Making in March

Hello, how are you? I hope you're well and March has started off all right for you.
 For today's post, I'd like to share with you the progress I've made with my two
ongoing projects. First off, my tapestry crochet.

I was only a few rows in when I last showed you this but it has now grown
and I'm actually not far off from finishing. I'm really pleased with how it's going.
I still have a lot to learn about this technique but I now feel quite confident with
the basics, including crocheting in reverse, and I think I'm ready to try new
patterns and designs.

I had a peek at the latest issue of Simply Crochet magazine while I was at the
supermarket and interestingly, they're featuring various colourwork techniques
including tapestry crochet. I think it's a fun skill to learn and it's great that it's getting
some attention. Hopefully more people will try it, too.

My other project is my Spring-themed cross stitch sampler. I've had to unpick and

change my motif for the letter 'S' - the dustpan and brush were supposed to be for

'Spring clean' but I was told they looked more like a comb and an upside down mirror

and they were not at all colourful like the other motifs, so they had to be replaced

with a pretty snowdrop. My two critics are happier with this and I have to admit,

so am I. And now that's done there's just one tiny motif left to stitch and then,

fingers crossed, it will be at the framers at the end of the week.  

So those are my two projects and I'm looking forward to having them both finished soon.

I haven't been around here much lately, it's been a busy old week with one thing after
another. Hopefully the rest of the week - and month- will be a little bit calmer, with less
mishaps and dramas. I'll be catching up with your blogs in the next few days -
take care and see you soon!

Winter Stitching

Hello, how are you? I hope you're well and enjoying a bit of winter sunshine today.
It is sunny here this morning and it's actually not that cold which is a nice change
from the frosty and icy weather we've had this week. Anyway, today I'd like to
share with you my cross stitch project. I am making a spring-themed sampler
with motifs drawn from three different cross stitch books, most  of them from
Jo Verso's Cross Stitch Year.

This is a bit of a stitching adventure for me, actually. I've put together these
motifs to create my own little design which is new for me and I am also using linen
for the first time. I'm not sure how this will turn out, it might be a disaster,
but I am really enjoying myself and I am getting more and more used to working
on linen, so it's all good, so far.

The whole inspiration for this is Jo Verso's wonderful book, a Christmas present
from my parents in law. It's full of fun motifs and it encourages you to pick
your favourites and make your own design.  It's been a long awhile since I've done
any stitching or embroidery - I crochet a lot more these days especially in the
colder months - and this has been an inspiring way to get back to it and challenge
myself a bit too.

It is happily bringing back the simple joys of working with fabric, needle
and thread. Even in the gloomy daylight of January, I always still have a pleasant time
when I can sit down and do a bit of my cross stitch, especially when my radio
programmes are on and there's cake and a cup of tea next to me.

Hopefully all the motifs and colours I've chosen will come together nicely and
it will be finished and ready when Spring time comes around.

It's still sunny and bright at the moment so I'd better make the most of it and work
on this while I have the time. Thanks for stopping by here and for your comments
on my previous posts. Take care and have a warm, happy Wednesday!

Weekend Things

These are some of my favourite moments from last weekend. We didn't do anything
exciting or unusual, just the usual weekend things - chores, errands, homework. A walk
on Saturday afternoon and church on Sunday morning. I got a lot of things done but
I also had time to read my book, enjoy a cup of tea, listen to the radio. It was really nice.

There's a dramatization of the second of the Neopolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
on Radio 4 and I listened to the first episode on Sunday. I've recently discovered
radio plays and I now find myself tuning in more and more often to Radio 4 instead of
Radio 2 especially now there's also the new Little Women serial on weekday mornings.
Sorry, Ken Bruce.

I'm cross stitching on linen for the first time. It is slow going; I'm still getting
used to working every stitch over two threads. Sometimes I miss the clear blocks
of aida fabric but I like how the stitches look so far and it is starting to get easier.
I'll keep going and show you more of it next time.

I hope you've all had a good start to the week.  Thank you for all your comments
on my crocheted buggy blanket. I'm glad you like it. I wasn't too sure about the
colours when I first started the project. I did a lot of toing and froing over stripes
and colour combinations but in the end just picked out the ones I liked from the
whole range. They seem to work together - phew! And thank you Christina
for the pom pom idea. I'll try it next time!

Winter Projects

Two posts in as many days! This has never happened here before but I'm
posting this today because I'd like to join Jennifer's Winter Project Link Party
  for November. I really enjoyed joining in last year, getting to see what others
are making and seeing their progress through the weeks and months. I'd like
to take part again.

This is one of the projects I'm currently working on - Kazuko Aoki's
Gardening Sampler. I discovered her cross stitch book at the local library
last summer and just love all the beautiful motifs she had created combining
her love of gardening and embroidery. If you're a fan of those two things
you have to have a look at this wonderful book.

I started on this sampler sometime in July. It's a Christmas present for
my mother-in-law and I thought back then that I'll have plenty of time to
finish it before December. I suppose if I had been focused and worked on it
steadily, it would be finished and framed by now. Unfortunately, I got
distracted by so many other things - books, crochet, television, to name just a few -

and have only worked on it sporadically over the past months. So at the moment
it's still very much a work in progress. I don't think I'll get it done by Christmas.
It's not as portable as a crochet or knitting project and it's trickier to work on
now that we have darker and longer evenings. I really should have made hay
while the sun was shining more brightly last summer. Oh well, it will get finished

sometime this winter and it will be an Easter present instead. Good thing
I didn't make any promises on this one.

And here's on of those distractions I've been talking about. It's in the latest issue of
Mollie Makes and when I saw it I just had to make it. I decided I needed a really
warm, chunky scarf and I might not survive the winter without it! So here I am
busy with crochet and it's all about scarf making at the moment. There are also
plans to make hats for the girls as well as Christmas cards and decorations. I guess
my sampler will have to wait then.


Thanks to Jennifer for hosting this party. Thank you also to everyone who have
visited my blog lately. Thanks for welcoming me back- I'm really glad to be here!
Have a great weekend!

Lenten Stitches

It's that time again in the Lenten season when small squares
of fabric are collected from parishioners in our church and made
into a patchwork 'Fabric of Suffering'. Each piece of fabric represents
our worries and anxieties and sewn together and brought to the altar
on Good Friday, symbolizing our unity in suffering with Christ. It's a
tradition I find moving and heartening and has made Lent, especially
Holy Week, an even more special, hopeful and meaningful time for me.

And it's now a little tradition for me to embroider the fabric that we
bring to church.  I don't really have to but I like sewing by hand and
 I always love the quiet moments when I'm stitching and I think of
what this fabric means to me and my family. This year's embroidery was
inspired by Markie's school project which was a collage of the four seasons.
I thought it was very fitting - day in , day out, through the changing seasons,
we pray that we stay faithful, that we are happy, safe and healthy. It's all our
hopes, plans and dreams for 2016 in this small square of fabric.

I started by cutting out a paper template of a tree and traced this
on to the linen, chose the threads and stitches and did the sewing.

I used stitches I know well - back stitch, long and short stitch,
lazy daisy stitch, French knots - and one that's new to me -
cable chain stitch which I used for the snow in the winter tree.

The new stitch was from this dictionary, a beautiful and useful book
 I found in a charity shop ages ago. I'm always inspired whenever I
have a look at it and hopefully I'll have another stitchy project to
work on later in springtime or the summer.

I really enjoyed making this from start to finish and I am looking
forward to bringing it to church later in the morning. School breaks
up on Thursday so we can all go to church on Good Friday. We'll
see our fabric make up the garment with everyone else's. It will be
moving and beautiful and as always, I'm grateful that we can take part.


I hope you're all having a nice, relaxing weekend. It's cold again and
if it's the same where you are, I hope you stay warm and cosy today.
See you soon.



(You can see the previous years' Lenten stitches here and here)

Hello Spring

We went for a walk in Ecclesall Woods and around Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet on Sunday morning. It was a perfect spring day, the sun shining
warm and the breeze quite cool, to borrow Dickens' words: it felt like 'summer in the light, and winter in the shade'. Who could resist being
outdoors on such a beautiful day? We squeezed in this walk between
church and the supermarket shop and in the afternoon, we played and
pottered about outside for as long and as much as we can. Monday
was very much like this and today, after a drizzly, murky start, looks
set to be another sunny, mild and lovely day. I am loving spring
very much; I'm glad it's finally here.

I have my embroidery threads, hoop and needle out this week for my
Lenten fabric and I am so enjoying all the hand stitching. I'm hoping
to finish it by the weekend - Sunday, I think, is the last day for bringing
them in. I hope to share it here with you before then.

We've had some spectacular sunsets lately, a whole spectrum of
colours in the sky, from coral to grey, purple to aquamarine. It's a brief,
ever-changing, captivating colour show and we see it all. Just brilliant.

I hope you're having a fine Wednesday whatever you're up to today.
Take care and enjoy the rest of this week!

A Pirate Costume

This week I have been busy putting together a pirate costume
for Markie. Their topic at school this half term is titled 'A Pirate's
Life for Me' and all their learning are linked to pirates. As it's the end
of half term next week, their class is having a pirate dress up day.
And of course, as the costume maker in this house, I have to come
up with something that she can wear for this fancy dress day.

I started off by having a look in Pinterest for inspiration. I also looked
in her closet to see if there's anything she can use and found her red
and white stripey dress. She can wear a waistcoat over it and with
 a bandanna and an eye patch I thought she'd look piratey enough.
So that was decided, but first I had to make the waistcoat.

I've never made one before and just wanted something that
would look sort of like a waistcoat. I made a pattern based on one
of her shirts and this had three pieces- two for the front and one for
 the back. They were sewn together and this is how it turned out:

The fabric I used was leftover from her ladybird costume. It's
so flimsy I've had to line it with calico but it also saved me from
having to deal with hems so that turned out okey.

To add a little pirate touch, I embroidered this skull and cross bones
and created a badge.

 The armholes don't quite match and it's all uneven but it's wearable
and I think it goes well with the stripey dress. I'm actually pleased
 with it-- I didn't have to buy any of the materials, Markie likes it
 and most of all it fits!

I hope our girl pirate will have lots and lots of pirate fun at school
on Tuesday. Once again it's been a pleasure making her a costume.
I do wonder though what the next half term' s theme will be...


Hope it's been a nice week for you all. Enjoy the weekend!

Lenten Stitches

Last year I wrote about the Lenten tradition in our church
where parishioners bring in squares of fabric, each square
representing our worries and stresses in life or those of loved ones.
All the fabrics are sewn together to make a patchwork 'Garment of
Suffering' which we bring to the altar on Good Friday. I think it is
a wonderful tradition. It is reassuring and hope giving and I am so
thankful that we can take part.

 As with last year's square, I have done some embroidery on ours
 just to make it even more meaningful. I always love a bit of stitching
 and this has occupied me in my spare time these past few days.
The inspiration for this came from a fabric book cover project in
The Ultimate Book of Quilting, Cross Stitch and Needlecraft. I have
 made a few changes though, making four instead of two birds
and adding blooms to the tree.

In its simple way our square symbolizes our hopes and prayers
for the rest of the year-- good health, happiness, security. We'll take
it to church this Sunday and I'm very much looking forward to seeing
it and everyone else's making up the whole garment on Good Friday.

So now that's done, I have a ladybird costume to make for Markie.
Yes, more sewing for me to do but I am not complaning.
Have a nice Friday everyone!

Midweek Joys

Daffodils in bloom......

...........home baked lemon and almond cake....

........brief but wonderful moments of blue skies and sunshine on a cold
and stormy day.....

..........the sweet, lemony scent of a lit candle...

.......a new stitchy project.

We've had wild, stormy weather again today and it has been snowing
here this evening. Not a great day weather-wise, but there were small,
simple things that have made me happy and I'm feeling grateful.
I really hope the snow won't be too heavy. Sheffield hills and snow
don't go well together, not fun at all when you need to drive or even
just walk outside. We're keeping our fingers crossed.


I hope you've had some happy things too this Wednesday.
Have a warm and lovely evening!

Last year's makes

These were all the things I made in 2014. Looking back now
I feel very lucky and pleased that I've used a lot of my free time
 creatively and have made some nice and useful things for myself,
my family and our home. I crocheted, knitted, embroidered and
did some machine sewing. I tried my hand at covering a lamp
shade, furniture painting and dress making. I also discovered
the joys of using washi tapes and making my own cards.

Overall it's been a good year for making and I hope 2015
will be the same. I have a few projects planned already
(first on my making list are crocheted pot holders)
 and I can't wait to get started!



Wishing you all a fun and very creative 2015.
See you soon!