A little bit of this and that...

The Happy Little Stitchery had its first stitchers on Saturday, and they seemed to have a happy time!

In the morning I got into the swing of things with a select group of two, one of whom I had met at The Maltings Market, along with her friend.  I taught them a bit of simple embroidery so that they could either take home an embroidered hoop picture or a needlecase.  

It was good see which stitches different stitchers found easier and which they found harder, especially as I was having a group of six in the afternoon, and it allowed me to slightly alter the order in which I taught the stitches.

I did, of course, forget to get my camera out until the very end of the day, when two of my afternoon stitchers had already left, but at least I did remember in the end!

And here's some of the work produced!  I have already had two of my friends pop by for a little help getting started on their next, independent projects - one to get a water-soluble line drawn on her fabric (the local shop had run out of pens) and one for a suggestion of what to do next!  

Next came a bit of bunny making.  The sleeves from a beautifully soft but somewhat shrunken cashmere jumper, four 'Sarah Moore Home' bunny outlines, a bit of sewing, snipping and stuffing (plus a wee bit of embroidery, but that doesn't fit my alliterative theme)...

Et voila!

Spring bunnies..

Next, I decided to have a go at designing my own simple patchwork block.  I wanted something fairly straightforward that would be good for teaching to those who want to learn to use a sewing machine.  I used some scrap-booking papers and fiddled around till I got what I wanted...

Then selected some scraps of (mostly) vintage fabric and stitched away...

A bit of further embellishment and this is what I had...

Although it was originally intended as a cushion cover, I found an empty frame, not quite the right size, but rather like this framed!  Another one for my somewhat over-burdened walls!

Today I had an exciting little package in the post.  My Mum had this book when I was a child and I used to try hard to learn stitches from it.  

The one I could NEVER make work was the French Knot.  Try as I might, it always disappeared!  And so it would still be, were it not for the wonders of stitch demonstrations on YouTube!  I think YouTube justifies its presence in the world simply on account of being the place where I finally found out how to  get these little devils to work!  

I am pleased to say that all my stitchers on Saturday mastered No. 21!

Last night, me, Miss U-t-B and her cousin (who is staying with us this half-term week)  went to see 'Cuban Fury'.  It was a great laugh and I came away with the salsa beat so firmly embedded in my head, feet and hips that I had to have a cocoa to calm down before bed!  If you like a bit of fun (and don't mind a bit of fruity language!) do go and see it!

Lastly, I just finished reading this...

A sweet book, I really enjoyed it!