It's Friday!

What is it about Friday? It's not just heralding the weekend - it's so much more than that.

It can mean so many things - visiting family and friends, a glorious day in a gallery or country house, going to watch football/ rugby (insert favourite sport here), going down the pub, trip to the theatre, going shopping, some DIY, or a long walk in the countryside. The beginning of the weekend signals to me that it's ok to sit and read a book, or sew for pleasure or just sit.

Somehow, in this busy life we all lead, I feel a real guilt if I find myself sitting down and not actually achieving anything beyond relaxation. I feel like I should be doing something else - checking my e-mails, doing the ever present pile of ironing or walking the dogs who eye me with disapproval when I'm not in a potential 'going outside to do something exciting' mode. 

Sometimes I don't want to do anything exciting, I just want to sit. 

So, hello Friday. I'm sitting down. 

Robbie the Robin

So, now that Robbie is all stitched up using the Hot Iron Transfer Pencil that I wrote about yesterday, I thought I'd show you how it looks.

I mentioned that one of the drawbacks of the pencil transfer method is how thick the lines are. You can clearly see the red outline when using two strands of DMC. 

You could probably cover it ok if you used 3 strands, or crewel but as I'm developing a pattern, I needed to stick to two strands. Using Frixion pens (my usual method) wouldn't have left any visible marks at all as a touch of the iron performs magic. 

Every time I look at those marks, they'll truly drive me crazy but I'll use it somewhere and to be honest, the marks look a lot worse in the photos. 

So, the heat transfer pencil works like a dream but I think I'll reserve it for redwork, crewel and the like!

Transferring images onto fabric

Transferring the images that you want to stitch onto fabric can often give you problems. 

There are many different ways of doing it - each way seems to have its plus and minus points.  I thought I'd share a few here with you over the coming weeks. 

The first method -  using the Hot Iron Transfer Pencil. 

The one I bought was from Hemline and was £2.89 from my local sewing shop but you can buy it on Amazon here. 

First thing to do is find the image you want to transfer onto fabric. I chose a robin design taken from a photograph of a gorgeous little chap who comes into our house (and kitchen!) every day. 

You then need to get some tracing paper and trace over the original image. I used regular tracing paper that I had already but you can buy heat transfer tracing paper - not sure what the difference is. You need to remember at this point that the image you transfer will be mirror image so remember to flip any writing you might be adding. 

Robin is now traced and ready to transfer. Try not to make your lines too thick (like I have here in a couple of places) as your thread might not cover thick transfer lines. 

Now take your tracing paper and place it image side down onto your fabric and iron. Make sure your steam is switched off. Hold the iron on the image for a few seconds and...

.. hey presto - there is your image ready to stitch!

Pros - really quick and simple. You can transfer any image onto fabric really easily with this method and it's cheap.

Cons - I find the line that you get can be quite thick. It's permanent so you have to be really accurate with your tracing.

I'll show you Robbie when he's all stitched up!

I've also in the past carved a lino print from this image and printed him onto fabric - I just can't get enough of him :) 

This is him printed onto fabric - 

A Country Postbox

I love having a postbox over the road from our cottage. I love even more just how cute it is!

I don't know what it is about this humble postbox but it gladdens my heart every time I pass it. 

A little gift - starting early.

Every year I have a dear wish of making as many Christmas (aaargh- sorry to use that word so early) gifts as possible by hand. I love to wrap something that I've spent many an evening stitching- content in the knowledge that I've put love and thought into it.

That's the plan. 

Every year, the mad rush of Christmas orders and the general December mania that seems to descend on us all, renders that grand plan impossible to carry out. 

This year I'm starting early and this is my first completed gift - a wall hanging for a little sweetie in the family.

Have you started on your Christmas gifts yet?

Obviously a little bit of Liberty print bunting!

 I decided on a simple chain stitch for the letters

French knots in abundance..

Hope she likes it . 

Have a wonderful Friday wherever you are x

Swapping little stitches..

I recently took part in the ATC swap organised by Ali over at Very Berry Handmade.

My first thoughts on the theme of My Favourite... were organised into a mind map, which I then plainly disregarded and went off on another tangent!

Sitting out in the back garden on a fairly rare, warm and sunny afternoon a couple of weeks ago, I realised just how very much I love Summer. Ahhh, now there's an idea - my favourite time of the year!

I love all the seasons - and a list of my favourite things about each of the seasons showed this. But it's the warmth of a Summer's day, the carefree days of holidays, swimming in the sea, seeing the garden in full bloom and events like Wimbledon that seem to epitomise the few weeks that make up Summer. 

Selecting the things that represent Summer was easy, it was just the stitching of them that was a little tricky! Anyway, here's the finished card...

Strawberries, Wimbledon, harvesting lavender, and swimming in the sea - all represented under some cheery bunting. 

It went to Jo who loved the itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini the most! I stitched it all on a pale green linen and thoroughly enjoyed making it.

Today, through the post I received my ATC from Simi. Look at this....

I just love it - the textures, the colour and the obvious fun my swap partner had in stitching it. It will make me smile every day as I look at it sitting on my desk. Such a clever lady.