Crafting and Crisps - what a combination!

 It's not often that I see and advert and 1) rip it out to put it in the back of my sketch book and 2) Google it to find out more!

What I found was that the latest Kettle Chips adverts have been sewn and painted by Lou Gardiner.  Go and have a look at her site and you'll be able to enjoy not just these images, which just show the basic packets, but also a whole range of her work which is stunning!  The site is beautifully set out too.  I'm still drooling over some of the examples of her work, and wondering if I'd ever be able to produce anything so lovely.  Sadly, I think that the answer is 'no', but that won't stop me having fun in my own small way!

Of course, if I could eat crisps whilst crafting without getting greasy fingers on my projects, that would be another great accomplishment!

I've finished my first 'freezer paper on top' attempt.  I think that you can see that the right hand side was the second one - so at least I've improved a bit, although whether its better sewing or better pinning / layout of the spindly piece I'm not sure!

I'm hoping to find out soon as I'm just preparing another two pieces (the same size as this, 8 1/2" square).  Quite fiddly, but very portable!

Not much other sewing to show.  I've made a sample hat brim (with a different type of stiffener in each quarter!) and then these ice cream post cards, prompted by picking up some doilies in Poundland this morning.  I'm not really a doily person for serving food, but quite like them now and then for card making and scrapbooking!

Applique Week-ay

 Okay, not the best title rhyme I've ever seen, but I've had a week of applique obsession: a delivery of two second hand books on applique (both by Ellie Sienkiewicz who seems to be a 'Baltimore Album Quilt' (and BAQ style) guru, hand applique, machine applique and a feeling that improvement is just around the corner (or perhaps just out of reach, I'm not putting money either way, to be honest!).

This is my finished 3D Baltimore style block.  I've got stuffed seaweed and clams, stuffed and furrowed coral, concertina pleated limpets and a folded hexagon not-quite-a-sand-dollar!

 This second block was much faster to put together - seaside rather than seashore.  This one was created with fusible applique and sketchy machine stitching.  I was thinking pen and ink and children's book illustrations from years ago.

 The applique didn't stop there.  Another two Dear Jane blocks have been completed for Liba's quilt - and they both had tiny applique pieces.

 Here is the new I-6 one next to my 'old' one which has already been sashed.

 This is my new J-13 next to the one in my scrappy Jane.

So, five blocks made for Liba's quilt, none for my own!  I have a whole row ready for sashing and sewing on to the blocks that I've already completed.  I think that I should aim to do this over the summer and make a few more blocks for my own.

In the meantime I'm working on a 'needleturn with freezer paper on top' block (not my design) I'm trying really hard to get pointy points on the leaves and neat non-frayed corners where leaves met stem.  I think that I still have a lot to learn, and I'm not sure that I'll be able to  improve as fast as I'd like.

Any more applique related things?  Well, there is a new BOM being generously offered by Esther Aliu that is starting soon.  Another historical based quilt, called Love Entwined.  As Esther is a master applique quilt artist I'm pretty sure that this would help to hone my skills.  If you'd like to join, check back through her posts to see how to join her Yahoo group.  I'm not sure if I'm up to an eighteen month long project on top of what I'm already planning, but I love the idea of it!

Finally (!), never short on ambition, I bought the 'Dear Hannah' book on Monday evening at my quilt group meeting.  From the same author as 'Dear Jane' this is a mix of applique and pieced blocks.  Some from historical quilts, some invented.  It's good to have a background project to look forward to once I've finished my Dear Jane (which I'm still thinking will be years rather than months!).

After another three books to fit onto the shelves (ah.  Four.  I've just seen 'Spunbonded Textile and Stitch', which arrived on Saturday and I haven't even opened yet), I should be making time for book  sorting / clearing this week.  I don't know how much longer my DH is going to want to see my stack of books on the living room coffee table, as I haven't been able to fit any new purchases onto the shelves dedicated to quilting since the New Year (and I've bought quite a few books, it would appear!). Ho hum.  If anyone has any tips for Tardis like increase of space within the fixed confines of our house, please do feel free to share them with me!

Dear Jane Take Two

 This is my I-13 towards the Dear Jane quilt that Liba started.  This block, lovely though it is, didn't go quite to plan - this is my second go at it this time around. (I'm sorry about the photo, I clearly didn't get the lighting right, as the colours are more similar to the one shown below).

This is the first one that I made, using Liba's fabric that had ideas of it's own about where its colour should be!  The problem started when I sprayed the block with water to make the wash out marker disappear.  This is the block even after it had gone through the washing machine.  Not ideal.  Not at all ideal.  I know that reds sometimes bleed, but this was really quite intense!  It can't be used in the quilt, obviously, so I re-made it in the closest red print that I had to this (and yes, I checked for colour fastness first!).

 Still, here it is next to my own I-13 made some years ago.  I *think* that my piecing has improved slightly, but only slightly!

For light relief (or should that be low relief, ho ho) I also made these machined beach huts. I'm not entirely sure that the proportions are right, but it was a change from hand stitching shells, which is the other sewing that I've been doing, which I'll probably show you next week.  As we're now in our final school half-term my thoughts are obviously turning already to summer holidays!

 

Did I ever show you....?

 .....that I actually finished my sewing caddy? Here it is without contents, handle, accessories.

 Here it is with the needle case and pin cushion, showing a different pocket front.

 This is what it looks like with the handle and contents ready for a sewing workshop (not that I have any planned at the moment, but one can always hope!).

Another view, showing my remaining stock of home-made hand-dyed fabrics (unsurprisingly low on fresh yellow and green fabrics!).

Overall I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, even if it's slightly larger than I'd originally thought it was going to be.

I finished it a couple of weeks ago, its just as soon as I move onto something else I get caught up with that instead!

The week of Seaweed!

 Now I realise that this doesn't look like much seaweed for a week, but in all honesty it's been a week and half...... and no, I can't quite work out how I've managed so little sewing either!

Each padded seaweed frond took me a total of almost an hour.  I'm pleased to say that the folded hexie flower was MUCH faster, but doesn't really relate to the seaside theme of the applique block that is still more in my head than made in fabric!

If you are interested these were the stages in seaweed production:  Machine sew around shape.  Cut and clip around shape.  Turn it right way out (a struggle with these tiny bladderwrack 'bobbles'!).  Stuff.  Sew up back.  Poke into best shape possible.

I'm pleased to say that my examples of shirring (I haven't shown you the duller straight shirring - pleased though I was with the effect!) were both fast and rewarding.  A girl needs some instant gratification, even when pursuing a hobby!

Funnily enough, I might have discarded shirring as a method of getting texture, as I'd never really understood about hand winding the shirring elastic onto the bobbin before I saw it on The Great British Sewing Bee!  Not that I saw them doing meander shirring like this, I hasten to add.

Isn't the texture fab?  I just need to stabilise this around the edge to make it entirely usable and quite exciting!

Hope that you are enjoying crafty fun this week, whether it be fast or slow!

Remembering Liba (and some Dear Jane)

This is one panel of a round robin quilt that I made with some members of my quilt group (Richmond and Kew Quilters) a couple of years ago.  This particular panel was made by Liba, who was the oldest member of the group.

My title for the project was 'dancing hens in a magical moonlit garden'.

Liba used a wonderful printed panel and added some beautiful, delicate applique.

I am trying to show you the detail of the embroidered embellishment she used.  Isn't it great?

I think that these chicks are looking for their supper and a bit of a sit down before they carry on dancing!

Liba died earlier this year.  She was in her nineties, so although it's a shame, I don't feel that she died 'out of her time'.  I remember her with great affection and a deep admiration for her zest for quilting and ability to keep sewing into very old age.  I hope that I am able to do the same with the same enthusiasm that she showed.

So why am I telling you this?  When she died she left a project that was incomplete - a Dear Jane quilt.  She also left some fabric (of course, she was, after all, a quilter!).  One of her friends, Ruth, assisted by some other members the group, have put together packs of fabric and patterns for each of the blocks that are left to make.   If, as a group, we can finish all the blocks then we can put it together and use it as the raffle quilt at our next exhibition.  It's too soon to sell you raffle tickets, but in another 18 months or so I'll be reminding you of this post!

 Last night I pulled out a lucky dip of three (and was quite relieved not to get any that screamed 'applique' at me.  Brenda P  - author of Dear Jane - might say "Finished is better than perfect." but she has never seen my small scale applique attempts.  She might have to rephrase if she did!

As it happens, I also have a partially completed Dear Jane quilt.  It is several years since I've made any progress on it, despite good intentions and setting myself stitching goals every January!

This morning I have made two DJ blocks from Liba's fabrics.  The photo shows K-12.  Liba's fabrics on the left, my original version on the right.

Here is block G-10.  I've enjoyed making them both, but I'm leaving the trickiest looking of the three blocks I collected until another day.

I've enjoyed remembering Liba as I stitched, and I hope that everyone else who has picked up blocks to make does the same.

Of course, the best legacy that Liba could leave me is the motivation to make forward progress on my own Dear Jane.  I think that it is time to start making up my own 'block packs' for sewing so that I can kick myself into a restart.  Just three more rows and I'll have finished the square part of the quilt!

Perhaps you have a project that's stalled?  I wish you well in re-finding the mo-jo required to take it to completion.

Caddy Pockets Again!

 I'm still making non-block patchwork pockets for my sewing caddy!  Still using the fabrics that I chose last week, and still thinking that they look very spring like!

This one didn't photograph well, but it's a scoop shaped pocket which should be a useful shape.

 

This is the little needle case that  I've made to hang off the caddy.  Inside it's just got two leaves of felt and a popper to keep it all closed.  Simple but fun.

It doesn't look like much sewing has happened this week, and to be honest that would be a fair assessment.  On the other hand my DD's no longer share a room - my energy has been used up helping to move furniture around!

It has been quite sweet.  The old 'spare room' had 23 quilts on the walls in total, which all came down in order to present a blank canvas to the DD who was moving into it.  The girls sat down and looked at them all and have chosen a total of 18 quilts to go back onto their walls!  I'm quite touched.

Right, back to pocket construction!

Spring Cheerfulness!

 I've started work on my sewing caddy, using a lovely spring selection of my hand dyed fabrics.  These blocks are 5" square finished - that's three pockets made.....

This is a much smaller block - just 1 1/4" square! It's quite small for a pin cushion, but pretty, even if not practical!  it has made me think about making a miniature quilt all over again....  I really like the idea but I'm not sure that I can bring off the accuracy required to make a really successful miniature.

 Here are the main parts of the caddy laid out, ready for pockets to be added, fancy bits constructed and clipped on, and the whole thing to be sewn up.

These are the fabrics that I pulled to start off with, but I've had to add a couple of others as there isn't quite enough fabric to make everything that I want to.

This is the biggest move away from my spring palette - and I'm not completely sure that a lavender warmer is really a sewing accessory, it just feels that way to me, as scarcely a day goes by without me using my faithful pair! 

This is a real treat - my old one was scorched and smelled more of burnt wheat than lavender.  This one, freshly made this morning, smells wonderful!  For anyone else that wants to use orphan blocks or just some ordinary fabric, I made a calico liner 'pillow' of 17 1/2" x 7", using 550g of mixed rice and pearl barley and 50g of lavender split into four equal pockets.  The outer cover was 22" x 8" - The extra length I used to make an internal overlap to hold the rice pillow in place.  The back of mine is made of cotton velvet - a luxury - actually the back of the old cover, which still seemed in good condition.

Two minutes in a microwave to heat it (or at least, 2 in mine, it might be different in yours!) and there will be comforting warmth. 

Happy spring, happy May Day!

Elated by a finish!

 At last!  A finished quilt!

Ok, so it's quite small, but it is the first 'finished item' on my C&G course, so it had lots of attention paid to it as I was designing, constructing and quilting it!

The quilting is dense, but I'm delighted to say that 'Radio' hangs flat, due to some blocking / damp stretching.  I'm also glad to say that it seems happy to hang from the radio aerial that I'd purchased in error last summer.

 After it was finished I decided that it was time for a sort out of the craft room / study.  I've managed to turn it from this....

with boxes, bags, and all sorts of things piled one on top of the other.....

 .....to this, with a bit more floor space on show, a bit more shelf space on show, and a fresher feeling to the room.

 There is still a bit of moving to do - an old laptop, some of the girls' old school work and some extra wadding that belongs up in the loft, not in this room.

I think that the school work proves that I haven't tidied up properly since last July.  That's quite poor, even for me!

The next job is to cull the quilt books which are threatening to get out of hand (again!).

At least with this job done I can get on with some sewing again - much more fun!  I'll be able to finish one or two things that I discovered fabric for during the tidying up process, of course!

Funny Bunnies (and cake!)

 Without too much help (well, I sewed around the basic shape on the sewing machine) the girls and a few of their friends made these Funny Bunnies.  It was a fun activity.  Not too much prep, but access to my button box and some felt gave us a good time making and naming these little stuffies.


You can see my paper pattern - it is free from Urban Threads under their Freebies section.  So far we haven't made any for leaving in the library / at bus stops or wherever. 

We thought that we'd better keep our first attempts, but will make them again, perhaps in fleece, for passing on to others.

It was another week for cake making - this time for the birthday party (yes, a swimming party, you've guessed it!).  An easy one to decorate this time, with the use of Playmobil swimming figures and 'fishy' jelly sweets.  I have to be honest, the making of the cakes inside would have been easier if I'd waited until the shopping delivery - as it was I ran out of 'normal' flour and had to add some substitute to the vanilla layer.  I'm pleased to say that using a yeasted bread mix didn't seem to detract from the cake, though, and it still tastes fine (and wasn't too leaden either!).

 

This week my DDs are back at school, and I'm hoping to spend time finishing my C&G wall hanging.  Photos next week, perhaps.

 

A Whole lot of Samples

Not really much stitching going on over the Easter hols - but I did make this folded star block last week.  Wish that I'd remembered my ruler and made it a bit more accurate, though.  I can't decide whether to make another one, this time trying a bit harder to make each round completely even and accurate.

This box was a small caddy made from some other samples- panels and pockets put together, experimenting with some ideas.

And this is what a FQ of fabric looks like once you've cut it into a spiral and crocheted it back up into a piece of something - with this size hook it produced a piece that was quite firm but still bendable. Interesting texture, and it would be nice to see what it was like with a bigger hook.

 

I've only got a tiny bit of work left to do on my current C&G module, apart from completing the wall hanging, which has got quite a few more hours quilting still needed!  I'm sure that I'll get to it once the school holidays have finished!

 

Windows and cake!

I finally finished my Cathedral Window sample this week.  It's only 12" square, but seemed to take quite a long time to construct it.  I guess that the benefit is that once you've stitched it, it's done - no need for backing or wadding as it already has a finished back and sufficient layers to be heavy / warm!

Of course, me being me, I have had to look up different methods.  As much because I want to use this type of effect (well, the effect of a single block, rather than the sixteen in this sample) on bag pockets where I won't want such bulk, as to find a faster method.

I've found two methods that are similar, that leave you with an unbacked / unfinished block - perfect for what I wanted.  I shall spend some of my sewing time this week making these as samples too.  This is one of the methods
 for faux cathedral window blocks using a large square in the middle.  The other method I found in a magazine called 'Bags, Beads and Brooches' by Nina B and uses 4 small squares folded in half diagonally and sewn onto the four background squares to make that 'square within a square' pattern that can then have the bias edges rolled back around a 'window' of focus fabric.   Lots of fun!

The other fun that we've been having this week is to celebrate DD1s birthday.  Can you guess how old she is?  (Can you guess how old I feel?  if you've guessed anything over 88 you are correct.  It turns out that even if you aren't having an actual party, just a few friends around for a birthday tea, it can be quite noisy and tiring as a parent!).

Now I just need to gird my loins (metaphorically.  In reality I need to straighten out my back, hips and right shoulder!) ready for the excitement of Easter and the school holidays!

I did laugh yesterday.  One of my DH's colleagues swears blind that she won't be laying a trail of chocolate eggs on behalf of the Easter Bunny this year, like she has every other year.......her daughter has just turned 20!  Looks like I've got a lot more years of Easter surprises than I'd thought ahead of me!

Hope that your spring isn't too chilly to have fun.  Happy Easter!

Textile Bravery!

These little 'fluffies' were the result of  a mini needle felting workshop given by Hilary, one of my quilt group members at last week's meeting.

 

Of course, DD1 looked at it over breakfast the next day, and got very excited as she thought that she'd be allowed a go too.  Gulp!  A frisky 9 year old and a very sharp barbed needle being stabbed up and down a lot....what could possibly go wrong?  I decided to be brave, spent £15 on eBay, and became the proud owner of these lovely colours of wool and 5 felting needles.

By Saturday I was brave enough to allow DD1 (right) and one of her friends, and their younger sisters to all have a go at needle felting!  They were great - imaginative and focused.  Yes, we did need one plaster.  Yes, 3 out of 4 claimed to have pricked their finger at least once.  No, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be!  My bravery was rewarded!

These are just some of the items that they produced - we also had trees and another egg or two, in addition to the rainbow scarf, glasses, and all sorts!  A couple of brooch backs were added, and a good time was had by all.  I think that the girls were pleased not only that they'd been able to make some lovely items, but that there was yet another craft that they hadn't realised existed before!

My next bit of bravery was to experiment again with some hand dyes.  Once again following on from the quilt meeting, were I'd talked to someone who said that she washed all her hand dyed pieces together in one wash, not finding the need to separate them by colour family when she was rinsing / washing them.  I used the last of the dyes that I had mixed last week and set up a range of colours.  After about 36 hours I slopped them from their plastic bags and into the washing machine - all in one load with a couple of colour catchers - and pressed the 'start' button.

These colour catchers show the progression of 'loose dye' reduction - but it took five lots of 59 minute washes to get to the bottom pale blue.....so still not completely free of loose dye, but well on the way.  I'm not sure that I'm desperately comfortable with the amount of resource that it takes in order to dye this small amount of fabric, but at least I know that there is an alternative to the (for me almost impossible) tasks of rinsing / washing separately by hand.

My range of hand dyed FQs looks like this now - it must be time to stop admiring them and start using them!

I realise that these are only tiny braveries, insignificant in the world, but they make me happy!  Hope that you are having small happinesses too!