A busy week and a bit…

 Of finishing things and starting new projects. Since coming back from our few days away I’ve finishes off socks. These I call my Crème Egg socks as the colours in this old King Cole Zig Zag yarn look similar to a Crème Egg wrapper. I added heels and toes in Attic Spin Dye yarn in Plum.

I finished a vinyl fronted pouch (useful for medication) and also a little dog dangly. This was a kit from Corinne Lapierre, but it was small and fiddly so I was pleased to get these done ready for my sister’s birthday earlier in the week.

Another little finish was a bookmark from the Tabby and Tweed weaving kit that I bought at the Southern Wool Show two Sundays ago. Not the nearest of work, but I mastered the hem stitch at the beginning and end of the bookmark.  Quite an enjoyable project using scraps of yarn, nice to pick up and put down. There may be a few more.

Having had our stay away, we decided we would put a going away kit together, with mugs, drinking glasses and extra tea, coffee, tea towel ame any other bits and bobs. We were disappointed that there are only two glass mugs, so often washing them out.  Anyway to that end I decided to make a bag.  This is the bottle bag instructions from the Susan Briscoe book of 21 Sensational Patchwork  Bags. I made one some years ago for my late father, so this is only the second time I’ve made this.

I went a bit off with the instructions as I quilted the panels before joining instead of quilting the two layers and joining with a separate lining, but I worked around that.  

Another new project is a pair of fingerless gloves using a pattern I purchased from The Wool Shed at the Southern Wool Show.  It was the first item I bought so I had to make these. Using scraps of yarn I started on one then realised they were better worked concurrently so I started on a second one.  I’m quite enjoying this pattern so there may be more.

A project that was made and finished the same day was a book at Dorset Creative Embroiderers with tutors Karen and Sue. It seemed we needed lots of stuff, my bag was certainly heavy. I painted a picture and added free machine embroidery (using one tutor’s machine, I didn’t have my own with me). It was Bondawebbed onto a black background and signatures of pages were stitched into the cover. Being the rebel that I am I didn’t cut the picture to size but tore it instead! 

A fair bit of out and about going on too. A day on the bus from Poole to Swanage for lunch and back again. I didn’t take scenic photos.  On Friday I was taken out by a friend to Wimborne to see an exhibition of work by the late Tiggy Rawling, who loved India and her and her husband had many trips out there.  She was a very knowledgeable textile artist and teacher and her work is lovely and she will be much missed. More photos on the link above.

Some beautiful work. It was lovely to see.

So it was an action packed week and a bit.

Trip to East Devon

 Now we could have done this in a rush in one day, but decided on a short two night stay and take our time. David and I stayed at a Premier Inn in Seaton so we could have time to explore the area. Firstly we visited Pecorama, the site of Peco a company that makes rails for model railways, in Beer.  As well as a miniature railway, on which we had a ride, there are beautiful well kept gardens on the hillside overlooking the village of Beer, between Seaton and Sidmouth. The weather was rainy but it soon cleared and our next couple of days were glorious.

Above is a view down to Beer and the sea from the gardens. Just to prove we’ve been on the railway…

And the gardens

After there we went to Beer village, which is very pretty but found it too steep to go down to the sea (it’s not the going down that’s the problem, it’s the going up from the seafront that is). So we admired the scenery instead.

The next day, we travelled by bus (yes, we are bus pass oldies!) to Sidmouth and got off near the town centre and found a sign for a toy museum.  This is housed in an old chapel in the back streets and was a lovely reminder of the toys in ours and our children’s past (and even before our time!).

Look at the teeny tiny dolly in a matchbox and the other Dollie’s aren’t much bigger

I used to have a Betta Bilda kit similar to this when I was young.

A teddy bears picnic

Not far from there was a town museum. That too was fascinating with all sorts of memorabilia, including more recently a ship that ran aground and the goods from that coming ashore with the locals helping themselves, which made the national news. 

Being not far from Honiton, the area is also associated with lace and there is a gallery devoted to that as well.  Queen Victoria wore a lot of Honiton lace similar to lace piece (not sure what the garment is called). 

After museum visits it was a wander around the town and the obligatory ice cream on the sea from before going back to Seaton on the bus.

Our last day and return home included a visit to Seaton Tramway, just a short walk from our hotel. After breakfast at a nearby cafe I went off on my own for a short walk uphill to the local park.

The clock tower and a butterfly flower display.

The labyrinth crazy golf with pitch 

With a dinosaur egg!  There was also a sensory garden and a greenhouse 

With some koi carp along with some exotic plants

On to the Tramway.  These smaller trams travel from Seaton to Colyton along the (river) Axe Valley

It was a beautiful morning and a lovely ride out before our travel back home.

September and a Wool Show

 My monthly marker this month…

My slow stitched bag tag from The Summer of Stitching by the Bakery Bears, which took an afternoon to put together.

On Sunday (31 August) I visited the Southern Wool Show in Newbury, David drove and while I was there he drove on to Oxfordshire to visit Pendon Museum and he returned to collect me later in the afternoon. 

The Wool Show was held in two grandstands of Newbury Racecourse, and there was plenty of space to move around. As well as vendors (mainly online) selling yarn, there were also feltmakers, weavers, spinners, so a lot of shopping opportunities.

This was my shopping

Some patterns, yarn (of course) fleece, a small weaving loom, French knitting kit, Tunisian crochet hook and beads.

So I’m having a go at the loom, which is big enough to make a bookmark, this kit is produced by 

Tabby and Tweed, who I’ve been following on Instagram for some time. There were 3 colours of yarn, but I’ve started to add in some of my own. Nice easy size to pick up and put down.

There were some ladies from The Kennet Valley Guild of Weavers and Spinners and one demonstrated a cardboard disc with yarn, to make a braid, which was also quite easy to pick up. Where the spare slot is pick up the third yarn on the right to put in the slot, turn the disc to the right until the spare slot is facing you and repeat.

Which eventually makes a basic woven braid. A lot simpler than following the numbers on a Kumihimo disc, genius! (And a lot of fun if you enjoy fiddling!).

The patterns I bought were for fingerless gloves, a jumper using assorted yarns, and ruffled socks (with beads, hence the bead purchase, scarf and cowl patterns.

The French knitting kit I saw right at the end and just leaving seeing a lady working on this and I could not resist this purchase. Usual this is associated with four nails of a cotton reel, so this was different. I had a go but need a lot more practice. Here’s my sample.

You can make out loose loopy knitting underneath.

It’s certainly unusual and I don’t know what use this is, but it’s intriguing, nonetheless.

End of August

 After the hot sunny and dry weather, all of a sudden it has now become autumnal. With going out and about and some looking after my granddaughter during part of this month it hasn’t given me as much time for crafting. 

As part of the Summer of Stitching, run by The Bakery Bears for their Patreon members which has involved a mitred blanket, of which I made a small sample mat and a tote bag, the third part is a slow stitched bag tag.

I used some linen fabric backed with felt. Pieces of fabric left over from the bag were embroidered on and I added embellishments of a hexagon and buttons which came from a clothes tag, which has been in my button box for years. White Stuff no longer put buttons on their tags.

Here’s the bag with the tag along with a badge my friend gave me.  

I went to the Project Linus meet in Dorchester taking two completed quilts and picked up a quilt kit.  There wasn’t enough of the large square pieces so I had to add some from my stash. Right colours but not the right theme, but it will have to do.

Earlier this month I also picked up another kit, this kit for Quilts for Care Leavers at the New Forest Quilt Show so September should give me time to work on this. Something a bit different to work on.

I seemed to have expanded my fabric collection and bought fabrics at the Dorset Arts and Crafts Festival at the beginning of this month as well as at the New Forest Quilt Show.

I’ll also be adding to my yarn collection this month with a visit to the Southern Wool Show as I’m visiting on Sunday 31st.

I’ve finished most of my cardigan and sewn together the raglan seams to be able to pick up stitches for the front bands. Not a lot to see at present, but it should be a September finish. I had found a sock that I’ve been working on and that was finished yesterday. A second sock has now been cast on and well under way.  Just a plain vanilla top down sock using King Cole Zig Zag but is an old colourway which looks somewhat like a Cadbury’s Crème Egg wrapper.

Well, it’s the 31st and I’ve visited the wool show today. It didn’t take long to get to Newbury Racecourse, just an hour and a half. It helped that on Sunday the traffic is quieter as there aren’t many holidaymakers to contend with. I did buy yarn (would be rude not to), patterns, a bookmark weaving kit and a French Knitting kit (the wooden piece with lots of nails, it also can with a tapestry needle and instructions. I couldn’t resist some fibre and not sure whether I might felt it of drop spin it but it’s a reminder of our Yorkshire days from 2008 - 11 as it’s called Elsecar and came from Yorkshire company Wingham Wool Works.

So this has been my August. September will see us going away for a few days and I’ll post about that soon.