After doing cross stitch for years it seems strange that I hadn't actually tried my hand at canvas work. All that changed whilst we were away though as I'd randomly pulled out of a box a couple of small kits to do in the evening and one of them turned out to be a canvas work one that I'd picked up at an old Cross-Stitch Guild Make & Take session. It was the first time that I'd tried many of these stitches, but also gave me a good excuse to use the books I'd picked up whilst up in Northumberland.I really enjoyed doing something a bit different though and it certainly ... read more
Crafting books
Things are finally getting a bit more organised following our move and it felt great to today get all my craft books in one place on some new (to me) shelves in my study. Over the last few years I've been picking up various books either when I've seen them in sales, or in charity or secondhand book shops. Getting them altogether made me realise what a collection I've been building up covering knitting, crochet, embroidery, dress making and patchwork. Although new books are always lovely and very inspirational, there's something about finding ones secondhand that give me a real ... read more
A start on Jemima
Not much to show so far, but I've made a start on Jemima and I'm hoping that now I've cut out everything for the doll itself I should be able to complete that this week. The clothes may take a while longer though. Fingers crossed. ... read more
Nostalgic Clothkits
One of my strongest childhood memories is my doll called Jemima. Made lovingly by my mum from a Clothkits kit I have no idea what happened to her in the end, but things like the detail on her dress still seem crystal clear in my memory. I was a child born in the 70s. I think all of us had something from Clothkits at the time. It was just the way things were back then. I was therefore completely thrilled when I passed by the relaunched Clothkits stand at the Knitting and Stitching a week or so back and spotted Jemima smiling out at me. Jemima's now called Kitty. Or maybe she was ... read more
Missing mojo
Since we moved house I seem to have lost all sewing and knitting mojo. I'm not really sure why as I keep wanting to do things, but have just not been motivated to do so for the last couple of months. I'm hoping that this is going to change as I am missing not having something on the go. A trip round the shops on Saturday resulted in one purchase that may help and to make things even better a parcel waiting on the doorstep upon my return. In the last couple of years I haven't actually made myself anything to wear on my sewing machine. Plenty of bags and household items, but ... read more
Needlecraft is sew last year?
I was quite intrigued to come across this post on the BBC news website earlier today. When I first saw the article I thought it was all old news. I've written on here before about how more and more people are trying to follow the wartime ethos of make do and mend. I've certainly seen the republished Government guides from the time and have heard about how much sales of sewing machines have increased. What I hadn't realised though is just how "hip" it seems to be becoming. It seems that Topshop of all places are regularly selling out of the ... read more
Planned excitement
Still feeling rough from a cold that I seem to have picked up, but to cheer myself up I've this morning booked tickets for a couple of things that I'm planning to do over the next couple of months.Firstly I'm going along to the annual Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. This is an event that I've been along to many times over the last few years. I normally spend most of my time going round the stalls, but this year their theme is make do and mend, something that I'm always interested in. The demonstration parts of the day may therefore be of ... read more
Button bounty
From reading this blog, my mother in law, S, has realised my button addition. Therefore, when I saw her over the weekend she very kindly handed over a tin of buttons! Yippee! Thank you S!There's a fantastic mix of styles, sizes and colours in there and I've had a great time so far sorting through them all and arranging them into little piles. Only for them to then all go back into the tin. I'm hopeful for a nice set of glass jars soon so that I can have them separated out into different coloured jars arranged nicely on a shelf. I just have to hope that I can find such a shelf in ... read more
Missing needles
After a long day in the office I was quite pleased to be getting my sewing machine out this evening, even if it was initially to mend a T-shirt of Mr C's. Once that task was complete I moved on to the fun stuff and my attempt to turn an old pair of jeans (again Mr C's) into a bag that I've got an idea from. All was fine with the cutting out and some initial sewing on a single thickness of the demin. Then it all started to go a bit wrong. I wanted to over sew a seam of the original jeans, meaning that it was about a triple thickness section. It was too thick for ... read more
Embroidery goodies
I've spent most of this weekend up north with my Mum as her guest at the Embroiders' Guild East Midland Region's Regional Day in Lincoln.The format of the day was that there were various demonstrators showing a variety of embroidery and textile based crafts, along with stalls selling goodies (always important), exhibitions of work and a lecture in the afternoon.I've not had much experience of the EG before, so it was nice to see what they all get up to. I do get the impression that they are much more geared towards people who are professionals within the embroidery and ... read more