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

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........!

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!

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!

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.