Stitching update

I had a lovely time away in York and I even managed to squeeze in some stitching.  York is a beautiful city but it was also freezing!  We had a Siberian wind across the UK this past weekend and boy, was it cold with temperatures of 0 feeling more like minus 8 (typical British trait here, discussing the weather whenever we can, LOL).  We did manage a spot of sightseeing but after getting thoroughly soaked on the Saturday and frozen - including snow - on the Sunday, we spent more time in the cottage than out in the city.  I'll have to go back one day and explore further.

I took a lot of pictures on my new camera but I'll just share a couple, one of York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe.

 And this is one of the gates to the City with a view of the cathedral spires in the background.

I took this picture outside the cottage we stayed in.  Not much snow left by the Monday morning.  There is a small stream running alongside the road to the left - it really was a pretty spot.

And here is the stitching I managed to do.  It's the O from the Home piece I am working on.  I thought I would get more done but if I didn't have a cup of tea in my hands, it was a slice of cake and if it wasn't a slice of cake it was a glass of red wine!  It was an indulgent weekend away and was the perfect way to recuperate after my recent infection and virus.  Good food, good friends and laughter are the ultimate medicine.

I'm planning on visiting the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia, London this weekend.  I'll take my camera with me - and a full purse.  If previous visits are anything to go by that will come back empty and my stitching stash is about to get much bigger.

Until next time,

Claire

Getting organised

It's a rainy, grey day here which is a bit of a shock after the previous spring days.  Felt like the right kind of weather to spend some time organising my threads.

These are some of the threads that have been decorating the arm of my sofa for the last few weeks.  They've now been wrapped onto bobbins, labelled and 'filed' in numerical order.

Much better way of storing my threads and it looks so pretty too.  I need to invest in a few more of these boxes as I find it's an easy way of storing all the small 'bits' when working on a project rather than trying to thread them back onto the card holder.

This is the one I'm using for the red flowers project.  I waste much less thread this way as I can tuck any small strands into the correct compartment.  How do you all store your threads?  I'd love to know how other people store their bits and pieces - I'm a bit of a storage fan and I've always got my eyes open for ideas!

I'm off on a long weekend break to York with some friends this weekend.  I will be taking my 'Home' stitching with me but I'm not sure how much I will get done.  I'm also going to have a look for a stitching shop there and see if I can add anything more to my ever expanding stock of stitching.

Until next time,

Claire

Stitching update

An update on the stitching I have been doing.  Not much progress I hear you say and you would be correct.  I was going great guns on the 'Home' piece but haven't touched it for a couple of weeks.  I'm about to change that this evening.  No excuse now as I have all the cottons I need.

You're not going mad - I took the photo upside down to avoid casting my shadow over it.  Looks a bit odd.  I've finished the H and decided to stitch all the letter outlines next to see how big the finished piece will be.  It's pretty big.

And here is yet another cushion finished.  I had the pink squares made up for a while but pieced it together with the remains of brown from the thread catcher.  Pink and brown is another of my favourite colour combinations, along with brown and eggshell blue.

I've also started on the Country Cottage Needleworks series, starting with 'Santa's House'.  I had to wait for the fabric to come back into stock and so I feel a bit behind.  I loved the Cottages of the Month released last year although I still have a few to complete in order to have the whole year done.

Really need to get my stitch on!

Until next time,

Claire

Tada - one thread catcher

So I finally sat myself down in front of my sewing machine and made the thread catcher from Natalie Birds 'Red Home'.  As you can see I went for a different colour scheme of pale blue and brown rather than the reds in the book.



It also features bunnies which seems appropriate for this time of year

 I had a bit of trouble with aligning the seams on the bottom and the one above is actually my second attempt.  This is the original attempt - it's all a bit wonky!

I was never going to happy with this so started over.  I'm pretty pleased with the final piece and have already put it to good use.  The arm of my sofa is looking like a sofa again rather than a thread holder!  And whilst the sewing machine was out I finished off my cushion I put together from scraps. 

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out too considering it was a pile of sad left-overs that have ben loitering in my sewing basket for almost a year.  So all in all it's been a productive day, especially as I have filled a few pots with primroses and tried a new recipe.  It's been a lovely spring-like day today and it always helps me feel energised and inspired.  I have been doing some cross stitching too - I'll share progress next time.

Until then,

Claire