High Seas

Hello stitching buddies,   When I last saw my daughter, I was pleased to see that a pirate ship cushion cover that I had made many years ago, was still braving the high seas and had not sunk into obsoleteness.  It was made for one of my grandsons as he was rather keen on pirates and the suchlike at the time, so here are a couple of photos of the rather old and faded cover.

Here you can see my grandson braving the high seas with our dear unforgotten pet parrot Bobby.

His only shipmate was his sister who was on the lookout for land.

..... or so she said.

of course he had his own flag

 They never found any treasure,

This month I also received some delightful goodies in the post.  Two private thimble swaps with sewing buddies.  Irmeli in Finland, sent me a lovely thimble from her home town Turku, she included postcards, choco and a gorgeous lavender filled embroidered sachet.

The other swap was with Kaye from Australia, who sent two beautiful thimbles from Melbourne and Phillip Island.  She also included an assortment of pretty and useful souvenirs from her part of the world...., just look at that pretty handkerchief.

Very thoughtful and generous gifts, thank you very much Irmeli and Kaye.

 Thank you for passing by.  See you next week for the Smalls SAL  check-in.

Sheryl

Hot hot

Hello friends,

We live on the North coast of Spain and our summer temperatures are never very high but last week we had a heatwave and we had to travel inland to Leon where the temps are much higher... higher! - 38 deg. C......  I thought I might melt and in fear of that hunted about for the little fan I bought a couple of years back. Of course it needed a holder.

I found a lovely little blackwork design by Lesley Teare called `Blackwork Lady´ and decided to use  DMC colours to match the fan 

and 32ct linen star sapphire which I had in my stash.

I added a few touches of applique to her head and to some flowers instead of the called for embroidery and added a couple of beads, - just love beads. I backed the holder with purple velvet and lined it with the purple satin.

As always I didn´t use the fastening that I want because I can´t find a shop that has small pretty snap fasteners, only large dark ones, so at the moment I have used a small transparent snap until I find the ones I want.

Thank you for passing by, see you next week.

Linking to Supermom no cape stitchery party.

Sheryl

Smalls SAL June

It is the last Wednesday of the month, meaning check in time for the Smalls SAL hosted by Heather at Stitching Lotus.

After making the crochet thread holder seen in my last post, I decided to make another one  for embroidery floss as we can´t buy them where I live or at least I have never seen them on sale in our patchwork shops.

The design I chose to embroider is part of the Alphabet Brodeuse by Mon Ami Pierre and the  backing fabric, another piece from my stash.  I am really making progress this year on using up my stash, although today I was very tempted by some gorgeous new stock at our local patchwork shop when I entered for thread.  However I did not succumb

If you would like to stitch a little something  each month, do join us by clicking on my sidebar button and visiting Heather for more information.

Until next week, happy stitching everyone.

Sheryl

Victorian Thread Holder

You know how it is when you have a drawer full of UFOs crying out to be  finished but you can´t hear those lamentations and you have to put down that piece of stitching that you are already behind with, just because your hands insist on doing another needlework technique?  I just had to get the crochet hook out and so made this little thread holder.

A pretty design by Maggie Petsch Chasalow and available free from  Ravelry. Both sides are the same and when made up holds a 50 gram ball of thread.

I thought that this holder might come in handy when out and about, as it is slipped over the wrist while crocheting and the ball of thread stays still instead of rebelliously exploring its surroundings.

Each week I have been joining Nadine at Jocondine in her quiz journey around France and she surprised me with these gorgeous goodies.

A beautiful handmade bag, a lavender filled heart, thread holders, ribbon, silks, lavender soap and even lavender tea which I have never tasted.  Just left me speechless with so much generosity.  Thank you so much Nadine, I shall use everything.

Until next week, happy stitching everyone.

Sheryl

Divorced or Beheaded

When mentioning my cabinet fobs last week, I realized that I had hardly any photos of the various embroidered oddments that adorn/clutter the bathroom and so decided to take a few photos of the two samplers that are displayed from the cabinets.

I couldn´t get a very good photo as there is a window right next to the cabinet  which reflects light onto the glass.

A great fan of English history and especially the Tudor era, these samplers depict the various fates of the six wives of one of the most famous of British kings, Henry VIII.

From his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon which was annuled, the execution of Anne Boleyn and the death of Jane Seymore.

to the divorce of fourth wife Anne of Cleves, the execution of Katherine Howard and his last wife who outlived him, Catherine Parr.

I didn´t follow a chart but used various patterns from Eileen Bennett´s needlework samplers. I did this needlework years ago in 2005 and today would perhaps choose different colours,  At the time I used colours that more or less matched the bathroom curtains, but they have long been substituted.

The samplers have a plain white backing fabric and are attatched with velcro to cardboard panels which fit behind the glass doors of the cabinet.

Thank you for looking.  Until next week,

Sheryl

Smalls SAL - May

Today is check-in day for the Smalls SAL hosted by Heather at the Stitching Lotus. and I made these little embroidered thingys .... well the same as scissor fobs really but they are to hang from the cabinet doors in the bathroom

Not very keen on the colour of the tiny seed beads but I chose them to match the bathroom curtains and they are a change from my favourite pinks.

A quick and easy tiny design.  I robbed the two larger beads for the tassels from a necklace of mine as I thought they were ideal and the necklace is now only just a little bit shorter.

If you would like to join the Smalls SAL and stitch a little something each month, just click on the sidebar button which will take you to Heather´s blog and all the information.

Thimble Exchange

This year I took part in the Decorative Thimble Exchange organized by Kim at Wisdom with Needle and Thread.  My swap partner was Jo from Australia and this is what she sent me.

Apart from the pretty thimble from Bendigo Victoria, Jo also generously enclosed a very useful notebook and the lovely little handmade purse.  Thank you Jo.

Until next week,  Happy stitching.

Sheryl

Just a mat

This weekend I was sorting through my UFO drawer and came across some crochet edging I had made some time ago with the idea of making a couple of bedside table mats to match a favourite duvet cover.  The mats were already cut out and the crocheting done, everything just needed putting together.

I thought about this quite a bit because, although quick to sew up, the duvet cover is rather old now and a bit faded - so imagine the years that the unfinished mats have been occupying the drawer! - However I still love the design and a few years back even tried to find the fabric to buy another cover but .... No, of course not madam.... what do you expect after 20 years?

The crochet trim is a quick and easy pattern from the collection `Mil Labores´.  Well in the end I thought that as long as I have the bedcover and reminiscently use it once in a while, I might just as well have matching mats.......

......... and also one UFO less.

Until next week, happy stitching.

Sheryl