Sewing, A Birthday, Painting & Slow Stitching ...........................

Greetings lovely friends & readers

It has been another busy week with lots happening each & every day.

A friend gifted me this gorgeous Cyclamen for pet feeding duties so I planted it in my vintage wrought iron chair 💗 ... a splash of colour for the colder months hopefully.

Last week I drove to Tirau to meet up with a dear friend who was travelling North.  No trip to Tirau is complete without a visit to my favourite store My Style  I knew I wanted to purchase some of their Cath Kidston fabric to make a new ironing board cover.

  

I simply remove my old cover, pull the elastic out, lay it on my new fabric (60 cms) & cut around it, allowing enough to sew a casing.  The "helper" was unfortunately non-negotiable but she made a good weight to stop the fabric moving around 😉

If I could give you one little hint then it would be to NOT have a "helper" if possible, as they get tired, lie down on the job & sometimes even GO TO SLEEP!!! This makes removing your new piece of fabric from underneath 

VeRy TricKy!

When your helper wakes up again you have sewn your casing, simply thread your elastic through & pop it on your ironing board.  

It is amazing how much pleasure that 60 cms of fabric brings & makes me want to actually DO the ironing!! 

That very same evening we had a Birthday Party to attend as Alec was turning 8!!

The far right photo is just Alec pretending he has fallen to the ground

This year (for a change) his parents decided to hold his party at this venue in Hamilton Extreme Edge Rockclimbing Gym & it was the most perfect place for 10 rowdy, energetic boys to run around & use up energy!

Even Sid enjoyed it after his initial hesitation.  There are just so many wonderful themed climbing boards for children & they are harnessed in so it is very safe.  

If you have more than 8 children they give you a room to hold your party in ... which worked out so well.  We had pizzas followed by Chocolate Mud Birthday Cake ... then back to the climbing.  

Some readers may remember back in early March when I won this Anthurium Plant in a Competition.  I loved it & it seemed to really thrive sitting on my table.  However I read online that the flowers are very toxic to cats & as mine are frequently on the table 😕 I thought I should move it & not risk anything.  I didn't think they'd eat the flowers but simply brushing against them could cause a nasty reaction.  

This pink stool above was in my woodshed (!!) - an old thrifted find. I sanded the marks on the top, washed it down well & then painted it with two coats of chalk paint "antique white".  I kept the wood showing on the legs & gave these a generous coat of wax ... I was delighted with how it turned out & now its well out of any furry friends reach.

When I was down packing up Mum's house in early March, my dear friend Claire invited me to her home for a Stitching Evening.  There were 6 of us there - just a nice number. 

 One of the girls, Joy, had bought along a box full of these vintage fabric packs.  Joy had purchased these from French Pear Vintage & as she had so many we were each able to buy a bundle if we wished.  They are called "lucky dip bundles" - you don't know what you are getting but they are antique french fabrics & linens that the lady imports.  The girls issued a challenge that we had "to do something with our packs of fabrics".

Mine came home with me & when I looked at them all I decided I wanted to make a project using ALL of them in one hit.

I laid them out in a pleasing design, changing my mind over a couple of days regarding placement.  I decided to attach them to a piece of pre-washed calico which I cut to shape.  I machine stitched around some to fasten them & also dabbed a fabric glue pen under some.  Then I began to hand stitch across them, changing my direction as I worked my way across the rectangle - some horizontal, some vertical.

I drew some of my lines with a Frixion Pen as I am inclined to be wonky

I think it would be fair to say I enjoyed this mindless slow stitching so very much that I found myself driving to pick Sid up from school half an hour earlier so I could sit & stitch some lines in the car while waiting.  

I just used a roll of thickish embroidery thread that I had thrifted once-upon-a-time & really liked the effect of this thread.  I had 3 pieces left over from my bundle, 2 green & one white ... so I stitched these to a square of calico that I planned to use as my backing.

My original plan had been to make this piece into a table runner but somewhere along the way it became a cushion.  A sort of French Country looking cushion.  I finished putting it together at the weekend & made a large inner for it from an old pillow I had bought home from Mum's.  I like my cushions stuffed nice & tightly.  

I am really thrilled with my new cushion & I think I might be rather addicted to this slow stitching as I'd now like to make a table runner.  I wasn't sure about leaving my raw edges but now I really like this effect on my cushion.

Thank you all so very much for your visits here today dear friends,

It feels like its going to be a cold night here at Threadbear HQ so I am off to fill the wood basket,

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x