Author: Dartmoor Yarns

Sunday Sevens #20

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens6 Comments

You might have notice I’ve been pretty quiet lately – I’ve been away on holiday, but more of that in the week. Today is Sunday, so here’s my seven (or so) photos of my week away from the blog.

Last Sunday I made a free motion embroidery card for the arrival of our lovely new great nephew.

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If you’re in Europe I’m sure you’re aware we’ve been having a bit of a heatwave. However here in the south west of England the heat was accompanied by a very strong wind.  So strong on Wednesday it broke my rotary dryer…

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…and on Thursday we woke  to a lawn full of leaves…

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Focusing on the positive, the high temperature and strong wind were ideal for drying Harry’s toys (on my temporary washing line) after they’d had a trip round in the washing machine…

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Our garden has gone wild while we’ve been away, so I’ve put a good few hours gardening in this week – but there’s still plenty to do…

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I’ve also spent a fair part of the week helping organise our village fair. The Lydford Dash is part of this. Anyone local fancy taking part?

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I also got on with a job I’ve been avoiding; tidying the utility. In it I found these tools from our now broken Dyson vacuum cleaner. They’ve never been used, but it seems so wasteful just to throw them away. Any  thoughts on how I can recycle them?

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Away from chores we went for a walk in Bellever forest on Saturday…

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Followed by lunch at The Two Bridges. Lovely spot, but unfortunately the food really let it down…

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Hope you’ve had a great week.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Scrap Happy June – Free Motion Embroidery Cards

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Scrap Happy, Sewing23 Comments

I love to send cards, but most, considering they’re just a piece of paper with a picture on, are expensive. Of course when we send a card is much more than a piece of paper with a picture – it’s a message of love, of thanks, of congratulations, a wish… and much much more.

To me cards are important and I’ve been meaning for ages to make my own freehand embroidery ones, but never quite found the time. But having recently had a ball quilting two quilts,  I was keen to do more scribbling on fabric. Fortuitously I’d also acquired a fair few fabric scraps from both quilts.

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I ironed a few scraps onto some Steam-a-seam…

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I particularly love this idea, because it finds a use for even the tiniest scraps of fabric.

…drew shapes on the fabric using templates made from a cereal packet, sugar paste cutters and a ruler…

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… and cut the shapes out…

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I cut some squares and oblongs the right size for my cards from scraps of calico and beige fabric plus identical squares and oblongs from scarps of interfacing.20190602_115137oo

I then forgot to take a photo until after I’d

  1.  Fused the interfacing to the back of the calico/beige fabric.
  2. Written various greetings on the calico/beige fabric with the alphabet on my machine.
  3. Stuck the scrap fabric shapes in the right places on the calico/beige fabric.
  4. Scribbled over the scraps with my sewing machine – using straight stitch and with the feed dogs down.
  5. Glued them to the card.

But I’m sure you can imagine all that.

I was so pleased with them I also put some in cello covers on some to sell on my stall…

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If you like the idea of using your scraps (of anything, not just fabric) click on Kate or Gun(first two names in the list  below) and join us on the 15th of every month – or just those months you feel like joining in.  Here’s a list of both frequent and occasional Scraphappiers (?) if you want to see what everybody else is doing.

Kate,  Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn , Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline and Sue L.

Mitred Squares Finish

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Knitting, UFOs14 Comments

Many many moons ago I started making a bag from mitred squares. But then I decided I didn’t want to make them into a bag, so they sat in my UFO basket as I pondered what to make of them.

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I was still unsure when I listed my Frog or Finish 9 for 2019, so they didn’t make the list. But I’m pleased to say, I finally took them out, added a square and a zip and turned them into a cushion…

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Another UFO bites the dust. And it wasn’t even on the list! 🙂

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens#18 2019

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens24 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens – a post where I share seven (or so) photos of my week away from the blog.

Last Sunday we took a walk along the river Okement at Fatherford and had a sit at this spot watching the water flow through the rocks. Coincidentally this is were I saved the sheep from drowning that I mention in Thursday’s post – hard to believe in wetter weather so much of this is under water.

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Of course, after a nice walk at Fatherford it’s compulsory to have brunch at the station…

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Although it has been very dry, it’s also been very dank and wet at times…

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Unsurprisingly in a mix of warm and wet weather the greenery is growing like mad and dog walking paths are getting thinner…

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This week I finished A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale. It didn’t really grab me – you know I’m hard to please. There were lots of interesting ideas raised, just none of them explored sufficiently. It was still, however, very thought provoking, but I couldn’t understand why the main character hadn’t noticed he was more interest in men than women when he was a lot younger.

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In an unusual turn of events, Hubby cleaned out my car. Here are the items he though I didn’t really need to keep in it…

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Anyone know what the item at the top of the picture is?

In more usual activities I bought some wool for my next project…

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And to keep things in balance, I trucked up at produce morning on Saturday and sold some…

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And somewhere during the week, this arrived…

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Thank you to Lynn – looks like exactly like what I was asking for when I wanted suggestions of a sewing book to buy a couple of weeks ago.

As I also mentioned on Thursday, I’ve been to the physio. While the physiotherapist was out of the room, printing my Personal Exercise Programme, I took a quick snap of the curtain rail.

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Can anyone offer an explanation why it would be hung like this? There was no obvious reason I could see.

Hope you’ve had a great week.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Prescription: Crochet

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Crochet20 Comments

You may remember I’ve  complained frequently occasionally mentioned that my thumb is too sore to crochet anymore. The level of pain in my hand/wrist has come and gone for a while, but got very bad again in March, so I finally headed off to the doctor. The doctor referred  me for physio.  Two months later I had a physiotherapy appointment.

I saw a lovely lady who was an expert in hands and wrists. She diagnosed that I had De Quervains Syndrome – basically tendinitis of two of the tendons that control the thumb, but let’s cal it De Quervains, because it sounds so much more interesting. She thinks it was started when I saved a sheep from drowning five years ago – long story.

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This isn’t the sheep I saved, just an acing sheep playing the part.

 

Even better than having an interesting sounding syndrome, she prescribed that I do some crochet 🙂

Having written off ever doing crochet again, I didn’t know what to make, but I did have a a rather yummy Scheepjes blueberry bambam whirl in my stash…

Scheepjes Whirl Blueberry Bambam

Unfortunately I can’t for the life of me find my 4mm crochet hook. So instead I started making a pot of flowers – I’ve only got this far, as I’ve only been prescribed a few minutes each day, but I just had to share my most excellent news with you!

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I’d also like to ask if, since even at a few minutes a day the potted plant won’t take long, have you got a favourite pattern for a Scheepjes whirl you can temp me with?

Until next time,

Bekki x

 

 

Sunday Sevens #17 2019

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens12 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens – a post where I share seven (or so) photos of my week away from the blog.

Most of my free time last week was spent gardening…

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Harry decided to help with the digging…

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In other garden news, our rabbit population is now up to seven…

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All seven are in this picture – honest!

The weather has been glorious, making dog walks even more enjoyable…

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… and sitting in the sunshine with friends a must…

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The sunshine has brought the buttercups out in force on Fernworthy Moor…

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The hanging baskets are also in full bloom outside the Woolly Beader in Okehampton

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We’ve both been on a winning streak this week.  I won a box of Ferrero Rocher in a raffle and LH won a bottle of wine at golf…

We had a visit from our friends from Scotland. Their dog, Basil, is a rescue who has struggled with other dogs in the past. Basil and Hicks were always good friends, but I was a little worried about his first meeting with Harry – Harry loves everyone, but is entire, so some males dogs can be a bit with him. Basil is also 14, so I thought Harry might be too bouncy.

But nothing to worry about.  The only problem was that Basil didn’t have enough energy to keep up…

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On Saturday morning Basil was also very helpful in encouraging Harry to get over his fear of mud…

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But on Saturday afternoon, when our visitors has gone, Harry’s friend Morgan have him a proper demo of what to do with a muddy puddle…

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Hope you’ve had a great week.

Until next time,

Bekki xx

 

 

Good Sewing Books

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sewing10 Comments

I’ve muttered recently about starting to sew some of my own clothes, and whilst I’m definitely rusty, I’m also definitely not a beginner. As I ponder my first project – first if you don’t count the PJ bottoms – I’ve been thinking thoughts Such as:  What is tissue fitting? Why does everyone on GBSB use pebbles instead of pins when they cut out? What new machine feet are there now to make things easier? The internet is great for all sorts of questions, but what I’d also like is a good reference book. Which is where you guys come in. What would you recommend? I’m thinking I want the sewing equivalent of June Hemmons Hiat’s  Principles of Knitting.

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The sort of book I want isn’t padded out with projects, aimed at beginners, or written by someone who’s not a hugely experience dressmaker, but just good at PR.  I want the sort of book you dip into when you know in the dark recesses of your mind there is better way to do something; a book that feels as if it’s full of facts; a book so big you can press flowers in it. I want a book that tells you all the ways to do something, the pros and cons, and the practical reasons for choosing one method over another.

Having said all that, if you’ve any other favourites that don’t fit my want, but you’d recommend, I’d love to know about them too.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Look forward hearing what you suggest.

Until next time.

Bekki x