New project and challenges

Completed 5 inch squares project

Well, the first thing completed this week is this drum bin which I have been working on for quite a while. It has languished mostly because I couldn't work out how to attach the base or which way up the thing ought to be. It is part of the 5 inch square challenge from Pinfold which I started some time ago. As usual it has only been finished now because the deadline is tomorrow....... Always the last minute! You will find my other project for this challenge in this post.

The bin will probably be used in my workroom to house bits and pieces for whichever project is in hand. It will stop the elements disappearing in all directions just when I need them the most. The worst culprits seem to be the cotton reels which tend to roll off my table once the sewing machine is in full motion and get stuck under the set of drawers. It stands 8.5 inches tall (21.5cm). A useful size for the larger projects I have in mind.

Stowe bag

This is one project which I would like to complete sometime soon. I need to organise a present for the organiser of one of a music group I belong to. I intend to print some suitable fabric. However, before printing the fabric I need to try the pattern out. I bought a kit from Minerva Crafts to make a single version of this bag.

Colibri jumper now completed

Yes, this is the same photo as last time. I can report that the pattern is now available from Ravelry. My own version is now with my granddaughter.

Knitted patchwork blocks - version 1

Last week found me in the Lake District without a knitting project. Daft, but this doesn't happen very often. I'd taken along a few pattern ideas and a collection of 4ply yarn left over from previous projects. After discarding all the patterns I'd taken with me, I started messing around and this is the result. I'm still not entirely sure what I shall do with it. Blanket? Cushion cover?

Knitted patchwork blocks - version 2

The idea is also to make something without seams. The only stitching required for the Colibri jumper was to sew in the ends since it was knitted from the top down. Hence my own experiment. This is why you can see so many live stitches protected by stitch holders. I haven't decided whether the two pairs of squares which have already been joined should be turned into a square or become part of an edging of sorts to go round a centre which I haven't designed yet....... Still thinking about that.

Just recently I have joined "The Foldline". It is an interesting forum for anyone who sews. It seems set up mostly for anyone interested in making clothes. I am not sure whether the forum will have a place for someone like me who makes textile related stuff. I do make clothes too. Ah well, we shall see.

Travels, pages and a completed quilt.

I just loved the patterns forming on the thread reel as I quilted the last pieces of Rosie's quilt. Hence the first photos. This reel had the threads turning into little wiggly shapes. This is YLI Machine Quilting Thread, in the shade V80 Danube Blues. I do love using this for machine quilting.



Well, here is the completed quilt hanging on my washing line.



A closer look at the front.



And now, the back. The plaid fleece was a remnant from a winter coat I made myself a few years ago - really cosy! The pale blue had been left over from an autumn jacket, but I forget what I had used the off-white fleece to make. I found it deep in my stash. All three fleece are of the same weight.

Hopefully, Rosie will be happy with her new quilt. She has seen the pieces, but not the completed quilt. I have sent her some photos........... I plan to make a bag to hold the quilt.

And now a journey. I went to Shrewsbury on Saturday with a couple of friends from the Recorder Group. Elizabeth plays Treble recorder with me, and Kathryn leads the Vale Royal Recorder Consort. It is such fun playing music together. We went to Shrewsbury to spend time in each others company before setting off to a concert.



What a special building. It is a shop selling chocolate!

Another lovely building.

This is one of the bridges crossing the River Severn.

I had never been to Shrewsbury before, but had loved reading about it in the novels about Brother Cadfael written by Ellis Peters. Funnily enough, we didn't have time to visit the Abbey, but did go to see the Castle. Well, there is so much to see in Shrewsbury, that I can see myself coming back again.

On our wanders around Shrewsbury we happened upon an excellent Calligraphy exhibition by the Shropshire Scribes. The exhibition was called "Words in Action" and I see from their programme that this same exhibition will be movingto the Oswestry Heritage and Exhibition Centre from the 1st to the 15th September. We found the exhibition in the wonderful St Mary's Church.

Well, after a really happy day, getting wet in the rain, but really enjoying being able to explore somewhere new together, we went on to the concert. We went to see the wonderful Red Priest. Such a marvellous concert - great fun! It was the closing concert for the Church Stretton Arts Festival. I had never seen Red Priest in concert before, and I certainly was not disappointed. They are wonderful in concert, not taking themselves too seriously and playing superbly at the same time. A truly wonderful day.

I almost forgot! To continue the theme of traveling, my page for Elizabeth has arrived in the USA. You can see it here. I have also heard that my page for Carmen, which I had feared had been lost in the post has also arrived safely. I must post some photos of that too on the Traveling Pages site.

It has been a busy time.

Bits and pieces.

I had a lot of fun during the Christmas break trying out different techniques of printing. You may have seen the Cat bag in my last post. This used some of the results of my printing experiments.

The first of these was lino printing. Can you see the daft mistake I made first? Yes, the resulting print will be back to front!



I tried again. This time getting the design right.



I tried printing these with fabric paints, but these were not thick enough. The lino print paint is fine, but since I really would like to print on fabric it really will not do. Back to the drawing board on this one. I shall find a thickener for my fabric paints, or a thicker type. I did not throw out the first lino board that I cut. I decided that, in a pale colour, it would actually be a good foil to the real design.



The other form of printing I played with was potato printing. Such a lot of fun this was. I printed cats paw prints, stars and just a flat potato edge using four colours.
I printed on the unprinted side of a fabric bag I have had for some time. It was one with an advertisement for some kind of alcohol on the other side. Now that the printing of this side is complete, I intend to add a false front to the other side. This will cover the original design and make the bag more useful to me.





Joy of joys, I now have a new tenor recorder! This is the bag it came in. It is a beauty and sounds wonderful. At present I am just playing this in. The recorder is wooden and needs to be played for just ten minutes a day for the first week. The next week it can be fifteen minutes, gradually lengthening playing duration each week until I can play it for forty minutes.



My gorgeous new friend. A Mollenhauer Denner.



This is Salts Mill, Saltaire. The Early Music Shop, where I bought my new recorder is to be found on the ground floor. Its a wonderful place to visit, if you ever have the chance. There is a gallery holding a marvellous David Hockney exhibition.

Season's Greetings!

Now where did December go? Its been rather hectic here - a number of concerts in a number of venues.

The first of these was a performance of "Zadoc the Priest" by Georg Handel and Vivaldi's "Gloria". Such wonderful music to sing. These were performed by the Hartford Choral Society on November 28th alongsideside instrumentalists from the Grange School, in the Grange Theatre. This was in aid of Action Aid and their work with African Aids/HIV sufferers.


This was then followed by a short concert performed by my class at the Old Friends Christmas Concert in the village. This is a group of the retired villagers who get toether each Tuesday afternoon. My class have been invited along to sing at their Christmas party for the past few years. The children love getting to meet the elderly at the party. Each year they are enchanted by being fussed over and chatted to. The Old Friends are such a wonderful audience and enjoy the singalong we do after the children have sung their songs. We share christmas carols and fun christmas songs like "Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer". As we walked along back to school afterwards, one little boy came up to me and said "I didn't think I'd like that. But it was fun wasn't it."


For two successive Saturdays, I joined the Vale Royal Recorder Players to perform in Tatton Hall as part of the Christmas Celebrations there. We performed a number of recorder arrangements of Christmas Carols both old and new. This is the Recorder group I regularly rehearse with. Such a lovely group, so friendl.y. We have a lot of fun together.


Then, last Saturday, the last of the concerts I have been involved with. It was the wedding of one of our past members. She left the Recorder group last year to move away for work. She returned to the church she used to belong to for her wedding. Such a lovely event to be a small part of.


Amidst all this, and teaching too, I managed to complete my aran cardigan.





You'll notice that I have forgotten the buttons on this one. I just did not fancy buttons and buttonholes. It will be interesting to see if I can live with a cardigan fastened by a brooch. The brooch is made up of three different buttons fastened together. I did not make this, but it is an idea I may copy myself at some stage.

A lovely time of year, even when the weather is not so good.


Season's Greetings to you all!

Sewing again

Well, I have been busily knitting again this week - sorry no photos. I have been working on the Moccasin Socks for the Elizabeth's Year group. My first sock is almost complete and I have knitted the sock cuff on the second. I shall post photos when I have finished them.











I have now completed my recorder bag. As you can see, the recorder fits snggly inside with a pocket free for small bits and pieces like a soft drying / cleaning cloth. I shall let you know how it gets on with the wear and tear of regular use.









The next piece, or should I say pieces have been stuck in my "what am I going to do with this" pile for some time. You may recognise the circular motif, "Leaves".









The background piece is made up of a collection of accidentally dyed "Colour Catchers". These are the remarkable pieces of what feels like a paper-based fabric which you can buy to put in with your washing whenever there is a danger of a piece of the load leaching dye onto anything else. (One of those red sock turning a white load of washing pink times.)


The ones I am able to get hold of can only be used once, but the colours that come out are wonderful! This was an attempt to use them. I only got as far as sewing them on to a piece of sheet I had dyed. I was not sure what to do next.


The other day, I took it out to look at it, added "Leaves" and left it on my wall. More needs to be added, but I need to stop and think about it first.



Also waiting for me to start work is this beautiful piece of stitching. It is the Band Robin from the Stitching Sisters group. It rests on my ideas board. I have a two inch deep section to add either to the top or the bottom of this piece. The talent of the stitchers in the group is awe-inspiring.

Recorders, knitting and stuff.

I finally completed my Notre Dame de Grace pullover this week. I decided in the end not to add a button, but to use my collection of brooches instead.



This second photos shows one of my home-made brooches. This was made some years ago, but the colours really seem to suit this jumper.



Today, I started work on my recorder case. I bought the fabric a few weeks ago from a charity shop. So now it begins. This first photo shows my Treble (Alto) recorder resting on the fabric. This is the true colour.



I've now got to the stage of binding the bag which will be rolled around the instrument to protect it as I carry it to rehearsals and performances. I'm a member of a local recorder group, playing mostly Treble.



This is the lining of the roll-up bag - the recorder pieces are in place. There are inner pockets to stop the smaller pieces falling to the bottom. The next photo look a bit washed-out in colour, but shows the bag rolled up with the recorder cocooned inside. I shall add a ribbon to keep the roll firmly together.



The CD case belongs to the music I was listening to as I sewed this together - Kathryn Tickell's Band. A rather nice folk music CD. Kathryn plays the Northumbrian small pipes superbly.
I had hoped to get more than one section of the binding done, but Coco decided to fall asleep on my fabric!



I hadn't the heart to move her.
The following pictures show a quick and essential repair I did to a pair of jeans. The dragonfly and flower motifs hold a piece of fabric in place on the reverse of the jeans. It all holds together a section that was going into rather a large hole.




Finally, I have started the November project for Elizabeth's Year. These will become the Moccasin socks. This time I am using the instructions printed in "Knitting Around" since this allows me to use up the remaining yarn from the open-collar pullover I finished recently.

The next photos show the completed open-collar pullover. The first shows the original buttons, the second shows the buttons it now has. These were chosen by my eldest daughter who had come to visit and rather liked the jumper. It is now hers. Well, it was her birthday! She left the house wearing it.....