Claire Cullingworth
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ccullingworth.bsky.social
Claire Cullingworth
@ccullingworth.bsky.social
1.1K followers 630 following 2.9K posts
Mending clothes & creative sewing projects. Church of England priest, community worker, spiritual director, and playing with the overlap of creativity, prayer and story telling.
Fan of #TheArchers
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ccullingworth.bsky.social
How can I disturb her??
A close up of a little sleepy catty face
September 28, 2025 at 8:49 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
That age old dilemma: I really need a wee, but there's a cat on my lap and she is comfy and soft.
Legs, stretched out on a sofa, with a blanket over them. A tabby and white cat is fast asleep on the lap with one leg stretched out, holding on.
September 28, 2025 at 8:31 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Reports coming in of a giant fluffy monster attacking the centre of town today. Be careful out there!
A large embroidered fabric map laid out over a table. A tabby and white cat is rolling around across the middle of it, causing havoc, as cats tend to do.
September 22, 2025 at 12:27 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
I've now got over 50 memories and stories about our town, captured on paper, and marked by colourful stitches on the map. I'm going to need a second folder!
A sideways on view of a A5 cardboard ring binder, held by a woman's hand. It's extremely full! A close up of a simple embroidered map, on an old white bed sheet. Across the stitched roads, there is a generous scattering of little crosses, sewn in all sorts of colours, marking the places that matter to people.
September 20, 2025 at 7:08 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
I saw this painting at a local art gallery yesterday, and was amused by the similarities between the set up these lovely ladies have got, and what we're doing a century or so later!
An oil painting, featuring several ladies gathered around a large embroidery frame, all leaning over it, busy with their sewing.
September 17, 2025 at 7:45 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
And this is what the bed sheet is clamped over, so that about 6 of us can sew it at the same time
Two white painted wooden trestles support a large rectangular wooden frame, held together by clamps and straps, with chairs around it
September 17, 2025 at 7:39 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
This is the whole thing, to date. I still need to work out what to do with the edges and if/how to back it, to make it a finished item. And think of some extra details to add (a title maybe) if we run out of streets to sew, before we run out of sessions we've advertised
A stretched out white bed sheet, with a map embroidered on it.
September 17, 2025 at 7:37 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
My "Heck, is this project even going to work????" nerves are starting to subside a little! I reckon we've sewn at least 2/3rds of the streets in the town, and I've got 29 memories/favourite places marked on the map and recorded in my little folder too. It's not quite a couple of metres square
A view over a white bed sheet stretched onto a frame. On it are lines of red, orange, black and green, showing the major and minor roads of a town and some of the footpaths
September 17, 2025 at 7:34 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
The change in the weather means I can finally wear this wonderful and very warm cardigan, which my husband bought me for my birthday back in June.
I might not take it off, for the whole of the next 6 months, honestly.
#TinyJoys
The torso of a woman, wearing a knitted cardigan. It has a patchwork effect, with big squares which are red, grey, black, blue and multicoloured. It's very thick, with a zip down the front and some tassels at the top, just dangling into the frame.
September 15, 2025 at 7:57 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Little friend!

#TinyJoys
A wooden ledge on a bird table. Perched on it is a little blue tit, surveying the garden in front of him.
September 14, 2025 at 12:03 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Reckon I should fasten a few of these ends off before next week's sessions!

(This is the back of the map - the front looks a bit tidier, I'm glad to say)
A big white piece of fabric with lines sewn on it, roughly in the form of streets. There are so, so many loose ends, all in a tangle, waiting for someone to sort them out. That would be me, then!
September 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
A big map of our town, in thread and fabric, with the places we have special memories marked on it, made by all sorts of people who live here. That's the plan. Drop in sessions hosted by me at the community centre where I work and the church I'm attached to.
A white bed sheet stretched over a wooden frame, about 1 by 2 metres in size. 6 people are sat around it with their arms stretched over it sewing streets onto the sheet. There's a table at one end with threads and scissors and needles and several cups of tea
August 29, 2025 at 7:14 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
#TinyJoys at work today. Three of them. Someone bought kittens into the community drop in this morning. Impossibly small and cute and I got a lovely long cuddle with one of them.
A small silver tabby kitten is nestled in the crook of a man's arm. A small girl's hand is reaching over for a stroke. The kitten is even more cute than you're imagining and probably plotting mischief and grand adventures
August 29, 2025 at 12:47 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
In penance for my cruel betrayal of herons everywhere, here's a photo I've been meaning to share with you for ages.

A sculpture down by the riverbank in Durham (UK)
A large silver-coloured sculpture of a heron in flight, against a background of a concrete pillar holding up a road bridge.
August 8, 2025 at 2:01 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Small cat inspecting a quilt in progress. She's excellent at supervising things, if you need some help with making decisions.
A tabby and white cat is standing on top of a partially made green quilt with brightly coloured patchwork squares inserted in it. The quilt-to-be is stretched over a large frame so it's sagging disconcertingly underneath her weight. She's not at all sure that she approves of this.
August 7, 2025 at 11:03 AM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Look!
#TinyJoys
✝️⚓️
It is indeed a penny farthing! It's leaning against a radiator underneath a stained glass window, at the back of a medieval church
July 6, 2025 at 9:01 AM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
First fruit picking session of the year in the back garden. There were fruit trees and bushes in the garden when we moved in. We're very incompetent, distracted gardeners, but still the fruit keeps turning up to delight us
#TinyJoys
Much fruit on a kitchen work surface. There are two big plastic tubs of gooseberries waiting to be dealt with. The pots of black currants are half way to being ready to cook - some in an old ice cream tub, some in a colander and some in a big saucepan. You can just see my hands, pulling the stalks off some of them, on the edge of the photo
June 29, 2025 at 8:36 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
T-shirt yarn ball. Also current progress
A ball of red yarn, made from t-shirt cut into one very long strip. It's about 4 inches in diameter
June 21, 2025 at 11:55 AM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
I still need something to do with my hands during zoom meetings. A bit of discreet sock mending today.
A close up of part of a hand knitted sock, stretched over a darning mushroom. Thin grey stitches are being darned over with orange yarn.
June 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Visiting a different church to take their service this morning. Their wildflower garden was looking rather lovely
#TinyJoys
A close up of a patch of bright red poppies. There is a stone gatepost and an old stone building in the background. The sky is blue and the sunshine is warm and lovely
June 15, 2025 at 12:03 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Scotch darning update.
This was so satisfying to do, and it's made a really robust feeling fabric across the hole. The edges feel really well secured too. I'm going to put it through the washing machine a few times, when I wash other items and see how it holds up. Will try it on actual clothing next
Dark brown machine knitted fabric from a jumper. A large hole in it has been mended with rows of blanket stitches in autumn colours which fade into each other. The back of the same mend. Instead of small running stitches which fasten the mend to the surrounding fabric, there are cleaner, more distinct edges A close up of the darn
June 14, 2025 at 9:35 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
A close up of the Scotch darning. It's making quite a sturdy but flexible feeling new fabric across the gap, with a texture I rather like.
A close up photo of a dark purple piece of knitting with a hole cut in it. The darning is in dark red yarn, and is made of rows of blanket stitch, which gives it a very textured look, as the stitches loop around each other in rows.
June 10, 2025 at 5:35 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Playing with Scotch darning, which is new to me. It's basically a whole load of rows of blanket stitch stacked on top of each other. It's also an experiment in handling the fabric differently so a bigger hole doesn't get stretched out of shape as I mend, which easily happens.
#VisibleMending
A dark brown-ish purple piece of machine knitted cardigan. It has been pinned on to a lump of foam, with a sheet of cardboard on top of it, to keep the large hole in it fixed in place. It's about a quarter mended, with a dark orange yarn, which is gradually filling the hole from the bottom, working upwards, a row at a time.
June 10, 2025 at 5:31 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
Many of you will be relieved to know, I have solved the problem of man-spreading. This could be widely applicable.
A couple of rows of ladder stitch between thighs and tummy and all is well.
The same patchwork, many coloured bear as in the quoted post. Instead of being spreadeagled with his arms and legs stretched out wide, he is sat much more neatly, with his arms and legs in a much more traditional teddy bear fashion
June 4, 2025 at 1:49 PM
ccullingworth.bsky.social
The craft group I go to has been making teddy bears. Mine has got a bit of a man-spreading issue going on 🤣🤣🤣
A teddy bear, made from many different colours of fabric, with spots and stripes and flowers. His legs and arms are straight out from his body, in a comical manner
June 4, 2025 at 10:24 AM