Falling for Tula Pink's Parisville Deja Vu

It’s been a while since I’ve started on a brand new craft project, I’ve been trying (and mostly failing) to finish some of the ones I already have on the go. And then I packed up all my craft stuff before my carpal tunnel surgery in June, we moved house and while I’m getting there sorting out my new craft room, I haven’t really done anything new, until now.

I was really taken with the English Paper Piecing (EPP) patchwork I saw at the Stitch Festival back in Spring, but the thing that stopped me buying a kit then was the concern that my hands would misbehave and go numb while I was sewing, which had happened a fair bit with my cross stitch - and was probably the thing that tipped me into going to the doctors to get them seen to.

I remember making, or attempting to make a hexie patchwork throw when I was a teenager, shortly after we moved house, for my new bedroom. The colours were pale pinks and greys to match my newly decorated room. You’ll not be surprised to learn that it took me a while, and I’m not sure it ever got finished, or what happened to it - I wish I’d kept it now though!

But anyway many years later, another house move and after successful carpal tunnel surgery, I found myself browsing through the Tula Pink materials and kits. I’ve been influenced by my SIL on the Tula Pink front, which I’m thankful for, and I love the bright colours. No surprises there.

So that’s how I found myself the proud owner of a couple of the Tula Pink Parisville Deja Vu Hexy kits. Two because I had no plan, and so I wanted to make sure I had enough, for my no plans, and to avoid another set of shipping costs if I needed more at any point in the future.

AREN’T THEY GORGEOUS?

I was hoping a plan would present itself. And it did.

As I was sorting through and getting straighter in my craft room I realised my sewing box and the pigeon shelves could do with a bit of a revamp. Back in 2016 they were both painted a grey-green colour which was great for our last house, but not so much for our new one.

Our new house has much less colour in it - all the walls are white, which surprisingly I really like, and the other dominant colours are charcoal grey and oak. That means there’s plenty of scope to add colour in our furnishings, which is where my plan started to develop.

I plan to paint both the sewing box and shelves a dark grey - I’ve not found one I like enough yet, but I’m still looking (loosely) and I know it’s out there. As before, I want the insides of my sewing box to contrast with the outside, and I’ve got bright yellow and bright pink in my mind.

I’ll need to recover the top too, and a pop of colour is just what is needed. And one that I’ve put together myself from my new hexy kits, will be just the thing, especially if I actually get it finished!

To paraphrase the A Team, I love it when my no plans come together!

Maximising my shipping costs

While I was browsing, and to make the USA shipping costs truly efficient I also ordered a couple of project bags - in truth I could have ordered a whole lot more and they are just as gorgeous. Yes I know there are Tula Pink resellers in the UK, but they didn’t have the items I wanted, so it made sense to maximise those costs. Let’s be clear though, I’m under no illusion that there won’t be future purchases.

The project bags will be really handy - I’m already using the spotty racoon A4 sized one for an embroidery project which is to repair and upcycle a t-shirt of mine. I’ll share more on that soon as it’s nearly done - I finished my original plan, and liked it so much I’ve carried on!

I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before I find the perfect use for the larger of the project bags either - I couldn’t choose between the two designs, proving once again choice is a dangerous thing!

A colourful day at The Stitch Festival

I’d seen the adverts for The Stitch Festival on Instagram and my interest was piqued, and then piqued again when I saw it was being held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, which is not only easy to get to but, I think, a great venue. I’d been there in February for the Garden Media Press Event.

It’s been a few years since I went along to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, which was also good - but huge and busy, even with the numbers attending reduced due to Covid. I’d done a workshop that day to create and decorate a rustic barn using material and decorative stitches on the sewing machine, and so was keen to look at the workshop programme for this event.

In the end after much deliberation I opted for two workshops, one with an early morning (9am) start and the other at lunchtime. The early morning workshop also gained me entry into the show, so less queuing and that seemed like a good trade off for the earlier start. Though as it approached I was less sure of its merits, but mainly because I’m not naturally a morning person and these winter months have seen a slower start to the day. But as it turned out it was fine, as I knew it would be. I even had time to pick up breakfast along the way.

The morning workshop was to learn from Angela Daymond how to use leaves and petals to colour white paper, creating a notebook ready to be ‘cooked’ at home. Once my notebook was stitched, and a sliver of silk added, I carefully placed dried onion skins and dried tulip petals between the paper and wrapped it around a wooden dowel, securing it with crochet thread.

My notebook is still waiting to be cooked, as I need to either find a saucepan just for crafts, or alternatively a jar that I can use in one of our existing saucepans. I’m sure I had some taller jars that would work, but they may have been a casualty of an over zealous tidy up.

I’m curious to see how it will turn out, the examples available during the workshop looked great but as Angela impressed on us during the workshop you can’t replicate the effect so if randomness isn’t your thing, then this probably isn’t the craft for you! I’m ok with randomness…

Once the workshop finished and before the next one started I had a few hours to look around the show. I knew this had the potential to be dangerous, and expensive - but unlike the show at Ally Pally I also knew I had to carry my purchases home, which proved to be a good enough deterrent.

I also knew that I wouldn’t leave empty handed - it’s so hard to do that at these kinds of shows, but I wasn’t expecting to buy what I did - we’ll come onto that.

I loved the Indie Biz village on the balcony, full of independent crafting businesses many of whom I follow on Instagram, so it was really nice to see them in person. The main floor had the bigger and medium-sized stands, and were equally as busy, colourful and friendly.

As you know I’m a fan of colour, and I wasn’t disappointed - here’s just some of the stands and crafts that were there. If you want to see more head over to the ‘highlight’ on my Instagram or take a look at the Stitch Festival feed.

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Rowandean Embroidery

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Rowandean Embroidery

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Quilteez

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Quilteez

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Studio Flax

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Sewmotion

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Sewmotion

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Wimperis Embroidery

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Helen Steele

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Helen Steele

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Titch Stitch

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Imogen Melissa

During my time in between workshops I fell in love with a dress on the SewDifferent stand, and I would have bought the made up version if that was an option. Instead I bought the pattern, found out where the material was from and well, bought another couple of patterns too. And yes, I know I’m not in the habit of making, or sewing my own clothes, but these patterns I think I could - and I like the designs so much, I think I will.

I wasn’t able to buy the material for the design I fell in love with, but I did buy some embroidered chambray to use in the third pattern I bought. The one I added when I learnt there was a show deal, that made sense to take advantage of. I’ll share more about the details of the patterns and my plans in another post, but the second pattern was for a sundress and I was hoping it would work with the material I fell in love with (and have since left in the cupboard) at the 2021 show I attended. But I have higher hopes for this latest project… Mum’s even on standby to provide expert help when I need it (as I’m sure I will).

Thankfully it was soon time for my next workshop, a beginners workshop for mixed media collage. Or basically cutting and sticking, what could go wrong? Thankfully nothing, and I spent an hour learning the basics and creating my masterpiece under the expert guidance of Jane Schofield.

My natural instinct is to fill the space, all of it - but then I realise I’ve overdone it. Here I learnt to show restraint, and the Liberty fabric I really struggled with until Jane pointed out the obvious, which was I didn’t have to keep it in the shape it was. And it was so much better for that advice.

Now this is a craft I think I’ve been collecting for my whole life! Seriously. I am that person that keeps stuff, small bits and also collects ‘things that could be useful’ too. I knew they would be useful, and this is what I’ve been waiting for. My trouble now is remembering where everything is, but I can work on that.

The other thing I learnt in this workshop was that it’s perfectly fine to use a stick of glue - I’d always felt that was somehow cheating, but glue’s glue. So once I find my stuff and re-familiarised myself with it, I’m pretty sure there’ll be no stopping me.

Vintage threads

In yesterday’s post I shared my latest purchase, a large basket of embroidery and crochet threads. Today I’m sharing more of what I discovered as I tried to untangle its contents.

There were several pieces of cardboard with the embroidery threads wound around and labelled, no doubt for use in a project. The yellows, oranges and greens will come in useful for my future tablecloth project, but as I was sorting through these I couldn’t help but wonder about their original intended purpose, or their owner.

There was a clue on what the crochet threads were used for, with a couple of beautifully crocheted squares and more in a plastic bag. Just look at the detail and exquisiteness of the stitches, as well as the colour, which as you’d imagine was a hit with me.

Sorting through the basket revealed quite a few balls of crochet threads, some embroidery and tapestry skeins, and a rather shocking amount of gold sewing thread. Fourteen in fact, most of which still had the protective wrapping on. Had I stumbled across the craft supplies of another yellow fan? Or had she bought them with a project in mind, that didn’t come to fruition, who knows?

There were also some trimmings, the sort you’d find in the haberdashers. There were pom poms and fringing, the white ones were interesting though, as the individual threads are clearly visible.

There was a booklet of patterns, dated Spring 1938, which I need to look at further and which gives a clue to the age of the previous owner. The handwriting too of some of the threads which were labelled with the price (1/6 d) and number of skeins suggests these might not have been in active use for quite a while.

But the real find, apart from the yellow cotton obsession, was these tiny metal crochet hooks each with a cover for the hooked end. And I thought the crochet was exquisite, these were something else.

So all in all, quite a find.

Now I just need to find a home for them, and a plan to use them - but even I may struggle to get through the lifetime supply of yellow cotton…