Monday 7 March 2016

CREATIVE: Getting My Craft On

The last couple of weeks has been met with a super urge to be rather crafty and get my hands messy. Be it playing around with lots of thread, paper, rooting through tins of vintage buttons to daydreaming about a whole variety of projects. If you follow me on Instagram you might already be aware of the million and one crafty projects I seem to have on the go at any one time (and perhaps be sick of me sharing them) but for those of you who haven't noticed them, or wanted more information, I thought it would be fun to do a little round up and see how I get along over the year ahead.

So we'll start with crocheting!

The last week has actually seen me picking up a crochet hook for the first time in a good couple of months. I go through fits and starts when it comes to crocheting, I don't really find that there is a lot that I want to do with this craft but when that urge comes along, I gotta roll with it.



My mam always loves to mail me vintage crochet patterns of doilies, table cloths and random house decor that was popular, I'm just a sucker for collecting all the patterns I will be honest because I have nightmares of them being thrown away and lost forever. That and I'm just a sucker.

Anyway ... knowing I have a pile of old crochet thread collected from estate sales, I thought I'd get around to getting back to crocheting some doilies. I guess you might have to have a vintage heart to still find a love and or need for doilies like I use them, but with all the vintage odds and ends we have around our house, they suit everything just swell. 

So I'm working on a small mat from a dressing set, it'll be about 12" in diameter once completed (pictured above) and comes from what appears to be a 1950's Penelope pattern booklet called Household Crochet.



Rolling with the crocheting urge, a crochet flower wreath has been on my must make list for far too many years to think about. I finally picked up a couple of unused Styrofoam wreaths at an estate sale last year and well, it was time to get cracking. Using this pattern from Red Heart, everything is just made up of a collection of different flowers, different colored yarns and vintage buttons. All second hand, all being reused which I love!

As for the cross stitching, that's going as well as ever. I've started rotating my projects, working on each for a week at a time to make sure non of them are getting neglected, which I'm guilty of doing when I get my head set on a piece that I'm really enjoying.



So I'm working on Flossie, a design from The Heart's Content. I don't normally tend to fall for stitching people even though such designs are rather popular in the stitching world. But Flossie always looked a fun piece, she's on the time consuming side with all the dress details, but I love how she's turning out. 


Taking me back to the seaside is my little harbor town piece that comes from issue 237 of Cross Stitch Collection. With mismatched houses, little fishing boats and smelly seagulls, every time I dig this piece out it takes me back to all the small fishing towns of North Yorkshire and everywhere else it could be around the UK coastline. Eventually it'll be hung up in our bathroom - once both are completed. Like Flossie, it's a slow piece to stitch, measuring 13" square there's a lot of detail going on, but it's cheerful and fun all the same. 


Finally I gave in and added a third main piece into my rotation - a UK sampler by Emma Congdon from issue 214 of World of Cross Stitching Magazine. Again another bright and cheerful piece that reminds me of the homeland. It's such a fun design to stitch, I'm aiming to change some pieces around, I don't particularly like the "love" plate so I might add in some Yorkshire roses or make some reference to East Yorkshire and the like but I'm still on the fence about what I might do, or if I will.

With my cross stitching bag parked next to the sofa, it's a constant reminder of all the projects I would love to get done. I'm aiming to stitch an anniversary design for the MIL, lots more birthday and Christmas cards, there's a Little Red Riding Hood piece I've been eyeing and a super colorful "it's a wonderful life" design I'm itching to start. 

As always, there's more projects then I'll ever have time for!

Have you been getting your craft on lately?

Rachael

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