I took myself by the scruff of the neck this morning, and made an appt. with the bank to renew my ISA, did some other necessary online paperwork and thus ticked a few admin items from my mental list.
This is what I am working on in the evening. I bought this kit from the Spring Malvern Quilt Festival. They give you a photo for guidance, but I am just using simple embroidery stitches and some of my large stash (all neatly wound on cards, and in numerical order) of DMC embroidery floss. Stitches used running stitch, backstitch, chain stitch, lazy daisy and satin stitch.
This lovely Devon Village x-stitch is so nearly finished perhaps half an hour's sewing on it - tiny little stitches missed as there are only one or two of that colour. The lovely cottages and church are a compilation of buildings across Dartmoor, various villages. I found a frame in the charity shop today which should fit it.
Also in the same Unfinished Dartmoor x-stitch folder - which I deliberately put on the kitchen table to get ACTION - is this Mary Hickmott x-stitch of Widecombe-in-the-moor - the beautiful church is known as the Cathedral of the Moor. One of my g. (g.?) aunts was the schoolmistress there in Victorian times. (There we go, just wasted 20 minutes trying to find her . . . back to that later. The surname Smerdon springs to mind).
It will be a long business - just a couple of stitches in a particular colour, then change to a couple of stitches of another, and so on . Certainly needs concentration.
Finally, I spent about 2 hours this morning doing the first "rough copy" of a pattern I had traced on greaseproof paper around a little dress of Rosie's. I pinned it and cut it out, and then went to sew it, only to find that the stretchy material (a 50p dress from a charity shop) didn't want to play ball and I had to ditch it totally.
This is where I got with tracing the right size (2 yrs) from a purchased pattern. I watched two You Tube videos (how to cut out a pattern) and this said unless you were making the biggest size or not intending to re-use the pattern, then trace around the lines for the size you wanted. This I did. I can see from this photo I need to flatten the copies and repin flatter. The fabric is some I got from the stash giveaway at my patchwork class last week.
We have a lovely new sewing shop in town. It opened on Saturday. I've not been in yet, but have looked through the window . . .
Their ethos is, I believe, recycling fabrics, sewing accoutrements, books etc, make-do-and-mend etc. They offer dress making classes, but not at a price I can afford. It's free on You Tube . . .
Right, back to my sewing - it has really cheered me up.
Now that sewing shop looks very interesting indeed!! (So I should avoid it for a while!!😆)
ReplyDeleteOh, that gave me a giggle!
DeleteYes, perhaps just window shopping is a good idea for the moment, but I do want to check out those books at the back . . .
DeleteWhat a great shop! Fun to browse and chat w the proprietor, I think.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you sew dresses for Tam and Gabby? You're such an experienced sewer? [and your current hand work i lovely!]. Be careful w placement, surely the long side of the pattern is meant to be cut on the fold? Maybe not the back, but check. And the garment will hang better on straight grain, not cross grain. Pin carefully and weight the pattern down w some soup cans or some such if need be.
I agree sewing lifts the spirit and makes the maker happy, brings satisfaction of job being cared for and completed. Rem on my blog I mentioned a friend who asked me Why bother to make quilts. I was struck silent, mortified---why DO i waste the time? [and money!] Your answer is perfect.
I am following the pattern layout - these are all along the fold. No, NOT an experienced dressmaker. Since Miss Huggins and the unpicking of tacking stitches for two years, it has taken any joy out of clothes making! I did make myself two maternity nighties when I was pregnant with Tamzin, but that is IT. My gran would be delighted - I am even using her excellent pinking shears - as she made clothing for ALL the family and she had 5 children!
DeleteI am glad to have put the right expression to why you make quilts. Why any of us do, really.
I love hand sewing. It makes me feel connected to the women who came before us.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I did try lace making for a while - as I come from generations of lace makers on my mum's side - but it irritated the arthritis in my neck so I had to give it up.
DeleteI just put my machines away and have pulled out the loom to make a rug. Slowly getting those Christmas gifts completed and loving the peacefulness of working on various crafts.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Oh well done, some nice mindful rug making is a good idea for those long winter days and nights.
DeleteLizzie D. has given you some clever sewing hints--I haven't made garments in awhile but years ago I was handy with it--by all means, straight of grain. Knit or slinky fabrics are a right pain to work with!
ReplyDeleteThat sewing/fabric shop looks interesting, perhaps a bit too tempting. I wish I had your skills for hand stitchery; I've always suspected cross stitch to be very demanding.
Rosie is at quite a delightful age--learning new things nearly every day!
Hand-stitching - like baking or any other skill - is just practice. I am not perfect by any means, but it gives me great pleasure and I have something to show for evenings in front of the tv.
DeleteRosie is a proper clever-clogs and has so many words, and is a joy to be with. She has a new different child minder on a Monday, who has nearly 20 years experience with little ones and she said to Tamzin that Rosie is VERY intelligent. I think we'd twigged that already!!