Quilting and finishing things

I got the latest page of the Pinfold Book Challenge finished in good time for the Fabric Sale in Nantwich yesterday. I will show you some photos of the Pinfold stand at this show a little later in this post. This page was for Rosemary's book "By the Silver Stream". The bulrushes are free machine embroidery over a fine soft tulle. This is then hand stitched in place over a background made from various colours of dye catchers. The frog on the left is a line drawing in permanent marker onto a further piece of dyecatcher. This one had turned a lovely patchy green - a really useful colour.

The NWCQ quilt is now almost finished. I just need to add borders. Sorry about the dull photo, I shall try again in the morning to see if I can get a lighter picture. There are FME trees added, stitched over fine tulle this has been handstitched in place with a few sequins colouring one of the trees. A little train button has been added beside the tunnel, just as a bit of fun.

One item which has been finished is my Scania shawl. As you can see the fringe has yet to be trimmed and the whole thing could do with blocking. It should be really cosy to wear. Aggie is wearing it at the moment.

I did mention the annual Fabric sale in Nantwich. The Pinfold members provided such a variety of items to show on the stand that it proved very popular with visitors who really enjoyed looking at what we had made. You can see more photos of the show here. If you are on Facebook, the show has it's own Facebook page here.

Getting back into the flow

The elements for my Scania Shawl arrived on Saturday. The yarn is Cloudborn Fibers Highland Superwash Sock Twist. I wasn't sure what to expect from the yarn since I had never seen it anywhere before ordering this kit. It is rather nice, 80% Superwash "Fine Highland wool" and 20% Polyamide from Peru (via Craftsy in the USA). It has travelled rather a long way.........

The colours are: Black, Charcoal Heather, Grey Heather, Oatmeal Heather and Ecru. The pattern asks for two colours to be knitted together for each section making a marled appearance. Yes, I haven't knitted much. I started late on Saturday night after a very lengthy time trying to work out what the pattern meant. It is written more like a recipe than a traditional knitting pattern. It certainly challenged my "little grey cells". Yes, I do rather enjoy watching Poirot / Miss Marple or Agatha Christie stories on the TV. So relaxing since I know the stories relatively well and they do not interrupt the thinking behind working out a technical section of pattern.

I've rather given up on the cardigan for now, but can pick this up at any stage to carry on. The back and left front are complete and the ribbing for the right front is well under way.

The NWCQ quilt is coming together. The background has now been quilted and the bits and pieces for the applique are being auditioned ready for the next stage.

At Pinfold this week, I picked up these two silk shawls from the sales table. Not sure what I shall do with these.The one below the floral patterned shawl is actually to printed shawls side by side. They have never been cut apart and hemmed. I need to think about whether to use this for nuno felt or to make these up as gifts. The one on top I shall keep for myself and wear. It is rather a pretty shawl and I can always use it for nuno at some future date. For now it will be washed and then put aside to be worn.

I took my husband out for lunch during the week and we explored Blakemere. After looking round the antiques, we visited Peepultree where I picked up these lovely blocks to add to my collection.

A New Year, new plans

Another scrappy piece being stitched

I've been busily free machine stitching some more of the scraps. Not sure what these will become, but they would make useful little projects bags to give as gifts. This time I tried out my ideas as a doodle before starting stitching. I didn't draw anything out this time.

A doodle for the stitching design

The finished piece.

I didn't start off the year stitching this piece. I used a much smaller piece to "warm" up with first.

For some reason this one seems to have collected all the Christmassy fabrics. I see this one becoming the pocket on a bigger bag. I just need to search my stash for some suitable fabric.

 This week we had our Pinfold meeting. At our Christmas meeting we had been given a small collection of eleven fabrics to make a small Japanese Salt Bag. We didn't get instructions, so this one was made from a sketch I had drawn from the original shown at the meeting. I added iron on wadding to the outer fabric pieces so that it could stand up. Why eleven pieces? Well, five are needed to make the four sides and the base with another five for the lining. The last piece is cut up and used for the tabs which hold the string which is pulled to close the bag. The completed bag stands just five inches tall and will make a lovely project bag for something small. Sweet.

The next pages were completed for the Pinfold Book Challenge. The theme this time was "The Rustic Farmyard". The pieces I made were based on the following two photos I took recently.

I love traditional methods of making fencing. This one is hedge laying. The idea is to cut through part of the base trunk of each young plant and wrap these round upright posts. The hedging plants (usually Hawthorn) are not damaged by this. The resulting hedge is really dense and stops sheep or other animals pushing their way through. In the spring the Hawthorn will throw out plenty of leaves and new shoots which will also be woven in later in the year. This sort of hedge gets thicker and stronger each year. Sadly, fewer hedges are grown like this since it is quite time consuming.

Free machine embroidery on my own dyed fabric.

This next piece was handstitched onto a piece of dyed scrim (bought before I had tried dyeing), and a piece of my own tea dyed fabric. It is based on this photograph. I find it fascinating that farmers do not waste old items, but incorporate them into a barbed wire fence. This looks to have been an old gate post with part of the original gate still in place. This field currently holds a flock of sheep.

I'm back knitting again. A cardigan again. This is the yarn I bought from the Knitting and Stitching Show. It feels lovely. I have completed the back and am now working my way up the right front ready to start the neck shaping.

The knitting pattern for my cardigan.

I showed a photo last time of this needlecase being started. It was a secret santa gift for the Pinfold Christmas party. It has a little felt needlecase within the pyramid with ribbons to fasten a pair of scissors and tape measure. 

It is made out of my own felt with some thin bought felt for the lining. In between the layers is some pelmet vilene to make it stiff. I couched the edges with piping cord.

The finished needlecase 

This year, I plan to try to organise my dressmaking projects. With this in mind, I have signed up for the Colette "Design Your Own Wardrobe" course. This will last four weeks and starts next month. I got to hear about the course since I subscribe to the Seamwork magazine published by Colette. This is a digital magazine for sewers and I really enjoy reading it each month.

Other plans? Well, I have started a quilt ready for the NWCQ meeting later this month. It is the one based on maps which I have mentioned before. I have two more quilts in the planning stage and will post photos once these are started. I am also taking part in the Scania Shawl Knitalong organised by "Off Our Needles", a Craftsy video podcast.