08/02/2026
Hello!
Happy Christmas, New Year, Epiphany and everything else that I have neglected to wish you since my last post in November.
The last 2+ months have, in many ways, been totally surreal. From the beginning of December, my precious hubby has been in London - staying with my elder daughter Sarai, and we have not seen each other since then. Before anyone starts to get alarmed (😂😂😂) this was a planned ‘separation’ for medical reasons only! We are relatively used to times spent apart as we were separated through all the lockdowns whilst I was caring for Bex, early on in the history of The Altered Cottage, I was overseeing essential building and renovation work that had to be done whilst Paul was working in London, and, more recently, numerous medical appointments. This time I have had to stay here partly for my own health reasons and partly to be around ‘just in case’ for Bex.
This time, however, was different as hubby had scheduled hip replacement surgery in London on 9th December. The actual surgery seems to have been very successful but the prolonged hospital stay and subsequent weeks have been filled with numerous unexpected, and very unwelcome complications. Sarai has been amazing in the way that she has cared for Paul .. even cooking him a wonderful Christmas dinner which was a triumph in itself as she is very much of the ‘can’t cook won’t cook’ variety! I am so proud of her for so many reasons.
Bex and I had a very quiet Christmas together, and even though she now only lives a couple of minutes away, she still insists on having ‘holidays’ with me twice a year, albeit much shorter than they used to be!!
I am realising more and more that the way that I am able to ‘do art’ is changing rapidly, due to my own physical health and limitations… largely due to an extremely dodgy spine and fibromyalgia- although the fibro has been relatively well behaved recently. I really loved the time I spent making colourful pottery-like items with eco-resin, and they sold really well at the two craft fairs I did last year BUT the hours spent standing in order to make them meant that I was in a huge amount of pain at the end of a session and so I am really having to scale back on that form of creativity. Not only the physical limitations, but also the space needed to both store the equipment and the finished items is no longer practical.
Recently, I have really been enjoying a form of hand embroidery called ‘Slow Stitching’ which doesn’t require too much in the way of physical effort.. unless you count trying to push a needle through multiple layers of fabric 😂😂😂. It is a way of re-purposing some of my many vintage tablecloths and eco-dyed linen that I made a few years ago. I have always loved collage, particularly when it is made from textiles .. and Slow Stitching often uses this. However … I very rarely do things the *normal* way and so I have discovered a way that I can make and incorporate machine embroidery into my pieces.
For anyone who is wondering what on earth Slow Stitching is, it is a relatively new term for some very old methods and ideas of embroidery. It usually focuses on giving vintage and thrifted textiles a new life, and uses a simple straight/running stitch in multiple ways. Much of it is based on Japanese ways of mending old clothes .. using Boro, Sashiko and Indian Kantha techniques. The idea is that it is something that is unhurried, with more emphasis on the journey rather than the physical article .. ideal for me with multiple WIPs lying around 😂😂😂. It is something that can be meditative and prayerful and takes you away from the need for any kind of technology.. which is so essential in this day and age.
Not one to do anything by halves, I also realised that Slow Stitching is ideal to do in a community of like-minded people, and so, as an attempt to reach out in to our little market town, I have been trying to set up a small, home-based group. Knowing that I had enough fabric to share with the majority of Cambridgeshire 😂😂😂, I enlisted the help of Bex to make up some starter kits, put out an advertisement and had 10+ people interested in coming along to the first meeting, which is scheduled for 21st February. There have been numerous challenges and obstacles to even trying to get the group started, so I will be interested to see how it goes!
Big Congratulations if you have managed to get through this post so far! There are another few weeks until I will see my beloved Mr M again and at some point soon, there will be a round 2 for his other hip .. and then possibly his shoulder. Before long I just might have to say that I am married to The Bionic Man! He has been amazing as he has also been having to contend with the side effects of treatment for prostate cancer.
Phew! I think that’s just about it for now. It really has been a very strange start to the year.
I hope you are all keeping well .. and warm if you are in the Northern Hemisphere! It is wonderful to see each evening getting lighter and little earlier.
Love Amanda x
Photos from top to bottom.. examples of Slow Stitching/Fabric Collage….
- Blue/Browns - Sewing Pouch and Needlecase (finished). The buttons were rescued from a Scrapstore, and both have pieces of fabric that I eco-dyed a few years ago.
- Multicoloured - A LOT of stitching still to do on this one before it gets made into something useful. Lace doilies were hand dyed and scraps of vintage floral fabric were collaged together before being ‘thread painted’.
- Pieces of Machine Embroidery - which will be incorporated into another project. Embroidered onto a foundation of scraps of old table linen, and pieces of a well worn cashmere sweater that belonged to my Mum around 15 years ago.
