Skip to main content

Handmade books, slow stitching and more bargains from the charity shop

I'm still immersed in trying to uncover my family tree, but in between I've been catching up on 'The Archers' (George - what a nasty piece of work he's turning into) and re-watching the grim but compelling Scandi Noir series 'Wisting' on the BBC iplayer.  I've also been making a couple of art journals, using papers I'd painted and stenciled ages ago but that'd sat around waiting for me to do something with them.  There are certain crafty activities that're immensely pleasing and that definitely includes putting simple books together.  Compiling signatures, using a bone folder to make sharp creases in the paper, choosing fabric or a printed paper for the covers.  If I can get my act together I want to make three as Christmas presents, but with December just around the corner I really need to get a wiggle on.  
I'm also sewing another Jude Hill inspired piece of slow stitching.  A moon in a starry sky.  It's going to be a little wall hanging, & I've lots of tiny metal bells - saved from a broken Christmas decoration - to sew along the base of it, so it'll make a jingling noise if you brush past it.  
I'm still really enjoying 'The Girl in the Blue Dress' by Gaynor Arnold, and managed to add another four books to my never-dwindling-too-much pile of charity shop books waiting To-Be-Read.  I've read a couple of Janice Hallett books before, and they're very cleverly plotted, but don't think I've read anything by the other authors.  
I also spent four quid on this charity shop bargain, and I've been after a small bag with a crossbody strap for ages.  I'd wanted something I could use when I go out for a walk.  To carry the essentials - phone, house keys, tissues, lip balm - rather than trying to stuff them in my pockets and risk them falling out while I was doing a brisk circuit of the nearby RSPB reserve.  One of the charity shops I browsed in had a beautiful vintage Singer sewing machine.  Black with gold coloured letting on a polished wooden base.  I was tempted, and at £40 it was reasonably priced.  It was also certainly more handsome than its modern white plastic counterpart, but it's not like I'd actually use it.  So in the shop it stayed, and let's hope it'll make someone else's day to find it and take it home with them.  




 

Labels:

Comments

  1. Sharon15 November 2024 at 16:13

    I love your slow stitching piece. It's something I really want to try but have to add it to the crafts I'd like to learn list lol. Well done for tackling the to-be-read pile. I need to read more from my shelves!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Valerie blogs at rubykittyruby18 November 2024 at 04:10

      Hi Sharon. Thanks for commenting. My list of crafts-I'd-like-to-learn grows every time I browse Instagram! I ought to ban myself from social media for a month or two and concentrate on what's to hand. Hope you're well. Val

      Delete
  2. Vix16 November 2024 at 05:54

    That slow stitching piece is a wonderfully cheery sight on a gloomy day! At one point we had five Victorian Singer sewing machines lying around, I think almost every home in the Uk had one at some point and we seem to have inherited more than our fair share (and I much prefer my 1970s Frister and Rossmann) so in a fit of generosity over lockdown we left four of them outside with a note for passers-by to help themselves and enjoy them - they didn't hang about for long! xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Valerie blogs at rubykittyruby18 November 2024 at 04:13

      Hi Vix. I love it when people leave things outside the house with an 'I'm free!' notice. I used to live in Bristol and it happened all the time, but here in Yorkshire people aren't quite so inclined. Though I do see boxes of windfall apples at that time of year.
      I'm tempted to buy a vintage Singer just for the pleasure in looking at it. Daft but true! Val x

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fabric bowls & electrical cables ...

To add to my seemingly never ending list of works-in-progress, I've started making a fabric bowl.  Or should I call it a fabric basket?  I'm not sure.  Anyway, I've made the odd bowl or two before, like this blue & white one that I keep cotton perle in.   I decided to use upholstery material, which has both advantages & disadvantages.  On the good side, it has a certain stiffness, which helps the bowl stay in shape.  On the irritating side, the kind of material I'm using frays like mad, and I'm forever picking up threads off the carpet.  The bowl's a simple construction, and I've used a circle of cardboard covered with brown felt for the base.   It'll look much better when I've embroidered and stitched into it.  I've made a start on that, and appliqued on a rectangle of plum coloured velvet for extra interest. When not stitching, I've been catching up on my reading.  I finished C J Sansom's 'Dark Fire'.   Real...
Post a Comment
Read more

Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

  It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to.  Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate.  Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden.   I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday.  I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different.  There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city.  It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery.  There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery.   My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Another fabric bowl & what's starting to look like a craft room ...

  Hello on what's been a beautiful autumn day.  Bright blue clear sky, a chilly start but warming up in the afternoon.  I've been on a long walk around a local nature reserve, not wanting to stay inside when it's so lovely outdoors.   In the last week or so, I've been finishing this fabric bowl, and have started making another.   But mainly I've been having a bit of a change-around in my house.  I've hauled furniture from one room to another, clutter-cleared cupboards and bagged up things for the charity shop, and generally hoovered and cleaned all those dusty corners.   I'd finally made a decision about turning the dumping ground of the front bedroom into a craft room.  It's taking shape, though it really has taken some effort.   Larger pieces of material are stacked on shelves, grouped into colours.  Lower down is my Sissix machine and die cuts, and at the base of the shelving are beads and jewellery making supplies...
Post a Comment
Read more