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.

A busy week - stitching away.

Completed jacket.

That silly brooch.

The past week has been very busy. My dress for the wedding is complete and so is the jacket. I even made a jokey brooch to go with it. It is rather over-sized, though and will probably end up as a decoration for a hat I haven't yet had any time to go and look for.















I've been busy completing the next piece for the Chinese Whispers challenge. I can't show it to you since the whole project is a secret and the unveiling happens later this year. Now, I really am looking forward to the unveiling since I really don't have any idea what the themes were supposed to be for any of the pieces I have worked on. But then, that's the fun of the game. You will find an explanation here.

The other things I have been working on are to do with the Festival of Quilts which is just over a week away. I can hardly wait. I've been making some more of the book wraps for the Tombola, which is being organised by Contemporary Quilt this year. I really am not sure how many I shall manage to complete in the remaining time I have left. After all, next weekend is my nephew's wedding! Which, of course was why I was making myself a new dress and altering that jacket.

Ah well, back to the sewing. I shall take some photos of the book wraps before I take them down to Festival.

Dressmaking again, again

Finished dress.

Well, I finished the dress this week. I was really quite pleased with the fit. It is rather a good design which I shall definitely be making again. I shall probably do one of the sleeved versions next.

Dress with jacket - this will be trimmed with offcuts from the dress.

This is the simple black jacket I intend wearing over the dress. It just needs trimming since it is rather a drab piece of clothing otherwise. It started out as one of those tops with a false top beneath. I cut off the false piece since I found it rather ugly, and I really found myself wondering why I had bought the piece in the first place.

Bits and pieces waiting to be put together.

Jacket awaiting trimming.

I finally managed to take a photo of the two animals together. This was their evening meal. Luckily, last night was much cooler and they were really hungry, so they were quite happy to ignore me as I took photos. Both animals are really getting on quite well now. Ella is a little cautious of Coco, whilst Coco tolerates Ella's presence in the house.

Tea time.

Dressmaking again

Back garden - bird feeders.

It is hard to keep focussed with the weather being fine outside and a dog wanting attention. We have got into quite a pleasant routine here. Each morning, Ella goes for a walk before the weather gets too warm. She goes out with either my husband or myself, or quite often both. We then all enjoy breakfast before Ella has a rest blocking a doorway. She loves to be close to us. Coco seems to have settled and developed a taste for dog food. It has proved rather difficult to take a photo of Ella watching her food being eaten by Coco who has pushed in front. Ella is very patient and lets Coco eat before claiming the rest of her meal.

In the evening, when it become much cooler outside, we all go out for another walk, returning to find Coco waiting for us by the front gate. Once back inside the house both animals have their meal and we all settle down for the evening. It is nice that Coco generally comes for a cuddle while Ella flops down and has another snooze.

Ella - having just woken up.

I've started making a new dress for myself. It is intended for a wedding I shall be going to at the beginning of August. There is a second pattern and fabric waiting just in case this dress doesn't quite seem right.

Quilters cotton fabric.

I couldn't resist this fabric when I saw it. It is really a quilters cotton fabric, but is once of those soft cottons which can also be used for dressmaking.  The pattern I am using is one I used some time back. I had intended to make the open neck version with short sleeves, but hadn't noticed that the design really only works in one direction. As a result I am making the version shown on the package once again. 

Using A as shown.

I've loved wearing the first dress I made, so will be happy to have the same design again.

Sewing and some mending.

Well, I haven't done very well this week. I have been trying to get back into sewing after finishing off my Horizons quilt. These two bags are the only new things I have completed.

Little bags

The bags were bought as a kit from the Quilt Museum in York. There is a shop there and I really couldn't resist getting the materials to make these. 

Dragonfly bag, opened to show lining

I'd never worked with these fastenings before, so thought the kit would be fun to get started. I bought a couple of extra mechanisms to make some more bags. They are of the type which you push to open. 

As you can see from the photo at the top, one of them holds my iPod and the earphones too. There is space inside for the charging lead for when I am away from home. So useful. The pretty red bag holds a pocket game - Sudoku. The instruction leaflet lives in there too. I found this on sale on a Charity stall for 50p, so couldn't resist. I'm still trying to learn how to use it.

Apart from sewing these together I really haven't done much. I looked through my mending pile to see what needed doing and managed to replace a zip on a pair of jeans. Two more zips are waiting for me to get around to replacing them. One is for my favourite skirt, so I really should get around to doing that one.

There has been no contemporary style quilting, sadly. I do have a number of projects I have almost ready to start in my head. Unfortunately the fact that there is a list is putting me off doing anything at the moment. Did I ever tell you that prevarication is something at which I excel?

Ah well, I'd better get started on those zips before the mending pile falls over again.

A finished quilt and sundry items

Horizons - Caribbean memories.

This week has been a busy one, with my quilt finished and sent off. It has now arrived safely, much to my relief. It will be interesting to see if it considered for inclusion in the Horizons exhibition at Festival of Quilts. Horizons is a challenge by Contemporary Quilt, a specialist interest group of the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles.

This is the first time I have attempted to take part in a challenge like this. This quilt is 1.5m long and 0.5m wide. (59 inches long and 19 and three quarter inches wide.)

close-up

The background is painted fabric with layers of sheer fabric over satin for the "sea". The "beach" is constructed in a similar way.

handling sample

Those of us taking part in the exhibition were asked to make a 20cm square handling sample using the same techniques as the quilt. These will be put together into a book available for those coming to visit the Festival of Quilts. This will take place from the 8th to the 11th August at the NEC in Birmingham, UK.

Textiles and promoting tolerance.

Well, the past week has been rather a blur - trying to get my quilt finished, getting to know a new member of the household and making sure Coco didn't get too upset. Hence the tolerance issues.

Stitching sheer fabrics to create texture

My quilt is rather further on than this photograph shows, but I thought you might like to see the fun I had making textures using various layers of sheer and satin fabrics.

Coco

Coco is the cat who rules this household. A very dear friend, she is now 18 years young. She has a reputation for going round each of the neighbouring houses and sampling the food of the cats living there. 

Last weekend we had a visit from both my daughters, the elder of whom brought a dog along. The dog had been found wandering the streets of Macclesfield and Liz had been trying to trace the owner. Coco ignored this dog for the duration of the visit.

A couple of days later, Liz had successfully traced the owner. Very sadly, the owner did not want the dog back and so ownership was transferred to us.

Ella

Ella is now the new member of the household. Six years old, a Husky-Akita cross, she is getting to meet all our neighbours and explore the local area with us when we go for walks together. She is a delight, and is lying behind my chair as I type this post.

Coco is getting used to Ella, and is quite happy to be in the same room as long as Ella does not approach. Since she used to live with cats, this is not a problem.

Both animals are getting a lot of love and attention, the only thing we ask in return is tolerance.

Ah well, off to the sewing machine and getting Ella used to the various noises it makes.