Falling down a Pinterest rabbit hole again!

February 11, 2018February 12, 2018 stitchesoftime2 Comments

I was just checking something on my Pinterest this morning and some very gorgeous embroidery appeared on my feed. I don’t know why it came up as I have not searched for anything like this but of course I had to go and investigate.

It is French redwork cross stitch but what I really loved was all the needlework themed designs, especially when they were combined with the buttons and charms.Really beautiful ideas here.

I also came across some printers’ letter trays that people were using to display their embroidery, isn’t this a lovely idea?

I do have some very similar patterns in my stash and love the idea of red thread on linen and combining it with charms and buttons, I can see a needlebook design to add to my things to make list.

These are all on my Pinterest cross stitch feed if you would like to go and have a look at them. I did find a few photos of patterns and a couple of links to free designs.

I shall be posting about my latest make tomorrow once I have had the chance to take some pictures of it, I am very pleased as I have written a long, ‘makes for 2018’, list and have already finished one!

Hope that you have had a nice weekend, thanks for visiting.

Rainbow brights

May 14, 2017 stitchesoftime6 Comments

One of the good side effects of rain and sun together is of course when we get rainbows. Though this weekend had a mix of weather I didn’t see any rainbows but had one in the craft room anyway.

Inspired by the rainbow Dresdens on my Pinterest such as this one below I decided to make a rainbow Dresden one a few weeks ago and finished it into a pouch today.

I have not got much yellow or red fabric so struggled a bit with anything patterned.I have photographed this next to a gorgeous stack of rainbow solids that I have had for a couple of years and not cut into yet. They just look too pretty all tied up!

The lovely yellow with red flowers is a a magazine freebie from a while ago and I really like pop of colour among the plain fabrics.

The middle looks far more wonky here than it does in real life. I appliqued the Dresden onto the blue fabric for the pouch then added the middle bit with applique as well. At least you can’t see any of the stitches!

This is a pencil pouch which is a present for a friend’s little girl so I have put some things in it for her, the lining is a plain red from my stash. Pouch tutorial from Jedi Craft Girl as before.

I also made a lovely bright mini Dresden before I went to Spain which is destined for the top of a pin cushion, this is the smallest one I have made so far at 3 inches across.

The fabric is from a mini charm pack from a while ago and I have used one of the lovely lacy circles gifted from a friend that I have put on other pincushions and bags.Just perfect for a little contrast.

I have had a very perfect Sunday and finished it with a little bit of fabric playing. I know I said I wasn’t going to start anything new before finishing making up all the pouches and bags but I was just having a cup of tea and a Pinterest browse mid craft and came across this picture from Hen House. Hen’s is one of my very favourite blogs, I love all her vintage makes.

Well before you knew it the vintage cloth stash and the Liberty had come out and I was making log cabin blocks. Not enough has been completed to show you yet but I am very pleased with the results so far.

Hope that you have all had a good day as well and thanks for visiting.

Change of plans

February 26, 2017 stitchesoftime2 Comments

Hello everyone, hope you are all ok. I am here and not in Worcester visiting my sister and we did not go to Budapest either as sadly my Uncle John died the week before last so I have been to Spain instead to be with the family for his funeral.

It was all very last minute and slightly chaotic but I made the right decision to change my plans. We knew on the Weds night that Mum was not going to be able to come here to go to Budapest as he has been very ill for some time and she could not leave her sister Maureen so I was all ready to fly out on my own on the Sunday as she still wanted me to go and enjoy the holiday.

He died on Friday morning and I made the decision Friday night to cancel the holiday and booked a flight to Spain for the next day and arrived Saturday night.All the family came from England so though it was a very sad time we were all together which is the most important thing to be able support each other and my Aunt Maureen who has been so wonderful and brave during his long illness. Thank God for the internet so we could all get flights with little time to plan.

The reason I was going to see my sister in Worcester with Mum was that we have just welcomed a new member to the family, my nephew Sam and his partner Paige have had a beautiful baby girl called Ava Grace and we were going to meet her. We will postpone that until later on in the Summer when Mum comes over next.

So it has been a very emotional few weeks, very happy and very sad and just brought home to all of us the value of family and the love and support that they give us at the start and the end of life.

I have made Ava Grace a mouse as a gift, you may remember I was knitting various mouse parts some time ago and here she is, designed by the lovely Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits once again.You can buy the pattern for this and all the other animals here.

This is my first mouse and I am very pleased with her, I am calling her Ava after her recipient and although I had some trouble with the nose the rest of the knit was fine and I am very pleased with the lacy dress and the very cute little tail!

I also made some pincushions a while ago to add to my ever growing pile, these may go to Yarndale to be sold or they may be given as gifts but I love making them, so quick and easy.Patterns for the strippy one is here and the other came as inspiration from my Pinterest board here. There were no instructions for this one so just made it up as I went along!

Am not going to be very productive over the next few weeks as I have a huge amount of marking to do which may take up weekends as well and some other sewing that needs to be completed but will keep revisiting my Pinterest pages to remind me of all the pretty things that I really want to be doing.

Take care and keep happy and thanks for visiting.

Pinspiration and perspiration

September 24, 2016 stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello, hope you are all looking forward to a nice weekend whatever you are doing. I am planning to make some pincushions, have got so many lovely ones saved on my Pinterest board that it is time for some doing rather than just looking.

I have got my friend Sharon’s dog Ted staying with me for the weekend while she and Sarah are at Yarndale so Jake and I will be taking him for walks later on.

Jake is home with me for a few months until he hopefully goes to Japan next year. He is starting a Japanese course the week after next and in the meantime is working part-time doing bar work and dog walking so he is getting very good at canine control!

Have been working hard over the last couple of weeks getting the last of the baskets finished for Sarah to take to Yarndale so just thought I would show you the last few.

I got this fab vintage sheep motif from Ebay, sadly only had the two, really love the pattern on the sheep.

I also made another mini basket to put the needlebook and pincushion I made last year in, I also made a pink one of these a while ago.

Along with the other baskets I made earlier and the Liberty and linen pincushions I had quite a lot of things for the stall so am very pleased.

I do love the combination of Liberty fabric and linen and so will definitely make more things using that combination. These are the ones from last year that I made for Yarndale.

I also still have lots of lovely themed stitching and vintage print material to make more as gifts for crafting friends. I also definitely need a couple more for me for craft room storage, you can never have too many cute fabric baskets 😉 and there is a gap on my shelf now these have gone to Yarndale.

Sarah is selling copies of her latest pattern book at Yarndale, not only does it feature some gorgeous patterns again, this time inspired by the Beaubaton Castle from Harry Potter but also Ellie modelled again for Sarah and her picture is on the front cover!

This would make a fab Christmas present for a knitting friend so do go and get some from her website here. It is great value and there are some beautiful designs as usual, the woman is a knitting genius.

I love the promo picture for Yarndale this year, look at the cuteness of this sheep!

I now have an I Pad, courtesy of work which has the Pinterest app on it and I am loving the fact that I can add things from the suggestions really easily. I came across this wonderful site the other day, Gentlework.

Christine makes the most amazing things from vintage textiles and I have been so inspired by the beautiful things on her site. Do go and have a look at them, they are really delicate and inspired by nature and just lovely.

Right off to make pincushions – see you later and thanks as always for visiting.

A little more making and a fab(ric) find!

September 3, 2016August 30, 2016 stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello again. Inbetween sorting out a Steampunk outfit and re-enacting I have been able to make a few things. Firstly a ring pillow for Ellie’s best friend Becky from University who got married this week.

The theme was linen and lace with dark blue so I used some of my vintage crochet stash and Jenny of Elefantz’s monogram patterns as well as some flowers from an old pair of sandals that had worn out to fit in with the something old something new, something borrowed and something blue.

I am very pleased with how it turned out, I love the combination of linen and crochet and lace and have been saving lots of other inspiration pictures to my Pinterest boards.

I have also been saving all my tiny Liberty scraps from making hexagons and inspired by Pinterest and Crazy Mom’s month of pincushions made these for Sarah’s Yarndale stall.

Was very pleased as well to find a fabric stall at the Steampunk market selling another version of one of my favourite haberdashery fabrics. The lady was called Jill from English Rose and she was very lovely. You can find her Etsy store here.

I have got this print in grey and black and cream and black and have used it for the cute baskets and now have a whole metre in blue and cream as it was such a bargain 🙂 I also bought another print that I had seen on Ebay from the stall, love that sewing machine.

I am aiming to make a few more fabric baskets this weekend as Yarndale is only a few weeks away so better get crafting! Have a lovely weekend and thanks for visiting.

More pins – of a different kind !

April 5, 2015 stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hope that you are all having a great Easter weekend, I am very much enjoying myself pottering around the house, the weather has been kind so done a little garden tidying and lots of knitting while catching up on some of my recorded TV. Have finally finished game of Thrones (just in time for Season 5) and Wolf Hall.

I have had guests for the last few weekends which has been very nice but I am also very much enjoying quiet time alone (Jake is still here for the holidays but is happily amusing himself with the joys of online entertainment).

I was talking to him last night about blogs etc and was surprised that he had never used Pinterest, I was explaining the pleasure I get from being able to look up sewing, knitting and quilting inspiration and then later on in the evening while doing a bit of catching up of my favourite blogs I came across this amazing board which I though I would share with you.

It was linked to by Melissa of Happy Quilting – I found her website as a link from Crazy Mom Quilts , one of my favourite quilting sites.

She has lots of lovely boards with her quilting on but this Quilts, Quilts, Quilts Pinterest board she has linked to set up by Maryland Quilter has no fewer than 170,865 pins on it, enough to keep you amused for a while! There is some amazing stuff out there and I am in awe at the skill levels of people.

Meanwhile on the actually productive front I have finished the fairly tricky lace pattern for the first cuff of my #knit for winter mittens but unfortunately it is not working with the wool.

It is beautiful wool but is variegated with a lot of different colours and is just not going to work on this small an item.

I should have realised before but sometimes it takes a while for things to sink in and it was only when I finished I realised that I am not happy with the fact that the seam for the cuffs is going to have such a drastic colour change.

Am starting again with some Debbie Bliss Rialto four ply that I got as part of another de-stash, re-stash from knitting group and will save the other wool for a larger scale project, I think it would make a lovely hat for the #knit for winter campaign as the colours are beautiful but it needs a larger scale to show it off.

I also think that this smoother wool will work better with the lace pattern as well as I am not happy about the untidiness of the top of the pattern here.

Also cast on for a simple knitting group project (one that I can drink wine with!) This is a moss stitch cowl from a Let’s Knit freebie booklet from a few years ago with some Rowan wool cotton, again from the de-stash, re-stash and this will be donated to the #knit for winter campaign as well.

I am really looking forward to the week ahead as my lovely Mum arrives on Weds and we are off to Copenhagen on Friday for a few days, will post lots of Scandinavian historical stuff when I get back!

Take care and thanks for visiting.

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: Pinterest