Gifted Gorgeousness & TUSAL - December

Hello my friends,

Here's my TUSAL for December. I know, I'm late, but as it's the end of the year and I have collected quite a few ends from this month's stitching of "Butterfly" and "Stitch by Stitch", gathered in my mini thread catcher, I sooooo wanted to join in!

It really looks as if some sewing has been going on here!

But, I guess ..... come January we start a new jar?

If you haven't heard about TUSAL pop over to Daffycat's for all the gen, and if you would like to join in ..... now is the time to let her know ..... ready for 2018! Go on, what are you waiting for!

"GIFTED GORGEOUSNESS" 

..... a monthly link party run by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. We can link up each month from the 15th until the end of the month. If you would like to find out more and maybe join up go HERE!

I nearly forgot to say "Butterfly" and "Stitch by Stitch" were both gifts I've received ..... and, as such, qualifies them for Gifted Gorgeousness - read all about who's joining in with GG HERE (on Jo's blog).

"Butterfly"

..... has taken a long while to stitch as its been my "travel stitching" this year, and our journeys have not been very long, but hopefully it should be finished any day now!

"Stitch by Stitch"

..... looking back I haven't blogged about this one since July, when our big cat "Tom" decided he was going to claim my lap to sit on each evening. Well, he tired of that idea and I've bought new lamps for evening stitching and its gone from this .....

Stitch by Stitch

to this .....

It's only a quarter of the picture and actually I've started another quarter of the picture already, but don't have any photos yet.

Just before Christmas I received a very sweet gift from my blogging friend Benta, of SLIKstitches: a very handy scissor fob (just the right colour for my new purple scissors and a bag with a really appropriate quilt saying. In case you don’t know Benta, she’s really handy with her sewing machine and embroiders lots of badges for people, apart from the wonderful crafts that she teaches. You might not be able to see very clearly in my photo but the panel was stitched on with a very neat sewing machine buttonhole stitch.

There was also a lovely card enclosed ..... a picture of a quilt Benta had made. Thank you again, Benta!

Thank you all for visiting me this year. I look forward to your continuing visits, and to visiting you too in 2018!

I'll take this opportunity of wishing all of you a Very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Take care out there!

Hugs,

Barbara xxxx

Bag It - 3 entries

Hello my friends,

Thank you everyone for all your lovely comments on my most recent posts ..... I will be replying as soon as possible, but I wanted to quickly enter this post for Bag It, then I will be back to visiting. Soooo ..... Many apologies for my delay in reading/commenting, but I haven’t forgotten you!

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I am rather late but hoping to enter these Mini Thread Catchers (about 2 1/2" high) and Tissue Cover at Patty's "Bag It" party. They were all made in October, therefore within the “Bag It” timescale.

I wrote about them HERE.

However, maybe you would like to make yourself a Mini Thread Catcher? You can read how to make one HERE, or THIS version has more pictures.

Or if you would like to make Tissue Holders read HERE - the quick version, or HERE for the neater finish which only takes fractionally longer to make!

Any queries, don’t hesitate to let me know. If you don’t want to comment on the blog, you could always email me. Email address in RH margin.

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Thank you Patty for holding your “Bag It” competition. It’s been great fun, and a super opportunity to meet likeminded bloggers!

Happy Christmas everybody!
Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Day 12 of Jo's On-Line Advent Calendar Blog Hop - 2017

Every year "Jo who can't think of a clever nickname" holds a seasonal blog hop, and this year a "few" of us are joining her for .....

Jo's Online Advent Calendar!

However, some of you may not know Jo, so let me explain:

Jo's blog, Serendipitous Stitching, is all about Cross Stitch ..... in a big way! Pop over to have a look ..... later, (she has links to freebie cross stitch patterns too, so if you think you would like to cross stitch take a peek at the files in her header!).

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Soooo ...... here is my Day 12 .....

As in previous years, Jo has asked us to display a piece of Christmas stitching .....

When I picked up my Goldwork piece again recently I found I had lost my meticulously written instructions, but I was able to check with our tutor at my Handicraft group for guidance. For more info on starting Goldwork follow this link. You can see here where I left my stitching last December.

After speaking to our tutor I was able to continue stitching right up to last night to finish. I couldn't take photos then ..... and now, although it's  frosty, it's a brilliantly sunny day ...... just right for photos!

I really meant to be finished well before today, but things didn't go according to plan! Maybe they will next year!?!

It was very hard to take a clear photo, showing all the aspects of the Goldwork!

The little circles were tricky at first, but
once I knew what I was doing, it was quite fun!

Another view because the light reflected
on the Goldwork better here!

and now, to answer the second question from Jo: "What are your plans and traditions for Boxing Day?"

We don't really have any great family tradition, but I remember that, before I married, when I lived with my parents, we used to have my Mum's Mum come to visit one day and my father's parents would come the next day ..... not that they didn't get on or anything, it was just the way it was!

My Mum and her Mum (Nan) used to make: Christmas Pudding, Christmas cake, mince pies, sausage rolls, and Dundee cake, as well as the main meal of roast turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing and “all the trimmings”. There was so much food it kept us going for weeks afterwards ..... I think it was really so Mum didn't have to cook over Christmas! Tee hee!

There was lots of TV viewing, of course, and card playing ..... we played Newmarket too, Jo! and, as kiddies, it was such fun winning all the pennies, and lots of other board games ..... oh and, Cluedo too!

These days Christmas is a lot quieter! My mum and sister come to visit over both days and we have a Vegetarian Christmas lunch, and then play cards, or possibly Rummikub this year (using my new Game Piece Bag which you may have seen on the previous post!).

Boxing day was pretty much more of the same.

That's about all I can say I'm afraid, so thank you for stopping by today, and now, if you haven’t already visited, here's the link to:

Jo's Online Advent Calendar!

Many thanks Jo, for all your work organising us all again this Christmas.

Tell me, what Christmas traditions do you have?

Wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas,

Hugs from Barbara xxx

And tomorrow it's Christine of  "The Alchemist's Study" 

Friday Night with Friends / Bag It / Finish It Up Friday

Last night I was stitching with Cheryll (of Gone Stitchin') and friends as part of "Friday Night with Friends", and stitched the finishing touches to this Game Piece Bag:

While writing I'm taking this opportunity to link to Patty's (Elm Street Quilts) "Bag It" competition, oh, and as this is also a "finish" I'm linking to Amanda Jean's (Crazy Mom Quilts) for "Finish It Up Friday".

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I'm so pleased that I treated myself to a new quilting ruler a few weeks ago!

The old one had had a nasty accident ..... a long time ago ..... I finally decided I couldn't put up with not having that corner any more - can you imagine how awkward it's been every time I've gone to start cutting my fabric and realised there's not enough ruler there  ..... and how does it always end up that the broken side is the one I'm using !!!!

Anyway, I didn't really look too closely when I bought this new one, I was more interested in the fat quarters I couldn't resist ..... it's a ruler for goodness sake ..... but, silly me, until now I hadn't realised how much clearer the numbers were! It's so much easier to use.

The new ruler helped me cut the fabric so much quicker, and the pattern was so easy to put together. I used Patty's Game Piece Pattern - here!

And by Friday night .... all I had left to do was to stitch those horrid ends in, and stitch the turning gap closed. Thank goodness for my Easy Threading Needle.

This morning Mitzy just had to help with the final photo-shoot! 

I was really pleased with the finish,
especially as my stitching matched up beautifully

Thank goodness Mitzy soon decided she had found a great new place for a rest and I was able to carry on with my photos! She's not allowed to lay on this tablecloth very often!

I am so pleased with this bag and can certainly recommend it! It's just the right size for all the Rummikub tiles, and will work really well during a game as you can pull the cords a little tighter and a hand can go in and take a tile without anyone being able to see the tiles.

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I hope you have enjoyed your visit here today, and that you will have a little time to pop over and visit these links, and see what is going on! They are all great fun, and there is a lot of amazing stitching to see!

Thank you to Cheryll, Patty and Amanda Jean for hosting your link ups!

Linking to:  "Friday Night with Friends" / "Bag It" /  "Finish It Up Friday"

Thank you for visiting everyone. I hope you will come back and visit again.

Happy stitching!

Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Bag It & Finish It Up Friday

Firstly, "Happy Thanksgiving" to all my American friends! I hope you have had a wonderful day.

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Yipee!!!  I have three small finishes to share with you this week!

On visiting Amanda Jane's "Finish it up Friday" Party a few weeks ago I spotted someone had made some small drawstring pouches for carrying vegetables from the supermarket instead of using plastic bags (and, I'm very sorry but I don't know who that was).

As I am mad crazy about not using plastic bags more than absolutely necessary, imagine my delight, later, when I found a scrap of net curtain fabric I'd "inherited" from one of my stitching friends ..... well, I just had to make some pouches of my own, didn't I ?!!!

I couldn't believe how difficult it was to get a photograph to really show off such a simple pouch!

The fabric wasn't easy to stitch .... it wanted to fray all the time! Good job there's only a tiny bit left .... I can't be tempted to do too much with it! Tee, hee ..... wanna bet!

I trimmed the edges just before machine stitching each seam, and I've used French Seams which will stop them fraying further.

In the next view you will see that even when filled with potatoes, tomatoes and lychees, it was still pretty difficult to photograph the pouches! 

Oh, and yes, that's a new game bag in progress in the background which was meant to be in another blog post, but, since I neglected to take a picture of the pouches on their own ..... here they be!!!!

The other side will say Rummikub. Hopefully it will make it easier/quicker taking our tiles from the bag rather than having to turn them over and spread them all out on the table. You can find the tutorial for the Game Piece Bag over at Patty's blog - Elm Street Quilts ..... HERE.

Don't look too closely! The backing is cotton wadding and
I am afraid my needle pulled the wadding through with every stitch!

After being disappointed with the lint all over this piece I'm going to use interfacing on the other side so the same thing doesn't happen again!

These three little pouches are my first entries into Patty's linky party.

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Finally today, I couldn't resist sharing a photo from my Handicraft group. 

Last year a few of us attended a Goldwork Workshop run by one of our members. I still haven't finished mine, and in fact if you have a look at my left hand column you will see how far I've got  ..... no, wait, actually I have done more, must update the photo!

Anyhow, this is Jenny's! I love the way she finished it by adding a fir tree branch. All those who have finished their pictures seemed to complete them in different ways, and I wish I had pictures to show you, but I don't always have my camera with me!

Another project to finish! No pressure, eh!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

Linking to Crazy Mom's - "Finish it up Friday"

and Elm Street's - "Bag It"

November TUSAL and WIP

Hello my stitching friends!

Today I am joining in with Daffycat's TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long).

If  TUSALs and ORTS are a mystery to you pop over to Daffycat for all the gen - but don't forget to come back and visit here too!!!

I'm a little late as we are supposed to link up to coincide with the New Moon .... which was 18th November, but I am excited to tell you of my latest project and the use I found for some of those ORTS, so I hope Daffycat won't mind too much!

Most of these ORTS are from the butterfly cross stitch I've been stitching this summer, which unfortunately I can't show at the moment as all the photos are on my phone  ..... ooops! I will eventually work out how to download, or upload them, whichever the correct term is!!

Anyway, down to my TUSAL post!

The little pile of cottons on my cutting board are what we call ORTS.
I've been popping all my little ends of cotton into my Mini Thread Catcher (on the left).
The jar on the right is my collection from the last year .... the pretty cottons in the folded paper are for the sampler I'll tell you about in a minute.

Someone once asked me what I was going to do with my ORTS, and I have to confess ..... I didn't have a clue at that time ...... but they have actually come in handy for my latest project.

By way of background .....
 I've been following Queeniepatch (of Queenie's Needlework) with her wonderful "Sunday Stitch School" over the last year and have been meaning to use some of the unusual and pretty stitches she has shared.
I would strongly recommend that you visit Queenie HERE to read more about her "Sunday Stitch School" and her quest to learn some lesser known stitches.

Only last week I discovered some fabric I'd cut ready to make a small bag to keep vegetables tidy  in the fridge .....
in a light bulb moment I decided to use that fabric to make a stitching sampler for easy embroidery stitches ..... which would eventually become a stitching project holdall ....
but then I remembered I had been meaning to find a project to practice some of Queenie's pretty stitches, and decided this piece of Osnaburg,
 backed with cotton wadding, would be just the right size for what I have in mind!

I expect some of you will remember my saying that my ORTS are normally miniscule ..... 

but recently they've been getting longer, 

and I was able to use these longer threads as guidelines to keep my stitching evenly spaced.

In the picture above you can also see another project I'm working on ..... 

the name badge I've wanted for sooooo long. 

This was another idea prompted by Queeniepatch: reverse applique or MOLA, and you will see what I mean if you take a little peek HERE.

I've made a small start on my stitch sampler with the following two stitches:

Lesson 42 - Rambling Rose

Lesson 43 Moss Stitch 

Oh, and lastly, this is where I've got up to with my MOLA or Reverse Applique, 

which could actually be classed as a "new to me" project!

Now don't forget to pop over to Daffycat's blog where you can find out who else is linking up with their TUSALs this month.

Thank you for visiting today.

Keep well and safe, and carry on stitching my friends!





Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Mini Finishes & Gifted Gorgeousness

Hello Dear Reader,

Today I’m linking to Jo of Serendipitous Stitching with my cross stitch finish. Actually I completed this in the summer but kept missing the linkup for Gifted Gorgeousness.

Gifted Gorgeousness is our opportunity to link up showing gifts we have received or sent, or can shoehorn in  ..... for instance gifts from magazines.

And I am shoehorning this one, as it was a gift
from a cross stitch magazine

My cross stitch friends might remember seeing this before when I was stitching it (that's the white bit in the middle) and might recall me saying how long it took to stitch, for such a small project. There were too many half stitches and the fabric was 16hpi (for non cross stitchers that's 16 stitches to the inch), too small for me. I'm much happier with 14 stitches per inch.

I couldn’t post without showing you these lovely mittens, or should I call them fingerless gloves, my sister made for me earlier this year. These were the first pair she had made ..... wasn’t I lucky! Our Mum has been making lots of these gloves for charity over the last few years and my sis thought it was about time she made some too!

On the stitching front I fully finished off a few tiny projects:

The first being this tissue cover, made last week for a birthday pressie for Mum, using some of my favourite pink check which I normally use to line items, but as Mum has very poor eyesight (Retinitus Pigmosa) I used the pink on the outside so, hopefully, it will be easier for her to find in the depths of any bag. 

For the lining of the tissue holder and the outside of the Mini Thread Catcher (MTC) I used some flowery scraps which I had been gifted by one of the ladies from the handicraft group I attend. Ohh, and the pink MTC is another little gift for Mum.

The tissue holder is still in my possession at the moment because I felt it really needed a little embroidery, and that has taken this week to stitch. 

As I started the post with a yellow photo I thought it would be nice to finish in a similar vein!

And the other MTC will be a future pressie

With three finishes this week, I am also linking to Amanda's "Finish It Up Friday", albeit a little bit late, but I'd hate to change the habit of a lifetime ..... tee,hee!

If you like teeny weeny stitching as much as I do, you really must pop over to Amanda's blog: Crazy Mom Quilts, just to see the incy-est (not sure how to spell that!) pouch she has made. It's such a darling! 

All that said, I hope you will pop over to both Jo's and Amanda's blogs to see what others have made.

Thank you for popping by today.

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

October 2017 - Catching Up!

This project started with cross stitch in mind ..... but, my search for the perfect stitching kit has taken me away from my cross stitching, for far too long!

Tee hee! Can you guess what this is?

Traveling on the train with DH recently, my glasses were sitting on the table as I stitched, and DH thought this would make quite a funny picture of ..... and I'm sure you will have guessed ..... another Mini Thread Catcher (MTC)!

It was also a handy way of showing the size.

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What's coming up?

• Some of you have asked me for more details on my book holder (HERE) ..... and I intend to edit the post as soon as I can.
• Also I've been meaning to start work on a new bag, and, again, will blog about it eventually!
• However, I really do have the bug for making more Mini Travel Sewing Kits, which of course means making more Mini Thread Catchers.
• Shortly I'm hoping to share a "Gifted Gorgeousness" post with an update on my cross stitch.

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For some time I've been wanting to make a sewing kit that, by attaching a lanyard, could also double as a name badge, and, as I've said before, a sewing kit really needs a Mini Thread Catcher (MTC) (Tutorial HERE).

At the time of writing the MTC tutorial I hadn't taken photos, so hopefully these pictures might be helpful if anyone wants to make one.

Maybe I've got a little bit carried away ..... but they are cute!

..... I couldn't decide which fabric I liked best.

Did you notice my teeny painting in the background, I was testing colours for one of the Mini Sewing Kits I'm making? Can't show it properly as it is going to be a present ..... the Mini Sewing Kit that is!

And then I've been working out what size to cut the base ..... for the perfect fit .... it needs to be smaller than the rim so that the MTC will push up and stay closed. Hopefully, all will make sense as you look at the pictures!

Rim circumference measures 4 1/2"

My rim measured 4 1/2", therefore, allowing for the seams, my two pieces measured 5" x 2 1/2".

Use 1/4" scant seams throughout. Read about scant seams HERE.

It is important to turn a 1/4" hem at this point, top and bottom, and press (with a hot iron) ..... and remember that's a scant seam again, so keep it small. Press the centre seam towards the base (inner fabric) 

Press centre seam towards lining fabric

Then, pin the short sides to make a tube (Right sides together), and machine another scant seam. 

Taper the seam slightly towards the hem of the inner fabric,
catching the hems in place.

I used a wider rim for these later versions.

Excuse these pictures taken on the train on my lap, but the light is so much better on the train than indoors at home at this time of the year.

From this point it is all hand stitching.

This time I attached the puffs individually,
but I think the Mark I  MTC (in the link above) was the quicker method.

Oops, I guess I should have trimmed this large seam.

A bit fiddly turning it through.

The outer fabric needed a row of gathering stitches
and attaching to the inner sussex puff, before
finishing with the outer puff.

You can see the hand stitching keeping  the rim in place.

Then simply twist the base, and push up into the rim, until it looks like this .....

Any loose threads will be held inside until you are able to dispose of them, or add them to your TUSAL jar.

 the base

To date I've made a total of three MTC's, 

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This weekend I was tempted to make some Rock Cakes, using a recipe I've gradually been adjusting over the years, until finally it has become Vegan. 

Don't laugh, but I had intended to have a go at making Super Mom No Cape's recipe for Beer Bread. I made my usual bread only last week and I thought I'd love to try Susan's recipe ..... I'd bought the beer (tee, hee, good excuse for buying the beer, not that I need one really!), bought some Oregano, and Thyme too, but then I wasn't sure I had the right flour. We have lots of different types of bread flour, but not much all purpose flour which the recipe called for, so I decided to use up my old flour on some cakes, and buy fresh for the bread next week.

Sorry the photos are a little dark as it was a very cloudy day.

I had to try one as soon as they came out of the oven ..... it was delicious!

 Both DH and I love them with custard too!

Now I'm in the baking mood I hope to try Susan's beer bread later in the week.

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Oh, last week we found out what geocaching is. We were on a guided walk and were shown this hole in a reconstructed wall where a plastic box lives with lots of details inside. The box had been here for years and when the wall was rebuilt its own "home" was included. You would have to know it was there to find it as a brick has to slide out to reveal the box.

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In years gone by we've had sunflowers which have grown from the seeds dropped from our bird feeders, but these days the seed that we buy for birds has the husks removed, meaning the birds spot the seed dropped on the ground, and therefore we rarely get plants springing up under the feeders these days.

So these sunflowers make me really happy! They are just a few of the plants that DH planted specially from seed this year, and they have grown into absolute giants. A couple of them have flowers as big as dinner plates ..... certainly a record in our garden ..... and you should have seen the size of the stem!

This plant has about five, or six flowers!

The light wasn't quite right, and I changed the contrast to take this picture ..... I love the effect.

They remind me of the nursery rhyme of Jack and the Beanstalk when I stand next to them, as some of them are over 8 feet tall.

I love this one ..... looks like a heart in the centre!

We are not sure what to do with the sunflower heads now that they are dying back. We are more than happy to leave them in position for the birds to help themselves, however, has anyone experience in this, and would you suggest harvesting them, and if so how should this be done? Advice please! (It's only a small domestic crop of about a dozen heads, we are not looking for the loan of a combine harvester.)

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By the way, if you are looking for some Halloween stitchery, you can find some lovely free vintage embroidery motifs on Super Mom No Cape's blog this week.

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Oops, sorry, that's quite a long post, but I hope there was something here to make you smile (in a really nice way, of course!).

I'll try not to leave it so long next time!


Hope you are keeping safe and sound.

Hugs,
Barbara xxx