Sewchet

Sewing, crochet, crafts, accessories, baking, tutorials,


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Sunday Sevens #82

 Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series to show a snapshot of your life outside the blog. Visit Nat over at Threads & Bobbins to see how you can join in.

1. Mr H-L brought me up breakfast in bed complete with a ‘vase’ (whisky bottle) of flowers. Fifi is still curled up at the end of the bed. She is spoilt and has always slept on our bed – Tess sleeps downstairs and sulks every night at bedtime.

  

2. N0.3 Son bounded in mid-breakfast and proudly showed me what he was making downstairs.
  

3. My sister came to stay and we ended up in the pub after a nice walk. At the time we were the same age, but it was her birthday yesterday and she is now a year older than me:)

  

4. My favourite hen, Amber, was weak and not her usual confident self and all the hens were bullying her again, so we brought her into the house to live whilst she regained her strength.
      

5. Unfortunately, she didn’t recover and died peacefully one evening. She had such a great personality and has featured in many a blog post. We miss her dreadfully already.
 6. I held a Bunting workshop – here are the kids enjoying a half time treat.  

7. A couple of photos of what was achieved in the four hour class – pretty impressive for eight year olds, don’t you think?  
8. This little girl made her bunting for her little sister’s birthday present – how sweet?

 9. These patchwork squares came free with a magazine – any ideas as to what I could do with them?   
10. Yet another charity shop bargain – two brand new tea towels for 50p each. Not sure what I’ll make with them, but they were too pretty to leave there.

 So that was my week – The Boys are back to school on Monday so I might actually be able to get some sewing done as it feels like ages since I’ve done a ‘proper’ blog post!


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Free Motion Embroidery Workshop

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of hosting a free motion embroidery workshop for four lovely ladies who, very grudgingly, allowed me to take just one photo of them!

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The workshop was a birthday present for the lady on the far right and, apart from the sewing, included lots of lovely tapas-style food and prosecco – not a good combination and, yes, one glass did get knocked over on the table!

None of them had ever attempted this type of machine sewing before but, after giving them a run through of the basics and a demonstration, they all managed to accomplish a few little samples.

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If I remember correctly, the lady who created the brilliant musical notes below doesn’t even own a sewing machine!

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About an hour in and after much laughter and false starts, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and got the hang of it – I love these seed heads.

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My advice was to keep it simple to begin with and make sure the backing fabric isn’t too small to manoeuvre under the needle.

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All the ladies said they thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and could see how addictive it could become.

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I have dabbled a little, myself, with free motion embroidery, with things like this: –

But what I would REALLY love to do is something as fabulous as this! (image courtesy of DaysInDesign).

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A course with Katie Essam is top of my wishlist right now…..


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Sunday Sevens # 82

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series to show seven photos of your week outside the blog. Visit Nat at Threads & Bobbins to find out more. 

1. The girls made rag dolls in a workshop this week.

  

2. The boys made superhero bunnies!
 

3. Whilst No.3 Son was at a football camp in Taunton, we took No.2 Son for a walk at Combe Sydenham country park. We found a lovely pub, The Notley Arms in Monksilver, but forgot to take a photo.
  

4. Sneak peek of the guest bedroom redecoration project – now completed and a blog post will follow.
  

5. We were invited to lunch by a family member who has a farm and her little border terrier decided that Mr H-L made a very comfortable cushion.
  

6. Mr H-L and The Boys recorded the scores of the T20 final the old fashioned way.
  

He even downloaded a proper score sheet – what a nail biting game that was!
  

7. Homemade sun dried tomato bread, proved in the sunshine on the back of the sofa and ready to be baked.
  

8. Remember the little vintage sewing table that No.1 Son bought me for my birthday/Mother’s day? He painted it and I added a bit of bling in the way of a touch of gold paint.

 

9. The hand painted lines are very wobbly but I like them that way. A bit of gold paint was dry brushed onto the dull knobs, too, just to brighten them up a bit.

 

10. In use at last! I love it. Perfect for storing bits and bobs for hand sewing in the lounge and means I don’t have to hike up to the sewing room in the loft for a needle and thread. 

11. And finally……we drove past this truck transporting a greenhouse frame and spotted it on the front page of the local paper this weekend!

 
  


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Sunday Sevens #81

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series started by Nat at Threads & Bobbins – why not go and see how it works and how you can join in?

1. No. 2 Son went to Kilve Court for four days with the school and braved all the teasing about having my pink suitcase! (No.3 Son had a pirate day at school).image

2. The postcard we received from Kilve – cheeky little beggar! image 3. A lovely lady in the village picked a posy of flowers from her garden for me. How nice?!
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4. Mr H-L and I shared a seafood platter at the pub – it was lush!image

5. Fifi had prime position in the pub window. She loves to watch people walk by.image

6. Bagged these two bargainous ‘as new’ books from the charity shop. I bought the DIY one for No.1 Son only to find out I’d already bought him the same book some weeks ago:)image

7. This amazing cross stitch was going for a song in the same charity shop so I snapped it up.image

8. Just £6.50 for all that work – criminal.image

9. I reckon there’s at last a year’s hard labour gone into that.image

10. After a glorious day on Good Friday on which all the french windows in the house were flung open all day, the rain came on Saturday. It didn’t stop The Boys playing cricket in the garden, though.image

11. We spotted two pairs of extra long full length curtains in a second hand shop, originating from some grand country house or other. image

12. A considerable investment but a bargain at the same time. All interlined and lined, they’re such good quality that they’re going to be dry cleaned and stored until they find a new home in our future B&B.image

13. We stayed with my brother at the weekend and had cocktails down the pub.

14. On the way home we were faced with cattle walking on the road through Burrington Combe – not a usual occurrence and they were lucky not to be hit.

15. Mr H-L and No.1 Son started stripping the wallpaper off the walls in our guest room. We haven’t decorated it in nearly ten years and it was looking a bit tired to say the least.

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Well, that was part of my week, although I’ve got lots more to share in blog posts of their own to follow soon, including progress on the guest room decorating front. Talking of which…..back to the sanding down!


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Crochet Woodland Animals

Having had a number of knitting projects lately (remember all those bobble hats?), I recently had the urge to pick up a crochet hook again.

It would have to be a quick make as I have too many things on the go to commit to another lengthy project, so I decided on a little crocheted animal from this gift box given to The Boys at Christmas – their little fingers are just not yet nimble enough to cope with something quite this fiddly.

The “Woodland Crochet” box by Kristen Rask, includes a book, hook and all the yarn needed to complete two of the animals, one of which is a sweet little fox that worked up in a couple of leisurely evenings.

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I was happy because it looked exactly like it does in the book!

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I snapped the eyes on to the white bit instead of the orange bit so they stand out more.

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The whole thing only stands about four inches high and currently languishes on top of the pianola.

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The tail acts as a stand, enabling the fox to stay balanced upright with ease.

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The cute little upturned mouth appears to be a smile and gives him a happy expression – always essential on a soft toy, in my opinion:)

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I might attempt the owl next – there’s something about owls which makes them quite endearing.

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Of course, it’s Easter on Sunday – I wonder if I’ve got time to make the bluebird and her tiny chick?

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Sunday Sevens #79

It’s Sunday again – where did THAT week go? Well, I’ll show you in this week’s Sunday Sevens – a weekly blog series devised by Nat at Threads & Bobbins to give readers a glimpse of what you do outside the blog in about seven photos.

There are no rules, which is just as well or mine would have to be renamed “Sunday Twelves” most of the time. It’s easy to join in, so visit Nat to find out how.

  1. It was my birthday last Sunday, as previously mentioned and, because I share my birthday with my daughter, we went out for lunch on Monday to Summer Lodge in Evershot. It’s my favourite place – and now my daughter’s, too:)

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2. The food was amazing as always and we even both had flowers, a birthday card and box of chocolates given to us by the hotel!

3. My daughter bought me a gorgeous Lamy fountain pen in pink……

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4. ….and a bottle of 24K Prosecco!

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5. Progress on my lacy cardigan is slow which means there’s no way it’s going to be finished for Spain in May:(

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6. No.1 Son has finished painting the sewing cabinet he bought me for Mother’s Day/ Birthday. It’s much better but I still feel it needs something more. A bit of gold leaf maybe, to tie in with the gold cording on the inside?

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7. To quote Hot Fuzz – “What d’you wanna do?” “I dunno……pub?”

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8. Just LOOK at the size of those (empty) bottles of wine!

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9. On the walk home from the pub, we spotted these deer grazing in the middle of the afternoon.

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10. Our lovely cleaner hoovered the (not inconsiderable) dust from every single one of the buttons on our antique French bed. I wouldn’t have dared showing you what it looked like before!

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11. The Boys washing up again!

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12. The Boys after another riding lesson. I think No.3 Son will be getting new jodhpurs for his birthday….

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13. The hens appreciated The First Mow Of The Year. That’s Mr H-L with his head in the chicken coop:)

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14. And finally, I whipped up some sample bunting for one of the Easter Workshops. It will also be a late Easter present for our granddaughter:)

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Linen Look Cotton Tunic

This month’s Minerva Crafts blog post is finished!

Just click on the link to see all about the Linen Look Cotton Tunic.

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Sunday Sevens #78

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series whereby you show, in pictures, what you’ve been up to outside the blog. To find out more, and how YOU can join in, visit this post by Nat over at Threads & Bobbins.

1. This month’s Minerva Crafts post is a tunic in pink linen mix. I’m making view ‘D’. 2.   One of my less confident students finished this pretty square necked blouse. She did a brilliant job which should boost her confidence no end! 3. We went to my favourite place in the world, Exmoor, and I snapped these wild ponies as we drove down Porlock Hill.
4. This is one of the B&Bs that we viewed on Exmoor – a long held dream which we are looking to realise in the near future.    5. A cloudless sky made for a stunning day for a walk with The Boys and Mr H-L.

6. More imaginative boy-play with sticks found en route.
7. The first bluebells are blooming!

8. The aftermath of Saturday night’s dinner party – washing up left ’til the next morning. Don’t you just hate getting up to that?

9. I didn’t have to do it though, because the Birthday Girl gets a day off! The Boys made their own wrapping paper for my present.    10. Tulips – my favourite Spring flower.  11. A walk ended up in our local pub where I was ‘treated’ to a bowl of chips!12. No. 1 Son has sanded and primed the lovely sewing table that he bought me for Mother’s Day. Painting will ensue shortly…..


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Sunday Sevens #77

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series organised by Nat over at Threads & Bobbins – why not pop over to see how you can join in?

  1. Fifi curled up on the sofa next to a ball of wool and it struck me how tiny she looks in comparison.

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2. Bobble hat number eight was finished and gifted to my sister-in-law whose favourite colour is purple.FullSizeRender-75

3. Mr H-L carried a tired Fifi when she started lagging behind on a walk. Remember the dog carrier I made for her?E5C5A3D4-9732-4D94-B6F2-781F0825E3F5

4. We stopped for a pint on the way home just as the pub opened.0D611E84-06E0-419A-9EF0-AF8F0054E3A6

5. No.2 Son did the washing up for the first time. We’ve never had a dishwasher. He said it was fun….I wonder how long before the novelty wears off?FullSizeRender-71

6. No.1 Son bought this for me for Mother’s Day. Can you guess what it is – apart from being the perfect place to put down my G&T?IMG_3292

7. A sewing cabinet in original vintage condition!IMG_3293

8. Mr H-L and I were wandering through Salisbury’s back streets when we happened upon a piano recital about to start in a church. A rather wonderful forty minutes passed too quickly.FullSizeRender-73

9. Look at the smile on No.3 Son’s face as he jumps!

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10. We went straight from their riding lesson out for a walk with the dogs and The Boys did all the usual boy stuff with sticks picked up along the way.

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11. It was a bit colder so Fifi had to wear a coat to stop her shivering.

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12. Another day, another pub, this time The New Inn in Salisbury which dates back to the 12th century.

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13. Just think, some of those beams are over 800 years old!IMG_3290

14. A Mother’s Day walk with my sister and her family.

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15. The Boys had more fun…and there was a drink and bag of crisps at the other end in yet another pub!

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16. I forgot to take photos of the card I made for mum using free machine embroidery, so apologies for the poor quality of the ones she sent me on her iPad.

How was your Mother’s Day weekend?

 


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Sunday Sevens Special – Crochet for Calais Update

This week I thought I’d do a Sunday Sevens Special updating you on the progress of the Crochet for Calais appeal, which is ongoing for those of you who would like to contribute a knitted or crocheted square or two.

Lee Godwin is the nurse who travels to Calais and Lesbos delivering the finished crocheted and knitted items directly into the hands of the refugees. 

Here is what she had to say, together with some photographs that she took of the refugees with some of the handmade blankets and hats: –

“Dear friends, I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get my Lesbos photos of your hat and blanket distribution uploaded. These children were so delighted with their hats, even more so because they were able to pick which one they really wanted. The children laughed at the funny faces and dangly ears! Fabulous trauma therapy! The weather was beginning to turn and the blankets were very much appreciated – the mothers held them and admired the beautiful stitching – 2 mums cried silently in gratitude after I explained how they were made ‘especially for them by a wonderful group of ladies in England’. I will be going back to Greece in late spring to support the now orphaned children, old, infirm and disabled. A special blanket may just contribute to mending broken hearted individuals. I will happily take more. All my love and sincere gratitude darling friends xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”  

  
  

The organiser, Jane Wheelen, says: –

“I really, really cannot express my gratitude to every single person who was able to give up their time to help make so many squares that were transformed into beautiful blankets, including wonderful anonymous people who read Sheila Harvey-Larmar’s blog (Sewchet) and generously sent squares by the post bag full. When the idea popped into my head in the middle of the night I didn’t realise what a wonderful thing it would become. I have a big bag of squares here that will be transformed into further blankets. If you have the time, please, please, keep knitting and crocheting and forwarding them to me. Lee Godwin’s photos show what a difference they make to the desperate lives of such innocent but traumatised children. In a world where they have nothing, it’s important to let them know someone really cares for them and to give them something of their own.”

    

  
From Lee Godwin:-

“I would just like to offer my deepest gratitude to friends and folks who have generously donated items for Calais. I am excited to say on last count we had 200 blankets, food, warm waterproof clothes and hard wearing rain shoes. Not to mention donated money to buy food so that the children and I can make up food parcels for distribution. Your generosity is valued and appreciated more than I can ever say…..I hid food all over the car in every nook and cranny! Hee hee! We have arrived and children are fascinated about the increased police presence which I find as intimidating if not worse than ever before….but we continue! Love you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxx”

  

To read the original article, please click on the link Crochet for Calais where you will also find the address to which your squares can be sent.

A previous update can also be read here, Crochet for Calais Update in which you can see some of the blankets that readers of this blog contributed to.

As you can see, the hats and blankets that we make actually do get to the refugees quickly and are so much appreciated by both adults and children alike. If you can spare the time to knit or crochet a 12″ square (or a few), then please do as it is an ongoing effort for as long as there is a crisis.

I’m off to cast on my next square right now….!