Hopefully Creative

Mystery Stitch Along – Tea Party

Cute stitch-along with a tea party theme.

In July, I signed up for a Mystery Stitch Along called Twigs & Tea by Fine Frog Stitching. We only knew the general theme, tea party, that it was going to start August 8 and be completed in 14 installments on December 5. I just bought the pattern and got all the updates along the way.

We started with the frames and then added on different bits each week. Either one of the animals in the frames, the items on the shelves, the landscape, the table cloth and the items on the table. Most of these were fun and exciting little projects. There’s a bit too much pink in it, and this was especially apparent in the awful boring-to-complete-not-to-look-at table cloth. I finished all but the last two clues in the time frame they were intended.

An unironed big cross stitch with 5 characters in picture frames (owl, fox, raccoon, goose and bear), and a table set with a tea pot cups, cake and flowers.

A big cross stitch with 5 characters in picture frames (owl, fox, raccoon, goose and bear), and a table set with a tea pot cups, cake and flowers.

Then I had to give myself a kick up the backside and finally finish the bear and the flower pot on December 24. I was so excited that it was done, that I didn’t even iron it before sending a picture to my friend who was also doing the stitch along. You can clearly see all the creases from my hoop, and it looks so much better when it’s ironed!

Yet more evidence that breaking large projects up into smaller sections and adding an arbitrary timeline increases my completion rate. At some point I’m going to have to sign up for a quilt along, don’t I..

Doggy Bag

Adding some embroidery to a double handle tote bag.

I was browsing Etsy (always a bad idea for the bank account) and found a bunch of super cool cross stitch patterns. This galaxy animal paw from OhMyStitchesShop spoke to me. My brother’s partner is graduating as a vet and they own dogs, so I thought this would be fun for her. There are so many stitches in this, I highly underestimated how much time 5552 stitches would take, even in eight different colours.

Cross stitch of incomplete dog and cat in a dog paw in purple galaxy hues

Cross stitch of dog and cat in a dog paw in purple galaxy hues

I started with the big pad and finished it fully apart from the little stars. I did a part of those in white, before I decided that I wanted to use glow in the dark thread for those, to be extra appropriate. So I took the white out and went on to stitch the small pads and then added the glow in the dark.

Purple bag with cross stitch of dog and cat in a dog paw in purple galaxy hues

To make this a useful(ish) gift, I decided on making the embroidery the front pocket of a tote bag. I stitched some white cotton to the back of the embroidery and attached that to the purple fabric that I used for my Edwardian skirt. Since I am short and I know how annoying it is to have bags drag on the floor, I added a double handle. On the inside are short straps, and there are long ones for over the shoulder too. If I ever make myself a tote, I’m totally doing this again.

Inside of purple bag with double handles

The project was finished and mailed. I hope she gets some use out of it and I had a lot of fun making it. And have thus since learnt that I prefer my projects either smaller, or coming in bite sized pieces, more on that later!

The Misfit

Who is that lurking in the back?

For the last couple of months, I’ve had a zip lock pouch in my bag that held everything I needed to make ‘The Misfit’. A cross stitch pattern kit from Heritage Crafts. I ended up stitching a polar bear hiding in a bunch of penguins. The kit has eight colours of floss, but by occasionally using two different colours in the same stitch they manage to achieve ten different colour combinations. You start with all the cross stitches and then you define the animals by adding the back stitch.

Embroidery of penguins and a polar bear without backstitch

Cross stitched penguins and one polar bear

After I finished all the cross stitches, you could sort of see the critters starting to appear, but by gradually adding the back stitch you can really see them come alive. I didn’t finish this in a few sittings, this thing went all over the country with me since October. It’s small and flat enough to bring anywhere and easy enough to pick back up at any time. I finally finished it on December 20th and have now framed it and it’s hanging on my wall with some of my other cross stitch projects.

Cards for 2026

Embroidered cards for the new year.

This year, I really aimed to finish my best wishes cards before Christmas. The plan had four main parts:
1. Decide on a design
2. Finish the embroidery
3. Make the cards
4. Write and deliver the cards

Step 1 went well. I had found this super cute cross stitch kit from Bothy Threads called Christmas Quackers that I thought would be perfect. Living in the Netherlands, I’m not sure how many people know the English tradition of Christmas crackers, but the duck was too cute to pass up. So once I finished another embroidery, I set out to stitch this one.

Cross stitch of duckling with a red Christmas cracker in a hoop

Cross stitch of duckling with a red Christmas cracker

Step 2 went decently. I messed up a few times (counting is hard!), but managed to fix the mistakes and ended up with the perfect duck. I really love the fly away feathers on the side. I prefer my cards to be not purely Christmas coded, so I replaced the Christmas Quackers text with Quacking 2026. It was stitched with a gold thread that was absolutely awful to work with, not worth it either since it barely shows up when I photographed it.

Card of a cross stitch of duckling with a red Christmas cracker

Step 3 only had minor mishaps. I made three kinds of cards this year. A small version for roller derby (6 per page), a medium version for work (4 per page) and a large version for sending (2 per page). The S was just printed and had a star cut out. The M was printed with two punched stars and a bit of ho ho ho fabric threaded through. The L was printed with two bits of ho ho ho fabric stuck on using a wax seal (in different colours) with stars. The printer was the main mishap machine, with random white lines appearing in the middle of the image sometimes. Luckily I had enough of the linnen paper to print some more.

Step 4 was done in installments but I managed it all before Christmas. I know some have already been delivered but some may still be on the way. So the only bit that was laid by the wayside was writing the blog post. So I hope all the best for you and your loved ones, and a Quacking 2026!

Cape Coat

I finished a coat but I don’t like it.

I want a coat with a cape(let).

That’s how this started. I found a fun pattern online that I bought and printed and taped together and tried to figure out. And then I wasn’t convinced by my mock-up. So I chucked that in the corner and let it be. I restarted the project by buying the Tsubaki coat from Waffle Patterns. I was so enamoured with the Dinosaur Momiji that I hoped that this would also do well.

The pattern comes with options: hood or collar, several different pockets to mix and match, and some options for cuffs too. I opted for the hood, one zippered pocket, two welt pockets, one inside pocket and knit cuffs but detachable. I also widened the bottom of most of the pattern pieces to make it more a-line and I drafted a capelet.

Inside view of blue coat with yellow-leaf lining

Inside view of zipper pocket of blue coat

For the lining, I chose a brownish stretch cotton with Monstera leaves. I really like the look of this fabric. For some reason, the lining was shorter than expected, so I think I probably made a mistake there. The buttons came from the hoard and were all different, so I made pairs and arranged them in an (to me) aesthetically pleasing order. Unfortunately the welt pockets are too low, so I cannot comfortably reach the bottom, but I do like the look of the zippered pocket.

I don’t like wearing the end result. The look is great, the functionality not so much. I tested it when it was raining and the hood doesn’t stay on my head, the front blows open in the rain so my legs still got wet and my knit cuffs are not long enough so they are too cold. Most of those things are probably my fault but I’m not sure how to fix them yet. So for now, this thing is just hanging on my coat rack waiting for my inspiration to hit.

The thing I do like is the capelet that I drafted. I quite like the detachable nature of it. It buttons onto the already existing buttons on the coat and a hook on the back. I made two straps so that it is theoretically wearable by itself too. I think I probably made it too wide, so if I make one again, I’ll narrow it more. For now, I don’t think either the coat or the capelet will see much wear, but who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind.

Duck and Slobber

Two baby gifts, a stuffed duck and some spit bibs.

Some time in the past, I was asked by a friend if I could reproduce her sister’s stuffed duck that had seen some wear. So I looked around, found the Crazy Duck Sewing Pattern and thought I could make it work. She was very happy and asked me to make another for a new family member that should be arriving. So I asked for preferred colours and we settled on yellow with orange details. Since it’s for a young baby, I didn’t use safety eyes but embroidery to create his face.

Bottom of yellow duck with orange feet and beak

Top of yellow duck with orange feet and beak

I also found some precut slobber cloths or spit bibs in my hoard when I was reorganizing. I figured I should put them together and they could make a nice set. So I located some white terry cloth that I had no idea existed and cut out the triangles. They were sew together and the snaps were added. I had some leftover triangular terry cloth, so I also made the mice one. That one I’ll keep for future additions. I love these, such quick and fun projects.

Two white, triangular spit bibs one showing the front and one showing the back.

Orange dinosaur wearing a white, triangular spit bib with a pattern of orange girls jump roping and yellow boys on skateboards.

I hope babies necks are about the same size as my dinosaur’s..

Quick Leftover Poppy

After five years, this leftover has become a thing and the hoard is now organized and slightly more empty.

At the start of September, I bought a whole load of new plastic bins to reorganize my hoard. While checking every single bit of fabric, and deciding whether I wanted to keep them, I found some scraps of the red plaid fabric that I used for these linings. I thought, ‘I need to use these or chuck these. They are not staying here for five more years’. So I made another poppy. I think he’s very cute and it’s always good to have some of those in stash for when I murder my own or have someone to gift one too.

I am still exceedingly happy with the way the hoard looks now. 12 boxes of fabric, two of yarn (in this room), a stack of small boxes with lace and haberdashery items and the remainder of the craft supplies in the top row of boxes.

A wall of plastic bins with fabric and craft supplies

Glass Blowing Workshop

Three finished object from a glass blowing workshop.

I used to live close to a glass blowing museum where they organize glass blowing workshops on Mondays when the museum is closed. It was always something that I wanted to do some day, but the costs were quite high. So when my job gave us the option of doing workshops from a fund, I decided to sign up for glass blowing. The waiting list was more than a year, so when they phoned me a few weeks ago and said ‘we have an opening next Monday’, and it happened to be during my holiday, I jumped on it.

The workshop had four people per instructor and we got some options of things to make. The first thing everyone had to do was to make a clear glass paperweight. You’re supposed to pull the glass out with tongs and of course my upper body strength was lacking so mine has smaller bubbles than intended. With a solid object like this, no blowing is needed.

Paper weight with blue and green swirls and bubbles

The second thing we made made was another paper weight. Now we had options though. 1) We could choose two colours to add to this one and I chose shades of blue. 2) We could choose the shape. We got some options to pick from; a sphere again, a sphere that could hold a tea light or a ‘rock’ shape with flattened sides. I chose the rock shape, it turned out really cool! I like this one the best.

The third thing was a vase. With this one, we could again pick our colours and our shapes. I chose to add only one colour (white) and wanted to make a similar shape to the rock I made before. So the sides were flattened again. The neck of this one turned out very narrow with very thick glass, so it can’t hold much, but it does look interesting.

Flattened vase with white streaks, clear paper weight with bubbles and a paper weight with blue and green streaks.

I enjoyed the course a lot. It’s so much harder than it looks when professionals are doing it. The combination of ‘super hot’ and having to continue turning the pipe and not having an ‘eye’ for it is a lot. I’m still inclined to do another course in the future though.

Guinea Love Embroidery

Cross stitching some guinea pigs.

So when I was buying the big cross stitch haul for my holiday, I also purchased Eleanor Teasdale’s “I’m Guinea Love You Forever” by Bothy Threads. It was one of the smaller ones and I wanted to make it for a friend. So I got started and honestly, it looked something had barfed colour before the backstitch was completed. Those little blobs were very unappealing. I also had to change the text at the bottom, since ‘I’m Guinea love you forever’ seemed a bit odd for friends, so I settled on ‘Guinea love friendship forever’. This meant I had to do some font designing, but I think it turned out cute.

Cross stitched guinea pig without backstitch

Embroidery of two guinea pigs with 'Guinea love friendship forever'

The one thing I didn’t like about this kit was that I had to interpret the colour chart myself. They supplied a list with the colours, but hadn’t put the actual threads with their correct symbols. I had to do that myself. Somehow, I found this very scary, because who knows how I might interpret colour names and potentially be wrong. In the end, I think it turned out fine, and a second kit from Bothy didn’t have this drawback.

Black & White De-Stinkers

New bags to keep the smell in my roller derby gear to a minimum.

My old set of de-stinkers for my roller skates and gear were starting to get a bit grubby and not work as well anymore. So I got to work and made some new ones. I’m also planning to wash and refill the old ones so there are some in stock.

Ten medium drying bags with a black and white dot pattern.

Four big drying bags with a black and white drop pattern.

I wanted to make three sizes, a small one for in elbow pads and wrist guards, a large one for in knee pads and a long one for in my skates. I chose three different coordinating fabrics in black and white, so I could also see from the pattern which ones belonged together. S is circles, L is drops and Long is diamonds.

Detail of the chain stitch on the back of a drying bag.

I ripped the fabric into different width strips (literally ripped, it was fun!). Those strips were put through the overlocker to create the bags. I filled them with silica cat litter, folded the top edges in and sewed them closed with my little chain stitch sewing machine. They’ve been coming along in my gear for a few weeks now and it still seems to work!