Tag Archives: cross stitch

Oct15

Vlogtober

Posted on by
Standard
Vlogtober

I’ve been enjoying October. I decided to dive into Vlogtober and record and publish a short video every day on my YouTube channel, Stitches and Slapdashery.

I learned the most important thing is to keep it manageable, both in recording footage (because you have to edit it at the end of the day when you may be tired) and in the final length, because many people are following multiple channels who are also doing Vlogtober.

Some days I have more to talk about than other days, but I’ve managed to be consistent with my publishing so far.

My phone became so clogged up with large files that I had to be brutal and put a lot of larger files in the Trash. Once they are up on YouTube it’s unlikely I’ll want to edit them again. But I kept the photos so I would remember to add them to the blog.

On of my WIPs is this bag, which I am crocheting with Scheepjes Softfun, a DK weight cotton/acrylic. I made the puffy flowers first from a tutorial by Hooked by Robin and then started on the bag.

The tutorial is here.

The size of the bag will be dictated by the yarn I have and how it looks on the hook. I have made quite a bit of progress up the sides since taking the above photo.

I went a little nuts with this cellphone zipper pouch. It’s a tutorial from My Passion Crafts.

The first two are for gifts. It’s a good design, really useful for a phone in the front pocket and room for some money, cards, keys or whatever in the zippered compartment.

This project bag was made following a tutorial from Little Drops of Wonderful.

I made it blingy because I’m going to send it to her for a Strictly Sockalong prize.

New additions to the stash were acquired at Thread and Paper in Salmon Arm, BC. If I owned a store, I’d want it to look just like that one. It’s gorgeous! Packed with quilts, fabric, yarn, samples, thread, embroidery floss, patterns, you name it. I went around the store at least twice as I had lots of time to browse while my husband did the job he was in town for (I accompanied him on his work trip for the day).

Yesterday I had lunch with friends and spent the rest of the day reading. I really must get out into the beautiful fall day today and get some fresh air and exercise! The weather has been so mild. We haven’t turned the heating on yet.

I hope your October is going well and that you are enjoying some quality time with yarn or fabric. I’ll come back at the end of the month with another roundup of what I’ve been doing. See you then.

Sep24

I love fall!

Posted on by
Standard
I love fall!

Reasons to love autumn/fall:

Not so bloody hot.

Nights are cool.

Evenings are drawing in.

Socks and sweaters.

Friends can come over and not die of heat exhaustion.

Rain (hopefully).

Long walks outdoors without burning up.

Fleece pajamas.

I could go on. I think September might be my favourite month.

I’ve made a few things in the last week. Some have been for work. I brought home a preprinted cotton  panel and sewed up these trick or treat bags. After I hung them up at work, the fabric sold in a flash.

Today I sewed these stockings from another panel and will take them to the store tomorrow for display.

The sewing pattern I mentioned last time has now been transformed into this:

It looks a bit disproportionate because it’s on a decorative mannequin which is way smaller than I am. But this one will return to me for keepsies once it’s hung at the store for a month.

From the pile of yarn I showed you in my last post, I made these:

A beanie of my own design and a teeny elephant  https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/amigurumi-elephant-25

To accompany these little gifts all the way over the Atlantic I cross-stitched another elephant and glued it to a card.

And from a <ahem> yarn purchase at work because it went on clearance, I have started crocheting dishcloths with a scrubby centre like the ones I made a while back. They are great in the kitchen.

I hope you too are enjoying the season you’re in and finding ways to get out of your head and into your hands, as Kate from The Last Homely House says!

Apr17

Easter weekend

Posted on by
Standard

Easter to me means chocolate. My family wasn’t religious so when I was a child it was all about the chocolate eggs. Preferably the kind filled with other chocolate like Smarties or something. But it had to be Cadbury’s, not the cheap and nasty stuff that didn’t really taste of anything!

We never did egg hunts like people do now. It’s probably a North American thing that has been adopted in recent years by the British.

This year, we bought some bars of chocolate for the five of us. The bonus was that Superstore was selling their own brand of dark chocolate bars for only $1.79.

I was fortunate to have Saturday and Sunday off. Good Friday I worked but it was a short day due to the stat. Saturday we had a potluck with friends which is always fun and we leave full of good vegan food. And today Mr Fixit and I went out for breakfast. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we’ve done that! But we drove up to a vegan cafe on the lake and had a “bacon and egger” sandwich and a cinnamon bun followed by a stroll in the sunshine along the beach.

It’s been a cold April so we’re still wearing puffer vests when we’re out (what we Brits used to call bodywarmers or gilets).

I have been doing a bit o’ knittin’ this week, adding to the Freesia shawl. I am about halfway done.

And I have been refreshing my cross stitching skills, having fun with a bit of embroidery with, shall we say, mature content!

I used the alphabet out of that book in the photo which I have owned for about 40 years.

The bird and leaf designs are from a knitting colourwork book that I also own.

And today I made a prototype crossback apron out of cheap canvas based on the pattern in the photo. A friend lent it to me but she had already cut out the small size so I had to adjust things to where I figured the large lines would have been before she cut into the pattern.

It frays like mad, this canvas, so I just zigzagged it before hemming. I have the most gorgeous sewing-themed tapestry fabric for the ‘good’ version. I’m glad I made a practice one first.

I have had less than stellar news from the family on the other side of the pond this week. My mum has had a lot of pain in her hip that has left her barely able to walk so she is in hospital right now, and my sister has the dreaded covid! Hoping for better news by the end of the week, when hopefully my sister will test negative and mum can go home (they live in the same house).