A Summer full of Crafting Loveliness

So many crafts...

Crafting is really such a panacea when the world seems such a difficult place to navigate. The past few months have been a time of calming the mind with lots of lovely crafting projects and events. So let's have a look at some of the things I have been up to.

Tour de Fleece 2022 Team Spindler

 One of the highlights of Summer each year is to follow the Tour de France cycling alongside spinning each day. This year I joined Team Spindlers on Ravelry and I am really enjoying learning about different fibres from their general pages as well as sharing what I spin each day on the Team page. I very sadly had to say goodbye to my spinning wheel recently because she had come to a point where there was more repair than spinning time spent on her. 

That meant I would have to do the Tour using my spindles and I looked around for a suitable team to join and came across Team Spindlers which has members from all around the world with a great deal of knowledge and some absolutely stunning spindles. If only we could get some more interesting spindles here in the UK.

The Tour goes on through July and I hope to have a lovely amount of yarn at the end. I am spinning Falkland at the moment which is a joy to work with and, thanks to all the advice from my fellow spindlers, I am planning to make the yarn into a pair of winter mittens. You can see from the photo below the beautiful fibre from Friday Studios (sadly no longer selling fibre).

Gnoming Along

I've had such a lot of fun joining in with Sarah of Imagined Landscapes and her Gnome Alongs. This time we were making a gnome which included stranded colour work. She is called Gnocci based on season three of the GNetflix programme "It's a Chef's Life". I used Lucy Locketland's Woodland Foragers set of minis which she made specifically for this gnome along. What do you think, isn't she cute? I know she has a beard!

She joins my other Imagined Landscape Gnomes, Gnombleberry with Gnewt in his backpack and Gnorwen who looks like an ice cream.

Dandelion Designs Redwork

I have been sewing along with Mandy Shaw's Secret Society of Redwork Stitchery and Crafty Loveliness for the past year. We have been making an Alphabet Quilt and I am so pleased with the result and have made it my own by adding some of Mandy's fabrics left over from past projects. I also made one of her cute kits for a watch pin cushion which is proving very useful.

Cross Stitch

Here in the UK there have been celebrations for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and I stitched these three designs by Carol X Stitch which I put on display on the table in my entrance hall. 

I also stitched the very pretty "Red Bird Sampler" by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle and Thread. It fitted on a spare piece of 40 count linen using the called for colours of thread which at first I thought were a bit out of my comfort zone but now she is finished I am absolutely loving.

Well I am going to leave this post here and I shall be back soon with some more of the crafting I have been enjoying during the first half of 2022. I will leave you with a lovely photo of my seven month old Grandson enjoying the fireworks for the Jubilee. Going up and down to Yorkshire to spend time with him is so wonderful.

Welcome the New Year 2022 - you have arrived bearing change 🎆

 Like Janus:

A quick look back and then a look forward

There were so many wonderful projects during 2021 and I wish I had recorded them more carefully as I finished them. However, these are a few that I enjoyed working on.

The Red Manor House Quilt was finished and now awaits the quilting process

I enjoyed taking part in the Royal School of Needlework Postcard from Home in 2020 and found it a beautiful piece to draw inspiration from during 2021

This was the year of redwork and I joined Dandelion Design's Mystery Quilt along for 2021/2 which is great fun and includes lots of extra sewing projects

Sew Sweet Violet's projects this year have been absolutely delightful

One of the 'extra' projects with Dandelion Designs was this cute Bee Skep embroidery

Dandelion Designs again and a really useful 'extra' was this thread holder

Caroline Loves To Sew had a gorgeous Autumn knit along with her new sock pattern

As always I made a pair of socks to be given to someone in a Marie Curie Hospital ward this Christmas and this was yarn especially dyed for the Flower Power Fund which organises the sock knitting

I loved the first Sew Sweet Violet tiny EPP project and couldn't resist a Christmas version

Then there was a gnome along with Imagined Landscapes - who knew making a mystery knitted gnome could be such fun!

I won the postcard from Mersea run by my quilting group Ladies Who Sew having based my design on the metal soldiers which stand in the mud flats by the Strood (the stretch of road joining the island to the mainland)

Another 'extra' from Dandelion Designs heavily improvised to make my flower a lilac fairy rather than a sunflower

Hallowe'en stitching is one of my favourite things to do.

Hands Across The Sea Samplers had a stitch along for Martha Dawson and this is tiny being stitched on  a 56/64 linen count fabric

Sew Sweet Violet's "St Nick Socks" was a gorgeous test knit for my lovely friend Jooles Hill 

Another Hands Across the Sea Sampler this time Ann Morison. It was a celebratory piece for a Canadian needlework shop

Then there were all the wonderful tiny kits from Nicki Franklin of The Stitchery and this beautiful needle/pin cushion was a delight to sew

From knitting to stitching and many crafts in-between it was a year of many different projects. I signed up for stitch alongs and knit alongs and had such fun working on them month by month. 

For me crafting is a panacea and it allowed me to push all the stresses of life away for a few hours each day so that my mind could function without being overloaded with worries.

Then looking forward to what I might make in 2022 I have to start with a year long project with Alice Caroline which will be a Liberty Fabric Alice in Wonderland Quilt. I can't wait to get started on it around March/April time. 

I might decide to hand sew my nine blocks for this stunning quilt - slow stitching might be just what the Doctor ordered this year!

Cross stitching is going to be working my way through wips as I have way too many and the same is true of knitting and other sewing. 

We may also be moving this year so that will seriously impact my making time. I only hope I can find time to sit down and relax with my crafting in 2022 what with our new Grandson, William, who arrived in October 2021 also being a most excellent distraction too!

I hope you have lots of plans for the year and that you have a joyful, peaceful and healthy year ahead. Happy New Year!

William my new Grandson wearing a cute hat made using a pattern given to me by my lovely friend Lisette