The Great Yorkshire Sewing Bee

stitchesoftime4 Comments

Hello everyone

I am really enjoying watching the Great British Sewing Bee on BBC 2 – would love to live in that workshop, all that fabric and buttons and beads and cottons! I know I have a lovely craft room but that would be heaven.

Ellie, Kerry and I had our own little sewing bee last weekend and we had a lovely time cutting out new dresses for them so I thought I would show you a few pics to document the process.

We have a fairly untraditional style of garment making which mainly relies on cutting round existing garments to make new ones and adapting the pattern as we go along.

We do sometimes use bits of existing patterns for shaping such as bodices etc but mostly it is a case of cut, pin, try on and alter until it all fits.

I have the following pattern which is useful basic dress one – available from the Simplicity web site

Simplicity Pattern

This is Kerry’s new dress fabric with her green dress laid on top of it for cutting out. I was surprised to see how square it is at the bottom – when on these bits fold in and don’t give that impression at all.

sewing weekend - cutting kerry's dress

Here she is in the original dress last year at Bolsover Castle.

kerry green dress

This is the beautiful fabric with her cutting the back. This new one will have fitted sleeves and tippets unlike the green dress.

sewing weekend - cutting kerry's dress 2

If you want to more about tippets or other styles of medieval women’s costume please visit my page here.

Or if you want to see a real genius at work go and visit my very talented friend Kat’s page as she makes the most amazing costume and headdresses.

Ellie is making a new version of a two coloured peasant dress using the old pale pink from the gores in the new dress. She loves this dress which is one I made about 3 years ago but it is a bit short for her now. Here is the original.

ellie-pink dress

We cut this one using her other peasant dress as a pattern.

sewing weekend

After she had removed the gores from the old dress she stitched up the new dress and voila! Here she is in the nearly completed garment.

sewing weekend - ellie sewing 1

sewing weekend - ellie sewing 2

sewing weekend - ellie in dress

It is a lovely sunny day here, a bit frosty but I have just been doing a bit of gardening to tidy up the back, the crocuses are out and Spring is in the air.

Now to spend the afternoon finishing a dress for another bunny while watching DVDs, I do so love the weekends 🙂

Take care and hope you are enjoying yourselves whatever you are doing.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunshine!!!!

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello again everyone

Hope you have been surviving the weather ok – especially if you live in one of the flooded bits of the UK.

Luckily we are high up so while we have been freezing cold and very wet have not suffered too much. It has been a very weird week weather wise, snow on Tuesday, howling gales on Weds and thankfully sunshine today so I made the most of it on a very long walk 🙂

I have not been out on the hills for ages and neither have any done much crafting, too much work including working the last 2 Saturdays and some very slow projects mean I have nothing to show you.

So we will look at pretty pictures of moors and cottages then!

Marsden Walk Feb 4

Marsden Walk Feb 5

I thought you might like to see some of the houses round here, there are lots of cute little cottages like this one below. The narrow windows were to let in lots of light for the weavers to work by as even before the textile mills were built there was lots of woollen cloth made here.

Marsden Walk Feb

This is a lovely farmhouse in a similar style, what really interested me about this one was all the lovely candlesticks in the windows!

Marsden Walk Feb candlesticks house

Marsden Walk Feb candlesticks 1

Marsden Walk Feb candlesticks 2

Also came across this jam being sold outside another farmhouse – pity I didn’t have my purse with me.

Marsden Walk Feb jam

There was some beautiful sunshine but some good atmospheric cloud, this one I particularly like going up to the brow of the hill.

Marsden Walk Feb 2

And I saw some cute Highland cattle as well.

Marsden Walk Feb 3

As it has been raining so much all the moorland streams were draining making very pretty sparkly displays all along the roads.

Marsden Walk Feb 6

And I finished up as usual at my lovely reservoir 🙂

Marsden Walk Feb 7

Now in for a perfect evening of excellent TV (Stella recorded from Fri night, Call the Midwife and Mr Selfridge) accompanied by some simple knitting – what a perfect day!

Hope that you are having a lovely time as well, thanks for visiting.

All shiny and bright!

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Sorry I have just found this post in drafts from a couple of weeks ago – thought I had published it – oops senior moment!

Hello there, how are you all?

I have had a lovely weekend visiting Leeds Royal Armouries and going to the Imbolc Festival in Marsden so have been looking at lots of lovely shiny armour and watching fire juggling and fireworks.

It has been very cold and windy but we have had a lovely time nonetheless and kept warm by visiting some nice hostelries and sampling lovely ales and ciders on our way round.

Have got a few pictures for you, the Leeds Royal Armouries is free to visit and well worth it if you are into history.

As well as the medieval collection (which is very good) they also have Oriental armour, a tournament section with Tudor armour and hunting and gun displays.

Armouries

Armouries 2

Armouries 3

We also watched the sword fighting display and had to smile when the very nice young man taking part asked us if we wanted to feel the weight of the sword – we didn’t tell him what we do for a hobby 🙂

Imbolc is a festival that celebrates the coming of Spring, there is a procession led by lanterns then fire juggling accompanied by drumming and it culminates in Jack Frost being chased away by the Green Man. Then there were lots of fireworks which I love.

Imbolc

Imbolc 2

Apologies as pics are not brilliant quality – there are some brilliant ones at this person Gary’s Flicker site

I am looking forward to the start of the re-enactment season now – all that armour and fire has made me long to camp in a field and sit round the fire of an evening with friends.

First show is in 3 months so not too long to wait. Better make a start on all that kit I have promised people for this season 😉

Meanwhile I have a couple of bunnies to finish!

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Turned out better than expected

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello again

The baking that is , the weather has been pretty bad, that lovely blend of freezing sideways rain that with wind Yorkshire does so well. So I used that as an excuse to do some baking and sewing (not that I really need an excuse but was considering a walk until the heavens opened).

I used a recipe from the BBC Food site for my gluten-free muffins, you can find it here and adapted it to a savoury mixture by adding leftover baked sweet potato and cheese.

I have found gluten-free needs more moisture and flavour as the flours (potato, rice and tapioca mainly) do not give much of these. I used the Doves Farm Gluten free self-raising blend.

Gluten free muffins 1

Gluten free muffins 2

Before they went into the oven they didn’t look very promising but came out nicely – a good crumb as Paul Hollywood (Great British Bake Off) would say and a nice colour. They could have done with a bit more flavour but ok with a bit of butter!

The loaf was an adaptation of the recipe on the back of the Doves Farm gluten-free bread flour, I added orange juice, cranberries and seeds , mainly sunflower and pumpkin my favourites :-).

Gluten free baking

Straight out of the oven it was very good, though the loaf weighs a lot and could prove a handy weapon if needed the warm slice was lovely. Later on when cold it was a bit dense and again could do with a bit more flavour but will be ok toasted.

I forgot to tell you yesterday about some very good books I have been reading, the Cobbled Court novels by Marie Bostwick.

They are a set of quilt themed novels (as in they are about a woman who owns a quilt shop) so quilting is mentioned and there are related free patterns on the author’s website. They are brilliant and I really enjoyed reading them and can’t wait to get the last couple I haven’t read, the one below will be released in April.

Marie Bostwick book

I have put myself on a strict monthly diet in terms of my Amazon books orders and have already had my quota for Jan. It doesn’t help being registered so all that lovely stuff is just a few clicks away 🙂

I do try and buy secondhand and from the charity suppliers when I can so I don’t feel so guilty. And I do pass them on, Mum and her friends are really enjoying the Cobble Court ones I left in Spain.

Well back to making curtains now and I have a padded arming jack to start making this afternoon. Have a lovely rest of the weekend and thanks for visiting.

Gone missing!

stitchesoftime7 Comments

Hello and happy weekend!

I know we have one every week but still get stupidly excited about the prospect of the weekend, a whole two days just to do nice stuff.

I love getting up early on the weekends and just pottering around with the prospect of some knitting, stitching, a walk or some baking ahead of me!

I am planning some experimental baking this weekend as I am trying to be gluten free due to a few health problems so I have downloaded some nice looking recipes and will see what the results taste like.

I have some sad stitching news to report as for the first time ever one of my exchange pieces has gone astray 😦 I have been doing exchanges for about 6 years and this is the first time a parcel has not got there.

I kept waiting and hoping but it was sent in Oct and has not arrived in the US. Possibly it got mixed up with some seasonal post and may turn up but in the meantime I am going to stitch another piece for the recipient.

Autumn Exchange

This is what it looked like, I can’t find the actual pattern at the moment to tell you the name of it but it was part of a freebie from this gorgeous Italian cross stitcher’s site – she is called La Comtesse & le point decroix and she has really pretty designs on the site.

Hope you are all having a lovely winter weekend and thanks for visiting.

You will forgive me I know …..

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello everyone

I know I may have said a few things recently about how I wasn’t going to buy any more yarn or fabric as I already have enough and the craft room really needs sorting out as I have run out of storage so there are bags everywhere.

BUT when you see really lovely yarn and it is very cheap (2 Euros a ball which is about £1.70) and it would knit up wonderfully and there is a beautiful grey for more cute bunnies and some pretty colours for dresses as well then you just have to don’t you?

So I did and here is my lovely new stash!

New bunny wool

It is a very silky yarn – it is a double-knit but quite thin so the new bunnies are going to be smaller but it knits up really nicely, there is a slight sheen to it and it is very easy to work with.

I have finally tried a bunny with striped tights, this is one for my sister-in-law for her birthday and she likes funky colours so I thought I would go brighter with this one.The picture below shows the body and ears.

Sully slippers

Oh and I got some fab new slippers while in Spain – I love Sully from Monsters Inc and they had these in the Primark in Elche, sadly only in children’s sizes but I managed to squeeze into a size 5.

New Sully slippers

Am back in the swing of things again after what seems like a very long break from work 🙂 Can’t believe it is nearly the end of Jan already.

Was thinking back to this time last year when we had lots of snow – so far we have just had a bit of wet and windy but the spring bulbs are starting come up in my garden so hopefully we are on our way to warmer weather (leaving the house in the mornings in daylight would be nice!)

Hope you are enjoying yourselves whatever you are doing and thanks for visiting.

The cactus and the ivy

stitchesoftime2 Comments

Cactus and Ivy

Hello everyone and a belated Happy New Year.

I know it is supposed to be holly and ivy but I liked the way the cactus was growing with this ivy in Spain.

I hope you have had a lovely festive season, I did with lots of nice pressies including this beautiful tablecloth from my Mum which we used for our Christmas lunch.

Xmas table

I amused (or bewildered!) Jake by having no less than 4 Christmas table cloths and runners out over the two days- he thinks I am a little mad but I do like things to be pretty!

I have had a wonderful 2 weeks away, knitting, cycling and enjoying a new spa that has opened – Mum, my Aunt Maureen and I went twice for lots of lovely bubbles 🙂

We had a picnic and a bbq on the beach as well which is a first for me, lots of people do take bbqs down to the beach especially on Christmas Day – here was my glass of bubbly at our New Year picnic and Mum enjoying the sun.

New year on beach

Spain New Year

It was lovely and warm as usual so had lots of chance for walks as well and taking pictures of pretty plants.

I really liked what these people had done in their ‘verde’ the public areas in between roads, isn’t this planting in the old tree roots nice?

Tree garden

We also visited a couple of our favourite local towns, Torrevieja for the 3 Kings parade and Elche for a bit of retail therapy and tapas and had a chance to see the large outdoor nativities called ‘belen’ that they have.

Torrevieja Belen

Torrevieja Belen 2

The Elche one was my favourite – the level of detail is amazing.

Elche Belen 1

Elche Belen 2

Elche Belen 3

Back to wonderful. wet Yorkshire this week and still lots and lots of bunny knitting!

Thanks for visiting and see you soon.

Still knitting!

stitchesoftime4 Comments

Xmas Door wreath

Hello and Happy Christmas to you all. It is 7am on Christmas morning and I am taking advantage of having older children who will not be up for a couple of hours to have a quiet cup of tea and a little blogging time.

I have sorted out the stocking and the presents are under the tree, we have baked gingerbread and a Yule log and so we are all prepared – except I have still to finish knitting the final Xmas stocking which I plan to do today while watching some festive TV.

I have finished the bunnies though and have done one in a Christmas dress.

Xmas bunny

This one is for Ellie and I have called her Chloe as when I was expecting Jacob people kept asking Ellie if she wanted a brother or a sister.

She decided she wanted a sister when she was told she had a new baby brother she burst into tears and said she wanted a sister called Chloe 🙂

She got over her disappointment though and she loves having a little brother (albeit a 6 foot 2 inch brother is hardly little) now.

This is our first Christmas here in the new house and so far we have had a lovely time, Ellie and I went to the Christingle service at the local church last night which was lovely, then for a meal in the local pub (rare for me to be in there without my knitting as it is our group’s venue).

They are staying here for New Year but I am off to Spain so will be back in a couple of weeks, term finished late this year so I have taken advantage of the fact that we do not start back until mid January and am on leave for 2 weeks which will give me plenty of time for sitting on the terrace knitting.

I have already chosen next year’s stitched Xmas ornaments after seeing the same design on a couple of blogs so will be making a start on those – nothing like being well prepared! And of course there are always more bunnies to knit 🙂

Hope that you have a lovely festive season, take care and see you all in 2014 – thanks for visiting.

Frantic finishing

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello everyone

You would think that someone who makes Christmas ornaments nearly all year round and started knitting gifts months ago would be finished well in time for the last posting dates wouldn’t you?

You would not imagine a weekend of frantic finishing and a sudden realisation that one of the bunny gifts does not have any legs at the moment 😦

Only realised yesterday as well that the bag that was going to be given with one of the bunny gifts was still unfinished – oops.

However I am doing well despite the lateness and have the gifts that need to be posted ready to go and will be doing more finishing this week including the legs – was sure I had a whole bag of completed bits but one bunny has had too much Xmas cheer and is legless ha ha 🙂

The finished bunny I have named Lucy though she is going to my cousin’s daughter who will name her, hope she likes her as much as the other cousin’s daughter did with the first bunny I made.

I made the bag in the summer – it is made from recycled jeans and a pillow case and it was the colour scheme of the pillow case that inspired Lucy’s 3 dresses.

Lucy Bunny's bag

Lucy Bunny and bag

Lucy Bunny dress 2

Lucy Bunny dress 3

I love the way she has wonky ears, all the bunnies turn out with such different faces. Lucy looks quite serious don’t you think?

Lucy Bunny head

Have also made up all the stitched ornaments into little hanging pillows.These are all JBW Designs from Sew and Sew.

Xmas ornies finished

I have little to excuse myself for this tardiness except the fact that I have been very busy at work and possibly have tried once again to make too much in too short a space of time 😉

I think when I sort out the craft room in Jan I shall have a noticeboard and will write a list of projects and timescales so I can keep track, especially as I have so much medieval kit to stitch for next season.

Planning not helped by the fact that I have just subscribed to a new magazine called Love Patchwork and Quilting which has given me so many new ideas for things that I want to make.

Love Patchwork magazine

What about this little bird ornament – can you imagine some of those in Christmas fabric?

Love patchwork mag

They have a first 3 issues for £5 deal on their website at the moment and it is a very lovely magazine with links to lots of other lovely blogs.

I have been looking at the work of Amy Smart whose Diary of a Quilter blog is full of lovely, lovely things. So many ideas and so little time!

Anyway back to my finishing now – only 9 days to go till Christmas eek! Thankfully the food shopping is nearly all done so I can concentrate on crafting!

Hope you all have a good lead up to the festive season and thanks for visiting.

Giveaway winner

stitchesoftime2 Comments

Hello there

Sorry that I did not get around to posting this yesterday but got distracted finishing ornaments and forgot!

The winner of my Christmas ornaments giveaway is Rachel – sorry but I can’t link to your blog at the moment. Could you e-mail me at alisonmryan@yahoo.co.uk with your postal address and I will send your ornaments.

Thanks for visiting – ornament finishes update coming soon!