An Itch To Stitch

Its a strange time at the moment - caught between selling and buying a house, things in boxes, things not in boxes, life in limbo. I felt I needed to distract myself from scouring the web for sites such as "how to move house in 10 easy steps" or for waiting to accost the postman each morning for any letter that might speed up the process.

So I had to find a way to "step away, nothing to see here" and embroidery was that way. Last year I was given some of Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching books and kits and it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of a little gentle sewing. Embroidery is therapeutic, I curl up on my red chair, feet tucked beneath me, sink back into the cushions, thread a needle and sew sew sew. There is something about the order of sewing, the rhythm, that slows your breathing and thoughts down into a calmness that is so needed right now.

This is the work in progress:





If you're new to embroidery, the Jenny Hart books are excellent - they include a load of transfer patterns that you just iron onto your fabric (I love using linen and linen-type materials). The instructions for the stitches are also very well written - even the French knot can be mastered with ease!



You can find her books on Amazon, but the Sublime Stitching website has a wealth of other patterns and kits too.

Wind The Bobbin Up

A few blog posts ago I let out a cry to the universe - "Please help me sort out this tangle of a thread mess!". And the Universe heard me. And replied. Firstly another Etsy seller, djbebe, kindly commented and sent me a link to a picture of a very organised thread box, then family members (my mum) became aware of my plight and sourced the land to supply me with the tools.


Firstly I was provided with this brilliant thread winder, simply slot in your piece of cardboard and wind, wind, wind. I found this strangely relaxing. Untangling knots was not. A knot was definitely not. Not to the Knot....oh - enough of the knots!





Then, much thread winding later, they were all given a new home. A shiny new thread box. Neat. And Tidy. No knots.


Spurred on by this strange state of neatness and order, I then developed an urge to tackle the abundance of buttons that were spilling out of my sewing box. As a small girl sorting through buttons would have given me immense pleasure, and I wondered if this was a genetic trait. I suggested my daughter join in the fun to test this theory. Not only did she join in but took complete charge of the Button Box, sorting by colour, texture and size.








Finished result? Buttontastic.

A Stitch In Time

I'd been thinking about making a bag for some time that would incorporate hand embroidery, but didn't want to to look - well, twee .

So for many a day I have sat with a piece of grey fabric, some sparkly bag handles and a tub full of embroidery thread until I was inspired by the theme of circles - and this is the finished result.I've listed it in my Etsy shop and, depending on how well it does there, I may do more in the range of hand embroidered bags.

I learnt to sew some many years ago in school (yes, there was a day and age when teachers would arm a hoard of children with needles, pins and thread and not worry about a law suit for a pin injury to a thumb) - in fact my mother still uses an embroidered mirror which I made at school - the french knots have remained intact!

Two of my favourite embroidery books are Sublime Stitching, by Jenny Hart, and Doodle Stitching, by Aimee Ray. Neither of which have any hint of tweeness about them. Great instructions too if you've never held a needle before and need some guidance.


And now to my embroidery thread stash - I need some inspiration on how to store all my threads in some kind of order. The Order Of The Thread is in a state of instability.