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 ...