Flutterby Patch

Life after binca

Reading Kim's Ragged Roses blog and her subsequent comments it would seems a lot of mums in blogland are very much in 'back to school' mode at the moment. I dropped in on Kitchen Pink this morning and admired the binca stitching done by three generations of her family. I was immediately transported back to my early infant days. Amazingly I still have the little binca 'mat' that I made when I was six (below). Lapses in concentration are obvious (I was no doubt gossipping as usual). Looking at my little mat I immediately recalled the smell of the well used infant plasticine that pervaded the classroom; horrible stuff, always marbled green and brown and totally uninspiring.

 

They say 'give me a child until he's seven and I'll give you the man' and, true enough, decades later I'm still stitching. Here are a few stitched pics I've made since my binca days. 

This is entitled 'Three Birds' and is a design by the very talented needlewoman Elizabeth Bradley. Her kits are available on line.

 

Elizabeth Bradley's needlework books are an inspiration. I have three titles, 'Animals', 'Antique Flowers' and 'Decorative Victorian Needlework'.

Each book is superbly illustrated and contains a number of graphs in full colour which enable you to create your own stitched masterpieces. The sample pages below can be found in 'Decorative Victorian Needlework'.

I'm not certain if the books are still in print but they are all readily available from secondhand book sellers and of course Ebay. 

Early American needlework was my inspiration for the sampler below. Apologies for the poor reproduction but I had to stand on a wobbly chair to photograph it. The sampler is in a heavy frame and hangs above my dining room fireplace where it complements my blue and white china on the shelf below.

I enjoy counted thread-work but have also done quite a bit of freestyle work over the years. I used vegetable dyes to colour the all threads used in the picture below

I love antique needlework and have collected some nice examples over the years. The finely stitched picture below must have been a popular subject as I have seen it on two or three occasions since acquiring this one. It dates from the second half of the 19th century.

Mary Clements stitched this sampler in 1836 and I can't help but wonder what became of her.

Needlework talk and browsing through Elizabeth Bradley's books has put me in the mood to begin a new piece of stitching, sadly though I have other projects on the go at the moment so must resist the temptation. Such a pity!

My knitted shawl is finished

You may have seen my knitted shawl in progress on 3 September. Well the good news is, I've finished it. The idea was to use up lots of odds and ends of colourful chunky yarn that had been squirrel away in a cupboard for years. Using size 7.5 mm needles I cast on 12 stitches and began knitting in garter stitch, increasing one stitch at the beginning of each row. The pattern was simply random stripes.

By the time the shawl was 18 in (45 cm) long I was beginning to find the whole thing was getting too bulky and stitches were falling of my needles! I like to improvise so decided to divide the work into three. I carried on knitting the centre stitches while the right and left sides were held on spare needles. The centre required no shaping and I was able to judge just how long I wanted the finished shawl before casting off. My finished length is only 27 in/70 cm as I didn't want it too large. Next I knitted the same number of rows on the left side (increasing one stitch at the beginning of every row on the the outside edge only). Cast off. Then I completed the right side (increasing at the right hand edge) and cast off. The stripes on each of the three sections don't match but the random pattern is very pleasing. I grafted the three sections together and finally I trimmed the shawl with a 4 in/10 cm fringe and the job was done.

The result - a deliciously warm, cosy and very colourful shawl.

Picture-book days (and evenings)

After my last blog when I dipped into Robert Louis Stevenson's 'A Child's Garden of Verses' I remained hooked. Happily I still have many books from my childhood, so after supper I spent a couple of carefree hours sitting on the sofa by a log fire looking at my old books and reminiscing whilst the rain beat against the window pane.

This final verse from Stevenson's poem 'Picture-books in Winter' evokes just the right cosy atmosphere. You can find the entire poem on my 'Favourite Poems and Wise Words' page.

How am I to sing your praise,
Happy chimney-corner days,
Sitting safe in nursery nooks,
Reading picture story-books.

 
This is one of 6 colour plates by A.H.Watson

As we British bloggers are all moaning about the atrocious weather at the moment I set myself the task of finding pictures of wet and windy weather amongst the pages of my old books. Amazingly they were very thin on the ground. Plenty of snow and sunshine but next to no rain. The first rainy pic I came across was this from 'My First Book' published by Birn Brothers Ltd in the mid 1950s. The title is 'February' (note the primroses). The seasonal picture for September depicted children picking apples, all smiles and sunshine!

One of the first books I ever had was 'Tufty'. A heart wrenching tale of an orphaned rabbit.

Poor old Tufty heads off alone into the big wide world with all his belongings held in a red and white spotted hankie tied to a stick. On his journey he meets several other orphaned animals and they stay together.

But soon disaster strikes...the storm clouds gather (I know the feeling!)

The clouds burst and the poor little orphaned animals get a soaking (look at that little bat and mouse huddling in the corner).

Quick thinking Tufty and his pals visit the wise old owl who lends them a book on how to build a house. And guess what....the sun starts shining, building work begins and in no time at all....

....a perfect little cottage is erected to accommodate Tufty, his friends and all the orphaned animals.
A happy ending perhaps, but as a child I was always sad that the little animals couldn't be reunited with their mummies and daddies. They all look so cute and vulnerable.

My aunt gave me a Rupert Bear annual every year from a very early age. I grew up with Rupert so to speak. Being in his gang meant playing out all day in the countryside around Nutwood and arriving home just in time for tea. Sunny holidays at wonderful Rocky Bay and Christmases that were always snowy were obligatory. As if that wasn't enough, Rupert and chums always had puzzling mysteries to solve and loads of exciting adventures along the way. All nice polite characters, no squabbling or bullying and always a happy ending with no one getting hurt. Perfect!

Looking through my annuals I found plenty of sunshine and snow but rain showers rarely put in an appearance. The 1962 story of 'Rupert and the Bad Dog' was the only time I found rain

A sudden rain storm and Rupert and Podgy Pig shelter under a tree
 
 
The rain continues so the chums make a dash for home

 Safe in the confines of his cosy cottage and snug in his warm dressing gown, Rupert watches the rain through the window. When the rain eventually stops the story continues with a magic ball and a Scottie dog named Jock.

And so that leaves Noddy and Big Ears! (Would you get away with calling a character Big Ears these days? There would surely be many complaints!) I was introduced to these two at an early age and have several well thumbed books. Looking through the books I could find very little evidence of rain ever falling in Toy Town, but then I found this. I think Noddy's expression says it all (and possible expletives as well). Thanks Noddy, you sum up how we have all been feeling this past week.