Stitching Sunday: Slow and steady

To counter the maniacal pace of my crochet this week, I stitched whatever I fancied, whenever I fancied, and didn’t worry about finishing anything. It was lovely.

I’m at the piping stage of the sewing machine cover. This is the trickiest bit for me after the tiny patchwork at the beginning. I’ve only done piping one other time, and it was under the watchful eye of a seamstress friend, and I was basically doing as I was told!

I’m pleased with the results of my first attempts at piping solo. Don't look too closely - I still haven't sewn on the side panels that will even up the piping line. I used the pink fabric that I will use for the lining of this cover, fabric that was leftover from my Happy Spring Quilt.

It should come together quite swiftly now, just ironing on some interfacing and sewing all the parts together. Then it’s on to another practical sewing project, here’s a little peek at the materials involved:

I’m pleased to say that Sam has his eggs and ham, all ready to serve up to picky eaters:

The stitches have ranged from long-and-short stitch, stem stitch, back and split. Then I did the black markings in the ham with a scatterbrained hodge-podge of them all! I wanted thicker, scribbly looking lines, like the illustration in the book, and I found sticking to just stem stitch was too neat and orderly, so I simply stabbed away until I got the look I wanted. You don’t always have to follow the rules!

In other stitching news, yesterday Bunny and I discovered the latest pattern from wee little stitches – Elsa and Anna from Frozen!

We downloaded it faster than you can say “Do you wanna build a snowman?”, and Bunny started practicing her cross stitch on a scrap of fabric, because she herself wants to make this sweetly sentimental cross stitch for her and Little Flower! I'm going to buy her some Aida fabric tomorrow so she can get started.

So I set Sam aside – he’s waited this long, a few more days won’t bother him – and I started this awesome dragonfly kit I’ve had in my stash a little while:

I know, I know, I’ve only ever cross stitched this tiny rose, but I couldn’t resist the sparkly thread and peacock colours! I dipped my toe into the cross-stitch waters, and like so many other crafts I enjoy, I proceeded to dive in head first!

And it’s so fun to have a craft to share with Bunny that we can do side-by-side, and chatting as we go along. Slow and steady, calming for both of us.

Happy crafting! Please share your stitching below!

Chrissie x