Dec so I have a while to work on it.

I have made good progress with my knitting – the second Xmas piece is now finished and I am starting the third piece tonight. Will be posting soon about the lovely new knitting shop we have here that hosts Knit and Natter. In the meantime have banana bread (have added cinnamon to the recipe this time) which smells like it is ready to come out of the oven!

Bye for now.

Stitches of Time

I have created this blog to share my interest in all forms of stitching, quilting, sewing, knitting, medieval re-enactment and costume making – particularly my love of historical embroidery. I also love travelling,especially when it also involves any of my other interests.

Category: exchanges