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