Starting some Christmas sewing ...

Is it just me or has December come up rather suddenly? It seems like summer was just yesterday ... 

I have been catching up with a week long online sewing retreat with something like 20 workshops so have been completely distracted & the end of November is here. 

Two years ago I made some soft & colourful fabric decorations for the little ones tree - soft with longer hanging loops to make it easier for little hands to handle them. They did not have a many embellishments sewn on which could be put in the mouth so safe for small people. 

I was asked by a friend to gift one to her & so I did another selection of Christmas decorations with interesting beads, little bells & more that I gifted to friends with their Christmas cards.  I handstitched gold or red edges to them all & they were well received. 

I am meeting friends / colleagues soon & wanted to add a handmade decoration to their cards too so having some time, I cut out some trees & a few tiny boots again. I still had some patchwork sections in my Xmas fabric stash (everyone has such a box do they not? ) so I cut an additional 2 trees too. 

All of these are backed by soft red or green felt / flannel.

My process was the same as before - machine stitch around the edge (in red or green thread) then keeping it on the machine, with the needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot & stuff it lightly with soft toy stuffing. I used a wooden quilting creaser & pointer to poke some stuffing in. The rounded edge was useful to ease it in, then the pointed tip could push it to the corners etc. 

Then I simply dropped the presser foot & sewed up the last bit - an easy way to do it as long as you leave enough space to pop the filling in. 

Because these few are for adults, I will add some tiny bells, beads & then blanket stitch the edge in embroidery thread. 

They are well received as gifts & it is a relaxing activity to get one in the spirit of the festive season as it is fast approaching. I know - I should have started sooner, however, they are lovely to make. 

EDITED - some completed ones that are ready to go with cards. 

Please tell me how your preparations are going. Thank you for stopping by, it is much appreciated. 

Dee 🧵🎄🪡📍

Whose woods these are I think I know ....

I regularly do this Robert Frost poem with my students - like all his poems, there are so many meanings within it & it flows so easily. 

This week we woke to about 6 inches of snow in Shropshire & I love how quiet everything becomes. The familiar looks different, and the words 'stopping by woods", came to mind 

The little woods opposite us was a life saver in Covid restriction times & I love walking through them & down to our local lake. This is what we did in the freshly fallen snow.

The weight of the snow bent several trees, giving a tunnel effect with flakes drifting gently down. 

Our garden looked beautiful with the hedges white from the snow & our large topiary balls looking like Xmas  puddings with their white snow. 

The clear skies gave us some beautiful morning & night skies too with slithers of colour across the sky. The woods were a magical Narnia like place & it is always best to enjoy them. 

It is likely that we will have more snow over the coming winter & I hope I never tire of the child like wonder of it.

Thank you for stopping by, leaving a comment, subscribing or sharing. It is much appreciated. 

Dee ❄️⛄️

A warming winter soup

 Winter has suddenly arrived, we woke to falling snow. I love to take a snow walk around my local space  to enjoy the change the snow brings as the familiar looks different & it becomes very quiet too. 

It is soup weather - fortunately last night I did a large tray of roast vegetables - I cut a whole butternut in to slices, removed the pips from the section that had it & cut them slices in to blocks. I did not peel it because the skin is good fibre & it softens as it cooks. I cut up a whole white onion in to smallish bits, added it to the tray. I peeled 3 large carrots & cut these in half then in to chunks too. Drizzled it all with olive oil, sprinkled over sweet paprika (my favourite spice with oven veg), garlic & pepper. I covered it with foil & roasted it for about 40 min then uncovered it to caramelise the onion & veg. It was served hot alongside local sausages, mash & aubergine too. 

I knew I would have vegetables for soup  & another meal too (we love roast vegetables) so it is a good way to do it. 

This is how I turn it in to a quick & nutritious soup. 

I added 1 stock cube to boiling water in a pan, added a few heaped serving spoons of the roast veg. I brought it all to the boil, covered it while I made an open toasty to go with it. 

The small baguette was sliced in half, spread with tomato sauce that was seasoned with garlic & pepper, the sliced sausage arranged on top, then grated cheese to top it off & under the grill to bubble away. 

The soup was blitzed with a stick blender to a  smoothish consistency, a spoon of mascarpone cheese stirred through it then put in to bowls to enjoy. These soup bowls with lids keep the soup warm & they are a perfect size too. 

It was absolutely delicious & nutritious after our brisk walk in the snow. Winter is soup season, so enjoy. What is your favourite soup recipe? Please share, 

Dee 

#11 Circular Stitching - Wispy mists

Like many, I am not the best at completing long tasks & when I joined this year long challenge, I had my doubts if I would complete the 12 monthly tasks.  I was buoyed by the idea that each task is only given out at the start of the month & you have a whole month to complete - that made it less daunting. 

The format was uniform across the year - 6x6 inch squares with a 4inch circle that the work is done on.  A stiffening board is inserted in between the front & back layer to give it strength then the edges have to be finished in a sturdy blanket stitch. 

To keep me on track, I cut 13 identical fronts, backs & the stiffeners & placed them in a small plastic container along with the roll of thread I would use to blanket stitch each months work. That was the deciding factor for me because I could take out what I needed without having to go through the process of finding the same fabrics, cutting the 3 needed for each task each month. 

I decided to machine embroider the monthly name on black fabric & fabric glue it to the back of each one to remind me what the challenge was. That will be a good reminder down the line. 

Here are the previous monthly challenges:

1 - Snow blanket 

2 - Conceal & reveal 

3 - Renewal 

4 - New Life a New Life alternative 

5 - Blossom Time 

6 - From Source to sea 

7 - Radial Symmetry 

8 - Seed Dispersal 

9 - Seasonal Secrets 

10 - Fascinating Fungi 

11 - Wispy Mists 

The final one will be revealed in December then we will learn how we are presenting all 12 challenges. 

The wispy mist brief was to overlay a fine fabric over a landscape like trees to suggest the autumn mists. Paula offered several suggestions & having weekend visitors, I did not start it immediately. 

However, while on a walk around Stafford Castle on Saturday, an idea came to mind for the task - a path of autumn leaves with trees & suggestions of the green foliage too. 

I decided to do my 4 inch circle with free hand machine embroidery & after roughly drawing it on water soluble film, I did the image in several tones of each colour needed. That part is a little laborious because of the thread changes & rethreading the machine so often. 

I did some swirling grey misty shapes over the trees & then took it to the basin & dipped the film in it. 

It dissolves almost instantly leaving a good shape. However, I did not like the swirling mist embroidery over the trees - it was too distracting so I got out a little scissors & cut the threads loose. It was the last threads to go on so that was manageable but fiddly. It looked better without it. 

I put it on the front square then added a bit of green voile where the bushes would be & tacked the edges of the circle to the square. I covered the whole 6 inch square with a fine voile I had, pinned it then machined the edges like the previous ones.  The linen I used for the  fronts frays & isn't secure enough for the blanket stitching so a line of machine stitching gives support to the edges. 

It was then  blanket stitched in the same thread as the others. 

I felt it had lost its definition with the wispy mist overlay so when I came back to it a day later, I decided to put tiny stitches around the edges of the tree shapes to give them definition & it definitely did. 

Some soft wool was couched around the circular edges to finish it off as swirling mists & it is ready for the machine name to go on the back. 

I am pleased that my interpretation worked - this stitching challenge has encouraged us to think out of the box - it is suggestive rather than prescriptive which is so creative. 

Just one more challenge, I look forward to it. 

Thank you for stopping by, taking the time to read, share or comment. It is much appreciated. 

Dee 🪡🧵📍🌳