Spending some creative time with my sewing machine and other projects.

Where have the past few days gone? It has been really busy here - a new print board has been put together, four cushion covers, a simple top, some zipped bag/purses and a new print board have all been finished and I have nearly completed a new linen dress for myself. I haven't bought any new fabric, just a couple of zips. Everything has been constructed out of my rather large stash of fabrics, threads and general "stuff". I wish I could say that my cupboards and shelves are less full as a result, but I really cannot see a difference just yet.

the felt layers of the new print board

 I decided to make a third print board since I shall be giving a print workshop in August and my two current boards will not be sufficient. I can improvise some extra space, but the third board will just make everything so much easier for everyone.

All three boards together

It was so lucky that I had plenty of acrylic felt and enough of an old cotton sheet in my stash to be able to complete this project. The board had seen occasional use as a drawing board, but will be so much more useful to me as an additional printing surface.

I'd completely forgotten, until I sorted through my photos, that I'd also been to a dyeing session. This time I followed some advice I found on the Kemshall's website about preparing fabric for dyeing. The resulting colours have been so much better, I shall definitely do this again. The advice gave specific quantities for the washing soda used in preparing the fabric for procian dyeing. I now have a solution in a sealed pot ready in the garden shed for when we next have some good weather and I can prepare some more cotton. I hadn't realised that the solution could be kept and used again and again.

 These cushions were not started by me. They were handed in at the last Pinfold meeting and I volunteered to construct the cushion covers. They are now ready for the cushion tombola which will be part of the group's exhibition later this year. The covers have been hand embroidered and look so beautiful. Each cushion is just twelve inches square. I hope that the embroiderer will be pleased when she sees them again.

Speaking of tombolas. This collection of zipped purses have been made for The Quilters' Guild tombola at Festival of Quilts in August. So far I have made nine, but I have a couple more which have been cut out ready to sew together.

Yet another cushion for the Pinfold tombola. This one started life as a miniature quilt block challenge which has been stuck in my unfinished pile for a very long time. It is twenty inches across.

the dress waiting to be finished

 The dressmaking patterns were found in a recent edition of Ottobre magazine. The dress still has to have the armhole facings stitched into place and also the hems completed. I really need to iron it too. It has been fully lined.

a completed top

The top is going to be rather useful in the warmer weather. It was made from a piece of crepe de chine I had in my stash.

So apologies for not having posted here for a few days. I have been rather busy. I still haven't started those cotbed quilts.........

Finished!! Some completed items.

Completed sweater - front view

Well, I eventually got my Dolmanesque sweater completed. I found I had to rip out and start again with the collar since I just couldn't make it the pattern version work. It gaped far too much. The pattern is a delightful one to knit with plenty of interest, so well worth the trouble.

You can find our more about the design in this post. It is comfy to wear too.

Completed sweater - back view

One project finished, I have been working to complete two quilts for the Region 13 challenge, "A postcard from...." The challenge comes from The Quilters' Guild of the British Isles. Region 13 covers most of North Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and a lot of the North West of the UK. The challenge asked members to complete a quilt, A4 size (roughly 11.5" by 8.5") on the subject, "A postcard from...." NWCQ also challenged it's members to take part, using the town of Frodsham where we meet.

Messing around with brick patterns.

Well, mine started off with this pattern of bricks. This is it:

A postcard from ..... Frodsham - The bee emblem. 

 As always, completed just in time since I need to hand it over tomorrow. Last minute? The brick pattern has been printed on cotton sheet, it has been bondawebbed in place onto a piece of my own rust dyed fabric. This has been free machine embroidered. The design on top was taken from a gorgeous stained glass window above the Frodsham Library front door. The design comes from the fact that the emblem for the town is a bee.

A postcard from....... Moulton - the Crow Dance

Well, I'd foolishly decided to also do one for my local village - Moulton. The emblem for the village is the crow. There is also a rather unique dance performed each year by an anonymous group of local men. Hence the strange figures and the crow watching on. The photos have been printed onto cotton and bondawebbed in place onto a piece of my own dyed fabric. The figures have also been printed and hand coloured before being bondawebbed in place. Free machine embroidery keeps the layers together. Why the cenotaph and the street scene? Well, the dancers usually parade down this particular street towards the cenotaph.The scarecrow and the farmer are all part of the dance.

I think I'd better give my room a good tidy before starting anything new. I really need to get on with quilting the African Crosses Quilt next. It is all layered and ready to start, but I need to work out what patterning I am going to use. A few sample trial pieces will be worked on first, I think.

Experiments in printing and dyeing.

Printed calico bag - inverted

I've been busy since I last wrote. Firstly, I was involved in a delightful printing workshop. This was such fun. We were printing bags ready for the Festival of Quilts. They were donated to the Tombola which raises funds for The Quilters' Guild of The British Isles of which I am a member.

Printed bamboo bag - correct orientation

Printed black calico bag - correct orientation

We could each buy three different bags - two were calico, one being black. The third was a little more unusual, being made of bamboo. I must admit to having preferred the calico bags. I brought six extra bags home with me to print as presents. The three shown will be, by now, with their new owners since I donated all three bags which were completed on the day. The photos were taken as they dried on a washing line.

Last Friday I was really lucky and went to an Introduction to natural dyeing with the Frodsham Friday Felters group. We travelled to North Wales and visited Helen Melvin in her fascinating Blaen Wern Dye Garden.

Rhubarb root (Rheum sp)

The photos you see here are the wet samples of the different dyes we tried as they waited on the draining board in my kitchen. I shall post photos of the rinsed and dried samples in my next post.

Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria)

Persian berries (Rhamus sp with rusty nails)

Helen's dyed wool - fermented Alder Buckthorn

Alder Buckthornm (Frangula alnus)

Cochineal (Dactylopius Coccus)

Logwood

Dyers Greenwood (Genista tinctoria)

Madder (Rubia tinctoria)

It was really interesting to walk around Helen's garden with her commentary on what each plant was and the colours that could be achieved using different mordants. Different parts of the plants were used - dried berries or roots, or fresh leaves (Japanese Indigo). All dyebaths, bar the Japanese Indigo, were prepared by Helen before we arrived so that we could make the best use of our time with her. I was able to help collect the leaves and liquidise them ready for use. Since I had forgotten to wear gloves, my nails were a rather nice shade of turquoise by the time I had finished.

The last photo shows the bodice I have been making. I am intending to print and paint the dress while it is in two pieces - the as yet uncompleted bodice and the skirt. The skirt has still to be assembled.

The almost finished bodice

You may have seen the pattern photograph in my last post. You can see it here.

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.

Knitting for chilly weather.

I managed to get two items completed this week - the cowl (Aibhlinn by Mary Burr) and also a hat (Cabled Beret by Ashley Hasse).



Here is the beret sitting atop my Aibhlinn. I wore the cowl for the first time today, since it was very chilly outside. It is so cosy! It will quickly become a favourite.
The beret is now in my younger daughter's possession. It only took a day to knit, so I think I shall make myself one.




Speaking of chilly weather, I took some photos of the spider webs before they thawed this morning. You may just see the frost still lying on the grass under fence. These water drops have still not thawed enough to fall.



My bamboo yarn arrived during the week. Oh it feels so gorgeous.......... I keep handling it, it is so very soft. I bought it from Cucumberpatch. The colourway is called Mocha.



My final photo is of a sticker I bought from the Quilter's Guild stand at Harrogate. This is now in the back of my car, on the side window. I used to have one of these in my old car a few years ago. I just loved the message. Sadly, the sticker was too fragile to be removed from my old car and I have had to wait until now for the sticker to be republished.

A lovely weekend.

Had a great weekend. Such fun!
I spent the Saturday at the Quilter's Guild Area Day. This was wonderful. I had the chance to buy some more African fabric since Magi Relph had a stall there.
Our first speaker was the wonderful Sandie Lush. She is such a talented quilter and an entertaining person to listen to. Her talk was so informative, I was so glad that I had taken my little notebook along with me.
I bought a small booklet about hand-quilting, a thread pack and also a beautiful hand quilted cushion design called "Colonial Dahlia". These were being sold by Sandie after her talk.
It was wonderful to be able to see Sandie's beautiful quilts. Even better to be able to see them close -up.
After lunch, we had a second speaker. This was the amazing Jenny Kitoss (I do hope that I have spelt that correctly.) A prolific quilter who was happy to let us handle her quilts.
She had an amazing variation on the quillow idea, calling this a Travellers Chuck.
A quillow is a quilt which can be folded into itself, looking just like a cushion when it is folded up. A Travellers Chuck, on the other hand is rolled up and the ends held by two loops secreted on the back. I bought a copy of the pattern. It was charming to read on the back:

"NB (note) I do not need copywrite of this idea, we are lucky that early quilters weren't so selfish! Just acknowledge my inspiration." This comment was accompanied by smiley face.

Jenny had designed the original Travellers Chuck for her son who was about to travel around the world and needed something practical.

On the Sunday, I was able to indulge another passion - wool and other yarns for knitting and felting! It was the open day of bluefaced.com lots of wonderful yarns, needles, spindles, braiding tools, dyes and other goodies. I took my mum and younger daughter along. We had a great time touching, stroking and admiring the gorgeous yarns available. Fyberspates were also there with their beautiful range of yarns. Far too tempting. But oooh, what a fun time we had.

Sorry about the lack of photos - I still haven't had time to have my camera repaired / replaced.