A tidy workroom at long last - sewing too!

 I have spent a couple of days getting my workroom rearranged and tidy. It has been well worth the effort since I now feel comfortable enough to get on with the sewing projects which are waiting for me.

Tailor's dummy and bookshelves beside my cupboard

The first of these you can see on Aggie2, my tailor's dummy. It is yet another toile for the "Sew the perfect fit" course which I am doing with my friend Eilene. This has been quite a learning curve to date, but it is good to learn a new skill and it will help my dressmaking skills. I look forward to feeling confident that any clothes I make will fit properly.

My sewing desk, cluttered as always

Speaking of sewing projects. I have a third pair of these cargo pants cut out and ready to sew. The pale blue light denim should make for a comfortable pair. I just need a bit of time to settle down to getting these started.

I bought some more fabric on Friday to get a couple of projects under way. The floral jersey was bought from the Fent Shop in Macclesfield. The last two and a half metres from the roll. It was a little more than I really needed, but I couldn't leave that extra length. This is intended for another long sleeved polo neck jumper to add to my collection for the autumn/winter. There should be sufficient fabric to make a second top, though I am not entirely sure which design to use.

Floral jersey fabric

Quilting cottons

The half metre lengths of quilting cottons will be used to help me repair a quilt I made for my mother a few years back. This has been loved and washed over the years and is definitely in need of some tender loving care. I'll share some photos another time once I have decided exactly how I am going to tackle this repair. The fabrics were bought from The Quilting Box in Macclesfield.

Walking through a couple of local charity shops I found these scarves. They are now washed and resting with my feltmaking supplies to help me with some nuno felt experiments. I really feel the need to get some felt made before too long. The loose woven piece might be better suited to some of my hand stitched projects, but since it is quietly unravelling itself as I watch, it might be better to felt it into something.

Mending pile

While tidying up my room, I found my pile of mending/alteration projects. These have been ignored for far too long. I have challenged myself to get ten of these pieces finished this week. I have already finished five of the easiest - replacing buttons, minor repairs to seams. The items concerned have already been ironed and are hanging up in my wardrobe ready to wear once more. I need to tackle some of the more demanding items next.

My scrappy cardigan is nearing completion. All the knitting has been finished, I am just stitching the ribbing sections into place. These were knitted separately, which is quite an unusual method. The sewing together may take some time yet since there are also quite a number of ends to sew in too!

Last week my copy of the latest book from the Contemporary Quilt group arrived. It is a record of the quilts which were selected for the "In print" exhibition. I have a quilt in this collection so it was rather a thrill to see my work in print, literally. You can see the previous posts where I blogged about my quilt here and here.

I haven't been able to see the exhibition for myself just yet, but will be able to see the quilts for myself early in 2019 when they are shown at the Quilters Exhibition and Fabric Sale in Nantwich in January. They then travel to Quiltfest in February.

In case you are interested, the remaining venues showing this exhibition are:

October 2nd to 30th, 2018
The Curve Gallery, Carnegie Library, Bangor, Northern Ireland, BT20 4LH

Sunday 20th January 2019
Quilters Exhibition and Fabric Sale, Nantwich Civic Hall, Market Street, Nantwich, CW5 5DG

February 7th to 15th 2019
Quiltfest 2019, Llangollen, Wales

March 26th to April 25th 2019
The Old Chapel Textile Centre,
Newbury, RG19 6HW

Getting back into the flow

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

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

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

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

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

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

Messing around with felt and stencils on paper

Quilting the bag sides

This week I finished the bag I showed last week. You will recognise the photo above from my last post. I handed the bag over on Wednesday. It was part of a Christmas present from the Recorder Consort to Kathryn who leads us admirably.

The pattern is an adaptation of the Stowe bag by Grainline Studio. I first made the pattern here. I have fully lined the bag and added a single zipped pocket instead of the collection of small pockets of the original.

Finished bag

 Now you can understand why the music fabric was important. Kathryn was delighted with her bag and her other presents too. These included some fruit cordials which she supplies us with during the break during rehearsals and a gorgeous music decorated set of notelets.

Zipped pocket inside the bag

 I've also been playing with nuno felt using the techniques taught by Vivienne Morpeth. It remains to be seen just how successful I have been.

Starting to add the fleece round the silk pieces

 As you can see I have used the same colours I used for the felted top I made during the workshop with Vivienne. I have added some scraps of sari felt from my stash.

The back of the nuno felt before work starts

The finished nuno piece - front

 The nuno felt is still wet at this stage and the colour may well lighten by the time it is fully dry.

Nuno piece showing the back

 The squares are caused by the pieces of felt added beneath the sari silk. I decided to see whether using squares would work.

Messing around with stencils into my sketchbook

 After a lengthy session making two pieces of felt - the second piece I can't yet show you since it will become part of my pages for the Pinfold Challenge. The theme this time is "Trees", hence the following experiments.

Stencil onto paper using fabric paints

Trial run using an acrylic spray

Kitchen paper used to clean the stencils

I had a lot of fun messing around with a couple of my stencils. I really like the patterns left on the kitchen papers used in clearing up. I can see these being added to my sketchbook when they are dry.

Knitting and sewing

Mercy cardigan by Drops Design

There has been quite a lot of knitting since my last post here. I have been working on this cardigan. So far I have finished the body, worked from the neck down on circular needles with some waist shaping which is rather fascinating. The first sleeve is now under way and I have started the decreasing - this is also started from the top down. I do like unusual construction methods like this. With the different lace designs it really does make for an interesting knit.

It is just as well that I have been getting on with this project since I have been asked to knit a couple of jumpers. One is for my daughter and the other for my granddaughter. Funnily enough, both were found in the same magazine that contains the Mercy cardigan shown above. The Knitter Magazine, issue 115.

I had a lovely time going into my local knitting shop this afternoon to source the yarns needed. The owner is really helpful and found the best solutions very quickly for me. Just as well, since one of the colours I needed to find was yellow. Apparently there isn't much yellow yarn around at the moment.

Tiger by Martin Storey

The first is a delightful jumper by one of my favourite knit designers, Martin Storey. The main colour will be olive green with a daffodil yellow tiger. The back is plain with the tiger motif appearing on the front. The yarn is Stylecraft Life DK, a lovely soft acrylic/wool mix which I used many times before. A practical yarn for a young child.

Buttonside sweater by Jennifer Dassau

This is the jumper which my daughter wants me to knit for her. She wanted charcoal. You will have noticed that the same yarn has appeared yet again - the Stylecraft Life DK. It has such a very useful range of colours to choose from. The charcoal has a lovely marl in the yarn which will make for rather nice textural interest. Reading the pattern, this seems to have a rather interesting construction. It is lucky that I have a few good lamps to choose from since knitting at night with such a dark colour will not be easy with the winter months coming up rather quickly.

The other day, I treated myself to the next issue of The Knitter (116), but I have a feeling it will be some time before I get to knit any of the projects in that edition. There are three more projects I would really like to knit in issue 115 - a pair of socks, shawl and a rather nice short sleeved lace top. Ah well, I can always admire the photos and dream about the colours I would choose.

Yes, I did get started with some sewing this week, but this had to be abandoned when visitors arrived, coming to stay for a few days. So, a few craft free days were enjoyed. It is so nice to be with family, especially when they live some distance away.

I have some plans to get some dyeing done this week as soon as my dye stuff and the fabric arrive. I need to prepare these for a nuno felt workshop which is coming up in ten days time. It is the "Seamless Nuno Felt sleeveless top" workshop with Vivienne Morpeth. A two day workshop. I keep checking the equipment list to make sure that I have got everything ready. I am rather excited and not a little nervous....

Keep calm and ....... sew.......knit. I have a feeling this week will be full of both, as well as some gardening projects which really ought to be started. However, the weather will decide which projects get done. The dyeing too. But that will have to wait until the postman appears with the parcels.

Three weeks later........ sewing and dyeing, feltmaking too.

Blue pine from Brenda's garden - we were here to have some fun dyeing.

Apologies for the long lapse in blogging. It has been extremely busy lately. The wedding has been and gone. Great fun it was too! So lovely to meet family. We really don't get to meet as often as we would like. My dress and jacket were liked, but I still haven't got a photo to show of me wearing the dress with the jacket. I must remedy that as soon as I can.

The following weekend was Festival of Quilts. This was an exhausting time meeting a lot of people and getting to see some really wonderful quilts. I was lucky enough to have my own quilt exhibited along with the rest of the entrants to "Horizons". You can see the whole exhibition here. Just click on the link to the photos of the exhibition.

The three lovely bookwraps I won .

I also took part in the Tombola and managed to win not one, but three bookwraps by the same maker - Sally Hutson. They are lovely. I really don't know how I won three of her rather special bookwraps since I bought tickets on three separate days and won one each time. Such luck, and no I didn't cheat. The bookwraps website can be seen here. It has some lovely photos of the fun we had on the stand. I was able to help out on one of the days. If you look at the list of names to the side, you will find Sally Hutson and can see some of the other bookwraps she made for the Tombola.




Since then it has all been rather a blur. I had to get four book pages completed before Friday, ready for a meeting of one of the Textile groups I belong to. We had a lovely time getting together, dyeing fabric and chatting. Such a lot of fun. The day started off rather wet and we were wondering whether we would be able to work outside, but then the sun came out and it turned into a glorious day!





The first two pages are "Dance" for Marion.











The next two are on the theme of "Circus" for Judy.











Whilst there we were able to look at the round robins we had completed a few months ago. These have now all been completed. It is interesting to see how each piece came out.

I made the moon on this one.














For this one I added the hedge and gate across the centre.

For Judy, I added two crows.












For Karen's bag, I added the sun.












My own cushion design started with the pile of books in the centre and the background fabric printed with words to do with literature. My theme was "Books". When everyone had added their piece, I added the applique letters which state "books".

My round robin - my pieces are the pile of books, the kindle,
the calligraphy showing words to do with literacy and the word "books!"

When I got home I managed to get some felt-making done before the light went. I wanted to make some pieces of pre-felt so that I can experiment with some making some nuno felt later this week. This was all because of a really interesting book I picked up at Festival.

Felt using some wool slub. Not sure what I shall do with this piece.
It was great fun to make.

Pre-felt ready to start experimenting with nuno felt.

The book bought at Festival which will be
of great help when I start experimenting.

Today has been spent washing out the fabric I dyed on Friday. It all looks rather nice. At the time of writing this I am waiting to give it a final rinse out and put it on the washing line to dry. Unfortunately, the rain clouds are gathering again. Photos will have to wait until another time since I haev delayed long enough in getting this post out.

Oh yes, I also played around with my soldering iron and some nylon fabrics. There is some black acrylic felt under these fabrics. I really don't know what I'm doing yet, just messing around and seeing what happens. I was able to watch a demonstration of this type of work at Festival which is why I am keen to give it a go.

Messing around with fabrics and soldering irons.

Another photo of Brenda's beautiful Blue Pine - this is
a section of the bark. I love the circle design it makes.