Three little mades, and some noble thoughts

Some of us in this world are blessed with tenacity, determination, and an iron will - those people who get on and succeed in getting things done regardless of the hurdles in front of them, or the chaos around them.


Unfortunately, I don't seem to be one of them, however much I aspire to such nobility of purpose. I need the spectre of Old Father Time scything at my heels, or Nurse Matilda wagging her finger in the corner, to counteract my slackness and love of displacement activities.

So I am pleased to say that the Polka Dot Daze Christmas Challenge seems to be offering me the right amount of swish and swipe to keep me on track for a relatively happy Christmas. My weekend disappeared in a maze of furniture moving and rearranging domestic artefacts, and one book project arrived hard on the heels of another - normally this would be excuse enough for Christmas crafting to back up merrily towards Christmas Eve.

But that jolly little email arrived in my inbox reminding me that Tuesday was progress day (I know, I'm late, but better a day late now than in December, and I really do have a Valid Excuse, ready stamped and dated, as I didn't finish until after the gloaming yesterday, and then it was really too gloomy to take pretty pictures). [By the way, if the parenthetical comment becomes longer than the initial sentence, is that a case for reversing the brackets? Hart's Rules is silent on this.]

So here are my three little mades, all in a row (that'll fool you, Mr Google, and no, I didn't mean maids), lined up ready to take their curtseys.

Once again I used Michelle's super-duper Pleated Pouches pattern, (the ones in yesterday's post were the Large size, these are Small (and there is also a Tall which I have not yet tried, but you never know)), and I have to say that I am rather pleased with the result, since they have received the Princess Bunchy Seal of Approval, which is not lightly bestowed. The fabrics are a selection from Annie's Farm Stand by Holly Holderman/Lakehouse Dry Goods, together with some buttons from my Grandma's button box.

And I am also happy to inform you that the passage of twenty-four hours meant all the difference to my relationship with my Ten O'Clock Scarf - we are now quite reconciled, because I took the momentous decision of throwing kilowatts to the wind and knitting with the lights on (low-energy, of course). 

Or it may be because knitting with Skein Queen Plushness in Plumcious is an activity so pleasant that the result cannot help but be pleasing.

Handing on handmade

Last week I went a-visiting and took tea at the most charming little cottage in the country - a cottage quite out of a Country Living 'dreaming of the country'-style magazine spread - and there on the table I saw an array of pretty patchwork pieces, stitched together by hand.

My eye was of course immediately drawn to such prettiness and upon enquiry I found that this stitchery was the work of a little girl of very tender years, who has taken to working with the needle quite recently and with an enthusiasm and tenacity that made a great impression on me.

She had little in the way of equipment and her needle and thread sat in a recycled plastic tub.  I thought of the needle case that Jane Austen gave to her niece Louisa two hundred years ago, also the housewife or hussif (a sewing case) that Austen made for her sister-in-law, described by the recipient's son as 'the kind of article that some benevolent fairy might be supposed to give as a reward to a diligent little girl', and enclosed within which was a little poem:


This little bag, I hope will prove
To be not vainly made:
For should you thread and needles want,
It will afford you aid.

And as we are about to part,
'T will serve another end:
For when you look upon this bag,
You'll recollect your friend.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries women often gave gifts of needle cases and pincushions to each other, and I thought of this little girl taking up her needle and stitching away, an occupation which was so commonplace in th past, so bound up with female gender identity, and which now is really quite unusual in one so young, not something that girls or women are bound to do whether they will or no, and which has become purely an expression of creativity rather than necessity.

But perhaps in the loss of compulsion, other things have been lost, too, and somehow I wanted to encourage that expression of skill and creativity, and retain a sense of continuity, of things being passed on from one generation of women to another in a positive way, and that sense of feminine friendship and community inherent in the exchange of handmade gifts.

So I sat down and made a little needle case and pincushion for this little girl; she too is moving away, and perhaps one day she will pick up these small artefacts, and recollect a friend, and her first hesitant stitches, and the beginnings of creativity in her world.

And maybe you could give such gifts too - so simple and quick to make, two pinked rectangles of felt, a stitched felt flower and button on the cover.

The pincushion was eight squares of fabric from my stash (including some early Cath Kidston left over from a skirt) - I used my Go! Baby die to cut 2 1/2in squares, 2in finished size, to make up a 4in square pincushion wrapped in ribbon like the gift that it is, and trimmed with buttons either side.

A gift that was a pleasure to make, and a pleasure to give, a handing on from one generation to another of the joy of the handmade, and a lesson to me that actually giving is oh so much better than receiving.



(And if you want to find out more about needlework in the works of Jane Austen, the poem and the photo come from Jane Austen Fashion: Fashion and Needlework in the Works of Jane Austen, by Penelope Byrde, a delightful and informative little book which is a great introduction to the subject. You can get all colours of felt and felt shapes from Paper and String, and the original idea for the pincushion came from Indigo Blue.)

The plumpest of them all

I am glad to report that the Princess Bunchy cushion project which started here has finally been completed, to the satisfaction of all. In between scaling the mountain of sheets which the morning brought, I pieced together the cushion of which you had a tantalizing little glimpse last week.

There was much discussion of buttons and in the late afternoon as I was amongst the peaks of the linen hills, I thought that I had finished, being under the impression that buttons were not required, being cheek denting to reposing royalty, but no, the princess insisted on exploring the farthest reaches of my button boxes and there was much in the way of pondering and setting out and rearranging and I had time to hang out more washing and wonder why small dogs have a penchant for pegs and enjoy picking my best jumbo pegs out of the basket and running off with them just when I want to peg out big chunky bathmats . . . although to find them you just have to follow the trail of chewed wooden dolly pegs to behind the greenhouse and then when you are back indoors ready to stitch on the buttons in the prescribed arrangement you find that said small dog smells, no smells is not the word, the Great Stink is what comes to mind, and then the small dog must be introduced to the concept of bathing by a princess, no less, and then you find small dog rolled up in a towel and smelling of coconut by the Aga having been carefully and royally deposited there with just a little black nose sticking out, unable to move. So then you have to release small dog from captivity being worried about the perils of rheumatism inherent in being left wrapped in a damp towel, at which point rheumaticky old dog settles herself to sleep on damp towel . . .

And then you try to remember what you were doing before the shaggy dog tale began, and oh yes, a dozen buttons to sew on a cushion which will not need many buttons . . .

But all is finished now - another lovely project from Cute and Easy Quilting and Stitching - thank you, Charlotte Liddle, and thank you, Cico Books - you have made a little princess very happy, and kept her mother happily stitching which is much more fun than grubbing around in the foothills of the laundry pile.

So there we see them, all lined up in a row - I am afraid that it is quite impossible for you to admire them in situ in the disarray of Bunchy's bedroom, for you would be quite shocked that a princess could live in such a, shall we say, busy environment, and in fact you would hardly get in through the door such is the agglomeration of artefacts on the floor, and actually it is preferable to avert one's gaze.

Much better to admire the soft furnishings sitting undisturbed in the wilds of the front garden and notice how beautifully they coordinate with each other, and how lovingly stitched they are. The regal opinion is that the John Lewis innards score highest on plumpness, a plumpness which is retained under pressure.

And if you would like to make such plump and cosy cushions for your own little princes and princesses, the one on the left was made using an Accuquilt pattern available here, and the rosette and unicorn cushions on the right were made following instructions in Charlotte Liddle's Cute and Easy Quilting and Stitching.

As for me, it's once more unto the ironing, dear friends, or maybe to the bleach, if the birds have been divebombing the washing line again . . .

Working and making and creating

Often, working at home means that it is difficult to draw the line between work and not-work. Notice that I don't say leisure, as I am not sure what leisure means nowadays - is gardening a hobby when you are growing your own food, and food for B&B guests to eat? Does housework count as paid work when you are cleaning the guest wing of the cottage? Are sewing and knitting leisure activities when you aren't making things to sell, but making them to use or to give rather than buy?

The poet Philip Larkin talked about not 'let[ting] the toad work squat on your life', and amongst all the different things I do to earn a crust there are some toady bits, but I prefer D H Lawrence's poem 'Work'  which recommends work that 'absorbs you like an absorbing game' - this weekend I was able to take the Lawrence approach, banish any hint of squatting toads, and lose myself in some making and creating.

It is not finished yet but just looking at the happiness colours of the fabric, and the stitches taken so gently, sitting so quietly, listening to Anthony Trollope's The American Senator (I have never read it, but I am ordering it in post haste) on Radio 4, takes me back to a Saturday afternoon out of time and fret and fever.


And even on a Monday, when the toads wake and rear their ugly, swollen heads again, at home the kitchen is filled with the pungent smell of plum chutney (recipe here), the measurable result of work which is making and creating. And it has promise for the future: the pleasure of eating, pleasure deferred, is enhanced by the memory of sowing, and growing and harvesting and chopping, in a continuum from earth to table.

There is jelly in the making, drip, drip, dripping its taste and sweetness into a bowl on the table. Tiny purple-black bush plums from the hedgerow, no work to grow, nature's bounty to harvest and store in rosy and jewel-like jars for the winter.

The tomatoes and peppers fill baskets, prolific and red - more goodness to be savoured when the plants are long gone.

And what to do with the cucumbers - don't tell me to pickle them, please, but delicious while they last.

There is work where the end is concrete and visible, not something repetitious to tick off, but cyclical and seasonal and sustaining, work to look back on and revisit and remember when the toads are long gone, squatting in their stagnant pools, bitter tasting.

I know which work I prefer . . .

More fun with cushions

I speak to you all from between the sheets - unfortunately, though, I am not lying down all snuggled up in bed (more's the pity), but the great tide of bedlinen has abated (I was going to say momentarily, but I now realize it means the opposite across the Pond) for just a moment, and I have been able to sneak back to sit in front of Hermione's sister and say hello, which is very cheering to the soul of a washerwoman extraordinaire.

The moments available for me to sit plying my needle have been far and fleeting, but the project to recushion my world moves on in fits and starts. You may remember the red flowery triangle number I made with my handy dandy little Go! Baby fabric cutter, while the Princess was 'enjoying' (I use the quotation marks advisedly) her sojourn at the Lowood Holiday Camp. Of course, on her return she immediately emitted covetous noises, and hoping to keep this cushion on my kitchen sofa (where it looks very fetching), I promised to make her (another) cushion of her choosing.

And so the unicorn cushion came into being - luckily those jolly nice bods at Cico Books had sent me a book which I had been hankering after for some time - Cute and Easy Quilting and Stitching by Charlotte Liddle -  and it turns out to be a jolly nice book (just as I thought) with lots of pretty things to make. Including two cushions which meet the most exacting requirements of one of the princess class, but the sheets constantly entangling me, I have just made the unicorn one to be going on with.

You will be glad to know that the Princess is most pleased with the result - she oversaw my work very carefully, and we picked out some fabrics that we used in the cushion using the Star Delight pattern which came with the Go! Baby cutter die, and added one or two extra. Being a log cabin patchwork cushion, it is a good design for using up leftovers from other projects, although I did buy a fat quarter of a figured white fabric for the background to the unicorn.

Cute and easy unicorn

You will see from the pictures that we did not follow the instructions exactly - Princess Bunchy vetoed the rosette, and I somehow forgot the lacy edging to the embroidered panel, but luckily no one noticed (I was probably thinking about sheets). We used ordinary embroidery floss rather than cotton perlé as suggested, just because of what I already had in my stash, and all the buttons and beads were from stash, too. The tail was made by plaiting embroidery floss and folding the plait in half to make a double plait, which I then couched down with little stitches and beads.

Why is my unicorn facing the other way?

If you make this cushion, I would suggest doing the log cabin in the normal way by cutting long strips to  width, and then trimming after sewing. The pattern suggests cutting the log cabin strips to fixed lengths, but I found myself in a bit of a pickle when I got to the outer long sides because my strips were not long enough (which I think could well have been due to my inefficiency, as I was a little, shall we say, distracted at the time). It makes a lovely big 18in/45cm cushion, and we (the royal 'we') are very pleased with it.

Lecien fabrics (I think)

There are several other projects in this book on my to-do list - I have just acquired some fat quarters for the tea cosy pictured on the cover.

Moda Fig Tree & Co Strawberry Fields (and another)

I also love the pincushion idea, which I might make as a little present for myself.

And then there is the rosette cushion for Princess Bunchy - I have the rectangular cushion pad (after much searching, I have found that John Lewis is the best place for a really wide range of cushion pad sizes), and the ceremonial selection of fabrics will be undertaken shortly.

And if you know a baby, there is a wonderful pattern for a pair of the most heavenly pair of baby shoes that I have ever seen in all my born days - enough to bring on those broody feelings.

Very cute baby shoes

The only proviso I would make about this book that it is not a learn-to-sew type of book suitable for an absolute beginner - the projects are not difficult, and the instructions for appliqué and embroidery are very clear, but it does help to have a little experience - and actually this is what makes the book more interesting for me, as it goes beyond the run-of-the-mill projects that I have seen repeated in so many books.

So all in all, I think Cute and Easy Quilting and Stitching is a sewing book worth having - there are plenty of things that I will make, and there are some really lovely ideas for embellishments that could easily be used for other projects. It really is a bit different and thus I have found it quite inspiring.

And now, the sheets are calling . . .

Button mad and mad dog onto a winner

I am afraid that I have to warn you that this will end up being a bit of a shaggy dog story, but there are lots of pictures, so it would be nice if you could settle yourself down with a cup of tea, and a piece of cake, and join me for a little while, and I'll tell you about the giveaway, too.

My life has been quite buttony recently, and today I received these most wonderful buttons in the post from Button Mad; they are handmade, giving employment to women in South Africa, and are also quite beautiful, just the thing to make a cardi a bit special.

I also joined with Lemonade Kitty's Button Swap, when I sent out a few buttony bits and bobs to Simply Vintage, and received these lovelies in return. (Regular readers may not be surprised to hear that a princess in the vicinity has kidnapped one or two items, and might even be able to guess which ones.)

And look what I was lucky enough to receive from Sally at Tinkering Times: a mini Selvedge magazine, a fabric scrap pack, and guess what? Buttons!

Having been the recipient of such buttony wealth, I am very glad to be sending out into the world something buttony, too, and in the absence of any passing strangers today, I managed to persuaded Mad Dog to choose the winner for my giveaway.

What on earth does she want me to do now?

I have to tell you that she took some persuading, even with some carefully placed niblets in the bottom of the bowl.

Do you really want me to put my nose into that?

Does that look like enthusiasm to you?

My usual bowl is beige ... 

She took more than a little encouragement.

I am just not used to this sort of thing.

The clincher was a reordering of the biscuity bribe ...

... just to make it clear that nothing sinister was going on, and that I had not hidden a mop under all those scary bits of paper.

I thought she wanted me to eat those nasty little white biscuits ...

At long last, we got the idea and the maddest dog in the world managed to pick a winner.

And even began to show enthusiasm for the task in hand ...

Have you got any more of those nice bits of paper under here?

But sadly on this occasion there is only one winner.

 Lola Nova you have won a copy of Button Jewellery by Marrianne Mercer - congratulations!

And if you haven't won today, then don't worry, you can get your own copy here - and what is more, I have another very exciting giveaway coming up very soon, so all is not lost, and tomorrow is another day ...