Stitching Pink & Weekend Treats

A few days ago I decided it was time to stitch a sampler for Daisy, so first I had to choose some nice shades of pink stranded cotton and find a piece of crisp white linen to sew on.

I've stitched this baby sampler chart before, for Sarah and Rosie, my daughters, and for my little grandson Charlie - all slightly different, with different colourways, but from the main chart that was featured in my very first book the New Cross Stitch Sampler Book. I love to hear from people who say they've stitched this chart themselves, with their own embellishments and how they have personalised it.

One of my treats this weekend were these bright pink asters, so I had these lovely flowers nearby to enjoy as I sewed - it was a very pink and stitchy time at my house.

Another treat came through the post this weekend - these beautiful cards and postcards from Pipany. Her new range is available here - and I was spoilt for choice. Now I'm going to write cards to some friends who I don't see often enough and I know they'll just love these pictures.

A few stitches here and a few stitches there and gradually the sampler begins to grow....I worked out the names and date to fit into the spaces provided (if you design a sampler chart for others to use you have to make sure you leave enough room for those who choose a looooong name!)

Cross stitch is a very peaceful and absorbing way to spend your time, I've always found...

I hope that you had a happy and peaceful weekend too. x

Flag Flying

Today's post is all about flags. The Union Jack design to be exact which has been appearing on textiles in one form or another for quite a while now. I had a go at designing my own and made this cross stitch pin cushion as a project for Crafts Beautiful magazine, accompanied by a little matching needlebook.

I rather liked replacing the usual vivid red, white and blue with pastel shades of the colours, and I used some of my favourite pink and white candy striped cotton to back the pincushion. The needle book uses fab dotty pink felt from Hobbycraft stores.

The vintage effect flag bunting has been hanging in my kitchen window for a few weeks now and will probably stay there a bit longer, until the next decorating craze takes me over - maybe Halloween or Christmas.

The flag cushion is one I bought - I've seen lots of them about, some of them in beautiful fabrics. I like this one with it's cheerful and pretty mix of dotty and floral prints. The tiny flag heart is currently hanging on the dining room door - I'm not sure where it will end up - I haven't found the perfect place for it yet...but I will!

Now I'm off to do a bit more cross stitch - beginning a new little sampler which I hope to show you next time. x

Nursery Rhymes and Picture Books

I love vintage children's books and here are two I found in the bookshops of Hay-on-Wye last week. The first one is charming - I especially like the little girl's dress with its pale blue flower print fabric and puffball style. I absolutely love the handwritten text in this old book and the mixture of full colour prints and one colour line drawings (done for economy reasons, yet I think it adds variety and richness to the book design).

The second book caught my eye for it's nostalgic cover but then it interested me for another reason too. This copy had been used by a long ago editor to revise and update the edition.

Pictures which were considered too old fashioned were crossed out and annotated with the word 'replace'. Even children's names were being updated too (though if it was to be updated again now they would be putting a lot of the old names back!)

I love this little piece of bookish history, quite a find for me, and I'll treasure it because of its torn cover and crossings out!

The photo below is of a Picture Book quilt, made for the grandbabies to snuggle under when they have a nap at our house - with lots of nursery print fabrics to soothe them as they drift off into the Land of Nod.

Hope your week is a happy one! x

Autumn All Around

Everywhere there are signs of autumn - the colours, the fruits, the grasses, the berries, the changing leaves whirling around, the golden September light. I love it very much!

This weekend I'm busy tidying the garden, seeing the family, washing and ironing the laundry from our trip away, sewing a new quilt and knitting my blackberry cardigan. And baking a crumble or two. Just really enjoying autumn things - hope you are too. x

The Town of Books

Hello! It's nice to be back. These pictures are of Hay-on-Wye - the town of books - where we went for a few days this week. Such a pretty place, and it really is chock full of bookshops! We spent part of each day browsing among the books and found just a few we had to bring home with us.

Some of the time we spent visiting little cafes and shops, buying apples from a local orchard and walking by the beautiful River Wye. It was perfect weather so sunny wanderings through the valley beneath blue skies and watching the sparkling water flowing fast between the flowery river banks was especially lovely. (The famous nature diarist Francis Kilvert lived nearby and wrote his beautiful observations of the countryside about the Wye Valley scenery.)

And did I find time to do something crafty too? Of course! I began knitting my Autumn Blackberry Cardigan, shown here against the Hydrangea Quilt which came with us on this trip. The holiday home had a deck overlooking the river, so a bit of knitting went on there while Mr P read the paper...and I did a bit more knitting in the evenings too.

I'm really looking forward to catching up with your blogs now. I hope you have a lovely weekend! x

Away Days

A quick message today to say that I'll be away on a little trip for just a few days. I hope you have a happy week. I'll be back soon. x x x

Simple Sewn Gifts

Simple Sewn Gifts, my new book, has just been published and this is an exciting time for me. I love books, always have, and still find it amazing that I actually write them too - such a big wish come true! The bunny picture above was one I snapped when working on this book. The doll's bed was from Ikea and I gave it several coats of white paint and then added a little red painted folk heart.

The book has 25 gift projects that are fast and easy to sew, so that you can then spend time being creative, playing with embellishments and personalising your gifts. I've included cross stitch, embroidery, applique, patchwork, paper crafts, buttons and all kinds of yummy little decorative extras which I love to embellish with.

The book has step illustrations for each project which I drew as I created the designs. I loved doing these, it was great to sharpen a pencil and get drawing again, then dig out my lovely rotring pen and mix up some washy watercolour - I sometimes forget how much I love working on illustrations as well as sewing.

The tote bag shown here uses simple patchwork and I made buttons from linen with a cross stitch motif to echo the strip of cross stitch on the bag. The buttons are so easy to do, and you could use the idea in lots of ways by varying the motif and colours.

I had to include some seaside images , of course! There are some beach huts in this book, and there is some seaside bunting as you can see...

Thank you for looking at these glimpses of my new book, I hope you've enjoyed it! If you'd like to buy it, it's in all good bookshops now, on Amazon, or you can click on the book on my sidebar and get it direct from rucrafts.

Now I'm going to make a cup of tea, and start sewing something else! Have a happy weekend!

A Nice Day Out

We woke to blue blue skies and bright bright sun! Could this really be August Bank Holiday? Yes, indeed, it was a beautiful day and the previous day's blustery winds and squally showers had blown away overnight.

We had already planned to visit an exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre, so we decided to take a picnic and have a nice day out. Soon we were bowling along through the green and pleasant hills of North Wales. Everything looked beautiful in the sunshine: the sheep, the cottages, the little villages, the woods, the fields and the picture postcard views of valleys and hills.

Ruthin is a small, historic market town with some very old buildings, and picturesque views.

Each little street you look down has a backdrop of soft green hills, whichever way you look.

They remind me of seaside towns, but instead of a glimpse of the sea you have a glimpse of gentle green hills.

The Ruthin Craft Centre is an amazing contemporary space which celebrates the best in modern applied arts and crafts, frequently holding exhibitions and artists' workshops. We went to see Smile, which featured work by some of my favourite textile artists - Julie Arkell, Janet Bolton and Linda Miller. There were other wonderful artists too and the atmosphere of the Show really did make you smile. There was also the added treat of a separate exhibition of work by the international textile artist Tilleke Schwarz which was fascinating. The exhibitions are both on until September 8 - and there is a wonderful shop and cafe too!

The sun shone all day long, we had a lovely time....

...and when we got home there was a beautiful sunset too, over the hills we'd just visited and our own bit of the Dee Estuary. A perfect ending really.

I hope the sun was shining on you too. x

P.S. I'd just like to say a big thank you to the new visitors to my blog who commented on my last post - I look forward to meeting up with you on your blogs again soon. x x x

Nature Study

When I was snipping little bits of colourful plants from the garden today to brighten up the house, I suddenly remembered the nature table at primary school and how I loved it! Do you remember having a nature table at school too?

Ours was filled with flowers, autumn leaves, pebbles, sea shells, feathers, seed pods, seed heads, bits of birds' egg shells and sometimes excitingly, a bird's nest or a mermaid's purse from the seashore. The teacher would write neat little labels so we knew what the various things were, and it would gradually evolve over the seasons.

When I trained as a textile designer, a lot of time was spent studying and drawing plants to use in designs for fabrics, wallpapers and other surface patterns. I began to collect old books with engravings and illustrations of plants and flowers as they were a great resource for designing. This old book, for teachers to use, was found in a Manchester jumble sale years ago.

Glancing through it just now I was surprised to notice that besides having the scientific information I expected, on the next page were poems that related to the botanical specimens too! I don't remember ever being taught bits of poetry in science lessons. I would have liked it, though if we had been.

So now I'll just say:

And I hope you have wonderful weekend! x

Seaside Memory-Keeping

The seaside has always been a very special place for me, since my childhood days. Seaside holidays to traditional resorts or remote and magical coastlines are something I've always loved.

A few years ago I discovered the inspiring memory-keeping craft of scrapbooking and it became a craze for me, an obsession for quite a while. I found old family photos and made scrapbook pages and mini scrapbooks with them, and chose pictures of my daughters to turn into little books about them. I created little books about meeting my husband, about my earliest childhood memories and family history. It was a thrilling creative time for me.

These little books are some I made to store my seaside memories. It's lovely to think that tucked inside these little covers along with treasured photos are words and ephemera to recall those times, small things to capture the often fleeting moments.

I now use all the scrapbook techniques I learnt then in my paper crafts projects for books and magazines, and I still make pages for my continuing family scrapbook. The picture below shows

the memory book cover I designed for a magazine project earlier this year.

How do you keep your memories? x