Pansy Floral Tile

This was a pleasant diversion and a break from quilts, and it became a rather an addiction for a while; 

I just had to finish this first, before anything else.

Well, it is done now, my Pansy Floral Tile, from a kit by Sue Hawkins , it just needs a little pressing and pulling into shape.

I haven't yet decided what to do with it, a cover for my fabric journal (a long time in making) perhaps? 

The size of the tile, about 6 x 6 in (15 x 15 cm) would be just right. 

Or should I frame it and hang it on a wall like a picture?

I enjoyed the challenge of using various stitches; I found I am somewhat rusty, not doing much embroidery lately.

Back to quilts:  arriving in the post, latest issues of my favourite magazines - "Quiltmania" and issue no 2 of  the new "Simply Moderne", also by Quiltmania, both are English versions of French magazines. 

It is time to make a pot of coffee and loose myself in them :-)

Thank you for popping in to see me and a very warm welcome to my new followers!

The time seemed to have slipped by (where to?) and I need to catch up with my blog reading;
so I hope to pop in soon to see what you have been up to.

I wish you a busy stitching week ahead!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2015

Cranmore Tower and little baking

I am having a real break from fabrics right now; the problem with those nice kits by Sue Hawkins is that they fool you - they look small, but they packed with various stitches and one just gets absorbed in it.

I am now working on the border around the pansy. This was when I discovered that I miscounted when planning the centre square and I have now few stitches to spare all around. This will call for some improvisation before I'll finish.

It is more than 2 years since we moved, but we are still discovering our immediate surroundings.

We have been rather busy with working on the house, but that is now coming to the end and we can spend more time being out and about.

On our way home a couple of days ago we stopped in a small car park on the edge of the woods and walked up through the woods to the Cranmore Tower. 

Unfortunately it is late in the season and there was nobody around there to let us into the tower; the lovely tea rooms below were also closed.

But we will go back another time and possibly take one of the walks through the peaceful woods.

This is an aerial picture of the tower and you can read more about it here .

Today's baking are Sweet Potato Muffins; the recipe is from Jamie Oliver's new Channel 4 programme

"Jamie's Superfood" and his new book "Everyday Super Food" and you can get the recipe here .

I changed it slightly by adding garlic, fresh coriander, ground cumin and paprika; very low in fat, 

they smell and taste divine!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2015

it is official, and I don't mean the weather

Start of autumn - time of misty mornings and cobwebs. We are having some glorious sunny days right now, although the nights are very cold; the heating has been on in the evenings.

There is still some colour in the garden.

The Editorial in the latest issue of the Quiltmania magazine talks about a study conducted by the

University of Glasgow with a group of thirty quilters.
The conclusion?
That this activity is is extremely beneficial to our health. The article is quite long, but I will just quote this part:

"Mathematics, geometry, accuracy, working with matching colours, particularly bright colours, which stimulate the brain, planning a task, developing a project and sewing with precision are among the tasks needed for Quilting and which make many million neurones work together to obtain magnificent quilts at the end of the process! Add to this the social network, the benefits of sharing a passion, 

the communication and solidarity found in a group, the challenges".... ..............."and you have one of the best mental exercise regimes to keep a clear, quick and razor sharp mind! 

No other activity can provide all these benefits!"
It goes on to say that from nursery age through to care homes - "don't lose a moment, put down the Sudoku and the crosswords. Not only is Quilting a more complete activity but you will also have the immense satisfaction and pride of having completed your project - as the sense of fulfilment is important as well!"

Of course, we already knew that, didn't we?

The weather has been too good to sew indoors, so I managed to stitch only 3 more sets of flying geese sets.

I have been doing some work on a couple of small projects, which are easily taken outside.

This is no 5 (out of 12) in Santa's Village set of cross stitch embroideries,

and the 4 finished to date.

I have also started stitching the Pansy Tile from the Pansy Collection by Sue Hawkins.

I already made the Pansy Needlebook from the same collection a while back. 

I love it, I use it all the time.

Thank you for visiting my blog and having the patience to read it!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2015

little treasures

The first new and FINISHED project of the year, a needlebook.

I needed to get back to my stitching, I have missed it so. I needed to make something small, easily finished in a few days. Yes, I have all those houses in the the Santa's Village series to stitch, but I wanted a break from them.

Then I remembered this small Pansy needlebook kit I bought from Sue Hawkins at the September fair in Exeter.

 I love the combination of colours and simple stitches in this project.

This little needlebook joints my other "little treasures", small projects, which can sometimes be more demanding and time consuming then large ones.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2014

Jóna Sparey

While I have been browsing through my (somewhat extensive) needlecraft library, I picked up this book.

I remember when I bought it, at one of the needlecraft shows at the Bath & West Showground in 2001, and I remember Jóna's colourful stand, full of needlepoint objects and kits.
Jóna's mother was originally from Iceland, and Jóna travelled to Iceland during her school holidays and was taught embroidery by her Icelandic grandmother. Jóna herself started teaching embroidery around 1983 and by the time I met her, she was running Icelandic Tapestry School at her home in Somerton, here in Somerset. But before I made up my mind to attend one of her courses, Jóna moved to France.
While still living in UK, she was running a small travel business, taking small groups of tourists to Iceland, to share her heritage, and she is still doing so from her new home in Dordogne.

The patterns in her book are very traditional Icelandic design, and the colours not necessarily of my taste.
However, from the embroiderer's point of view, the technique itself is interesting. Jóna tells us that in Iceland they never used embroidery hoops or tapestry frames of any kind. The technique she describes is stretching the embroidery fabric square over two fingers of left hand (if you are right handed) when stitching. The result, providing you can master this, is a square piece, which doesn't need any more stretching when finished, may be just a gentle pulling into shape.
Of course the advantage of stitching without a frame is that you can simply put your work in a bag and take it with where ever you go.
The projects in the book are stitched using Appleton tapestry wool on a double stranded 9 count Floba canvas. By gently rubbing the canvas in your hands it becomes very soft and easy to wrap around fingers.

Needless to say that I did not resist and bough a small kit, worked in coton à broder, but to my shame I must admit to never actually starting it. My excuse is not having to master the technique yet!

You can read more about Jóna here.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2013

cherry cushion

My oldest UFO, my first ever needlepoint tapestry, is starting its new life as a cushion.

This was a very good exercise, because this was the first time I stretched a finished needlepoint tapestry, and I realised how important it is to do this job right. I have not done it as well as it should be. My corners are not quite square, so the tapestry is a bit wonky and as a result it was not easy to fit the embroidery into a square piece of fabric. I will know better next time....

my oldest UFO, finished and stretching

I have bravely changed my header, as snowdrops are coming up all around in our part of the world. It is probably a long way to spring yet, but there is hope.....

My oldest UFO.

Many, many, many years ago I bought my first needlepoint tapestry kit. I wasn't doing much of any stitching at the time and I had no particular interest in needlepoint, I just fell in love with the design.

And so I brought my kit home and started stitching. From the top. First BIG mistake, as I learnt later.

My stitching looked terrible, and I lost heart. My new and exiting project wasn't so exiting any more. It got pushed around various corners, in the end it ended up in a wooden trunk.

Now, to end up in the wooden trunk is the ultimate in our house. It means "unwanted, uncared for, unloved". The trunk gets very rarely inspected, after the trunk it is usually a jumble sale.

Then one day, in the middle of the Somerset countryside, I came across Jolly Red, a shop owned my Kelly Fletcher, a needlepoint heaven. I wrote about Jolly Red in my 31. December post, so I will not repeat.

I rescued my kit from the trunk and in one of Kelly's workshops I learnt how to stitch needlepoint tapestry. Unfortunately, during my initial attempts I wasted some of the cream Anchor wool, used for the background and that shade was no longer in production. I had to use the nearest shade to it, but of course, it does show. Still, it took a long time before the tapestry was finished, as there were new and more exiting projects around, and even after I did finish it, it was stored, rolled up, in my workroom. Until today.

My oldest UFO, my first ever needlepoint embroidery, finished, washed and stretching, waiting to dry.

Cherries

It will probably live out its life as a part of a cushion cover, I have not decided yet, but I will let you know when I'll do!

Have a good weekend!

Jolly Red

For a long time I wished for one of  Jolly Red larger needlepoint tapestry kits. The price tag has always stopped me from getting one for myself, so I asked Father Christmas this year. And he obliged!
I received one of their latest designs, the Arts & Crafts Tiles.
Jolly Red is a local company, based here in Somerset.
Kelly Fletcher (mrs jollyred, as she calls herself) used to have a shop on a small trading estate in Hambridge. It was there where I met Kelly for the first time, on one of the courses she used to run from time to time. It was a wonderful day spent learning
"how to", I still have very fond memories of it, and of the lovely lunch next door, in the restaurant of the smokery at Brown & Forrest, which was included in the price of the one day course.
Kelly since closed the shop and moved down the road, where she now concentrates on designing her lovely kits, and promoting her business. Although a small company on the surface, I have seen Jolly Red kits in many shops, including large stores and there is the on-line shop of course. The kits vary in sizes, so there is something for everyone. Do check out the Christmas Stocking selection, a project for next year perhaps?
The kits are well made, clearly printed on a good canvas and include enough Anchor tapestry wool. They also run a making up service, should you need it.

As you can see, despite a busy week socially, I have started stitching already. I find this an ideal winter project, in the front of the fire. I even manage to watch the TV at the same time!

I did listen, Kelly, I am staring from the middle :)

Kelly also has a blog Jollyredstitches.