Tuesday 30 January 2018

The Gentle Art .. of hand stitching
















Those who sleep under a quilt, 
sleep under a blanket of love. 






Days like to day that start with a good old rummage in my paisley and eiderdown fabric stash have to be great, how could they not be! it is such a happy thing to do and actually it looks warm and cosy in there and very beautiful.  I could almost crawl in and curl up .... I needed to find a piece of fabric that I know I have and would be perfect for something I am going to be stitching so it was not just for pleasure ( although it is always a pleasure!) I am pleased to say I found it but not straight away so I had a good fifteen minutes of pure indulgence ... she writes with a smile on her face.

The gentle art of hand stitching is such a pleasure that sometimes I forget it is work.  Mixed media is exciting too when I use extremely old papers and envelopes with my work.

I am a history buff as well and love genealogy and writing and so when I get some gorgeous antique empherma to work with well of course my mind does a wander about who wrote it, who was the person they wrote too.  The handwriting always says education, therefore upper class in the day with ink and paper and of course the ability to read and write.

As I write this to you I am looking at the night become day and there is a hard ground frost on the lawns outside along with some glimmering frost on neighbours garages I can see.  It is like someone has been sprinkling glitter around and the effect is magical and so very beautiful too.  The bi product though is it is very cold indeed and a quilt is wrapped around me with a hot water bottle, which recently has become my very best friend in the world!!

I did venture out earlier with the crunch underfoot and my foot prints left on the icy grass and there is breakfast for all out there and the all important just warm water for them to drink or bath in.  We have two bird baths in our garden and there are two large pebbles in each for the tiny ones to fly on to so
that they feel safe.  I am only just now seeing some birds appear ... They are too cold and snuggled in their nests I think.

Today is mainly about sewing but I am having a phone call mid morning from a dear friend in Wales to catch up, its been too long and we have both been so busy and of course Christmas.  Laura owns The Quilt Sanctuary and I have blogged about her business before, she is a very talented quilter and makes some gorgeous quilts.  She also has a long arm quilting machine and sells beautiful fabrics from her web site.  You can look up The quilt sanctuary on line.

We will be making a warm drink and having a half hour chat and I am very much looking forward to it.  It is strange most of my dear friends do not actually live on the South Coast of England but further afield and abroad so our catch ups are by phone and in between that it is email.  This year though I am going to make the trip for a weekend  to see her in person.

Also today is an early mark on stitching as I really must catch up on my mail, mostly snail mail and I am looking forward to writing to my friends.  I have a bundle of beautiful hand written letters that I would like to reply to and so I am going to be ink on paper later as well.

As you can see my day is broken up into wonderful sections and I am very much looking forward to it. There will be plenty of warm drinks consumed today as well.  There is a post office run to send out some gorgeous vintage fabric inspiration packs to some customers and that has to be done this morning as well.  It should not take long but the lady at our local post office always smiles when she sees me and coos over how pretty the packaging is and we do have a little chat about making post beautiful .... if there is not a huge queue behind me that is.


Then there is my news for you all I am going to be putting together little embroidery kits and you will be able to purchase them from me.  They will be my own design and all you will need to do is use your embroidery thread to stitch them.  They should be available very soon so if you are interested in this then contact me by email at www.homespunstitchworks@gmail.com for more details.  There is still a little bit more work for me to do but I can tell you a bit more.  Also about the boxes of vintage fabric inspirations as well.  I have also started a group on here called vintage slow stitching if anyone would like to join here.

Anyway I must be off as there is so much to do today and I am over my time already.  The sun is out now and that means it should be a beautiful day.  Have a wonderful day whatever you are doing and as always Happy Stitching! XX


7 comments:

  1. Ooh Sarah, how exciting about your inspiration packs and embroidery kits. About time!!! 😊 I am definitely interested in those. Your day sounds lovely, interspersed with lots of different things. I'm hoping to have a good few hours in the sewing room today and then tonight I have a new knitting project to start. Have a lovely day. Love, Mo xxx

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    1. Morning Mo
      Your day sound cosy too! I will let you know about the packs. Both will come in boxes so nothing is crushed. I will let you know when the first ones are ready should be in a couple of weeks I believe. The inspiration packs will have some gorgeous fabrics in them.

      Enjoy your knitting tonight, is it for you?

      Sarah xxx

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  2. I am now ready to do some slow, very slow sewing I have just done forty-five minutes of pruning in the garden in the silvery glittery frost and talking to Mr Montague Robin, hung the washing out and its only 10am.

    Julie xxxxx

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    Replies
    1. Oh Julie well done you! I can see you are feeling so much better in yourself, I am so pleased.
      Our gorgeous robin was out in his red jacket this morning and chirping away but I was not pruning just putting out food and quickly as possible because it was so cold!

      Enjoy your slow stitching and cosy up. I hope you have the sunshine that we have today.

      Sarah xxxxxxx

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  3. Very interested in your vintage fabric boxes and embroidery kits. I’ve started machine sewing again after years of absence. I’m interested in slow stitching and looking forward to seeing your kits. Good luck and best wishes Rhian xx

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Rhian .. when the first batch are ready I will advertise on here, FB and IG ..

      I will be doing limited numbers of kits throughout the year around 30/ 40 of each one.
      Little projects to begin with ..

      Watch this space and thank you for your interest.

      Sarah xx

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