Hand stitching

Some stitching has been taking place. Strangely, for me, it has been all by hand. With the move here and everything else that has been going on I have not felt like getting out the sewing machine. My workroom is still being used as a bedroom and there is no table for my sewing machine yet.

Coco has decided she quite likes hand stitching. It means that someone has a lap. She doesn't seem very concerned that she is sharing it with pins and needles.

Just so long as she gets the attention.

This is my latest piece for the Sky's the Limit group. You can see the details about this piece here. I wonder if you can guess which film this is before going to look at the other post.

No, this isn't the only piece of work I have completed recently. Sadly the other piece is part of a Chinese Whispers challenge and I cannot share anything about it until the whole sequence of pieces is complete. This will be in November.

This is the tree outside my workroom. We are not sure what it is - it might be a flowering cherry. The builders put in flowering cherry trees in each of the gardens of the houses around us. It will be interesting to find out when the spring finally arrives.

Sadly, I do have to report that my father-in-law died last weekend. 

Trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot.

It has been a chaotic few days here. My old workroom had to be packed up and moved across to the "new" house. Yes we are in the process of moving. Not going far, just a couple of doors away from the "old" house. We are lucky in being able to take our time over this.

This is the contents of a fitted wardrobe in the new house. This will contain my stash of fabric, threads, and printing essentials. As you can see, I have invested in a number of plastic boxes and have been labelling everything. I know that if I don't label things as they get boxed up and placed on a shelf, I shall completely forget what is in each box. Yes, they are transparent, but even so the contents may not be entirely clear.

In moving house, we are also downsizing. Both daughters now live in their own homes, and lead independent lives. The time has come to move from the large detached house we had, into a smaller bungalow. This has more space for our hobbies and a larger garden.

I won't be able to use my workroom for a while since we are currently using it as a bedroom. We have my father in law living with us as he recuperates after a spell in hospital. It is lucky we have the bungalow to be able to share the space with him as we look after him. He is slowly improving and regaining his strength, but may be with us for some time yet.

Seasons greetings

This was my present from my younger daughter. She has made it herself which makes it all the more special.

These are details of the lettering and the fabrics used.

I went for a walk this morning. Such a lovely sunny, but chilly morning.

Don't these rose hips look wonderful? These are in my garden.

The weather has been so wet lately that I was really surprised to see that these bulbs are braving the elements. It will be nice to welcome the additional colour later.

No sewing being done at present - but I live in hopes of getting enough yarn untangled to get some knitting done. Sadly, my skein decided to get into a real mess. I am slowly disentangling it, but it will take some time to get it into a usable state.

Hoping you have a wonderfully creative and happy 2013.

Bookwraps and textile book pages.

The following photos are the first pages I have received in a book page swap I am involved in.

The first two pages are by Marion. It will come as no surprise that the them of my book is "Music". The mp3 player is particularly clever being made of felt with some plastic and cording. Unfortunately, I have yet to start the front and back covers to the book.

Hilda made these two pages above. I love the way she has highlighted some of the notes with hand stitching.

The last two pages were made by Brenda. She dyed the fabric for the background of the second page. She also specially designed the machine embroidery elements. So clever.

Time and the lack of it - a textile enthusiast's view

Where does the time go? It is over a month since I last posted here with all good intentions of posting regularly.

Mosaic footpaths on Madeira.

A beach on Nevis.

Amazing skies. 

I must admit that we have been away (for three weeks) and I have been trying to catch up with one challenge whose deadline was this week..........

Sadly, I can't show any photos of the challenge. I was in such a hurry I forgot to take a photo of my finished piece. It is a Chinese Whisper challenge. Each person taking part has to make an A5 (8.5inches x 6inch) small quilt based on a photograph. Each small quilt is then passed to the next person in the chain without being shown the original picture on which the small quilt is based. At no point is anyone else in the group to see the quilts or the original photographs. The whole thing is quite intriguing. I now have a small quilt made by Ros hanging from my bookcase on which I have to base my own small quilt. The small quilt I make will then pass to the next person in the list in January, (she currently has my first small quilt) whilst Ros' quilt returns to Ros.

I finished working on my last three Journal Quilts. I just need to get them trimmed and the machined satin stitch edging done. Then I can take photos.

Bears, sewing and mending

A quick post this time. Roberta has posted about my quilt for the Mille Colori, You can read about it here.
Although the original post is in Italian, you can have it translated for you.
It has been rather busy here with some stitching being completed on the last of my journal quilts for this year. I still have the October one to post yet, since I've been busy with some hand stitching and haven't got around to adding the back, label or the satin stitched edging. Hopefully I shall be able to get that finished later.
Oh, the mending? Yes, even my mending pile is getting a look in with a skirt that really just needs the fastening redoing and a pair of trousers which need taking in.
How is the sewing going at your end? Do let me know what you are getting up to.

Where does the time go? (when you're busy sewing)

The first thing to show is this quilt. It is now on it's way to Roberta in Italy.

This is the back.

And this, the label.

Some recently printed fabric. I had such fun going along to the Textiles Without Limits day playing around with thickened dyes. This is one of the textile groups I go to.  It really is wonderful to spend time with like-minded friends. I am so lucky to have a good friend living locally who shares my interests and to be able to go along to a couple of textile groups to indulge my own passion for fabrics. It was a much needed respite from making costumes.

Costumes? Yes, I have been involved in making costumes for the local dramatic society's current production, "Blood Brothers". This is the original stage play by Willie Russell rather than the musical version.

The design above is for the character "Linda" as a young girl. I adapted a Burda magazine pattern to make a 1960s (ish) style child's dress out of a bright green gingham. Fabric from my own stash.

I removed all fitting and really just used the sleeves and the armholes. The following project was rather interesting since I was able to take the pattern from an original 1950s apron. Fabric again came from my stash.

Then, last but not least were four circle skirts. Very simply made with a slit in the back and fastening with velcro to ease a costume change. The fabric was a satiny lining fabric which I had in my stash. The colours used were a mid blue, bright red, mid purple and a maroon with white polka dots. I also made square scarves in the same fabric to be worn round the neck.