I'm in print!

It's a while since I sent this article off to the Guild of Needle Laces but imagine my amazement and delight when my copy of their latest magazine dropped through the letterbox yesterday and there was my butterfly ... right on the front cover.

Yes, I'm still working on my lace most days. Here's a sneak preview of the latest piece I'm working on.

I just love these old fashioned crinoline ladies and she's going to be standing in a ribbon-work garden eventually. She'll have her first public viewing this coming Thursday though at a display our Embroiderers Guild is putting on. She will be ready by then (almost finished now) though the garden won't be done in time.

I've done it!

I finally listed some of my quilts on Etsy. This is a link to my shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CherryCroftCrafts and here are the quilts. The first three are all hand pieced and the final one, although the top is made from a single piece of fabric, is hand quilted.

I won a prize!

Yes!! My halloween scene won a prize. Four are given and the overall winner gets to hold a silver cup for the year. I didn't win the cup but I don't mind that. I'm just delighted that I won anything.

It's been really cold here in Yorkshire this week and I took some photographs of the frost on my garden plants. The top one is a cabbage. Don't they all look beautiful? It was especially nice to be able to see the frost through the windows of my lovely warm house! 

It's turned much warmer today and the frost has melted into rain.
I've been making blinds for the manor house this week. I decided that the servants' quarters on the ground floor would have blinds rather than curtains, as will the second floor hallway. The other hallways have doors. This is how I did it.

I measured the width of the window, including the frame, and cut two pieces of fabric to that measurement. I made each blind a slightly different length to add interest. I added a nice curved shape to the bottom (no pattern, I just did it by eye). Then I ran a thin line of glue around each edge of the back of one piece and glued the two pieces of fabric together. Another thin line of glue along the bottom edge and stuck on some picot braid trim. Then I glued them to the window frame.  

I made some box pelmets out of balsa wood to exactly fit over the top of the window frame. They will be covered by fabric eventually so you won't see the edges of the wood.

Today I took a break (another) from the manor house. I was so determined to keep on with this project until it's finished but I keep getting these urges to make a start on something new. So anyhow, today I made a 1/12 scale table lamp. This will probably go into the retreat when it's built, but in the meantime I'll sit it in the flat above the tearooms for safe keeping.

New year's stitching

I may not have been doing minis but I have been busy stitching over the holiday. I think I mentioned the other day that I'd crocheted a scarf ...

 The last thing in the world that I needed was another scarf but I just fell in love with this yarn and couldn't resist. I got the pattern free from Ravelry and, although I'm really only a beginner when it comes to crochet, it was really easy to do.

My local branch of the Embroiderers Guild has just embarked on a two year project on 17th Century embroidery, the end goal being to produce enough work to stage an exhibition which we hope to set up in a number of different venues in the future. We started out just before Christmas gathering images of 17th century designs and putting them together in workbooks. I thought I'd show you just a few of the pages from mine.

The tree of life is a recurring theme and many of them contain a whole range of little creatures so I worked this cute snail and butterfly in blackwork as a tiny sample to add to this page. He's a much friendlier snail than the ones in my garden which eat my vegetables!

Many old paintings contain wonderfully detailed images of the clothing of the time, many of which were embellished with blackwork, embroidery and lace. This page includes another sample of blackwork - this time showing acorns and oak leaves.

I'm not too sure what form my final embroidered pieces for the exhibition will take but I'm fairly sure that at least one will be worked in my favourite needle lace. Here's a sample piece I worked of a very stylised leaf.

Minis at last!

It seems to be taking me a while to get back to my normal routine after all the holiday's visitors but I finally got around to doing some miniatures this week even though there's not really very much that's new. I added some bits and pieces to the Manor House kitchen but I'm going to wait until I get the curtains up at the window before I show you that - later this week hopefully.

It's competition night at my local Minis group and this is my entry. I know it's a little late (or very early) for Halloween but we were given this tiny board and had to make a scene showing an annual event - and this is what I chose to do.

 Sorry about the veg box showing on the side of this one! I just realised that I didn't crop this particular photo but it's the only one that shows the chest with the witch's hat in it.

I don't expect to win, and I really don't mind as I enjoyed doing this little scene so much!

The other thing I've done is to change this little display box around to show off my small collection of shoes. The hats are ones I've shown you before and I made those. The shoes and boots were bought at the Pudsey Miniatures Show last autumn and I intend to add more when I get the opportunity.

 Can you see the giant cat outside the window, looking down at the miniature one on the windowsill?
 Here he is in person ... my beautiful Willow.

New Year Giveaway

I wish every one of my 52 lovely followers a very happy and healthy new year!

I've had family visiting over Christmas and New Year - first my son arrived and stayed for ten days, which was wonderful! My daughter had recently begun a new job and had to leave to start work on the Wednesday after Christmas Day but we managed to spend four days together. Then my brother arrived and just left yesterday. He is an Anglican minister so never gets a holiday at either Christmas or Easter of course so he arrives just before New Year's Eve and stays for a week.

In and amongst all the cooking and talking there has been no time for minis, or for much crafting of any kind. I did manage to crochet myself a scarf but have taken no photographs of that yet - maybe this weekend. So I'm sending you all some photographs of early spring flowers from my garden. I do so love snowdrops don't you? I have clumps of them all over my garden.

Here is the giveaway I've been promising you ... at last! I decided to give this tiny doll for the child in your dolls house (or maybe an old favourite of a young at heart adult?). The cushion and chair are included too. 

All you have to do to be entered into the draw (on Saturday 28th January) is to be (or become) a follower of my blog and to leave a nice comment underneath this post.

Good luck everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm sorry I've not been on here for a while. I spent a week in London visiting my son and daughter and since I got back my feet have barely touched the ground as there was real-life Christmas to organise.

These photos are from last year, showing Willow trying to decide whether he could reach the baubles. Of course he could! Nothing is safe from a cat! This year we don't have snow so no white Christmas this time around.

I'll be back in the new year with a give-away to celebrate my 50th follower, and news of the quilts I'm going to sell on Etsy, but in the meantime ...

... thank you for continuing to visit my blog, thank you for all your support and your lovely comments, and I hope that each and every one of you have a wonderful Christmas with those you love.