Stitched Up :: Nottingham Craft Group

Sally Twinkle!

I’m so excited because I’ve just discovered that the best craft shop ever (in my opinion) has a website – Sally Twinkle!

Anyone who is remotely into crafts and has spent any time in Mansfield will know Sally Twinkle. This shop has been going for 40 years and is, as they say, “haberdashery heaven”.

Although I say its my favourite craft shop I haven’t actually been in there since I lived with my parents in Mansfield and that must be about 12 years ago now. Finding their website though made me really want to go back and visit, not only does it have so much craft stuff the ladies, or the ‘Twinkle Girls‘, who work there are lovely.

Unfortunately you can’t buy online from Sally Twinkle but you wouldn’t want to, that would take away from the fun of visiting the shop.

One time I went in there to buy hundreds of beads to make a lampshade (don’t ask!) and the lady who served me counted each bead out one by one and was quite insistent that I wasn’t allowed to touch them to help her. It took a quite while and Jez had to go and stand outside because we were nearly cracking up!

The Sally Twinkle website has a fab page about the history of the shop. I didn’t realise that they had a huge fire in 1979 and then a sports car smashed into the window a few years later!

Anyway, check them out at www.sallytwinkle.co.uk.

Who’s a pretty birdie?

Eh? Another free embroidery pattern for you to enjoy. I love budgies – almost as much as I love embroidery, so here’s a double whammy. I wanted to do this cheeky little chap in greens with some pink flowers in the background. Bought myself a new pen for transferring designs, with mixed results, so whilst the jury is out on that one I won’t either reccommend or criticise it. Have a lovely weekend guys x

Tea Party at The Textile Workshop

This Saturday, 23rd February, The Textile Workshop are having a tea party to raise money for a cancer charity.

So put on your posh frock or shirt and pop along between 10am and 4pm. Bring your own home make cake to share too.

Contact Susie or Karen at The Textile Workshop to find out more on
0115 960 3337.

Pip’s Woolly

Here she is, in all her toasty glory.

20th Feb Craft Group

Just a quick reminder to let everyone know that the craft group tomorrow will be at the Textile Workshop in Sherwood.

From the city centre you can catch Green Line buses 56, 57, 58 & 59 or Purple Line 87, 88, 89. Timetables are available from the Nottingham City Transport website.

See you there!

Baby Surprise Jackets

At our last Stitched Up meeting, I was busy with a Baby Surprise Jacket. This is a famous pattern designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  I think you can find it in a couple of her books – my copy is in The Opinionated Knitter.  It’s a very curious, not to say weird, way of constructing a cardigan.  It’s knitted all in one piece, with clever use of mitred increases and decreases to form the basic shape.  Best of all, for those of us who hate seaming, there are only 2 short seams to sew at the end, across the top of the sleeves. 

I used Brown Sheep Lambs Pride worsted weight yarn in two colours for my first jacket.  This yarn is slightly thicker than the pattern envisages, so the jacket is big enough for a toddler.  I needed 1 skein of each colour and it was only just enough!  For my second jacket, I used Cascade 220 worsted weight yarn, again in 2 colours.  This yarn is a little bit finer than Lamb’s Pride, so the jacket is smaller and I had a bit of yarn left over.

Both jackets are now on their way to the US, as part of the Macuwita Sni project.

Butterfly

My friend Alicia has lupus, along with a whole array of other auto-immune diseases.  As a result, she isn’t able to enjoy a lot of the crafts she used to do regularly.  A few of us are sending her cards and small gifts to cheer her up a bit.  Stas has sent her a corkboard to display them.  I’ve been giving some thought to what to send her that could be easily pinned to the board and wouldn’t take up too much space.  I eventually settled on a butterfly made with rayon chirimen fabric.  I buy small squares from Fabric Tales in Japan and just love the dainty colourful designs.  I’m not sure that green was the best choice for a butterfly, but I had some tiny scraps that were just big enough for this little project.  It was a bit fiddly, but I’m really happy with how it turned out.

New girl on the blog

Thought I had better introduce myself properly now I’ve become part of the group. My name is Sue, often known in blogland as Guzzisue and I blog under the name of Travel, fibre and thread.

Anyway, enough of that. Here are some pictures of the pieces I have been stitching at our recent meetings

ATC ( Artist Trading Card) 3.5 x 2.5 inch, mixed fibres bonded to felt and handstitched. This card has been sent to Emmy in Holland who writes Cramzy blog.

Fabric Postcard 6 x 4 inch, Felted merino and silk fibres, machine and hand stitched, beaded. Stitched for Cyber Fyber Exhibition in Columbia

These small pieces of work are perfect to stitch whilst chatting and exchanging ideas, also easy to carry to work.

By the way, I was in Arnold on Saturday and the Hospice shop there appears to have closed along with the one in Netherfield so no crafty finds for me recently.

Hobbycraft Voucher

I know I’m supposed to be working right now but I just saw this and had to post it.

When you spend £20 at Hobbycraft (which, lets face it, isn’t difficult) they give you a £5 voucher. The offer runs until 24th Feb.

Check it out here on the hobbycraft website.

Free pattern

I’ve just found the USB stick I have that holds my scanned patterns on it – here’s the first, just in time for Valentines’ Day x