A bit of this and a bit of that

While visiting Little Sister recently  I heard myself offering to finish off a small baby cardigan that she was tired of knitting.   So guess what I’ve been doing?   Despite vowing never to do knitting again!!

Not much actually as besides the knitting I brought back a cold from my visit to Little Sister and isolated myself  and lived on lemon and honey drinks.   After three weeks I felt  better enough  to fulfill a promise to my friend to visit her in Tauranga, six hours drive north east of here.   That was a major test of nerve and endurance but I survived!

Now I have stitched a hardanger piece - a Christmas gift surprise for a friend at church.  Don’t worry she doesn’t know I have a blog!  I wasn’t going to line this small pochette but the lace work on the flap really requires a lining so I will have to consider what colour and fabric.  As there is still a lot of the linen left I decided to do another and to vary the pattern on the flap.   Fun but not as wholly engrossing as I had hoped.  And I see that the piece of linen is large enough to do two more!  Apologies for the bad photo -  the linen is a pretty pale mint green and I'm stitching in brilliant white.

It is three months since Mother died and I know I should be feeling more settled but truth be told I’m not.   I feel quite rootless and cannot seem to get absorbed into anything.   Now the weather is improving the garden calls and I need to spend some time out there if I am to win the War of the Weeds and if there is to be any harvest from the vegetable garden.  

Recently while in the city centre I found a small shop called the George Street Collective that sells handmade items on commission.  The very artistic looking lady who was manning the counter was happy to chat and told me she was sure I could sell small embroidery items.   So I might try taking in a sample of some of the items from The Other Drawer and see if they are suitable.   The lady I spoke to makes dangly earrings from beads and told me she likes making them but doesn’t need to keep every pair.   I know that feeling - much of my stitching is like that.  I may begin with Christmas ornaments and some of my small bags.   I need to think about this a little more.  

The weather is bright and sunny and I have been dead heading the irises and lamenting the fact that my asparagus crowns seem to have rotted with the extreme wet winter we’ve had.  But  of the dozen planted only a handful of Lily of the Valley have survived and will give me flowers.  

So today has been a much better day and I think I have earned a cup of tea and a rest!

Catch up after lengthy absence

Goodness.  Over a  month has passed and I’ve not posted here.   The reason?   Not much stitching done. I have finished the Ukrainian Sewing Set and with a huge sigh of relief - reverberating around the world I should think - I have consigned it to The Drawer along with the others and when I am next at a reputable needlework store will purchase the scissors and needles to go with them

From left to right

Ukranian whitework (in blue), Cross Stitch, Frisian Whitework (in beige) , Kogin, Blackwork, Hardanger.   Each set is a bag, a scissor fob, needlebook and pincushion.

Since then I went through my fabric stash and found I had almost a metre of 38 count Graziano Linen which is too fine for me to use for Hardanger, Ukranian or other of my favourite techniques so I decided that Drawn Thread bags modelled on "Christine Bishop's Drawstring Bag" could be useful so I have done a couple.  These two will be gifts for my elderly aunts when I visit them later in the year.   In this way the linen is used profitably and does not strain my eyes so much.

This one has a deep purple ribbon behind the Drawnthread work and I will get some beads to add to the end of the draw cord.  It is lined with off white silk.

This one is so well stitched (pat on back pat on back) that the inside is the reverse of the outside. I've not lined it so my prowess will show :-)

Little Sister came to stay for a night last week and cajoled me into booking a weekend at her place and another weekend visiting Auckland.   Not both at the same time!   So on Friday I will venture off on a road trip to Wellington (about two hours further south) and we will visit The Bead Shop as well as two of my nieces one of whom has a new baby and the other has a new house.   Both good excuses for a visit.

This afternoon I went diving into fabric stash again and found some suitable 32 count linen.   I am going to stitch Betsy Morgan's Seasons cube (from Inspirations Issue 87)   I was given the kit but my eyesight is not good enough to stitch over one for this so I am going to stitch it over two and consequently have a bigger cube.   Nor  will I make it have the scissor pocket -  a plain cube it will be.  I'm hoping this will be a longer term project and will absorb me and thus hopefully dispel some of the dismals which seem to have enveloped me at present.  Besides, I don't really want to keep adding projects to The Other Drawer and the cube will fit into my display cabinet.

Would you like a peek at The Other Drawer?   

As you can see there is space available so I will be able continue with unframed smaller projects to use up stash.

So until next time, and I promise not to leave it so long .....

 

Ta da!!

I promised a photo of the finished zipper purse so herewith.   I think it will be useful and I’m happy to have it completed in time so win win :)

Now I am working on completing another of the sewing sets for my great-nieces.   The needle book, scissor fob and pincushion for the Sollerosom set are mostly done and I need to mark up the linen for the bag.   This is being done on 34 count linen so counting is best done in daylight on a sunny day.  Currently it is mid-Winter in New Zealand so those days are few and far between.   

That's it for tonight - back to my needle and thread.

Ready for Final Finishing

 At the beginning of August my friend K has a birthday.  She loves cats and so I've stitched this to make into a Zipper Purse for her.   The pretty gingham check Graziano linen has been in my stash for ever so it was great to find a use for it.  I saw something similar on the internet so set to with graph paper and a pencil and am pleased with the result.   Here's hoping that I can make up the bag to look professional!

Tomorrow I plan to complete this and also to get my Black Quilted Jacket to the buttonhole stage.   My local sewing machine shop have told me they will do the buttonholes for me (I don't trust my ancient Elna for this) but that I will need to cut them open.   First I need to choose the buttons although I am still dithering as to whether to go buttons or to use sew on press studs.   I may trial the latter and see how I feel.

Thank you to all who left comments of sympathy on passing of my Mother.   Life seems rather empty and some days I feel a little downcast.  But I am cheered by the cards, emails, blog comments and the sympathy of so many friends.   Thank you so much.

Counting Correctly

 I wanted to try an Aztec Stitch Scissor Case from instructions off the web but I didn't use canvas and instead experimented on a scrap of linen.

Tired eyes, tired brain and recent stress combined to make even the four sided stitch edging difficult and then I came to grief badly when cutting to draw threads.   

So pen and paper to hand I did some mathematical calculations and started again.   Success this time - well enough to make a passable imitation of side one.   I'm using threads from deep stash for this as it is only an experiment but so far so good.  Navy, Red and White seems a patriotic choice.

I've also started a gift for the next new baby in the family and hope to have some progress on that one to show in a day or two.  

Somehow I can't seem to settle to stitching much at the moment but at least I have needle in hand again.  I may have to go through my stash cupboard and find a new project that will grip my attention.

The DBEM

 

My lovely Mother ( edit:  Madge) otherwise known on this blog as The DBEM has gone to heaven.  Thank you all for you comments with messages of support.   Very soon I will pick up my needle and be back to stitching but not for a few days yet.

News

 Just checking in.   Very little stitching is being done here as the DBEM is gravely ill and is moving into care tomorrow.   My sister has been staying to help and today my brothers came so we all had precious time to spend with Mother.   It was good to all be together for what may well be the last opportunity.

I have done a square of four sided stitch which miraculously met up accurately at the end but I won’t push my luck tonight while my eyes are heavy with exhaustion and tears.   

However I will be back soon with some stitching to report but I didn’t want to disappear suddenly and cause worry.

Thanks