Plated Up!

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

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?

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

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

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?

 

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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

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?

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

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!

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

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!