Day 9 in our new home, and I’ve been working on getting my room into shape, as well as trying to unpack some of the boxes in the rest of the house.
My work room is the second bedroom, north-facing and about 11 feet square. The previous owners painted it peach and installed a dark red/pink/brown carpet.
work room
The walls are the wrong colour, and the carpet had to go.
You’d think peach would be quite easy to cover, but it’s had four coats of good quality white paint (yes, that’s brilliant white – it looks grey because of the light) and it’s still a little bit patchy. I think I may well just call it done and put lots of pictures up. In any case most of the worst bits are where the furniture will go.
white walls
The floorboards seem pretty good, so I’m painting them too.
white room in progress
I’ve just painted enough of the floor to get some furniture into position, because the desk and drawers are currently forming an obstacle course in the main bedroom, and then I’ll be able to paint the rest of the floor.
There were many ups and downs, but February brought us the new home for which we’ve been waiting.
new home
Most of the month was spent fretting, phoning estate agents and solicitors, and preparing.
February daily stitchingFebruary (detail)
Moving day itself was something I never want to experience again. We ended up having to exchange contracts and complete on the same day, which didn’t exactly go according to plan but we did finally get our keys at just gone 4pm. And here we are at last – it could have been worse, and in a few days the stress and fatigue will be just a memory.
Want to see my new work room? Here it is:
second bedroom
We’ve been focusing on sorting the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom so that we can function while we attend to the rest of the unpacking, so neither of us has unpacked our work spaces yet. My room is about 11 feet square, slightly bigger than in our last house. It’s north facing so will be cooler in the summer with more consistent light, and the view is mostly the surrounding back gardens. Our garden is tiny, but relatively private.
My room also has fitted wardrobes on one wall:
work room cupboards
Easily adaptable for thread and fabric storage. My first job will be to paint the walls, and possibly the floor – there is a very dark red/pink carpet, which I don’t like. Dark flooring tends to absorb a lot of light, which means you can’t always see colours as they really are. I’d like to paint the floor white, if the floorboards are good enough. If they’re not then I’ll think about a pale laminate floor instead.
You can see it will be a while before I can return to work, so the shop will remain closed for now. I’ve been looking forward to this since October and I want to enjoy organising it so I’ll take the time to get it right. It will take as long as it takes.
I was hoping to have the latest batch of hand-dyed threads in the shop next week but unfortunately that’s not going to be possible.
A few thread types are done but I still have many more skeins to wind, and then they will need sorting into sets, photographing, describing and listing, all of which takes more time than you might expect.
the winding chair
Further progress will be limited because it looks as if our long-awaited house move may finally be happening the week after next, and I will have to close the shop temporarily while I focus on packing.
The shop will close on Tuesday 20th February, and will re-open as soon as I’ve been able to unpack my supplies in our new home. I don’t know how long that will take, but I’m aiming for the first or second week in March. If you’re looking for daily stitching templates while the shop is closed, you can now get those through my Teachable school here.
A preview of some of the silk threads that will be coming next month:
silk threads coming next month
And in the meantime, here’s what I’ll be doing next week:
The thread update last week has kept me very busy, and if you have ordered some thread (thank you) it’s on its way.
Most of the thread collections have gone; (at the time of writing) there’s just one silk set left:
the last silk thread collection, very pink
I gave myself a surprise extra dyeing day yesterday. Normally I plan these events and spend a week or two preparing for it, but this time I wondered what would happen if I just wound some larger hanks and got stuck in.
And it turned out to be so much easier this time. Winding single skeins and dyeing them takes a bit of time and effort, particularly as many of them need winding again if they tangle too much in the wash. Bigger hanks don’t tangle anywhere near as much, and will yield several skeins of similar colours. They will still all need winding individually, but that’s fine. They’ll be done when they’re done.
threads in various stages of drying/waiting to be washed
This current batch will just be for thread sets, not single skeins. There will be some silk sets and some mini cotton sets, when they’re all dry and sorted. I like putting these collections together, finding colours that sit nicely side by side. They’re a bit like a choir, I always think. Some sing loud and clear, others sing a quieter underlying harmony that sits in the spaces between the more strident notes.
I have a tiny bit of dye left, and there is some fine silk thread that should be arriving today, so I will put all of that together later until all the colour is used up.
leftover dye, and waste not want not
In the meantime there are a few single skeins left in the shop but when they’re gone there will just be thread sets for now.
silk single skeinscotton single skeins
I’m really looking forward to sorting this week’s threads when they’re all dry. There is nothing so joyful as glorious colour on a grey wet day.
Three weeks of thread-dominated days, and I think we’re almost there.
Shop update waiting
I’m taking the afternoon off, and then I’ll update the shop some time later today (UK time). If you’re waiting for thread, keep checking in. The ‘coming soon’ boxes will disappear when the threads are live.
Just a few announcements, while we’re here:
(1) There was an alarming point in early January when I discovered that some of my silk and cotton thread suppliers were no longer trading. I’ve managed to connect with new suppliers in the meantime, but their thread is more expensive so I have had to make a small increase in my prices. I think the prices are still reasonable, given that each thread is unique. I don’t dye by recipe so everything turns out to be slightly different every time.
(2) I’ve found some commercially hand-dyed silk threads that I’ve added to the shop. These are the only threads there that are not dyed by me. I’ve used these threads myself and I like them, despite the many annoying knots that appeared in the hanks. They do come with a warning about their colourfastness – I have thoroughly washed and rinsed them all before winding into skeins, and some of them did lose a little colour (mainly anything with magenta or dark blue in it, including purples and dark greens) but they may still lose more colour if they’re washed again. If you need to wash your project, then test the threads first (actually that advice probably applies to all of my hand-dyed threads, none of which can be guaranteed colourfast). If you do need to wash the thread, then I would suggest cool water, minimal detergent and minimal agitation. Rinse well in cool water and blot the excess water onto a towel; don’t wring or squeeze, and definitely don’t tumble dry. If you’re not washing your project, then none of this matters. I rarely, if ever, wash embroidered work and have never had a problem with rogue colours staining the cloth. If you’re making something that will need frequent washing then I’d suggest using commercially dyed thread that does have a colourfast guarantee.
Silk perle 8 (not dyed by me)
(3) This time I have made available some undyed skeins, in case anyone wants to have a go at either dyeing their own thread or painting it. You can paint thread quite successfully with something like Jacquard Dye-na-Flow fabric paints – these are very liquid colours that behave more like dye than paint, and they don’t alter the hand (the softness) of the thread. There are lots of dyeing tutorials and instructions online, for fibre-reactive dyes and for botanical dyes. You can also use the undyed threads as they are, of course; white thread is always A Useful Thing.
new for 2024: undyed threads
Other than these new additions, there are the usual ranges of cotton and silk in various weights, plus a few thread collections.
Cotton thread mini collectionThread taster setssilk thread perle 8/12
The entire month has passed in a blur of thread winding, dyeing, sorting and labelling, a task that is still very much ongoing.
But daily stitching counts the days and maps the path, creating lines of progress and marking the days in which standing still for a time becomes restorative.
January days
I’m loving this year’s template. I like the way every day is a slightly different shape, as they are in real life. Some days are short and fill up quickly; some days have awkward angles and sharp corners; some days feel a bit longer than they should.
January, detail
Looking back, I notice a lot of running stitch trundling along, charting a path and counting steps.
January detail
I think it’s probably my favourite stitch. It’s so versatile and can be very expressive. I like the way it moves forward one step at a time, putting one foot in front of the other just to keep going. I also like its simplicity and its capacity for trust. It doesn’t always know where it’s going but somehow it finds its way and ends up where it’s supposed to be.
I like the quietness of January, where nothing much happens. I enjoy the pale, muted colours of winter and the gentle light. I know some people don’t like the grey days and the long nights and are glad to see the back of it.
the back of January
Tomorrow is Imbolc, which marks the start of spring in the pagan calendar. It’s still cold, and the nights are still long, but you can see the light starting to change and there are snowdrops gamely battling on through the cold. Spring is on the way; you can smell it in the air.
In the meantime, I am still sorting through thread and fearing that I may never get to the end of it. But myself says keep calm and carry on and it will be done soon. If you’re waiting for thread, please keep an eye on the shop; all being well, the update will happen in a couple of days or so.
It’s Wednesday, which is my afternoon off, and I took a break from thread winding/labelling to attend to some – well – thread. Bit of a busman’s holiday perhaps, but my own thread storage system has been underperforming for a while and I do like to see things nicely organised.
Here’s my current purples collection:
purple threads
They’re all together, which is fine, but they’re all in different formats. Some are on paper wraps, some are on bits of drinking straw, some are on reels and spools, and when you’ve rummaged around in the box a few times they get hopelessly jumbled and it’s not easy to find anything.
I had this idea to make stackable trays that would fit inside the plastic boxes (the box is about 6″ x 9″ and 2″ deep) so that the paper rolls would be better contained and stay in roughly a single layer.
A sheet of craft card, a glue stick, and some measuring, folding, and cutting, and it’s working pretty well.
The tabs fold onto the side edges, and then the sides fold down over the glued tabs.
patent easy tray, white craft card
And here’s how the reds/oranges/yellows box is looking:
double decker thread storagestackable trays for thread
I do like it when an idea works. Wish me luck with the (much larger) box of browns, greys, and neutrals…
It will be the middle of next week before everything is washed, rinsed and dried, then it will take me a week or two to sort, label, rewind where necessary, photograph and list. I’m hoping to have them in the shop around the end of January, house move depending (yes, we’re still on the edge of our seats here waiting for dates).
There won’t be much else happening here while this is in progress so if I’m particularly quiet, I’m probably just up to my elbows in thread. And what better place to be?
In my bid to find some free time and a little head space, I’m ring-fencing Wednesday afternoons and blocking them out in the diary. This will be a few hours respite each week for me to do something just for fun, not for profit, absolutely non-business related, and purely for my own amusement. It’s intended to give me a bit of space so that I don’t feel ‘on’ all the time. Some weeks it might be for painting or drawing, some weeks it might be for making things, some weeks it might just be quiet reading time.
In a previous life, nearly thirty years ago, I began making 1/12th scale miniatures. Recently I’ve found myself wanting to return to making little things, and after our house move I’d like to create a twelfth-scale model of my new work room. A psychologist might suggest that immersing yourself in a tiny world over which you have complete control is a perfectly natural response to the uncertainties of real life. Maybe. I just really like tiny things.
I began this little enterprise over Christmas, when I took a week off. I began by having a go at recreating this real-life blanket box:
real life blanket box
Bought many years ago for my first home – originally cheap orange-pine veneer, which I collaged with some vintage magazine pages. I covered the top in thick foam and stapled the fabric on.
My first attempt at recreating it in 1/12th scale was ok but I thought the fabric could be better:
tiny blanket box with little magazines
For the first attempt above I coloured the fabric with felt tips, which turned out to be a bit too bright in this scale. I had another go, with watercolours and a finer fabric:
second attempt, better
The model blanket box holds fabrics, unlike its real-life counterpart:
that inner lid needs glueing down better!
And then I had a go at recreating my vintage 1960s sewing basket:
real life 1960s yellow sewing basket
And this is how that turned out:
1/12th scale sewing basket
I made the box itself out of cardboard, and created the wicker effect by glueing on a tiny piece of weaving with perle 12 cotton thread. I’ve painted the woven outer and lined the insides with yellow silk. The inner top is slightly padded, as with the real version. The handle is a pipe cleaner wrapped with perle 12 thread and poked through the sides so that it can swing up and down.
Yesterday I had a little play creating its contents.
1/12th sewing basket contents
I photographed some full-size needle packets and my tin of pins, then shrank the photos on Procreate to print them at scale. The little red pincushion is a scrap of dyed silk cocoon stuffed with a tiny ball of quilt batting. The tape measure is a bit of narrow silk ribbon, and the thread spools are just fine thread wound round short sections of cocktail sticks – technically slightly out of scale, but I don’t think it matters too much. The scissors and spectacles were bought years ago, carefully saved and put away after selling my dolls house in 2012. I’ve painted the spectacles silver (they were bright brassy gold) and I really need to figure out how to get lenses in them.
And then of course I needed my faithful birdie in miniature. I found a perfect tiny bird (made by Chik Sculptures on Etsy), painted it gold and added a tiny pincushion and googly eyes. Real life birdie is a little bemused, but it was such fun to make.
big bird, little bird
I enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to recreate something in a smaller scale, using what I’ve got. After a little time out yesterday I’m also feeling suitably refreshed and ready to dive back into real life, which today means more thread winding. Enjoy the rest of your week and have a lovely weekend 🙂
I did have my new year fairly well planned out from January, but the delayed house move has caused a little disruption (and this is not a complaint, just a fact). So now my revised plans centre around Before house move and After house move.
The shop is nearly out of thread, so there’s something I can be getting on with Before house move..
cotton thread winding in progress
I wind every skein of thread by hand. Some threads come on cones, which are relatively easy to wind, and some come in large hanks, which have to be strung up on the skein winder. It takes a couple of weeks to wind a batch of assorted threads for dyeing, and then the dyeing/washing/rinsing/drying/sorting/labelling/photographing/listing takes another couple of weeks or so.
cotton and silk threads ready for winding
I’m a one-woman operation, so it does take a while. I really need to try and keep on top of it more this year.
silk and cotton threads wound into skeins
For After house move, I have lots of plans. I’d like to write a book proposal at some point, and I’d like to create another online course – I have a couple of ideas for that. I’d like to cultivate some sort of daily drawing/collage practice, just for my own development.
I also need to plan some free time into this year’s diary, which is something I overlooked last year. When thread and textiles are your hobby and your business, it can sometimes feel as if everything is work, because work expands to fill the available time. All work and no play is no good for anyone. So I’m cultivating a new spare time activity and am looking forward to spending a little time on something that is just for my own amusement. More on this later.
