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

Just knitting

Quilt hanging up - borders added

Well, not just knitting. Just before heading off to my daughter's for Christmas, I did manage to complete the borders on my African Crosses quilt. It now looks like this and awaits the wadding and backing.

The wadding is currently drying out. it is a cotton mix and I have washed it before using it. It is one of those waddings which will shrink by around 5% when washed, so I prefer to wash it first, before any quilting starts. At the moment the quilt is 52inches wide and 66inches in length.It will be interesting to measure it again once quilted and bound.

Beanie hat and fingerless mittens for my husband

I took plenty of knitting with me down to the house. The first item to be completed was this hat. A very quick make, I had sufficient yarn left to make the pair of fingerless gloves. These came in very handy when we were out walking over Christmas. It was windy, so I gave the hat and gloves to my husband Ian to keep his ears and fingers warm. He was delighted, which was rather sweet.

Interrupted cables

My main project was the green aran waistcoat which I had been struggling with over the past few weeks. In all the time I had been working on it, I had only completed four inches. For me that is far too slow. I had become rather bored with the project and so I ripped it back and started something else. The working name for this is "Interrupted cables". I have no fixed idea as to what this will become. It will probably be either a waistcoat, or a sleeveless top. There isn't enough yarn for anything else. Started on Christmas Eve, I have almost reached the shoulders............ You will have to be patient since I am making this one up as I go along.

My revamped workroom

Today has been rather busy. We arrived back the day before yesterday with a vintage desk which Ian had bought at auction. A lovely item, it now sits proudly in his office. As a result, his old desk was without a home. I suggested that I got his old desk and we discarded mine. Ian's old desk and my own work table had been computer desks owned by our daughters when they were at home. Mine had been damaged rather badly by the bench fastenings of my two working lamps. They gave very good light to work by, but were breaking up the surface of my old table which just wasn't strong enough to support them. The lamps have been put away for a later date when I may be able to use them again on a different surface.

My work table now looks like this. My quilt top waits patiently for me along with some of the fabric which may be used for the backing. Both my large cutting boards occupy one half ready for action. I have sorted through the contents of my little drawers and relabelled them. These hold my specialist machine feet and extra bobbins, scissors, rotary cutters and machine needles. Yes, I do have separate compartments for all my machine needles - there are eleven different types. ( Universal, Microtex, Embroidery, Quilting, etc, etc.) I like being able to keep track so that I know when I am running low on a particular type.........

My sewing machine is cleaned and ready for action. A new needle is in position.

The lamp shown is usually the one I take along to workshops if it is dull outside and might be rather dark inside the venue. It gives a really good light. It remains to be seen if it is enough. I am rather fussy about light quality.

A felting workshop and completed workroom.

View from workroom window

This morning the sky outside my window was rather threatening. Now that I am finally writing this entry to my blog, the sky has cleared and We have sunshine and blue skies! A crazy day. I managed to take Ella out for her walk this morning between the heavy showers. She wasn't impressed when I had to dry her paws.

Lampshade workshop

On Saturday I went along to a lovely feltmaking workshop. We were making lampshades using British wool. The colours are muted, but so lovely. The workshop was with the delightful Ellie Langley. I had a lot of fun learning how to construct my lampshade and learnt so much about making felt.

My lampshade

My own was made from two shades of Shetland wool. I look forward to being able to find a lampstand so that I can use it.

Japanese instructions

One project I plan to complete in the next few days is this one - a little purse/bag. The instructions are in Japanese, but I also managed to find the instructions for a similar bag in an English magazine. The kit comes from www.eternalmaker.com and the magazine article was found in issue 36 of Mollie Makes. I was lucky enough to find this copy in amidst a selection being given away by a friend in one of the textile groups I go to. I couldn't resist the little black cats in the fabric.

Little bag bits and pieces

Over the past few days I have been working on my textile book. This will be ready to be shown at an Embroiderer's Guild meeting in a few days time, so I won't show it just yet. These  are the fabrics I am using for the cover.

Book cover under construction

Her you can see the samples I made when I was trying to work out how to put it all together. The stitched samples are made from pieces of dyecatcher sewn together using button thread.

Sample books and cover

Lastly, one of my shelving units filled with books. My ambition is to get the pile just seen to he right hand side of the unit finished and put away. The pile has some mending, another incomplete textile book and my journal quilts, as well as some unfinished pieces. Hopefully it will not take too long.

New shelving in use

Ah well, back to the book. I hope to get the cover completed and attached today........

A new workroom and some batik.

Work in progress - door installed, radiator to be moved.

Work in progress, showing my mirror fronted storage.

The window as it was.

An almost tidy workspace.

Yes, I can extend into the garden!

My workroom is now usable again. I just need curtains, but that can wait. You can see one of my storage units in the bottom of this collection of photos. These look like a series of boxes, but act as my bookshelves too. They are also on lockable castors, so can be moved around easily giving me extra worktop space!

Last week I was able to go to a batik workshop and made the following three pieces - all have only one colour this time, but I intend to overprint these at some stage. Two were made using soya wax and the first was using paraffin wax. I just wanted to see what the difference was.

Batik using paraffin wax.

Batik using soya wax.

Batik using soya wax and stretched across a frame.

I must admit that I preferred using the paraffin wax since I found it easier to use in the tjanting. The soya wax seems to be easier to iron out of the fabric. Each piece is waiting to be given a first wash before ironing again to remove more of the wax. I'll report back on how I get on.

Making a book and looking forward to changes.

MCAL in progress.

Over the past month I have been working steadily on my crochet piece. So far it is 30 inches long and almost 20 inches at the widest point. I am just about half way to completion, I think. This will make a useful shawl/wrap for chilly evenings around the house. It should also look quite nice on the back of one of the chairs. It started off as a Mystery Crochet-a-long, hence the "MCAL" in the photo caption. I will never gain any prizes for my crochet technique, but I am quite pleased with this and it is a really enjoyable alternative to knitting and is giving my achy elbow a much-needed rest.

I'm also busy with a textile book at present, but apart from letting you know it is being prepared for a show and tell display to take place in October, I really can't divulge more. Photos of the book will come after that meeting in mid October.

Apart from this, I have to start planning a move in my workroom. In a few days time I will be having a new door fitted and it will mean tidying my room and making space for workmen.................. eeeeeek! No matter, the resulting door will be well worth all the effort of sorting out my muddle of a room. But, if you are reading this, do wish me luck. My main concern for the moment is finding somewhere safe for my sewing machines to keep them away from the dust which is bound to invade my space. I can always wash my fabric collection. Special fabrics are already in boxes with fitted lids. I shall not bore you with more, but photos will be taken of the work in progress and also once it is all finished.

I nearly forgot. There has been a lot of sewing going on too. I managed to get the next four of my journal quilts uploaded in time, so I can now continue the project until the end of the year. Such a relief since I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the stitching finished in time. The first of these you may have already seen.

May - a journey to Prague was the inspiration here. 

 The purple wristband is my identification tag from the Prague Patchwork Meeting in Prague which took place in April. The background is a print, on silk, of one of the tourist maps form our trip.

June - a continuation of the map sequence.

July - another of the sequence of maps.

August - walking with Ella. 

This piece shows my dog, Ella, wearing her doggie back pack on one of our walks. It holds her water bottles, treats and bowl in one pannier while the other holds a flask of coffee for me. The Blue Bridge carries a dual carriageway over the River Weaver. The paths beneath the bridge are a favourite with the local dogwalkers, joggers and cyclists. The river is busy too with a wealth of wildlife, wildflowers and trees along this length. It is a haunt for the local fishermen and women, canoeists, as well as the boaters who travel through.

The 12 journal quilts - work in progress.

This photograph shows a mockup of how most of the year's journal quilts will look. I need to start work on the September journal quilt, before completing the remaining two map sections. I am undecided about the last JQ. It will probably show some of the local trains. The background to September will show the river and boats. The main issue is, do I start work on September before sorting out my workroom, or do I wait until the dust has literally settled and my room is clean once more. Can anyone advise me?