I lost my thimble....but found.....

Even after a few months, it's still pretty busy around here with 'the house'.  Building shelves, painting and sorting things out like the central heating, now that the chillier days are here.  I made curtains for my sewing room and it's kinda cosy in there now.

 One evening last week, I escaped into my sewing den to work on some hand embroidery, but I couldn't find my packet of little stick on thimbles anywhere.  I thought I was pretty organised in here, but obviously these had somehow fallen through the cracks.  I began searching.  After looking in every plausible space, I sat down on the floor in frustration and as I turned by head, my gaze landed on my grandmother's sewing table that sits up against the wall between the two windows.  It is one of those things that just makes me smile and I sat back and stared at it.  In truth, in all the chaos of moving, when it arrived out of a long time in storage, I just popped it in the space that was perfectly orchestrated for it and there it has stayed.    I wondered what on earth was in it and for the first time, I was conscious of the piece in the middle that sort of hangs down underneath the drawers...what was it????  

 This piece of furniture sat in my grandmother's bungalow in Seaford, Sussex.  It was part of a glorious existence that to me, as a little girl, was in a home that was always sunny and conjures up memories of windy coastal walks, chalky cliffs, blackberry picking and picnics on the long wooden groynes that stretched down shingle beaches into icy seas.   As a late grandchild in the family dynamics, my grandmother's sewing days were mostly over by the time I came along, but she was an accomplished needlewoman in her time.  The Seaford days ended abruptly when I was 21 and my mum took the sewing table back to our home in Yorkshire, where it sat and brooded.  I do remember that in the top left hand drawer were knitting needles, because my Mum would take them out to make baby things for my little ones when they came along.   But I wasn't living there by then and this was just a piece of furniture really.  

When my Mum passed away, it was one of the things that I chose to have, but I had to put it in storage as we were living abroad.  Now finally it was in it's new home, my sewing room, but actually, I had no idea what exactly might me inside.  I edged over to it and pulled open the first drawer - it was stacked full of knitting needles as I had expected.  When I began to open the other drawers though, I had a sense that actually they hadn't been opened for a very long time.  All of a sudden I felt quite strange about it - this had been sitting in front of me for the last few months and honestly, I had never thought to look inside.  A waft of seaford scent swirled around me as I opened the first drawer - it was full of treasure.... well, a stitcher's treasure anyhow.

I mean, look at this - what even is 'linen carpet thread'?  and '3d' that is thrupence in old money - before decimalisation?!?!?!?!?!

 
And who ever thought plastic cotton reels were a good idea - look at these?

 

 This was stuff from another age.... an age when women had to sew and repair and mend things... an age when cotton reels were made of wood and darning thread cost just one penny.....an age when you made the clothes that filled your wardrobe, changed buttons, replaced zippers.  This was a whole different thing to most of the stuff in my sewing room, which is creative frippery really!!!  

It took me a moment to work out how to open the middle section, but inside were a pile of vintage dressmaking paper patterns from another era - how cool is that?

and there were some useful little tools too...

I took everything out little by little, cleaned, sorted and reorganised it.  It was fascinating and wonderful and humbling and precious.   I felt thrilled to have something that is such a link with the past, my family's past and the women who 'made do and mended', who recycled and unpicked, who bought a paper pattern and adapted it for the whole family and most of all, who had no pretentions or expectations about fashion.   So I lost my thimble, but I found something amazing that was right under my nose and I didn't even know it...... Ruby x

 

Macbook wrap

Finally, finally, I took the plunge...after pleading from my  kids that my old computer, which whirrs and squeaks at every touch of the keyboard, had reached the limits of 'uncoolness'.... and bought a bright new shiny Macbook.  I have to say, it's lovely.  I haven't quite got to grips with it all yet, but I was sure that it needed a little 'Ruby' touch to make it truly mine... and only mine!!!  So I decided to make a protective carrying case for it and as I was sort of making it up as I went along..... here's how it went.

First thing....(and my favourite thing).... decide upon some fabrics from the stash.  It wasn't difficult.  I simply love this Anna Maria Horner print and it was simple to team it up with something for the lining.

  I used two fat quarters of each fabric and joined them together.  I didn't worry too much about matching the big print - it's so dramatic, I didn't think it would matter.  The lining fabric matched up naturally.  I need this case to be reasonably strong so I decided to iron on a layer of light weight iron-on interfacing on both pieces to firm them up, before I started to put it together.

I loved the bold print for the outside of the cover and decided that a little embellishment would be nice, so I set to work with my needle and my candy bowl of threads.  The interfacing also acts as a stabiliser for the embroidery and makes the fabric firmer to work on.

This idea of hand embroidering over a large print was something I had been meaning to try for a while and I have to say it was soooo much fun.  A few stitches here and there and can add some texture and extra interest to the print.

While I was doing this, I was already formulating my  quilting plans and knew that I wanted to use the actual fabric design as my guide and different coloured threads to highlight the wonderful print of this little 'hand drawn garden'.  However, I thought this would look strange on the striped 'stack of books' print I had chosen for the lining, so I decided to make this first quilt sandwich using just a plain backing that would be later hidden inbetween the outer layers.  I went ahead and quilted the afternoon away....

Once this was done, I turned my attention to the lining.  I wanted to stiffen it alittle and found in my store cupboard some sort of canvas with an iron-on coating on the back.   I have absolutely no idea where it came from or what I had intended it for - but it was the perfect thing for this.  I cut a strip of it and ironed it onto the lining.   I did a little bit of free motion quilting along a couple of the stripey books to be sure it would hold in place.

Then I attached the two layers of the cover together around the edges, having pressed it carefully first.  At this point I trimmed the whole thing down to size by laying the Mac book inside it.  It needed around an inch off each side and I used a curved ruler to make rounded edges on the outside flap.

The last stage is to do the binding and here my first attempt was a mistake and I had to unpick it.  I used ordinary quilt binding - and it didn't give me enough edging to join the sides together.  The quilt sandwich is quite stiff now and I needed a wide soft edge that would allow me to make the envelope and be able to stitch the sides together.  I'll show you what I mean ... as once I made a 4" binding, it made more sense.

I stitched the binding down by hand on the inside of the cover and then machined it too, to make sure it was absolutely flat and then made my envelope, carefully ensuring that my macbook would fit inside snuggly.  I machine stitched the sides, twice.  I know this has to be durable and will be bumped about and pulled in and out of a totebag, so having put in so much effort to make something original - I wanted to be sure it would work on a functional level.

Finally the fastening - this was problematic.  The whole thing was starting to remind me of a modern take on a Victorian 'botanical'notebook case and I rather liked the idea of closing it with a tie, like those old fashioned journals.  I rummaged around in my buttonbox and found this sort of toggle, which seemed like a good idea, except it was completely flat on the bottom and if I had just sewed it on, it would have lain too flat to wind a cord around. I thought maybe elastic was a good idea.  I never buy elastic......mmmmm - out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my mum's little sewing drawers which sit in my sewing room - inside, of course, were all sorts of useful bits and bobs, including 6 different sizes of elastic (what is it about that generation - "always be prepared")  Yay!  It worked a treat.  I threaded it through the toggle and stitched it onto the front of the cover.   I made some matching cord, by using a strip of fabric 2" wide, folded in on each side to the middle, folded again and then folded again and machine topstitched to hold it in place.

 Finally it all came together.

 A little vintage label added a quirky, steamer trunk sort of feel to the whole thing.  I absolutely LOVE this - it is useful and pretty and unique.  So perfect to take my Macbook on a journey.....did I tell you I was going on a journey....next month - more to come on that one.  Ta ra for now, Ruby x

Window Dressing Scandi Style

We have been in the house for three weeks now and most (maybe that is a little optimistic) of the boxes are gone.  There is still a lot of sorting out to do, but hopefully the worst is over and the admin stuff is on the way too.  I can say categorically that 'I AM NEVER MOVING AGAIN!'  I have such itchy fingers to get back to my sewing though, that today I began thinking about the curtains and what I need to make.  We are lucky - the house doesn't need any urgent decorating or remodelling, so we can take our time with it all.  After living in rented houses in foreign countries since 2002, the idea of choosing paint colours and fabrics for our home is somewhat 'overwhelming'.   What fun!!! 

The only room I actually have curtains for is the dining room.  I did make these curtains for the house in Sweden after being swept up with an idea from Clare Young's wonderful book 'Scandinavian Needlecraft'. 

In the book there is a lovely tote bag featuring a scandinavian house design, outlined on the machine - I was completely taken up with this idea and as usual, got rather carried away.  It is suprisingly simple to do - most of the outlining is a simple close zig-zag stitch.  You simply draw your outline onto your fabric using a fabric pencil and stitch around.  I began experimenting with the technique, but using some of the decorative stitches on my machine.  It's a great way to try out all those sitches on  your machine that you never think you will use.  I made a few more bags, including this one for my sister.  

There was only one area that needed curtains in the house in Stockholm and I thought, why not use this idea for my curtains.?  I had a box full of linen that I had bought cheaply in Russia and so I set to work.  Once I felt confident with the way it was going, I began to be braver  - introuding some of my own ideas including sailboats and even the palace at Drottingham.  I was so delighted with the results that I new I had made something that would be great to have in our home one day when we returned to England... and so it is.  They are perfect in our dining room here and because of the white linen, they add lightness and brightness to the room.  I think you could stitch almost anything using this technique - a London skyline.... the eiffel tower.... OK STOP...STOP.... I have alot of curtains to do - I need to NOT get carried away...

So with one room done already - the next room to tackle is my sewing room.  This is a bit of a mess at the moment as I don't have any shelves up yet, so everything is in enormous piles everywhere.  What I do have (of course) is fabric and it couldn't be more perfect.  I bought this in Montmartre about 5 years ago -how could I have known that the walls in my sewing room would be ruby red (lol!).  What do you think?

So now to make curtains and I confess I am a little out of practice.  Having laid out all the fabric I've made my first mistake already - pattern matching.  I need one and half widths in each curtain and if I want to match the seams its going to be tight.....time to put the tea on and ponder..... Ruby x

The 1825 Post

So, we finally landed back on Planet UK!  I had thought from afar that our re-entry into England's atomosphere might prove a little bumpy - but apart from a little exhaustion and a few aching joints - it has been a breeze (due in large part to my big sis, I have to say) .  As the saying goes though, 'there's no place like home' - and its so true.  I know we have lived abroad for  many years... but even so, it is so wonderful when you can ask the lady in the post office how to top-up your mobile phone and understand the answer!!!!  I daresay there will be things I will miss about our life abroad - but its all far too exciting at the moment to dwell on what they might be.  So if you're interested, here's a first glimpse of our new home..... I can't really believe it's ours.

This beautiful Yorkshire stone Sunday school house, built in 1825 is everything I could have dreamed of. It's going to take a while to unpack and find a place for everything, but I think my quilts and embroideries will be just perfect here. It's so interesting to live in a place that has some stories to tell....I wonder what they are? Emily Bronte lived and taught for a short while in our village, I wonder if she was ever here? Anyhow to set the scene for our new life within these walls, I wanted to find out what was going on in the world when the school was built - here's what I found:

George 1V was King of England and little Princess Victoria was just 6 years old.

John Quincy Adams was elected President of the United States and Charles X becomes King of France.

The Decabrist uprising in Russia gives Tsar Nicholas 1 a taste of things to come.

In December 1825 the first public railway opens between Stockton and Darlington, with a steam locomotive by George Stephenson and the first horse drawn omnibuses were established in London.

Pushkin writes his famous play 'Boris Godunov' and Samuel Pepys Diary is published for the first time. Johann Strauss is born as is Charles Worth, who would become the founder of the famous Paris fashion house.

Charles Dickens is 13 years old and starts his teenage years in a London that overtakes Peking as the world's largest city. However, the 'Panic of 1825, was to be the first stock market crash and showed that 'we never learn!' What started out as a problem at the Bank of England arising from speculative investments in Latin America, including an 'imaginary' country,caused havoc in Europe's financial sector. Six London banks were forced to close and France saved the Bank of England from collapse with an infusion of gold.

Trade Unions are made legal on 1825 and in June the 'cotton mills' Regulation Act, ensures that children can only work a maximum of 12 hours a day!!!

Women's fashions are on the change - the lovely empire line dresses of Empress Josephine, Lady Emma Hamilton and Jane Austen were finding their waistlines lowering, bodices becoming more fitted and sleeves more puffed. It would be another 100 years before women got the vote!

Life was generally hard with dirty streets and poor living conditions for the majority. The scourge of this Industrial Age were killer diseases like typhoid, consummation and cholera. Our near neighbors, the Bronte family were having a dreadful time, but we're fairly typical of the time. Six children, with the mother dead when the youngest was just a year old. She would be followed to the grave in 1825 by the two oldest daughters. Little Charlotte Bronte was just 9 years old when she witnessed this.

I will be writing some more about the house and its story and Yorkshire, as we settle in and I get my sewing room set up.... I hope you'll join me...meanwhile.... welcome to our new adventure....

Ruby xx