Embroidered spider web bookmark.

I slip stitched the cotton backing in place then finished off the bookmark with a tassel.

What's next?

The craic was 90!

My mum had her 90th birthday on the 19th August. The following day she had her operation for a knee replacement. Trying to get my mum anywhere on time is very stressful but amazingly we did arrive on time and it was some craic with all the form filling that had to be done.

"Do you wear dentures, Cecilia?"  "No, my daughter threw them out."  Not true!

My mum had two cakes, one from her care home and one from the family.

I'm putting in the spider web stitch now.

I keep finding new things in the garden. I saw a toad and the tiniest wee frog. I don't know what this plant is with the mauve flower.

Chilli peppers.

Beetroot.

Alpine strawberries.

Green pepper.

Marrow.

Blueberries.

Blackcurrants.

 Aubergine.

Potatoes.

I'm going to miss this garden when I go home.

Nearly there with the bookmark. 

I turned the calico in all the way round and tacked it down.

 Just have to put the cotton backing on now and make the tassel.

 My bro-in-law has bookmarked my handiwork for his Christmas present!

Green stuff.

From the blue border to the green. 

My squares aren't square and the more chain stitch borders I do the less square they get!

I realized I would normally use an embroidery hoop. I can do better than this methinks.

My bro-in-law is always busy in the garden.

Growing cucumbers.

Tomatoes.

Runner beans.

Figs.

Lemons.

Herbs.

Amazing what you find up the garden path.

Rain didn't stop play...

I'm staying with my sister and It's absolutely poured rain today.

Ha! My mum's operation has been delayed by a week. Now it's scheduled for the day after her 90th birthday.

I'm sitting about with nothing to do now so I did a bit of stitching. I always write my blog on a laptop but I'm trying to get the hang of blogging on my IPad mini today. You just get used to one thing then there seems to be something new to learn. I'm lucky to have a whizz kid of a son who fixes things for me. I can't remember what he shows me, that's the trouble.
Anyway, I brought my bookmark kit with me.

I've chain stitched the red border. 

I made a cake!

I made a fruity jelly!

These runner beans are from my brother- in - laws garden.

My sister made Scotch eggs. 

And I made a start on the blue borders.

I love learning stitches...

I've lost count of how many books I have on embroidery stitches!  A very old Mary Thomas book is the one I treasure the most but I like this one by Marion Nichols, it's the best for explaining the stitches. I found it in a charity shop somewhere, it was a bit wrinkly with water damage and it cost me 50p.
She dedicates her book:    
                                             To every little girl
                                    who has cried over her stitches

There's a large family of chain stitches. Who would have thought?!

 The diagrams are lovely and clear and I like that she shows how the stitch looks on the back of the work. If I'm stitching something like the spider web square,  then I'm very neat both sides but some people.. well they just don't mind if their work is messy on the back!

On another subject, I was watching Countryfile on TV last Sunday (cos I'm a country girl at heart) and there was an item on needle felted birds by an artist, Eve O'Neill. They were gorgeous.

 I've had a go at needle felted leaves, but never a bird! 

This birthday card caught my eye in M&S and it's a little needle felted cat and mouse. I think M&S sell some lovely cards and they're reasonably priced too. 

I finished the chain stitch square,  mine looks a bit wonky.  It's so dark in the house due to the poor summer weather. I can't get any light for a decent photo.

Then it was on to the spokes, I suppose that's the spider.

I'm sure I've done this stitch before. 

I went looking and found this Dorset button, I knew I'd worked a spider web stitch!

Now I've put the spokes in. Ready to weave the web.

The instructions are very clear in this kit, but it took me a couple of tries before I got the rhythm.

The last step was to chain stitch the orange thread round the outside...

...and take a photo of the back!

I don't make sewing kits nowadays but...

 I'll soon be going to over to England for two whole weeks while my mum has her knee operation

 so I thought I'd take a little sewing project with me to while away the time. 

 I bought this kit when I was on a visit to the Waterways Museum, here at Ellesmere Port. It's a bookmark and the 'Spider Web' stitch was traditionally used for making the canal boatman's belt.

I chose to buy the bookmark kit because the kit for the belt looked a bit ambitious to me.

I don't think my husband is going to need a Boatman's belt anytime soon. If he had his dream he'd own a canal boat, if we lived over there, and I would love to take a course with the Waterways Guild and learn some of the traditional crafts to decorate our boat!
I'll just have to make do with stitching this bookmark instead. It's not as creative a project as I would usually undertake but sometimes it's good to have something small to just pick up and do.
In the kit there is a sample square to make before I move on to the serious stuff.

.

Time to thread the needle.

                                  I've marked the 1" square to help me make my chain stitches even.