Remembering with a poppy heart ...

 

A part of my tutoring time that I found inspiring was passing on the importance of Remembrance Sunday & the history behind it. 

There is so much history around the wars but war poetry was popular with my students, especially Shropshire born Wilfred Owen. I wrote about him last year in this blog post. 

The two minute silence has a strong South African connection, having been recommended by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. 

I will visit Shrewsbury Abbey later in the week when I am in our county town & will update on their tremendous effort ahead of Remembrance Sunday. 

I have had it in my mind to sew a poppy heart & today while out & about, I paged through a vintage book & saw some phrases that inspired me. 

While on our recent Gentlework sewing day, several people added written words from a vintage book Christine had & it really added to their work. 

The vintage book I found today is printed on heavy card & so perfect to use as an additional bit to my stitching. 

The vintage book was a mere 50p, & I know I will use it for more words in future projects. 

I drew a heart shape on a fabric base, then added various fabrics from my stash to it, mindful that the rough brown of the fabric resembled the conditions many encountered on the battlefield. I added in various stitches & then cut red fabric circles to use as poppies. 

These were doubled up & attached with just a single French Knot in the centre of each. 

I stitched some red French knots in other places & it was one of those makes that come naturally & in no time I was happy to trim the edges, then use a sturdy mercer thread to sew up the edges with blanket stitch. The thread blended well, not distracting from it at all. 

I added in a fabric loop, and stuffed it gently when I was almost back at my starting point. 

Then I turned it over to the back & cut out a few phrases & words from the vintage book. I had to use an all purpose glue to stick them down. 

I am pleased with the impromptu make,  it is appropriate ahead of the services this weekend & a timely reminder to honour the service of those who paid the ultimate price on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month. 

Thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated. 

Dee ♥️

Imperfect …

 

Imperfect - flawed,  damaged, defective; the concept that so many of us work to overcome. 

It is the one word that brings angst, the feeling that we must try harder to work on our flaws, limitations & mistakes. What if imperfections are the authentic parts of us, the parts that do not demand perfection? 

Perfection is unrealistic & unattainable & it hinders creativity thinking you should only do something if it can be done perfectly. 

At our  sewing day, Christine said she had a dish of ‘imperfect buttons’ that she was gifted. 

They are buttons that are badly formed, poorly cut - imperfect examples. She invited us to take some & use them. I picked up a few. Some had a lovely smooth feel, others were more rough, all different. Some had bits missing, others imperfect holes.

Today I glimpsed them in the little envelope from our day & an idea came to mind immediately- to celebrate their imperfections. 

I decided to machine sew a tag for it. My sewing machine does lettering, the size is fixed & the results are often … imperfect. 

The imperfects joined each other on a small padded sewing make. 

I will keep it near to where I work as a reminder that imperfect can be fine …

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate it. 

Dee 🧵🪡🖼️📍✂️button

Pancakes with a hint of ginger ...

We do love a treat of fruit, pancakes, yoghurt & coffee, especially on slow weekends. 

I opened a jar of syrupy stem ginger last week to use when I baked an apple & ginger loaf. 

I still had a few stem ginger balls so I cut one of them up finely to add to my pancake batter - which is this very simple recipe that my mother had always used. 

It can be made thinner with more liquid for larger pancakes, we like the little ones with fruit.

For about 8 small pancakes - 

1 cup of self raising flour 

5/8th cup of milk (about 175ml milk)

1 egg

A slither of butter mixed in (about 20-30g, I never measure)

Mix it all together with a hand whisk, the slither of butter gives the pancakes a nice colour. I added in 1 stem ginger ball, cut very fine. 

Drop several large spoonfuls on a pan to cook, flip over when the bottom side is cooked (it takes less than a minute each side). 

Serve with cut fresh fruit, yoghurt, maple syrup if liked & coffee or tea.

The stem ginger gave a very subtle taste that went well with the fresh fruit. Variations are good & the above recipe is a great standard one that can be made up in minutes. I never add sugar to my mixture because we have them with sweet fruit. 

I hope you have time to make some too. Thanks for stopping by, 

Dee 

My Nature Finds Gentlework keeper

 

I shared some of the lovely Gentlework treasures in this previous post. 

I opted to do a Nature finds keeper, one of the larger makes because I am often out in nature or our local woods.

 I always come home with some bits I have picked up.

These are in my conservatory at the moment. The leaves & twigs often end up in the garden later on, the stones often in the top of pot plants where they are seen. 

My late Mother was a great letter writer & her letters often had something inside so I had to open them very carefully.

Sometimes it was a newspaper cutting she thought I would enjoy, sometimes a special card, often on printed paper - To a special daughter - & quite often there was a guinea fowl feather inside because she knew how much I loved them. My love of picking up things came from my parents. 

These precious letters are kept upstairs in my little desk, along with the fabric letter keepers I made separately for my parents letters. 

This was Christine’s beautiful one, her distinct style so recognisable. 

I love the natural colours & precise stitching but I'm sure it took her hours & hours to do it. 

I am a bit impatient & wanted to have something done in my allotted time. 

Lettering is slow for me, not always neat but it is something I have been working on. 

However, I often find that the letters are not clear so I made mine larger - with hindsight I think they would have been better smaller but .... 

I folded a piece of linen in half, used a heat erasable Frixion pen to write FINDS then used 2 threads of variegated thread to stitch the lettering. 

It was not as clear as I wanted so I whipped the stitches with the same thread. I have been working on my letter stitching but it is not there yet. 

I love seed stitching, the randomness of it appeals to me so that was added to the top.

I like pockets so there is a double front pocket & 3 vintage buttons & added stems & leaves to.

Place for several pockets in the double inside - 2 on the left for little treasures & a larger one on the right, with vintage buttons I added at home from Olive's button tin. 

The back was initially plain which I did not like so I made a double pocket at home with fabrics I had & stitched them on carefully because the holder was already blanket stitched around the edges. However, the thin blanket lining between the front & back layers meant that I could ease my needle between them to add this additional pocket on. 

I like it much better now - there was a moment when  I thought it was ok, not my best effort but once the additional stitching was done, it was better. I added a feather from letters from my mother, then some leaves that were on the conservatory table. 

Much better & a sweet little holder that will change regularly.  The iridescent honesty pods are perfectly at home in the little pockets. 

I remind myself that Christine's exquisite examples are just a suggestion,  & mine is my own effort. It is easy to judge your own against those examples ... 

Thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated

Dee 📍🪡🧵🖼️🍂🍁

A relaxing day of Gentlework pocket treasure stitching

 

I have been a fan of Christine of Gentlework for more than 12 years. She has the most lovely style in beautiful muted colours. Her stitches are precise, some that you can barely see, in colours that are so gentle on the eye.

These are some previous workshops I attended with her - 

gently does it

So much gorgeous fabric inspiration & choice 

Our gentlework is all complete

Gently picking up pieces of fabric 

I'm finished picking up pieces of fabric 

Some weeks ago, I saw that Christine was running a Saturday workshop on stitching pocket treasures. 

I was not sure what to expect but I did some random stitching to get an idea of what I might want to do.

My friend Ellie & I both booked - we had attended one in 2014 together in Shrewsbury & we do regular workshops together. 

We made our way to the Shropshire Welsh border town this morning, giving ourselves lots of time because of inclement weather.  

Christine was setting up the lovely old hall for our workshop when we arrived & hot tea was soon made & passed around - along with cakes & biscuits available all day. Bliss. 

13 of us soon browsed her beautiful hand sewing items on the tables to inspire us for the day. It is simply bliss to have an entire day to fill as we wish.

Everyone popped their thread selections & needlebooks we had brought with us on their table space & looked expectantly at Christine. 

Christine gave us each a most beautiful inspiration pack - presented in book pages with carefully selected fabrics, lace, beads, buttons & little items.  

It was like Christmas in October as we opened our packages & mulled over the choice. 

It is these really thoughtful details that make the day feel special - a carefully considered package is inspirational & makes you want to thread up your needle & make a start. 

Some of the most beautiful examples of Christine's work to inspire us ... 

After Christine inspired us through her work & explained the processes, the next 5+ hours was ours to fill. What bliss.

The creative thoughts I had before went out the window & I decided I must start or analysis paralysis sets in & you over think it all. 

Christine had a lovely  'nature finds' little stitched treasure  holder & that appealed to me because I always return from a walk with some little bits. I know 6 hours for a workshop seems like a lot of time but it really is not if you want to get something stitched. 

I drew the word 'FINDS' on the front of mine with a frixion heat erasable pen & used just 2 threads which gave a neat stitch. I have been working on neatening my lettering & it is paying off because I was pleased with it. The variegated threads are a favourite of mine.

I love little pockets so stitched one on the front then turned my attention to the double inside section. Pockets were needed so I wandered the fabric table to find something I liked & was soon back, threading needles, chatting to the lovely neighbours around me & having tea & cake. 

It was busy chatter - some had come alone, as I have done previously, others with friends (as I was today with Ellie) 

Christine circulated, checking on everyone, offering suggestions & helping with stitches etc It is always a busy but calm environment as everyone did their own thing.

A pause for our packed lunches with more tea to warm us up as rain lashed the windows outside, most of us ate at the table where we were working, keen to keep the momentum that had built up.

I finished off the little pockets in side the holder then used a single strand of thread to baste the edges to keep everything together, making sure I wasn't missing the 3 layers of fabrics. I do love a blanket stitch edge with mercer cottons. I used a double thread & soon the meditative stitch was working its way around the edges. I have been working on the technique needed for ending & restarting blanket stitch & was rewarded with a great join midway that you would be hard pressed to find.

It is done but there is more I want to add to it, especially some beadwork & some flowers that I will stitch on a fabric layer then attach to the back of it. 

With time in hand still, I circulated, photographing some of the lovely work, then came back to start a little turned cuff treasure, simply titled JOY.  The button & close is done but it needs lots more stitching & some beads but it is a start.

Christine took us to her nearby studio space & what a joy. I have seen it online several times but it is beautifully laid out with her intricate & delicate stitched work all about. She really has a distinct style & is true to that style. Each & every detail is considered & gentle on the eye. I could have spent hours there but our work called & we reluctantly took leave of her space & went back to the little hall to continue with our own efforts.

A friend of hers set up some of her vintage fabrics, threads, buttons, lace etc for us to peruse & buy any we liked. I found some lovely little things, including some beautiful buckles that can be used in pocket treasures. 

Time passed so quickly & it was soon time to put the treasures on a table together. 

I know I say this all the time when I attend various workshops, but we all started off with a very similar welcome pack, had access to exactly the same threads, fabrics, buttons & bits in the workroom yet at the end everyone had done a unique item, all different, all beautiful. This part of creativity is fascinating - everyone brings something different to the day, their experience with hand stitching, their vision, their work. 

These workshop days are so vital for creativity because you are inspired by others & the work around you. The blocked time is without distractions or commitments & you can fully relax in to the rhythmic nature of hand stitching. There is no expectations & right or wrong way. 

We reluctantly packed up our messy table with threads,  buttons, beads, needles (I use many as I change needles not threads) & set off again through the persistent rain in the beautiful Welsh countryside. The trees are just changing their colours & the stone villages look just right with sheep grazing & lights flickering on in homes. 

I will be doing lots more pocket treasure stitching, it has been an inspiring time with really lovely ladies. 

I hope you have enjoyed the images, thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated. 

Dee 🧵🪡📍☕️🍰🥮