Stitching the Past.

 Last Monday at Dorset Creative Embroiderers group we had a go at Dorset Feather Stitching.  A few of us in the group have an old book called Dorset Feather Stitchery by Olivia Pass which was printed locally by The Friary Press in Dorchester.  It was first printed in 1957, with reprints up to 1984. This was published by the Dorset Federation of Women’s Institutes, which was then based in the town, but the office has since moved to Poundbury. I have the last reprint, which was in 1984, which I bought at  a charity shop when I worked in Dorchester over 13 years ago, more as a reference book than to make anything from.

There are no colour pictures in the book and there are hand drawn diagrams and the language is a bit old fashioned to our eyes now. It has influences from old English smocks, from Dorset, Wales and Staffordshire and uses ‘pine cones’ the tear shapes from the Peacock’s Eye of Persia for example.  In the book is a Trial and Error sampler to try out the different stitches.

Here are a few pages from the book

The Trial and Error sampler 

A corner design, for which there was a template for. 

A couple of aprons (remember the pinnies that tied at the waist?) along with a needlecase and (I think) an embroidered tea cosy.

We made bookmarks with some fine cotton cloth, backed with wadding to provide stability. One of the group demonstrated and had samples and some templates from a lady she knew who sadly passed away last year (although the workshop was already on the list for the group).

Below is my practice piece. I didn’t have my blanket stitch going on the outside of the curve so clashed with the blanket stitch around two of the pine cones.  I also had a go at couching the ricrac, which is another feature of the embroidery as well as chain stitch with a ‘tip’. It was enjoyable way to spend the time with hand stitching and chatting.

Below are a few more samples

It would be good if this bit of the past carried on.

March 🌼

 Here’s my monthly marker for this month

On the last day of February I visited Kingston Lacy with my daughter and spotted a camellia with a bee (the black spot in the pic), which stayed on the flower for some time collecting nectar.  A sign that things are getting a bit warmer (even though the temperature drops at night).  

I’m still sewing using up orphan blocks and have made 2 Cushion covers with a couple of hand appliqué blocks from several years ago.  I had visions of making a Baltimore Album quilt, but I only got as far as 3 blocks, the third left in progress.  I’m now wondering what to do with them as they look to good to give away.

Another item in production is to make bed runners, which I’m making from an unfinished quilt top. This is version of Delectable Mountains block. Below is the quilt top.

I’ve taken apart 3 sets of 2 rows and used the blocks from the bottom row to add to the sets to add to the width.  Instead of wadding I will back with fleece and found enough fabric to made biding.  These will fit 3 foot wide beds.

In my sorting out I found pieces cut out and ready to make up a zippy pouch with a vinyl front.  I’m sure this will come in useful. I must have wanted to make this for sewing projects as it’s the theme of the fabrics. 

During this week we had an overnight stay in Exeter.  We had a chance to go into the City Centre and while waiting for the bus to take us back to the car park, spied this enormous gull marching up and down the road as if he was waiting for the bus! 

That was February

 It now seems Spring - like but it has been a cold and grey month, so there has been quite a bit of sewing, knitting and crochet going on.

In the evenings I’m working on the Canalboat Blanket. A bit late joining in the CAL (crochet a long), design by Lucy of Attic 24, I’ve got as far as week 3, so it’s coming along.  I’m making the lap blanket size and may stop around week 4’s colour guide.  I will be making another which will use up the yarn pack (that’s from Wool Warehouse). The crochet is quite a relaxing project in the evenings.

The pick up/put down knitting project is the Colour Burst jumper using the yarn by Stylecraft. I’m using a school jumper pattern to provide the basic pattern and am looking at using a cable pattern on the front, but I’m currently working on the back.  It’s been good to take to the weekly Knit and Natter group. The colourway, Catherine Wheel, is really pretty. 

Also on the needles is a top down jumper for me with short sleeves. The yoke pattern has been done and I’ve just split for the sleeves and work on the body. The pattern is by JST Designs on Ravelry and the yarn by Attic Spin Dye (on Etsy) in Plum. I purchased the yarn at Yarndale last year. It looks a little dark as the light is beginning to go this evening.

For the sewing I’ve been making cushion covers and table mats from orphan blocks for the local housing association, which will help brighten up living spaces.  I’ve passed these onto the housing association who are pleased with the items.

I’ve also picked up a couple of Project Linus quilt kits to sew together. So far the tops are joined and I’ve got to layer and quilt.  

Still enjoying shiny new things, last month I subscribed to a monthly mini skein collection and I’ve received February’s last month and March’s just this month from Blue Fern Yarns.  Mainly in blues but now going into beiges.  I was impressed by the mini skein set that I bought at Yarndale last year and I’m sure I will make use of them. I will probably look at Advent projects which use a lot of mini skeins. 

I haven’t done any paper crafting except for this ATC, for which the theme was birds and I made this quirky blackbird one on a paper patchwork background.

Today I’ve spent time with my daughter at Kingston Lacy near Wimborne.  It’s noted for lovely spring flowers and the snowdrops are just passing over but daffodils are now starting to flower.  It was lovely to see camellias with a couple of bees buzzing around.

So that was my February and looking forward to March, with Spring well on the way and hopefully getting more out and about.

Shiny ✨ New Things

 With all good intentions of using what I’ve got, which I’m doing mainly, sometimes it becomes hard to resist the new stuff. 

The week before last I saw my friend at knitting and natter who is currently making 2 lap blankets following the Canalside CAL by Lucy of Attic 24 and seeing the colours used in real life very quite vibrant.  Thinking about this I thought it lap sized blankets would make a good Christmas present (this Christmas is the intention) so ordered the colour pack from Wool Warehouse. (Even the spellchecker thought ahead of my typing!!).

This is the start so far, only a few rows in.

Not content with that I went to my local yarn shop to get some Aran yarn to try out another crochet project that I’d seen in Inside Crochet magazine, designed by Sam Sabido of a crochet ‘coatigan’ to try a sample to crochet later in the year. The pattern uses Rowan yarn, which is really expensive so I bought other branded acrylic/wool yarn to try out.  I might have a go at this pattern a little later in the year.

Here’s a sample of the crochet which looks quite good.

Whilst in the wool shop I bought this yarn as well, which is acrylic and is called Stylecraft Colour Burst in the shade Catherine Wheel, and thought that Flo would like this one as a jumper using the school jumper pattern again.  I will do a pattern on the front but the back is plain stocking stitch, ideal for taking to knit and natter sessions.  The colours are really pretty and the yarn is really soft.  

So that’s the yarny stuff.  I went to embroidery group on Monday and did the second part of a workshop based on designs for the book Hand-stitched Landscapes and Flowers by Katrina Witten of Rowandean Embroideries.  I remembered that long ago I did a workshop with her through Barnsley Creative Embroiderers with a little kit from which I made this little piece. It’s only 3” x 4”.

This time I made a hydrangea but I didn’t want a plain background so I used this dotty one which I think was a mistake. It is much bigger than I wanted so I’m not sure how to display this.  I would have like to have made something a bit smaller. Having got the inspiration, may try a smaller size. 

However I thought the book was worth exploring so I ordered it from World of Books and it came yesterday.  The condition was described as good, but it looked like new!

But I am continuing to crack on with some old stuff, which I’ll share soon.

End of January 🎍

 And the beginning of February. So here’s a round up of what I’ve done in January.

Above is a photo of the snowdrops and cyclamen at Kingston Lacy, near Wimborne over a weekend ago.

I have two finishes this month, both knitted. Some sewing and a lot of drawing. 

First off, started and finished in just a few days is this beanie hat with pom-poms. I was looking for a child’s beanie hat for my granddaughter and found a pattern in the current issue of Simply Knitting (on Readly) which is actually  a dinosaur hat but I omitted the spikes. Nice and easy so I will write the pattern out to keep for reference.  This is to go with some mittens that I finished in November.

Second finish to a bit longer and was just finding last night and it is a cardigan in James C Brett Aurora in what I would call unicorn colours.  This is knitted for another granddaughter as it’s the sort of colours she wears.  I decided I would sew on different coloured buttons to finish. The pattern is Stylecraft 9707 and I did the V neck version but the sleeves are knitted plain stocking stitch instead of the lace pattern.

A bit bright, isn’t it. Enough to brighten these grey days.

As for sewing I finished off two quilts for West Dorset Peoject Linus. One was my own fabric pack and another was my friend’s quilt as she found it too much to make.  They were both the same patterns with small squares and larger ones and the fabric was Flower Fairies.

I’ve got another pack to complete for this month and the same layout, so I’ve already make the top and I’ve just got to layer and quilt ready to take to February’ s meeting.

I used a wet day to sort out some orphan blocks and make them into cushion covers and small table toppers as shared in my last post.here

I also sewed a new project bag. I used the lining for the size of the bag as this was cut out a couple of years ago and never used.  There was even a pocket in it. I then cut out out fabrics for the outer and drawstring casings. Because of the lighting on that day the colour of the drawstring is blue to go with the blues in the fabrics. That was a quick make one dull Saturday morning.

With Dorset Creative Embroiderers I made. Start on this hydrangea flower inspired by the book of Embroidered Landscapes and Flowers by Katrina Witten of Rowan dean Embroidery. (Google decided to split the name up). This is mine so far

I’ve made an ATC this month for the TG ATC group based on winter weather.  I used the front of a Christmas card for this, a bit of a cheat. I added torn white card to the bottom front, brush on some Stickles fine glitter glue and lightly brushed a Distress ink pad in light blue around the edges. 

With the same online craft group I also made a couple of cards

If you looked at my recent posts or follow me on Instagram (@suewilduk) I have been trying to keep up with #sketchbookchallenge for 2025. This is run by Susan Yeates and artist who runs courses.  I didn’t register ad I only wanted the prompts and do my own thing.  There were a few days I missed out and I will go back to those pages and try to get finished by beginning of this month.  I’ve quite enjoyed drawing and some paining too and I will share another post next week with more pictures of my sketchbook. 

Looking back January was a packed month!  In February I hope to make progress on a new knitted jumper and also make progress on my Yorkshire Blanket, which hasn’t been touched in a while. I won’t get lured into new challenges and try to clear some clutter (see how that one goes!).

Happy February - the days are getting longer at least! 

Getting Back Into Sewing.

 The stormy weather of this last weekend and Monday has made me put together a Project Linus kit that my friend collected for me recently. This is a four patch easy square pattern with plain small squares and large squares with small bow shaped butterflies.

Where Bourne Quilters meet is a room at a local social housing organisation and the Scrap Store.  The housing organisation rehouses vulnerable people so I’m guessing that what they move into is very basic. It was mentioned about making cushions or bed runners, but the details are vague.  So I took out samples of blocks I’ve tried out over time that have been hibernating in my craft room.

First off is this wonky block which I made possibly 16 years ago at a workshop in Barnsley. I took an orange background to appliqué on to. This was rectangular so I had to add some length to square up so a couple of strips top and bottom of the back fabric. I didn’t quilt the cover.

Another project is this foundation pieced butterfly, which was a more recent sample from a Zoom workshop back in 2020 by Jo Avery.

I have layered and quilted this top and used red fabric for the envelope back. It was quilted in the ditch and then a circle around the butterfly. 

I had a ready quilted piece in purple and I wanted to do something different with this so I made this into a table mat, which could simply decorate a table. I used plain purple binding sewn from the back, turned over and zigzagged to hem the front.

This block was a design by Red Pepper Quilts that I tried out once and haven’t made again. The fabrics used were assorted Thirties style ones, so I kept the quirkiness and used strips from similar fabrics to bring up to a cushion size.  I haven’t quilted this yet, but layered up all ready. The envelope back fabrics may use 2 different fabrics.

A last small project was using this Dresden plate and appliquéing onto a background. It may become a fourth cushion.

So hopefully my makes could help others and reduce part made things that are cluttering my space.