Tote Bag

Hi everyone,

As I was glancing through a magazine last week I came upon a pretty tote bag which I thought I might make as I had very similar fabric in my stash and I liked it just as it was.  You can be sure that if I changed the colour or fabric then I probaby wouldn´t like the end result.

The picture from the magazine

I started out sewing the pocket, adding lace, ribbon trim, buttons and a small applique heart to the beige linen fabric.  The magazine didn´t mention lining the pocket but I did, with the same linen.

I also made the bag a shade smaller and lined it with a flowery fabric which in the end I had to buy because what I had chosen from my stash wasn´t large enough even with my change to the measurements.

A couple of ornaments to add some interest and inevitably get caught up on everything.

I like the end result and reckon I shall be making more of these.

By the way, if anyone remembers The Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade linky party and would like Ida to continue this year, please let her know at mysismademe. blogspot.

Until next week.

Sheryl

Summer Days

Hello Blogger friends,

I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful summer and managing to get some stitching done while lazing about in the garden, that of course if you are in the northern hemisphere.

Last month I took a bag packed with good intentions to my mother in law´s house, including fabric, all my floss colours and several needlework magazines for inspiration.  I´m working my way through stacks of needlework magazines from 2009 which I discovered at a nearby public library.

I had decided to cover a sad dark wrought iron clock surround with something interesting and thought the design `Wild Flowers´ by Kazuko Aoki might be perfect.

Well perhaps not so perfect because I was going to have to juggle about with the pattern to make it fit on the clock face and buying a higher count fabric and so make the design smaller, wasn´t an option when spending a couple of weeks in a tiny mountain village.

Whilst enjoying the company of my three grandchildren I endeavoured to do some stitching in the evenings squinting and peering under the beam of pretty tiffany table lamps !  I made loads of mistakes and one day my daughter commented that she thought the design too light and airy for the dark heavy frame -  now she has a point.

So now I am in doubt as to whether leave the clock as it is or maybe paint the surround in a lighter colour.  I´m tempted to redo the design  making it smaller so it fits properly.

Sorry if I haven´t been visiting and commenting recently due to having been away but I hope to see what everyone has been doing and catch up on comments sometime this week.

Until then.

Sheryl

Smalls SAL - June

Hi Blogger friends and visitors,

I finished this tiny needle holder with the Smalls Sal in mind but we haven´t heard from our hostess Heather of Stitching Lotus for over two months now, so I´m not sure if this group is continuing or not.  I do hope that Heather is OK.

Just a few embroidered flowers on the front and back of natural linen with an added piece of lace.

These are not colours that I would normally choose but I think I am getting boring with my pinks and greens and so I´m determined to experiment with other colour combinations.

I´m taking this needle holder with me while away during the month of July incase I have time for a little stitching - of course I will have time for a little stitching! - so I´m going to have my blogging break now and will be back with you all in August.

Happy summer stitching,

  Sheryl

Notebook

Hi Everyone,

Using the embroidery pattern mentioned in my last post, I decided I might try and make a little handmade notebook following a Coptic stitch bookbinding tutorial found here. at Torta Gialla.  This method allows the book to lay completely flat.

I had the necessary materials at home, cardboard, glue, hole punch, coloured pages, waxed thread and a scrap of pretty fabric and lace to surround and enhance the stitched design.  There was a mistake in my stitching which was staring me in the face all the time and I had to correct - do I need new glasses?

The tutorial was easy to follow but my first effort although functional, is rather messy and I definitely need lots of practice.

I removed the little bow which I had put on the original embroidered heart and added some lace and a couple of crochet flowers.

I am also still stitching away on the little yoga asanas which I am adding to some aromatic meditation eye pillow covers I made some time back for my daughter´s yoga classes.

Quite a few more to finish.  Thank you for visiting.

Sheryl

Smalls SAL May

Hi Everybody,

I´m a bit late this month to check-in for the Smalls SAL but have been waiting to see if our hostess Heather from Stitching Lotus connected up.  I have been doing some sewing for my daughter recently, embroidering yoga motifs which I will show when they are finished,  so today I can only show some stitching done years ago.

The little heart pattern is I believe by Manya at Humming Needles and includes Satin stitch, Rhodes stitch, Herringbone and Algerian eyelet stitch and double cross stitch.  I embroiderd spider web roses instead of her prettier ribbon ones, probably because at the time, it was difficult to buy silk ribbon here locally.

The design was stitched mainly with DMC threads and after adding a tiny bow it was discarded to the Dreaded Drawer.

Now it has once again seen the light of day after years, I shall make it into smething useful.

Thank you for stopping by and looking.  Until next week.

Sheryl

Tablecloth update

It´s repaired and finished despite the hidden surprises.

Found at a charity shop, a pretty chicken scratch embroidered tablecloth, ideal size for my kitchen table, with a white crochet edging and spoilt by a cigarette burn at one end.

Not very difficult to repair I thought, I just needed to cut off about 30cm from the damaged end and redo some of the white and orange pattern which was all cross stitches -- fine.

BUT..........I couldn´t find a match for the orange thread, so I´d have to redo all the orange stitching with another colour -- no worry, that´s quick work.

BUT .........Oh, one side had more rows than the other !  -- well, another row can be added, easy peasy...........but wait a minute ........ if I add an extra row, the corner pattern will be off centre ......errr no, must be off centre now ............ yes it is -- Oh well, I´ll take out the corner patterns.

AND the crochet edging is a continuation of the blanket stitched hem, so if I cut away fabric, it will all have to be redone, hem and crochet .......... oh.

Thank goodness my grandchildren came to stay the week and I didn´t have time to think anymore or the tablecloth repair would probably have been discarded. I found a blue perlé thread in my stash which would suffice instead of the original orange and got started.

The unstitched corner patterns were changed for a few blue and white flowers and a simple crochet edging added, a bit narrow but I didn´t have enough thread for another row.

Was all this repair work worth all the changes?  Probably not.

Thank you for stopping by,

Sheryl