Spring Stitching

As I write this, it's pouring with rain (of course it is) but the weather has been mostly sunny lately and Spring is definitely in the air. Which means it's time to start my Spring cross stitch sampler.

As regular readers will know, my daughter and I are stitching seasonal samplers from Little Dove Designs. We started with the Autumn one last September so this is the third in the series. It looks like it will be a lot more stitching than the Winter one, what with everything having burst into bloom. I've started the line of purple flowers across the middle (primulas?). 

I'm ahead of Rose at the moment but I suspect she'll soon overtake me as I'm also working on two other embroidery projects and keep flitting between them. First, there's this Brambly Hedge embroidery kit from the 1980s that Rose gave me for my birthday.

I'm using one of my new Q Snap Frames which is the perfect size for this little piece (this is the 8" set). It's been a long time since I did any freestyle embroidery but I'm pleased with how it's going so far.

I'm using my bigger set of clip frames for my other project which is quite a major undertaking.

I discovered Blackwork Journey's Blog last Summer and enjoyed reading through all the back issues; they're in the form of pdfs, one for each month. The designer behind Blackwork Journey is Elizabeth Almond and she has the most wonderful patterns, including many free ones. She explores a variety of techniques and I was particularly drawn to the pulled thread work. So, my project is a big sampler that combines pulled thread work, blackwork, cross stitch and pattern darning stitches.

It's called Pandora's Box and you can buy it as a pdf from the site or download the Free Instructions which were originally released as a Stitchalong. I bought the pattern which also includes tips and extra patterns as you go along - it's more than 100 pages which I thought was a bargain for £8.

The first step was choosing which threads to use. As well as a thicker white thread for the pulled work, you need a solid colour and a variegated one from the same colour family and then a metallic thread and some beads. I ending up ordering enough for two colourways so that I could choose between them. The first one was a mixture of blue, turquoise and silver.

In the end, I settle for these autumnal colours; I shall keep the blues for my next project.

You can see my pulled work grid in the background to these pictures. Although all the counting was a bit nerve-wracking, this was such a lot of fun to stitch. Basically, you use a crochet cotton and pull the stitches tight as you go, creating patterns of holes. That's all there is to it. This stitch is called four sided stitch and gives you little crosses on the back of the fabric. Here's a close up view of the front ...

And here's the whole grid ...

Now I just have to fill all those little boxes with stitching. This is the pattern for the first five squares.

The chart is the top row; the stitched squares are the row below. From left to right the patterns are: Blackwork, Assissi work (reverse cross stitch), Pulled Thread, Cross Stitch and more Blackwork. So far I've done the first three squares.

Despite being only about two inches square, each design is quite detailed and takes a long time to work. That intricate blackwork square is like drawing with thread. When I was a child, I used to doodle in squared maths exercise books and those doodles were just like this sort of pattern. The firs two squares will eventually have gold beads too but I shall add those at the end. I got a bit carried away with the whole 'pull the stitches tight' thing on the third square and ended up distorting the fabric so I had to unpick it all and re-do it. 

This is a lovely project to work on gradually, enjoying the process as much as the finished thing. Each square takes me about two evenings to stitch (not counting unpicking).

While all this stitching is going on inside the house, Spring is showing itself all round the garden too. There are primroses all over the place, mostly the pale yellow ones ...

... but there are a few renegade coloured ones too ...

The primroses are wild and just turn up where they feel like it but I have planted lots of daffodils too.

That's the old sink from the scullery.

It's not all random prettiness out there though. There's also this ...

This is the honeysuckle that started life in next door's garden but decided it liked it better in mine so came over the wall years ago. It now only has roots in my garden and is determinedly trying to march across it to the other side. Not this year though. As you can see, I've been waging war with it recently and there's now a good three foot less of it. If you look closely in the picture above you can see some green wire mesh amongst it. My son and I found that last weekend, still attached to a fence post which had once presumably held it on top of the wall. We managed to cut out most of it (and the post) but the plant has grown through the mesh for decades so we'll have to leave some behind.

As you can see, we had to cut off lots of its greenery; I'm hoping that it has time to grow some more this year. If not, it's going to be the highlight of my garden display all summer. The brown patch on the ground shows where it used to reach to. Oh and there's the post and meshing we got out from inside it, lying on the grass.

Gardening - 50% planting, 50% destruction.

New Quilting Books

A couple of weeks ago, while browsing through Kaleidoscope's online store, I inadvertently found myself buying three new quilting books. It could happen to anybody. Kaleidoscope are the bookseller who have the big stand at the Quilt Shows and they have a really good range of books. Want to see what I got?

I've been having a lovely time looking through my new books and dreaming of future projects - there's never enough time for everything you want to make, is there?

The first one is the latest book by Kathleen Tracy who is probably my favourite quilt designer; her love of reproduction fabrics, small quilts and history chimes perfectly with my own. I've made quite a few of her quilts over the years, including this little chessboard for my son.

From 'Prairie Children and their Quilts'.

This one was for my daughter's birthday earlier this year and is called 'Wagon Wheels'. I hand pieced it while looking after my Stepfather Bob last year and he thought it looked more like CDs.

From 'A Praire Journey'.

I added old photos printed on fabric to this one which was a present for my aunt. The pictures are of her and her brother and sisters.

From 'The Civil War Sewing Circle'.

This new book, Schoolgirl Sampler, is a bit of a departure from the others in that, instead of a collection of separate small quilts, it has 72 4" blocks which can be combined to make one large quilt.

Of course, you could also use the blocks to make smaller quilts and Kathleen provides seven patterns for these, just to get you started. I like this simple pinwheel quilt.

And I'm a sucker for anything using bubblegum pink fabric.

But of course most of the book is taken up with all those lovely blocks - so many to choose from.

As ever, Kathleen writes about the history of sampler quilts and this is where I had my 'aha' moment. I had always assumed that people (historically, young girls) pieced different blocks together as a learning process and, although this was true, the blocks were often not made into quilts. Instead, they would be kept in a special box as a reference tool for future quilts. Before women had access to printed patterns and books, these collections of blocks would have been invaluable and would have been shown to and shared with others.

At this point I remembered a reference in one of the Laura books to 'Mary's box of patchwork blocks'. I had always assumed that these were identical blocks intended for a quilt but now I wonder if this was just such a memory box as is referred to in the book. As fabric from home sewing was used for patchwork, the blocks would also have reminded women of the people who had worn the original clothes.

A slight diversion here as this seems a good time to show you a book my daughter bought me recently.

This is an American edition with illustrations by Helen Sewell. Here in England we are used to the Garth Williams editions so it was exciting to see something so different.

Now of course I want to collect matching copies of all the other books. And then there are the lovely paperbacks with the colour illustrations by Garth Williams ...

Anyway, I think I might just make blocks from this new book and then turn them into small quilts as and when the fancy takes me. Or should I turn them into my own memory book?

The next of the new quilt books is something a bit different. Tabletop Turnabouts by Jan Patek is a series of small quilts designed to be hung from a stand. Each quilt has two picture blocks so that you can turn it round for a different look.

Isn't that a clever idea? I particularly like this Christmas one.

The 12" blocks all use rough and ready style applique - very much my Mum's style which is what attracted me to the book I think. The Spring designs are lovely. Anyone for a bunny riding a chicken?

Or you could make a chick pull the bunny along in a cart ...

These remind me of the illustrations by Rosemary Wells - see what I mean?

From 'My Very First Mother Goose'

By the way, if anyone out there hasn't yet read Noisy Nora, go and find a copy now!

The last of my three new books turned out to be very exciting. Simple Whatnots by Kim Diehl is absolutely packed full with small quilts I want to make right now, this very minute.

This designer has such a good idea for colour; I'd seen her quilts here and there but have only ever made one of them I think.

It's pretty but all that applique isn't really me. But it turns out that Kim also designs beautiful pieced quilts. My only problem is which one to make first. 

Hexagons?

Little Houses?

Pinwheels?

More hexagons?

And just look at this beautiful little Orange Peel quilt decorated with lots of french knots.

There's some beautiful wool applique too, just using circles ... choices, choices.

Before I start yet another new quilt though, I want to finish the partner quilt to go with this one.

This is the quilt I made for Rose using half of the pile of half square triangles I pieced last year.

Put two squares of fabric, one light and one dark together, draw a line across the diagonal and then sew a quarter of an inch from each side of this line. When you cut along the drawn line, you'll end up with two identical half square triangles. I thought I would use one half to make a little quilt for Rose and the other for me. They'll be different layouts so fraternal rather than identical twins.

I think I'm going to lay mine out like this ...

The finished quilt are just the right size to fit on those very useful folding tables. I see it's called a TV table, presumably so that you can eat at it while watching television. I don't have a TV but it's just the right size for my Singer Featherweight machine, or my laptop, or a pot of tea ... Rose doesn't actually have one of these tables yet - what with living in one of the smallest flats known to humankind - but that's a minor detail. When she does get one (as everyone does eventually) her quilt will be all ready for it.

Birthday Cards

I spend quite a lot of time looking for, but not finding things. During one recent search, I came across some more old family cards and thought you might like to see them.

These were amongst the cards my Mum kept and are birthday cards sent to my brother and I, many of them from each other.

Stephen is the oldest so let's look at his cards first.

There are three first birthday cards: the one in the middle from our Mum and Dad and the two others from his godparents.

I particularly like this one which is actually a flat card, rather than one which opens.

There's also this one celebrating his first Christmas which would have been December 1957. Who knew that you could buy 'Baby's First Christmas' cards more than sixty years ago? I would have guessed them to be a much more recent idea. This one is from Aunty Hazel (very nice card Hazel, if you're reading this).

The next two cards are from me. I'm three years younger than Stephen so I wasn't quite ready to write in them myself.

However, by the time Stephen was eight, I was ready to have a go ...

And yes, that is random letters. I wanted to do 'proper writing' before I started school but Mum wouldn't teach me. She told me that, when I went to school, I could learn how to read and write. As I wasn't keen on starting school, this seemed like a good idea ... until I'd learnt to read and write and then thought I'd stay at home. 

The last of Stephen's cards is from his tenth birthday. We're now into the 1960s and the Apollo missions had led to lots of interest in Space. You only have to look at some of the chocolate bar names of the times - Mars, Milky Way, Galaxy ... So, Stephen's card featured pop out planets to attach in their proper places around the sun.

At this point, I couldn't resist getting out this old picture of Stephen all dressed up in his home made Spaceman costume, ready for a party.

Guess who felt left out?

I've followed in the family tradition of home made fancy dress. I once dressed my daughter as Thomas the Tank Engine, complete with wheels and, somewhere, there's a photo of her as an Easter Egg.

On to my old cards now.

There's just one that I know was definitely for my first birthday in October 1961 and it's from Stephen.

It's a very pretty card but I think he may have had some help signing it.

The next two are also from him; I'd like to point out that in both of them it says 'from Stephen', not 'love from' - a proud tradition which he maintains to this day. Perhaps he doesn't feel he's known me long enough to add 'love'?

Two of these cards would have had badges on; now that's something you still get on birthday cards.

These are still cards that could be aimed at either boys or girls but, a few years later, my card are definitely girls' cards.

Now I never aspired to be a ballet dancer (unlike my Mum who used to prance down the road in the hope that someone would say "what a natural dancer, that child must have lessons" - they never did) but I did wear an Alice band like the girl with the flowers.

These last two cards are much more up my street.

I loved my dolls (I still do) and many of my fondest memories involve them. I had some favourites who came everywhere with me. Here I am with Louby Lou on the steps of a holiday caravan ...

And a few years later, outside another caravan with Susie and Tiny Tears ...

My Mum used to make rag dolls and sell them. They were about half the size of Susy who was the only big one she made. She's one of the things I can't find; I know she's in the house somewhere but, so far, I've only found her pinafore and her petticoat. I just hope she's kept her bloomers on, she always was a rather naughty doll. Some time ago I managed to buy a copy of the doll pattern Mum used; one day I shall try making some myself.