Homespun Stitchworks..... For the love of vintage

 

Blossom by blossom the Spring begins.....

Here at Thimble Cottage life is peaceful and calm.  Shoots of bulbs are slowly awakening and popping their heads out to greet the sun.  Miniature Daffodils are blooming brightly and the promise of warmer weather is upon us.  I have planted eight large Alliums in front of the conservatory dinning room and I have chosen several varieties and light colours, white, lilac, light star like soft pink and a darker pink. My hope is they not only look stunning outside but because they are the large ones they grow tall so they will be seen inside as well, dancing in the breeze on a Summers day I hope they look beautiful.

The sewing room obstacle course 

should be an Olympic event!

I have been on the floor in my stitching room upstairs and playing with fabric colours, patterns and little bits to go with them.  Tiny wee mood boards across the carpet.  I leave them there and keep coming back and having another look, moving bits around and it got quiet hairy yesterday.  Jumping over stuff

and a really rather fun workout to be honest.

It is easier for me to look at things from above and decide what looks best in my humble opinion.  Then when I have decided they are bundled to together  (each little pile) and placed carefully in my stitching basket which resides in my lounge for me to stitch and create. Notions and buttons are placed in a glycerine bag and labelled so as not to misplace tiny mother of pearl buttons etc.

I have a huge clear lock and stack box and inside it there is an abundance of antique goodies such as delicate hankies, lace, old spools, little bits and bobs of gorgeous things to stitch on like monograms and French laundry tapes.  It is a bit of struggle to get it out of the corner where it resides here, however the effort is worth it and with my head inside truffling around for just the right thing for a project it is my joy! 

The slow rhythmic movement of slow stitching is a calmer to the soul and before you know it hours have past by, in a productive way. However it is very sedentary so I do take a break and go for a wander outside or along the river bank.  If it is blowing a hooley then its doing something in the cottage.

This week I have been sorting vintage ribbons and my needle jar, all things that had to be done and of course it is always a joy to me.  Its like ironing, I do not care to much for it unless its a stack of gorgeous vintage fabrics, then I could stand there for hours some how.

I have a antique unit in my sewing room with little draws top to bottom and I am today going to go through that just to re-cap and sort of stock take.  This all goes on in the morning and then after lunch I stitch right now.  It seems to work for me.

In addition there has been some baking going on here, I made a apricot and orange tea bread.  There are

walnuts inside it too.  There is a honey and marmalade drizzle over the top with grated orange zest to just to finish it off.  I found the recipe in Country Living magazine ( April addition)

Its good enough to eat on its own or you can butter your slice, totally delicious I can highly recommend it to all who love cake.  A friend of a lot of vintage friends who recently died used to say ' There is not much that cake can't fix' .. wise words from a beautiful lady, inside and out.

Anyway I took some photos for you to look at, warning it will make you dribble.....  while it was cooling I kept getting little orange smells in the air and it was not long before a slice had to be cut!  there it is snuggled amongst the dresser china !!

Believe me when I say that the last few days of having a slice of this in the afternoon with a warm drink and butter spread on the slice has been delightful, its habit forming and addictive
pastime, so much so that I have decided to make a different tea bread or cake every two weeks ... then go for an afternoon stroll to burn off.  I am looking on line for different ones to make.

It gives you a little break away from slow little stitches because sticky fingers and gorgeous linens and paisleys do not go together!

In addition to all of the above I have been designing my courses and the application forms for it.  With food being served and snacks, I do need dietary requirements and food allergy information so that has been fun!...

As you can see it has been a busy few days here at Thimble and so it continues in a happy but busy week.

Well that is it for today and I will check back in next week.  Keep looking on here for twice weekly blogs.

Happy Stitching and keep safe....

Sarah XX