Finishes

 Hi everyone,

A lovely  sunny day here in the north of Spain with only  the growing coronavirus situation and  political discrepancies clouding the day.  Best not to listen to more than the News headlines and get working on some Halloween stitching. I thought that today I might  share  one of my finished blackwork patterns by Lesley Teare.

This is one of her Blackwork with Birds patterns and I really love the bright pretty colours

As my tiny pocket notebook could enjoy a surprise, I found some tiny scraps of bright fabric and joined them to the embroidery to make  a little cover  and then  added tiny seed beads to the embroidered flowers although they don´t show up much.

 I have at last, more or less finished my kitchen curtains after having started them last year – I´m obviously not suited  to making large ítems as they tend to fall by the wayside.

They are really only decorative and just hang at the sides of the windows as one window is immediately above the sink and the other is the glass back door. Well you can see by the photos what I mean.  Having them drawn closed would  mean one hanging in midair.

I didn´t buy  any fabric at all for these curtains, just used pieces of old curtains , embroidered handkies,  bits of crochet,  lace trims and odds and ends.

Apart from the inconvenience of sheer fabrics that slip and slide all the time when measured or sewn, I was most concerned that the seams be as small as possible and all edges hidden  or covered with a lace trim

 Most flats in our building have one short curtain and one long and I started to make a longer one for the door but it looked wrong and I didn´t continue. I´m still wondering what sort of valance to make.

 And lastly I must show you  the wonderful pattern that June of Butterfly Wings has sent me.

  It is called The Queen´s Treasure Chest and includes yummy ribbons and threads.  Quite a large project which will keep me busy in the new year.  Thank you very much June.

Hope to see you all again next week for Jo´s Trick or Treat Halloween Blog Hop. All information on her blog here.

Sheryl

A Small Finish

 Hello blogging friends,

I´m making very slow progress on just about everything at the moment.  My start on Christmas stitching is non-existent and my trying to finish a small embroidered project for Halloween is proving all uphill.

I think I´ll put the blame on the Coronavirus, which is getting me down and when you try to buy some fun fabric for Halloween and the two local needlework shops can only show you plain black antibacterial fabric for face masks, it doesn´t help to cheer you up or encourage inspiration.

Today I´m joining Rachel of  Ten Hour Stitcher for the Fully Finished Gallery SAL as I completely finished this little mermaid pocket for a friend of a friend who had seen one of the  mermaid scissor pouches that I made years ago and wanted one for her eye glasses.

A tiny applique mermaid and different embroidery stitches on a very difficult to photograph fabric. The back also has a little embroidery.

This being a pink mermaid, I made the lining  with pink satin and added a few seed beads to the frame

I still have quite a few of these embroideries done from time back, they are all different and  I have been intermittently working on them for months now to use up the remains of the pretty fabric. I will show them all properly in a separate post.

I´m still waiting for the metal frames to arrive so I can finish the pouches off properly.  Hope they arrive before Christmas.

I was going to show my finished curtains in this post but the FFGS is not for sewing, so I´ll leave them until my next post,  Thank you for stopping by and looking.

Sheryl

 

The End of Summer

Hello Everyone,

I really wasn´t looking for any more stitcheries to do  other than that of a festive Christmas nature but I happened upon Lesley Teare´s  Birds and Blackwork flowers SAL and also the floral Anthea SAL, both of which I would like to embroider.

So of course, I just had to start one of Lesley´s patterns and leave the Anthea SAL until next year.

I have lost interest in my unfinished kitchen curtains,, but I  dragged myself to the sewing machine one afternoon and  sluggishly worked on them until dusk, and while adding  a crochet doily to the curtains, I  thought to also add one to a bookcover with some tiny crochet flowers.

Lots of patterns and tutorials on the internet to make these tiny flowers , You can find loads at All free crochet. I love them, quick and easy to crochet and you can brighten up all sorts of embroideries by adding a few…..

I added some here years ago on this hoop holder

And here on a patchwork block for Shez

I  stitched a little pearl bead in the middle of each crochet flower

And lined the cover with fabric from stash

Well, I got sidetracked, but I have finished the curtains. Not sure what sort of tiebacks to make, err, need to think about that. 

Some end of summer beauty.

Until next time,  

Sheryl

Fully Finished Gallery SAL - September

Hello Stitching friends,

On the 10th of each month Rachel from Ten Hour Stitcher hosts the Fully Finished Gallery SAL, which encourages us all to completely finish and give a use to any abandoned stitching we might have.

As we are still enjoying lovely sunny days here in the north of Spain, I´m sharing a summery beach pattern started a very long time ago, around 2006 (as the magazine testifies) and which only needed 2 or 3 rows of stitching to be completely finished. By the way the magazine is Labores del Hogar.

My daughter, who paid us a surprise visit a couple of weeks ago, suggested that I used the embroidery to make a little tote bag.... which she quickly claimed when finished..

I knew I had some red striped fabric in my stash which would go perfectly with the design but it was just a scrap and I had to struggle and juggle about with the fabric to make the most of it, so the stripes are only on the front part, the back is plain neutral linen.

Another piece of red gingham was ideal for the lining but...

I hardly have any red material left in my stash at all and I´m adding the need to my grocery list pinned to the fridge, so I won´t forget to buy some before Christmas when it will definitely be needed.

Kitchen curtain update

My curtains are still on the back burner, I thought that they were nearly finished but my daughter gaily told me that they need to be a bit longer, sigh -

of course she is right.  I have the problem that the kitchen window is next to the back door window which makes uneven length curtains, one long and the other short.

But I will get there sooner or later. Enjoy a lovely week everyone.

Sheryl

Old and New

Hi Everyone,

Since the coronavirus lockdown I seem to stay indoors much more than before the virus shook the world.  I have been sorting through old stitcheries, mainly finished ones but abandoned to my Dreaded Drawer when for one reason or another, their plannned destiny was aborted.

Discovering two small compact mirrors embroidered years ago, maybe five and still wrapped in plastic, I thought that with a pretty zipper holder they would make nice gifts for Christmas.

I made the two holders at the same time, both are lined and hopefully enhance each Hardanger design.

I wanted to add a detail in the lower corner of the holders and was intrigued with how Malina GM embroidered a sunflower on youtube, so I had a go at doing some petals - I didn´t want a sunflower, just petals and a center point and well, you can see in what my ameteur efforts resulted, an unidentifiable blue specimen.

and then just two inches of  scrap fabric served to complete a tiny scissor fob while watching tv.

I found a pretty pink lacey zip in my stash for the pink holder and some striped fabric for the lining.

And added a rose design, using applique this time

Another little scissor fob to match the Hardanger

and  I had a lot of fun making something pretty to protect the compact mirrors instead of being saved wrapped in plastic

Thank you for stopping by and looking.

Sheryl