I was sorting through my embroidery box and I came across this unfinished project. I started it in late 2017.
I am unlikely to get if finished this year, but we will see how I go.
Gingerbread House Cross Stitch
Filed under Christmas Decorations, Cross Stitch
Book Binding
At my slow stitching course (it’s here), I have been learning how to bind books. It is part of my grand plan to make my fabric book.
The one on the top has two signatures and I have used cross stitch on the binding. The bottom one has 8 signatures and I have used french link binding. So far this is my preferred method. I like how the covers are separate from the spine.
Filed under Book Binding
Cinnamon Stars Progress
So a tiny amount of progress has happened.
I have bought a new hoop stand, this one (the Sonata seat frame)
So far it’s working well, I can attach my clip-on magnifier to my hoop, and everything is solid (not wobbly).
Filed under Cross Stitch
Blanket Progress
I have been working on the blanket – the struggle is real. In the photo above I am adding stitches to start the penultimate rectangle, and then it’s borders. I have given myself a six month extension, which means I have nine months to get it finished.
The pattern is the Modern Daily Knitting Log Cabin Moderne, but I went off piste shall we say and now I am just making it up as I go along (to quote Strictly Ballroom, I am dancing my own steps at the pan pacs).
My slow stitching class starts again on Friday and like a naughty (or slack) school student I haven’t done any work on my piece, there’s still a couple of days, but I am unlikely to get much done.
Filed under Cross Stitch, Knitting
Cross Stitch – Cinnamon Stars
I have returned to my stitching class; every friday I join some lovely ladies and stitch for three hours. It’s the only time in the week that I get to sit for any length of time.
I have plans to make a cloth, memory book; a page for everything that is special to me. I shall attach all my special trims and fabrics. I have bought a lovely hemp/silk fabric to use as the base.
However, that project is still in the planning and collecting resources stage, so I am working on my Cinnamon Stars cross stitch. I find the process very relaxing, almost meditative (I have to concentrate a bit too much for it to be meditative – all that counting).
Filed under Cross Stitch, Cross Stitch, Embroidery
Hand Embroidery 2
I have finished the first of my samplers, this is the flat stitches.
From top to bottom
- running stitch
- back stitch
- whipped running stitch
- split stitch
- stem stitch
- fern stitch
I have started the next sampler
This one is the looped stitches, I’m currently working on chain stitch.
Filed under Embroidery
Hand Embroidery
A number of years ago (it’s a bit embarrassing to remember how many) I subscribed to Craftsy for a year (before it became Bluprint and then Craftsy again). As part of my subscription, I got to keep certain classes forever, and one of the classes I chose to keep was Design it Stitch it Hand Embroidery. I finally decided to try it.
My base fabric is calico and I transferred the design using a window and a pigma micron pen, which I also bought years ago, when Juanita’s was an art store and not a bar. I am using DMC cotton floss, and I just picked 6 colours from my stash.
I am quite keen to learn some stitches and then create a piece, with different sections in different stitches, but nothing too formal or designed – like a doodle but in stitches.
Filed under Embroidery, Fabric Stash
Crafty Birds – Machine Embroidery
It’s time for a new project bag.
The design is from Urban Threads.
I am using calico as a stabiliser, which might prove to be too flimsy, and I am floating the fabric after attaching it using a basting spray.
I’m using a Metafil needle (size 12, Klasse), which is fabulous no thread breakages yet.
I have slowed my machine down to 500spm, so its going to be a long process (102 minutes of just stitching) and I want to make two.
Filed under Machine Embroidery
The Knitting Sutra – Susan Gordon Lydon
I first heard about this book on the Cast On by Brenda Dayne podcast (I love this podcast – I support it on patreon). I found a copy at Abe books for a pound.
Here’s the blurb …
Available for the first time in paperback, The Knitting Sutra reveals how women can learn to knit their way to nirvana.
When Susan Gordon Lydon was coping with a broken arm, her craft took on new significance. While knitting was essential to strengthening her hands, it also provided her with a newfound sense of peace and creativity. Immersed in brilliant colors, textures, and images of beautiful sweaters, Lydon found healing and enlightenment in a way she had never imagined. Capturing this journey of discovery, The Knitting Sutra recounts her remarkable membership in a community of craftswomen around the world, from sweater makers in Scotland to Navajo weavers, and the adventures that her craft led her on.
As she masters new techniques and conquers old obstacles, Lydon’s story conveys how the lessons she learned from knitting, such as stillness and interdependence, later sustained her through a cancer diagnosis and even the incapacitation of her hands. The Knitting Sutra is both a meditation on craft and an affirmation for anyone seeking heartfelt comfort.
I read this while recovering from Covid (there’s a 2022 sentence for you). I found it interesting and motivating (I wanted to get back into the knitting). I do like a book about knitting. I liked it so much that I have ordered her other knitting book Knitting Heaven and Earth: Healing the heart with Craft. It’s not going to arrive until July though.
If you’re into knitting, and how knitting can improve your mental and physical health, then this book is for you.
Filed under Book Review
Covid Project
I have Covid (as does Miss P and Miss A), so we are all locked-down for 7 days. I haven’t felt too bad, and now I just feel very tired.
I decided I needed a Covid project, but it had to be something I already had because I can’t leave the house (and anything I ordered online would take a while to arrive).
Mr H suggested one of the kits that came with a magazine I bought in Bussleton (I think it was a Simply Knitting magazine).
So I have been working on a Maria doll. It’s knit flat and then seamed, so that will be a test for me. I have her head, arms and clothes to go. My plan is to knit everything, block everything and then seam everything.