Slow Stitching and Vintage Dresser Runners

Slow stitching has become popular among creatives lately.  A fabric background is used and is embellished with  pieces of embroidery, fabric, lace, beads, and lots of intricate embroidery stitches to create a unique work of art. For me, it's much like "crazy quilting"

  I have started  for myself, a work of slow stitching, but wanted to share with you the idea of using vintage embroidered dresser runners as the background fabric.  The dresser runner in the photo has lovely lace edging and lovely vintage embroidery, which I did not want to cover up........

but as you see in the photo, it has a burn mark that cannot be laundered out. However, the runner itself, is made of good quality linen.

  Using bits and pieces of fabric and pieces of cut out embroidery from vintage embroidered linens, I covered up the burn mark. I think it's a great way to use vintage dresser runners that are still pretty and in fairly good shape.  I hope to make this into a unique and one of a kind stitched piece. The pieces and the layout may change as I begin to stitch.

I started on one corner.......I  embroider a spider web, appliqued and embroidered on the rose motif, and embroidered a few edges on fabric pieces................and I still have a lot of stitches to do.....as the term goes........"slow stitching" .  I will work on this as the mood strikes me.........on days when I just want to sit in my stitching chair and "slow stitch". 

Are you working on a slow stitch project?  I would love to hear!

 

Something pretty for coffee or tea

 

When friends wander this way and find themselves at the door ,

 it's always a good time for a cup of coffee

or a cup of tea.

I like to have something pretty to serve with the drinks or the treats.

I made a few granny square coasters that are just the perfect size for 

and mug of cup.  They work up very quickly.  You can find any pattern that suits 

your style on Youtube. 

So tell me..........which do you prefer?

Coffee or tea??

I would love to hear.

January

 

A new calendar for the new year has taken its place on the wall and a new month of the new year is already at its end.........

where does the time manage to go?.....I wonder. I look back on the old year with gratitude and  with many wonderful memories....what fun this past year brought to us!

Winter , here, has been dry, very dry......too dry with  days of  sun, and nights with extreme cold, and then days of pleasant sun and warmth with nights not so frigid.  This weather tries to encourage me to abandon my needle and the comfort of my sewing space to put my hands to work where much work is needed to be done......outside.

Just for awhile, I ignore the perfect weather conditions and decide to make a pair of whimsical bunnies.

I have an idea in my mind to create a whimsical box for this couple

Fixing a wardrobe, some bunny home comforts.....maybe a baby bunny....or two...or three....or four??

As for resolutions for the new year.....I choose not to have them these days.  There are the same things that I must do....many from last year in waiting....things that I hope to create, complete, and techniques I want to learn. I still have a stash of wonderful projects, unfinished and not yet started,  lying in wait.....and then there are the countless projects waiting inside of the pages of the books sitting in wait on the shelf.   I guess if I were to label anything from the list of things I need to do......I would like to call them "accomplishments" for if I am to ever get them completely finished.......that would certainly be an accomplishment!

I personally start this year with gratitude and contentment, with a hope of peace to stay with us throughout each day that comes.

So tell me........do you have resolutions?  Do  you have unfinished projects you would like to finish....or new ones to begin? I would love to hear.

Here's wishing you days full of creative energy and imagination to create what your heart desires! 

Wishing you a wonderful new year ahead!

 

Hello Winter---Goodbye 2024

 

Brew me a cup for a winter's night.

For the wind howls loud, and the furies fight;

Spice it with love and stir it with care,

And I'll toast your bright eyes, my sweetheart fair.

Minna Thomas Antrim, "A Night Cap," A Book of Toasts, 1902

Winter has come and the end of the year is almost here.  I hope with the coming new year I will have many projects stitched and finished.  

Here's wishing  you a very merry Christmas and a very peaceful new year!

blessings, always, Kathleen

"When you do something beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. 

For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet, most of the audience still sleeps."

                                                                         John Lennon

 

Thread crochet and crochet edging

 

I have quite a few wonderful vintage crochet booklets covering patterns for crochet edgings. Through the years I have been selecting a pattern to crochet a length of edging and place it into a box with the pattern name, page number, and the date when I crocheted it.  This is a great reference if  I should want to place crocheted edging on a project of linen.

The above photo is from a 1941 booklet and I thought the Hibiscus pattern looked so pretty.

I started crocheting and instantly liked this pattern and made a short length of it.

This is fairly wide and would be lovely for the edge of a tablecloth or curtain.

So tell me.......what are your hands busy creating? I would love to hear!