Looking back at my craft projects in 2016

I started 2016 determined to be more creative. I wrote a post in January about wanting to overcome negative thoughts. One way to create more positivity in my life was to pick up my needle and thread and get sewing again. I find hand stitching relaxing, yet over the past few years I rarely make time for it...

I was inspired by an Anne Lamott quote I had seen on the Story of Mum Facebook page. It talked about embracing a 'big, juicy creative life'. Who wouldn't want to do that?!

For me, hand sewing is a form of mindfulness. I find concentrating on the stitches helps me to focus on the moment. I also like the sense of accomplishment when I reach the end of a sewing project. I run my fingers over the stitches and feel proud of my handiwork. Once one project is complete, my mind jumps to the next idea. It's definitely an outlet for my creativity.

In 2016 I wanted to aim to create at least one sewing project a month. I also wanted to blog about my creations and encourage others to make more time for creativity - our 'Crafting is my Therapy" blog link-up was born.

Now we're heading into December and 2016 is coming to a close, I wanted to look back at the sewing projects I've created over the past twelve months. I know my crafting output isn't huge, one look at Pinterest or Instagram shows me that some people create vast amounts of embroidery and crochet. I love admiring it though and you can't really compare yourself to others. The hand embroidery I've created has given me lots of pleasure, so that's all that matters...

I kicked off 2016 creating my "Sewing Mends the Soul hoop pictured at the top of this post...

February's Craft Project was inspired by the Beatles lyrics "Love Is All you Need".

In March I blogged about my vintage fabric applique rabbit hoop.

I also created a post in March about Learning new embroidery stitches

In May I put together a blog post about "It's cool to be kind: why we should value carers". This is a subject I feel strongly about as my husband and I are both support workers. This was one of my most popular posts of the year and I had lots of positive comments and reaction to the post.

My project for June was chain stitch spirals and french knots. I discovered the joys of sewing onto a favourite piece of vintage fabric...

In July I made a hand embroidered butterfly hoop. I think July's project is the one I'm most proud of...it combines stitches I had never tried before until this year.

In August I didn't sew a single stitch. The school holidays got the better of me I'm afraid...I did create this 'Sewing is my Therapy' hoop back in June, so I'll add it in here.

In September I wanted to learn more new stitches. So I had a go at learning ribbed web and lazy daisy stitch.

October and November have seen me return to my favourite past time of embellishing vintage fabric. Again, it is a great way to practice some of the new stitches I have learnt in 2016.

I hope you're enjoyed the review of my craft projects in 2016. I would love to know what you've been creating this year and if you've learnt any new crafty skills.

I will be linking up to December's "Crafting is my Therapy" with this post. December's link-up will be the last one we're hosting for a little while. There will be more details about a new Instagram community to replace the linky whilst I take a break from blogging. More details can be found in Friday's post when #craftingismytherapy goes live...

Crafting is my Therapy #9

Welcome to the ninth “Crafting is my Therapy” blog link-up.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful month or making and creating.

September saw our busiest month yet on the ‘Crafting is my Therapy” linky. Welcome to all our new crafters, including Elsie Pop, Relentlessly Purple, Crafty Linby and Knitting and So On who joined us for the first time in September.

This month I have been practising some new embroidery stitches. I’ve always wanted to try the Lazy Daisy stitch. It’s a classic stitch and a great one for creating texture on a piece. I have also attempted Ribbed Web Stitch. It’s quite an unusual one, a mixture of sewing and weaving. Head over to my post to see how I got on…

Last month we also held a Posca Pen giveaway. There were 15 posts (not including the hosts) added to our link-up in September. Using the random number generator, I can tell you that the winner is…Relentlessly Purple! A pack of Posca Pens will be heading her way shortly...

Have you created anything crafty this month? Sewing, knitting, crochet, painting or pottery…please join in and share your blog posts.

The focus of this linky is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

Please grab the Crafting is my Therapy badge:

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I co-host Crafting is my Therapy with Jennifer Jain. She writes the popular craft blog Jennifers Little World

Jennifer hosts our Pinterest group board. Would you like your blog posts to be seen by over 700K followers? Craft Bloggers linking to #craftingismytherapy are welcome to join our board. It's a great way for your posts to reach a wider audience...

The “Crafting is my Therapy” linky will open on 7th October at 7pm (GMT) and stays open for the whole month – giving you plenty of time to get involved.
– You can link up with maximum of three posts per month, old or new.
– The focus of the linky is crafting for pleasure, so please don’t link up with posts promoting handmade items for sale.
– Grab the linky badge or link back to our blogs on your post.
– Please share the love and comment on other people’s posts.
– If you could share your post and the linky (using the hashtag #craftingismytherapy) on any social media channels that would be great. This will help us to grow the community. We will retweet all your posts via Twitter if you mention us (@pouchvintage/@JenniferJain )
– And finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, you’re more than welcome! Jennifer Jain’s links are here too: Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting in July: hand embroidered butterfly hoop

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you" - Nathaniel Hawthorne

At the start of July I decided to create a piece of embroidery featuring a butterfly motif. I'd recently watched Butterflies: A Very British Obsession over on BBC4 and I was inspired to stitch one of these beautiful creatures.

I downloaded a free template from the web and transferred the image onto a piece of linen. I chose this particular motif because it would give me the opportunity to try out a number of stitches. In particular I wanted to attempt satin stitch which I haven't tried for many years...

I started by outlining the wings in backstitch using a lovely teal thread.

I moved onto filling in the lower wings with satin stitch. Like I say, I haven't attempted this stitch for a long time. I looked at a number of tutorials online and then took the plunge. At first I wasn't happy with the way it turned out. To me, the stitches looked messy and uneven. I had recently read the satin stitch tutorial over on the Sublime Stitching site.

I love Jenny Hart's laid back attitude to embroidery. She makes you feel that you don't have to get too hung up about it all...her attitude towards Satin Stitch is summed up here: "It will probably look really terrible to you. Stop looking at it. Set it down, forget about it, and then pick it up again later. I bet you will be surprised by how nice it looks"

So I've tried to take her advice and not stress about it too much. I need to practice more, but I think the overall effect now the piece is finished is good. I'm not a sewing machine, it's impossible to make every stitch uniform...it is handmade after all.

I really enjoyed sewing this butterfly and I feel more confident with using Satin Stitch. If you are interested in creating the same butterfly motif, you can find it here on Mary Corbet's Needle and Thread website

With the school holidays in full swing, it's harder to find the time to sit down and sew. I need to think of a new project for August and it will probably involve a quote. I dyed some linen fabric a sunny yellow colour a few weeks back, so I'd like to incorporate it into my next crafting project...

I am linking up to August's "Crafting is my Therapy" with my butterfly hoop.

The focus of this link-up is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too. If you'd like to find out more about Crafting is my Therapy, please head over to this blog post.

This week I am also linking up with these lovely blogs:

HomeEtc over on www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk and mummyofboygirltwins.com

1970s nostalgia inspired fortieth birthday canvas: a handmade gift

Back in May, my friend Lisa turned 40. I wanted to make her a handmade, personalised gift, so I decided to embroider a canvas for her. This canvas features a number of the most iconic events from 1975. I think the 1970s were a heady mixture of glamour, glitz and political struggles. I wanted to try & reflect this in the canvas.

The 1970s gave us David Bowie, Disco and the birth of Punk. It was also an unsettled time politically for the United Kingdom with high inflation & industrial action by coal miners. This triggered the Conservative government to try & restrict electricity consumption with the Three Day Week.

I transferred my selection of 1975 events onto a cream calico fabric using a transfer pencil. I then used back stitch in various, bright embroidery threads to create this piece. I love hand sewing and find it relaxing, so making this canvas was really enjoyable.

I was born a year later in 1976, so may have to make a similar one for myself as the big 4-0 is looming on the horizon...

Spring Sale: 25% off selected vintage trims

I'm having a Spring Sale and offering 25% discount on a selection of the vintage trims. Head on over to my online shop to see the full range of vintage trims. They are perfect for adding a vintage twist to your next crafting project. Great for appliqué, sewing, collage, mixed-media artwork, scrap booking and much, much more...

Hand Embroidered Birthday Gift

My niece turned eighteen two weeks ago. I can't believe she's just finished her A'levels and will be choosing a university soon. She's grown into a creative, talented young lady who wants to become a photographer...we're all very proud of her.

I wanted to make a personal gift, something that had meaning to her. I love making handmade gifts, I don't always have the time, but I was determined to make time for this particular gift!

My niece drew me a picture way back when she was just six years old. I've always loved it, the expression on the cat's face and his little paw waving at me. I put it in a frame and it has been something I've looked at nearly everyday. It's moved around with us ever since from our flat in Bath, to our first home in Bristol & now onto our house in North Somerset.

I recently had an idea of transferring the image to fabric and making a piece of hand embroidery to give to her as a gift.

I put the project together over the weeks leading up to her birthday and I'm really pleased with the results. I decided to make it into a cushion cover, but it would also work stretched over a canvas to make a piece of wall art.

I'm pleased to say that my niece also loved the gift, although I had to show her the original to jog her memory...well, alot has happened in the twelve years since she drew it for me!