I have found that the last few months of crafting have been very much about making the same sorts of things that I’ve done before, so much so that almost a year to the day that I was putting together some knitted reindeers for a friend, Facebook reminded me that I had made the same things in 2023. There is a certain comfort in doing the same types of things, and some of it is utility. This year’s Christmas fundraiser was another knitted animal, as I knew that I had some mouse parts in stash that I had knitted a while ago, so thought a knitted ‘Chrismouse’ would be good for the ‘guess the name ..read more

I have been getting on really well with the list of things that I have to do before I leave for the UK, so much so that I managed to sneak another thing on to the crafting list. I was getting some new stickers sorted for Katy, as she is going to be at various festivals and in the display field at one of them, and I saw this lovely slogan that I thought that I would adapt. I have various hoop embroideries featuring caravans in Katy, so thought that a Renault Kangoo would be good, in case she starts suffering an identity crisis The plan is to chain stitch around the outlines and backstitch the ..read more

This will be my last post before Christmas so I thought that it would be a good time to share some of my most recent, and older ornament makes with you, all displayed on the tiniest tree that I have ever owned! I bought this tree last year, as you may know I love making and displaying Christmas ornaments, but due to packing everything I own into only three 20 kg bags last year for the move to Spain, there was not much room for anything, so most of the ornaments had to go to other homes. This tree is only 12 inches tall but it does have some pretty lights as well. What survived were the ones t ..read more

The Lake District is an amazing place and although now it is probably best known for tourism, which was popularised by poets, writers and artists such as Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter, it has its roots in farming. One of the National Trust properties that we didn’t visit last time we came is Townend, a farmhouse dating from the 1600s. The property is near Waterhead, at the top of Lake Windermere. The Browne family who owned it didn’t change it, and didn’t throw anything away. The house stayed in the family until the early 1900s so you have an incredible collection of Lakeland heritage, inclu ..read more

Kerry came down to visit me so we had a jam packed weekend visiting the majority of what the city has to offer in the way of historical and heritage properties. There is such a wonderful mix of architecture here, Tudor, Georgian and Victorian, as well as the riverside walks and the canal heritage so it is well worth a visit. Saturday was mainly Tudor at first with the Tudor House Museum and Greyfriars, both on the same street where there are other wonderful Tudor buildings, including some lovely places to eat. The Tudor House Museum was originally three cottages and the displays concentrated o ..read more

I have been frantically stitching ten ornaments in the last few weeks and last night put the final stitches in the ribbons and breathed a sigh of relief. Two of them only needed a little finishing and making up but the others were done from scratch. I did post a while ago about using some of Jenni of Elefantz’s bird designs with some new Scandi fabric but it was difficult to stitch them neatly enough on the felt I had so I decided to go with my tried and trusted JBW Designs. I forgot to take pictures of the first two as I have left them in Spain for my aunt and mum but this one above that I d ..read more

I was just checking something on my Pinterest this morning and some very gorgeous embroidery appeared on my feed. I don’t know why it came up as I have not searched for anything like this but of course I had to go and investigate. It is French redwork cross stitch but what I really loved was all the needlework themed designs, especially when they were combined with the buttons and charms.Really beautiful ideas here. I also came across some printers’ letter trays that people were using to display their embroidery, isn’t this a lovely idea? I do have some very similar patterns in my sta ..read more

I have decided to carry on with the Christmas cross stitching, my aim is to do one a month and then by next December I will have all twelve I need and it won’t matter if I hurt my arm or am really busy! They are mostly very relaxing stitches but the one I am working on at the moment is quite a challenge as it is so very tiny. I am stitching this on evenweave linen so I don’t know exactly what count it is but here is my little finger for size comparison. I have stitched this one before and it is lovely if a little fiddly to do, especially the white topping to the pudding which is difficult to ..read more

I have had a really great weekend, my tree is up and I have been sitting finishing my ornament stitching while watching the snow fall gently down, not enough to give us a snow day tomorrow sadly so I will be back at work. Many of my friends who live further South than me have had more snow so although we have had some the transport will still be running tomorrow. This is the last week of term though and I have some holiday coming up so that is good, I am really glad to get to the end of the teaching time. Not that I don’t love my job and my students but this term has been a very busy one and a ..read more

I had a lovely time yesterday helping Kerry with the pattern for the groom’s outfit for her wedding next year. Although I could not help with any cutting out I did help with amalgamating two patterns into one design and advice on buttons and fabric placement. It is nice just to have someone to share ideas with when you are making really important things and it was great to have a catch up as well. Still slow progress with the cross stitched ornaments but I have been collecting new patterns so I thought that I would share some in case you have a yearning for pretty snowflakes or some Scandi des ..read more