‘Hatched and Patched’ stitchery and a Pincushion

I recently spent a weekend with my luverley cousin, Gwyneth (no blog) who lives in South Wales (as mentioned in my last post). As also mentioned, we went to Cross Patch in Llandysul where Gwyneth spent rather a lot of money – it was her first visit to a fabric store as she’s just getting into sewing. A ‘Hatched and Patched’ stitchery took Gwyneth’s fancy, but being a complete beginner, she needed some help from me (happy to oblige of course) and the easiest way to help was to do a stitchery myself ……… this is my long-winded route to justifying why I also bought a stitchery and as I liked one in the same range, I bought this one – ‘Flower Basket Sampler’:

 

It was very pleasant sitting in Gwyneth’s garden in the sunshine stitching together and I made a good start that weekend (it was that wonderful weekend when our Andy won Wimbledon …. Yay!!). Anyway, I finished it off last week and after some indecision, decided to make it into a wall hanging

 

I’m sure the real deciding factor rather than make it into a cushion, which I’d thought about, was so that I could use this gorgeous wire hanger I’ve had in my stores for ??? years!!! The fabric matches beautifully, although I think it’s a Lynette Anderson one (not Hatched and Patched) – honestly, I spent so long choosing, I couldn’t remember afterwards who’s fabric it was – no matter though, as it matches nicely. I also couldn’t resist the bird and heart buttons I’ve put at the top – these too are Lynette Anderson. So thanks Gwyneth for giving me an excuse to make something other than a rag doll!!

Next is something I should have shown before. I’d taken photos, but then forgot to blog about it. Another new (ish) sewing fan is my lovely Auntie Iris (more like my mom really since my mom passed away when I was a child). Since her son and daughter-in-law bought her a sewing machine a little while ago, there’s been no stopping her; children’s aprons, pillows and plans to soon make some bunting …… and this is all in between all the knitting she does!! Anyway, Auntie Iris mentioned she could do with a pin cushion, “IDEA” says I and set about making one for her birthday earlier in July and this is it:

I cross-stitched a design pinching a bit from here and bit from there! And then stitched ‘Iris’ down the side. I found some co-ordinating fabric for the sides, some pretty ribbon to trim and used a nice rose colour silk (no photo) for the back. And then finished off with a ‘rose’ decorated pin from ‘Just Another Button Company’
 

 

One pleased Aunt!

 

That’s it for now – back to rag dolls next time. For anyone who remembers the ‘Tilda’ inspired dolls I made (about 4 years ago), I’m making another batch, having had more requests recently.

 

See you soon!

 

 

A weekend in Wales, stitching, a rag doll and ANDY!!

And my latest offering is ..... yes you’ve guessed it, another rag doll. To be fair to myself though, I should have had a small cross-stitch pocket to show you too (just to prove I do make other things too sometimes), but, flippin’ heck, I seem to have forgotten to take any photos of it – what a plonker!! And as it was a gift, it has already been despatched! The doll and the cross-stitch pocket were both for my lovely cousin, Gwyneth who lives in South Wales, which is where I went last weekend for a 3-day visit .......... and what a lovely relaxing weekend it was too. Breakfast on the decking, in the sunshine and a view, blah, blah, blah – jealous? yup!!

Anyway, back to the rag doll for now. Doll doesn’t have a name yet, as that’s for Gwyneth to do, but I made her a Gardening Angel owing to the fact Gwyneth is a bit (or a lot of) a gardener – loves her garden she does! So here goes with a few piccies (taken in my back garden for better effect):-

Isn’t she cute and quirky!?

I bought a little wooden birdhouse and added a label, but this is my favourite part – a garden basket containing packets of seeds and a ball of twine!

Apart from a hoarder of fabric, I also hoard (on my computer) all sorts of images that take my fancy ....... lots of crafty/quilting pics, art, cottages, shabby chic stuff and vintage and these are vintage images of old seed packets which I nicked from somewhere or other ages ago. So I reduced them down to size, printed them out and cut an area around them, which I then folded up into little envelopes! And then, just for added reality, before sealing them down, I put a few grains of rice into each seed packet, so when you give them a little shake, they sound like seeds .......... “how old” I hear you say LOL - don’t care though:0)

I do hope you like her – I was very pleased with how she turned out.

A lovely part of our weekend however, was realising that I have been a bit of an inspiration to my cousin in that she has started to take quite an interest in sewing. Up to now, Gwyneth has done quite a lot of card and jewellery making, but no sewing – sew much sew (get it LOL), she is all but giving up the card making. And to really throw her in at the deep end, we went along to a gorgeous fabric shop only 30 minutes or so from her house (wish it was so close to mine!!) called Cross Patch. There’s actually two shops together – Cross-Patch is for patchwork/quilting supplies and the other shop is called Polstitches, which is all cross-stitching/embroidery supplies – both tucked away on farmland in the depths of South Wales ....... lovely!! WELL, Gwyneth was like a child in a sweet shop!! She wanted to buy just about everything – we all understand that though don’t we? And I nearly had to call the paramedics when the nice lady totted up her ‘few’ purchases – her face was a picture ....... perhaps that’s what they call a baptism of fire!!! Te he he.

Of course, I made a few purchases too (couldn’t not could I?). One of them being a ‘Hatched and Patched’ stitchery, particularly as Gwyneth was buying one. So on Saturday evening we sat (outside again on the decking with a view!) having a little workshop of our own – thankfully my cousin is a quick learner and she soon started to produce some lovely stitches – must keep tabs on her though to make sure she finishes it. Must finish mine too of course, then I can show something other than a rag doll ................ oh go on, you know you love them LOL

The whole weekend was then topped off when I got back home (more than topped off really) ...... completely made my day, week, month etc ........... and that was our Andy winning Wimbledon on Sunday. Oh boy did I shout, scream, dance and weep – thankfully I had forewarned my new neighbours that they may hear what sounds like a crazy woman later on, otherwise they’d have moved right out again! I am just a little bit of a tennis fan you see:0)

Anyway ladies, that’s the lot for now

A stitchery next time – promise!