Plum Quilts

Moving forward?

2012-01-24T15:13:00.000Z

Still producing small projects - anything that needs more than half an hour of concentration is still on the back burner! This is a postcard made for a swap with the theme of 'pink'.

Another postcard for the birthday swap - this theme was windows. It was also a good chance to try out some reverse applique, as I'll need to do some in my college course in my next module. This was a fun project, all recycled stuff on the front - a colour catcher cut into the window shapes and sweet wrappers under it, with random placement.

I've also made a few applique samples for my course - all the fast techniques have been covered (or at least, all the fast techniques in my repertoire - that's seven of them!) so I'll need to check my books later in the week to look and see which other ones I've missed. I suspect that there are relatively new ones using glue or lots of starch that I haven't covered, and the 'old' traditional ones where you need to mark out with fine pencil lines.

I hope that your concentration is better than mine, and that you are having a fun and creative January!

Where does my time go?

2012-01-16T14:59:00.000Z

I have produced almost nothing, whereas I have received a lovely bag from the lovely Benta - who produced a number of bags to give away, and who seems to be very busy sewing on any number of different projects! Thank you Benta (and she gave the girls lovely Ozzy gifts too, which they are thrilled with!).

I have managed to make a couple of fabric postcards - one of my swap group had asked for cats, butterflies, or flowers - probably not expecting to have all of them on one card!

Whilst I was fussy cutting cats I made another for a swap later in the year.

I did manage to spend a hour or so printing - and was quite pleased with some of this print, made with the edge of corrugated card, the top of an old tic-tac box, an old eraser.

It was fun to be printing - trying to pick out shapes from parts of concrete pumps, tractors, brick laying patterns to support the industrial theme of this part of my C&G.

I just wish that I hadn't lost quite so much of the week doing bits of admin (furniture shake up in the living room, small house repairs to organise, more admin yada yada). I need to get busy with a needle as I'm just not getting started on any of the projects that I've got in my head! It all seems to be a slower start to the new year than I might have hoped. Never mind, I'll hope for more energy and zip soon, and just enjoy what bits I can do for now.

New Year, New Projects, New Lists!

2012-01-05T12:06:00.000Z

The girls have gone back to school, the living room has been tidied, and I'm just about ready to start stitching again!

This year I'm taking part in TAST - Take A Sitch Tuesday - run by Sharon Boggon. The first stitch is fly stitch - only the second time in my life that I've ever tried it. You can see a short section of the final result on this fabric (layered with rectangles of sheers that don't photograph well, sorry!) here.

I thought that it would be useful to have a practise on something plain and to make a reference 'sheet' too. In fact this is a sheet - a turquoise cot sheet! I've split some roughly A4 sections into eighths and over the year I'll build up six or seven sheets of stitch examples - which must also help with the C&G need to build samples, I'd have thought!

This is how the pages started - cot sheet, A4 (ish) wadding - last year I used them as bead mats, but now I have lovely plush 'proper' bead mats for when my friends come round, so these can be used up - and some 505 spray to keep them together whilst I'm stitching. I know that I could have basted them together using old fashioned needle and thread, but I was worried that if I stopped to do that I might never get started on the actual stitching, and I think that if I'm going to do it that I will need to try and keep up as we go along!

So, only a little stitching, BUT a whole list of stitching projects up on my pinboard, and lots of ideas - as well as a couple of deadlines for minor items like postcards for a swap that I'm in. Off to get on with some admin now, though, as I'm still trying to mentally clear the decks ready to allow myself to get on with the lovely stitching ideas!

Festive Greetings!

2011-12-30T13:15:00.000Z

I've not been hiding, just having PC and internet problems..... pretty much sorted out now, though, so a belated HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a slightly early HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I thought that a quick round up of my pre-Christmas crafting might be in order, so here goes:

These 'message bots' were made for some crafting friends - I even managed to make two in 'Christmas colours' so that they have an excuse to pack them away until next year if they want to.

This pouch was made for another crafting friend from some batik that I'd stitched into last month. I'm pretty certain that it didn't look nearly this garish in real life.....

This is a cushion cover that I made as a 'commission' (my friend will make a charity donation in 'payment') for a very small girl - and I'm quite pleased with using the pastels again instead of the brights on white. The details don't really show, but the overall meander quilting is in a very pale pink thread (Valdini, I think) that looks lovely on it.

And finally, this was a bead encrusted tiara that I made for myself - although I have to say that I have no idea when I'd wear such an item, or why I'd want to wear something that really just high-lights how grey my hair is now! I daresay that it will be claimed by one of my DD's in the near future whereupon I will be honour bound to make a second for the other DD!

So, not a crafty item shown that wasn't completed before Christmas, and the prospects of anything else appearing in the very near future seem slight, as I've been too tired to pick up a needle except when helping small people with some of their crafting projects. Perhaps my next 'show and tell' will be of their items, once they've been retrieved from around the house!

Happy Christmas crafting, Happy New Year crafting - I wish you health, happiness and sufficient prosperity and time to maximise your creative potential in 2012!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

2011-12-13T11:48:00.001Z

I managed to finish this hanging before Christmas! I even managed to finish it before we sold Christmas trees for the school, bought our own (yes, of course from the sale!), brought it home and decorated it.

You might have expected a photo of our real tree too, but that might detract from the beautiful simplicity of this one!

The idea is based on a 'Don't Look Now' pattern called 'White Christmas' (if you live in West London you can buy it from Creative Quilting at Hampton Court). Mine is much, much simpler - but knowing that I didn't want to cut out lots of snowflake shapes (scissors aren't always my friend and I didn't want a sore shoulder / arm as a result of the desire to make a tree like this) so I asked Ani Catt to cut some for me on her die cutter machine. Then all I had to do was determine a suitable sized triangle, iron the snowflakes on, and quilt it. Despite having an argument with the thread I was using for some of the time (once I'd changed thread I didn't have any more problems) it was really fast and fun to make up. Perfect in our kitchen instead of the quilts usually displayed there.

That was the only sewing that I managed this week. Apart from a few more origami wreaths (such fun to make and so fast!) my busy fingers have been busier writing Christmas cards than anything else. Oh, and buying myself a new camera rather than leaving it to chance or Santa - a lovely red Olympus VG-130, which is even lighter than my old camera.....

I hope that you are finding plenty of time for crafting in the run up to Christmas.

Christmas Creative Upcycling

2011-12-07T14:00:00.000Z

Once I'd got over the prospect of ripping pages out of a book (a 1950's cookery book that wasn't going to be sold or used anywhere, so far as I could see) my gal pals and I (me? sorry, grammar not my strong point and if I've just upset people who know about these things I can only apologise) put Constance Spry to use and made some lovely Christmas decorations. it was either that or run out to buy a melon to try her melon salad recipe (make a melon basket. Cut the melon flesh into 1" cubes and dress with french dressing mixed with curry powder and let down with a little cream. Hmmm. Perhaps tastes have changed in 60 years, or perhaps it never sounded that good. Who can tell?)

Origami wreaths tutorial here from 'Domesticali'), humbug shaped present holders (tutorial here from 'Sew Many Ways') and decoupage MDF heart tags you can guess involved glue and ripped paper!

All easy projects (or easy once you've stolen the loo roll inners from the children who were saving them to make crackers.....) so we found time to make some beaded stars too.

My biggest problem with this post is that my camera appears to have been dropped once too often and can't focus properly, so these photos have all be taken on my phone. I'm not sure that Santa reads my blog, though, so I might just have to treat myself to a new (and robust) camera.

In the meantime, anyone who would like to buy a Christmas tree this weekend and is in the Twickenham area should come down to St Marys CE School on Sunday morning where my DH is running the school Christmas Tree Sale. My DD's will be there for some of it (sporting specially purchases 'Elf hats') and I'm planning to take a cash box and a chair and play cashier. We all hope to see you there!

Supernova - at last!

2011-11-30T10:11:00.000Z

Back in March, Lee of Freshly Pieced started a quilt-along for a quilt called 'Supernova'. I liked the idea, I wanted to make it, but right from the start I was struggling to keep up (DD1 has a birthday in March, that's my excuse!). Still, I completed the quilt top in June (just a bit later than the quilt-along finished), pieced a backing (as I was trying to work from stash) and spray basted it. I wanted to work quickly as I intended to give it to my sister and BiL who were visiting in July. However, DD2 has a birthday in June...... never mind, I planned to finish the quilt for August when I was visiting my sister. Hmmm. That didn't happen either.

About a fortnight ago I realised that we'd be meeting up again - so it was all systems go on the quilting front. I have to be honest, it's not my finest attempt. At 62" square it felt pretty big to manouver about, and, to be honest, I feel a bit out of practice for 'proper' quilting. Still. I freehanded feathers out towards each of the four corners, and than filled in the remaining space with a largish stipple. Then the scrappy binding was made and applied, the label printed and sewn on. Phew! Managed it in the nick of time!

Even better, my sister and BiL were both suprised and pleased (or they are lying well) to have it! Always a good result.

So, no sewing to show this week, although I have plans for a wall hanging before Christmas if I can manage it!

A Week of Small Sewing and Super Service!

2011-11-24T06:56:00.001Z

It's been another week of mainly small projects: sewing on DD1's collectors badge to her Brownie sash, taking up four pairs of school trousers.....but also enjoying making these items!

This first card was made for Avril as part of the BQL postcard swap. She'd asked for beach / people / boats. I failed on the boats, but was happy with this - a water colour picture put through a colour filter, printed onto a non-woven fabric, then stitched with outlines and fillers enough to enhance the scene. I'd thought that I'd be using my (current favourite) perle threads, but they would have been too heavy, so I used ordinary weight sewing threads instead - there are six different threads used that all have colour variation along them.

This second card is another BQL PC swap card - this time with a flower theme. I used paper that already included flower petals and stitched around them. I think that if my brain had been sufficiently engaged I would have chosen a looser zig-zag edging than usual, as I'm a bit worried that so many holes perforating the edge might cause the paper to lift away whilst in transit. I added two sides of machine pattern (where I just about had room) to try and prevent postal damage, but another time I might remember to put a layer of something sheer over the whole thing, or iron the paper onto lightweight interfacing.

My other little sewing was this little message bot. Jodie Carleton (RicRac) put a tutorial and pattern up for free on her blog. Isn't it great?

Yes, I do realise that my message bot is currently missing a message, but I only made this last night, and getting down my message tags would cause clattering and probably wake up at least one of my DD's, so my best chance of finishing this blog post is to just keep quiet until I want them to wake up in about twenty minutes!

That concludes the small sewing, so what's the super service that I've had this week?

First of all the lovely Keira from Kikis Craft Corner emailed me to point out a slight error in the thread order that she'd sent out to me. I hadn't noticed it (ahem, is that the sign of someone who was ordering more threads than she could use at the moment? possibly!) - but as well as putting the order right, she sent me a lovely packet of Clover embroidery needles! Thank you Keira! I can also tell you that the threads - hand dyed in South Africa - are absolutely lovely, and Keira's online service very fast. I know that I'll be shopping with her again.

The second super service was again someone who processes orders quickly and well - and this time sorted out an error of mine. I send my blunt (used) rotary cutter blades to Lawrence of Sheba Blades (and Rio Designs). His prices for sharpening are very reasonable and, again, I always get very quick service. This time, though, I sent the blades and the money but.......actually I'd sent three blades, and only the money for two. The charming Lawrence sent me all three blades back, with a note waiving the payment for the third. What a gent! I shall, of course, be making good my error, but I'm really pleased to have the blades back so quickly still rather than a protracted exchange! Thank you Lawrence!
Just a month to Christmas Eve - I hope that you are managing some pre-Christmas crafting - and also enjoying good service from your craft providers too!

Chick chick chick chicken....

2011-11-16T15:27:00.000Z

..... don't lay a little egg for tea! I wouldn't really fancy a stuffing and fabric egg!

Part of my sewing this week was leading my quilting group in a 'Christmas Chicken' making session - very simple to make, and everyone seemed pleased with the idea. There may be a chicken kit giveaway in the not too distant future....

I've had two other projects this week. One was to make pyjamas (and, it turned out, a skirt) for one of DD2's teddy bears - a useful distraction whilst her big sister was out playing with a friend.

My other project was to make up the foundation pieced blocks that I'd designed - one based on a bit of railway and platform, the other on a section of baling machine.

Curved piecing for foundation blocks? I always knew that it was going to be tricky, but these curves were almost too severe given that the blocks are only 9" square.....

What I was 'supposed' to be doing was making notes on shape, of course, but I'd almost always rather be sewing!

Hope that you are having fun too.

Are you bored yet?

2011-11-10T11:35:00.000Z

Yes, more buttons - just about the only sewing that I've done this week, unless you can count sewing a button onto a shirt..... and no, not one of these, just the shirt button that had fallen off.

Although I've been a bit worn out recently, I have managed to design a couple of blocks for my C&G course (what would I do without Quilt Pro to get my straight lines straight for me? It's lovely to be able to make a very rough sketch and then translate into a block that I can easily edit / re size / recolour using Quilt Pro!).

Perhaps I'll actually get around to making them next week.

Just for fun, here is a little part of our home firework display. DH was in charge of the entertainment, the hens were locked away (and didn't squawk, so didn't seem upset about the flashes and bangs so close their bedroom), and the DD's and I enjoyed the spectacle wrapped in camp blankets on the patio. All good old fashioned fun, although without a bonfire or a guy.......

Still Button Crazy!

2011-10-31T12:02:00.000Z

This has been another week of buttons. Trying to get to grips with cutwork (this one called 'fire pit'). I haven't finished this one yet, so it's still stretched out flat.

This is another french knot and web stitch one, called 'pink pools' - this one still out flat as well.

More cutwork - this one just called 'lacy'. I'm not sure that I like this style enough to try it again, and there are several errors that I'd correct if I was going to......

This finished button has stuffed bits and scrim and french knots and bullion stitches....and I haven't got the colour right in the photo or you'd be able to see that it's a lovely bright turquoise!

Button making was put aside on Saturday so that I could take part in the Jan Hassard's 'Interwoven log cabin' workshop with about 15 other members of my quilting group. We worked hard making twisted log cabins (some clockwise, some anti-clockwise) - some (like Benta!) worked faster than others (me) and completed or nearly completed lots of blocks. I managed six twirling one way and half completed six twirling the other.......

As we each completed our first six blocks we pinned them to the project board to get an idea of how the pattern would work once we'd completed our blocks. My blocks are the oversized blue and white ones (my 1/4" seam was *very* scant on the Featherweight). It was a fun, but tiring day. Thirty-six blocks are all that we need to make a wall hanging size quilt. I like the idea of making them right now, but the 'things to do list' seems to be a bit full at the moment!

Why not visit Benta's blog to see when she thinks she might finish hers?

Meanwhile, I'm hoping to catch up on my button course this week and make a split cutwork button, a toggle, a Dorset button, a Singleton button, a half and half button and finally a ball button. That's all I need to do to complete the course so that I'd have make at least one example of each type.

Button Crazy!

2011-10-17T12:49:00.000+01:00

I've done some more work on the buttons that I'd started last week, and started a few more too - I've gone button crazy!

This is what 'button 1' turned into once I'd added more bullion stitches and french knots in variegated threads.

Out of order - this is button number three and my least favourite so far. I need to try the lacy edge stitch again, this time with the instructions in front of me, instead of trying to remember them whilst waiting in a coffee shop for the girls to finish their activities!

This is what 'button 2' turned into - lots of french knots again, and I've called it 'mossy pools'.

Another french knot fiesta - Sea Spray.

And one that looks like maggots growing. Good practice, but not a thing of beauty, more scientific interest!

I think that my next button adventures might include beads or tiny other buttons (although a button decorated with buttons is approaching Simon's reason for not ever planting onion setts - planting an onion to grow an onion just feels wrong, and I'm not sure that buttons decorating buttons, pretty though they may be, might just feel a bit wrong to me!).

So have I just spent the week making buttons? Pretty much. A couple of blocks (one machine sewn, one hand sewn) for my C&G course, and that's it. On the other hand I have managed some sketching, some tidying of the craft room, and lots of extra sleep, so it hasn't all been bad!

Happy stitching!

Hand quilting and embroidering

2011-10-11T12:04:00.001+01:00

Hurrah! I've managed to complete a hand quilted square with quite dense background quilting, without needing to pleat it or worry about flaring or other distortion as I've finished it! Perhaps this means that I'm either getting better at marking the cloth or better at keeping the tension even when I'm sewing (still without a frame....). This is about 11" square, and I have no idea how I will use it or what I will use it for. Perhaps it will make a good cover for a scrapbook at some point in the future. I'll let it 'mature' in the cupboard until I decide.

Having finished this, I wanted to choose some more hand stitching to do - I like to have something to do with my hands whilst I'm being a 'ballet mum' and sat waiting, and sometimes I like to stitch in the evenings too when I have enough energy.

I came across a course to hand embroider buttons, run by Karen Ruane, and decided to spend my birthday money on the course and a few more threads and self-cover buttons.

This is my first attempt (still in the mini hoop) using french knots and bullion stitches. Not a finished piece but I'm not sure what to do with it. The middle part looked too like a creepy crawly, so I added the other french knots around it....but I think that they've taken something away from the total rather than added to it. I either need to add more light knots or just put this aside as a learning piece, I think!

This is my first attempt at web stitch. The top three are quite full, the lower ones are less full. and show the structure better. Obviously this is in it's early stages. I think that I'll pull out some of my hand dyed variegated threads now that I know that I can form the stitches!

Apart from this I've just made a couple of patchwork strips as part of my quilting groups ongoing 'sew a row' challenge. All will be revealed when it's put together in about 6 months time!

Hope that you are going to be happy creating something this week!

(oh, and make sure you listen properly when the radio is on. I've just mishead "wintering in the Southern Hemisphere" as "windsurfing in the Southern Hemisphere", which I did think was an odd occupation for a cuckoo......lovely mind-picture, though!)

Camp blanket fun

2011-10-07T09:41:00.000+01:00

This is DD2's camp blanket. No, she isn't old enough to join Brownies yet. Yes, she did get to take DD1 to a Brownie camp fire last week where she saw how camp blankets could be used. Yes, I had already bought the Laurel Burch panel and the fleece for backing it, and DD2 was able to choose sufficient fabric for the badge panels on either end from my stash..... I'm pleased to report that she's jolly happy with it! (There is an element of indulging her slightly this week too, as she is missing her big sister who is off on a school residential week - the longest they've been away from each other since DD2 was born).

My other sewing was of the domestic variety again. Oven gloves. A long and fruitless search for the right shape and texture oven glove is over - I've used a combination of Insul-bright and cotton wadding and a FQ of Kaffe Fasset to make my own. What the photo doesn't show, of course, is that I was making them whilst feeling a bit under the weather, and although I knew that I had to reverse two shapes, as I changed the way that I was making them part way through I got a bit muddled, so each glove has a bright side and a white side both in and out..... oh well, kitchen utility items don't have to be perfect, do they?!

I enjoyed Jan Hassard's talk at my quilting group on Monday. She brought along an astonishing number of quilts from around the world - very interesting and very inspiring. She also showed a few of her own - including the interwoven log cabin one that we'll be attempting a simpler version of later this month at a workshop that she's giving.

My last photo - which I should really have cropped just to show the ATC (artist trading card) is to try and show the amazing micro quilting by Tracey Pereira. If you ever come to visit ask to see it, as it is amazing - look at how detailed it is,both quilted and hand coloured - and it's just 3 1/2" x 2 1/2". In fact, if you make it as far as my craft room you won't need to ask as it's going to become a permanent feature to remind me what to aim for in quilting! I was very lucky, as this was just one of many lovely ATCs and fabric postcards that I received on my birthday - being part of a couple of birthday swaps is lovely!

Right, time to go off and make a start on today's 'To Do' list!

Birthday Bonanza!

2011-09-28T16:57:00.000+01:00

It's been a funny week. Not much sewing with the machine (apart from making a fitted rip-stop nylon case for a large (1.6 metres long, by 40cm sort of wide) L shaped piece of foam. It looks neat, will help prevent injury (we hope) if the girls land on the edge of the decking near the swing and is not in place because I am trying to quilt the garden by stealth (although that is an excellent idea - like yarn bombing but more private!).

I did manage a little hand sewing. Unusually for me these days it was counted cross stitch - here are three unfinished items (!). I had a plan for my girl friends to make needle cases in an evening of crafting and chatting. They made lovely ones and I failed completely to photograph any of them. Sorry - they were super and should have been shared!

They also turned the evening into an extended birthday celebration for me - the lovely things brought along cake (with candles), flowers and a lovely gift. I am VERY lucky to have such wonderful friends who are so kind and generous.

I also had other brilliant birthday presents - these are handmade ones (the super bag by Benta, all sorts of fabric flowers and other bits by Avril, and the splendid lavender bag hand sewn by Alex, my niece, which is fab). I also got a splendid range of books from my family members - quilts and coverlets at the Beamish Museum, books on drawing and painting, novels....... I was really spoiled!

I hardly know what to do next, with so many ideas! I do know that I'll be going along to hear Jan Hassard talk at my quilting group on Monday evening, though. If you can make it to near Kew Gardens on Monday evening, why don't you join me?

Poppets and Puppets!

2011-09-19T11:07:00.000+01:00

Benta gave the girls glove puppet kits. They loved making them over the weekend, and I loved the quiet stitching that started on a visit to Nanny and Grandpa's and how carefully they worked on them. Well done girls, and thank you, Benta!

I'm looking forward to a week of daily puppet shows and getting completely up to date with my scrapbooking (I'm up to April this year, so it's going well - I've filled three albums since last week and ordered another two so that I won't run out of space!). I'm also hoping to manage a little stitching, after all, ballet classes start again this week, so I'll have some time then, so long as the girl not prancing is also occupied!

A Good Monday!

2011-09-13T09:51:00.000+01:00

Sewing? After I said I was going to be scrapbooking instead? Moi? Well, OK, but only a 30 minute project from the Molly Makes magazine. A simple wallet. Fun (and quick!) to make.

Next time I make one I'd probably add a little coin purse to make it even more useful, but I can see my girls liking one each for their library cards and so on (and, in time, their Oyster card!).

So apart from this, why was Monday good? Well, I the lovely Benta came to tea, and then we went off to meet other quilty friends at Richmond and Kew Quilters to hear Sara Impey speak and admire her spectacular quilts. Quite the best quilt talk I've been to, and brilliant quilts using text, often set into grids. Her love of language sang through, and her attention to detail - both layout and workmanship - were outstanding. I came home not quite knowing whether to sell the sewing machine, fabric and thread and give up there and then, or whether to start trying to incorporate some of her techniques into what I do!

I am trying not to take the 'give up sewing forever' approach, as my good news (if you don't want to read a boast, look away now) is that I passed Module 1 of my C&G course. Perhaps not amazing news to anyone else, but something that wasn't quite as frightening as I thought it might be to do, and which passing might encourage me to take the next step with it. With distance learning (or at least, if you choose the right course) there is a lot of flexibility about how / when you complete modules, which would suit me and my variable energy levels well. It also means that I don't have to waste precious energy travelling to a class and interacting with other students (sounds terrible, doesn't it? I'm not by nature anti-social, just have to be careful how I use the small reserves that I have) - I can just sit at home and digest course notes and get on with what is required.

This was my final design for the 'line' assignment - no textiles included, and lots that I'd change if I was making it again!

So, onwards and upwards, but first time to get on with that scrapbooking!

Hope you are having an equally good start to your week.

A New Term!

2011-09-08T12:51:00.000+01:00

No, not back to school for me (although I'm thinking that I might need a quick lesson on how to get Blogger back to how it was - it's gone all big and I don't know why), but for my DDs, so I'm hoping to have more sewing and crafting time again. I think that I need a major time 'spend' on scrapbooking. It has been pointed out to me (by the aforementioned DDs) that I am a long way behind, and that I should catch up. I agree. I should catch up, and I think that means staying away from machine sewing for a while so that I can do that. Obviously small hand sewing projects (in front of the TV in the evenings when my hands are up to it) won't be affected!

In the meantime, I can now show you this

a book cover made for Alex from the scraps of the fabrics left over after block trimming from her camp blanket. I couldn't show it before as it was one of her birthday presents,and I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Many thanks to SweetiePie50 who I think made something similar and showed it....although I can't find the post that I was looking for. I do know that she made a lovely bag using fabric strips recently!

I've also done some more work on my C&G module and have produced this non-textile piece. So many things that I'd change if I was doing again!

Finally, in case you can make it to South West London next Monday evening, Sara Impey will be giving a talk called " Quilts, Texture and Talk" . Starts at 7.30pm, in St Winefride's Church, Kew. Visitors £6
Why not start your autumn with this? I'm really looking forward to it.

Brilliant Camp Blanket!

2011-09-04T11:49:00.000+01:00

Isn't this fabulous? Alex (one of my lovely nieces) came over to borrow my sewing machine this week to finish her camp blanket which she'd started earlier in the summer. A selection of FQ's, and a little extra from my stash to add panels for her Guide badges to be sewn onto. Super patchwork backed by fleece to make a cosy blanket that will keep her warm on camp fire nights. Well done Alex, you have made something both beautiful and functional!

No need to show my sewing (and to be honest, sewing name labels into school uniforms and minor repairs to clothing isn't really creative - and I've only done a little more than this this week)......

Grape Success!

2011-08-28T17:34:00.000+01:00

Is this it? What's this got to do with grapes? well, actually, nothing - but it is the only piece of sewing (yes, a 4" x 6" post card for a birthday swap) that I've finished in the last fortnight, and I've hardly made progress on anything else either. The DD's have been keeping me on my toes and too tired / time poor to manage anything else!

However, I did find time (about an hour) on Friday after we'd realised that we would be going to the Kew Horticultural Show on Saturday to make this necklace - and was quite pleased to win Third Prize. (I forgot to take a photo of it properly 'staged' - it obviously got man-handled a little during judging and disarrayed.

I also got a Third Prize for this cushion, once I'd secured DD2's agreement to loan it to me for the show, as it was her birthday present.

Apart from that, DD2 got two Highly Commendeds, and DD1 got a Highly Commended and a Second Prize (and I understand that it's quite satisfying to beat Mummy......even if in a different class) however, our family star of the show this year was DH, who won a rosette for his First Prize winning outside grapes!

He also got a Highly Commended for his Chillies. As my big sister pointed out, so long as he keeps growing things that are either above the hens heads or not to their taste, he should do well. This follows the summer where he planned to enter carrots and two types of shallots, only to have a hen escape from the run whilst we were on holiday and grub up all of them, somewhat before their time!

Congratulations on a great win, DH!

Blink and you'd miss it!

2011-08-14T17:15:00.000+01:00

The cyclists came to town! or at least, they passed through Twickenham, fleetingly, on a trial run for the London 2012 route.... Roads closed, neighbours out to watch, a parade of police motorcycles (and Yes! we got a couple to wave back to us!), cars with judges, guests, spares, before the peloton streamed past. Such fleeting excitement baffled my camera skills, clearly! Still, it was fun and all over by 9.30am for us, so plenty of the day left to get on with!

I've not managed quite as much personal crafting time as I'd have really liked this week. However, I did produce this

so that the packet of variegated embroidery silks I bought will no longer slide out and bump me on the head when I open the cupboard (all I need to do now is to sort them into number order and 'file' them in my threads drawers. I store fabric by colour, but embroidery silks by number catalogue number - unless they are 'non-Anchor threads', when they have a separate drawer and are stored by colour! I wish my machine threads so were so well organised!). All wound whilst supervising / being present for a DD's crafting session, so that was good!

I also finished this little quiltlet for the BQL skinny challenge. Hand sewn in the middle and not much quilting, to be honest....

And I made a brooch, experimenting with Friendly Plastic (softens in hot water or with a heat gun). I saw the idea for impressing wooden blocks into it and made this brooch one morning. I think that the girls would like to have a go at this too..... and I could see it being a fun thing for a 'girls night in' crafting evening too.

Oh, and I finished the binding on the baby quilt that I'd mostly made on holiday, and a couple of blocks for my C&G course, so I suppose that I've made more progress than I thought! Hand sewing is quite handy for taking to the playground or when we all get so tired that the TV goes on and we watch back-to-back kids science and art programs....

I hope that you are managing to achieve more than you think you are too!

Card Cases.

2011-08-07T06:57:00.000+01:00

After such a productive week you might have thought that I'd be on a roll and sewing merrily away. Not a bit of it. Lack of time and energy meant that I only plugged the sewing machine in to make two small card cases this week. It all starts to sound a bit Regency heroine, doesn't it, when your girls need cases to carry their cards when visiting friends? Sadly, nothing Georgette Heyer about my two, and the card cases were for 'trading cards' rather than something to leave to say that they'd called.

On the plus side, my big sis and I did our best to shrink the girls by leaving them out in the rain all day at a fab place called 'BeWILDerwood' near Norwich. It didn't work (the shrinking that is) but they had a great time building dens, climbing up into tree houses, coming down giant slides and all the rest of it. It nearly tired them out.... If you are in Norfolk I can also highly recommend the RNLI Henry Bloggs lifeboat museum at Cromer and the MO at Sheringham. My DD's aged 6 and 8 were very enthusiastic about both.

I'm hoping to squeeze a few more minutes sewing into this week - despite working hard on UFO's last month I've still got nine projects to complete on my list before I start anything else (or at least that's the theory!).

Happy summer stitching, everyone!

My type of holiday!

2011-08-01T08:02:00.000+01:00

Last week we had our main family holiday - an extended family, with nine of us from 73 down to 6. Lovely. Even better, whilst the others go surfing or cycling I'm left in peace to sew - yes, my sewing machine comes on holiday too, along with plenty of fabric and ideas! This year was quite productive, and this is what I made:

I started with a pen roll - the only way that I can think of to show my DD's that these are Mummy's pens, not theirs (really, I'm not being mean, after all they do have a gazillion drawing implements of their own, and I'd just like to know that I can pick mine up all in one go and find them still where I left them). Actually, I suppose that it isn't quite finished yet as I hadn't taken any ribbon to fasten it when it is rolled up......

Then I made this little quilt (about 26" x 38") using two orphan blocks, four blocks made from Liberty style scraps (left over from when I made bunting for a friend last month), some polished chintz and a little of my fave Fabric Freedom range. An eclectic mix, but I think that they have come together quite well and will make a small girl happy at some point.

Then I should have finished this - it just needs binding - a 30" square quilt (or thereabouts, I added a couple of borders to fit the bit of wadding that I had) for a little boy. I think that the beach team came back earlier than I was expecting so this will be one to finish this week.

Instead I concentrated on finishing this cushion cover - another pattern from Kellie of Don't look Now - which I made for the recently arrived baby girl of the people we were renting the holiday house from. Very subtle personalisation - just a first name and a year quilted between the two birds.

I'm pleased with this. Although the little bits for each flower are quite fiddly they are easy (and quiet!) to make during evenings. They are the only time consuming part of the project, and once they are fused onto the cushion front you can zip along with the machine stitching and produce something very pretty indeed.

So, quite a productive holiday, especially as I made a couple of blocks for my C&G too!

I'm hoping to make a couple more little quilts over the summer with the other orphan blocks that I've got littering my 'design wall' (I use the term loosely). The trouble is that I only have tiny amounts of them - and that the fabrics don't play together in any way - so I think that it will be three small quilts and pulling out the same sort of fabrics to construct other blocks to complement them!

I hope that your summer is giving you time to sew too.

Nearly the end of Term!

2011-07-20T07:06:00.000+01:00

I've finished my big end of term projects! This is the fish quilt, which has a fish made by every Junior school child (and this one by me when I needed a focal point for it). It is approximately 44" x 74". The fish are backed with Vilene and then 'sketch stitched' down - so the edges will still be quite soft, but should just roll a little once it is washed, rather than fray. I was impressed with the number of different shapes and sea creatures that the children produced!

The Infants each made at least one stitch in the bird that their classes are called after - with the TA's picking up and finishing them off. Then the Binca squares (I use the term loosely!) were handed on to me for the cushion covers to be made. I wish that I'd made it clear that I needed a clear seam allowance for each piece, as some of them are stitched perilously close to the edge of the easy-to-fray Binca. Still, with stitch and flip over a supporting white fabric, zig-zag stitching and some extra top stitching I hope that these cushions will stand up to normal wear and tear.

Both these projects are for the departing Deputy Head of the girls school.

These projects left me only a little time to make something for DD2's class teacher, who is also leaving the school. Interestingly, DH tackled me yesterday on the fact that he thought it would be nice if I made something for Mr Folly too - clearly my stitching obsession is starting to rub off on him! What he hadn't realised was that I'd already made a book cover with a Kingfisher and his name on and passed it on to the class reps for presentation with the vouchers later this week. What I didn't realise was that I'd done this before I'd remembered to take a photograph of it!

Time now to start thinking about school holidays and the like, and what to pack for going away (apart from my sewing machine, of course that is never in question). It's now such a 'given' on the holiday that I will be sewing that my nieces bring along their sewing projects (especially the ones that need a little extra help) too, and check to make sure that the collection of FQs will be travelling. Nothing like promoting sewing to the next generation!

I hope that you too are preparing for sharing sewing projects over the summer.

Great Mail to Receive!

2011-07-14T15:30:00.001+01:00

I've had some wonderful quilty mail this week. Best of all were this pair of A4 sized skinny quilts by Ann Clare - my photos don't do justice to the richness of the stitching and the fabrics. I'm very pleased with them.

I've also received a book The Encyclopedia of Quilting and Patchwork as part of my (say it quietly and it won't be so scary, actually, I've only signed up for Module 1, so I'll just see how I get on with it and needn't be worried) C&G course materials. Then I ordered myself a 9 1/2" ruler as that's the block size that I'd decided on for the samples that we have to make up, and it was on special offer on a site that I was buying something else from.....errrm, a quilt book (Scrap Quilt Sensation by Katherine Guerrier). Also a couple of lovely 'favourite food' postcards from a BQL swap.

Most of my sewing time has been spent on the fish quilt you had a peek at before. It's almost finished now, but I'll need a couple of willing helpers to hold it up for me so that I can take a photo of it.

Instead you can see this block - called Nelson's Victory - which is, unusually for me, all hand stitched. As I was hand stitching it I decided that I might as well choose something with inset seams, as I often don't choose them when I machine stitch. My plan is to use lots of blues and white as a background for my sample blocks, and then perhaps I'll be able to put them all together at the end.

Hope that you have a happy week.

Take Four Fat Quarters....

2011-07-07T12:12:00.000+01:00

.....and put them with a background fabric, to make a quick and easy 'Cobblestones' quilt! I did mean to make a tutorial for this, but it's so simple that I don't think that it's needed. So if I just share with you that each block finishes at 8", so therefore you need to cut 25 x 4.5 " blocks, then 25 sets of 2 x 2.5" x 4.5" strips and 25 matching 2.5" x 8.5" strips you'll probably have all the information that you need. Remember that you'll only cut half of each from your four FQ's, the rest will need to be cut from your background fabric. My program says 7/8th of a yard would be enough, I suggest that you use a yard or a metre (depends when and where you buy!) and insert a strip of it into your backing too....

You might have enough fabric from your FQ's for a border or two, and even the binding. My way was to cut everything left over from the initial FQ cutting into 2.5" strips. I added two borders, and then got to choose whether or not to carry on and add the other borders, or whether to cut them into 1.25" strips and use to bind the quilt, which is what I actually did. Of course, if you had five FQ's to start off with you wouldn't face the same dilemma!

My quilt finished up at 44" x 40". Quick and easy to produce a cute baby or lap quilt - and therefore no excuse for me to have taken so long to quilt it since finishing the top back in March, I think.

This week has turned into 'fish' week. I'm putting together a whole cloth (didn't I say I'd never make another one?) with raw edge applique fish made by every single child in DD1's junior school, as a leaving present. The children have been amazingly imaginative with their undersea shapes!

I have to keep coming up for air.....!

I almost forgot....

2011-07-03T09:36:00.000+01:00

I finished my bonnet a couple of weeks ago, the one that I was making for 'Roses from the Heart' (and more info here too) project, but forgot to put a picture up of the finished item. I was reminded this week when I got a charming 'thank you' from Christina Henry, who is the founder of the project.

I chose the name of 'Mary Evans' - Evans being my maiden name, and added her journey details from one of the convict transport logs. A few flowers and leaves, and then wavy lines to represent the long sea passage on 'Harmony'.

I am not the best hand embroiderer, but this was a fun and contemplative project to do. I bought my pattern sheet from somewhere that I can't remember for a nominal £1, but I have found out that you can download it from here if you'd like to make one yourself and send it off. Christina says that she has about 20,000 bonnets now, so still places for a few thousand more.....

I also bought in a service this week from Ani Catt. She offers a fabric shape cutting service - brilliant! You can send her fabric (I pre-backed mine with fusible web) and she will die cut it for you for a small charge. I have some lovely snowflakes for a winter project, and a few blue curlicues too, which were intended as embellishment for a stalled cushion project, but are so lovely that they deserve something more creative (and I've got a new plan for the cushion project, which involves turning it into a medallion for a baby quilt instead, much better!).

I also repaired a block from my 'Supernova' (not so very quilt along, in my case). It rather looks to me as though a small person in the household had wanted to test my fabric scissors.... I suppose that it could have been her sisters hair (again) so perhaps I shouldn't sigh too deeply!

And talking of DD2's hair.......she and one of her best friends were all dolled up yesterday for their ballet exam - and very proud of their 'ballet hair' (and later, of their certificates!).

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get a bit more sewing done this week, as so far it looks as though I won't have children at home following strike action or children at home following sickness - fingers crossed at least!

I hope you find time to do all the things that you'd like to accomplish this week too.

Fried PC, anyone?

2011-06-29T12:27:00.000+01:00

The heat on Monday did a whole lot of no good to my laptop, which was already susceptible to overheating. By Tuesday it was refusing to boot up, and is now at the local fixers.....so I'm without many of the links, addresses, tools and my regular e-mail - and I'm missing them!

I'm using my DD's PC (not quite steam powered, but slower and without many of the things that I'm used to) and if you'd like to contact me you can try plumcox at hotmail dot co dot uk....... With good luck and a following wind normal service will be resumed by Friday!

Ain't nothing going on but the.....cake (and giveaway winners)!

2011-06-25T07:19:00.000+01:00

DD2 turned six this week. So although I have sewing to show you - she'd asked for a cushion and wanted a seahorse / underwater theme for her party - it was finished a few weeks ago. Another Urban Threads pattern sewn by hand, and the machine used for construction and background quilting.

Creative energy (well, available energy, perhaps not as creative as it might be) has been put instead into cakes.

Water Splash was for Frankie's actual birthday (when she had a couple of friends around for tea after her ballet lesson. Coconut cake (her choice) with blue butter cream.

Seahorse Aquarium is the cake for her party -along with another 30 or so cupcakes with matching icing. I have to confess that the idea for the streamers for weed / water / general effect was Simon's. Without them the cake was looking more like a large tin of tuna, and I wasn't sure what to do about it! Lucky that we have cocktail sticks and a hot glue gun to make construction of them quick and easy!

That aside, the quilty news is that my random number generator (DD2, well, it was her birthday) picked Lis as the winner of the stay at home round robin quilt and Linda as the runner up. One parcel already dispatched, one address awaited.....

Another UFO Completed!

2011-06-15T12:12:00.000+01:00

We all have projects that hang around for a bit, right? So what's your oldest project that you have maturing? I decided to try and tackle some of mine over this year - I was surprised by how many I had when I actually looked at was was around.

This one of mine - notable because it's been on my 'design wall' (really vertical storage for odd blocks and small quilts destined for other homes) for some time. In fact, 'some time' should really be quantified. Really, in this case, 'some time' is in fact 'some years'. I think that I made the central part of the hanging was made in 2007. Certainly as soon as I got my 'Quilting Caveman Style' DVD from Ricky Tims.

Still, now, the second of my pair of quilts is finished, a mere two years after the first one, and four years since I started.

So did I try to quilt them to make them match? Crikey no! The first lily (blue background) was very heavily quilted. Lots of dense stitching and trying out of freehand feathers.

It's only by chance that the pair have come out at such a similar size. I guess that was the benefit of keeping all the bits for the project in one place, and having at least partly made the wonky block borders before I put the project aside.

The detail of this flower shows slightly lighter and looser quilting. This is the densest quilting on the hanging this time.

Aside from this excitement, I've been hand-stitching on my 'Roses from the Heart' bonnet, doing a little light luceting (aim: to be able to lucet a neat cord without needing to look down). Oh, and making a few more lavender bags. Now that my 'projects to do' list is down to 7 (or at least, just the 7 that are already started) it was clearly time to indulge in a little retail therapy. I bought this pattern for four cushion covers - another 'Don't Look Now' pattern - and some pastel FQs to make one or two of them. Pastels? Me? I know. Clearly not in my usual 'the brighter the better' mood, but I suspect that these will become gifts and I do understand that not everyone shares my taste.

Giveaway!

2011-06-09T14:19:00.000+01:00

I've just finished the quiltlet that you see here. It's turned into a narrative piece - hills, the girl about to climb up to the little house, the tree. I made it as a 'Stay at Home Round Robin' hosted by Kate North.

However, I made it using colours that I'm not so keen on, just to see how it went. Unfortunately, although I like the form of the quilt, I'm still not keen on the colours and don't want to make space for it on my walls. SO if you would like it, please contact me or leave a comment. If there is more than one person who'd like it I will draw a name out of a hat (probably at the end of the month). It's about 19" square plus the dangly bit.

I broke open the packet and started luceting. This was the first bit. At the bottom you can see the looser weave, then the tighter weave where I improve with the first method that I learnt. Then there is a really wobbly bit where I tried to learn a second method, which straightens out enough for me to try to put a frogging line in, and then the section with the frogging.

It's going to be fun to try it with different types of yarn to see what happens, although I can only do a few minutes each day without making my fingers and wrists sore.

This second photo shows a good step forward to what I want to do. I want to be able to include beads (but clearly need to pay attention to counting to get even curves around the beads) and this is the easiest bead inclusion pattern that I've got.

On Tuesday I enjoyed a morning with two other Twickenham quilters. Lesley allowed us to try out her Amanda Jane Pleater. Amazing! She gave us these lovely silk samples and I'm still trying to decide how to use mine. They are very touchy-feely as you can move the pleats around to make pleasing shapes and forms. I shall be interested to see what Avril does with hers.

And here is a photo of the hanging that I made last week for Kandy, now that I know that she's received it safely. Similar to one that I made earlier in the year.

Finally, if you haven't already cast your vote, please take a moment to click on this page and vote for 'Unfolding the Quilts' to be a 'Best Heritage Project'. If the Quilt Museum (run by the Quilters' Guild) is the heritage finalist it will get a slot on a BBC show which would be great publicity. It's already got and spent the lottery money, this is just a vote to say that it was a popular choice.

Five minute lavender bags.

2011-06-05T20:23:00.000+01:00

When you get post like this - a lucet (cord maker - I haven't tried one before), some jewellery findings and a bag of dried lavender, it's hard to know where to start!

I decided to make some speedy lavender bags to calm me from the excitement of opening the post. If you have the right things to hand, you can make them in under five minutes each, so a real crafting quick fix!

First I half filled an organza gift bag (you know the sort, just pennies each through eBay or other wrapping providers). I was half tempted to stop at that point, until I remembered that the first thing that either of my DD's would do when they came across them would be to open them to investigate the lavender, and I might never manage to re-fill it! So I carried on with Plan A! A line of machine stitching to keep the lavender in place, then a swift swipe with a rotary cutter. My bag was about 3" x 4" at this point, so I cut a piece of fabric 5" x 8" and hemmed one of the short sides. Then with the right side of the fabric facing up, I folded the hemmed side just less than 1/3 of the way across the fabric, before repeating the fold with the unhemmed side. All that was needed now was a line of stitching across what were now the short ends of the folded fabric. Turn the bag back to the right sides out, slip in the lavender sachet, and you have the perfect item to grace your knicker drawer. Of course, you could also spot that the left-over end of the bag looks a bit like a flower when you draw the ribbons up, and stitch that on and even add beads to the end of the ribbons for extra pizazz - but that might just be gilding the lily (or, in this case, the lavender).

I've only done two bits of 'real' sewing this week. I made a wall hanging for an online friend, and also started my quilting group's challenge to start a 'sew a row' quilt. Mine looks very pink and girly, but the orange should give it a bit of a lift. If when I get to the end of making the rows (and it's going to average a row a month, I think) I decide that it needs sashing, I think that I'd opt for lime green, at least, if I had some on hand I would.

I hope that you've managed some happy sewing time too!

Beach Huts

2011-05-28T08:51:00.000+01:00

The BQL May / June Challenge 2011 is to make a pair of 8" x 12" quiltlets that are obviously a pair. I wanted to make a pair where scale was played about with - my first thoughts were a landscape piece (rolling hills, flock of sheep as white dots in the distance) and a 'close up' of one of the sheep. Then I remembered my lack of drafting skills, and decided that I'd better try something simpler.

My second idea (pretty much, if I ignore the other 17 or so no-hopers that came in between numbers one and two) was to make a sketchy happy beach hut scene. Think windmills, bunting and light illustration.

So I started off. I laid down stripey fabrics to look
like beach huts. It looked all wrong (no photos of that bit!).Then I consulted my artistic gurus (thank you Nicky and Avril) . OK. Distance shown by darker and duller colours. I laid out more pieces and did the initial 'sketch' stitching to hold the pieces down and add a little detail.

Next I 'pebbled' the foreground shingle, and found that I couldn't shift the scale quite as I'd hoped, as my shingle wasn't significantly bigger on the RH piece.

I decided not to worry too much about that, and used the same yellow thread with some brown thread (my first time using two threads through one sewing machine needle - yay!) to put in the next layer of beach.

Then another zig zaggy texture of just the brown thread.

All OK so far...

Moving further into the distance (and still chanting "duller, darker" to myself) I used the brown with some variegated olive green thread, starting to get the marsh grasses in. Hang on. Marsh grasses? What happened to windmills, bunting, Punch and Judy and essential sunny urban beach huts?

Oh. Yes, a quick look showed more like windswept Norfolk. Perhaps I'd be getting my

sheep in after all, just of the salt marsh variety.

I stop to reconsider. And realise that a critical early marking line left my horizon almost exactly half way up the pieces. Doh! Even I've heard of the rule of thirds. Time to trawl the thread drawer for more greens (duller, darker). Hmmm. Not exactly in plentiful supply. I mix another variegated thread with the olive green and find that it's a bit bright and a pink in places...

(and I've just misplaced the photo of that in Blogger, so won't have to show you that stage!).

Time for the dullest green of all, some of it stitched over the brighter bits I'd just accidentally introduced. Again I used two threads, but this time they were both the same variegated thread, and this time they caused more thread nests on the back than I would have cared for. still, I had managed to move the horizon up the piece.

Now to add some quilting to the sky. I could perhaps have chosen grey or blue thread, but decided on white and windy swirls.

Of course, by now, having quilted the pieces so heavily, they have shrunk. I knew this would happen, so I'd taken care to quilt outside my guide lines, just a little, on every side.

Was it enough? No! I have to trim the pieces to 12" x 7 3/4" and hope that the narrow binding 'frame' will fill some of the empty unquilted space (and also not be too floppy).

I decide to use the dull purple that I've used for the woodwork trim on the more distant beach huts to frame both pieces. The colour fits the tone of the pieces and the tone of the dull, windy weather that we have in Twickenham at the moment.

Initial ideas about colourful windmills and some bunting joining the pieces are thrown out. It's not what I started out expecting to make. If I'm honest, if I'd known at the start that I wanted this much colour in the background I'd have laid down a fabric background rather than thread painting it. On the other hand, I've never tried something like this before, so it was fun to experiment!

Bound, labelled, finished!

And this is just one 'detail' shot of the LH piece. I'm not sure about the bucket and spade, but I quite like the spilt water! I hope you've found my building process for these quilts interesting. Perhaps you'll be inspired to go and play yourself, without worrying too much if the final product isn't quite what you had in mind!

PS If you head to Norfolk this weekend or next in order to look for salt marsh beach huts, make sure you leave enough time to go to Melton Constable to buy some terrific glass from Nicky Webb. Norfolk Open Studios sounds great, but I have personal knowledge that Nicky's glass is super!

Merry, Merry Month of May!

2011-05-25T12:32:00.001+01:00

Not, in fact, bunting for a May Fair, but more bunting for the St Marys school fair. If you are around Twickenham on Saturday 18th June, please feel free to come along and join the fun (and look for me either fending off requests for more cakes or trying to slow down the rate of second hand book buying that my DDs are likely to indulge in).
Apart from that I have a couple of other projects that are in the 'pulling out fabric and wondering' stage, and that's about it.

So, if it's not sewing, what is making my May so Merry? DD2 has been, after five weeks, released from her plaster cast! Scary monster skin underneath, still bruised, but finally able to put her arm in the bath again and wear her full wardrobe without it being scissored first! Hurrah!

Hope that you are finding space for your favourite way of spending leisure time.

Kindle Cover Tutorial

2011-05-17T12:09:00.001+01:00

Just a quick run through how I made my Kindle cover. I actually woke in the middle of the night and had a complete forehead slapping moment, as I realised that if using a directional print, the easiest way to make the cover (case?) would be to have the opening flap on the long side, rather than at the top. Doh! I may make a Mark II case to demonstrate this..... but at the moment you will have to manage with this top opening cover instead.

Kindle Cover with slim pocket.

1) Cut out three sets of fabric.

Back of case (inc flap) - 6 1/2" x 12 1/2" - outer fabric, lining fabric and wadding. (if you are making this version in directional print, ideally you would make your piece of outer fabric from two pieces of fabric - one 8 1/2" and one 4 1/2" sewn together with a 1/4" seam with the prints having their 'heads' meeting so that when the flap is closed the print will all look correct).

Front of case - 6 1/2" X 8 1/2" - outer fabric, lining fabric and wadding.

Pocket (optional) - 6 1/2" x 8" - two pieces of lining fabric. (I wanted a pocket for the cardboard 'idiots guide' that came with the Kindle.

2) Layer up each set with right sides of fabric facing each other and the wadding, where used, on top. Pin if you are feeling nervous, although they are small enough not to really need this.

3) On the flap end of the largest set, either mark out a diagonal line (I marked 2" down and across from the corners, but you could use a small glass to make a rounded shape, if you'd like). This will give you a nice shape for the flap. Now is also the time to insert your piece of elastic (or hair bobble. or longer bit of ribbon to twizzle around the button to hold the case closed). You need to make sure that the 'working' end of the loop is between your fabric / lining layer where it will pop to the right side when you turn these pieces out, and that you are going to sew over the ends when you make your seam. I like to knot elastic or ribbon to make doubly sure that it can't escape from the sewn line later.

3) Sew around each of the three sets with a 1/4" seam, starting at what will be the bottom of each set of fabrics and finishing approximately 2" from where you started to leave a 'turning gap'.

4) Snip diagonally across the corners (taking care not to snip your stitching!) to get rid of the excess fabric - it will lead to a neater corner when you turn it through.

5) Turn the three pieces right side out and press (or finger press) the edges to make them tidy, paying careful attention to the seam allowance where you left the turning gap. If you would like to lightly quilt your case, this is your moment to do it.

6) Layer up all three pieces with the bottom edges matching, the back should be on the bottom, right side down, then the pocket, then the front, right side up.

7) Stitch the pieces carefully together, using a scant 1/4" seam. I would start at one side of the opening, go around the front piece (where the stitching will hold the back, pocket and front together) and then continue around the flap, where the stitching will be purely decorative.

8) Nearly finished! Choose a button, insert your Kindle and mark where the button will need to be sewn. Sew it on taking care not to sew the pocket closed too!

9) Sit back and admire your new cover (and ignore the small matter that I didn't take my own advice about making the two-part back to the case, so my flap is 'upside down'!).

Happy Chickens!

2011-05-17T07:53:00.000+01:00

I shared the lovely tute from Myrtle and Eunice with some gal pals (not sure that I like that phrase, but it sums up who they are!) last night. These were my trial chooks, all with different gauge wire legs as I tried to find one that I could manipulate and that would be strong enough to support these little lovelies.

And here are the motley crew of chicks assembled at the end of the evening. They all have their own characters, and most of them are going to need to have a good chiropodist in the not too distant future!

My week so far.

2011-05-11T14:19:00.001+01:00

I haven't been awfully productive this week, but I have enjoyed what I've done, and I'm happy to share it! I've also got work from other people to share too....

First of all I thought I'd show you my completed cushion cover, using the Jacquie Harvey workshop piece. I added a couple of rows of additional stitching using the same perle thread that I used for the french knots in the middle.

The border fabric was from my stash - and is a great colour match for the water colour inner ring and the perle thread.

This is my other finished make this week - a Kindle case. I used some lovely text fabric given to me last year by Avril - thanks, Avril! I'm planning to show a quick tutorial for this later in the week, just in case someone else wants to make one. Despite my DS suggesting that I make a pocket for the cable, as my Kindle usage is likely to be 'ballet mum' style use (waiting for DDs to finish various clubs or lessons) I made a case that is quite light, and which doesn't have space for cable / plug, but which will repel biscuit crumbs and apple pips which inevitably form part of my luggage when toting snacks, entertainment and ballet kits about!

Avril also ran a workshop at my local quilting group to demonstrate 3d windmills, which was an enjoyable chance to sit and stitch and chat.

Talking to Avril and another quilting friend, I was struck again by how enjoyable they are finding their textile courses. I love the idea of taking a C&G course like this one, I was quite interested in the course run by the Open College of Arts, but I'm not sure that I'm quite ready to take the plunge yet. It's not that I wouldn't enjoy it, just that I don't know if I've got the energy to do it. Perhaps I'll wait until the DDs are a little older, although I'm not sure that they will take any less of my energy then!

I've got two more things to show you. First of all this lovely quiltlet from the BQL challenge, made by Wendy Weller. It's beautifully made and the perfect colours for my DDs' room, (the colour scheme of which was based on my memories of Jervis Bay, NSW, Australia - just look at the photo on this page to see what I'm talking about!).

The other mini work of art was one that I forgot to show a week or two ago - a lovely postcard from Benta - thank you!

Now, I'm not sure if these photos are going to come out in quite the right place....for some reason Blogger is being a bit awkward about positioning them!

I hope that you have a great week of sewing or crafting.

Quilt and quilt again.

2011-05-04T11:14:00.000+01:00

Now that the girls are back at school (OK, just for two days, then a day off when the school turns into a Polling Station before we get back to usual) I've made good inroads into a couple of small quilting projects.

This is the April stay at home round robin - the quilting stage. It doesn't show on this photo of the whole piece, so I've shown a detail shot of the house. I've quilted each block differently, and it was fun to do. My biggest challenge was choosing a thread colour. I'm not fond of changing threads frequently (or at all, if I'm honest) but I didn't have a variegated thread that had the colours of this quilt in. I felt that my best options would be either a grey or a golden brown. I chose the golden brown in the end, and I think that it was the right choice.

I also cut the piece into it's final wobbly shape. I think that it's going to need a bias binding for the edge, rather than the straight cut that I would usually use. This month (May) is another chance to add embellishments - I need to re-add the rose and beads that were just pinned on, but I'm not sure that something else wouldn't just be gilding the lily!

And this project was finished (with several questions from DD2 about just how long I could spent sewing one tree).

Here the tree is with the marking / re-marking (I'm not sure that marking the cross hatching after the initial back stitch quilting is the best way forward for me - I managed to go wrong, damp down that area, but then had the dampness travel about the cloth and start moving ink from the other lines too - it looked very messy!).

I really need to learn how to tension the piece better - without using a hoop which I don't fancy. Even on this piece (started 12" square, finished 11" square) I had to put a pleat in it.....perhaps I should just stop trying to work on whole cloth quilts, even this tiny, and concentrate on piecing!

This is how it looked after a thorough rinsing in water. At least the 'wash away blue' came out, and hadn't been heat set by the warm weather that we'd had.

I smoothed it out on a towel to dry, but didn't need to block it to get it to lie flat (just that one pleat, then, no more).

And here it is in it's almost finished state. I've added a batik border and machine quilted it. Although I think that it would have been nice to hand quilt it, batiks are so closely woven that I think it would be too painful.

I did keep the spacing the same, though. So 1/4" between the concentric squares, just like the hand quilted filler behind the tree.

I rather imagine that this will become a cushion cover - and then be given away!

It's been fun to do, and I can see that my quilting could improve if I carried on working at it. I've started another hand quilting piece but will probably take my time over this one.

Now it's time to draft a couple of design possibilities for a school leaving present for a member of staff....trying to get a balance between something that the children can join in with, but that won't be too labour intensive when it comes to the construction. I've got lots of ideas, but not sure how they could best be implemented!

Quick and Dirty!

2011-04-25T09:49:00.000+01:00

Not much sewing over the last week, but I've finally taken a snap of the 'camp blanket' that I made for DD1's Brownie camp fire excursions.

It really was 'quick and dirty' techniques at their finest. A large (and lovely) Laurel Burch mermaid panel for the centre (what a lovely present that was from her Aunty Nicky), simple maths to add panels for badges to be sewn to, and then a forgiving border which also wraps around the edge to become the binding too. Each part 'stitch and flipped' onto fleece, with a couple of extra lines of 'quilting' across the mermaid panel to stop it from shifting. No more than two hours from idea to completion, as I was able to 'shop my stash' for the fabrics and the fleece backing - and that was with DD2 'helping' me as she was off school that day!

Now, of course, I'm after a similar - but different - Laurel Burch panel piece for DD2's blanket.....

My other 'quick fix' was to not learn how to draw out marvellous quilting designs in Quilt Pro, but instead to purchase a loopy tree design from Urban Threads and trace it using wash-away pen. Much quicker, but I am a little concerned that the hot weather might 'set' the pen. I really didn't envisage summer temperatures so early in the year. I will get around to original quilting designs at some point, but I knew that I only had limited time to set up some hand quilting, and that the drafting stage wouldn't be a fast one for me!

I'm back-stitch quilting it over lambs wool wadding and butter muslin backing - and it feels lovely and soft. I've actually made more progress than this shows, but forgot to take a photo of it. It's going to be around for a while, though, so I'll post another picture later in the process.

Quilting on the run

2011-04-15T16:46:00.000+01:00

Does anyone else feel that time is rushing past? I can hardly believe that it's Friday - or that we are half-way through April!

I've done some lovely quilty things this week.

First came a hand quilting / water colour pencil technique workshop with Jacquie Harvey. I loved seeing her work - the miniatures were truly astonishing - but the workshop piece that I'm making doesn't feel very 'me' - despite by best attempts at brightening up the colours to suit me better! I'll be happy to finish it and make it into something for someone else to love, though. For me the best bits of learning were to do with the materials that Jacquie herself uses. I've indulged in a little retail therapy and bought some wool batting and butter muslin for the backing, and will use some of the cotton sateen that Avril bought us to try some more hand stitching. I will also investigate how to produce my own quilting patterns in Quilt Pro, as I'd like a speedy but unique way of designing (although I might have to go back to free hand drawing, photocopying and glue sticks - I'll see!).

Then my friend Benta came to tea, on her way to RKQ as a visitor for our April meeting.

The meeting was a fascinating talk by Maggie Rowell - one of the two Fabric Freedom designers. She was not only both interesting and entertaining, talking about taking a fabric range from an initial idea through painstaking painting to the printing process and on to selling the fabrics, but also very generous. She had brought a large selection of fat quarters for us lucky listeners to share and then, perhaps because she'd spotted (purely by chance!) a Fabric Freedom print in one of the baby quilts that I'd given to Jenny's husband's foster charity, she gave me a whole Stripper roll, entitled 'In the Pink'. Well! I could hardly believe it! I see more lovely charity quilts being made in the future, and I'm wondering if I could do something for the Children's Hospice that she supports - Shooting Star Chase. I will have to contact them to see if they accept donation quilts at all.

I'm still slightly star struck as I realised that she was one of the designers of one of my favourite fabric ranges, Coloured Dreams......

I also chose three Christmas FQ's - they will be perfect for making some demonstration 'Christmas Chickens' (not sure why they aren't turkeys, perhaps that's only if they don't turn out well) for the workshop at RKQ later in the year.

All the excitement plus having the girls at home for the school holidays has rather meant that my sewing time has been curtailed, of course. The casualty is 'Super Nova' which is distinctly lacking star quality at the moment. I am now more than two weeks behind the quilt-a-long! Still, I've got an unexpectedly free day on Monday (a silver lining as a Tuesday hospital appointment means that I won't be setting off for the New Forest with the rest of the family) and I will see what I can accomplish then.

Hope that you are all preparing for a lovely Easter break.

Playing Catie Catch-up!

2011-04-06T15:58:00.000+01:00

I think that the idea of a quilt along is that you do things at the same time, more or less, as everyone else in the group. So having joined the Super Nova quilt along, and knowing that the next set of instructions would be given each Thursday, you' d have to wonder why I didn't finish the first weeks task (cutting) until the Sunday AFTER the second set of instructions were given out. Then you'd have to wonder why I didn't catch up and manage to finish the sewing today, so that I was ready for the instructions tomorrow.....which will be my last child-free (thus offering most sewing possibilities) day for another two and a half weeks. Even with deciding to sew without ironing (not something that I'd usually do with half-square triangles) to speed things up I only managed to produce three out of the nine sets of blocks. Oh well, I'll just have to see how I get on tomorrow!

I am just wondering where the time went!

Admittedly I have finished another couple of projects this week. I've made some map based post cards and ATC's (ahem, oh yes, not all of them edged yet, I remember).

And I finished this little baby quilt. With interesting quilting.... I decided to follow an idea that I'd read some years ago about following outlines on the backing fabric to quilt. I liked the idea, but it turns out that the rows of scooped icecream (like the centre star, I used the same fabric for the backing) weren't quite as clear to follow as one might have thought....so near the bottom it all gets a bit skew-whiff. I think that I might have to frog stitch (rip-it, rip-it) and re-do it! Apart from that I liked the idea, and was able to space the quilting so that it wasn't too close together to make the quilt too stiff.

Other fun things this week were jewellery making with some girl friends. I introduced them to the delights of tiger tail (a nylon coating metal wire) and crimp beads - a combination of materials that I really, really like, and probably the favourite thing of mine that I learnt about on my jewellery course last year. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the earrings and bracelets that I made before giving them away. Never mind, I'm sure that there will be more made in the future.

Hope that you've got some lovely spring projects on the go too.

Baking not Sewing.

2011-03-30T14:45:00.000+01:00

My creative energies, such as they are, have been directed at the kitchen over the last week instead of the craft room, as DD1 turned 8. The most important things for any birthday celebration are cake and friends (DD1's words, not mine, and a strongly held tenet since she was 3) and despite not always finding the energy to do as much as I'd like to with the girls, making a birthday cake for them has been something that I've always managed. I can't manage a professional finish, but I try to make up for it with love - sounds a bit like my quilts!

This was the one for the actual birthday - fairly simple.

DD's were impressed with the first outing of my edible glitter!

This year the party theme was 'jazzy jewellery' - as the main focus of the craft activity was making bag charms and necklaces - so I made this jewellery box cake. I also made a whole tree of dairy free cupcakes so that the party guest who can't eat the main cake could still join in.

All very nice, but as soon as I've recovered from the party (and finding somewhere for all the presents to live!) I'll be back sewing again.

Bloomin' Marvellous!

2011-03-22T11:17:00.000Z

It's finished: it's quilted, bound, labelled and hung! Meg's Garden (or Happy Flower Tree, as I've called mine) graces the space above our bed. It's not ideal (I could either lose the bottom of the trunk from view, or hang it from above the picture rail, which means that it can never hang flat, of course - and I chose above the picture rail, on balance). So we have 48" x 57" of loveliness hanging in the bedroom. or at least, I think that it's lovely, DH thinks that it has rather too much pink and yellow in, but has let me hang it up anyway, as he is sweet natured and long suffering.

So would I make another? I don't think that I'd like to make another this large. It did occur to me that although I've learnt a lot (primarily not to use linen mix on a wholecloth, and if making a large whole cloth to think about basting to show the original lines that you were working to rather than spray-away pen so that you've got a better idea of where to aim the rotary cutter to square it up in the finish) I'm happier making small pieces, and that I quite like to include some piecing as well as the fusible applique.

I'd be happy to recommend Kellie's patterns, though, and her website so that you can try a smaller project with the same techniques to get a taste of them.

You can see a little more on these close-up shots. The linen mix colour is right in the photo above.

The photo to the right probably shows the printed fabrics as fairly close to true colours.

The shot to the left shows how the central circle was put together around a couple of key butterflies and large flowers.

I'm really pleased that I've made this, it will make me smile every time I see it. It lacks the elegance of a pure mathematical solution, or the grace of a natural tree, but I love it. I hope that you create things that make you smile too.

Antidote! A baby strippy quilt to make and a quilt-a-long.

2011-03-16T12:36:00.000Z

The antidote to a large unpieced quilt that is very wobbly and difficult to work out how to square up, is, of course, a small pieced quilt that will lay flat, do what it's told and come up neat! So once I'd blocked the flower garden quilt (I only needed to re-arrange the living room for 24 hours and crawl about with water sprayer and pins for a short time) I started this little baby quilt. I've made full width strippy quilts before, but thought that this one, with just half-width strips would be a quick and easy make.

Want to make one too? Have you got an hour to spare? if so you should be able to finish the machine sewing on this!

Baby Strippy Quilt

Cut four strips 3 1/2" x 20 1/2" from a novelty fabric.
Cut five strips 2 1/2" x 20 1/2" from a companion fabric (I like contrast, you might something less bold like a matching solid).

Sew them in alternate strips, and press towards the darker fabric.

Cut batting and backing approximately 24" x 22". Baste (I spray baste) and quilt - I tend to use a fairly loose stipple so that the quilt stays drapeable.

Finally, cut approx 90" of binding and use to finish the quilt. Adding the binding takes me as long as all the other steps put together, as I like to hand sew the reverse of the binding. If you'd like a faster finish, then you can bag out (or 'birth') your quilt before the quilting stage and finish with top stitching instead.

A good result for an otherwise idle hour, and a great antidote to more troublesome quilts!

I'm going to sign up for this 'quilt-along' too - called the Super Nova Quilt-Along on Freshly Pieced - I like the design, and feeling short of brain power, like the idea of piecing where someone else makes the decisions. Are you going to join in too?

I think that I'll probably use these FQ's (thank you Nicky!) and this background picked up in a sale last year.

Could it be, could it be?

2011-03-14T07:31:00.000Z

Could it be, could it be? could it be, could it be? could it possibly be Meg's Flower Garden? Yes, yes, yes! (and not, in the words of the 'Joseph' song, Benjamin after all).

Shocking after all this time, but at last the lovely flower tree is back under the needle getting some more quilting. Have I solved the 'bagginess' issues? Weeeellllllll........no, not really. I've tried gathering small circles and quilting around them, I've tried using a pipe frame, I've tried using an embroidery hoop, I've tried every method suggested that didn't include me having to actually cut fabric. What has been my final resolution? After lots of trials and quite a lot of unpicking of those trials, the final answer has been to STOP TRYING TO MAKE SOMETHING HARDER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE and to give up the idea, held for some months, that I was going to produce beautiful quilting in this area between the tree and the flower border. I've got for a much more pragmatic approach, and a 'macro stipple' rather than anything fancy. As I went a long I just pulled fabric out of the way and tried to distribute it evenly over the surface area that I had, and, most importantly, not quilt in too many pleats.

What I've ended up with is a mountainous rather than flat surface, but this pales into insignificance when you realise that for the first time in about six months significant progress has been made! No, the result won't be a perfect 'show quality' quilt (I've never produced one of those, perhaps something to aim for in later life) but I am working towards something that will hang on the wall, rather than sit in the UFO pile, which is a very good thing.

Other good things? Well, I've finally been well enough to make it into school to help out with 'creative Friday' for the first time in a month, which means I've finally got to take a photo of the wall hanging I titivated (with the help of lots of children, of course). It was nice to see it hanging up so that I could take photo of the whole thing, as I hadn't got anywhere large enough at home to spread it out flat - it's about 6' x 10' I should think.

On a smaller scale I received a little piece of A3 loveliness through the post - an Angelika Monks original, made for the BQL skinny swap. As you can just see from the photo, this hangs just to my left as I sit at my PC - and is right opposite the craft room door, so I see it every time I go up or down stairs too. I am very pleased with it.

Lots of happy stitching.

2011-03-10T11:57:00.000Z

Working on small things - and getting some 'domestic' sewing done too. This week I've replaced a zip in DB's jacket, added a few more patches to the worn out sofa cushions, and (less domestic) made a calico bonnet to embroider for the Roses from the Heart project. No, there is no particular reason to make something and send it half-way around the world to honour a woman who was shipped to Australia as a convict in the 1800's, but there is no particular reason not to, either. I've chosen a Mary Evans (my maiden name is Evans) - and I'm trying to find out a little more about her. The bonnet will be embroidered with her name, the name of the ship that she travelled on, and some roses (or my best attempt) and perhaps some other patterns too.....but I haven't started that embroidery part yet.

On the quilting front I've completed my stay at home robin, round 9 (by adding ribbon flowers and sewing down some of the fused details) - the hand sewing done whilst chatting to my good friend Avril who came for a quilters play date.

I've also made my challenge piece for the next BQL challenge swap - 7 1/2" x 24". Birds seemed to appear in lots of quilts that I'd seen over the last year or so - so using a quick and easy fusible method to make the birds bodies and adding machine embroidery for the details seemed like a fun tribute to them - and perfect for the size requirements this month.

The colours are truer in the 'long shot' below - the background is my favourite M&S 'Oxford Weave' blue work shirts, snaffled from DH.....

I've finished the February block from the latest Bunny Hill BOM. I'm not sure that I'm going to last the course on this BOM - I really love the way that the instructions are given so clearly, and that it's an easy 'no think' project for me, but I'm not that into 'cutsy' squirrels......)

I've spent a happy time with DD2, who has sewn around this cloth doll (a lovely set of four from Avril). She is called Agnes and will be making her debut at 'Show and Tell' tomorrow, I understand. DD1 would like to make a doll too, but is still (I think) a bit scared about how fast a sewing machine can go.... more straight line sewing is required first.

It's possible that the Year One class will resolve the hot debate about whether it's a kitten or an old fashioned bear that Agnes is clutching......

Happy stitching!

Go and see the work of Susan J. Adams!

2011-03-02T14:53:00.001Z

Not just a lost week, but yet another spent blaming the bug for me feeling jaded, before I realised that I was horribly anaemic (again!). I managed to avoid hospital and blood transfusions this time, but I really need to find some exciting iron rich vegetarian recipes before I get bored with the ones that I make regularly to uplift the iron capsules that I'm popping like candy!

So, still no 'real' activity, just a few ATC's - honestly, a fortnight to put these few bits together!

Still, I'm happy to say that ideas are once again flowing (although not yet translated into action) for the next BQL 'skinny swap' - this time 24" x 7 1/2" - and I've got more ideas than time, I fear!

And now it's time to get to the real subject of this post. One of my oldest friends, the immensely talented Susan J Adams, currently has an exhibition on until the 19th March. No, she isn't a quilter (shame!) but hugely talented in many areas of different media. This exhibition, at Moma Wales (in Machynlleth, Powys) contains sculptures, paintings and prints all on the theme of 'There are Receivers in the Woods' - a visual exploration of the hearing of voices. If you can't get to the exhibition you might want to order the free booklet 'they leak through me' for just the cost of the P&P. I have no idea how you find enough head space to get together a coherent body of work as a mother of a small child, but she has managed - well done, SJA!

Hope that you are all managing beautiful creative endeavours this week!

That was the week that wasn't.....

2011-02-19T18:32:00.000Z

The lost week. The lost week that has left me still feeling ropey (why ropey? Where did that expression come from? Anything to do with your insides still feeling twisted up like an overtwisted multi-strand mess?). The lost week that saw me acting as a human sofa to both DDs at different times, and in between suffering the same horrid bug? Ah well, Meg's Garden has got away once more, and small projects triumph again! I'm getting ahead of myself with fabric postcards for a birthday swap that I'm in, and that has to be a good thing!

And another big plus this week, at least one person voted for my entry in the ALQS5 that Kate North was running, meaning that I got to send my snowflake quiltlet off to Maya Jansen, and, in turn received a thrilling package through the post. On opening I discovered this little quiltlet from Lenna - very watery and lovely (and the colours a little softer than this photo might suggest - I really should get my photo editing sorted out!).

Onwards and upwards, but as the coming week is half-term I don't see many sewing hours in it. Perhaps some hand sewing and helping the DDs with their sewing machine projects......

Hope you all have a good week!

Shhhhhh........!

2011-02-08T11:51:00.000Z

I'm planning to creep up on my Meg's Garden (flower tree) later and see if neglect has caused the bagginess to disappear so that I can quickly quilt it and get on with the binding and hanging it up...... if not, it's back to choosing a method of losing that bagginess and working on it a little more slowly!

In the meantime, I've finished a couple of sets of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards - a misnomer in my case, sadly - although I'm happy to trade cards I really am not artist) ready so that I don't get caught out by birthday swaps later in the year, decided on the craft activities for DD1's birthday party (yes, not until the end of March, but some of the discounts on Yellow Moon run out quite soon), and finished work on renovating a wall hanging for the school hall.

I've also finished work on another little 'fragments' piece. This time it's Fragments V. I put it in a 8" x 6" frame and then played to see which mount might suit it.

I thought that the cream mount was too bland, and didn't show the piece off, so daubed it with scrapbooking inks that echoed the variegated thread colours. An improvement in getting the quilt to stand out, but a little too 'reception class' for the look that I wanted (something that is true most times when you add me to either inks or paints, sad to say).

Finally I cut a piece of paper by 'Twelve by 12' (examples of the lovely 'colour texture' pieces that I love are shown here) and I think that this is how it will stay.

I also surprised myself by having an opinion as to which way up the piece should go...... and this way to me is the right way up, although I'm not sure why. Maybe the longer unwoven strips hanging off the bottom have something to do with it.

Sew much fun!

2011-02-02T11:03:00.000Z

Lots of fun and small projects this week.

On Monday night we enjoyed 'girls night in' and I finally stopped fighting the urge to get some (more) of my friends playing with patchwork. A surprise gift of some curtains from Tracy, a few minutes work with a rotary cutter and a sewing machine to produce simple nine patches, another few swipes of the blade to make fleece squares and a chunk of fusible onto some more of the red print, and we have 'kits' ready for them to make valentines cushions.

Obviously wine and nibbles are essentials for any evening craft get together.....and lots of tales and laughter too!

One cushion not yet finished, one taken home for the envelope backing, and four finished and ready for the 14th. It's good to have friends, and it's good to sew.

I stayed with the red and white for a birthday card (requested colours) but as I haven't sent it yet I won't show it here.

I rather thought that I'd stay with the red and white for this months heart postcard swap too - but decided to use purple. Fabric and sequins trapped under a non-woven topping, and a knitted 'ribbon' couched on top to make a set for posting later this month.

You can see the base fabric for the postcards behind this bracelet - the topping sewn onto the post cards knocks it all back a bit.

This bracelet is a belated Christmas present - I failed to order the right (child) sized bracelet to add the charms and beads to before Christmas, so it's only now that it's going to it's rightful owner.

I'm pretty sure that it's time to reorganise and tidy my jewellery making bits and bobs, and perhaps even make space for them in a cupboard......nah, lets not get onto the whole 'I should tidy out my cupboards' conversation - after all, I've got sewing to do instead!

Plated Up!

2011-01-26T11:49:00.000Z

I've finished the quilt with my Dresden Plate in the middle. Some fun and games when trying to fit the 'cone' (blunt triangles) borders around the central plate medallion. I hadn't really thought through that the ends of each strip would be sloping, so I'd have to add additional 'half' cones in order to straighten the ends up and then couldn't work out how long to make the longer strips in order to match the light / dark pattern.....I quite like the cones effect, but next time won't try to fit a block into the middle of it!

Still, I'm pleased with it as a quilt, as it's made almost entirely with fabric given to me by lovely friend, Lesley B., and will make a lovely donation quilt. I also got to play with a newish Dresden plate template, which was ideal for the odd shaped scraps that I was given. It was the same shape cut out for the cones and the plate blades, just treated differently.

The quilt is about 60" x 54" and I've got just a few blades left to play with some more.

You'll have spotted the different photos of the same quilt. Just experimenting to see which looks best. What do you think? You get to choose between flat, but not looking rectangular as I couldn't get high enough above it, hung bumpily on a book case with book ends, folded over a chair (threads from the cushion fringe, not the quilt!), and slouched over a chair...... I don't see a career in staging quilts or photographing them in my near future!

More Quilting Fun

2011-01-21T10:14:00.000Z

Yesterday I had a lovely time when I had a quilting 'internet date' - Stella Z. from BQL was in London and came to visit, and we had a lovely time talking about quilts and family. She also brought the most amazing bag of short lengths of trimmings that she'd found. I don't know who was more excited, me or the DD's! I would have taken a photo, but needless to say they are scattered all around the living room, so that wouldn't be an easy task! (Stella also bought us an eye-poppingly large bar of Swiss chocolate.......and as the girls are living out as much Roald Dahl as possible we've talked (over breakfast) about cabbage soup, working in a toothpaste factory, and then carefully peeled back the wrapper to see if there was a gold ticket in there. No gold ticket, but the girls very happy with a square of chocolate instead!). Thanks Stella!

Taken up the idea of the bunting quilts which seem to be multiplying over the web at the moment, I made a little one for Stella.

I also made a little stitched notebook cover (seen here without the notebook in) as a birthday present for a friend.....I think that next time I tried one I'd make the 'pockets' for the front and back covers deeper, and perhaps add more decorative stitching. Always good to try new things, though - although I'd made 'stuck down' covers before this was the first removable (and hopefully re-usable) cover that I'd tried.

I also treated myself (for the princely sum of £2.80, I think - the wonders of on-line shopping for second hand books!) this book, which had been mentioned on Singer list that I'm a member of. It was published in 1972, and that is apparent in not only the photos, but some of the text too. It does, however, try to cover as much ground as possible, and covers all the basics of sewing clothes, soft furnishings and what quirks and foibles you will find with different fabrics, different attachments, all sorts. Instructional but dated, much how I feel.

Another on-line 'treat' was a download of a sewing machine manual - for the Frister and Rossman PZ that the girls were given for Christmas. I just thought that knowing where the maintenance points on it were would be helpful, plus it might explain some of the attachments that I can't decipher (if it's not one of my three feet that I use for P&Q I have a mental blank!).

More work on a larger quilt has also happened, just the binding to hand stitch down and then I can take a photo to show you.

Is Spring on the Way?

2011-01-16T16:40:00.000Z

No, I've not been spotting early primroses, just clearing the odd section of the loft (not as tough as it sounds - there is a staircase up to it, windows, lights, carpet.....but lots of stored items behind curtains made of 'vintage' duvet covers which need reviewing, sorting and tidying.

Knowing that DH had planned 'loft January' for us, I think that my thoughts were turning to post Christmas clearing, if not exactly spring cleaning. Anyway, when I had to come up with an A3 challenge piece for swapping (that had to appeal to other quilters as well as myself, that's the tricky part!) I thought that I'd stay with my 'theme' of a stitchery surrounded by fabric, just fancy it up a little to bring the size up. This quote seemed appropriate, and the rest of the ideas and colours followed this initial stitching - all in my 'go to' blue based palette which I think is quite spring like.

I've also been given by my super lovely and generous sister some more quilting goodies - I have already been asked for one of the purses (one of the smaller projects) by DD2. I would suggest that she had a go at making it herself, but I think that she needs to get used to the speed of the new machine before she tries curves and zips!

Helping Our Antipodean (and other) Friends

2011-01-13T14:31:00.002Z

When you hear on the news that an area the size of France and Germany combined is flooded it is almost unimaginable. When you see the photos of houses with just their roofs showing above the water it becomes more imaginable. This was written describing what I'd heard about Australia. Then I listened to the radio again and heard about the flooding in Brazil and the flooding in Sri Lanka, and remembered that there is still work going on for the relief of those affected by the floods in Pakistan and Nepal.

I can't think that there is a good way to lose the contents of your home - think about the memories that you have stored in yours on scraps of paper, memory sticks, and worn into your possessions. If you'd like to help some of the people who have lost these things, and the useful items like nappies and somewhere to put them, then please consider donating on one of the flood relief sites or trying your hand at one of the on-line bloggers auctions that are running next week.

I originally posted Australian sites for donating / bidding at fund raising auctions, but you might want to share your money around and send it to one or more organisations who support these other areas too.

Tutorial for Stitchery Wall Hangings

2011-01-08T09:35:00.000Z

If, like me, you love having a little hand stitching to pick up, you probably have one or more stitcheries that you’d like to do something with. I used Urban Threads designs (the joy of instant download shopping!) and stitched these, which I’ve made into small hangings with a fabric folded inner frame. Here’s how.

Recipe for hanging 18” x 11 ½”:

Centre: 1 stitchery (mine stitched from an A4 printed design, and cut to 9 ½” x 15”)
Inner Frame: 9 ½” x ¾” x 2 from dark fabric and 18” x ¾” x 2 from dark fabric
Border: 9 ½” x 2” x 2 and 18” x 2” x 2 from light or medium fabric
Binding: 75” x 1 ¼” (or cut to your own preferences)
Wadding: 18” x 13”
Backing: 18” x 13” plus 17” x 4” for hanging sleeve

Instructions:

1) Place backing (right side down), wadding, and the stitchery (face up and centred) together and spray baste if desired. It’s probably best to add any quilting to the stitchery at this point, although it is possible to do it once the inner frame and borders have been added, as I did with this example

2) Starting with the two shorter sides, fold the inner frame in half with right sides out, and place it along the edge of the stitchery. Put the border piece on top of this, and stitch down with a scant ¼” seam. You will be stitching through the backing, wadding and four layers of fabric, so feel free to take it slowly!

3) Repeat with the longer borders, pinning if necessary to smooth the short borders flat and straight.

4) Trim all layers to a neat rectangle.

5) Now, a decision to make. If I know that a hanging is always going to be a hanging I usually pin the pre-hemmed hanging sleeve on now, so that one long seam is sewn at the same time as the binding. If you’d rather not do this, then leave the sleeve off until step 7, otherwise hem three sides of it now and pin the long unfinished edge to match the top edge of your quilt.

6) Bind. I like to use a 45 degree cut to start, and then finish off using this cut (and three drawn lines) to work out where to cut the binding (I think that this technique was from Lynne Edwards’ Sampler Book) but everyone has their favourite methods.

7) If you haven’t already done this, stitch a simple ¼” hem around the fabric for the hanging sleeve, and add to the back / top of your hanging – if you’ve already stitched one long side in, just finish off by hand stitching that lower edge.

8) Label, hang it up, and sit back and enjoy!

Ready for next Christmas?

2011-01-07T22:17:00.000Z

Decorations packed away? Tree down? Pine needles and tinsel vacuumed up for another year? We've reached that happy state, apart from the three hangings that I've been making .....which are rather Christmassy in theme! They are the rogue projects that didn't get completed before Christmas, but which can now lie in one of crates of decorations ready to be discovered (and probably given away) next year.

What I am doing is writing a quick tutorial on how to make a small hanging using a stitchery as it's centre, as I suspect that I'm not the only person who stitches away at these but sometimes needs a push to finish items. This is a simple and fast way to do that.....but I haven't quite added the photos to the text - another item on the 'to do list' that hasn't quite made it to the top yet!

What else have I been doing? Well, I've made a batch of postcards and ATCs...so that I shouldn't get caught out with deadlines for them later in the year (or at least, that's the plan - I'll need a few more than this, though!),

I've entered Kates little quilt swap, I've tidied some of the floor space in the craft room, and I've started stitching for the BQL swap challenge.

Oh, and I've completed Round 7 on Kate's stay at home round robin. So, lots of small projects again! I am planning to work on my dresden plate / tumblers quilt soon, though, so progress being made in small ways.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T20:55:00.000Z

Just taking a moment to wish everyone a happy, healthy, merry, crafty and quilty New Year!

And to show you the two left hand blocks on this, made when I stole a few minutes earlier to ensure that my Round 6 of Kate's Stay At Home Robin was completed in time for the end of the month. It's turning into a cheerful little quilt, but the circles on it I can't really lay claim to - I've borrowed them from others in the group - thanks guys!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-30T11:39:00.000Z

I'm still playing catch up, but that doesn't mean that I think that I've left it too late to wish everyone festive greetings and all the best for the New Year (and you may notice in that some acceptance that sewing and blogging over the holiday period does slow down a bit!).

The post title also refers to my happy holidays - I've managed a little stitching (and planning more now that I've cleared some space in the craft room - I can see the cutting mat again, hurrah!) and been the recipient of some lovely quilty gifts. Not only my star from Avril, but lovely coasters from Benta and super egg cosies from Lesley - as well as some fabulous fabric from my brother Paul (and sort of a metre of bright fabric from my family, although that was a bit of a re-wrap job as technically it came free from Clothkits when I bought kits for the girls).

Why was I buying kits for the girls? Lovely retro, nostalgia making kits for the girls? Because my Dad and stepmother have relinquished the Frister and Rossman that I learned to sew on - the family sewing machine - to them for Christmas. Actually 'relinquished' makes it sound more of a wrench than I think it was. It was more a showing a way to the wardrobe where it has been kept, unused, for the last twenty something years with a degree of relief that someone else was going to lift it out and take it away!

It still sews well, although the needle position seems a little off to the left - probably forced into unnatural positions whilst I was a teenage sewer making clothes and accessories. The manual isn't with it, so I really need to look on-line to try and find out what the different feet are for. I never was much good at understanding how to use different feet, and the only thing that has changed is that now I recognise a 'hopping' foot for free motion quilting, and a walking foot......

The girls are VERY excited about having a real machine of their own, and even more excited about having a machine that does zig-zag. Lots of fun on the trial pieces changing the size of the stitch, both length and width. Soon it's going to be time to get busy with their kits, with more charm squares, and with the fab sparkly fabric and threads that their Uncle Paul bought them......

Finished in time for Christmas!

2010-12-26T16:11:00.001Z

This post should have been made last Wednesday, as it relates to sewing on Tuesday evening. Guess who's playing catch up?

No, this post isn't about anything else that I'm sewing, but my lovely friend Tracy has finished this beautiful little quilt for her girls to play with. Admittedly it didn't take long in sewing hours, but in elapsed time it's taken about 7 months.....

She made a fabulous job of it, and I hope that she's proud. Is this just the first of many, Tracy? My sewing room is always open to friends who'd like to do some sewing if anyone else feels inspired by Tracy's lovely quilt, so long as they don't mind a bit of untidiness (or creative stacking, as I like to think of it)!

Comfy Cushion

2010-12-17T10:16:00.000Z

I've made the most of G being off sick for most of this week. When I haven't been a human sofa (well, a 7 year old needs her mum when she's poorly) I've been making this cushion. The personalised motifs that I was asked to include were an owl, a rainbow and some flowers.....and this is how it turned out. The winner of the silent auction is very pleased - so I am too (although I won't be rushing to make any more fused rainbows in a hurry - lots of wobbly thin arcs!).

Just a little bit of hand stitching on the go at the moment, before I pull out the tumblers and Dresden plate that I was making before I swept everything aside to make the cushion cover.

Christmas is Coming!

2010-12-08T11:24:00.000Z

I can tell this, as sewing time has become Christmas card writing time and wrapping time, and blogging time has become on-line shopping time - or at least, that's how it feels!

Despite this, last week I enjoyed a 'quilter's play date' with Avril, Lesley and Benta. We played with fusible scraps and nattered merrily.

Avril gave me a wonderful Christmas star with her trademark impressive stitching.

I was inspired to have a go too, but need to stitch a shape that is rather more generous at the points, as mine looks too skinny, and to add some more stitching in the centre where it looks a little bare.

I carried on with the cream and red theme to knock up a few more Christmas decorations though - swiftly made with fusible ironed on to the red spotty fabric before the shapes were cut out and applied to the 'postage stamp' squares. I made them with the Brownie bazaar stall in mind.... now I'm tempted to make some more padded squares like these but plain, so that the girls and their friends can decorate them with fabric pens as a fun activity.

Projects getting ever smaller.....so I feel very lucky to get an award!

2010-11-25T22:47:00.000Z

Hardly any sewing at all this week - in fact, no 'proper' sewing at all. I've covered a synthetic handbag strap with cotton (in an effort to stop it chewing up my clothes), patched over patches on one of the sofa cushions, and spent a fun evening making jewellery and bag clasps with friends (no photos as I gave them all away the following day without taking any snaps first, sorry!).

I've promised a personalised quilted cushion cover as a silent auction lot for the school fair, though, so at least there is a chance for some more sewing this side of Christmas, which is ONLY ONE MONTH AWAY - and is, of course, the real reason why not much sewing has been happening - too much buying, wrapping and prevaricating!

But an award! How lovely, thank you Benta (and I'm looking forward to meeting you in person for a quilter's playdate next week!)

The 'rules' are that I have to share 10 things that you don't already know about me - hard for me to guess whether any of these will be new to you or not, but I'll do my best to think of 10 things.

Despite being 1) born in Birkenhead, I have discovered 2) through family tree research that I had both map engravers based in London and a bookseller in Twickenham (where I live) in the mid 1800's.

When I was a child the only pets I had 3) were ducks. As an adult the only pets in the household 4) are hens (that really belong to my two girls).

That 5) the best explanation I've found of what it is like to have ME / CFS (as I do) is actually written about Lupus. Read what Christina Miserandino has to say - and then thank Sally Bramald for linking to it earlier in the year.

That 6) in an effort to mitigate the symptoms of ME / CFS I have tried all sorts of remedies, including (look away, scientists) magnets, crystals, patterns of red dots, magnesium injections and a macrobiotic diet to name but a few. The only ones that have had a substantially beneficial effect so far have been 7) pregnancy and cranial osteopathy (I still see my osteopath every three weeks, but have no plans to have more children!). I'm sure that one day there will be something else that will sort out ME / CFS and I continue to donate money to research into it in that hope.

That 8) I have never had any desire to go pot-holing but that 9) I have tried lots of other activities including parachuting, para sailing, paragliding, micro lighting, hot air ballooning, bungee jumping, climbing, white water rafting, driving a double decker bus, riding a camel, kayaking, sailing, windsurfing, snorkeling, and scuba diving (and I should really try and scan some of the photos!)

Finally, 10) I am lucky to have some very good friends, but my best friends of all are my husband, my brother and my sister who get me through the bad times and share the good times. I am fortunate indeed to have them.

So, ten things that you may or may not have known about me before? Fun to play along anyway, and to think just a little about what there is about me that helps make me the person I am now.

Even more small projects

2010-11-17T13:59:00.000Z

Still not making progress on large quilts, but I've made a little bag (containing a beginners crochet kit) for a friend, and another nine or ten mug rugs (these ones in 'traditional' reds and greens ready for Christmas), and some more jewellery.

I'm planning on making a few fabric post cards next, so there is still lots of 'stuff' happening, just nothing on the flower tree or anything else of a larger size than A4!

Getting Ahead for Christmas

2010-11-09T13:18:00.000Z

Not in most areas of my life (where I'm later than usual in printing Christmas lists and labels for envelopes....and yes, I do know that it's still fifty-something days to Christmas it's just that I like to be prepared) - but in making sewn Christmas decorations.

First of all the little house that I'd talked about the other day, inspired by the magazine cover and my own plump trunked trees. I've added some beads and charms (and no, tiger tail doesn't poke through two layers of fabric and some wadding very easily for anyone who was curious). I think that I'm going to re-do the window dressing, though, as the longer bugle beads didn't allow me to echo the shape of the window as I'd wanted to.

The second is a little decoration made like a paper snowflake (you know, folding the paper, snipping away, reopening it - you probably spent time doing this at infant school, even if you haven't done it since). Instead of paper I used fabric with a fusible sheet on the back, so after snipping I could just iron the motif onto fabric before finishing the little quilt off. More opportunities for adding beading and extra stitching ,of course....

I made another hanging decoration with an angel stitched last night at the Richmond and Kew Quilters meeting - a workshop led by my friend Lesley, and using one of the designs (and the threads) that she provided. The little wreath beside it is a starched fabric version of this. It's fast to make, but slightly fiddly. As it was fabric, rather than just leaving the holding together to chance, I ran a line of stitching around the central opening. I think that more practise would help even up the outer 'petal's on it, although I was quite happy with the evenness of the inside gap!

Inspired to make your own snowflake? Surely you've seen the virtual snowflake snipper by now? If not, and you've got five minutes to waste, click here and you'll be able to snip some snowflakes to get you into the winter mood, without needing to clean up small diamonds of paper from the floor afterwards! It might be useful to know that the scissors only work when the button on them is green, not when it's red - so you have to pay attention (and not suffer red/green colour blindness) to be able to play. Have fun!

Want a chance to win this beautiful quilt?

2010-11-08T11:39:00.000Z

Isn't it gorgeous? And not only does it look lovely from a distance, but the detail is fantastic too, and it's been quilted by award winning quilter Ferret. Money raised from raffling it will go to help cover the costs of the 'Quilts4London' project. You'll be seeing some of the pennant quilts that I've made for this project in another post....

So how can you win it? You can have a chance at winning this king size quilt by sending a £1 for each ticket that you'd like to buy to Quilts for London. Go here to get the details, then grab your cheque book and buy some tickets! Go on, treat yourself!

More distraction

2010-11-06T10:28:00.000Z

I was going to have another go at the flower tree quilt, but was too distracted by the idea of 'mug rugs' - as brought on by this tutorial by Jodi of Pleasant Home - and popping up here amongst other places too!

Unfortunately I chain pieced four of these before I realised that the trunks were a bit wider than one might hope for.....but not wanting to waste time with nimby-pimby unpicking I finished them anyway (sorry in advance to anyone who receives one of these - but as someone who rarely has a hot drink and would never think to protect a surface from one, I'm pretty sure that these won't be staying at home, fun though they are).

Of course, they did remind me a little of the houses that I'd seen here

So I went ahead and made a cute little house - but can't show it as Blogger has taken exception to the photo! Maybe it's a hint that it would like to see some embellishment on it....I'd better get busy with the beads, I think! It will also give me a chance to see if I can poke 'tiger tail' through fabric, and secure it each side with a crimp bead, for those times when it's easier to keep busy with the jewellery pliers than to pick up a sewing kit.

Small liberated sewing!

2010-11-04T15:35:00.000Z

Just two little blocks to add to my stay at home round robin this month. I'm happy as the small blocks from last month look like a ladder to my new house!

Jewellery Japes

2010-11-03T13:23:00.000Z

It was the last class on my short jewellery class yesterday. I've made impressive amounts (impressive to me anyone, perhaps not to anyone else) especially since I've made very little outside of the ten hours of class time. I showed you the first pieces on the blog here and here , but would urge you, if you wanted something lovely to wear to look here and either buy something or pester Raquel to run more classes! I just wish that I was better at photographing my pieces!

This set is made with lilac tiger tail, silver crimp beads and clear 'crystals'.

These show my first attempts at stinging beads - very fast!

We tried both cotton and faux leather.

This set used multiple strands of black tiger tail and experiments with leaving some 'loose loops' to add additional interest.

And this necklace is actually a set in itself - there are clasps at each end of the chain, allowing you to choose one, two, or three strands of different lengths. I really like this idea of giving the wearer more choice, and would be tempted to go a little funkier on the longest third string in the future. I think that this is my favourite so far, but I've enjoyed learning the basics of this craft, and thinking about how to put other ideas into practise in the future.

Now I need to tidy the surfaces in my craft room, and get to work with fabric and thread again - I'm still struggling with 'Megs Garden' (my lovely flower tree with the unlovely saggy areas). I thought that I'd managed to get a solution by hooping it on an embroidery hoop, gathering bagginess into circles, and was then planning to FMQ around this areas before making them a 'feature'. This has proved to be a bit tricky, though, as I can't get the quilt and embroidery hoop under the machine needle, and if I take the hoop off and loose that lovely tension over the surface, it doesn't act as I want it to. Grrrr! Time for another try, or to perhaps work on something else whilst I ponder another approach!

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Autumn 2010

2010-10-29T08:11:00.000+01:00

This is my entry to the current Bloggers Quilt Festival.

This quilt is one of the woven fabric quilts that I've enjoyed making over the last couple of months. Small - it's only 9" x 11" - it's portable, simple, and lovely! I couldn't think of a nicer destination for some strips of my old linen shorts and calico. The hand dyed silk that I used for the quilting is lovely - a real treat to use. It's been lovely to enjoy the simple fabric and stitch combination, and I'd like to make more quiltlets exploring this a bit further. I will learn to try and make things that fit within 'standard' frames though. Just a little narrower and this would fit into a ready made A4 frame, rather than making me wonder about the cost of custom framing versus attaching this to fabric covered mountboard!

I've been taking a jewellery course - just five weeks - and wanted to incorporate some of the materials and techniques that I've learnt to give this quiltlet a little more sparkle. I'm in love with tiger tail and crimp beads (and thus my jewellery pliers too) although I'm not sure that the different fixings for beads are entirely appropriate in such a small scale. I'm looking forward to using them again on different quiltlets though.

Right, can't stop here blogging. There is a whole virtual quilt show that needs exploring - and only limited time before two small people start demanding breakfast!

I hope that you are having quilt show fun too!

Liberty Jack Bandwagon

2010-10-28T17:54:00.000+01:00

I've been keen to try my hand at a 'Liberty Jack' type design since seeing Janey Forgan's in the V&A exhibition earlier this year. My dear friend Kate's moving to Australia and asking for a similar cushion cover was a handy excuse to choose a few 'Liberty style' prints (and I can thoroughly recommend the stall on the Cattle Market site in Kingston on Mondays if you, too, are looking for cotton or lawn prints at a reasonable price).

There are any number of tutorials about how to make this type of design, but I didn't find any (at a quick look) who incorporated the counterchange of the saltaires (or for those who haven't been reading the Observer Book of Flags, making sure that the white of the St Andrew's diagonal cross is dominant over the red diagonal cross of St Patrick, by having more white showing 'higher' closer to the hoist, or pole side). I notice that Janey Forgan's does, and I wanted mine to as well. Easy enough to achieve, technically accurate, but I'm not sure that I'd do it next time, as the diluted 'even placement' is easier on eye, as this reads quite lop-sided to me, despite being square (and yes, I know that flags aren't usually square either, but checking with Kate she'd wanted a square cushion).

It's 16" square, and made with raw edge applique. To keep it soft I didn't use any fusibles - but I have 'pinked' all the edges to reduce the amount of fraying - I love my wavy edged rotary cutter! Another quick project completed.

In the nick of time.

2010-10-27T14:16:00.000+01:00

I'm usually quite organised and like to get things done well before the deadline - but it doesn't always work out like that. This card is due for a birthday in two days time (part of the BQLPC birthday swap), so allowing time for it to be posted, today was the last chance to get it done.....so it was made today!

Do you recognise the fabrics? Guess who is being thrifty with her tiny scraps of pre-fused fabric left over from the flower tree project? Yup - I started cutting some of them last night to make this little garland. Fused and stitched it today, and all I need to do now is to write the address and message on the back, and walk it to the pillar box.

I did have a good 'quilt clearing' weekend, though - I managed to give away four quilts - always a good feeling. The decks are now clear and ready for me to re-start work on the flower tree quilt, which still needs to have it's baggy bits sorted out before I can carry on quilting.

Watch this space - but don't hold your breath, as I think that this might be a slow stage in the project!

Phew!

2010-10-21T14:22:00.000+01:00

Got there! (well, ok, I still need to add a label and wash it, but I'm saying that it's near enough done to post about).

For once I added up the hours that it took. I'm quite impressed with what one can achieve with 17 hours of free time, some fabric and some wadding. The result is a 60" square quilt. I really hope that my second eldest nephew will like it - although I'm a bit concerned that it's a bit too stripey. At least all the stripes are going in the directions that I'm expecting, and the 'arms' of the stars are all spinning the way that I was expecting too!

It would have been quicker to make, but I like to make oversize half-square triangles and trim them to size, which actually turns out to be more time consuming than I'd thought. I did save time by trying (for the second time only) a binding style where you leave the backing over sized, fold it, and then stitch the folded side down to the front. On the plus side you can make sure that you don't cut any 'points' off your triangles. On the down side it doesn't feel as firm as the binding that I usually do, and the corners are much trickier to get right. Or at least, I think that they must be harder to get right, as in eight corners there is maybe one that could qualify in terms of 'rightness'!

Onwards and upwards, I'd better get on with printing out a label or three (I've got - the shame of it - other quilts that still need labelling too) and the domestic chores which have been shunted to the side pending the big finish. Just 50 minutes until the end of school, but ha! a mixture of school clubs and hired help mean that I don't have any childcare responsibilities for another 90 minutes - so plenty of time to do the chores and prepare for the four small people who will descend at that point......

The Race is On!

2010-10-16T20:02:00.000+01:00

I've made this quilt for my eldest nephew (and Shhhh! anyone who knows him, unless they think it's too girly, in which case speak out loud and clear and tell me) from lovely Amy Butler fabrics and calico. The pattern template is simple - a CD! I also used some text fabric (thank you, Avril!) on the central circle that's a bit like 'Janet and John' - overall my homage to his Media / English studies. I finished it this morning, when DH kindly took the girls to the supermarket so I could have a little sewing time.

Now the question is this. Can I make a quilt for his younger brother from scratch in the five days that I have until I need it to be finished, so that I can given them quilts when I see them, instead of waiting until Christmas?

I've decided on a simple pattern (although I say it's simple, the only time I made it before, I got some of the pieces turned in the wrong directions - a surprisingly large number of them, it turns out!). I like the idea of the friendship stars and how they link to create a secondary pattern. Now I just need to check which fabrics I might have enough of, cut them, sew them, cut them so more, sew them some more, add wadding and a backing, baste it, quilt it, bind it and sew the label on.......

I'd better hope that DH is going to take the girls out again tomorrow so that I can get a bit of a start, and then really get to work on it when the girls are back at school on Monday!

Ready, steady, sew!

Fragments IV and my busy girls.

2010-10-13T10:19:00.000+01:00

I've started! I've started a few small embellishments for my latest woven strips quilt (cunningly named Fragments IV - I can see a series and understand the nomenclature!. OK, so at the moment they look a little like glamorous safety pins, but I've got some other ideas to try, honest!

This week at my jewellery class we learnt to extend the techniques learned at last week's class by making bracelets. I've already done a little extra by making kilt pin brooches. Actually, I only planned and made the one on the left, F made the one in the middle, G made the one on the right (and made some surprisingly tasteful choices!). I can see that jewellery making could easily become a shared activity for the three of us. Good for our fine motor skills and patience, I'm sure!

The girls also enjoyed making postcards to swap with a very kind friend who'd sent them fabric cards. I'm quite proud of the girls for knowing that if you get a special card through the post it's nice to 'swap' and send one in return.

Frankie started one with a picture of Alfie the dog on a beach, but changed her mind and asked me to start a doodle pattern for her to colour. Georgie went straight for icebergs, polar bear, penguins (yes, we've told her that they won't meet, but she says that she knows that but they can in her picture) and dolphins. I didn't help with the composition but I did help with stitching the elements down.

I'd like to get some more quilting done this week. Projects seem to be slow moving at the moment, rather like me.....

Stay at Home Robin - October

2010-10-07T10:46:00.003+01:00

Not quite as early as some months, but this morning I've sewn the fourth part of my 'Stay at Home Robin'. I've left the ends of the block slightly extended so that I can trim them along with the blocks that they are joined to when I add more to this piece. I'm trying to ease away from the 90 degree angles used when I joined the first three blocks!

You can see all the other lovely pieces coming along on the dedicated blog here.

It's all about the loops.....

2010-10-06T15:02:00.003+01:00

I decided to sign up for a five week long Jewellery Making course at my local library. An unlikely choice for someone who wears a stone wedding ring (not very tolerant of metals, which make me very itchy and sore)and can't remember when she last wore jewellery. Still, I thought that I might be able to make some interesting embellishments for quilts (!) or cards.

I've revised my opinions. I now think that I can make Christmas presents and small bits of loveliness to give away to all sorts of people. Based on my one lesson so far I've seen what lovely items there are, and have purchased some bits and bobs from eBay - mostly charm bracelets and kilt pins, but some extra beads, crimp beads, tiger tail and findings too to supplement the fabulous kit that we were given.

The lovely Raquel was both friendly and patient. She took us through the basics that had been provided in the kit, showed us lots of examples of her work and then let us loose to start making, whilst staying on hand to answer questions as soon as we had them. We could choose our techniques, and I made three pairs of fairly even earrings: one pair using tiger tail and crimp beads, two pairs using pins. The key lesson this week was forming lovely even, tight loops that won't fall off the earring findings.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the course!

Leonard Hugh Picken

2010-10-02T12:50:00.002+01:00

Leonard Hugh Picken
7th Nov 1918 - 1st Oct 2010

He was a lovely uncle, an interesting person, and will be sorely missed by us all.

More Simple Sewing

2010-09-29T12:27:00.002+01:00

This is a quilt that I have made for my uncle. When I heard earlier this month that his mobility was deteriorating, but that he still wanted to sit in his conservatory so that he could see into the garden, I thought that a fleece backed quilt would be a good idea, as both 'impaired mobility' and 'sitting in the conservatory' sound chilly to me in a British autumn and I thought that fleece would be lighter and easier to pull over yourself than a normal three-layer quilt.

I wasn't quite fast enough with the construction and quilting, and my uncle has now gone into hospital, where I can't imagine he will need a quilt. I'm trying to decide what the best destination for this quilt would be. I don't think that I can give it to Dorothy House or another care home (as it's fleece backed and includes some poly-cotton shirtings in the quilt top), but perhaps one of his grandsons (my second cousins) would like it....time to cogitate.

Now it's probably time to go and tackle some more of the Infant school embroidery thread supply - looking more like The Clangers blue string pudding than a sensible collection of threads, I've been waiting for more cardboard bobbins to arrive (bless you, eBay!) so that I can carry on winding them into order. Of course, I know that it's a job that will need to be re-done at least every term, but I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that it will be a temporary improvement.

(and yes, looking at the photo again, one might wonder why I didn't put the top of the quilt furthest away from me, but off to the side instead....!)

I know......

2010-09-22T12:02:00.004+01:00

.....that this is shameless marketing for a mobile phone company - but it's fun and cute and appeals to anyone who liked tiny things when they were young - or not so young!

A Little Sewing

2010-09-21T14:29:00.005+01:00

Whilst pondering the flower tree quilt, I've done very little sewing (in fact, very little of anything), but I'm delighted to have been back behind a sewing machine again for the first time in over a week.

In about an hour and half I'd whipped up a little baby quilt (using my own 'free pattern') for a new cousin to two of my nieces (family, but not genetically entwined with us!). Unfortunately in my enthusiasm I managed to scorch it :-( so now the scorch mark is in iced water and I shall hope that it's gone in a couple of hours. It isn't time critical, though, as I'm not exactly sure which day over the weekend she was born (the perils of letting DH take a call with the news!) and I'd like to sew the date as well as her name onto the quiltlet.

I've also made this little piece couching some threads over a non-woven stuff, which was over some of my favourite batik. Just a small piece that will hang on my wall as a place to keep quilting badges.

Not tough, not big, not clever, but manageable and fun!

Un-quilting ;-(

2010-09-18T11:28:00.000+01:00

I started off the quilting on the flower tree with high hopes that were met - and the micro-stippling around the central 'tree' went well, with sufficient fabric 'eaten' to satisfy me.

I always knew that the wide open areas were going to be trickier, as there was so much more fabric, but I set off with gung-ho enthusiasm and thought that it might be OK.

It wasn't. I think that it was Ferret who said '8 minutes quilting = 8 hours unpicking' - and she could well be right. I certainly had a lost day with only this handful of thread fragments to show for it.

Now I need to tackle the excess fabric some other way. My sister suggested pulling the fabric into a bunch and twisting it into flowers. I thought that she might be joking, but it's up for serious consideration (and I've just found Jacquie Harvey doing almost exactly that, but setting off with the intention of making roses, in an old Fabrications magazine). Erica on BQL suggests either starching and shifting the fabric about until the fullness is lost, or placing additional wadding behind it that will be unnoticed when the area is quilted. The trouble is, my areas are bloated and bulging rather than merely full. I'm wondering if I can combine all three. Pull, fold, starch what is left, stuff the (by now smaller area) bulge, and then slap a small butterfly on the top of it.........?

I've started by spritzing the top with water to get rid of any lingering blue marker. I rather think that my second move might be to leave the top to one side and get on with something easier while I think about it.

Progress on Meg's Garden (Flower Tree)

2010-09-14T14:28:00.001+01:00

I'm finished sewing on the flowers, I've stitched the green grass or vines, and I've spray basted the top and wadding onto the backing..... and I'm quite happy with the progress so far. I just wish that I'd sewn down just the flowers on the tree, then re-basted, and then sewn down the flowers around the border. I'm concerned that I have an awful lot of spare fabric in the open areas (just look at it in the photo!) that I'll need to 'eat' somehow in the quilting.

I think that I'm more concerned that I don't know why it's there. Obviously I know that one would usually quilt from the centre out to the sides, but this looks like it's stretched in the open areas. Either I didn't baste sufficiently or I shouldn't use 'linen mix' fabric bought from a previously untried source on the web or....I'm not sure? Wish me luck with the quilting!

A Finish and a Start!

2010-09-06T16:33:00.000+01:00

F finished her little quilt (approx. 12" x 9") yesterday. Thriftily made from scraps from fabric from a skirt that she made earlier in the year, and some gifted stash. Once it had the wadding in the middle she couldn't put it through her machine, so she used my Bernina. By standing up she can manage pretty well, with occasional instructions from me (generally reminding her to put the presser foot down after turning a corner).

G is still piecing a small quilt with squares and rectangles - very much a WIP!

I have started (at last!) sewing down the fusible flowers on my flower tree quilt. It's been waiting for me for a long time, it seems. Not sure how long it's going to take, but ideally I'll get them all sewn down this week and then start on the rest of the quilting on it.

Stay at Home Round Robin

2010-09-03T20:11:00.000+01:00

I've added the third block to my stay at home (SAH) round robin.....but I'm starting to wonder if sticking to 'the rules' and have precise cuts around each of my blocks is the right thing. Each block is free pieced, so not much in the way of parallel lines and matching corners, but then I've trimmed each block to the appropriate size after that, rather than leaving the edges wavy and then seeing what needed to happen next, and I'm not sure that it has been the best approach.

I've got three options: scrap it and start again, try and be a bit freer from now on, or carry on with the 'proper' measurements. I'll have to try and decide before the start of next month, but I'm leaning towards the middle approach at the moment.

In the meantime I've used the scraps from the rectangle to make a 'feature strip', which at about 22" long is enough to make into three fabric postcards and an ATC. Nice to use up these scraps like this, and especially nice as Nephew No. 2 can have a fabric birthday card on Monday so long as I finish it tomorrow and the postal service plays the game properly!

New Year? New Technique

2010-09-02T20:11:00.000+01:00

Fired up by the start of the new school year I decided that it was time to take on a block that I've admired for years, but never understood how to construct before. Armed with Lynne Edwards' book 'Cathedral Window Quilts' I've now constructed my first two blocks - and followed her advice about turning them into a pincushion. The photos show the project half completed - you then sew the blocks together along the short sides in order to make the second place for a 'window'.

I love how they look. I quite enjoyed making them, but they do seem to take an extraordinary amount of fabric. This pincushion, roughly 4" square, took 2 x 8.5" squares (the green print) and 2 x 3.5" squares (the purple print). I'll certainly consider making more in the future, but I'm never going to tackle a large project with them!

What about you? Are you fired up by the cooler autumn weather or the new academic year? Are you tempted to try new techniques and take on bold projects?

The Kew Horticultural Show

2010-08-30T09:48:00.000+01:00

The show, held on Saturday, was lovely. Old fashioned 'village' show, with fierce competition over the dahlias, marrows. and so on. We like to enter a few categories, not for the glory so much as the joining in and spending a day with family who live in Kew.

I won a 2nd place for an applique cushion, but Pally won a brilliant 4th place for her cushion that she'd made using some of my stash (see this post). Aged 11 she was thrilled to beat some 'grown-ups' in the category.

My little stars did well. G won two well deserved second places and a commended, and F won first, second and fourth places - so they received noteworthy places in every category that they entered. F also won something a bit special - the Pat Thomas Cup for Children's Photography. At five years old she is the youngest ever winner, and we are very proud of her. It was worth the three minutes of letting her pull us into the right pose and the two shots that she took (the category theme was 'Family'). F has generously said that G can share the cup, as she was in the photo......

I should also say that Simon won a third place for his grapes, that I won a third place for my lemon curd, and that I had a block from my quilt group Round Robin earlier in the year included in another crafting category second place.

It's fun, and if you have a show in your local village or town then take my advice and join in - it's makes a great day!

Go! Giveaway

2010-08-24T08:54:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to share the info that there is a chance to win a Go! cutter on Jackie's blog here.
Not that I know why I should tell you about it - after all, if you enter it will cut down my chances of winning.....!

I Warned you....

2010-08-22T18:02:00.000+01:00

.....that there would be more little woven quilts!

I really like Fragments III (the second photo) - completely lifted by the lovely hand-dyed silk that I bought from Neredah McCarthy (how I wish that she had a web-site or an on-line shop, but I can't find one!). The colours are a little washed out in the photo, but they really are lovely. I also confess to having to use the back of two of the fabrics - my stash isn't renowned for gentle or subtle colours.

I really don't like Fragments II (the first photo), however. I tried cutting fabrics with a rotary cutter, and thought that bright batik against the dark one would look lovely - I was wrong. I added sequins and beads in the centre of the dark squares. That hasn't really helped. More stitching might help but I'm not the person who is going to bring this to life. If anyone reading this would like to try and breathe some life into it, please let me know and I'll send it to you.

Proud Aunty!

2010-08-21T10:43:00.000+01:00

I took my sewing machine on holiday last week - and one of my wonderful nieces made this using a silk painting from a kit that she'd coloured. She chose wonderful fabrics to complement it (from my FQ stash, which also travelled with me) and then showed great control of the sewing machine to make this 'Quilt as You Go' cushion cover.

I'm so proud of you, Pal!

Not so much sewing.....

2010-08-17T21:31:00.000+01:00

......but plenty of time with family in various guises!

Actually, in truth, last week I hardly managed any sewing, but this week I've managed a little sewing but (so far) no photos!

I've been working on some machine applique / piecing - both fairly simple - and later in the week will help one of my nieces to make a quilted cushion cover using a silk painting that she's produced. She's already chosen some stash fabrics for it.

Fragments 1

2010-08-07T05:56:00.000+01:00

I'm quite pleased with this little quilt now that it's stitched. It's almost worth zooming in on the photo so that you can see the stitching properly - it's a piece that needs you to be up close and personal with it!

It's called 'Fragments I' and includes five little scraps of my late FIL's shirts. I'd like to get a shadow box to mount it into, but in the meantime I've adhered it to some black card.

I can see me making more of these - once the initial weaving is done it leaves easy hand sewing which I can do whilst the girls are engrossed in their own art and crafts.

Stay at Home Robin Part 2

2010-08-06T15:06:00.000+01:00

DH brought my sewing machine back from it's service today - hurrah! I celebrated with a few minutes sewing and made a simple Part 2 for Kate's SAH Robin. Quite simple as she says that we might like room for embellishing later.....

Cloth Base or Thread nest?

2010-08-04T19:02:00.000+01:00

After a week with no stitching I was more than ready to tackle some textile again.

I read an article by Jude Hill about making cloth bases for small art quilts by weaving fabric strips. Hers looked gorgeous. Easy, I thought. I'll knock one out whilst the girls are Hama Beading next to me and I'll have something to stitch at tonight....... Hmm. As the above photos show, it's clearly more difficult (for me at least!) to get it right than one might have thought!

This was my third attempt at weaving these strips....and I'm still not sure that I'm happy with it! perhaps after some stitching an clever application of other fabrics it will improve. Otherwise I shall put it to one side and try again - it's just too lovely an idea for it not to work!

Here is one that was inspired by the same article (at least I think it's the same, it's certainly in Quilting Arts Magazine). I think that you can see I have a way to go with mine. Wish me luck!

Fun!

2010-07-26T06:55:00.000+01:00

I treated myself to a soldering iron (on the way back from leaving my trusty Bernina for a service). I've had a quick experiment with some fruit netting, skirt netting, ripstop nylon and a plain cotton underneath (all from my stash, of course). Seems funny to be sewing with an old fashioned Featherweight and then trying a modern technique out!

I have a feeling that there will be a lot to learn about how different materials react, so asked my online quilting group - the wonderful BQL - to recommend a book. The consensus was FusingFabric which I've now ordered.

Probably not a technique to do with the girls, though, so I suspect that most experimentation will have to wait until they go back to school.

Re-cycling? Up-cycling?

2010-07-25T10:23:00.000+01:00

I keep meaning to find out the definition of 'up-cycling' - as I suspect that changing a pile of used dye catchers and some scraps of wadding into purses for the staff who have looked after my girls so nicely this year is probably up-cycling rather than re-cycling (if up-cycling means producing a ' value added' end result).

Very satisfying to produce these purses, wrap them and pass them on! Simple hand sewing with variegated thread on most of them, machine sewing when I started to run out of time.....

I also made this cushion for G's teacher as she's been SO lovely and helpful with G this year - she's been in Owl's class, hence the stitchery.

That's the school year over.....

I'm on my way!

2010-07-22T09:32:00.001+01:00

It took me several hours (and several days to recover!) but I managed to get the 'first fix' on my version of Megs Garden. Not a great photo - linen wrinkles and anything that is 'pegged' to the bookcase using book ends probably won't be shown at it's best - but you get the idea.

Unfortunately my lovely Bernina is making very un-lovely clunking noises and needs to go for a service. So no chance to start the FMQ before the school holidays start as I'm pretty sure that my lovely little Featherweight is just too small for the job!