Dove from Above

 I've just come out of one of those situations in life where everything goes into slow motion and you watch yourself and those around you go into free fall. My husband suddenly ended up in hospital for a prolonged period and what seemed straightforward escalated into something else.  The good news is, we all came out the other side, but the last few weeks have been chaotic and challenging. There was a lot of time to kill so in between staring out of windows, I sewed up the folk bird pattern from Nancy Nicholson's Modern Folk Embroidery book.

The original pattern is a felt appliqué design with embroidery on top but I needed something simpler and portable so I used Sulky Sticky Fabric Solvy which I ended up loving and hating but I've now decide I would use it again. The pluses are that it's printable: inkjet or laser printer, and the stabiliser sticks on top of the base fabric - I used Robert Kaufman yarn dyed Essex linen in Chambray. The downside is I could feel the stickiness as I gripped the embroidery hoop - not good for hot hands!  I worked around this, outlining the main design and trimming back the solvy as far as I could and after initially finding it rather tough to sew through, I found it did a great job as a stabiliser as well as being an easy way to transfer a detailed image. I tested scraps of it before I started sewing to check it did dissolve in water and it does, with a little soaking,  in a rather magical fashion.

There's probably about twenty hours of embroidery in the finished piece.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet.  Probably a small frame, maybe a fabric border. The Cosmo/Lecien threads were from a Fat Quarter Shop Bonnie and Camille colour selection from a one-off Sew Subscription box I bought a few months back and I used the Primitive Embroidery act needles that came in the same package and I really like sewing with them.  I tended to use three threads of the six-strand floss at a time which worked well with the long eyed needles.  Embroidery like this with a printed design is the perfect distraction, it needed enough engagement for me to concentrate but not so much that I messed up and helped to pass what seemed like endless stretches of time. I'm currently getting everything back on track at home and feeling very grateful that we're all here together, you never know what's round the corner.

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Sew with Nancy at Saints and Pinners

I had a chance to catch up with Jo from Saints and Pinners at the Sewing Directory Meet up.  She brought along one of the shop embroidery kits  that she has been working on and it was lovely to see it in person.

 It is around A4 paper size and the stitchy areas are printed on a linen cotton base.  The colours are a beautiful combination and all the floss is provided with the kit.

 You can see there are a range of stitches involved and it comes with a very cute innovative idea- a little  cloth sampler which demonstrates the stitches you need.

You can sew and practice your French knots, lazy daisies and couching and then cut this to make a little reference book for future embroidery!

There is a bird kit - Easter idea maybe?  As well as the cat with a bird on its head!

 And for non stitchy gifts, I love this Little Town kit. The pack contains ten card buildings and trees to fold and glue together and the scale of it looks like it would work perfectly with little cars and trains.  This could make a lovely gift, it  makes me think of my nephew who is an arty boy and loves colour and design and there is the bonus of adult appeal,  adults would be itching to put this together!  You can find all the Nancy Nicholson kits here and close ups of the bird kit and cat kit here.

Easter is a-coming, these would make wonderful gifts for the crafters of the future me thinks...!