Hygge House Pillow

Have you heard about hygge? It is a Danish word that roughly translates as staying in, being cosy and relaxed, and hanging out with friends and family. It's been all over the media these last few months.

I first heard it referred to on Radio 4 back in July/August and wondered whether I could use it as a theme for a patchwork project for a magazine.

Of course, because of the extensive lead times with magazines it has taken till now for the project to be published! But this one also ties in nicely for Valentine's Day next week so that's handy.

You can find it in issue 19 of Today's Quilter magazine. Love that tulip cover quilt!

Here is the beautifully styled photo from the magazine.

And here are some lovely photos taken by my hubby in front of his Tiny House, which seemed very appropriate!

 But how do you go about designing a hygge inspired patchwork project?

Well first of all it had to have a Scandi feel and also it had to feel 'cosy' so I chose warm reds and natural linens, and then trimmed with pom-poms for some extra 'snuggliness'.

To represent the staying in and being cosy further, I chose to depict a typical Scandinavian 'folk' house (within the limitations of patchwork) in  traditional 'Swedish Red' (as is our Tiny House).

And to be even more Scandi I added some Scandinavian style embroidery, in red, on to a dotty linen. 

The backing (and house fabric) is a red patterned linen that I had left over from my Dala Horse. The three wooden buttons add a little more natural texture.

The patchwork roof makes the house a little more challenging (in a good way).

The last detail is the embroidered heart on the door (a typical detail from Scandinavian folk art and furniture) and a reminder of all the love inside your home, and in the world at large (if you only look for it!).

Scandi Stitches Hot Water Bottle Cover

Back in the summer I made this hot water bottle cover for Stitch magazine. This is the magazine produced by the Embroider's Guild which is published every 2 months.

My pattern is part of a Christmas Gift Supplement with 15 projects.

I loved making the Scandi Stitch pillow for Love Patchwork and Quilting last year and wanted to try some more embroidery on felt.

This is a new version of that original pattern, slimmed down and simplified but still using red perle cotton #8 on wool felt (the colour is antique white, available from the Eternal Maker) and still very much inspired by Scandinavian needlework. 

I added blanket stitch around the edge to make it look extra cosy.

I had this great idea to sew ribbon along the opening to stop the felt stretching there. But I should have made the opening nearer to the bottom to make it easier to get the hot water bottle in and out. I made another version of this afterwards (for a workshop) and made this alteration successfully. It's very often trial and error in my job!!

There are some lovely ideas in the gift supplement, like these beautiful sashiko Kinchaku bags by Katie Chaplin.

And I am keeping very good company here - loving the details on this beautiful scarf by Sheena Norquay (a real quilting hero of mine from many year's back).

Stitch magazine is available in WHSmith's and other good retailers and has some lovely patterns and articles on embroidery.
I love embroidery and really wish I had more time to pursue it!

But at least I'm all set for winter now with my pretty hot water bottle cover!

Scandi Stitch Cushion

I've been working on a short series of 'stitchy' projects for Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine and the first one to appear in print is this Scandi style needlework cushion.

It's in issue 16 which should be out now and features Lynne's fabulous Honeycomb Hexie quilt on the cover.

The photo at the top is from the magazine and here are some photos I took before I sent the cushion off. Can you spot the difference??!

The cushion is made from wool felt and embroidered with Appleton's crewel wool.
I think this is one of my favourite magazine projects yet! I loved designing the pattern and stitching it.

I haven't done much embroidering on felt before and it is really nice to do. You don't need to use a hoop as the felt is so stable. The crewel wool can be a little annoying to work with but I like the cosy feel it gives the finished piece.



LP&Q have produced a fabulous free stitch guide pdf to go along with this project which you can download from their website, it is so well done and could be useful for all sorts of embroidery projects.

For each of the stitchy projects I have designed an accompanying hanging heart as a 'mini make'.
I think this would make a fabulous tree decoration and as it is so small you probably still have time to whip one up for your tree this year!

It's a lovely feeling to see something you are so proud of in the pages of a magazine and think 'I made that!'.
Really looking forward to seeing some other folks have a go at this one too!

Meanwhile I'm about to go quiet for a week as I am off to Tenerife for a week with my sister! Can't wait to feel the sun on my face again :)
I may try and do a 'scheduled post' while I'm away if I get time tomorrow in between packing and finishing Christmas present making!