A completed bag, and flowers.

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.

Message from a friend.

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.

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.

Good weather.

Its so frustrating that I can't share any photos of my surroundings. Sadly, my dear little camera had an accident during the week. It had been borrowed and fell on some hard tiles............ a rather sad accident.


So no new photos for a while.........


All this when the weather is so nice again. Truly Autumnal weather, chill mornings warming up later into glorious sunshine.



At present I am prevaricating. I should be getting on with the ironing. Not my favourite occupation.





I have started knitting again. A red aran cardigan. I had planned to design one of my own - something I have vague ideas of. However, I need this cardigan rather urgently. The design work can wait until I have more time. This yarn started out life as a different cardigan. Sadly, I just did not like the design when I started knitting it. The buttonholes just seemed huge, so I ripped it all back. This design has pockets and will far more practical. Just what I need.







The quilt I showed in last weeks Blog has now been collected in and will be given to St Lukes Hospice soon. It was nice to see all the quilts together. We had our photos taken with them.

At school, I have started a Craft Group. The projects we shall tackle include knitting, sewing, felt-making, card-making, and many others. Last week I started showing them how to knit and start French knitting and making woolly bobbles. (Like the one on the pink bobble hat shown.)

It was so nice that some wanted to take the French knitting away with them! One or two took the knitting needles off with them too. They have relatives who can help with teaching them to knit at home. Very excitingly, I have two boys in the group. One of them was delighted to take one of the home-made bobbles home with him. I do hope they enjoyed themselves as much as I did. For next week, I have bought some more French Knitting Bobbins. These are in the shape of little people. Such fun!

Busy, busy, busy................

Well, I have been really busy doing a lot of sewing lately. This first image is of a skirt I made. Well, reconstructed out of a pair of trousers that was languishing in my wardrobe. The trousers had really wide legs which was probably why I hadn't worn them in a very long time. It was so easy to turn them into a skirt. I shall use this skirt a lot - some really useful pockets.





A very simple dress, with side pockets. Why do women's dresses and skirts usually not have any pockets? This was made to get myself back into making my own clothes and using up some of my rather large stash. The pattern is Kwik-Sew 2677. A really comfy dress, I added darts to the front to give the design more shape.






The Hospice quilt is finished and the binding is done. I shall be handing this over on Wednesday. It will be fun to see how all the other lapquilts turned out. There are four (or is it five?) in all.





These photos show just how daft I went with the free-machine quilting. I covered the design with flowers and leaves in resonse to the mostly floral patterns used in the fabric choices. There are a few squiggles too for variety. The backing is a gorgeously soft fleece. Warm, cosy and washable.
I can see myself making one of these for myself (unless it gets claimed by someone else) one day.

The last two of my projects recently do not have any photos...... yet. The first of these was a fully lined cloak made without a pattern for my younger daughter. "Mum," she said. "Can you help?" This was a Friday. The Fancy dress party was on the Saturday evening. Bless her, she did most of the sewing, I did the cutting out and working out how to make the thing and how much fabric we needed.
The fact that it was fully lined was my own fault. She was going as "Little Red Riding Hood", but wanted a full cloak and not a cape. (She is 23.) I suggested that since we were going to be making a cloak, wouldn't it be more practical to make something she would wear again? I suggested lining it in black so that it could be fully reversible........... I think my sanity must be in question here.................She loved the idea, and looked magnificent setting out for her party.
Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of her setting out and I have not seen the cloak since. It will be safely stashed somewhere............

Since then, I got involved in helping a neighbour. Her young daughter (aged 15) had just been named as the Rose Queen. A really pretty girl, she had been given a lovely boned strapless and sleeveless evening dress. It was too big around the bodice. I spent a fascinating and nerve-wracking few hours, fitted in around work (school had just started again), working out how to alter the dress. In the end I summoned up the courage to take the side seams apart, deconstruct the boning in that area, take in the seams, recontruct the boning and hand stitch the lining back in place. Sadly, no photos yet, but apparently the dress now fits beautifully. She had her first public engagement as Rose Queen yesterday.

My fingers are now itching to get knitting again, and I have some fabric poised ready to be made into a dress...... I may not have time to cut it out today, since I also have a few items that really ought to be mended............. There is a box of schoolwork to attend to as well. Now what shall I do first?

Making felt.

Well, its a wet day here. What better way to spend a morning than making felt?

I bought two 250g mixed colour packs of Merino 64s from Wingham Wool Work earlier this month. The colours above are from the green/blue range I ordered. Below are the colours from the yellow/orange pack.

There was also white and chestnut brown to add to the colours available to me. I haven't made any felt recently, so really enjoyed myself this morning. I made four pieces of felt, but will post the photos of these when they have dried out a little more. Two were on a blue/green theme and the other two used the browns, yellows, white and yellow colours.

On the UFO front, I completed my blanket. This is currently in my younger daughter's bedroom. She snuggled herself up in it watching a film last night and I haven't seen it since. It might have found it's new owner.

The work on the charity quilt for the Hospice is continuing slowly. I made the mistake of enjoying myself with the free-machine-embroidery. Never mind, theres not much left to complete before sorting out the binding.

Whilst all this has been going on, I have started a new piece of knitting. This is the Ribbed Top by Vladimir Teriokhin, from the Spring/Summer 2008 edition of Vogue Knitting.

Its a really interesting pattern to knit.

However, I'm badly tempted to start yet another project. This is to knit a little bag for felting.

This whole idea started because I'm planning to start a Craft Group at school next term. It would be such a nice project to aim for, for those who want to learn to knit. I bought some more colourways in this same yarn to try out too.

I only intend to make samples with these two. I just could not resist the little bag pattern when I saw it. Why pinky/purple? I just loved the colour as soon as I saw it.

Finishing off those UFOs

I've decided to work hard this week on completing things.

The knitted mystery blanket is continuing. In fact I have now completed the border and am steadily filling in those holes. I managed to get rid of the lacey centres I was not happy with - almost without incident. I did manage to drop rather a few stitches ripping out one - but then was able to repair the mess. A bit of a heart-stopping moment.

However, I find myself aided and abetted by a new visitor. Seb belongs to my younger daughter and he has been sharing my workroom for some days now. My dear daughter tells me he is too noisy to share her bedroom, so he is here with me. I seem to have taken over cleaning duties, since I cannot bear to have unpleasant smells around me. Hot iron - yes, smelly rat - no!

Seb's cage after he has rearranged it. He always does this after I have cleaned it for him. He has moved monkey, a small toy, into the box and made a nest.

In return for the daily tidying, Seb keeps me entertained - I keep hiding things in his cage for him to find. He entertains the cats too. Coco, however is unimpressed. She is disgusted - but then she's the effective hunter and sees rats a prey. Felix is fascinated - he seems to be convinced that the cage is a new cat TV!

In case you are wondering, Felix's idea of a good hunt is a visit to a nearby barbecue after everyone has left. He brought back a sausage from his last expedition. I didn't have the heart to remove it from him.

I only found out about this exploit because Felix was so proud of himself. I heard a series of loud cat shouts and went to investigate. I was so relieved that it was just Felix with his "find".

Needless to say, when the cats are around, Seb is confined to his cage. I refuse to deny the cats access to my workroom, since they are used to keeping me company when the mood takes them. However, the door is firmly shut when I am not in here - just in case................

The second UFO I am currently working on is for the local Hospice. This photo shows three of the four strips completed by other members of Hartford Quilters. The pieces of fabric top to the left of the picture were being auditioned for my own addition.

I have completed my section (extreme left) and now just need to sew all the pieces together and quilt it. Each of the strips above will be seperated by a stripe of plain cream. The backing is a cosy cream coloured piece of polyester fleece. I'm intending to use a form of quilt-as-you-go, stitching each piece to the backing fleece and not just to each other. I'll let you know how I get on. The whole piece doesn't need much in the way of quilting.

Only two UFOs? Well, to be honest, there are many more. I felt if I limited myself to just finishing two I might just be able to reward myself by starting something new.

Quiet times.

Well, I really thought I wouldn't have anything to post about again this week. Then I started thinking.............. Thinking is definitely a dangerous past-time.




I've been busily knitting since I last wrote. Liz's pullover is now ready for the addition of the neck. Its taken me rather a while to get to this stage. Its been one of those projects where I have had had repeatedly to rip back and reknit sections because I have made a mistake. Usually really silly mistakes, which makes it all the more irritating. Since the jumper is being knitted for someone, I find myself unwilling to put up with even minor mistakes.

I have also completed the design work for the Band Robin. I can't show you my design just yet, since I need to show photos to the Stitching Sisters group first. Its taken me rather a while to get the design finished so I do hope that Jenny, the owner, likes it. The next stage is to get on with the stitching.

Recently, I became involved with a new Quilting Group, Hartford Quilters. This is going to be a really active group. We have already started a joint project making strips for a series of lapquilts. The strips are 6 inches deep and 42 inches wide (finished size) in pastel shades. The finished lapquilts will be given to the local Hospice, who have suggested the colour scheme we are using. I have put all my pieces together, but have not settled on a design for my strip yet. I'd better get a move on with this before I get left behind.

A second group I have become involved with recently, is the Borders Knitting group meeting at Cheshire Oaks. The group meets inside Borders, the large book shop. (Thats me on the bottom right hand side of the photo.) This is the first knitting group I have ever been a part of. Its so nice to meet people with a similar interest. Its fun to sit around and chat and to learn new ideas too. I got to hear about this group through Ravelry, one of the Internet groups I belong to.