Needlework

I must have been about 12 or 13 years old when I first learnt to knit and crochet. My maternal grandmother was a great teacher, and I remember sitting and watching her, fascinated with the clicking of the knitting needles and the way her hand moved around when she crocheted. My mother was also very good too, but she was an expert in sewing. She made all three of her daughter’s wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses. I mention this, because I think I got the love for needlework from my mother and maternal grandmother.

I sewed and knitted a lot after Sven was born, and made most of his clothes and eventually I got to make all Trevor’s shirts and our tracksuits. We had new jersey’s almost every winter for quite a few years.


In 1993, I turned 40 and really felt like my child-bearing years were slipping away fast. Although Sven was a surprise after giving up trying, we felt we had to try again. While I waited for another miracle or surprise baby, I kept myself occupied with my needlework. I began making clothes, for a baby girl, just in case I would be blessed with one! Of course, she never arrived, but I still have all the clothes and outfits that I made during those couple of years. They are now being kept in mothballs for a future grandchild, whenever he or she arrives…LOL !!

These are only SOME of the little outfits I made. I chose the best out of them all. There are just too many to put them all up here…!

First up are a few knitted shawls, with wool and one with cotton!










A few jackets, dresses and full baby outfits.


























I also sewed a couple of little frocks and I embroidered the bodices and the little T-shirts. Trevor had by this time, bought me an embroidery machine and I had such fun experimenting with all the patterns and embroidering all my linen and towels!











In 1997/1998, my sister-in-law asked me to embroider the boddice of her wedding dress. Although she herself was a professional wedding dress designer and had her own wedding shop (9/12 hours drive away from where I was staying at the time), she wanted me to do it for her. It was a case of posting the dress pieces back and forth until the final was done. Needless to say, no-one in the family knew about it except Trevor. It was announced at the wedding reception! I must say I felt proud of myself at the time. I had accomplished something, and it looked stunning!


After I had exhausted all my knitting and crocheted patterns, and come to terms with the fact that Sven was going to be an only child, my beautiful mother introduced me to cross stitch. She had herself by this time, completed a whole range of angels, which the patterns I have since inherited, but as yet, I have not started. My brother actually was the one who gave me my first cross stitch pattern for my birthday. So I started on a big project, rather than a small one! LOL


Cross stitch!! I had found another craft that I loved very much. I completed yet again, another pattern........


and then Trevor made a floor stand to make it more comfortable for me. My mother had bought one, and he basically copied the design!! I got a cross stitch program from my mother for the PC, and then attempted my first project by taking a photograph that I had of my niece and using it in the program to generate a pattern sheet with relevant colours.




It is still a work in progress (almost 10 years now) and it has some colours that must be removed. The program selected some strange colours for some areas of my niece’s face.

I certainly want to finish this, and I am determined I will. My hands and wrists, unfortunately, don’t always operate the way I want them to!
I have decided that next time I go away on holiday; I am going to take the “unfinished” cross stitch rather than the PC!!! In case you don’t know the reason why I say this is because there is a joke in my family that says, “Felicity doesn’t go on holiday without her PC and her Sims game if she can help it!” LOL LOL!

At present, I don’t have any needlework that I am busy with, but I am seriously considering finishing this project, even if it is only on the odd occasions that I am able to…………