County Durham - Barnard Castle

I am just back from a lovely ten days staying at a campsite at Barnard Castle, which proved to be an excellent spot from which to have many lovely days out - mainly wearing walking boots and carrying cameras. There was so much inspiration for so many stitcheries. The next few posts will be an attempt to share these with you. Jotted down somewhat quickly, I don't intend to agonise too much of the wording of these posts or there will be no stitching time left!

The very pretty little town sits on a hilltop behind its ruined castle and spills down the hillside to the river crossing. Sitting slightly below the top of the hill, the huge castle is almost invisible from the main street, being 'hidden' behind the modest proportions of the Methodist Church. For us, there were two particularly notable shops - Wool Mouse (from which I purchased a hank of locally dyed wool and silk blend fine yarn in a lovely heather shade), and a fantastic proper 'old fashioned', in the best sense, hardware shop where we resisted the inevitable " for' 'andles " comment and marvelled at the enormous range of their stock whilst buying a fuel can. (Motorhome fuel gauge/range calculater being hugely optimistic up to the last gallon where both suddenly plumet to near zero - the only fuel station being at the top of the hill, the campsite being at the bottom .......... )

We walked to the town centre through a beautiful, largely un-managed woodland from the campsite. This photo doesn't do it justice

The first view of the castle is from a foot bridge crossing the river

Having crossed to the castle we emerged into the town centre at the top of Bank Street and popped back down to get some images - I always wish I could vanish the vehicles and street furniture but these shots will give me something to stitch from:

Between us we managed not to keep a shot of the market hall - unless its on my son's phone - I'll ask when he gets back from cycling. Meanwhile, I'm off to try some stitch sketches.

Here is a stitched sketch of Barnard Castle ( now listed at Folksy - click the image for details)

How do you like my Tea Cosy?

.... or perhaps I should say my 'ex' tea cosy.

Please excuse the inside of my light tent. This is half of a tea cosy cover from my vintage linen horde. It wasn't actually damaged in any way, so I felt a bit guilty cutting into it, but the old fashioned cosy (a padded but plain cosy - made pretty by the addition of an embroidered cover) doesn't seem a very practical item in my home. These cosies are a brilliant source of embroidery - they tend to be stitched on both sides.

Yesterday I listed a new type of bag in my Etsy shop (the flap cut from a vintage embroidered table runner):

This cosy has now provided the inspiration, and the flap, for a second:

The photo shows the main panels for this second bag. All (including the lining panels) are backed with fusible interfacing and the raw edges tacked under. A lining panel has been cut for the back of the bag consisting of a flap shape attached to the pouch shape of the body of the bag.The embroidered flap panel, and a blue toned outer back panel have been pinned to the lining panel as shown in the photo.The gusset is shown lining side outwards - it is pinned to an identical panel covered in the same blue toned floral fabric shown on the bag back panel. The lining panel for the front of the bag is shown. The bag front panel has been cut from a vintage cotton napkin chosen to match the colour of the tea cosy. Carefully choosing threads to match the colours of the cosy design as closely as possible, an embroidered design has been stitched around the base of the panel in the same style as that of the cosy.

The bag will now be assembled by hand. Each backed panel will be blanket stitched to the corresponding, backed, lining panel. The seams of the bag will then be formed by over-sewing through the blanket stitching.

It would be perfectly possible to draw a standard pattern and make a variety of these bags from new materials embroidered as I pleased. These bags are cut from patterns individually designed to make best use of each vintage embroidery. However, the inspiration derived from the varied vintage stitching is invaluable and I derive great pleasure from giving a new lease of life to someone's needlework. Fortunately, I have a very large stash of threads and fabrics and finding good matches is usually possible.

Hopefully, I should be able to show you the completed bag in a day or so!

One listed - three to go!

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post.

This blanket has been finished and listed.

We spent a lovely week end staying in Bridgenorth and visiting the beautiful Bewdley and Stourport.

The above is the riverside at Bewdley. We still have much of the River Severn to explore, so many more week ends to look forward to.

I have made some progress on three throws/blankets - two crocheted/knitted and one stitched. This pastel one is turning out to be very pretty - I particularly like the aqua edging:

These knitted squares with crocheted edging are working out very well - I have many more crocheted flowers to make though!

There has only been a little progress on this patchwork throw - I need to find time for more stitching!

Not a Patch ......

...... on my plan for today!! (Apart from some further additions to my crocheted blanket!)

I have a stitching schedule and I'm trying to stick to it! I have been quite good. Some new bookmarks were listed as planned and I am continuing to crochet squares for my next blanket.

This morning I was feeling a little sorry for myself after a trip to the dentist. I had some phone calls I should make but no one would have been able to understand my half-frozen speech and I just felt like spoiling myself with some creative fabric therapy! In truth, my dental discomfort only persisted for a very short time, but I recovered TOO LATE!! The fabric boxes and drawers were open and chaos had ensued - happily!

I think I showed you this photo a few days ago.

The central 'patch' is from a tray cloth and the other patches from a tablecloth. Very, very similar stitching, design and colours. I am not sure if there is a correct way to design a patchwork. This is the way I'm going about it - this time at least!

I have expanded the design by moving the 'North', 'South', 'East' and 'West' patches outwards by one column/row. I now have a basic design of 5x5 patches, as shown on this rough outline:

The patches with a yellow squiggle need to be stitched from scratch and I intend to incorporate a small central motif, with embroidered blue daisies stitched to match, in each (OOps! I ought to have highlighted the four corners of the design which also need to be embroidered by me).

The central patch will be used as it is but with a border of simple squares, patched by machine stitching. It will be about 10 inches square when finished, so this has set the dimensions for the rest of the quilt.

The patches which have been moved outwards in the design will incorporate the embroidery as a 'diamond' shape. They will be made into squares with the addition of corner triangles, and the patch will then be made up to 10 inches with a squared border.

The patches which will be embroidered by me will be hand-stitched using the traditional technique of folding fabric over paper templates, using traditional block patterns. I have started to collect together the fabrics which I might use - including these vintage Laura Ashley scraps:

These other fabrics are also possibilities:

I am aiming to produce a decorative coverlet or throw. The vintage embroidered panels will be supported by backing fabric and the stitching will be carefully checked and repaired if necessary - but they will, inevitably, be more delicate than new panels. Rather than quilt through a thick wool or polyester batting to produce a warm quilt, I think I shall provide 'body' for the throw by backing it with a layer of brushed flanelette sheeting.

I shall report on progress - although it will now be slotted in between other items on my schedule - I'm beginning to feel as though I'm playing truant. 'Creating' and 'Producing' are definitely not entirely the same thing I find!

Tying up loose ends....

.... literally!

Having a schedule is all very well but keeping to it is rather a different matter. At least I have finished the loose ends on two items today.

Firstly this bowl from recycled T shirts. Posing first of all with a small crochet project - perfect for this - a work basket would be too large:

It is a generous size for trinkets or keys:

The base of the bowl is decorated, and neatened by a crocheted flower! The bowl will shortly be listed in my Folksy shop. 

I have made a little more progress with my latest crocheted blanket - although I've not made as many squares as my schedule requires. 

I  am supposed to be focusing on re-stocking my embroidered items - with just a little crochet in between. At least I've finished this meadow bookmark, which will shortly be listed in my Etsy shop:

I almost forgot to mention that this pincushion has now been sold and is being packaged for posting:

New bookmarks and more!

I am still enjoying the exploration of the possibilities of crochet motifs. The latest batch are worked in brightly coloured crochet cottons and will be used to decorate a number of items.

The first few have been used to embellish these bright felt bookmarks ( now listed in my Folksy and Etsy shops):

I love the bright colours and the finished items have an almost retro feel. I have enjoyed looking through the items recently listed by the Craftyfolk team at Etsy in order make a selection of other bright and retro finds to show you - I hope you like them (each photo is a clickable link!):

  Beautifulfelts JustKJewellery WittyDawnUK CandanLampworkBeads Patsparaphernalia My BuddyBling

Purses and more

I am enjoying crochet so much that I thought I would explore the possibilities of producing some different items. What do you think of these purses?

I've really enjoyed making these. The shape is based on a pattern I made for some embroidered purses which I listed some while ago. It is a practical shape and seems to compliment the shape of the folded mandala design on the purse flap.

The small rosette in the centre of the first photo is worked in finer crochet cottons. I love the bright colours. This is a hint of things to come - perhaps key fobs, scissor fobs ....