This weekend I finished a slow stitched needle book; the pattern belongs to Ann Wood whose work I so admire. Her blog is one of my favourites.
I have had a lot of thinking and planning to do, which I always find easier when doing something creative. Given that most of the sewing I do is for The Stitchery, it is nice to have a piece of stitching that I can lose myself in without worrying if people will like it. I am used to documenting everything I do too, so it is nice to just sew for fun once in a while.
I’ve put some photographs below. Quite a lot, which I realise is self-indulgent, but I am working on the basis that I like poring over these sorts of photos so perhaps you will too…
I am fortunate to have met some lovely people in the antique textiles business who keep me well stocked with beautiful fabric and linen. Red and white (and all shades of red/pink in between) are my favourite colours alongside neutrals and my fabric collection has a heavy bias!
There are one or two pieces of new fabric in the needle book; namely the vintage ticking stripe from Ian Mankin; it is my absolute favourite stripe. I regularly use the red and charcoal colourways as I think they both work beautifully alongside my typical fabric choices. (I stock up whenever I am at Cowslip.) The pink wool felt is new too, from a little bundle bought at Cowslip.
Only a smidge of embroidery features in this needle book; I really wanted to showcase the fabric. The little flowers were embroidered in semi-darkness, watching The Stranger (with a glass of wine) which is why they aren’t in my usual teeny-stitch-style! I am definitely a less-is-more kind of girl though and my favourite pieces of needlework usually have a lot of negative space and a light touch.
I finished assembling the needle book on a sewing day with my mum and sister. I sat in the conservatory listening to the rain on the roof and watching Lottie chase leaves in the wind. We ate tiny salted caramel brownies and drank pots of tea. I made a black bean and lentil chilli with sweet potato fries for our dinner. I came home with a sweet little box full of fabric scraps that mum had saved for me. It was a lovely day.
A couple of close friends have each had a horrible time recently, finding themselves in really sad and stressful situations. I haven’t been able to find the right words, but found myself continuing to patch and embroider small pieces of fabric as I thought of them, which I made into little needle books. I hope these little trinkets will say everything that my words cannot.
I am pleased to have finished my little book ready for the weekend. I am going to use it for my slow stitching projects and I am attending a Slow Stitch 101 on Friday with Lisa Mattock. Lisa is an ambassador of the slow stitch movement, lover of vintage fabrics and here all the way from Australia. I am so looking forward to it, stitching workshops are my favourite way to spend the day!
I will take plenty of photos I promise.
Nicki