Crazy Daisy

I'm back!

2011-08-22T11:57:00.006+01:00

Hello everyone. Sorry there has been a distinct lack of blog posts over the past month. I have been busy with the sewing for my daughters wedding on Saturday 13th August: my daughter's wedding dress, the flower girl's dress and my own dress and jacket.

I promise photos will follow. I just need permissions to share the wedding dress and flower girl's dresses with you. Then I need a kind person to supply me with photos of myself weearing the suit I made as well as the matching hat which I trimmed........... I was too busy at the time to take any photos...............

Now, having had a week to completely relax and catch up with some reading, I am raring to go. Yes, plans are beginning to gel for some of the projects I have on hand - the next few journal quilts, a challenge quilt, and a book making session I shall be leading. There are one or two other things that I have forgotten about for now, but then I can tell you all about these later.

Staying busy and sewing madly.

2011-07-16T18:07:00.011+01:00

Hello there. Sorry, it is rather a while since I last posted anything here. I've been sewing madly, making clothes and working on two journal quilts at the same time.

Since the last post, I have completed the pair of trousers (Kwik Sew 3363) I had made such a mess of making, and finished a second blouse from the same Hot Patterns design shown in my last post.

The trousers turned out quite well, although the waistband is still a little looser than I would like. However, they are really nice to wear and I shall use the pattern again.

The dress (Simplicity 2174), was made quickly for a friend's 60th birthday party. He had asked for a Scottish theme and everyone had to wear something tartan. Luckily I had this tartan in my stash. It was a lucky find a couple of years ago in a local charity shop.

The party was huge fun with an English Ceilidh - and yes, I danced most of the dances. The food was superb and so were the fireworks. It was such fun to meet some old friends there whom we hadn't seen in years.

The wedding dress has been started. This is for my elder daughter and will be ready for her wedding next month. So far, I have made the toile for the fitted bodice, but got no further since I need to catch up with Liz and check that it fits. There will be no photos of the dress until after the wedding, which I hope you will understand.

Two Journal Quilts are currently under way, but photos of these will have to wait until they have been completed and photos posted on the Contemporary Quilt Yahoo site.

Apart from all this, I have started Gretchen Hirsch's "Sew Retro - perfect bombshell dresses" course with Craftsy.com. This may appear total madness, but Gertie goes through a lot of techniques which will be helpful to me in making the wedding dress.

Sewing and keeping busy.

2011-06-25T21:27:00.004+01:00

Well, I have been keeping very busy doing some sewing. Not my usual kind. I shall need to get back to the quilting and textile "art" before too long since I need to have some creativity in my life too.

This past week or so I've been trying to hone my dressmaking skills, ready for making my daughter's wedding dress. The first piece was this crepe de chine blouse. It is such a lovely design and fits well, and is already one of my favourites. The pattern is V7903, a Today's Fit pattern by Sandra Betzina for Vogue. (Yes, each link is different. I do hope that you find them useful.)

This was the second item - a shirt. Again, such a comfortable design to wear. Sadly, since it is made from quilting weight cotton, it is really a little too warm to wear at this time of year. That said, I did wear it last week during a particularly chilly couple of days. It was nice to feel warm! However, one child did bring me right back to earth with a bump, when she innocently said "my grandma has curtains like that". I really couldn't help laughing, since the fabric is similar to the old toile de jouy design, so yes, could easily be seen on curtains and the like. It reminded me of the time when I bought some gorgeous red floral fabric to make dresses for my daughters when they were small. Now that time I did buy curtain fabric - and those dresses were loved and worn such a lot.......... My girls were only five and three at the time. Happy memories.
Oh yes, the pattern for this shirt is this one: Classix Nouveau Great White Shirt from Hotpatterns. Again, a really well designed pattern which fits beautifully. I was really impressed to find the pattern printed on really sturdy paper. The instructions were good too.

My third project is currently being rescued from complete disaster. A pair of trousers, and no, I didn't make a muslin.......... yes, bad mistake. I made them too big and so have had to take them almost entirely back to the original pieces again. It was all pinned and ready to be reassembled earlier this evening, when I managed to break the zip. Well, to be accurate, I accidentally took the metal zipper piece off the cut end of the zip itself and wasn't able to replace it........... More disassembly later, I am about to replace the broken zip with another one from my stash.......... Thank goodness for having a stash of zips..................... I decided enough mistakes had been made, so stopped for a cup of tea, and a Blog post. Why, you may ask was the end of the zip cut in the first place? It was part of the instructions for making the fly front. It has to be cut when the waistband is added. Why did I get so far before I realised I had made such a stupid mistake? I don't know. I should have stopped many times to check the sizing, but didn't. Lesson now learnt.

The pattern is this one: 3363 from Kwik Sew. Please don't let my misadventures put you off this pattern. It is a really nice design with good instructions. I was just enjoying myself too much to stop and think and try them on.

It's just as well that I can laugh at myself. I've been chuckling at how silly I have been whilst writing this. Still, better to get everything wrong doing a project like this than to get my daughter's wedding dress in a mess................ Back to the sewing machine to retrieve these trousers. I really need to add them to my wardrobe.

Hopefully, I will be able to show a completed pair of trousers which are wearable before too much longer.

The Sea book

2011-06-07T20:50:00.001+01:00

I have now completed my book. Please see the finished book here:

http://thestoryofthetravelingpages.blogspot.com/2011/06/sea-book-is-complete.html

Book construction and bead soup.

2011-06-06T18:01:00.004+01:00

The book is a series of parts at the moment. This is part of the collection of pages I got through the Traveling Pages Textile Book Page swap. You can see more about the whole project here.

I love the texture of the different pages and the way their edges have been finished.

Here is the bead soup. Not sure how I shall use these beads yet.

The last collection of materials are these ribbons. I'm not entirely sure how to use these yet. I do have an idea of weaving these around the uprights I am using as the "spine" of my book. However, it remains to be seen whether this will work or not.

I am adding these uprights to each of the pages. They will form the "spine" of my book.

You can see a little more here. This is the front page. The back page looks exactly the same - well, as nearly as I could make it. If you would like to read more about how the page was constructed, please read more here.

There are just two more pages to go and then I can sort out the spine and get weaving - literally.

Journal Quilts and sewing.

2011-05-29T11:45:00.007+01:00

It has been rather a busy few days here. First, I managed to complete my April Journal Quilt. This shows maps of the village and it's location, close to the River Weaver. The cherry tree and blossom were taken from photos of trees I took very close to my own home in the village. The lamp post is one standing just beside a neighbour's gate. It is almost surrounded by his trees. The light looks wonderful at night, peeping from above the leaves.

The techniques used are - photos printed on Inkjet Printing cotton sheets by Jacquard; applique and free machine embroidery.

I also completed the May page. This one is called "Play Week". Moulton Drama Group celebrated their thirtieth anniversary with the reworking of a play by Robert Meadows. A local playwright, Robert lives, literally, just around the corner. The play is called "The Dawn of the Crows" and relates stories about the village in times past. Amongst the stories is that of the founding of "The Crows", a group which performs at the Crow Fair each year.

I was commissioned to make a second copy of my May Journal Quilt. This was mounted, as you can see. It was presented last night, after the performance had ended, to Robert Meadows as a present from "The Crows".

The techniques used were: painted fabric; applique and free machine embroidery. As always, two buttons were added to the Journal Quilt. These were omitted on Robert's copy.

Oh yes, I must not forget to credit Pat Bennett who took the original photograph I used to create the fabric "Crows". He was very kind in giving his permission for me to use the photograph in this quilt.

I also managed to start my blue blouse this week - I just got to the stage of basting the body together and checking the fit. Amazingly, the blouse fits first time. Such a wonderful surprise.

Dyeing and having fun.

2011-05-21T16:15:00.007+01:00

I had a wonderful time yesterday playing with colours. In Frodsham for a Dyeing Day organised by NWCQ, we were being taught by Sandra Wyman. She talked about Procian dyes, and showed us all; how to use them. There were fourteen of us, quite a large group, but Sandra's instruction sheets were really informative. She was also able to talk us through each activity. Just as well, since I had never used this type of dye before.

Sandra provided the dyes, soda solution and a pack of fabric samples and threads. We could also purchase a pack of cotton fabric ready for dyeing.

I came home with a large collection of mysterious plastic bags.

Too tired to do anything last night, I set to work this morning washing out all the fabric and threads I had dyed. It was so exciting to see how each piece had turned out.

This first group was the result of my colour gradations experiment. I used a buttercup yellow dye and was thrilled to find these lovely pieces had been the result.

This next series is the result of the colour gradations, where I mixed a blue-black dye with the buttercup yellow. Aren't the colours amazing? I love those greens. Thank you so much Sandra for suggesting using the blue-black. I had asked her advice since I wasn't sure which blue I should use.

This amazing piece is my tray-dyed piece. We had to crumple the fabric in a tray and then pour the dye over the fabric. So exciting to find this piece of fabric coming out of it's plastic bag.

These bright fat quarters are the parfait dyeing result. Some dye and its soda solution went into a small tub followed by a crumpled up piece of fabric. After a little wait, the same amount of dye and soda solution went into the tub followed by some more crumpled fabric. This was repeated another couple of times until there were four pieces of fabric

This is the parfait just before I washed it. What amazed me, was that I had started with a mid yellow colour, then added a pale yellow, following this with red. The red was watered down. I used less than half the dye I used for the other colours making up the quantity required with water. The reason being that Sandra had mentioned that red was a very strong dye, and I hadn't wanted it to take over too much. It was really exciting to find that the red had dropped to the bottom of the tub like this, and that the yellow had risen.

The threads look rather a mess on my washing line. I had dyed them different shades of yellow. The green appeared when some blue dye accidentally leached out into my large yellow tray without my spotting it. I love the accidental tint of bright green which has appeared.

My threads now look like this:

They have all been wound onto spare cotton reels. Did I mention I seldom throw anything away?

The last set of fabrics were these - the samples of fabric. These included cotton gauze, viscose satin, silk taffeta and silk/viscose velvet.

My favourite was definitely the velvet. It turned out so beautifully........

Here they all are on my line this morning.

I think what I also found really exciting was the unexpected delights of accidental dyeing.

The sheets on top of my sketchbook are the kitchen paper sheets I used to mop up. I just love those colours.

Since the paper had looked so lovely, I decided to use a dye catcher sheet to mop up the tiny scraps of dye left inside the yellow tray I carried everything home in.

The result didn't disappoint.

Works in progress and those completed.

2011-05-09T14:19:00.005+01:00

Firstly, those completed objects. I finally got all the hand-stitching completed on my Serger Quilt. This is the bright side.

Now, the reverse side - you can see the hand-stitched binding. Just to avoid misundertanding, the binding was attached by machine, and then hand-stitched to the reverse side to finish off. You can also see the FME on the border too.

My husband's reaction when I passed it to him after finishing it on Friday evening?
"Who is it for?"
I couldn't answer since I really hadn't made it for anyone. It now resides in the livingroom for snuggling into.
Oh, after asking the question, he snuggled up into it and promptly fell asleep............ The quilt is appreciated, even if the reasons for making it aren't fully understood.

I also finished a quick project. These bench cushions were made last week for our new garden bench. The covers are made from some cream vinyl we have had in the loft for over twenty years. Still in excellent condition, the vinyl had been bought to make some bunk mattresses for a boat we owned years ago. We had been lucky enough to find a roll of the vinyl being sold cheaply and made four bunk mattresses with it. After making these two bench cushions we still have plenty left...................

Oh yes, I shall be finishing a couple of quilted scatter cushions to add to the bench. The cream seems a bit startling a colour to my eyes, so some colourful cushions should help it all blend in.

One project just about to be stared is this blouse. I have some delightful pale blue viscose covered with black polka dots.

Why start dressmaking again? Well, I have my daughter's wedding dress to make later this summer. It seemed only sensible to get some practice in first.............

2011-04-27T17:10:00.009+01:00

So sorry its been such a long time since I last visited this Blog. It has been rather busy here. The serger quilt is nearing completion. I am currently doing some free machine embroidery on all the sashing to enable it to lie satisfactorily.

Progress is steady.

I'm knitting and planning some sewing too. A blouse and a shirt, with a skirt and a pair of trousers are amongst the projects I have in mind. I really could do with getting rid of some rather shabby pieces in my wardrobe..........

Another project is the monthly journal quilt for the Contemporary Quilt group of the Quilter's Guild.

I call this series "A year in the life of a village - Moulton 2011." It sounds rather presumptuous, but the idea is just to show elements of the village where I live as the seasons change.

Each quilt is just ten inches square. The first one shows the sign at the side of the road, as drivers approach the village. The house stands very close to the sign. The crows are the emblem of Moulton and will be shown in each journal quilt. It is called "Welcome to the village - February."

The second quilt, entitled "Spring is coming - March." It shows the metal spire of the local church, with nests in the local trees. The snowdrops and daffodils are some of my favourite signs of Spring.

Part of the challenge of these quilts is that the first four quilts should show a circle. The next four should have text in some form, with the final four quilts having buttons somewhere on the surface. I decided that I would use all these elements is all the quilts I make in this series.

Both of these quilts have a painted background with appliqued items, photographs printed onto fabric ( I used Jacquard's Cotton sheets made for inkjet printing), and free machine embroidery.

Work in progress

2011-03-13T09:59:00.013Z

Work has finally started on a quilt I planned to do in January! This is being made using my overlocker (serger), rather than piecing it using my sewing machine as usual.

The idea for this came about as a result of a serge-a-long organised by the Serger group on My Sewing Circle.

All of the blocks are being made from fabric out of my over-sized stash. I am not using wadding simply because the backing is fleece, again from stash. Some blocks will have the yellow as a backing, the rest will have a chocolate brown. This last piece of fleece had been intended for mum's quilt, but proved to be too dark. It is hiding away in the top photograph.

Other projects under way at present are the February Journal Quilt for the Contemporary Quilt group, the next section of the Stitching Sisters Sampler for Norma, and a bag I need to get around to rebuilding. Yes, I am woefully behindhand with some projects. I get sidetracked easily...................

I completed the first of the bags some time ago, but forgot to post about it here. This is what it now looks like:

As is usual for me, all four sides are different:

One of the ladies in my local library really loved it when she saw it.

I had had to completely take the bag to pieces since the only good fabric left was that used to make the handles and also the lining I had made to prolong the life of my bag. The sides now have wadding as a backing to stiffen them a little so that the bag can stand up.

I'm not sure exactly what my next bag will look like. It is a pile of fabric pieces and a box of buttons, ribbon and iron-on motifs at present.

Making a bag from made fabric.

2011-03-07T09:03:00.005Z

This is the bag I made from the fabric shown in the previous two posts. It is a very simple cylindrical bag, twelve inches tall with an internal zipped pocket, two large external pockets and padded handles. The tops of the bag and pocket are bound - this was sewn into place by machine and then handstitched into place to leave no stitchline.

The two pieces of fabric I used were: 26 inches long and 12 and a half inches tall (for the main bag), and 26 inches by 8 and a half inches for the outer pockets. I put a piece of wadding inside the main bag to give it some "body". It now stands well.

The base was constructed very simply after the main pieces had been sewn together to form a cylinder. The basic bag structure then became the outline for the base. I quilted this to give it some shape. The chalk marks show the internal dimensions of the bag itself.

This was then sewn to the main bag, being careful to not stitch in the lining - this was then handsewn into place.

The bag has now gone to it's new owner. It was constructed as part of a Swap organised by the United Kingdom group on My Sewing Circle. The theme for the swap was "Stash busting/repurpose". Mine used fabric scraps and pieces from my stash.

At present I am considering writing up this pattern as a free tutorial. Please let me know if you would like to have a copy.

Making fabric - completion

2011-02-21T15:11:00.006Z

This is the next stage of working on the fabric pieces I constructed last time. I am oversewing, doodling with my machine. This is FME - free machine embroidery. It is good fun. If you have never tried it for yourself - try this:

Start doodling on a scrap of paper. Here, I have started in the centre and swung round in a spiral.

Then I have added loops like petals.

The loops have then lead on to heart-shaped leaves which link to each other.

Thats all it is. Just drop the feed-dogs on your sewing machine, get out the darning foot and try it for yourself. Don't just try copying my patterns. Why not try using the patterns left on the scribble pad beside the telephone. (If you doodle like I do there should be plenty of inspriration there.)

The photo above shows the completed piece, well part of it. I use a size 14 (90) Universal needle with a slightly looser tension than usual. The thread being used here is YLI machine quilting thread in the colourway V70 Red Hat Club, by Luana Rubin. The bobbin thread is Coats Duet 1033, a cream colour. Yes, I should be using cotton, but didn't have any in the right sort of colour.

My sewing machine allows me to set the sewing speed. I usually set this to medium, not too fast but then not too slow either.

The picture above shows the underside of the finished fabric. I shall be lining this before using it, but it does show the stitching quite nicely.

All you need to bear in mind with FME is that the patterns need to link into each other in a continuous line. This isn't hard, and it avoids having to weave in any ends................... and there is no stopping and starting either. If you should find yourself stuck in a corner and not easily able to get out of it just stop, cut the thread and start again somewhere else. I often need to do this. It isn't obvious once you have completed the piece.

Do let me know how you get on.

Making fabric using scraps - a short tutorial.

2011-02-12T12:59:00.010Z

First collect all the scraps.

Sort them into colour groups - blues and greys, purples and lilacs, reds and pinks, browns with orange, yellow and cream, then the greens. Well, those are the colour groups I sort them into. I also have a bag for multicolour fabrics.

This is the base fabric I shall be using. This time I am using HeatnBond, though quite often I use Bondaweb.
I cut the base fabric to the size I need before ironing on the HeatnBond. Then play around with placing the fabric scraps. This time I am using greens and reds with some purple.

This way I can use up those tiny pieces left over from applique as well as offcuts from various projects. What is so useful is that the oddly shaped pieces from the applique usually still have the Bondaweb adhered to the back. So useful to break up too-large areas of solid colour.

A warning, though. Do make sure the plastic bags get put well out of the way of the iron. This is what I had to get off my poor iron.......... scraps of plastic self-seal bag. Ooops!
You will be pleased to hear that my iron is now perfectly clean and no fabric was damaged in the incident.

A quick post script to the post - I found the HeatnBond I used far too thick for the stitching I intended to do. In the end, I restarted the whole piece using Bondaweb. This produces a much thinner fabric which is easy to stitch through.

Calligraphy on fabric

2011-01-29T11:01:00.005Z

After the fabric had dried, I decided to write over the top of the printing. Here you can see that I have used masking tape to stick the fabric down onto my cutting board. The words used are all linked to the theme for this piece, which is "Books".

I am using a fabric marker from "Fabrico" an the colour is #118, ultramarine. As a dual marker, it makes this style of pen very versatile. For this piece of calligraphy, I am using the fine line side. The second side gives an effect almost like using a paintbrush.

As you can see, adding words makes a lot of difference to the finished texture. It is a very easy effect to achieve. All it needs is a steady hand, and a list of words to copy from.

Do give it a go. It is fun.

Simple fabric printing.

2011-01-25T15:38:00.007Z

My colour palette for today.

My water pot, an old mug. Did you spot the mistakes? I forgot to wash it out first - it usually holds my pens. Oops! I also forgot to clear a space around my work. Luckily nothing got damaged this time... But I did forget to remove my best cutting mat. It won't be damaged, but might have turned an interesting colour.

My first colour. I am using a scrap of old tea towel to print with. The tray originally came as part of one of those packaged meals. I have added quite a lot of water to this paint since I want it to really soak into the fabric.

As you can see, not too much of the fabric paint is needed.

My fabric is a loosely woven cotton. I would describe this as "cheesecloth". The fabric needs to be stuck into position using masking tape. The table needs to be covered to avoid staining.

This is some more Setacolor being added, just a small dollop. One of those small tubs (45ml) goes a long way.

I have deliberately not mixed thoroughly, but have added more water and will print with the mixture looking like this.

The reason being that I can get some wonderfully unexpected effects like this one above. The two greens have not mixed together and I get pure colour.

I am now going to add in the red.

I love the colours in the mixing basin.

This is the completed cloth, still wet.

Yes, I used every scrap of the Setacolor mixture.

This is the washed cloth, it is rather interestingly stained. I shall use it again.

Talking of stains, I should own up and mention that the nails of my right hand are currently slightly yellow. One thing I keep forgetting to use are gloves................

The fabric I have printed today - it is still damp as I write - is intended for a new round robin I am taking part in. I intend to overwrite the piece with words linked to Books. Whether this piece of fabric will be good enough for this purpose is another matter. I shall have to wait until it dries.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Please let me know if you have found this post of interest.

Textile fun - printing, knitting and sewing.

2011-01-15T21:34:00.012Z

I've been printing again. The grey painted fabric was left over from the last session. This time I had made my own little stamps out of cardboard and the expanded polystyrene packaging from a pizza. I went to a meeting of the NWCQ (North West Contemporary Quilt) group yesterday and we were all making printing blocks. Good fun!

This next little stamp has been made out of miracle sponge. I was lucky enough to have been given a small piece to play with since I hadn't seen it before. It starts out looking rather like cardboard, but when it is soaked with water, it becomes a sponge. The fact it is so compressed makes it easy to cut into shape. I used scissors.

I just loved the way the sponge didn't react the same way each time I printed with it. Some images didn't print as clearly as others. Possibly my faulty technique, but I love the result.

I need to add some more printing to this piece when it has dried.

The last piece was just playing around using up the last of the Setacolor Opaque dye I had been using.

I printed using the foam brushes I had been using to spread the dye out on my printing tray. (It used to be the base from something edible I bought years ago.)

A few days ago, I finally got around to finishing off my bag. As you can see from the link, it had been in the UFO pile for almost three years! It just needed sides, handles and pockets. I need to clear more of my UFOs this year.

Continuing with the theme of completing UFOs, I finished knitting Mariah.

I slightly modified the way the neck joins on to the hood, making the hood come close in round my neck.

I also continued the cabling all round the edge of the hood. Next, I am planning to line the jacket with this fabric.

To keep the jacket cosy even with the chill winds we get round here, I shall be quilting the fabric before cutting out the pieces. Luckily I thought to make a pattern for the lining before sewing the jacket together. I bought myself a nice sturdy open-ended zip to complete the jacket.

I also managed to complete the December page for the Traveling Pages project - "The Goddess Within." This one is winging it's way off to Australia. Happily, it is going to someone not directly affected by the dreadful floods afflicting the east coast at present.

I started another pair of socks. These might be for my husband, but I have a horrible feeling they might be a little tight since the cables draw the legs in quite close - more to do with my tension when knitting cables, rather than the design. The pattern came with the sock knitting booklet attached to the September 2010 issue of Knitting Magazine. It is a pattern by Martin Storey.

I had some fun putting this together too. This is based on the delightful weighted pincushion design by Elizabeth of "Oh Fransson". I made the original design some time ago, but gave it to my elder daughter, since she rather liked it. This time I have made the same bag, but made the pocketed area rather bigger. It is joined to a double layer of white heavyweight (pelmet weight) vilene sewn to the top. This is then held in position by standing the sewing machine on top of the vilene. It seems to work quite well. As you can see I have used some of my collection of selvedges to make the bag. I added a couple of silly cat buttons too, just for fun. Elizabeth's excellent instructions make this a very quick item to sew.

Last, but not least. Here are the photos I promised of mum's finished quilt. It is called "Square Dance". There are two reasons for this. Firstly, my mum teaches English Country Dance. Hence the footprints.

Secondly, I was messing around with a square block made up of squares.

This is the back. This is fleece, and yes there are two colours. I didn't have a big enough piece when I had finished messing around with the quilt top. However I did have some large remnants of cream coloured fleece which I was able to piece to the darker light brown backing.

Mum is delighted with her quilt and uses it every day to cover her favourite chair.

A new year and new projects.

2011-01-01T16:26:00.013Z

Now where can I start? It is such a very long time since I added anything to this blog. Apologies to all. It has been busy here.

First, a very happy New Year to you. I hope the weather is kind to you and everyone you know. A belated Happy Christmas too.

I have been working at completing my mother's quilt, a jumper for Simon, two hats, eight Christmas decorations and four present bags since I last wrote here. Oh yes, there was also the November page, some work on a December page and preparations for the January page of the Traveling Pages project. There was also a pair of dungarees for a neighbours daughter too. I also started a second jumper which now only needs to be sewn together and the v-neck ribbing to be knitted. This last jumper uses yarn left over form the first jumper I knitted for Simon and will be either for my husband, or for myself.

January has started with painted and printed fabric.

The first piece is the result of painting fabric and then overprinting using old cotton reels and various bits and pieces.

This second sheet is my cleaning rag. I think it look even more interesting than the printed piece.

This piece was an experiment using pastel dye sticks. I've never tried using these before. This piece just needs to be ironed to be fixed. It was fun to doodle with these brightly coloured sticks.

Some of this fabric is destined for the January page (Fairy Tales), and the rest just because I felt like having some fun. It is so dull and wet outside. Our beautiful snow has disappeared and been replaced by fog and driving rain. The walk we usually enjoy on New Years Day abandoned because of the weather. Never mind, there is always tomorrow.

Some explanation is probably needed. The decorations were an experiment which came about to solve my quandry over what to make for a challenge laid down by the United Kingdom group on My Sewing Circle. We each had to make something for another member of the group for Christmas. A previous challenge had been to make an apron. I found myself cutting out paper shapes at lunchtime one day. These turned into the decorations. They were good fun to make. Then the latest Selvedge magazine had a delightful pattern inside for a reversible present bag. I made a mistake in cutting out the first one and turned it into a small bag with a handle instead of a small bag with a tie. I made four since they seemed so easy and quick to make whilst being incredibly useful for presents.

This is the reverse of the bag.

One little bag was sent off containing four of the decorations I made. The other decorations became presents, as did the remaining bags. One bag held the completed hats which were a present to Simon and Liz, a secret since the jumper was an expected item. A further little bag held gifts for my younger daughter. The last was given as a gift to my friend Hilary.

The first hat is Hot Cuppa Joe by Jennifer Lacey. The pattern is available on Ravelry here.

The second hat has the wicked (naughty) title of "Ribbed for his pleasure." This pattern, by Tinksdarkerside, is also available on Ravelry here.

I like to think the fabric bags may be used in some way, or given as the container of a gift to further friends. Each little bag is large enough to be a small prject bag - perhaps to hold knitting or an embroidered piece.

The dungarees were an unexpected project. My neighbour became very worried since she was not able to find a suitable costume for her daughter who was taking part in the school play. Time was short. I heard about it and offered to help. A bit of research and a suitable design was decided upon. Eleanor, the eleven year old daughter, and her mother came round to help. Eleanor was delighted to be able to help sew the muslin for her dungarees. She was shown how to use my serger and had a wonderful time sewing a couple of long seams for me. With the muslin completed and altered to fit, they left me to get on with things. Luckily, I had exactly the right fabric in my stash. The following evening I was able to go round and present the completed dungarees to Eleanor and her mum.

I shall have to wait until the Traveling Pages mentioned have been received by their owners. The December and January ones have still to be completed, but hopefully they will be completed within the next few days. All the previous pages I have made for this project can be seen here.

Mum's quilt was finally completed on Thursday 30th December. She was delighted with it. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of her with it before she left to go home. (She had stayed here for the New Year celebrations, coming with Simon and Liz.) I shall take photos later in the week when I go to see mum again.

Thanks for reading this far. I wish you a very happy, enjoyable and creative 2011.

Textile pages and sewing.

2010-11-22T18:25:00.005Z

I was delighted to hear that latest page for The Traveling Pages group had finally arrived. Above you can see the Lion and the Mouse under way. I am stitching through water soluble fabric here. Such useful stuff. It tears off easily as well as dissolving well. So handy when I wasn't sure how fragile the layers were going to be.
For the differing layers, I used netting, loose woven white cotton and a densely woven fabric I found in my stash. All embellished with FME. (Free Machine Embroidery.) The figures were copied from photographs found on the internet. Sadly, I didn't find one with a lion next to a mouse........ I wonder why...

This is the finished page. The background is painted using colours from a wonderful photograph I found on the internet showing an african sunset. It also had the silhouette of an acacia tree which I used for the back of the page. For this I used sheer brown voile attached using FME.

I sent it off with a simple retelling of this delightful story. The original fable was written by Aesop and is one of my favourites.

As you can see, Gayle's theme was "All creatures great and small".

Oh, I've been busy with mum's quilt. This was the pieces all placed on top of the fleece I shall be using for the backing. Since this time I have been busily piecing the backing for the smaller pieces. I have been having a lot of fun with curved piecing. I'd never tried doing that before. Sorry about the lack of photos - there just has not been enough decent daylight for a good enough photograph.

Knitting in Whitby.

2010-11-17T10:13:00.013Z

The view from the cottage windows. We could see right across the harbour. A lovely spot.

Can you see the white painted building at the foot of a larger two story house? It has a strange black symbol painted to the right of the front windows. That is Kipper Cottage. It is the bottom floor of a larger building, but is also a completely separate dwelling. The white shape to the left is also part of the cottage - the front bedroom window. Approached down a slope seen to the right of the painted shape, it is a comfy and cosy place to stay. Beautifully set out, it was a delight to be able to stay there for the weekend. Close to everything, we had a wonderful time exploring.

I just loved this delightful building tucked away in one of the streets leading off from the harbour.

There was even a small replica of the Endeavour, one of the ships taken by Captain Cook on his travels. I couldn't resist the reflection of the rigging.

Here you can see the older part of Whitby with the Abbey perched on top of the promontory. The ruins can be seen behind the church. There is a very steep set of steps up to the Abbey and the surrounding buildings. A fascinating place to visit.

All in all, a rather special weekend.

Just before we left we stumbled upon the Charity Market being held in Northwich. I found these lovely books dating from around 1946.

This is the contents list from the Home Needlecraft book. It has really good illustrations showing how to convert older clothing into new......... Fascinating how ideas come round again.

The knitting? Well, I got a lot of knitting done on Simon's jumper. I am making him a second jumper this Christmas. This one is in charcoal. So nice to sit cosily perched on a comfy settee (sofa) after a day spent exploring.

Ongoing projects.

2010-11-08T18:41:00.013Z

This is the start of a quilt for my mum. The first blocks have all been placed together on top of the fleece I shall be using as the backing. As I mentioned last time, I shall be adding some extra pieces to heighten the colour a little. It all seems a little flat to my taste at present.

I am about to cast on another knitting project. This time it is a second v-necked jumper for Simon. I made him one for last Christmas. This time, the sweater will be charcoal in colour. The yarn will be this lovely shade which the lovely owner of Crafty Stitches (my local yarn shop) got in for me. I'm using the instructions from this rather battered book. It has been much used over the years, having been printed in 1977 - the year I got married. (The 20th edition of this particular publication.)

I am also working on a pair of gloves with fingers. The pattern is "Knotty", by Julia Mueller. I've managed to finish the right glove, and have reached the halfway stage of the cable pattern on the back of the left glove. I'd never knitted gloves before this pair. Luckily, it is an easy pattern to follow. I love the long cuffs.

I did manage to finish one project in the past few days. It was this pair of socks. They were made following the Through the Loops Mystery Sock 2010 clues. Designed by Kirsten Kapur they were a really interesting project to knit. I'm looking forward to the next Mystery Sock.

I received one page from the Traveling Pages this week, and heard that another of my pages had arrived at long last.

The first to arrive was this one, my Shabby Chic page for Debi. You can learn more about this page here.

The next page to arrive was Juliette's November page for me. She has dyed some really interesting fabrics. More details are here. Juliette's Blog can be found here.

One more interesting detail for you. I went to a concert in a rather fascinating building and I only wish I could have taken some photos. However, it was far too dark. I was with the Condate, the choir I sing with in a concert with the Barnton Silver Band. The building we were in is "The Monastery". Do visit the website to see a little of this extraordinary place.

Sewing Adventures

2010-10-31T12:46:00.006Z

Well, I have finally started mum's quilt. This is the first block. It shows the mix of squares. As a working title, I have called this "Square Dance". After a lot of playing around with blocks, I came up with this:

As you can probably see, I put a series of blocks into the mix in a slightly different colourway. Yes its a much plainer quilt than I had planned. The reason being that mum will be using this quilt to cover her favourite leather chair, a recliner. It seemed pointless to make a more complex quilt which she might not want to use for sitting on.........

The backing will be a light brown fleece fabric which has been in my stash for some time waiting for me to complete mum's quilt.

I plan to make a wall hanging using all the ideas I had put together for Terpsichorean - my first plans for this quilt.

Knitting, sewing, and some more pages.

2010-10-25T17:33:00.008+01:00

Things have been rather busy here, hence the lack of posts recently. This knitting yarn was one I fell for when I went to the Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate in September. So I bought it. It is beautifully cosy and I am knitting a pair of long cuffed gloves with it. My first pair of gloves.

The pattern is a lovely one by Julia Mueller (Laris) which you can find on Ravelry. It is called "Knotty". I have nearly finished the right glove, but need to complete the thumb.

Apart from starting these gloves, I have been taking part in Mystery Socks 2010. This is run every year by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops. It is good fun too. I started the gloves whilst waiting for clue number 4. Sorry, I can't show you the work in progress photos, but this is the yarn I am using.

I just love the colour. Its a gorgeous rich purple called "Grape".

Well, I went off to Quilt group on the 7th October, fully intending to get on with adding to this quilt top. I'd been busily making additional squares like the one in the centre, planning to add these to the corners with other simpler sections between. Well, disaster struck. I had completely forgotten to take the fabric I needed to make more of the squares. I had enough for some, but not enough for everything I wanted to do. (The completed block is six inches across, so isn't very big.)
So, rooting through the fabric I had brought with me, I found some I liked and started making some log cabin blocks.

This is one of the blocks I finished. Yes, that is a ruler measuring in inches - not, I hasten to add in centimetres.

These are the ones I have completed to date. It has been fun, but I really ought to be getting on with a quilt for my mum.

I have finally decided how to go about it. I shall make her a quilt made from very simple squares in differing sizes. This is to be quilted onto fleece. Then I shall make her a wall quilt using the ideas I have been collecting for some time. I had wanted to make her a really interesting quilt, but since this is to be used to cover a chair, it wouldn't really be practical. Not with the designs I had had in mind............

While mulling over how to make mum's quilt, I have been busy making two more Traveling Pages. I sent one off today, but can only show you a teaser...........

The theme is "All creatures great and small". This was my page for October. The photograph shows some FME onto some fabric which, in turn is hidden under some water-soluble fabric. This is why you can see a muddle of stitching and pen lines waiting to be stitched.

The photo above is also a bit of a teaser. I posted this a couple of weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived yet. The theme here was "Shabby Chic Vintage". This page was late and should have been sent in September.

Posted a week earlier, this page has arrived. You can see more about it here. This page was extremely late and should have been sent in August!

The theme was "Doors", so I started off by painting some fabric and having a lot of fun with dictionaries and a thesaurus to find different words meaning the same as "door". I chose my favourites and wrote them all over the painted fabric using a fabric dye pen.

This was lots of fun.

I then made a door in the front of the page and added this little lock I found in a bead shop.

This is the reverse of that little door.

Recent "work" - sewn items.

2010-09-29T16:32:00.015+01:00

This is a the lovely apron I received as part of the swap I mentioned in my last post. Thanks Cinnamon23! I was taking part in a swap organised by one of the groups on My Sewing Circle.

This is the pattern I used. I slightly amended the design, adding fabric covered buttons as a detail on the pockets. Interfacing was also added to the waistband to make it just a little stiffer. I did that only because the fabric I was using - some poly-cotton I had dyed some years ago - needed a little stiffening to balance the cotton fabric used for the rest of the apron.

Sent along with the apron was one of these little needle cushions.

The needle cushions have a little metal tag on the bottom to hold them on top of a thread spool. The pattern found in the book below, has a paper clip as the tag. However, the paperclips I have here at home were far too wide to be used. The metal tags I did use had been found as part of the packaging of a shirt my husband had bought........... Did I tell you that I don't find it easy to throw anything away? Well, nothing I think I can reuse in some way........................

You can see the buttons I covered in the same photo.

This is the book I used. It is written in Japanese, but the instructions are so beautifully clear and shown as illustrations it was easy to work out what to do. There are some beautiful gift items in this book. The ISBN is: 4-89396-943-9

I made two blouses using this pattern. It has been in my pattern collection for some time.........

The first blouse is a viscose mix with a soft cotton handle.

The second, a jacquard woven silk which has been languishing in my fabric stash since around 1990!

Then I finally got my skirt finished. It is fully lined. The lining was a lucky find a couple of years ago. I can't usually get such a nice lining fabric and hadn't seen such lovely viscose lining fabric in rather too many years......

This photo shows the lining pinned to the inside of the zip.

Then, I managed to get this jacket completed. I added a lining using the last of the fabric I used to line the skirt.

Now, I have nearly finished the Traveling Pages for August. I am rather behindhand as you can see. Sadly I cannot show you the work done on that page until it has been received by Liz. What I can tell you is that so far it has involved some machine stitching, calligraphy and fabric paint. There is some beading still to be done.............

An Autumn walk with food for free.

2010-09-25T15:12:00.009+01:00

I've been really busy since the last post here - making an apron for a swap on My Sewing Circle. (I am there as "Mandy", so do come and visit.) I was also working on completing two blouses, starting a jacket which is almost finished, and working on one of my UFOs. I am also behind hand with my Travelling Pages. The August and September pages are not ready yet, and I really should get some work started for the October page.
Then, Norma's band robin arrived in the post.

Isn't it lovely? You will find out more about the Stitching Sisters and the work completed to date on this piece here. It was scary to realise that this project started in 2007! I have a two inch deep piece of stitching to complete and then it can be sent out to the next person in the sequence.
So, I went out for a walk this morning. The sun was bright and the wind was chilly, so I wrapped up warm. Here are some of the things I saw:

I love the patterns made by the tractors as they plough the fields ready for the next crop.

There has been a lot of rain lately, so there are still puddles at the edges of fields.

This lovely stone was at the side of Kings Lock. There has been a lot of renovation work here over the past few months rebuilding one of the locks after a landslip. I wonder if this beautifully carved piece was found during the work.

This fungus was growing by the side of the path.

The sunlight was very strong coming through the trees, making the most beautiful shadows.

The leaves were just starting to turn colour.

Along the pathway there were some puddles. I loved the reflections in this one.

These lovely flowers are sometimes called Policeman's Helmet. Anyone liveing outside of the UK will have to forgive me here, because our police have helmets which have the bulbous shape on the top. These flowers are so pretty and like damp conditions.

I came home with a bag full of beautiful leaves which I plan to use as inspiration for my work on Norma's band.

The colours were wonderful and I couldn't believe my luck in finding a rather fragile holly leaf skeleton.

The colours of the conkers and leaves are so beautiful at this time of year in England. We are just moving into Autumn now with the chilly mornings.

I couldn't resist collecting some blackberries too. They grow wild in the hedgerows here and it is easy to pick plenty away from any danger of contamination from crop spraying or pollution from cars.

I shall still wash these before using them. These will be used for an apple and blackberry crumble.

You will need:

2oz sugar

2oz margarine or butter

4-6oz flour (I use plain flour which doesn't have any raising agents added to it. Wholemeal is even better if you have it).

Rub these ingredients together to get a breadcrumb consistency. Add some dried coriander to the mix, if liked. (About half a teaspoon). Leave to one side. This is the crumble mixture.

Cut up baking apples and place in a deep baking dish, add any blackberries and a small amount of water (about 2 fluid ounces). Add a small amount of sugar if wished, before pouring the crumble mixture over the top. I tend not to add any sugar at all to the fruit, but you may prefer a sweeter dessert.

Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes. 190 degrees C. (Gas Mark 5, 375 degrees F), the temperatures could be a little cooler for fan ovens. The top should be gently browned and the fruit will be starting to bubble up into the crumble mixture. Serve hot with custard or cream.

(Note, I tend to make this without measuring anything, but with the approximate amounts listed above. The bigger the container and the more fruit I have, the more crumble mixture I make. Please experiment with the spices too. I love the aroma of coriander, but nutmeg is a rather special alternative, and so is cinnamon.)

Hope you like it.

My cat likes to shout in bathrooms.

2010-09-03T10:55:00.013+01:00

A phrase I couldn't resist, but true. Felix loves to go into the bathroom and, when the fancy takes him, he will "talk" to himself. He enjoys the sound of his own voice. I don't enjoy it quite so much when he announces he is ready to come to bed at some unearthly hour in the morning, shouting from the foot of the stairs..........

Well, enough of cats, infuriating and loveable as they are. This last week has seen a lot of sewing. I completed a remake on a shopping bag which had seen much better days.

This picture shows my poor bag before I started, with the jute going into rather a lot of holes. In fact, the bag was being held together by the lining which I had completed three years ago.

This is what it looks like now.

The handles and lining have been reused, as have some pieces of the original fabric.

The following photos show all four sides of the bag as I was getting ready to assemble it. All ribbon and fabric came from my stash. I bought the buttons and iron-on embroideries to make the whole thing more fun.

I remade a previous bag in a similar some time ago. You can see it here and also here. I now have one more bag to renew in the same way. However, it will not look the same as the previous completed bags....

Well, I also got started with a skirt which I had cut out ready to sew some months ago.

It is now sewn together and awaiting a zip. I have decided to add a full lining since the fabric is a wool mix and will not hang well unless lined. The original pattern does not have a lining and has edges finished off with an overlocking stitch (serged stitch). Not a look I like, but the design is such a good shape. I shall give it a more "finished" finish, if you see what I mean. The lining is now cut out and ready to sew. I just need to get some gardening done before the weather breaks again.

Oh, we have been making a new raised flower bed out of some paving flagstones we were given some months ago. This will hold our fruit and vegetable garden once it is completed. The strawberry plants are ready to go in and I have asked if we can get a rhubarb crown.... I do like rhubarb, especially cooked with a little ginger.

And I have been feverishly knitting a pair of Vinnland socks , started some weeks ago and now destined to be my husband's. He is rather interested in the idea of handknitted socks, and hasn't had anything from me in years - not very fair, but then he only wears the jumpers I have knitted for him for "best". In the 33 years we have been married, he has only managed to wear out three jumpers. It must be said I was asked to make a replacement for his favourite of these. A simple polo-necked jumper in a mid blue double knit mohair with wool, having a triple cable down the front. The original had been made in a beautiful Pinguoin mohair mix a couple of years before we married.

Flying and a cake-eating cat.

2010-08-22T18:46:00.010+01:00

Yes, you heard me right, this week has really been rather crazy.

I had better start with the cake first. This was a bit of a disaster, edible and quite nice, but not good. I tried a recipe from a new book I had been given some months ago. Queen cakes - an old fashioned style of cake I had made many times from a recipe in my old recipe book. (I think the Americans might call these cup cakes, they are basically a small sponge cake made with sultanas, rather than the type covered with sweet icing.) The resulting cakes were good to eat, but rather greasy for my taste. Next time I shall halve the amount of fat used. They really were far too oily.

Well, I left these on my wire rack to cool. There is not usually any danger to cakes left like this. However, when my husband returned he found the unmistakeable signs that the cakes had been lovingly licked by a cat. Felix!

The cakes that had been definitely touched were thrown out for the birds. Well, I should say here that the birds never got to touch these. Felix found them on the lawn and we were treated to the sight of our idiotic cat licking and nibbling the bits. Madness. Needless to say I threw out the remaining cakes since we could not be certain which had been touched and which hadn't............

This morning, by comparison was surreal.

We were out of the house by 5.15 am. Yes, you did read that correctly. We had been given a present months ago - a ride for both my husband and myself in a hot air balloon.

Take off was gentle. We slipped away and up into the air. The burners are switched on every so often to keep a certain height above the ground.

When these are not on, it is so quiet, you can even hear the sound of the ducks on the water.

Its astonishing to think that the basket is only held up by hot air. It is a basket too. Hefty and strong enough to carry the weight of twelve passengers. Can you see the sky through the sides?

I took around ninety photos. I know I shall use these as inspiration over the next few months. I loved the patterns of the hedges, the colours of the fields, those long shadows, the textures, colours...................

The landing was an interesting experience. A couple of bumps and we were down. The basket toppled onto it's side and we were dragged for a few yards.

It was a wonderful experience and one I would urge you to try if you ever get the chance. We had an hour long flight, starting at an interesting place called Dearnford Lake, near to Whitchurch. We travelled for 16 miles due east, landing in a field not far a place called Madeley.

As I started writing this, Felix came to join me. I quote

"ow-oweraw-ohaw-owaw-owow-mmhr-mehrow"

He likes to have the last word, my opinionated cat.

A completed bag, and flowers.

2010-08-18T12:59:00.014+01:00

Our kitchen has been graced by these gorgeous flowers for the past week. The scent is really heady being almost overpowering.

They were brought into the house by my husband. Sadly, the plant they belonged to had been flattened by the recent rain and wind.

You will remember my finished quilt for Rosie from my last post. Since completing that I have been busily making a quilted bag to contain it. Here you can see the completed bag holding the folded quilt.

This is the quilting from one side of the bag, with the handles tucked out of the way.

Now the handles and the second side. The quilted bag makes quite a good pillow when filled with the quilt. It is surprisingly light, carrying a single-bed-sized quilt in a bag. I must admit, having found the quilt rather heavy to handle as I was finishing it off, I had expected it to be rather a weight when inside the bag. I was rather startled to find that it wasn't.......... It is certainly easier to carry a quilt inside a bag, not needing to keep it tightly folded.

Just recently, I have been having a go with beading. This is my first attempt - a necklace. The pattern is called Potawatomi weave. A friend lent me the pattern which came from Bead and Button - seed bead chains.

It was quite an enjoyable little project and I feel sure I shall do others, though I have a feeling that beading will just be an additional skill rather than a compulsion with me.

Well, tonight it is Quilt Group. Needing something to work on, I dragged this out of the pile of UFOs. I started this some time ago. It is about time I got on with completing it

Another project waiting to be started is a replacement for my much loved, much worn jacket. This was in a collection of clothes being thrown out some years ago by my elder daughter. I claimed it and have worn it ever since. Now it really is beginning to show its age and should be replaced.

Well, I had a couple of pieces of luck recently. Firstly, this piece which I found in a jumble pile for just 30p.

I am going to quilt this to give the fabric a little more strength and stability. I have bought some Thermore ready to start.

Its a fascinating piece of fabric, obvously intended as a fabric toy and book. It should make a really fun jacket.

My other piece of luck was this:

This fabric was being sold off at just £1.99 a metre! I couldn't resist. I bought four metres and will use this to trial a suitable jacket pattern for the fun fabric above.

Some months ago, you may remember I bought some more fabric from the same collection. This still waits in my stash until I can sort out the right pattern for it. This coffee cup fabric seen above will be so useful in trialling the pattern I intend to use for my fun fabric. I have decided to take a pattern from my favourite jacket rather than buy one. My own elderly jacket is great in that it only has a single seam down the back. It will be rather useful to have three jackets in the wardrobe rather than just one, especially for the autumn.

Travels, pages and a completed quilt.

2010-08-09T20:23:00.010+01:00

I just loved the patterns forming on the thread reel as I quilted the last pieces of Rosie's quilt. Hence the first photos. This reel had the threads turning into little wiggly shapes. This is YLI Machine Quilting Thread, in the shade V80 Danube Blues. I do love using this for machine quilting.

Well, here is the completed quilt hanging on my washing line.

A closer look at the front.

And now, the back. The plaid fleece was a remnant from a winter coat I made myself a few years ago - really cosy! The pale blue had been left over from an autumn jacket, but I forget what I had used the off-white fleece to make. I found it deep in my stash. All three fleece are of the same weight.

Hopefully, Rosie will be happy with her new quilt. She has seen the pieces, but not the completed quilt. I have sent her some photos........... I plan to make a bag to hold the quilt.

And now a journey. I went to Shrewsbury on Saturday with a couple of friends from the Recorder Group. Elizabeth plays Treble recorder with me, and Kathryn leads the Vale Royal Recorder Consort. It is such fun playing music together. We went to Shrewsbury to spend time in each others company before setting off to a concert.

What a special building. It is a shop selling chocolate!

Another lovely building.

This is one of the bridges crossing the River Severn.

I had never been to Shrewsbury before, but had loved reading about it in the novels about Brother Cadfael written by Ellis Peters. Funnily enough, we didn't have time to visit the Abbey, but did go to see the Castle. Well, there is so much to see in Shrewsbury, that I can see myself coming back again.

On our wanders around Shrewsbury we happened upon an excellent Calligraphy exhibition by the Shropshire Scribes. The exhibition was called "Words in Action" and I see from their programme that this same exhibition will be movingto the Oswestry Heritage and Exhibition Centre from the 1st to the 15th September. We found the exhibition in the wonderful St Mary's Church.

Well, after a really happy day, getting wet in the rain, but really enjoying being able to explore somewhere new together, we went on to the concert. We went to see the wonderful Red Priest. Such a marvellous concert - great fun! It was the closing concert for the Church Stretton Arts Festival. I had never seen Red Priest in concert before, and I certainly was not disappointed. They are wonderful in concert, not taking themselves too seriously and playing superbly at the same time. A truly wonderful day.

I almost forgot! To continue the theme of traveling, my page for Elizabeth has arrived in the USA. You can see it here. I have also heard that my page for Carmen, which I had feared had been lost in the post has also arrived safely. I must post some photos of that too on the Traveling Pages site.

It has been a busy time.

Traveling Page has arrived.

2010-07-29T13:51:00.007+01:00

Cobi has recently received her June page from me. I had been lamentably late in sending it.

Cobi's theme was Art Nouveau. This is one of my favourite books on the subject. I just love the wealth of detail and the beautiful lines of Art Nouveau. The ISBN for this particular book is 978-1-84451-265-2. I find it an excellent source book for images. Published by Flame Tree Publishing, it is one of a rather useful series of titles, all linked to artists or periods in Art History.

I used this particular photograph as my starting point.

This is the information given by the book.

Now, my own interpretation. It is simply applique using a brown fabric over a beautifully marked printed fabric from my stash. The bottom fabric looks almost like water. I overlaid this with a fine gauze, then added beads.

For the reverse of the piece, I used another image from the same book.

Isn't this a wonderful screen? The book gave the following information.

My own version of a small section, looked like this.

It is FME over gauze. I used water soluble fabric to stabilise the piece until I appliqued it to the pocket on the back of the page.

I have now just posted my July page, on the theme of Windows.

Message from a friend.

2010-07-26T11:35:00.004+01:00

I received this message from Denise this morning:

Hi Mandy,
Thanks for the email. I've just been into the Blog, a new experience for me. I shall forward your Blog address to Wendy. I have to apologise for not contacting you earlier than this. Have been a bit sickly for a few days, but fine again now. The quilt is gorgeous. I have always admired your work and I feel very lucky to now own this wonderful quilt, so full of good wishes and positive thoughts from the Hartford Quilters, which will hopefully take me through my treatment to a good outcome.
When I began quilting three years ago, I soon became addicted to it; little did I know then that it would bring me such supportive, loving friends, and the quilting itself allows me to focus on things other than treatment. Once agin a great big thankyou Mandy to yourself and all members of the Hartford Quilters Group.
With love
Denise
p.s. You can add this to your Blog if you wish

Denise is a lovely person, who makes some delightful quilts herself. She is right when she speaks of the "supportive, loving friends" she has met through quilting. I can quite happily say this of each of the friends I have made through this amazing craft. They have taught me so much too.
If you have missed seeing the Hearts and Flowers Hug, you will find photographs on the previous post.

The new, the old, and some plans.

2010-07-23T16:23:00.008+01:00

Well, this was the sky as I packed the car to go to Hartford Quilters on Wednesday evening. The heavens opened after I had arrived, thankfully. The Hearts and Flowers Hug did not get wet. Why the name "Hug"? Well, don't we all need a cuddle at times?

Here it is, the project which has kept me really busy over the past few weeks. The white hearts and flowers have messages of support in them for Denise, whose quilt this now is. Positive and brightly cheerful, she is undergoing Chemo at the moment and we all wish her well.

The back shows a little of the echo quilting used round each of the flowers and hearts.

There is a bag too, an over the shoulder quilted bag to contain the quilt. I used the pieces left over from the main quilt. Still holding the quilt, it can be used as a pillow if the weather is just too hot to take the quilt out to use. There is enough spare space to hold a good book, or even a few magazines.

Denise was pleased with her new quilt and happily took it home with her.

It has been a really interesting week. First, I heard this podcast from Sister Diane at Crafty Pod. At first it really annoyed me, but then I began to understand exactly why it was making me so cross. The topic was planning ahead for Blogs and Podcasts. It took me a while, and quite a bit of soul searching to realise that, yes, I could really learn something from the ideas shared in the programme.

I must explain, that for some time I have been a little unhappy with this Blog. It is not as good as I would like it to be, but I have not been able to move forward and do anything about it. I don't have the knowledge. Being on a budget, I really don't want to spend money on lessons to learn either......

However, perhaps you can help. Just send me a message with ideas on how to improve this site. Perhaps letting me know what you would like to know more about, and see more about here. I shall try to get myself organised and incorporate some of these in the near future.

Stitching fun.

2010-07-12T13:22:00.005+01:00

I am having a lot of fun with my sewing at the moment. Sadly, the projects are all those I cannot share with you at present!

Never mind, the quilt can be revealed after the 21st of this month. The other two projects are associated with the Traveling Pages project, so can only be shown after they have been received by their new owners.

Oh well, I can show you my knitting................... Look away now if it is just not your thing.

Yes, it is another Elizabeth Zimmermann Shawl from her book "Knitter's Almanac". It is wonderfully mindless knitting which is helping me concentrate on my other projects. My mind can wander freely and solve any problems I encounter. So refreshing.

Rosie's Quilt has not really moved since I last mentioned it. I have had to concentrate on the one I cannot yet show you. But here is some handstitching on Rosie's quilt. This is the sashing for the back, then it will be ready for quilting.

My quilt for mum is still languishing in it's basket - still a collection of fabrics. I look longingly at it from time to time, but I must get these two quilts finished first.

Rosie comes home again on the 23rd. Now, could I possibly get hers completed in time? Not if I stay here nattering away any longer..............

Playtime - dyes, printing and more.

2010-07-04T20:17:00.006+01:00

The past two weeks have been really busy here. I have been doing a lot of sewing!
But first, I had a lesson. My first sewing lesson to help me understand how to use commercial patterns properly and to alter them so that they fit.
It was a really interesting experience. Two hours one-to-one. I don't class myself as a beginner and there were no other local lessons available to me, so I thought it money well spent. I have another lesson in around three weeks time. I have far too much to do at the moment to fit another lesson in before then. Especially since I have some homework to do...........

The first pattern I am working on is this one. It is Sandra Betzina's Vogue 7903. The fabric was a lucky find on a market stall. It is a cotton-like fabric which will be just right for the long-sleeved version of this blouse. My homework? To trace off the pattern and get it all cut and sewn ready for a first fitting.

This is the second one. A semi-fitted blouse. Its an old New Look pattern 6134. Here the fabric is a heavy silk I bought some years ago in Hong Kong. I have loved this fabric, but never felt brave enough to use it............. My homework? To get the pattern traced for a tissue fitting.

My homework has to wait for a special quilt I am working on. Since this is a gift, the details are secret. But here is a photo I took of some of the quilting.

This weekend has been busy with a few experiments being completed. My younger daughter was at home and was able to join in and help.

Firstly, we did some screenprinting. This was fun and we worked outside until it decided to spot with rain. It is a two-person operation since one person needs to hold the screen steady whilst the other person uses the squeegee to pull the ink across the screen.

This is the first piece we did. The patterns were achieved by using cardboard pieces to cover part of the screen. Basically we were just playing to see what would happen. Next time, I shall cut the fabric pieces to be the shape of my printing board.

The next piece was printed inside the kitchen since it was threatening to rain. Thankfully it didn't, since the first piece was hanging to dry on my washing line!

On this second piece, we played with mixing the red and yellow screenprinting inks together. We only got one print out of the properly mixed medium, so for the next three played with putting the inks on the screen without mixing them.

I just loved the effect this gave. Magic. I must buy some more inks.........

While the fabric was drying, we washed the screens outside.

I must remember to wear wellington boots next time! My poor slippers got soaked.

The next experiment was to do some pole dyeing. I had read abnout this in a number of posts on the Contemporary Quilt Yahoo Group. I am new member of this section of the Quilter's Guild.

This was huge fun. A piece of fabric is scrunched onto a pole and fabric dyes and inks are painted on. Note for future reference - red silk dye does not come off concrete paving slabs however hard you scrub before it gets to dry!

This is the finished piece drying on the line. I think that next time I shall use a much smaller piece of fabric. That way I should be able to saturate the material thoroughly with dye. I shall work on this piece further. Sadly, it will have to wait for another day.

With all the activity, my poor workroom looked like............ well, it was a mess. Can you see the DVDs on the radiator? Its summer here, so they are perfectly safe there. It is part of my collection of Jane Austen films - BBC serials, as well as the box office type of film. These have kept me company while I have been busy quilting and working on the quilt mentioned above.

Well, I did get the room tidy again, ready for work on an improvised swift. I needed to get some lovely yarn ready for being knitted into a pair of Vinnland socks.

It is this lovely yarn. So soft. It will be delightful to wear this as socks in the Autumn.

Well, I had better get back to the quilting so I can get this quilt finished in time.

Traveling Pages.

2010-06-15T21:34:00.004+01:00

I am delighted to say that my page arrived safely. The link to see it is here:

http://thestoryofthetravelingpages.blogspot.com/2010/06/coastline_15.html

Chris's reaction has been posted here:

http://thestoryofthetravelingpages.blogspot.com/2010/06/oh-my-gosh-what-wonderful-page.html

Books, sewing and things.

2010-06-14T18:23:00.007+01:00

Today started well. My order arrived from Amazon! One of my favourite Shakespeare plays. It will be interesting to see what this version is like.
A knitting book I really just had to have. There are some lovely designs in here.
The last book. Well, I really admire the work of Linda and Laura Kemshall. This is jam packed full of some of the techniques they use.

My pincushion got finished yesterday evening. I have already started using it. Such a very useful design. The whole thing is weighted, so it stays where it is placed.

This afternoon saw me walking down to the next village to post my page for the Traveling Pages project. This page should have been sent off in May, but I got woefully behind with a mental blank. I really just could see how to interpret the subject - Coastline. It took me some time, but it has been completed and posted. Photos will be posted once this has arrived safely. Perhaps in a day or two...........

The path I took goes past these very architectural electricity pylons.

The fields here are full of wheat. I just love the colours.

These plants at the edge of the path lie next to the fence. Tints of red with green.

On the way I picked up this beautiful piece of mossy bark. It now sits on a piece of wet paper on my window sill.

I can just see this as a series of french knots - the real colours are a bit brighter than you can see here. Wonderful stuff.

Exciting times.

2010-06-12T10:43:00.010+01:00

This evening, I have been busily sewing a weighted pincushion organiser. Hopefully this will help me to keep everything easily within reach. This is currently a sew-a-long on the http://www.mysewingcircle.com/ site. The pattern is by Elizabeth Hartman for Sew Mama Sew. I can really recommend this pattern since it is really well written with a lot of useful photos.

This is the completed bag.
The first photo shows the construction of the weighted bag which is later concealed inside the pincushion. I ended up making mine out of a rather darkly patterned fabric. This will not matter when the whole thing is finished since I have made the rest out of some curtain material I had left over in my stash.

Part of the morning was spent very usefully in the garden.

With my husband's help, I now have a printing board! Yes!!

Why is this so exciting? Well, I have been planning for this for some time now. I can't remember when I bought the felt for the first two layers - it must have been some time back in the autumn. The old striped cotton sheet was bought around that time too - a lucky find in a charity shop.

Now I can start playing around with some screenprinting.

I bought the screens and the fabric printing medium some time ago too. I know I bought my first screen at a show last year. Now I just need to prepare the first screen and I am set to go!

Oh, and I started knitting a pair of socks during the week. The yarn is Happy by Wendy and the colourway is Scorpio. I picked it up rather cheaply in a yarn sale at Hobbycraft. Despite the photograph, I have actually almost finished the first sock - just another four inches to go.

There has been a lot of quilting going on too - the first strip of four squares has been sewn together for Rosie's quilt. The sashing has been quilted too since I took this photo.

A successful week.

2010-06-05T20:27:00.005+01:00

Just to get up to date with some of the fabric I have been buying lately. These are all fat quarters and have just been washed and put out to dry on my washing line. All, barring the black and white cartoon cat fabric, will be added to the collection for my Hearts and Flowers Hug - a quilt I am making for a friend who is rather ill. Photos of this will have to wait until it is finished and has been handed over.

The cat fabric was one of those purchases I may regret, but I really could not resist the comical cats with their pink noses and tongues.

Another fabric for the Hearts and Flowers hug. The flower pins have been needed for rather a long time. My elderly long pins are sadly depleted and have been getting very bent. I really like these long pins with the flat heads so useful in preparing quilts for basting.

I have started work on repairing these two bags which I lined some time ago. The jute outer had been getting very thin and going into holes.

The first to be worked on has been disassembled. You can see the state that the jute had got into in the photo above. The original plastic which used to adhere to the jute is coming away. The handles are still in excellent condition, and so is the lining. These will be kept as they are. The rest of the bag now it is a kit of parts will be reassembled and fabric added to give strength and interest.

After quilt group on Thursday (Dot's group meets during the morning), I went into Chester to Jaycotts. Since it is quite a journey from here, I took along a shopping list of things.

As you can see, I was able to purchase everything I needed. The two reels of blue thread are those I mentioned in the last post. They are needed so I can continue quilting Rosie's quilt. Since getting the thread on Thursday, I have completed all the squares for the quilt and have started cutting the squares down to their finished size.
As you can see from the collection of items above, I am fully intending to get more dressmaking done this summer. The new pair of shears will replace my old pair which has developed a flat area which has not been remedied even though the scissors have been sharpened a couple of times.

Quilting.

2010-06-01T09:52:00.009+01:00

Its been rather a busy and single-minded week this last week or so. Lots more quilting completed on Rosie's Quilt.

Here is a close-up of the blue sashing. Leaves moving out from the centre of each square, with a small flower stitched in the centre.

The reverse of each square looks something like this. The irritating thing is that I just cannot get the tension to let me have just the light coloured thread on this side. (YLI Machine Quilting thread Sand, 16V) I always get some of the darker thread leaching through from the other side. (YLI Machine Quilting Thread Paris Boutique, V74 for the flowers, and Danube Blues, V80 for the sashing.)

Coco just loved lying on top of this pile of completed squares. Yes, for all the world she looked like the Princess in The Princess and the Pea.

Then the worst happened...........I started quilting the blue sashing strips on the nineteenth block when I ran out of thread! Disaster! I won't be able to get back to Jaycotts for some more thread until later this week. It is just too far to go for a few sewing items. Yes, I could phone and get them to send me some, but I am trying really hard to be good. I have rather a lot of other things I should be getting on with.

The Traveling Pages for May still needs completing and I need to make a start on June.

There is a longstanding UFO I really need to look at and baste - there is something not quite right with the piecing which will drive me mad if I don't get it sorted out before finally quilting the thing.

These photos show the top of the quilt.

And this is the back. The design was the Mystery Quilt for the Quilters Guild some years back. As you can see my photos date from 2007! I really should get this one completed.

Then there is the mending............ as usual, this has become rather a large pile. Also the altering and completing of dressmaking projects - three skirts in there............

Then the two bags which need a rebuild.

This is a photo of one of the bags in healthier days - the corners are now getting rather large holes in them and the whole bag is being kept together by the lining. So they really do need some work. The handles are still good.

Yes, there is rather more than a weeks worth of work there, so I shall not phone Jaycotts.

That apart, my whole workroom is a muddle and needs sorting out before anything else gets started. I wish I could work and keep things tidy at the same time, but that is something I find impossible. I am such a messy worker.
A well, off to work - I think I shall get some handstitching done on my Traveling Page for May ready to post it later on.

Keeping busy.

2010-05-23T15:01:00.006+01:00

Why is it that when I start one project, another comes along before I have finished the first one? At present I have quite a queue of projects in the process of being completed, started but not much completed yet and waiting to be started.

The first of these is Rosie's quilt.

I have got to the stage of having finished the first part of quilting seventeen of the twenty blocks. The first stage being the "flower".

This is what it looks like on the back.

The next bit will be quilting the blue "sashing". After that I shall be able to start sewing everything together.

Project number two is getting on with my page for the Traveling Pages project. The
ay theme for me is "Coastline". You do not need to remind me that I am fast running out of time to complete this during May.

As a tease, these pieces of felt I made some months ago will form the basis of the page.

Another project which has been started will have to remain secret for a while since it is something being made as a gift.

I still haven't got started on my mum's quilt........... I have quite a collection of ideas which will form part of the quilt when I start. I really do not have the time to begin just yet.

"Get on with it!" shouts Felix.

He is right, I must get on with the sewing.

What an exhibition!

2010-05-07T09:35:00.007+01:00

I had a wonderful time yesterday, travelling down to London on the coach with members of Cranford Quilters. We were all heading down to the "Quilts 1700 - 2010" exhibition at the V and A (Victoria and Albert Museum).

It is a beautiful building. The following photos show the gardens at the back where we rested with a lovely cup of tea after viewing the exhibition. It was cool, but the sun shone and children played in the shallow water of the pond.

The exhibition itself? This was really impressive. As a quilt group, we had all listened to an interesting talk before venturing into the exhibition itself. A fascinating range of quilts followed the talk, lighting was needfully low. Barriers were sensitively placed so that keen quilters and sewers could lean forward near enough to look but not touch. Even the stewards were quietly present, almost invisible as they looked after their charges.

Can you spot the lemons growing on this tree? It is such an unusual sight here in the UK. Lemons growing outside. This garden is sheltered on all four sides by tall Victorian buildings.

I have no photos of the exhibition itself. Bright lights would damage the sensitive old fabric.

Following the interesting talk, I was driven to learn more. I bought the hefty book which was published to go alongside the exhibition.

The V&A website gives details of their own collection of quilted items. You can find it here.

Outside the museum was this delightful figure:

Apparently, throughout the city of London there is a series of these beautifully decorated elephants. Go to the website to see more of these wonderful characters.

The problem with ivy.

2010-05-05T09:34:00.008+01:00

It all started quite simply. We had planned to sort out one of the flower beds beneath a wall. The shrubs there were elderly and needed replacing. My husband had bought some redcurrant and gooseberry bushes. Our supervisor of the day was in place, It was Felix's turn on watch.

However, behind the old vegetation we found ivy had climbed up the wall and had fixed itself into the mortar around the bricks. Oh dear. Probing a little further, we discovered that the top few rows of bricks were quite unstable. We were lucky to have found the problem before the wall had fallen.

Luckily, my dear husband is one of those people who can do useful things - bricklaying is one of them. I quickly became the bricklayers assistant. We took the wall down a few rows of bricks removing all the loosened bricks (and several bricks around them).

This is the mat of roots we found behind the pillar taken down in the top photo. You can see scraps of the offending ivy with the mass of roots.

It seemed odd, leaving my sewing behind for several hours, carrying bricks and clearing rubble. We were very fortunate in that one of our neighbours has been having work done on his house and had a skip. He was kind enough to let us unload our pile of rubble into the skip.

This was the pile of bricks taken down from the wall. Don't worry, we have not disposed of these bricks. We did not make the wall as high as it had been before. We had lived with the wall since moving in, but it had always seemed too high. We took advantage of the rebuilding work, and left it around a foot shorter than the original height. The remaining bricks have been stored, waiting for a future project.

Although I have had little time, the knitting has continued. These are the sleeves and the back of the jacket I have been working on.

Rosie's quilt has also been under way. This is the newly cut back, made of squares of fleece.

And now the completed squares, laid out on the floor on top of the fleece squares. I did remember to reverse the pattern of the fleece squares before laying the pieced squares over the top.

There are twenty squares in all. Each square is currently seventeen and a half inches square. Yes, I know that is a very strange size, but then that is what I could make out of the fabric I had to hand.

My last photo shows the pile of (labelled) squares each pinned to it's own backing square of fleece. These are now read for the most exciting stage - the quilting. For this quilt there will be a third layer of wadding between the fleece and the indian cotton layers. It is really an experiment to see how easy this is to quilt. I shall let you know how I get on.

I am planning to let this become as creep-and-go project, fitting it in around my work on my mum's quilt which I really am raring to get on with. Oh, and then theres the May element of the Traveling Pages project which I really must get on with. This time, the topic is "Coastline".

Sadly, work will have to wait since I am off to the V & A tomorrow to see the Quilting Exhibition there. So exciting.

Have you ever done this?

2010-04-25T10:09:00.010+01:00

Have you ever walked down the street and found yourself thinking, "Now that would be perfect for ......" I found myself doing just this yesterday, whilst walking down the main shopping street in Northwich. I had just seen a man's shirt walking towards me (the man, not the shirt), and knew that it would have solved my current problems with the Indian fabric quilt I have been working on.

I'd better start from the beginning. I showed the start of the Indian Cotton Quilt, working name "Rosie's Quilt", last time. Laying it out, Rosie and I felt it needed a couple more bright areas to balance one already in place.

(My helper, Felix with the completed blocks.)

On Thursday, I had treated myself to a morning spent with Dot's UFO group - a social Quilting group which meets to sew and chat. I took my new sewing machine along and sat beside some really interesting people. During the course of the morning, I actually managed to wind a bobbin first time - I had been having difficulty getting this right whilst at home on my own. The nice thiong about chatting to other quilters is the variety of ideas which are exchanged. It was suggested that I used quilt-as-you-fo to complete this one. I must admit I hadn't got as far as considering how to proceed with Rosie's Quilt. However, what a good idea. Now I need to decide what to use for the backs of each block.

One of the downsides of going to this group is the amount of wonderful fabrics which Dot brings to sell. (Sadly, her shop is not online.) She had brought a large collection of sale fabrics along. There were some beautiful new fabrics too, but it was the sale fabrics that became my undoing. I bought these:

The smaller pieces - all fat quarters.

And these:

Some metre length pieces. I wondered about using the dark grey for the back of Rosie's quilt using this as a contrast to another paler fabric, perhaps making a chequerboard style of colour arrangement.

Alongside these fabrics I found one cotton suitable for Rosie's quilt. Bright and just what I need to balance the lighter, duller squares. Sadly there was no second colourway to go with it. Which was why I found myself searching around Northwich for material on Saturday.

After a search of the market, I started going into the local Charity shops. In the first shop, I found this.

It was originally a nice little tunic top - too small for me to wear, the fabric was just right and so the tunic was cut up.

Well I am now off to get some serious sewing done. Have fun!

A new toy!

2010-04-18T09:17:00.015+01:00

A rather interesting week. I did get quite a lot of sewing done, putting an indian cotton quilt top together for Rosie's bed.

Its going to be a multi-coloured affair, using up pieces from my stash alongside the collection of indian cottons. Not sure what it will look like when it is finished. We shall see.

I'm just in the process of sewing together as many of these blocks as I either have fabric for, or until I have sufficient to make a top to cover the top of my daughter's bed. Then I shall sort out the remainder of the fabric needed.

In the process I made the uncomfortable decision that my old sewing machine really could not cope with the sort of sewing I really want to do. Basic sewing, fine, but it cannot cope with the free machine embroidery I love to do. It always did find quilting rather hard work............ Hence the plan to visit Jaycotts yesterday to check out the sewing machines.

I went into Chester with my younger daughter Rosemary who was home for the weekend. I stocked up with magazines.

After a quick visit to the city, we travelled on to Jaycotts. This is a brilliant place. Here they sell sewing machines, haberdashery, sewing tables, overlockers (sergers), embroidery machines, and all kinds of paraphernalia for sewers. They are so knowledgeable too, willing to answer queries over the phone. Such a helpful place.

After a delightful playtime, I chose this machine. I just could not go home without it.

It is my new toy and I am having a lovely time getting to know it well.

After Jaycotts we went on to take in an exhibition by Chester Ps and Qs. This was a lovely small exhibition where the group had joined forces with a local photographer, ~David Cummings. Sadly, I took no photographs myself.

Rosie and I picked up some Liberty fabric.

These are mine and will be added to my collection as soon as they are washed.

One thing I was very taken by at the exhibition was the beadwork. It was exquisite, not very readily photographed by my own camera. Small hexagons linked by a row of fine beads to the next hexagon instead of using stitch. This looked lovely with the sunshine lighting it through the windows. All stitched by hand.

The photographer (David Cummings) had taken some photographs in Switzerland. It was so nice to see some small quilts using the same theme. What a lovely idea to have quilts and photography sharing the same exhibition space. It strikes me that perhaps this is something small quilt groups could imitate, sharing space with other crafts. It might bring a wider audience to each of the crafts sharing the exhibition space.

On the way home, Rosie and I indulged ourselves with a visit to a bookshop.

I bought these two books for my bookshelf. The Art Nouveau book is for my own Art education. I am trying hard to get around to reading more about Art History. My own knowledge is lamentably rusty.

The book about Trapunto and Boutis came home with me because I only have brief information about these in one of the magazines I have. I rather fancy trying to add more texture into some of my projects. The detailed instructions in this book certainly give me more chance of achieving some raised texture.

After we got home, I spent the evening getting to know my new friend. It was so strange not to be using a Husqvarna. In Jaycotts, I had been far more impressed with this Brother machine than any of the others. Having been shown how to use it for free machine embroidery in the shop, I really could not bear the thought of coming back to buy it at a later date. I chose to get some additional quilting feet rather than take advantage of the free trolley bag the machine should have come with. It already had a lovely large sewing table for use when quilting. (This hasn't been taken out of it's box yet.)

Just for your information, Brother seems to have a much more interesting American site here.

Ah well, back to some sewing. I am already becoming more confident in finding how to achieve the quarter-inch seams I need at the moment. Oh, I must add that Rosie was relieved to realise that the machine she has borrowed now belongs to her.

Getting reacquainted.

2010-04-05T17:10:00.014+01:00

Sounds daft, I know. It is a very long time since I really knew my old machine, it's foibles , weaknesses, strengths. I got the strong feeling this last week that, if I was ever to get any sewing done whilst my younger daughter has my own machine, then I would really have to get to know this machine really well once more. I need to trust it. It needs to trust me............

I may be going too far here, but I do talk to my machines and, in return they purr along to me as they work. If I forget to talk to them, they stop working well.......... It has happened far too often for it to be anything other than the truth................... Or perhaps I am going completely around the bend towards insanity.

No, if it works, don't stop doing it.....................

I started by cleaning my untidy workroom. No views of the "before". Believe me, you would not have been able to see much more than glimpses of the floor, and very little of any of the surfaces. There was also an enormous pile of stuff to the left hand side of the sewing machine. This is now tidily put away in the wardrobe. (Away to the right of this photo.)

My dear husband had mentioned the dreadful phrase "throw out...........".

As a true lover of fabric, fibre, yarn and thread, my various stashes have now been caressed, folded, tidied and put away neatly. Only two lengths of a truly dreadful polyester cotton sheeting that had pilled, and which I could never see myself even using as a "muslin" have been sacrificed.

I should explain that the white desk really should belong in my younger daughter's bedroom. There is no room for it in there, so it does service as the table for my overlocker (serger). The books upon it are hers.

I now feel better, more confident and have started using my old machine once more. It was also cleaned during the general tidy-up and is ready to go...........

The latest edition of "Sew Hip", found on a recent trip into W.H.Smiths was truly well-timed. It has this delightful blouse on the front cover. I shall make this, though I shall probably have to alter it quite a lot to fit my more ample bustline.

Inside was this lovely little hanging.

Fun to make, and so useful, it now hangs on my wall. I used scraps of upholstery fabric left over from making a bag. The lining came from the remnants of a skirt I had made from an overly wide-legged pair of trousers.

The extra pocket on the bottom was made from two extra pocket pieces and their lining.

I also added a small pocket inside to hold my sewing machine screwdrivers - so helpful to have those immediately to hand when needing to retrieve the broken point of a needle.......................... Or does it only happen to me?

I have not done very much knitting lately, but the tunic I have struggled with now looks a little more possible.

The cabled jacket abandoned a little while ago looks as if it may get restarted. Well, three WIPs (Works in Progress) is much better than one WIP and two hibernating projects. Isn't it?

Of course, the socks are still under way, albeit at a rather slow (for me) pace.

Perhaps this is an irrelevant thought, but I can even see the telephone on my window sill. True happiness is made of this.

Just getting on with it.

2010-03-29T16:19:00.008+01:00

Well, I have started work on mum's quilt. Just got the lettering sorted out. Well, thats a start. The fabric I shall be using is all ready to be sorted out. Its all in a jumbled pile at the moment - correction, two piles. It was all in one pile and toppled over! Thats why it is still rather jumbled. Never mind, I shall get the board out for some theraputic ironing ready to start work on the calligraphy elements.

My page for March is also well on the way to being completed. This will be posted on the Traveling Pages site as soon as it arrives with Juliette. I did have a panicky moment when Felix decided to jump onto my newly painted fabric..... Poor dear, he ended up with his back paws in the bathroom sink being washed. I have never known him so quiet! I was forgiven at tea-time. He knows who feeds him................

The knitting is not going so well. I think the tunic pattern just isn't working for me in this yarn. It is time to rip it all back again. Don't misunderstand, I love the pattern and I love the Jaeger yarn. The cotton/silk mix just seems to be better suited to a more plain design, it is quite highly textured. I shall not be buying any more yarn for a while, so will have to start a different project instead.

For now, I am knitting a pair of Firestarter socks, so will get on with these for the time being.

The reading I mentioned in my last post is also going well, I am getting on with my magazines and am now up to date with them. "Quilting Arts" arrived last week and I am already half way through. It is a magazine I subscribe to and I really like to take my time reading, since there is usually rather a lot of ideas I want to have a go with. This edition is no exception. There is a really good article on screen printing. It is something I have really wanted to have a go at for some time. I already have a couple of screens and some fabric printing dyes. I just need to get my table top sorted. My dear husband has given me a lovely piece of board and I have the felt and old sheeting to cover it. So what is stopping me? I need something stable to rest my printing board on.............. I am reluctant to get any large-scale printing done in my workroom. I would much rather keep it nice and clean in here. So I must organise a space where I can be messy. The felt-making usually gets done in the garden, so that's probably where I shall do my printing. It does make sense, but it is rather frustrating the thought of not being able to do any printing except in the summer months. However, I could really get a lot of fabric ready for use in the colder months............... Perhaps it will work out after all.

Sorry there is only one photo this time. Blogger is not cooperating today................

Still prevaricating.

2010-03-22T19:07:00.017Z

I have been doing far too much reading of websites, Blogs and the like just recently. There is so much fun to be found. Here is one I read regularly. RicRac. This is such a charming post from a really beautifully written Blog.

This last week, I have found it really difficult to get started on any new projects. There is just so much going round my head at the moment. I really don't know where to start!

Theres an admission!

Now that I have said it, I know what I need to do. As Alison Lee puts it so succinctly "Get your butt in the chair". Now she is one lady I really ought to listen to. After all she has so much experience in making beautiful things for a living.

Well, lets get down to what I really must get on with:

First, my page for the Traveling Pages. I haven't started March yet. Ooops! In my own defence, I do know exactly what I am doing for this, I just haven't got around to getting on with it. I am still not entirely sure what techniques to use................

Second, getting on with my knitted tunic top. Well, that at least is still moving. I got into a muddle with where I was on the front, so have abandoned that for the present and have started on the back. That may sound completely mad, but since the front and back are identical almost to the shoulder, I should be able to discover where I have gone wrong on the front.

Third, mum's quilt. I still have not started this. However, during my holiday I ended up getting some rather interesting ideas which I am slowly working on. No further information for the moment in case one of my daughters, or my mum just happens to read this...................

Fourth, altering a skirt I bought last week. Well, I may end up altering two skirts. I bought them in a sale and they are both rather too big around the waist and hips.

Fifth, reading. I am steadily reading my backlog of magazines. I have even finished reading two from this month! This makes a change, since I am usually at least three months behind. I also have a mountain of books waiting to be read. They are climbing the wall in my bedroom at the moment.

Talking of books, I bought two on Saturday. There was a sale in WH Smiths of certain titles. All the books were in a rummage box. Well, I could not resist. I found these two books there:

Simon Henry's "The Little Black Dress".

This book looks really interesting and should teach me all I need to know to make Liz's wedding dress. (My daughter is getting married in September next year.) It is written like a dressmaking course, but in book form. There is so much about dressmaking that I still don't fully understand. Hopefully the knowledge will help me to make a decent dress for Liz. I intend to get on and follow the exercises written up at the start of the book. Wish me luck, I may need it. Oh, and avoid my house while I'm doing this...................

"Katrin Cargill's Curtain Bible".

Now this is something I have been wishing for. I have made curtains in the past, but my ideas are the usual boring and straight-forward ones. This book has some rather nifty ideas which I can actually see myself using in this house. There is a rather awkward round window downstairs which I have never been able to do anything with. A nice bright blind could be rather nice..........

Why is it that whenever I give myself time to sit and think there are more projects I wish to get on with?

My younger daughter now has my beloved sewing machine so that she can get on with some projects she is intending to make for sale. I have my old sewing machine back. (Shown above.) It is good for sewing clothing, but I cannot do any Free Machine Embroidery on it. Shall I buy another machine? Rosie cannot afford to buy herself one.............. Now is this why I feel so lost?

Too many questions and far too much prevarication. I must take myself in hand and get something started. Felix has just jumped onto my shoulder, so I think he agrees. Either that, or he is warming his chilly paws.

Back again and raring to go!

2010-03-15T18:30:00.004Z

I've been away on holiday for a couple of weeks. My workroom colleague - Felix, the furry fiend on the right - just won't leave me alone for long. He loves to sit on my shoulder while I am working. It makes for a noisy time, since he likes nothing better than to purr down my ear.....

On my return I had a lovely surprise - a package which had these lovely stamps on the front. It contained the February page from Johoanna. This is all part of the Traveling Pages project. For further details see the link at the side of this Blog.

Isn't this lovely? I feel so lucky to have this as my second page.

Talking of being lucky. This arrived in the post today. I am a member of Just Hands on TV, an internet community which has a really good series of quilting related videos. They have sent me a small bundle of the new Fusion Fabrics from Robert Kaufman. The fabrics are just as gorgeous as they look here.

Going into a local Supermarket today, I found this delightful not-so-little fold-up bag. So useful. Just fifteen inches tall and thirteen inches wide, it is six and a quarter inches deep.

It rolls up small into a package just six and a quarter inches wide and three and a half inches deep. Something I shall now start to carry around with me.

The crafter in me wonders whether I could use this idea to make a series of similar bags for myself. I shall of course be using much better fabrics - the only fault I find with this present bag. Rest assured that I shall not be copying this design - that would break copyright laws, I feel sure....

Oh, back to the title I have used. Coming home rested and relaxed I now find a multitude of ideas welling in the back of my mind. Watch this space for new proejcts as they start coming to life.

But first, has anyone got any good ideas for getting a cat, painlessly, off my shoulders?

Stitching, knitting and mending.

2010-02-22T15:56:00.009Z

Sometimes I enjoy mending. Not often, but I enjoyed doing this.

It was one of those comfy, much worn but still reasonably neat long sleeved jumpers. Stupidly, I managed to get a hole in one sleeve last week. I could have darned it, but had nothing in exactly the right shade, so cut the sleeves off just above the elbow and scoured my ribbon box for lace and ribbon. I bought the lace on a whim some time ago. The ribbon was decoration on a box of chocolates................

So now I can wear a favourite jumper to work once more.

And yes, it was worn to work this morning and here is the proof. A photo taken not ten minutes ago. The subject is my newly finished bag. I posted about it last time.

The bag is huge, but is going to be oh so useful................... As you can see, I did alter the handles. Now I have a bag I can carry over one shoulder. I have a tendency to put down bags I am holding in one hand using a handle. To be honest, I have nearly lost them too! At least I won't walk away from it when it is on my shoulder...............

Speaking of bags, I also finished this one. This is the lining. It is a fun print of frogs.

It now sits awaiting an owner. It is one of my useful-for-presents containers.

I also got on with my tunic. It is a pattern called Cicely from Jaeger and can be found in their JB25 booklet - 15 designer garments by Martin Storey. I am using Jaeger Trinity from my stash.

This is the photo from the booklet.

Oh, I forgot, I did finish the socks and was wearing them yesterday to keep my toes cosy when I went out to clear the snow off my car.

These two photos are of my palette used when finishing my latest page for the Traveling Pages project. Photos of the finished page will be available as soon as it arrives with Maya.

Have you ever had one of those moments when a fabric shouts "take me home"? I had one of those last week. I went into a shop I had never visited before. Bubblitex. I had been past the farm gate many times, but never had the time to stop and browse. I managed it last Friday.

If you are ever in Cheshire, I implore you to go and look for yourselves. It is a glorious wealth of furnishing fabrics housed in an enormous renovated barn.

This gorgeous fabric will make a wonderful fully lined jacket. I can hardly wait for the warmer weather when I shall be able to wear it. I do have to make it first, but I do like to dream..............

Works in progress.

2010-02-14T10:04:00.011Z

Firstly, my helpers. Fast asleep, as usual............

Felix has snuggled himself under the blue and white fleece cat quilt to the left.

I was seen taking photos, so Coco demanded a fuss and a tummy rub.

The cat bedding was all in a messy pile so that I could take photos of the projects I am currently
working on.

But first, a couple of completed items. The first is rather an indulgence. This skirt is a kit from clothkits. I do love their cheerful designs. I bought this for myself some months ago in one of their sales. I just could not resist. Fully lined, the skirt is knee length. The design is called "Big Birdie".

The second skirt if a little longer. I made it using the same shapes as the Big Birdie skirt. This was made from a scant metre length I had in my stash. I added the pockets. The striped fabric came from my stash of quilting fabrics. Like the skirt above, this too is fully lined

Now onto the items in progress. First, the knitting:

A delightful cabled bag design by a friend. I just love the way the cables twine into each other. This has a picot edge and will have a ribbon threaded through a series of holes. It is knit from the top down.

Next, another pair of socks? Well yes, I do not feel that seven pairs is quite enough.......... Well, thats my excuse. The pattern is "Wise Hilda's Basic Ribbed Sock" by Kate Atherley.

This time I have tried to make them the same. I have not quite succeeded. I might have done better if I had thought of the idea first and measured the length of the first red length of this variegated yarn. I'll do it next time.

Now the projects I am working on. First, a bag. I need this one for a holiday which is coming up. Since I don't like the handles, I am going to made a shoulder strap instead. Much more practical for me. The pattern is Vogue V8215. You can see the lining fabric to the top right hand side of the bag.

The outer fabric was a remnant from a local Upholsterer's sale, but the lining is an Amy Butler fabric I bought in an online sale.

The next item is a new skirt. Or will be. I had to piece two short lengths of wool tweed together to get enough fabric for this project. The design is from the second edition of "Sew Hip".

The next project will be a re-build. (The link gives details of what I did last time. You will need to scroll down. The finished bag is here.) One of my faithful shopping bags has started to deteriorate badly. I had lined it some time ago to keep it going. Now, however, it needs rather more work. This will be fun!

It is still functional, but the outer is getting rather too thin and going into holes. The lining is holding the whole thing together.

Oh yes, I found these two remnants sticking out of a shelf in a craftshop recently. I can see two nice little evening tops here.

Next week is Half Term Holiday for the local schools, so I can sew................... Hope you have a nice week too!

Having fun with textiles.

2010-02-10T20:22:00.005Z

I have not been posting about the work I have been doing lately. Sorry about that, I have been rather busy.

This collection of fabric is destined to become clothing. I am seriously trying to get my large piece fabric stash into more manageable proportions. Yes, I know you have heard this all before, but I really must make some clothing to replace the aging items in my wardrobe. Rather more satifying than going into a shop and buying............. or that's what I'm telling myself.

Here are some of the patterns I shall be using. Yes, that is a vintage Burda shirt pattern at the bottom of the pile.

The main project I am doing at the moment is my monthly pieces for the Traveling Pages group. This is great fun and I am learning a lot seeing other people's work.

This first lovely page was made for me by Trillian. My theme is "The Sea". Isn't this interpretation lovely?

Here is a close-up.

The next piece is my working of "Flowers" for Kath. This was sent to Crete at the end of January.

It uses some of the lino-print fabric I made earlier in January. (You will need to scroll down through this post to see the fabric I printed.)

This is a close-up of some of the stitching.

Here you can see the flower bud I added.

And some free machine embroidery in progress. This was used for the appliqued flower.

Now, I have started on "Leaves". This is the theme for Maya and will need to be completed and sent off before the end of this month.

I indulged myself this morning, having huge fun with fabric paints.......... Children are not the only ones to enjoy playing.

Memories are made............

2010-02-07T11:07:00.009Z

Memories, in this instance are definitely made of fabric and thread.

I was taken back to the time when my daughters were aged 10 and 8 (back in around 1993), when I found these items.

My husband had been taking boxes down from the loft (roof space) when one of them collapsed. The boxes all belonged to my elder daughter and were to be taken to her new home so she could sort out what she wanted to keep.

I used to make quite a lot of my daughters' clothes and these two pairs of culottes (one in brightly coloured cotton, the other in crepe de chine) alongside the cotton shirt were made years ago. I had forgotten all about them.

We used to have a lovely fabric shop in the local town. Called Harts, it was a favourite haunt of myself and my daughters. They chose the fabric and the patterns, I did the sewing. They usually liked to wear the same things, so my younger daughter had pairs of culottes exactly the same as these.

The clothes were summer weight and the culottes would have been worn with colourful t-shirts.

The last item here is something which my dear husband returned to me after sorting through a drawer of stored items. I had stitched the insert to my own design on 32 count Aida (or was it 28?), in 1996 as a present for my mother-in-law. It was found, safely wrapped and never used after her death some six years later. It is one of those lovely pottery bases with a kit lid produced by DMC. Do they still produce these?

I remember stitching one of a completely different design for my own mother. Her container sits on the dressing table in her bedroom. Another of my designs, originally contained within a card sits in a mounting as part of a small clock in her bathroom........

Why the photo of Felix? Well, my dear little friend has been spending most of the time I have been typing this trying to get me off this chair! Cats!!!

Sharing the sunshine.

2010-02-06T09:55:00.015Z

Sorry to have kept everyone waiting, but here are the remaining names of those given the Sunshine Award. (To read all about the award, please see the last post.)

Again, in no particular order, since they are all wonderful:

Christine of Lady Jane's Wardrobe.
Just go along and look at all the wonderful costumes she makes. A fellow member of the Stitching Sisters Group, she also has a second Blog for her embroidery. Its lovely to be able to see the wide variety of textile work Christine shows on her Blogs.

Jodie, of Ric Rac.
This is a Blog recently found and thoroughly enjoyed reading. Jodie makes the most wonderful fabric creatures and lots of other things too. I think what I enjoy most are the little stories woven around the small figures she makes. It is all so enchanting, it really makes my day.

Nadine Ruggles, writer of "InchieQuilts".
This Blog is much more professional than many I have seen. I like to read this regularly because Nadine gives such good information and advice. She is also so encouraging to those like me who have not taken the plunge of trying to get work into a major exhibition. It remains one of my ambitions.

Norma, of "Norma's Needleworkz".
Another member of the wonderful "Stitching Sisters", Norma makes the most delightful lace and tatting items.

Electric Sheep.
This excellent podcast is guaranteed to raise a smile. I always enjoy hearing a new episode and hope you will enjoy listening too. While not a Blog as such, I hope the podcast can be thought of as an honourable winner of the sunshine award, alongside the other people I have mentioned.

Barbara of "Embroidery Overlaps".
Barbara makes the most wonderful pieces of embroidery which are always an inspiration. I have followed her Blog for some time now and am always learning something new.

Donna of "Knitsamadworld".
Donna is a fellow knitter and organiser of a knitting group to which I belong. Her Blog is full of her various projects and always interesting to read.

The last mention on my list of very special people is:

Barbara, of "Rainbow".

Now Barbara's Blog always makes me stop and think. She takes such amazing photographs of each of the varies projects she makes. Added to this, she adds music for her readers to share. This makes her Blog a particularly rich and thoughtful experience.

Thank you to all of those I have mentioned over the past two posts for making the experience of reading your Blogs so special. You all equally deserve the Sunshine Award. I shall continue to read and enjoy all the work you share with the rest of us.

Being Appreciated.

2010-01-30T21:33:00.010Z

I was truly astonished to receive a Sunshine Award from Toni recently. Apparently, the award is "for bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blogging world."

Well, since I write this Blog mainly for my own amusement and to keep track of all the projects I have completed, I was astounded to feel that I might inspire someone else. If I do, then I am humbly grateful that you like my work and wish to try some ideas for yourself.

Now Toni is an amazing person who talks about her experiments through her Blogs. She spent the last year avoiding processed foods and sharing a lot of information about food additives as a result. This made for a fascinating series of Blog posts on her "A little off the beaten track" Blog. Her second Blog, "A little yarn on the side", details her interest in knitting. I met Toni some while back through her Yahoo group, EZ Fans. We are also both members of the excellent forum known as Ravelry.

Well, here are the rules of the award:

*Put the logo on my blog or within a post
*Pass the award onto 12 bloggers;
*Link the nominees within your post;
*Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog;
*Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award!

Now to choose twelve. This is not easy since there are a number of bloggers whose Blogs inspire me. However, here they are. I have not placed any of these wonderful people in any set order in my list:

Karen, of the Selvedge Blog.

This is an amazing Blog which taught me to use every single scrap of fabric. I am currently saving all my selvedge pieces to make up into something one day and am having such a lot of fun fantasising about what exactly that might be. Thanks Karen for showing me just how much can be done with even these narrow strips of fabric.

Roberta, of Simply Ninepatch.

This amazing lady galvanised so many of her fellow quilters into sending quilts for the youngest victims of the major earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy in 2009. It was such a privilege to have been a part of the project - Mille Colores per Abruzzo.

Jenny, of Jenny's Australian Needleart Journey.

Now Jenny is one of the members of Stitching Sisters. Her work is always a delight to see and so varied too. It has been wonderful to get to know her a little through the Round Robin we have both been working on.

RobinM of Yarncrawl.

Robin is one of those interesting people who always blogs about the clothes she is sewing and knitting. A frequent reviewer of sewing patterns, it is always interesting to see what she has to say about the different patterns she uses.

This Blog post is getting longer by the minute as I write, so I shall break now and add more in my next few posts.

UFOs and stitching fun.

2010-01-17T12:37:00.010Z

This is one of my many UFOs. A rather floppy cotton shopping bag. The shape is a useful one, but I hate the way this one falls down. Hence the need for a lining.

This is the lining that I put together for the shopping bag. It in turn has been lined with some heavy duty interfacing.

This is a photo of some of the pockets I have added to the inside of the lining. The flower tag was a lucky find in Hobbycraft some months back. It is designed to replace the tag on a zip. I have merely added it to the end of the tag rather than removing it. This makes it a little longer and more useful to me.

There are two pockets here. The larger one is the same width as the bag itself. There is a small pocket which can just be seen to the left of the large pocket.

The two flaps will soon have poppers to fasten them against the pocket edge to keep this large pocket into the side of the bag. The two buttons are to decorate the flaps.

The last photo shows the lining pinned into the bag.

Some time ago I prepared some new lino blocks for fabric printing. I posted about that here:

http://thestoryofthetravelingpages.blogspot.com/2010/01/flowers.html

The resulting prints are below:

The top one is my favourite. The print was made by doing it all wrong, pressing the fabric into the block inside on pressing the block down on the fabric. I rather like the resulting haziness of the printing.

The next UFO is a small box. All hand-stitched, it is made using Japanese folded patchwork squares. I shall be finishing off the lid with a beaded tag. The hinge has been made using bugle beads.

And last of all, the needle case. It is now full of needles and that tin has been emptied of all except my longest upholstery needles. These are threaded through a scrap piece of aida, so they cannot fall far when the tin drops on the floor once more. Knowing my own clumsiness this will happen again.

The first page of my own set, "The Sea" has been completed by Trillion. You can see a teaser here:

http://thestoryofthetravelingpages.blogspot.com/2010/01/sea.html

I shall post the page here on my Blog once it arrives. I am really looking forward to seeing what it looks like.

Keeping Warm.

2010-01-10T11:38:00.013Z

My experts in the field of keeping warm were not willing to comment, so I left them cuddling up to their quilts. Needless to say neither Coco (top), or Felix have been very impressed by the weather outside this week. Visits to the outside world have been very brief and they have demanded cuddles to get warm again once back inside!

This is the view from my bedroom window.

As I write this, Felix is snoring on the chair I use for working on my sewing machine. Coco is snuggly asleep on my bed.

The next photos show things I am, or shall be working on in the next few weeks. The first is a part-made quilt top which I started some time ago. It started out as an autumn quilt, but didn't continue beyond this size (20 inches square). I rather fancy making this up as a large lap quilt with a fleece backing.

The next fabrics are those I shall be using for a quilt for my mum. She asked for a quilt to cover her leather chair. This will have a fleece backing and will be around 72 inches square when finished.

The floral fabric at the bottom of the photograph is the upholstery fabric covering the main chairs in mum's livingroom. This is my next big quilt project.

The next item which really just needs to be assembled is the lining for this cotton fabric shopping bag. The bag does not have a lining and is rather floppy. I shall be using some heavy-duty interfacing between the lining and the bag to make the bag stand up. This will make it more useful to me when I take it shopping.

I have been busily working on finishing this little project over the past couple of days. This is a little needle case kit which I was given by some friends when I left my teaching post in the summer. I shall use it to house my collection of needles. These are in a tin which does not close properly at the moment. I was prompted into starting this when my needle tin fell onto the workroom floor............ You can imagine the resulting mess. The tin is quite a large one. It used to hold my sketching pencils.

This is the second of two hats I have made this week. This one is double sided, so I can wear it in a number of different ways. The design is "Very Warm Hat" by Elizabeth Zimmermann from her book "Knitting Around." It certainly is cosy and warm to wear.

The green yarn was already in my stash, left over from a lovely thick aran jacket I knitted some years ago and still often wear. I bought the cream aran weight yarn as a contrast.

My latest knitted project is the delightful sock design Widdershins by Brooke Chenoweth Creel.
I have been using the bamboo yarn, Happy by Wendy in the colourway Pisces.

This is the gentle cabled design on the top of the foot.

The bottom of the foot looks like this. I just love this self-striping yarn. It is so pretty.

The design knits up really quickly too. I started the first of these socks yesterday evening and its already just over four inches in length. Perhaps I shall be able to finish them both before the weather improves.

The Green Quilt.

2010-01-01T13:59:00.005Z

Happy New Year everyone.

Well, the Green Quilt has been completed and has been handed over to it's new owners.

I am very relieved to report that it was very well received. They really like it.

The photos of the full quilt were taken by my husband who found it really surprising just how difficult it is to photograph a quilt..... I did warn him.............

My photos of Simon and Liz with their new quilt give a truer idea of the colours.

Just to explain the story behind the quilt. Liz had asked me for a "Green Quilt". The four of us, my husband Ian was there too, had been enjoying a rather nice lunch at a small cafe in Macclesfield. That was back in mid September.

My imagination went into overdrive since the word "Green" has many different meanings. I decided to use a variety of these in the quilt rather than just provide a green-coloured quilt.

Using applique and as many different green fabrics as there were in my stash, I set off. There was no great plan, just a series of ideas linked to the theme of "Green". I decided not to post about it here since I wanted the project to remain secret for as long as possible.

Neither Simon nor Liz knew more about the quilt other than it was "being worked on"............ So it was a complete surprise when they unrolled it for the first time.

A double-sided quilt, the back is made up of different fat quarters I had collected over the years. It has been constructed as a quilt-as-you-go with each of the blocks being quilted before being assembled and linked together using narrow strips of green fabric. I did buy quite a lot of fabric to complete the quilt, but since most of this was for the flowery mock sashing and the thin strips used for the linking pieces, I felt this was appropriate even though I had planned to use only stashed fabrics. (Adding yet another meaning to the "Green" of the quilt's title.)

Each block is very simply quilted to keep the quilt puffy and cosy. The flowery sashing has been quilted using free-machine-embroidery using linked images of leaves and flowers.

Hope you like it too.

Update on the Thousand Colours for Abruzzo project.

2009-12-28T17:18:00.009Z

You may remember reading about this wonderful project some time ago. I was lucky enough to take part.

All we had to do was make a brightly coloured quilt suitable for young children. This was then going to be given to the young children affected by the dreadful earthquake which devastated the Abruzzo area of Italy. I was very fortunate to have a good friend, Jude, helping me with the quilting. She has a long-arm quilting machine and her kindness in quilting this for me meant that I could send the quilt off to Italy in good time.

It was really exciting to hear from Roberta the other day, and to hear that the quilts had been delivered to the children.
Please go to Roberta's Blog to read all about this amazing project and to see photographs of some of the children's faces. It sounds from Roberta's descriptions as if it was a really emotional time. Be prepared to take some time to read all of the posts, so get yourself a cup of tea (or whatever you prefer) and settle down to the full story. It is truly delightful.

I do hope that you have had a really lovely Christmas. My best wishes to you and your families.

Frosty morning.

2009-12-11T11:15:00.005Z

Its so lovely outside. A really frosty morning. Now I see the fog is slowly creeping back. How sad, but at least we had a short spell free of fog when the sunshone on these beautiful cobwebs.

Its nice that even the rubbish bins outside can be adorned with jewels like this.

The garden gate and my car got their share of embellishments too. I came into the warm before my fingers got too cold.

I have been buying fabric again! Not good, but I really couldn't resist these lovely pieces.

This is the collection of green fabrics left after working on the Green Quilt. Why is it that my collections of fabric grow even though I am using the fabric faster than I can buy it? Does anyone else have this affliction? Well, more a pleasure than an affliction. I love cuddling my fabric.

Sorry, there are no photos of the Green Quilt yet. I shall post these publicly once Liz and Simon have taken possession of what will become their quilt. It is their Christmas Present.

The fabric on the right is going to be the sashing for the quilt. The fabric on the left is destined for my mother's quilt. This should be my next big project. I have not quite decided upon the final design yet. Mum needs a quilt with a fleece backing for her favourite chair. I see the design being something to do with gardens. Mum's garden is a delightful jumble of plants, and in the summer is full of colour. It is long and narrow, sloping away from the house - one of a row of terraced houses. A traditional English Country Garden but without the vegetable plot. There is even a lovely bubbling stream down at the bottom of her garden. It floods at this time of year, but seldom reaches much above half way up the garden.

Working steadily - my own projects.

2009-11-04T09:23:00.007Z

Sorry to report that I have nothing new to show you. I have been working steadily on two projects, but neither is yet complete.

The first of these is a box I have been making for the "Think outside the take-out box" series of lessons by Debbie Babin. This has been great fun since I have been busy getting messy and playing with beads and thread as well as paint and fabric dyes. The series of lessons is one from Joggles. It is certainly well worth doing. I have a learnt a lot in the process.

This will be the outside of the box. Lots of dye inks used here.

A complete contrast - this is the inside lining of the box. It looks hand-dyed, but is actually a printed fabric I found and loved.

The next is the Green Quilt. I cannot even show you my progress here, since Liz and Simon have not yet seen it. This will take a while since it is rather fiddly, but I hope it will work out all right.

I've done it again!

2009-10-24T09:45:00.004+01:00

I have a confession to make. Do you remember a couple of weeks ago, when I told you I was on a yarn and fabric diet? Well, I've bought some fabric! Oh dear..........

I went to a lovely Quilting Exhibition given by a local Quilt Group. It was Beartown's "Sewing through to Silver" exhibition. A celebration of 25 years as a group. A lovely exhibition held in the Town Hall in Congleton. The main hall was beautifully lit. It is a very high hall with lots of windows around the top where there is also a balcony. There were some exhibits by local school children upstairs on the balcony and from here there was a marvellous view of the rest of the exhibition. Sorry, I didn't take any photographs......

It all fell apart when I left the exhibition. I went past Dot's stall. Big mistake.

I met this delightful witch and remembered that soon it will be Halloween. I often have youngsters coming to my door as part of their Trick or Treat. So she just had to come home with me. Then I thought about lining her cloak, so the next two fabrics joined the collection.

After that, I just could not stop myself and the next few pieces added themselves to my feverish fingers, all the time hearing my husband's voice in my head saying "I told you so."

Some black and white for my collection of black and white fabrics; a vivid splash of colour for the linings of two boxes I am making; a delicate blue and white Royal Doulton print from Woodrow which I could not resist; a music inspired print for a bag I intend to make for one of my music groups (a Recorder group, and two choirs) to stop me getting my piles of music muddled up; and some batiks. What is it about batik that I just cannot leave the fabric alone?

Now I find that the two fabrics I had chosen for the cloak lining are not quite big enough and I will need a much bigger piece. How will I just confine myself to a single piece? I must be strong...

The two pieces of halloween fabric? I now have plans for two drawstring bags to hold the treats for my young visitiors when they arrive. Much more fun to reach in and help yourself than just being handed something.

Exploring and learning new things.

2009-10-21T09:43:00.007+01:00

I've been away. On holiday. Short notice as usual, a last minute decision to go away for a few days. The cats were not impressed, but forgave us a soon as the next mealtime came around.

(Outside display of a small shop in Nice. The steps you can see were those of the alleyway leading up past this shop.)

(Picture taken while the ship was in Ajaccio, Corisica.)

An amazing experience. We went on a cruise in the Mediterranean. Its the end of the season there, and we were very lucky with the weather. Taking advantage of any trips offered, we visited Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Girona, Palma and a quick tour of Corsica!

(The gardens in front of the casino in Monte Carlo. I just loved the use of the mirror in the fountain. It is reflecting an image of the casino itself.)

This photo is the Duomo in Florence (Firenze).

I later found evidence of knitting in Firenze! I didn't see any yarn shops though.

Some delightful carving on the side of the Leaning tower of Pisa.

Blocks of marble at the port of Cittavecchia, From this port we went to visit Rome.

This marvellous marble floor is that of the beautiful Pantheon.

A wonderful mix of the ancient, the old and the new.

Our only bad weather arrived in Rome, when it rained. It didn't stop us having a really interesting tour around the city. There were also a couple of nights when it was a bit blowy at sea, but even that wasn't much. As I mentioned before, we were very lucky with the weather.

The following photo is of a gorgeous tile floor I saw as we passed through a narrow alleyway in Girona. The house was being renovated.

This amazing building is in Ajaccio. The Post Office occupies the ground floor.

The last few photos were taken as we walked around Palma, Majorca on our last day.

This building used to be the Grand Hotel. Its now a Library and Civic centre.

This is the floor inside the entrance of the Museum of Modern Art. The building can be found in one of the alleyways up in the old section of Palma. We found an interesting temporary exhibit of Picasso's drawings while we were there.

My last photo was of one of the private courtyards to be found in Palma. The gates were being rebuilt, and so we had this delightful scene peeped at through some railings.

We saw so much that I really couldn't explain it all to you. It's such a special experience to wake up every day knowing that the ship has arrived somewhere different. We shall try to return to Rome and Florence again one day - these places are so huge and there is so very much to see. Girona was quiet by comparison. A lovely place to see. Corsica was amazing. Now that is another place I would love to return to, perhaps to visit Sardinia as well.

As you can tell, I took loads of photographs, mostly following my own fascination for texture and colour. The colours were so bright and gorgeous.

I promise I shall get back to the textiles next time.

Knitting and sewing - and dreaming.

2009-09-29T16:40:00.012+01:00

It has been rather busy here with a number of projects on the go at the same time. So far this week a skirt has been completed. The fabric for this skirt was found in a local Charity Shop. Its a lovely soft rayon fabric which drapes well. The colour shows up better in the next photograph. Its the fourth fabric from the top. Pink with orange and blue. The top is an old one I knitted yers ago. Its an Anna pattern and is a gentle orange colour. Funnily enough, the pattern I used was from the Burda Magazine (2/2007), the same publishing house.

I have also cut out the fabric for a blouse - the black and white print shown last time. I intend to get this started later on today. The blouse I am making is the one labelled B. The red one on the bottom left.

After this, I have two dress lengths ready to cut out next. I shall be making one of each of these dresses. However, I shall probably simplify teh sleeves, I am not sure about that silly tie.

There is also a length of curtain fabric ready, with lining material, for a new jacket. It will become the short jacket in the middle. Hopefully, I may have enough fabric left to make the waistcoat.

For the knitting projects, I have a pair of socks, a pair of fingerless gloves and a blanket all sitting in my knitting bag ready to be taken up again.

This is the blanket. I started with the larger square using up some of my sock yarn pieces. I am knitting onto this to make the whole thing bigger. Not sure how this will turn out since it is being made up as I go along.

So far this week, I have completed two little gift bags. The first one is an established pattern and uses up some of the yarn I had left over from the pretty Summer Socks I completed a couple of weeks ago. The second one was made up as I went along. Why didn't I just do the first pattern once more? Well, I tried, but I just couldn't get it right the second time around. So I messed around with some really simple lace ribbing and a simple cable rib, which didn't use a cable needle. I quite enjoyed it. The top of the bag has some Fyberspates yarn added since I ran out of the cream Pinguoin sock yarn. The bags are roughly 6 inches tall and 5 inches across. The second bag has been lined with some of the coffee coloured satin lining I bought to make my new jacket.

In the planning stages are two quilts.

The first is a green quilt for my elder daughter and her partner. She asked for a green quilt. I hope she will like the finished quilt, because it will encompass rather more than just the colour green. Sorry about this, but the design is "under wraps" for now since I am not too sure whether she reads my Blog or not. Pictures later when I have shared the initial ideas with her. Either that or I have shown her the finished top. Knowing me it will probably be the latter.

The second quilt is one to go on my mother's favourite chair. I haven't got too far with ideas for this one just yet. The ideas will, I know, start flowing as soon as I have got most of the design work on Liz's quilt finished. The piece of fabric shown above is one of the furnishing fabrics used in mum's livingroom, so is here in my workroom as inspiration.

Just at the moment I really need to get my wardrobe sorted out, so quilting will get under way once I have completed most of the clothing items I mentioned above.

This will sound very strange, but I have now officially started a fabric and yarn diet. I was chatting to a friend in the Knitters within Borders group last week, and told her of my intention not to buy any more for a while. I shall not share this momentous news with my husband since he would just find the whole idea hysterically funny.

However, the main idea behind this decision is that I have ambitions to clear out the built-in wardrobe where my various stashes reside. Then I can put in some purpose-built shelving and containers. It would save my regular battles with the sliding doors which no longer slide. I should also be able to find things much more easily. Perhaps I would also be able to find room for the clutter which fills my workroom floor.............. I can but dream!

Some rather nice news - Park City Girl has started advertising her Autumn Quilt Festival. See the icon to the right hand side of this Blog post to see more details.

Sewing, knitting and trying to use the stash.

2009-09-15T11:57:00.009+01:00

This wonderful sight is the major part of my large-piece fabric stash. There is more, but these are my less special fabrics. I am a dreadful hoarder/collector of gorgeous fabrics, but I am determined to use most of this stash over the next few months.

I went to the outdoor market to find thread and a zip to complete the project shown below and fell for these gorgeous fabrics. Two colourways of the same design and a really busy back and white fabric. All are John Kaldor fabrics and are Rayon, I think. The black and white print will be used for a blouse since it is lighter weight than the other two. These will turn into dresses before too long.

The dress I was completing was this one:

Made from Crepe de Chine, it is this pattern:

I needed another rather special dress for a celebration at the weekend, so I got sewing. I wouldn't have said it was that easy a project. You will note that the pattern says "Very easy Vogue". However, that may well be because my beloved sewing machine decided to throw a wobbly and didn't want to help.

I was not best pleased. I got out the maunal! Yes, I still have it for emergencies like this.

Stitches were jumping and not completing properly, thread was shredding, etc, etc........ After I had tried all the solutions offered by the manual, I got on the phone to Jaycotts. I got a really interesting and helpful explanation of what might be happening and some solutions. The main one being that it would need a service. I decided to abandon the machine. Time was running out.

After a soothing cup of tea, I took out my old trusty Husqvarna, and got on with things. Dear machine, it didn't let me down.

It is now almost thirty years old! I bought it late in 1979, buying the best machine I could afford.

Yesterday, having threatened my newer machine with a service. I decided to give it another try, so that I could document exactly what was going wrong and provide some samples. It started behaving itself. Now is this an intermittent fault, hated by technicians and owners alike? Or is it sorry for getting me so annoyed? I really am not sure what to think.

Ah well, back to the comparative sanity of knitting. I have been knitting socks for myself. This pattern has been designed by a friend, Diana Stevens (The Knittery). The first pair was knitted in Pingouin Machine Washable Sock Wool. I have not seen Pingouin yarns for many years, and have not been able to find an online source.

The yarn knitted up really nicely.............

I enjoyed it so much that I am making another pair. It will be nice to have cosy toes this winter.
This next pair of socks is being knitted in King Cole's Zig zag. It is fun watching the colours change as I knit.

Away days and finishing off.

2009-09-06T11:18:00.009+01:00

The photo above is of the lamp that stands at the entrance to the Close (small cluster of houses)where I live. I can see it from the bedroom window.

For a couple of days this week, we went off down to St Ives in Cambridgeshire. The photo has the hotel we stayed in to the right hand side. The meadows in the front are beside the River Ouse.

In the centre of the bridge over the Ouse is a delightful little chapel.
I had a wonderful time exploring the town and all the little alleyways and side roads. Down one of these I saw this wall painting. It reminded me so much of work by Banksy. I wonder if it was by him.

The picture was in a little alleyway which ran off the quayside.

Here are some of the details I saw walking around.

Some beautifully coloured lichen on the stonework of the bridge.

Hand carved lintel detail from above a window. Each window and door on this building has a different carving above it.

This is the roof of the teahouse next to the bridge. I just love the colours.

There were many very old Willow trees about the town. One near the Hotel was afflicted with this amazing fungus.

This tree, near the marina was very healthy.

Thanks St Ives, I really had a very pleasant stay. I especially enjoyed my visit to the Norris Museum where I was able to enjoy an exhibition all about Woad, and a lovely chat with the lady behind the desk.

Not surprisingly, there has not been much textile work done. But here are the items I managed to finish before we left.

The green jacket has now been claimed by my elder daughter and will soon be hanging n her wardrobe.

The white cardigan is just as cosy as I had hoped and will not be going anywhere except my wardrobe, unless it is being worn by me.

I have worn my blue skirt, but will probably have to alter the waistline. Its a bit too loose.

Felting, finishing off and fun!

2009-08-28T11:17:00.015+01:00

The past few days have been really busy. One highlight of this week was a long walk I had with my husband. It had been really wet earlier in the day, but we set out fully equipped in our waterproofs and walking boots.

It was such a lovely walk though. Everything smelt so damp and fresh.

Clearly this snail decided it was better off above the ground.

I've been busily completing projects this week. This skirt was finished a couple of weeks ago, but needed the waistband tightening up a little since I had made it rather too loose.The pattern is one I have used a few times, but never in crepe de chine. It is Simplicity 5459 and long out of print. I added pockets at the hip line.

The next project was a little experiment. My first use of jersey fabric.
The pattern comes from "Sew" magazine and came free with their second issue.

Now I just have to complete another skirt - this one is waiting for me to do the waistband and add buttonholes, then I can get the hemming done. It is all pinned and ready to go. However, I really must get my white cardigan finished first. This is nearly all sewn, the buttons are in place, the sleeves sewn in, just the side seams to finish.

Just completed this morning is my green cardigan. Now sewn up after a marathon session last night listening to podcasts, it waits for buttons and a ribbon for the waist.

Last Friday I had a glorious afternoon making felt with my friend Hilary. We took ourselves out into my garden so we could get really messy without any worries at all.

This piece of felt now hangs on my wall waiting for inspiration to strike. The colours are brighter than they appear here.

Then earlier this week I finally got some fabric printing done. I used the lino prints I cut several months ago. Instead of using fabric paint (it dries too quickly to use) I mixed some acrylic paint with some block printing medium and printed with that. It took a couple of days, leaving the prints to dry overnight in between sessions. (Sorry, but Blogger will not let me include this photo the right way up!)

To cap it all, I was really naughty the day before yesterday. I couldn't resist these wonderful fabrics in the sale at Cheshire Needlecraft.

They have been washed, ironed and stroked and are sitting on my windowsill. I shall put these away when they have been admired long enough.

The last piece is one for a challenge. Its the August callenge of the Fibre Arts Mixed Media group (see the link to the right hand side of my Blog). I call it "3s and more". It has been made from all sorts of metallic shiny things. The base is a lovely cream cardigan which I managed to felt by accident.

The orange is a piece of very lightly felted wool. On top of this I have added Angelina fibres, some metallic fabric, metal braiding, wire things I found in a shop in the section where the wrapping paper is usually found. The strange hand like shape is a piece of machine embroidery I did some years ago. The number three used to be partof one of those tubes that hold tomato paste. The small leaves used to belong to a pair of ear-rings I found in a lucky bag the last time I went into one of the local charity shops. (That bag cost only £1 and was full of wonderful oddments which I shall be using in future projects.)

The next photo gives a close-up of those odd wire things. I pulled the gold ones out since they were tightly curled. The silver metal balls came like that.

Last weekend, I went to the Festival of Quilts. What a wonderful show that was. I bought a screen and some screenprinting materials. Guess what I shall be trying next............?

Free Machine Embroidery.

2009-08-16T16:13:00.002+01:00

Well, "Tree" got finished this week.

Do let me know what you think.

A walk and a night visitor.

2009-08-07T10:53:00.007+01:00

Well, the walk happened last Sunday. It was a lovely day and my dear husband had bought a "new" camera on EBay. A good opportunity to go and try it out. I took my own camera along. Far less sophisticated, but I find it so much easier to use.
We went to Tegg's Nose. This is a beautiful Country Park in the hills above Macclesfield.

The paths are quite steep and can be challenging, but the walk is so beautiful. I put on my walking boots since I knew it would get wet at some point along the way.

Here are some of the drystone walls surrounding one of the farms adjoining the Country Park.

Quite often, as they grow, the trees nudge into a wall, gently knocking it down over time.

The walls look so lovely when the moss has started to grow on the stone.

This was the stream we needed to walk across. You can just see the edges of the stones used as a pathway across.

Further along, we saw these old railway sleepers being used as a reinforcement to a bank.

I just love the way the ivy creeps up this tree. It will need to be removed at some stage so that the tree doesn't get damaged.

We walked between two small reservoirs. This rather nice detail was part of the overflow which is part of the pathway between the two. The higher reservoir can overflow using this section of the path, if the water level gets too high.

I just loved the patterns that the plants made growing in the concrete.

The walk was quite strenuous, but we have decided to go walking again next weekend. There are so many good choices for a walk round here, that it will be difficult to choose which one to try next.

This was my night visitor. A rather handsome moth. It stayed on a post-it note I had stuck to the wall above my desk. The angle-poise lamp was illuminating the paper, which is probably what had attracted the moth. It stayed for some time, allowing me to take quite a few photos.

I then left it in peace and went off to my bed, shutting the door so that the cats would not become interested in it's presence.