The People´s Choice SAL - April

 Hello Everyone,

I´m joining the People´s Choice SAL today, hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching.  I´m really very late as it is celebrated on the first weekend of each month but as the check-in coincided this month with Jo´s Easter blog hop, I have left this post until today.

Our theme for April  is Blue  which is a favourite color of mine and I have stitched loads of things with this colour, so here are just a few of them.

I was gifted this pattern by Irmeli.  it´s a design by V. Enginger found in the magazine Fil en Aiguille of 2009  and I used it to make this little zipper bag to hold tights and stockings etc.

I completed a hanging scissor holder with this tiny design found in a magazine..

Another design found in a magazine decorates my old kitchen clock.

Round six of Mabel Figworthy´s Round in Circles Hardanger Sal, included some interesting new stitches for me,  Eyelash stitch in the centre of the design, Ribbed spiders webs and Y-bars, and then I added lots of beads and lace to make a blue pouch.

Delicate Essentials Hardanger needlebook design by Mary Hickmott, a beautiful pattern which I loved doing.

Medieval bookmark gifted to a friend.

I´ve seen this pattern many times and used it to complete a little thread holder but have no reference as to where I found it

A folder I covered to hold trims which has very little blue embroidery, just a few blobs of color here and there and the rest is mainly white embroidery, beads or lace.

And lastly a small blanket that I made for my grandson when he was tiny, lots of different applique animals.

Thank you for stopping by and looking.

Sheryl

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop

Hello Everyone,

So pleased you have stopped by today especially if you are taking part in the Easter Treasure Hunt blog hop hosted by Jo at SerendipitousStitching.  Have fun by starting at Jo´s blog where the participants are listed, visit in order the blogs mentioned and collect letters which will spell out a mystery phrase.

We are asked to share some Spring or Easter themed stitching and I have been working on these little decorative birdies .

I wanted to make a mixture of blue and yellow birds but surprisingly I couldn´t find any  yellow fabric, not in stash or scrap bags, so apart from a few splashes of yellow gingham, the birds are all blue ones.

I added some bling to the wings, mainly beads, lace or tulle and  plan to make some brighter more exotic birds during the year, maybe some Cardinals for Christmas. 

A long time has passed since I did any ribbon embroidery so when I saw a pretty pattern offered by Carol Daisy, I thought I would try my hand at making this small bag.  The pattern  can be found here.

And here is the letter you have come to find.

Your next stop is with Beth at Beth´s Needlework Stash

Happy Easter to everyone.

I found the pattern for the birds, although I altered the pattern a bit, here.

             Sheryl

Gifted Gorgeousness - March

 Hello Everyone,

Today  I´m joining Jo of Serendipitous  Stitching  for the Gifted Gorgeousness  check-in which is on the 15th of each month.  This  SAL is all about  showing anything  gift related  whether given or received.

Here is the rag doll which I have just finished.

My daughter requested a doll for her yoga class of infants to show them the 7 chakras of the body and I had an old pattern which I could use.

I  first made `Betty´ over 16 years ago when my granddaughter was born.  The doll is a cheerful soul who loves a bath and to sunbathe.

And here she is today and although she lacks clothes, and has tangled hair, she doesn´t lose her smile on meeting the smaller versión of herself, who anxiously awaits a head of hair.

I think we will make it different from the pattern this time.

It was fun making the wool hair and I like the curls, hope she does too.

I´m leaving the markings of the chakras for my daughter to apply.

To  see what other participants  have been working on, click on the link above to Jo´s blog.

Thank you for looking.

Sheryl

 

Valentine´s Day

 Hello Everyone,

Yes, I´m late, very late, but squeezing into February a project I had completed for  Valentine´s Day and just couldn´t find the time to post about.

I  wanted to make something romantic for the special day, with lots of hearts and flowers or similar, and what could be better than this, err, door draught stopper?

I had seen the project in a magazine at the library and had all the necessary fabrics on hand, mainly natural linen and some pretty reds .

I had lots of really tiny red scraps in my stash which one would think were useless but which were perfect, so makes you wonder just what size we can actually throw away and not save.

I hand embroidered a couple of hearts in red thread and stitched around all the applique hearts with blanket stitch and added a bit of trim and red buttons to decórate.

This was a fun project and although it doesn´t fit in my gift box, it will be stored away and gifted at a later day.

Hopefully next year I´ll make something a little more romantic. 

             Sheryl

 

Fully Finished Gallery SAL - February

 Hi Everyone,

Popping in to join Rachel of Ten Hour Stitcher for her Fully Finished Gallery SAL, where we can show our work that has been completely finished since last month´s check-in.

 My fully finished disaster of this month is the book cover which I mentioned in a recent  post and which was destined to cover a future cookery book for my granddaughter.

I had embroidered two different patterns  and chose to use the smaller design and to combine it with  some of my GD favourite fabric colours .

Amongst my embroidery threads, I had some silk floss which I had bought cheaply from a local shop that was closing down and decided to use the bright and glossy plum coloured DMC 30915.

However, my finished embroidery  certainly didn´t turn out bright and shiny at all and while using this floss I learnt that before stitching one should use water to dampen the thread with ones fingers , so to keep the stitches even.

I was going to add some récipes and fotos and lots of pretty pages to the cookery book

but I didn´t really stop and think enough ......

………  my granddaughter is a very young lady and needs something light, bright and fun and  not  `so Victorian´ as my daughter so sincerely pointed out when I gave her a sneak peek of the proposed layout

She is right of course, so the cover has been sent in disgrace to the Dreaded Drawer, never again to see the light of day….. well no …no need to get carried away here, but out of my sight for the moment  whilst I plan something a bit more youthful and modern

In the meantime, plenty to keep me busy, with Valentine´s Day sewing  and Spring just around the corner. 

See you soon

Sheryl 

Let the People Choose - February

 Hello Everyone

Birds is this month´s topic for Let the People Choose SAL hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching,  and I thought that I must have some birds hidden somewhere in my blog to show.

I have only stitched two patterns where birds are the main feature, those being from the Blackwork Flowers and Birds series by Lesley Teare and shown recently on my blog.

I have four more in the series to stitch during the year, they are all bright and colourful.

Love this pattern which I finished with a crochet surround

Bird in Hand is a pattern by Kathy Schmitz and was made into a Christmas ornament with tiny silver seed beads added.

I made this applique mug rug for a teacup exchange and it is a design by Rita of Twinkle Patchwork.

A little applique robin made into a Xmas card a couple of years ago.

And these storks are part of a bizarre wall hanging which I made when I started learning patchwork  over 15 years ago and which I never completely finished and now find dreadful.

Baby Cardinal by Victoria Sampler was stitched twice, as a box lid and as an ornament. As others, I seem to have quite a few stitcheries where tiny birdies can be seen, so I´m just choosing two of those well known patterns.

12 Days of Christmas by  Plum Street Samplers and A trick in my bag by C Mon Monde.

These are the few that I can share today and my favourite photo of all is this little cutie, rescued from a fall by my grandson last summer.

 Sheryl