‘Bee Contained’ Etui by Betsy Morgan

When I started this project back in August 2023,  it was on the back of finishing the 'Virgin Queen's Stitching Wallet' , from the first ‘Willing Hands’ book.

There were so many beautiful Etui and Sewing Box projects in there, and I wanted to stitch them all.

Then I saw somewhere on line, a photo of the ‘Bee Contained Etui', in the Willing Hands Book 2, and knew I had to stitch it too!

I can really recommend these two books if you are looking to stitch a sewing box because there are so many beautiful designs in them.

I collected all the materials together and started stitching, but what I hadn’t realised at the time was that the designer, Betsy Morgan was inspired to design it by my wonderful and very talented ‘on-line’ friend Stasi Buhrman, who is a long time friend of hers.    

Stasi is better known in our community on Instagram as  #stasibee  and she has a blog, Bee-mused and Bee-stitching.

I stitched the larger piece for the box itself first

and put it away for a while, but then in February this year I decided that I needed to get it finished and quickly finished all of the remaining pieces.

After that, it was put away again because I was worried about the detailed finishing that was needed, but this past weekend, I took the bull by the horns, so to speak.

The Etui consists of a six sided box, topped with two sweet Bee charms.

A Needle case

A Scissor Fob

A Thread Winder

Two Measures, one in centimetres and the other in inches

And last be not least is the cutest little Pin Cushion, in the shape of a tiny Bee Hive.

All that remains to do, is to acquire a couple of 'Bee' counting pins and I'll be extremely happy!

I already have another Sewing Box in progress but it’s not from either of the books. 

This one is from Jeanette Douglass, so I’m going to start working on this one again!

 

Happy Crafting!

Sue

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Chart – Bee Contained – from Willing Hands 2

Designer – Betsy Morgan

Fabric – 32ct Linen – Lemon Squash – Nicholas Flamel Designs (Etsy)

Threads – Gloriana Florimell Silks

 

 

 

My Sewing Box

Started 29/2/2024

Designer -  Jeanette Douglas

Fabric – 32ct Murano Linen

Threads – Called for Classic Colouworks Belle Soie, NPI Silk, Gloriana Silk & Rainbow Gallery Splendor

Beads – Mill Hill

 

‘Bee Contained’ Etui by Betsy Morgan

At last my extra skeins of thread have arrived from across the pond , so I knuckled down and finished all the stitching related to my ‘Bee Contained’ Etui.

These are the components that will make up the box.

The pretty hexagon shaped box is edged top and bottom (although it looks like the sides on the stitched piece) with a honeycomb

pattern and the panels that make up the sides are decorated with 1

over one bees, bee hives and crowns, as well as over 2 bees, some blackwork lace, the year and my initials.

Then we go on to the goodies that go inside the box.

 First up is the needle case

Scissor Fob

Ruler

Thread Winder

And finally, the tiny pin cushion

and of all the pieces, this was the piece that gave me the most problems.

I’ve never stitched long arm cross stitch before,  and although we did look at it while taking part in the Academy of Needlework  last year, with Nicola Parkman, I had so much trouble stitching it and just couldn’t  get it right.

If I frogged it once, I frogged it at least half a dozen times, so in the end I found a tutorial that Jean Ferrish had done on her floss tube. . 

If I didn’t already have completely grey hair, I’m sure I would have had a few more by the time I mastered the stitch, Lol! 

But in the end it was so worth the effort, because I love the texture it gives,

Next comes the finishing, which I hope to make a start on next week.  I have the feeling it's going to take some time  but I already have everything gathered that I need, except for the beehive charm that goes inside the lid which I’ve been unable to find so far, but I can always add that at a later date. 

Happy Crafting!

Sue

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Chart – Bee Contained – from Willing Hands 2

Designer – Betsy Morgan

Fabric – 32ct Linen – Lemon Squash – Nicholas Flamel Designs (Etsy)

Threads – Gloriana Florimell Silks

 

‘Bee Contained’ Stitching Box by Betsy Morgan

 Are you the same as me?       

You work on a bigger project and the more you stitch on it, the more you want to finish it.

That’s exactly how I’ve been feeling while working on my stitching box ‘Bee Contained’ by Betsy Morgan.

When you last saw it, I was stitching on the last panel of the hexagonal box.

This week I added my initials, date and the final border, as well as the last 1 over 1 black bee in the panel above.

With that done, I was eager to carry on and continued to stitch the front and back of the needle case,

the front and back of the scissor fob,

and made a start on the two pieces of the ruler, which also have 1 over 1 stitching, but then I run out of the silks.

At that point I continued to stitch the outlines for the thread winder and pin cushion, because they were stitched with cotton pearl thread.

I tried to source Gloriana Florimell silk here in the UK but everywhere seems to be sold out or they only stock the standard Gloriana and not the Florimell that I need, so I’ve had to order from 123 Stitch and wait a week or so, until it arrives before I continue working on it………….so frustrating.

Oh well, it’s not as though I have nothing else I can stitch on, is it?

 

Happy Crafting!

Sue

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Chart – Bee Contained – from Willing Hands 2

Designer – Betsy Morgan

Fabric – 32ct Linen – Lemon Squash – Nicholas Flamel Designs (Etsy)

Threads – Gloriana Florimell Silks

Hand Knitted Socks and a Wip Parade of sorts.

I started knitting this pair of socks using the ‘Seeing Stripes’ sock pattern from West Yorkshire Spinners and Rico, Supeba Fair Isle 4 ply, back in February last year and almost made it 

 down to the toe on the first sock.  But because I wasn’t particularly happy with my choice of yarn, I put it to one side and couldn't bring myself to pick it up again.  That feeling didn't go away and lasted for the rest of the year, so it wasn't until I set myself a challenge for January, that I went back and picked them up again.

So what was the big challenge?

I decided that I was going to work on every wip (work in progress) that I have during the month, something I’m able to achieve because I only had 7  brought forward from 2024 and the plan was to put at least one thread  in each of the six cross stitch projects and finally finish the part knitted socks.

I won’t lie, I had to force myself to pull them out, but once I did, I finished the first sock and completely knitted the second sock in just two days.

But can you spot the mistake?

Silly me started the first sock with a 1 x 1 rib and the second sock with a 2 x 2 rib, but fortunately they are for me and there’s no way I’m going to pull one out and re-knit it.

 Moving on to the cross stitch wip’s that I carried over; 

The first thing I pulled out was the ‘Bee Contained Stitching Box' by Betsy Morgan from the Inspirations ‘Helping Hands 2’ book.

I started this in August 2023 and didn’t pick it up at all last year.  I think the 1 over 1 stitching was putting me off but once I got back into it, I really enjoyed working on it and have nearly finished the largest piece of the stitching.

Next, I worked on Log Cabin Christmas from Little House Needleworks, which I started in April last year.  

This is a 9 part piece, so I had a mini new start for this and stitched on part 4 – In The Woods Bear.

The next project was another multi part piece and that was ‘ A Gathering of Samplers’ from the Ackworth Collection, which consists of 12 little Quaker Samplers that go together to make a book.

Again, it involved another new start and that was pages 5 & 6 of the book.  I came very close to a finish on this too.

Sing For Joy from Cottage Garden Samplings was next up

and I had not stitched on it since starting it as part of my 12 in12 New Years Eve starts in December 2023.

Project 6 was another Christmas stitch, ‘Toy Shopee’,  which is a Diamentions Kit.

I started it November 2024 and got to here,

but it’s hard going as anyone who has stitched one of these kits  knows, …….the changes of stitches and number of threads used for those stitches can be a bit confusing sometimes.

None the less, I made some good progress on it.

Last up was ‘My Stitching Box’, another multi part project from Jeanette Douglass.

Again, it involved another mini start for part 2, which was the lid of the box.

If I had to choose a favourite designer, I think hands down it would have to be  Jeanette.  I just love how delicate her designs look  and the subtle colours she uses.

So, it's not been a bad start to the year, but that wasn’t it for January.   I also had 3 other new starts, one of which was the year long stitch-a-long ‘ All Year Round Sal.

Then there was my 12 in 25 Christmas ornament

and my new Chatelaine

and last but not least I had one fully finish, which was the Country Charm Cushion.

I wonder if I can keep the pace up during February…..you’ll have to watch this space!

 

Happy Crafting!

Sue

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