October hand stitching

 

Autumn leaves are falling, filling up the streets;  golden colours on the lawns, ,nature's trick or treat!

Rusty Fischer.

Hello  you are most welcome and so lovely that you are here to listen to my whimsical rambles.  Tales of stitchery, fabrics and Threads of time studio.   Adventures, wanders by the river Avon and all the wonderful things that Autumn brings.  I hope you have a warm drink in hand and a cosy corner to snuggle into, I have a wonderful hot chocolate here with pumpkin spice and pumpkin marsh mellows  ... let the ramblings begin.

Firstly I would like to say to all my American friends who were caught up in the hurricane in Florida and two of my very best friends and family were, it was a sleepless night here waiting for updates, that I am so happy you are all ok.  When we had high winds here two weeks ago it was bad enough I thought but for you, it would of been a gentle breeze!  I know the clear up will not be easy but just know my thoughts are with you all and my love and hugs are virtually floating your way.

In those higher winds for us in Dorset I lost my rose arch and I cobbled together a prop of garden tools, well my new rose arch arrived at the weekend and I am glad to say it is up and holding my rose safely.  New garden lights have been strung around the garden as my other ones were a casualty as well, being around 14 years old and survived the move here they probably were going to go anyway. The pumpkins in the little garden at Thimble are out and happy in their place for Autumn and so it was time to stitch.

Log burner season is upon us here and I have to say last night was cold, I did not light it but snuggled under a gorgeous patchwork quilt with a hot chocolate as I heard that the weather is going for a last hoorah this coming week and temperatures are going to rise again, who knows but cuddling under a quilt is so cosy that I really do not mind at all with all the candles and fairy lights twinkling.

There are a few wonderful vintage fairs coming up and I am very much looking forward to going to them.  Two of my favourites are on the same day .. boo hoo but I will have to choose this week.  One of them there are some dear friends going to so probably that is where I will choose.  Then there is one near Salisbury ( which is only 20 miles down the road at the end of this month.  The Christmas one literally 10 miles away is early November so I will attend all of those, which will be wonderful.  Meeting up with wonderful friends is such a up lifting thing to do.  Catch up coffee's too.  After the Covid restrictions we had I never ever take it for granted at all. 

I spotted the set of gorgeous tins online and purchased them.  So great in my sewing case on the move and absolutely gorgeous to look at on my work table.  Little things go in them and I can pick them up when I am on the move with my stitchery! 

So to my projects updates.  I am still making beautiful English paper pieces and really can not stop its become a great thing to do when the dark nights set in.  Basting them together is so easy and relaxing but I have started to stitch them together to make beautiful pin cushions filled with lavender ground walnut shells and I am really happy with the results.  One is for me but there will be some for sale as well if anyone is interested.  Also if you or someone you know is a slow stitcher they would make a wonderful gift to yourself or a handmade with love gift for somebody.

I am putting the last few stitches to ' huswif''  I have made and I am thrilled with the result.  I think I may put some packs together on how to make them using a antique tray cloth.  Mine was all white with white embroidery and lace, which I further embelished with, yes you guessed it little hexagons made from antique paisley fabrics ... The tiny little needle case inside and a fixed pin cushion with scraps of beautiful fabrics hand stitched together and  a scissor keep and little pocket.  Great for on the move or packing in a case when away.

Life at Thimble is going into slower pace mode as in more time sat stitching, although I have been on some beautiful wanders down by the River and to a few stately homes of late.  I am a member of the National Trust so it is really lovely to pop in with my card and have a good walk.  The leaves are changing on the trees and the beauty of this time of the year is breath taking to say the least.  Always with my little note book to scribble and a sketch and then it can be transferred into my various journals I have for different things.

If a year was tucked inside a clock. 

Then Autumn would be the magic hour.

Victoria  Erickson.

Looking forward to visiting the vintage fair this weekend and I have a little list already tucked into my
basket to take.  Yes ready and waiting that is me. Having sorted through all my fabrics and selling some that I know I would not use these days there is room to purchase some more gorgeous bits of cloth and to gently unpack them and pop them away.  Looking at them and wondering their cloth tales that they could regale to us if they could only speak.  Imagine us all gathered and listening intently at their adventures.

My projects are all laid out on my work table and the little box of hexagons are by my favourite cosy place in my living room for later when the sunsets.

I have a few bundles of Autumn coloured paisleys out with me at the moment and I am designing leaf, acorn and pumpkins bits to pop onto another of my memory rolls. 

 I have taken inspiration from my trip to Paris in 2022 when I was there for 10 days.  Visiting Monet gardens and house, Versailles Palace and gardens and lots of outdoor brocantes to find treasures if you remember.  This roll is bigger than my first one and I found my feet on that one.  I have planned this a little more than I did on my first attempt and they are the happiest of memories.  Wandering around Paris is a pleasure and I will never tire of it.  The chic of this wonderful city where everyone dresses up, whatever the occasion and I fully threw myself into it. I travelled on the Euro Star so luggage was not a issue at all in a car.  

So this week I am really going to put my head down and stitch and I will be filming I hope for my You Tube channel as well now that the roofing is finished and the Rose Arch saga is behind me.  So many things I need to be doing and the nights are drawing in, It is sad really however I can not help but adore Autumns and the changing of the leaves, watching squirrels run around stocking up their larders for the harsher months ahead.  We as humans do much the same.  I have bottled fruit from my three little fruit
trees, ordered my fresh pumpkin spice and my apple spice ~ now nestled in their jars in the cupboard.

I made a big batch of pumpkin, apple and butterbean soup and there are several portions in my freezer for my busy days when I work late and only then have to heat it up with some wonderful bread. 

Sat here drinking my hot chocolate and talking with you has been such fun, now though I really must get on with some tiny little stitches.  I hope you are all well and have enjoyed my rambling today.  I will take a few photos of the vintage fair and pop those on here next time and then tell you a little of my vintage adventure of all things fabric, stitchery  and catching up with friends...

Until next week you all take great care and as always Happy Stitching!

Sarah XX

Pure cosy magic in a mug xx

Needles threaded with Autumn magic.

 

Autumn leaves are little gifts falling from the sky, making everything look magical.

unknown

Hello everyone, its lovely that you are here and have come to join me.  Why not get a warm drink, pick a comfy chair and cosy down. I have my warm drink  .... the vintage  whimsy ramble is about to begin.

Warm and sunny Autumn days have been so perfect here in beautiful Dorset, the Jurassic Coast is stunning  every season. The Summer months it is crowded but Autumn when schools go back but we still have the warmth is perfect to me. Wandering along coastal paths taking in the sea air and the enormous amount of natures inspiration .... it is perfection.

Sketch and ideas journal is my constant companion and walking along ideas seem to flow. It clears your mind of other things and for me at least, it enables me to think in creative mode.

A by product of sorting through my fabrics this last few weeks is I have been able to make up bundles of

fabrics in Autumnal colour ways for my designs. One of my delicious quilts is on my bed now for the colder nights and every week I change the patchwork quilt on the bed, which I love to do.

A bed without a quilt is like a sky with no stars.

Suddenly on Sunday though the weather changed.  The rain came down in stair rods and there were high winds.  So much so it snapped my rose arch in 4 places.  In the rain and wind I had to, on my own, cobble together a support system which consisted of two out side brooms, a rake and a path clearing tool.  Lots of string to tie some of the structure to my gate posts and large quantities of FRAGILE tape!  what a to do it was.

 I do not know how I did it but I think it was pure determination that my rose was not going to snap on me.  It has taken four years for it to climb across the top and I was in tears at the thought of it breaking and dying.  I have ordered a new and much stronger one to replace it with and this will be a two person job to untie my rose and get the other structure in place to tie the beautiful rose back on!!  My makedo and mend structure is holding right now so fingers crossed for me. 

I have also needed some roofing sorted too so its been a really horrid 10 days really and I have to say I have not really picked up a needle because of it.  This however today is about to change.

My needles are threaded and I have sorted some stunning fabrics out for me to use on my four projects I currently have on the go. The hexagons are still being made up for beautiful hand stitched and pieced

pin cushions.  A really lovely meditation role which will incorporate things like Monets garden and Autumn leaves etc.  Then a piece of slow stitch with couching and all sorts of wonderful things and last but not least my cross stitch which all I have managed is some needle threadings.  I am wonderfully busy but it just came to a halt. The picture I slotted in here is of a gorgeous brick press, when the bricks were all handmade and its on my large table in my studio with my couching threads in there.  I love it and I prefer to see it like this than hiding in a drawer, its a piece of lost history.

The weather is very strange here in England, well in Dorset where I live anyway and I am not sure we have not caught the back end of the Hurricane that Florida has been experiencing, often days later we get a little backlash from these events and it is no where near as bad as my friends in the States experience but here we are not prepared for it mostly!

My logs were delivered and my two log baskets indoors are filled as well.  As I said before my Winter nesting has begun.  So I can now stay warm, cosy and dry so sitting in my cosy chair by the fire stitching is on the horizon and I am determined to settle in for long days all be the light is fading earlier and earlier, that's where you will find me.  I will keep you updated as to how I get on.

Two weekends ago I managed to get to the Jurassic coast and foraged at low tide in all the rock pools and came home with treasure of the sea.  I found some wonderful seaweeds and they are nestled in my seaweed press now and I am so excited to see the results in a few weeks time.  In addition to that I found the most outstanding pebble which I am going to varnish because that will make it look like it is  wet all the time and brings out its natural beauty.   Then to my happy little find some gorgeous blue sea glass so all in all that hour was well spent in wellies with a lidded bucket.  My hair was tied back and what a really happy day I had at Lyme Regis ... 

Adventures and tea and not always in that order!

There are great independent coffee shops and I had a lovely lunch in one of them.  I also got to wander around the little shops both boutique ones and charity shops and few antique places as well.

Journaling has been on my list as I have been updating my quotes and saying journal and it is easy to find words or quotes for me to use on here and in my sewing as well.  I make some up as well and they are all now in a journal in sections and just ready to be used and of course added to.

My Threads of time studio had a late spring clean as you know and I have been able to keep it tidy.  Now the filming for my YouTube channel can begin when my rose arch is up and I can do it with no interruptions from anyone.  I do need to start that very soon.

I have been sorting things like a tin for all of my orts.  Thread bits still useful but it might be one or two strands of a colour left from a project they go in the tin instead of being wound round the old peg with the rest of the thread.  Also half a bit of thread for when you just need a little bit of a colour but do not want to cut a new piece off for a few tiny stitches.  I had little piles in my studio and now they are all together.  It is fun pulling out a thread from there and actually they look like a piece of art to me as well in their own right.

..

A while ago now I started making up squares to make a rice bag or two and I love using up beautiful strips of fabric for them.  I love that the fabric strips are all different widths and a little raggedy I am designing a moon series and a Buta series too .. for those of you who do not know what a Buta is, its in paisley fabric the little decorative almond or pine shape with a upper curved end.  These are personal

projects and so they often sit for a while.  I am going to be very strict about having an hour a day in the day light hours to do cross stitch and the same for my rice bag stitching... they make beautiful project bags that are a thing of beauty in themselves.

Today in contrast to what has been happening with this weather it is warmer and so sunny and it really is beautiful out there.  The garden is changing and I will be going to the pumpkin farm next week to fetch some for the garden decoration.  A walk by the river today will be lovely too and I can take lots of photos for inspiration on this glorious changing season.

Autumn is love poetry each leaf a lyrical heartbeat.....

Thank you all for joining me over a warm drink and being here for my ramble today.  I hope where ever you are in the world that its sunny and that everyone effected by the Hurricane is safe and well.

Please join me next time and maybe we will be in my studio for our catchup, Threads of time studio is a cosy happy place to be.

As always take care and Happy Stitching!

Sarah XX

Butas ...

And so it begins, Autumn days and little stitches.

 

And so the story begins, new projects, falling leaves

and the smell of open fires in the air.

Sarah Hawkings 2024

Tiny little stitches and ideas jumping around in my mind, thoughts, designs and stories contained with delicious fabric and linens.  Happy slow stitch days stretch before me and watching the birds eating the food I have popped out for them.  Robins visiting along with Mr and Mrs blackbird and of course Russel Crow who is even more hungrier it seems as the Season changes over. only this time he has company Mrs Crow, now named Sheryl and they have Baby Crow not named yet it  is all black apart
from a few downy feathers and fly's in with them but is partly still fed by them both and is learning to feed itself... I do not know if it is a boy or girl but oh so pretty and a little tame with me as he has realised I am a source of food!!  any ideas out there for this baby crows name?

The weather has been glorious in Dorset where I live the last week and I am so pleased. Sorting through fabrics  for the slow stitch packs and also sorting through for fabrics and bits for a meditation roll.  I have one shirt of my late Dad and the story is this, when he died of a heart attack back in 1999 my late Mums sister was 'helping' my Mum unbeknown to me and my sister and she gathered up my Dads clothes apart from what he was going to be buried in and took it all to a charity shop.  I was furious but in the dirty wash bin was one precious shirt which I claimed as mine...  I have over the years put it on over my clothes and sat with it on like he was giving me a hug.  Its been hanging in my wardrobe.   I am of two minds as to whether I should cut it up and use it in my personal sewing or not. It is vintage as it is around 30 years old now.  I thought I might add some to my latest meditation or memory roll ... can I bear to cut it or just keep it hanging unseen ... Any ideas please?

I am steadily getting time to stitch and catch up on my hexagon pile and sewing together pin cushions I have so much to stitch and this is when I always say ' oh to be a octopus and go for it! There does not seem to be the hours in the day with the nights drawing in before 8pm now and I really do need to get
some projects finished..

Looking forward to my sisters return from her holidays and a catch up, its her Birthday soon as well so we will spend the day together as a family and no stitching will be done that day.  My sister is not a stitcher and to be honest I have to go back a 100 years to find the grt grt Grandma who did quilt and sew.

Whilst writing this I am looking up and watching butterflies playing in the garden and it is so marvellous to see this late in the year.  I miss them in the Winter months and delight at the first sighting every year.  I just love to see the ballerinas of the sky, it makes me very happy indeed and always brings a huge smile to my face.

This weekend I will be going seaweed hunting as well along the Jurassic coast. I am loving the process so much and looking forward to framing some and some will be offered for sale as well . 

The Summer is slowly fading and Autumn is saying hello but the temperature has been glorious here. I know the weather is about to change down a few notches but I am enjoying each and every day as it comes.

My thoughts are turning to leaves and Autumn hours, pumpkin pie and hearty soups  .. I have started a sourdough culture and hope to be making my own bread. Her name is Peggy and she is very active and happy. I will keep you updated on this. 

Until next time Happy Stitching!

Sarah XX

Threads of time with Autumn hues.

 

A fallen leaf is nothing more than

 a Summer's  wave goodbye.

unknown

I have been noticing subtle differences in colours, Autumn is here in Dorset and there is a different smell in the air, no longer roses and lavenders but a crispness is there.  The beauty of the odd leaf now dancing to the ground and spider webs visible with morning dew.  

Earlier this year I purchased some wonderful threads on Etsy that have been curated for Autumn and blackberries, I have waited until now to do a design to use them and I am in the middle of the design. I keep looking at these threads with wonder, they blend so beautifully and I am spoilt for choice.

They are wonderful and I feel honoured to be able to use them in my design.  They are hand wound around little cardboard tubes and ready just to cut the desired length and squeal Autumn! what do you think? 

It was earlier in the year but when I saw them I thought to myself ah in the Autumn they will do nicely and possibly will not still be available and I am so very pleased that I did.  A whole design will centre itself around these jewels .. 

Also time to make some cinnamon cookies and it makes the cottage smell so lovely and they are a real treat with a fresh coffee mid morning.  The pumpkin farm will be open down the road soon as well and I
will go find some for the garden and inside, I have seen some great ideas with some white pumpkins and it really makes the little garden pop with colour and interest this time of year along with chrysanthemum bush plants and takes you through until early December when the little garden looks bear... But all the fairy lights I have out there soon brightens the early dark evenings .

Missing my sister I am keeping myself busy and also getting the garden looking lovely for when she gets back she will be over for a walk and a coffee and I hope this weather stays as nice as it has been so we can sit out there and catch up and I can hear all about their week away. I will have to make some cookies for her return.

Autumn  shows us how beautiful

 it is to let things go.

Unknown.

Having lots of plans for the garden, cottage and slow stitches makes me happy and although I will miss the long warm evenings I will be happy cosy inside and looking out on the garden and the changing colours.  I have ordered my logs for the log burner so that they are ready for the cold damp days to come.  Candles have been topped up and you know I am ready ...

I am still doing lots of hexagons in antique paisleys and I need enough to make a few pin cushions to sell and enough for my little wall hanging I have planned.  If you are a regular reader you will remember I was making few to sell and have lavender smelling crushed walnut shells to fill them with a really great gift for any stitcher and the Summer smell of lavender through the Winter months will be a great reminder of Summer days.

Treasure hunting and truffling last week and I found this beautiful antique Coates wooden box that their sales teams used to give to haberdashery shops for stocking their threads, It is so beautiful and to my delight filled with Coates threads as well.  The regular readers will remember my dear ex neighbour that passed away.  This was at my old home not here at the cottage.

 He worked for Coates all his working life and I would show him what I found and we would have a warm drink and he would tell me about all the threads they sold and the years they came out.  I simply loved that man and

found his company really great and very interesting to a hand sewer like me.  He told me of a thread that they made and in his opinion should never been made it was rubbish and to my delight in this box there it was, one of those threads ... I actually laughed out loud you know and it will sit on my shelf in my studio with the other one I have not been able to part with. I consider myself all the richer for having the luck to have had him as a neighbour and so knowledgeable about threads and sewing.

This morning early I was sorting out my antique French linen armoire It is beautiful and at the top I keep all my linen sheets, these are cut up for the bases of all my work. I wanted to just check them all because a friend had said she had found moth nibbles on some of her things and so I thought ok best look.  I can report there are none and that I do keep little wooden hearts which are cedar wood and have them in all my drawers and cupboards just in case and it seems that they are doing there job,

 I renewed them with spray and we are all good. Good job done I think.  I do get a little distracted with doing this because some linen or fabric catches my attention or a memory and I linger over pieces to be honest, It takes me a little longer than it should .  It is nice to collect memories along the way though
isn't it ?

When I was sorting out my studio for Autumn my little mice were popped out and they decided to settle down with some beautiful antique mill spools and bobbins and near some candles and fabric pumpkins.  They are on my large work table out there for the Autumn and then they come in in the Winter onto my kitchen dresser for Christmas and Valentines. I did say smile when I took the photo! little rascals... please excuse my whimsey and imagination ..

This week as well I have been happily sorting things in the cottage, getting rid of clothes I no longer wear, clearing the airing cupboard and its all now neatly folded in into bed sets and all happily accessible and tidy. I have changed the throws and cushion to Autumn and generally have had a late Summer kind of spring clean.  It feels so good to get things sorted.  The time last year I spent with my Mum meant everything here got messy and shoved here and there, I had no time and believe me I would do it again for her, I would, but now I have sorted the cottage and everything has a place and anything not needed or used has gone makes mind so much clearer. 

One of the days sorting I finished around 6pm and then had a shower at this point I felt hungry and thirsty... realising I had only had 2 coffees and a bottle of water all day and had forgotten to actually eat so after my shower I made myself a meal and sat and cosied up in front of the tv and watched a film. I didn't stitch anything that day or evening I just sat.  It felt great to achieved some order.

This week the slow stitch fabric packs are being put together I am not sure how many will be available three people said yes please but I have limited amounts of the antique French fabrics per pack and the price will depend on what I paid for each piece of fabric cut up into squares of each, so do let me know if you are interested I think 10 packs will be made but not sure until I measure them out. It will be first come first served basis ...

Thank goodness the rain has stopped today it has been raining non stop for 5 days and several times I have got soaked through to my skin! The garden has had a jolly good soak so that is good but it is soggy and I would like to start drying out my table and chairs to tuck away for another year.

I hope you have enjoyed my rambles and that you will join me again next week, there will be a little message on here about the packs and where to purchase them on Facebook page.

As always take care of you and Happy Stitching!

Sarah XX

September slow stitches.

 

By all these lovely tokens September days are here. 

 With Summer's best of weather and Autumn's best of cheer.

Helen Hunt Jackson.

Welcome September, where has this year gone? Autumn is my favourite month as you all know but still not ready for the nights to draw in and be dark by 4pm so I am really making the most of the next few weeks.  September I feel is the in between month where we can still have lovely warm weather but you have a feel of Autumn  and you can smell it in the air, and so here at Thimble cottage the season is changing in the cottage.

September the Autumn wreath goes on the front door,  Candles change over.  Throws and cushions  are now Autumn related too and my precious glass pumpkins our out.  Fresh Autumn flowers are those kind of colours and really the food menu at home starts to change as the produce in the shops and farmers markets catch up with me!

This is the month that my cross stitch pattern I purchased will get started, I do not expect it finished until next Autumn because this is a personal project for the cottage but I am excited to watch it grow. I would like to get on with my little hexagon wall hanging as well and I can stitch these when the light fades so that will be a evening stitch project.  As for the cross stitch I will set aside an hour or a little more to it daily in the daylight hours.

I have so many more ideas for designs this year and that is going to be fun seeing how they stitch up.  There will be samplers framed for the wall and some journal covers I believe but we will see how they come along and speak to me as slow stitching does.  I tell them they might be treasures of the future and someone in a 100 years from now will wonder who stitched them and why ...

If a year was tucked inside of a clock,

 then Autumn would be the magic hour.

Victoria Erickson

Having lots of plans for the darker months of the year helps me deal with it.  There a few more beautiful vintage fairs in September, November and into early December and I am determined to enjoy those before they stop until Spring next year.

I am also sorting out slow stitch packs for anyone who is interested they will be mixed beautiful fabrics
and be made as packs and I am sure you will not be disappointed at all.  It will be my last fabric sale of this year I should suspect  I will let you all know on here and on my two face book pages.  If you are interested in this event and would like to know more please leave a message on here or face book.  A little slow stitch pack might be just what you or someone you know could do with over the next few months too.

They will be wrapped beautifully and a little surprise as you will not know what exactly is in there. Sometimes a surprise gift to yourself or for someone special is just what is needed.

The Threads of Time studio is my little work space and I do love to work in there, I have it all cosy and there are candles there too and I will be making that Autumnal.  Some days if it is awful weather I do stay inside my cottage and work on my dinning room table as I do not have a restroom in there so running up and down to the cottage and getting wet does not appeal on some days.  So I get a project basket in and cosy down to listen to the rain but stay warm and dry.

As long as Autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, 

canvas and colours enough to paint the beautiful things I see.

Vincent Van Gogh

I love the quote above and understand completely in what he was saying because the beauty of this season is breath taking, everywhere you look and walk it astonishes me and I snap away with my camera and pick up little bits like acorns, fir combs, seed heads and leaves to take back and sketch for ideas.  Walking in Autumn is very fruitful for treasures.

This month I have bought a ticket to go to the American Museum just outside of Bath to enjoy a wander around at the stunning quilts and enjoy a talk as well.  The museum also has a really outstanding gift shop which holds American bits that you can not buy anywhere else here ( their words not mine ) so I thought I might start a little Christmas Shopping ( I know but whilst I am there it would be silly not to at least look for a ideal gift whilst there) 

Often I will meet my Sister and walk with her and her dog. Play fetch the stick and chat.  I am always snapping with my camera as well and it is good to catch up whilst being able to collect things and take photos.  This week she is coming to stay for two days, we do not live that far from each other but we often have girl days and although her dog is a boy, he is a honorary member of the girls club!! When he knows he is staying over he jumps up on the sofa as he knows I sit there and he snuggles in to me.  Auntie cuddles he loves and so do I.

The weather is still nice and warm and I think one of the days I will pack a little picnic and we can all sit by the river and have our lunch which is always wonderful with the still busy

wildlife and the late Summer flowers with bees busy collecting as much pollen that they can.

Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they do not they should,

 for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.

Ray Bradbury

Dandelion wine 1957

With my Sister coming there will be no stitching for a few days but I will be able to get going again after her visit.  The project baskets will be ready in my studio and although I will be sad when they go because they are off on holiday for a week and I really miss my Sister as we speak every day and meet a few times a week, I will just throw myself into my stitching projects.

Anyway this is my vintage ramble for this week and I hope you have enjoyed this  'you time'.  I am so pleased you have joined me.  Do not forget to leave a message somewhere if you are interested in a slow stitch pack, It would be handy to know.

As always take care of you and of course Happy Stitching! 

Sarah XX

Old cloth and soulful stitches.

 

Old cloth with new purpose, mending my soul with each stitch.

  My memories carefully added to the heart of my creations. Stitch by soulful stitch.

Sarah Hawkings 2024

When sorting through precious bits of gorgeous antique linens and cloth it is almost meditative and the feel and touch of each piece brings my imagination to go really quiet wild.  Who touched this, who stitched this by candlelight or if the piece is a little later say through the Great War and was the lady thinking of her husband or beau and of their safety and well being, trying to keep busy through the uncertainty ... I make up all these stitchery tales in my mind.

A pile of beauty sat in front of me with tales of all sorts held within and there I am lucky enough to be
sorting through each piece and putting it in a little bundle to go into a project basket for me to add to its story and repurpose lovingly to once again be treasured and loved.  As I said in my last post I am not looking forward to Summer ending this year and so a positive on it is to get ready projects for Autumn and Winter and Christmas (sorry for using this C word in August) and then positive baskets of projects await me to stitch away my Winter blues.  I think partly that this October will be a year since my Mum passed away and every first hurts so much.  I therefore have decided to be very organised.  I do not want to not know what to stitch and go into a little depression over it.  It will be a case of thinking what project today to stitch because I am getting 6 ready to do and not including my hexagon obsession!!

August is like the Sunday of Summer.

unknown.

In addition I have as I said, purchased  a cross stitch pattern and really beautiful threads so I have that and I have purchased a few books for these up and coming two seasons.  I will do a YouTube on these I think so that you can actually see what I have purchased for my cosy down Autumn and Winter.  Pictures are great but to watch a flick through is better in my humble opinion.  Will let you know when I film it and it is up and running.

As you can see it's all in the preparation this year.  I am looking forward to Autumn walks with leaves crunching under foot and I do love Autumn as you all know who are regulars here.  I love the food of Autumn, cinnamon, pumpkin pie and soup.  Apples tarts and all hearty soups and one pot meals and I have a slow cooker so I can prep casseroles and soups in the morning and be out all day and come home to a warm meal.

One thing though is there are a few more Vintage Fairs coming up so I am going to go to as many as possible and meet up with my friends and like minded people, stock up on beautiful fabrics and have a thoroughly great day out.  Them come back home and lovingly sort through the fabrics and pop them away for future projects ...  I happily drive up to a few hours away there and back to get to one of the bigger ones and of course the Vintage Bazaar which is held in Frome which is only an hour from me. By November they have stopped and there is no more until the Spring so I have decided to go to every one that I possibly can.

August rain the best of the Summer gone and the new Autumn not yet born.

Sylvia Plath

Whilst the Summer days are still with us I am going to sketch and muse for further ideas for projects and capture the smells and warmth that Summer brings.  I am lucky enough that where I live there is a beautiful river and the wild life and wild patches of flowers and cow parsley grow and to sit there with my sketch book and picnic lunch is a happy thing to do.  People stop and chat and doggies come up and say hello.

I do spend time in Cheshire as well and I have found the most wonderful coffee shop, only its more than that its a hub for like minded people who write or create and I have made some really lovely new

friends.  I have found inspiration there and love my time there a few times a year.

I am thinking of curating a few little inspiration packs to sell for people who slow stitch or would indeed like to start.  I think with bits of delicious fabrics some linen for the foundation with snippets of lace and a few mop buttons and some threads. Anybody think this might be interesting to you or as a gift for someone you know please let me know on here or on one of my sites (facebook or instagram) Thinking it would be a lovely thing to do and sell.  Maybe you could stitch a picture, needle case or a old fashion housewif?  Make a patch to stitch on to a dress, skirt or jumper?

Anyway these are my ramblings for this week I hope you have enjoyed your cosy read and that you will leave some comments and let me know about the little slow stitch kits.  

Take care of you and as always  HAPPY STITCHING!

Sarah XX

Summer mindful sewing joy.

 

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows. Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows. Quiet over canopied with luscious woodbine with sweet musk roses with eglantine.

William Shakespeare - Midsummers Night Dream.

Mindful quiet sewing being done on these beautiful Summer days really is a joy.  Often when I stitch in the garden my mind wanders to my dear Mum.  I keep thinking she would have loved Thimble Cottage and being in my studio.  My Mum loved ironing ( yes I know, I did not take after her unless its beautiful fabrics!!) and because my Mum had alzheimer's she never saw the cottage.  She lived literally 9 miles away from and she would have turned up for coffee here and would have happily stood and ironed for me .. not only fabrics but any domestic ironing that I may have had.   My sister and I called her Mrs Tiggy, after Beatrix Potters Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.

 I try very hard to just remember her before her illness and the good times and laughs we had.  She would have come over with her little doggy who now lives with her Sister and they would have stayed a few nights a week for sure. Now though I smile at my peaceful memories whilst listening to the birds sing and the beautiful smells of a Summer garden and the sound that a needle and thread makes when pulling through beautiful linens and fabrics.

I have to report I am still obsessed with hexagon making and there will definitely be a hexagon wall hanging I just can not stop at the moment, the trick is that I do have to stitch them together at some point ( I give a little hysterical laugh to myself) the antique paisley fabrics are so very beautiful and that is what I am using.  My collection is being finally used in a wonderful way and not just neatly stacked in a drawer and stroked weekly!

We might think we are nurturing our garden,

 but of course it's our garden that is really nurturing us.

jenny Uglow

 A planned day to go to the Jurassic coast to go rock pooling for more seaweed after the bank holiday
weekend is now in my diary.  I will go and enjoy the fresh air and try hard to find a particular seaweed I would love to press and any sea glass that may have washed up.  Apparently a few years ago there was a
cliff landslide, not really bad but it unearthed a Victorian rubbish dump basically and there is treasure in them there hills!!  It went into the sea when the tide was in so it has been happily giving treasure for us hunters for a while now. I will go a little more prepared this time having bought the press and the book.

I am hunting for a particular seaweed and have smallish lock and clip box to safely transport the treasure that I find.  Sea glass is always a joy to find and a few years ago now I found a red piece in the shape of a heart.  This little piece of antique glass still gives me enormous pleasure and I think I might have it made into a necklace or a ring in silver setting .... It will be enjoyed so much more this way. It is a precious stone to me ..

Several projects on the go right now and some taping for my YouTube channel is keeping me so busy. My head is full of new projects to so I have been writing down my ideas frantically in my notes so that I remember everything and can transfer to my design book for later this year,  some Autumn sewing projects to curl up with in maybe October.

Also I have been writing quotes and sayings in my special journal for those.  If I am looking for words for a piece of my stitchery then I have a look through that and it is a time thief sometimes as I read them all and smile. Sometimes with a slow stitch project a lovely quote or even a word with evoke something and make that piece of fabric art a little bit more special I find.

Sorting through my projects I have been doing project bags and baskets so that everything I believe is needed to start and finish each one is contained and ready to just pick up.

In addition I have treated myself to a cross stitch chart, linen and all the threads which are hand dyed.  It is a beautiful Autumn one with a gorgeous crow at the centre of it.  If you have been a reader of this blog then you will know that I moved home 4 years ago and I had to leave behind my very tame Lady blackbird who I called Miss Muddy Beak and it really did make my heart ache, if only I could have take her with me ...

Well since being in my cottage I feed a crow who was just an abandoned baby crow I believe.  Now fully grown and with a partner now comes every day and calls me from the top of my Studio for some

food.  I love him and have named him Russell ... yes I know Russell Crow but hey! His feathers were all white and lacking food and how to hunt for it.  I am now proud to say he is very black and shiny and he does hunt but does come daily for some food before roosting time and he chatters away at me.

So when I saw this wonderful cross stitch pattern I just fell in love with it.  I had to order it from America and the pattern was in a booklet with other patterns so I was thrilled.  I also purchased some beautiful linen to stitch on it and all the hand dyed threads that go with it.  It is so beautiful and this Winter this is my personal project and would love it finished and framed by next Autumn/Fall.

I would also like to do a fabric art one to go with it and maybe a crow sat on a pumpkin with be just the thing. Now after 4 years my crow comes into the little garden and drinks from the bird bath and he also has a bath ( only just fits too)  We have mutual trust in one another and find its so wonderful when nature trusts a human.  I worry if I am not there but have great neighbours who feed him for me and although he keeps his distance he will come down to eat.  I can literally be home all of 10 minutes and he comes down and calls to me, he knows my car !

I have so many plans to take me through the Winter months this year, I am  though, somehow not ready

for it to happen. Normally I look forward to my Seasons and love the cosy of open fires and candles everywhere but I just wish Summer would keep going a few more months but hey I am determined to stitch my way through it.  I think its the long dark nights and tiny stitches are more difficult in artificial light I find.

Well its not yet so I must just enjoy it to the full for now.  Getting dark around 9pm so its still good really.

Well that is me all caught up with my ramblings,  So for now take care of you and of course as always ..

HAPPY STITCHING!

Sarah XX

Hand stitching, wild flowers and seaweed.

 

May your life be like a wildflower growing 

freely in the beauty and joy of each day.

Native American proverb.

We here in England and especially along the Jurassic coast line near where I live have had some really stunning Summer days and really hot for here some 30 degrees on some days and then the next day it
can be rainy, cold and almost Winter and well that is England.  On the cold days I will put candles on
and fairy lights and cosy down with my hand sewing and on the really beautiful Summer days I can be found either sat in my little garden or wandering down by the river with my camera and sketch book looking for inspiration for my sewing in nature. I have seen lots of kingfisher birds this year diving in the river for fish and nesting along the banks but as yet I have not seen the otters this year and hope they are all doing well.

There are lots of patches of wild flowers along the banks that are kept wild for wildlife and it looks beautiful.  It is so peaceful wandering along and sometimes I take a little picnic with me for my lunch.

Like wild flowers you must allow yourself to grow

 in all the places people thought you never would.

I am still loving my hexagon making I have become a little obsessed with it I think and they look so

beautiful when you stitch them together in little flower patches, well that is what I have named them anyway. I am going to make some pin cushions as I have said before but I still cannot stop making these hexagons and feel I might end up making a wall hanging with some.  I have a small quilt hanger in my sitting room and change them over seasonally.  I think a small wall hanging made from these really beautiful fabrics will be really stunning and they will look like flowers if I do some antique French linen ones in there too.  A great project for Autumn I believe to hang next Spring/Summer.

In addition to that you that know me well will know my favourite animal is a
hare, I just find them magical, whimsical creatures and I have been designing some textile and embroidery pictures with them and wild flowers and that has been incredibly joyful.  I love designing new things to stitch and with scruffy king of hares in embroidery as well pleases me.  I am doing one for me as well, it has to be done!

The other thing that I have started to do is press seaweed.  I have bought a seaweed press and I set off to the Jurassic coast and waited for the tide to go out and leave wonderful rock pools.

With not much planning as this is the day I picked up my press I scoured round for a few pretty seaweeds.  All I had was my keep cup and so I wandered around looking for a few seaweeds.

It was a wonderful hour and it was just exploring really so that I could decide what I needed to do this.

You obviously have to have your tide times not to get caught out but wandering around and picking up pretty shells and beautiful sea weed I was very happy indeed. I also sadly found plastics and so with a bag I picked up all I found and then put in a recycle bin it is part of my nature to always have a bag for rubbish be it at the seaside or a walk along a river or country lane.

Taking my spoils home and reading a book I purchased about seaweeds to I set about setting up my press and managed to put three seaweeds into my press. The one thing you have to remember is that seaweed takes a few weeks to properly dry and you have to open up the press and add more paper to make sure it all dries other wise they may go mouldy. The photos of the seaweed are my attempts to make pictures and I am really very pleased with the results.

A beach is not only a sweep of sand, but shells

 of sea creatures,  the sea glass, the seaweed, the incongruous objects washed up by the Ocean.

Henry Grunwald

To say I am thrilled with the results is an understatement, although tricky it really has captured my heart and it can be done all the year round if you do not mind a crisp winters day.  Just keep an eye on the tide times as I said.  I paddled in bare feet as it was a really beautiful Summers day but in the Winter wellie boots will be the order of the day.

With this new found interest I have decided to incorporate it into my slow stitching as well I think some hand embroidered seaweed will be on the cards.  I do not like it around my feet when swimming but I am happy with the beauty of it stitched or pressed and on a wall to admire the outstanding colours patterns and beauty of how nature can really take your breath away.

So I am going to go back in the next few weeks and collect more, I have some gorgeous old frames that are made from old chipped wood and feel that framed in those it will give a nod to driftwood and when I have a little collection of my own I will sell some.

August is now coming to half way and soon enough September will be here and Autumn will be upon us, now as you know if you are a regular here you will know it is my favourite season but I am not ready for it this year just yet.  I can not comprehend where the last few months have gone and how can Summer nearly be over and the long dark nights not far away.. this year I could do with a few more months for sure.   

My camera is busy capturing everything that I can with wild flowers, beautiful sunsets and warm Summer evening sat either in my little cottage garden or by the river bank watching the bees dance from one wild flower to another with sweet smelling nectar on there toes busy and happy.

I have designed some flower pictures and and am busy with stitching those right now as well taking the

opportunity of the light evenings that are now dusk at 9pm here...with a glass of wine in the garden with
my evening meal and then when the light fades its hexagon binding time ....

Life has been busy and I am in Cheshire every few months and have lots of friends there so I can go for a few weeks and take my laptop and stitching with me.  I am visiting different places, meeting new people and enjoying being between two homes affectively and loving this Summer so much.

Well I have have caught up on things for now, I hope you are all having a great Summer and enjoying the lovely weather and stitching.

Take care of you and as always thank you for reading my rambling and Happy Stitching!

Sarah XX