I finished this project just before we set off for Summer travels and I am just delighted now that autumn is approaching to have it ready and waiting for the cooler days ahead. I’m a little bit in catch up mode with journal postings so you may have seen this on instagram a few weeks ago, but I wanted to document it in a little bit more detail as it is just such a lovely thing.
Read MoreAs summer fades, we arrived home from holiday on the day the Queen died. I didn’t expect to feel such a sense of loss at this news and yet…probably like most British people who have lived all their lives with her as a constant, it is hard to process. Before all this happened though, we had been on a little road trip on a southern westerly path in search of sunshine, seaside and perhaps in some measure, for me at least, a literary pilgrimage too. I hope you will enjoy a few journal postings about our travels and that his little series of ‘Postcards’ will give you a flavour of some great places to visit.
Read MoreEdinburgh! This was not my first visit to this wonderful city, but after all the months and months of not going anywhere, I seem to feel the need to let the words tumble out about the last few days and have a lot to write about this trip and not least because it is a city full of surprises.
Read MoreMaking a book quilt has got to be one of my absolute favourite things to do…being as I love books and I love making quilts…and the idea of combining patchwork and embroidery with literary gems that are close to my heart makes this project such a fun project to work on. It’s going to be not just a quilt, but an embroidered wall hanging laden with literary references.
Read MoreI thought this weekend I would pop up a little book review for a lovely new book that has just been published by Debra Scala Giokas about First Ladies and their connections in the crafting world.
Read MoreWith the BBC’s ‘Sewing Bee’ in full flight at the moment, I find myself with twitchy fingers to try a little dressmaking and I had long harboured a dream of making a long floral duster coat. Jubilee Weekend seems like the sort of time you would wear something like this and as much as it is a wistful backwards glance at those Laura Ashley days, it is also quintessentially English in it’s style and as comfortable over jeans today as it has would’ve been a couple of decades ago.
Read MoreHello there…. a short and sweet post today about a short and sweet project. This gorgeous Boro Inspired Kinchaku bag was just exactly what I needed as a project to weave in between weekends away visiting family and long over due jobs in the house and garden. It is a non messy, user up of scraps and entirely relaxing little sewing project that produces something super pretty and super useful too.
Read MoreLast weekend my boy Joe married his girl Caroline at Limbricht Castle in the Netherlands… It was the first wedding in our family for a very long time and of course such an occasion prompts you to think about life and love and how the years pass by. I wanted to do something small and special with my needle for my new daughter in law and way back when the first wedding was planned in 2020 had made the decision to do something with my own wedding dress.
Read MoreOnce everything was done and dusted, I am just over the moon with this project. I would definitely make this pattern again and I just know that this quilt is going to be used and treasured and hopefully in lots of sunny day photos of family days out. When I look at holiday snapshots from my childhood, my Mum is often wearing the same sundress year after year and I like to think this quilt will turn out to be like that, in all the pictures, soaking up the sunshine and happy family times.
Read MoreThis post sounds all a bit of a mouthful…and it may turn out to be a bit of a ramble, but several things that began separately all seemed to conspire to form a whole rather lovely adventure.
Read MoreUpcycling or recycling is such a valuable thing to do, making something new out of old jeans, scraps, buttons beads and just having the best fun in the process creating a whole new piece. It will always be the St. Kilda bag to me and what’s more it is perfect for a book bag. I hope one day to visit St. Kilda and I’ll be sure to take this with me - now that would be a wonderful photo for my scrap book.
Read MoreBack to dressmaking here today and spring/summer wardrobe planning….did I really say that? I am not a wardrobe planning kind of person, but it was one of my resolutions this year, to declutter and reorganise my wardrobe and making some new things is part of it. However, the course of true sewing love doesn’t necessarily run smoothly and this one most certainly didn’t!!
Read MoreMaking Embroidery Modern
