Sewing machine complete

You might remember this little sewing machine I showed you many weeks ago.  Well, I thought it looked a bit sparse just on its own.  So I decided to accessorise it.  First of all I found an old metal spool from a real sewing machine and added it to it.

Then I hand stitched a little quilt to put beside it.

I now have it displayed on my bureau in my hallway surrounded by fairy lights.

QUESTION - a lot of my photographs from pervious posts on my blog seem to have disappeared.  Has anyone else had that problem?  Does anyone know how to fix it?

Love, Liz

Vintage Stitches by Penelope

I came across this wonderful vintage magazine among my collection.  It is "Stitches by Penelope" from The Book of "Hows" Series published by William Briggs & Co of Manchester.  The Company were a transfers and traced needlework manufacturers and had dealings with the J&P Coates Ltd, thread manufacturers of Paisley.

It would appear that this was published in 1943.  The cover picture is just gorgeous and inside it gives details of how to do lots of speciality stitches which you might find on a sampler.

There's a list of stitches at the end and they are all illustrated with instructions.

The back cover has an advertisement for Clark's Anchor embroidery threads.

This is actually a very useful little publication and one that I am going to keep and I'm sure I'll refer to it often.

Love, Liz

Old home town cross stitch

I started this cross stitch "Old Nantucket" way back last year, but just finished it this week.  I am so pleased with how it turned out.

The pattern is by Little House Needleworks and is quite a large piece (249x153 stitches).  However I loved stitching it.

As many of you will know, I live in Greenock, a port on the River Clyde on the west coast of Scotland, so it made sense for me to change Nantucket for Greenock.  That way, the finished piece was so much more relevant to me.  The verse reads "To the journey's end ye roam upon the foaming sea.  Nantucket waits to see thy sails as my heart waits for thee." by Diane Williams of Little House Needleworks.  I wonder how many Greenock women waited anxiously to see the sails of their loved ones' ships.

The date of 1711 is relevant to Greenock too.  That's the date when Scott's Shipbuilders starting building ships in the town.  Their ships travelled all over the world, so I felt that was a really good date to put on the piece to make it even more relevant to my home town.

I hope you like it.  I'll get it framed professionally when we are able to get out and about again.  Can't wait to see it on my wall.

Stay safe and well and I hope you are enjoying crafting as much as I am.

Love, Liz

Making it up as I go along!

I wanted to make a cross stitch picture that was relevant to me.  I love all the American patriotic cross stitch patterns that are available and the pride stitchers take in making them up.  However, I couldn't find a Scottish pattern that I liked, so I just had to make it up.  This is what I came up with -

Bonnie Scotland - land of my heart forever!

I made a pattern for a typical Scottish historic tower house and just added the words, a Scottish flag, a thistle and some hearts.

I'm really pleased with the result.  I think I'm going to back it with the thistle fabric you can see in the photograph.

Hope you like it.

Love, Liz

Stitching and vintage tea

I loved this little stitch- Home Stitch Home -so much that I'm going to stitch it again in different colours.

It is a freebie (#bewellandstitch) from Tiny Modernist (you can download from their site).  It just took me two days and I used colours from my stash.

So, between that, some beautiful daffies from my garden and a cup of tea from some vintage china, it was a lovely start to my day.

Hope you are all safe and well.

Love, Liz

Be well and stitch

Lots of cross stitch designers are publishing free patterns for stitchers to help pass the time at home in these troubled times.  This one is by Waxing Moon Designs and has the lovely words Be Strong, Be Kind, Be Well.  You can download the pdf here.

I love stitching houses, so this was perfect for me.  The windows in the pattern are dark, but I decided to lighten it up with some sunshine yellow windows.

There are other free patterns under the hashtag #bewellandstitch on Instagram.  You can also find free patterns on the Keepsakes (American needlework shop) Facebook page which you can find here.  There are patterns to suit all styles and abilities - go and have a look, you are bound to see something that you like.

I've just started another - more about that tomorrow.  Hope you are well and that stitching, of whatever kind, is helping you to get through these strange days.

Love, Liz

Look out your leg warmers!

We all need to try to keep moving these days - although the temptation for me is to sit and stitch, if I am honest.  However I looked out my old keep fit record ... yes, record, LP, vinyl, disc, whatever you want to call it!

Arlene Phillips Keep In Shape System - perm and leg warmers optional - very 80s!  How wonderful is that!  Arlene Phillips was later a judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

Actually I must have been a wee light thing then, because now, if I was to put on a record and start to dance about, it would be jumping all over the place!  The neighbours might have something to say too when the vibrations from my exertions started their ornaments moving off shelves.  Those were the days when I could do this right through, only stopping to change the record to the other side.

Just had a look at the playlist - ohh, missus!  That could be misconstrued, couldn't it?!

Love the workout gear, but especially the leg warmers!  Those and the perm were 80s essentials!  (And yes, I had both!!!!!)

Love, Liz

Happiness in cross stitch

Happiness is walking on the beach - I'm sure many of us can relate to that.  A warm sun in the sky, sand between our toes, wind gently blowing and that gorgeous sea smell ... ah!  Wonderful!
Unfortunately that's not something I've experienced recently in person, but I've stitched it in this lovely Rovaris cross stitch pattern.

I loved stitching it!

Love the lighthouse especially.  Look at that little crab!  Haven't added the charms yet - will do so when I get around to finally finish it (join the queue)!!

Lets look to the future and hopefully we'll get to walk on the beach before too long.

Keep well and stay safe my friends.

Love, Liz

Can they be vintage already?

Look what I came across - (in a box, under the bed) some Postman Pat comics from 1991.

Aren't the illustrations and colours wonderful!

I remember my younger son loved Postman Pat - don't suppose there were many children of that generation who didn't.  I even remember the theme tune, I'm humming it as I write!

Jess, the black and white cat - aw!

Charlie Chalk - remember him?

Saw some of these old comics advertised as "vintage"!  Really?  I think of vintage as being stuff from the 1930s and 1940s.  I suppose it all depends on your age!

Hope you are all well - it's great to read all the blog posts and realise that we are all coping in our own different ways with these very unusual times.  Take care.

Love, Liz