Wednesday, 16 September 2026

Angel Playing a Rebec Embroidery - backing πŸ•Š️

 

O.k....so I'm back again...it's been a busy time , we have been out and about ...more sitting in the car waiting ...while the boys played golf.....


and I camped out stitching in the car , me and the dolls , while we had our roof window replaced  .
     And then I did a post yesterday  and uploaded it to my "Daisy in the Garden Blog" by mistake ....sigh ...


I continue on with my Angel piece . I really wanted to show people in real time , just how long it takes me to embroider a little piece like this .


A fair amount of time was spend deciding which fabric to use , but now I have settled on this lovely rich green brocade .  


 Cut and pinned .


Then more thinking ....which colour thread to use to stitch it on with ?
      Cream thread ?    Green thread ? 


I settled on this slightly grey/green cotton and slip-stitched it on and I think it disappears perfectly . 
    I am now thinking of adding a golden border of some sort around the edge .✨
  ✨  More thinking and rummaging through my box of golden threads and braids and quite possibly some shopping to be done for that  . ✨


   Later on we are going to visit a lovely old church , to take some photographs of some of it's stained glass windows . 
           More on that tomorrow !

                         Peace and Love πŸ•Š️🀍🌿

                                        Love Debbie πŸ’x


Wednesday, 2 September 2026

Back to School , Autumn Term

 

         No time for patchwork . Busy mending school uniform blazer !

            Not ripped . Just seams coming apart , but very annoying !

  It was tricky mending seams in the silk lining when I can't get to the inside of the lining .
   They have been badly machine stitched , too close to the edge and have simply come apart .
       As I already said , I can't get to the reverse side of the lining , so I will just have to do the best I can with a needle and thread . 
  There are so many shades of navy-blue ! I am quite particular about matching up the correct shade of cotton thread !
                  An inside pocket was extremely tricky !

                                               πŸ’›πŸ–€πŸ’›πŸ–€πŸ’›πŸ–€

                          All done and ready to be delivered this evening .

     They return to school tomorrow after the long and very hot summer holiday .

                                         Peace and Love πŸ•Š️🀍

                                              Debbie πŸ’x


Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Baby Sitting Stitching πŸ’πŸ’š✨


 I was baby sitting the other day . So packed up my basket with a few things to keep my hands busy .


I am still deciding which fabric to use to cover the back of my Angel embroidery .


I think it will be this gorgeous green.....but .....I still need to think about it .


 White , Green or Cloth of Gold  .....not a decision for today ....probably green , green .....   ✨✨✨


So I decided to leave that for another day and play with my scrap basket instead .


                 I save my tiniest scraps to make dolly quilts .


                                                             πŸŒΏπŸ¦‹πŸŒΏ


                                                            🌿πŸ€ͺ🌿   



                  I'm thinking of doing a full sized quilt for myself . 


 I love piecing patchwork baskets , so I might do a combination of patchwork and applique .


            These tiny scraps will be great for leaves and flower petals .


As I sort through my scraps I found this tiny piece ..... πŸ’š..... memories ....


 My father gave me some money to go and buy a dress for myself in a little fashion boutique in Woolwich High Street . I was about fifteen or sixteen and it was the first time I had ever caught the bus on my own and the first time I had ever bought clothes for myself . 
            It was such a pretty dress !
 ⚓  I also went for a ride on the ferry .....it was free back then  ... across the Thames and back just for fun  !    🚒
 
Anyway ......
 So this is a tiny piece from that dress ! I have stitched pieces of material from that dress into lots of my quilts . 


                                 Precious memories , happy days .

 I already knew Ricardo , my husband . We were both in the Red Cross , different units ...but met up when attending the "Courage Club "in Crayford , where we helped organise a youth club for disabled children .
              Oh ! We had SO much fun !
      Lots of activities , playing games and even the occasional disco !


               Many of my scraps hold precious memories like these .


I sat stitching in a more random way today . Gradually tiny pieces all coming together .  
    

                         A quilt or small comforter maybe .


         Thats all for today folks ! ...... and the babies were good as gold !

                                  Peace and Love πŸ•Š️πŸ’š

                                          Debbie  πŸ’ x


 

Friday, 21 August 2026

Angel playing a Rebec Embroidery πŸ•Š️Nearly finished 🌿

 

      So I carefully tightened and tuned up the strings . G D A 🎢🎡🎢


Then started lashing it to the frame . Yes I'm resting up a poorly knee .


 Then we had to go out and I sat waiting in the car .I thought I might get this last bit finished ....

        ...... but I dropped my cotton reel down between the seats . I wriggled my fingers , I could touch it , but couldn't quite reach far enough to retreive it .   

So that was the end of that !  Sigh ....

Anyway .....

 It's nearly finished . I just want to put a nice piece of fabric over the back and some sort of a loop with which to hang it .

Presently waiting for the chimney sweep to come , clean and make safe our chimney ..... all ready for yet another wild and windy Cornish winter .

                                          ☀️🌦️🌧️⛈️ 

Not quite finished this piece and I'm already thinking about my next little project .

                     Peace and Love πŸ•Š️🀍

                                        Debbie πŸ’x



Thursday, 20 August 2026

Angel Playing a Rebec - I'm still here ! πŸ˜ƒ


 Apologies ! I am still here !  We have had a very long heatwave and drought . I have been busy trying desperately to keep my vegetable garden alive . 

We are presently on a hosepipe ban , so running back and forth with two watering cans has been quite hard work . Especially as I am still recovering from a serious spine injury . I'm doing really well now but have to be careful .  Husband helping with the carrying though .....sometimes .

                                                   ☀️

......and then .....it would become too hot to do anything at all , but flop on my bed with a fan to cool me down !  

We,ve had a couple of slightly cooler nights and some drizzle  . I have been able to pick up my embroidery again . 

     So ...where was I ?


I bought a little frame and began to stitch on a thin piece of cotton quilting batting/wadding .


                It just makes for a nicer base to take the embroidery .


I finished doing that and then remembered , I still have to embroider the strings of the Rebec instrument .


                                   This gold thread is Heavenly !


                                               Perfect !


                                         O.k So here we go !

So how am I going to do this ? 
 ⭐  Plan A)  use a whopping great needle with a hole large enough to take the gold thread and force it through the embroidery ?  πŸͺ‘

 Yep ! I could do that , but it would make horrible holes through the embroidery and I have to do six plunges for each string so it really would show and not look nice .

⭐ Plan B)    Lasso method .  πŸͺ‘


So I'll try and show you how I do this .
  You basically thread your needle with sewing cotton double with a knot. Then thread the gold thread through this loop ...like a lasso ......


 Pull on the lasso and it will carry the gold thread through to the other side .


 Leave a long tail to one side .....you could put a temporary holding stitch to stop it slipping through , but I didn't ..it was fine ..it behaved itself .


Next I had to take the gold thread through the Rebec bow and up the other side .
Then again under the bow handle and up the other side .


                                Oh this was terribly fiddly !


                                          Two strings done !


        I had to plunge and lasso six times for each golden string !
I'll be honest , I was a bit worried at this stage .
     Maybe I'd bitten off more than I can chew !


         πŸŽΆπŸŽ΅     Three wobbly and very out of tune strings !    🎢🎡


    Flip over to the reverse and over and over stitch the three gold tails down to secure them .


I tied the tails at the other end and stitched them down . This enabled me to gently tug the strings nice and taught on the front side .

                                     That was very , very stressful  !

                                     I'll show you some more tomorrow !  

                                               Peace and Love πŸ•Š️🀍

                                                            Debbie πŸ’x