BLOG 330

BLOG 330

And off we jolly well go into 2017! The picture below is an illustration on impending activity! The iron is plugged in, the machine is ready to do its stuff and there are bags full of fabric ready to be sorted and sewn.  I usually start a scrap quilt at this time of the year and that is now underway (more on the next time). It is a long term, stuff-it-under-the-machine type project which requires no mental activity, just application and slog.

            Off we go

I have loads of spools for my machine and there are several which have annoyingly small amounts of thread wrapped around them. A scrap project is a good way of using them up but it does mean that you have to be vigilant as they run out annoyingly often. Just as I get pleasure about not wasting scrap fabrics, the same applies for threads also. It must be my northern-ness and it makes me feel smugly self-righteous!

               Spools

Another vein of creativity will be to follow one of aims, which is to work my way through this year with as much colour as I can.  I’m sure you know how much I love colour and I possess a lot of colourful fabric which makes my mouth water. So I am starting off with a scrap bag of bits and strips to see where that leads me.

            Bits and strips

To start with, I am creating small shapes, roughly 4” by free-sewing strips around a middle square. This is very naïve sewing as I am trying not to be too fussy about size and shape; all the concentration will be on colour families.

            Colour families

                Trimmed shapes

I work on one colour family each time I have an hour in the loft room and it is very therapeutic.

            Progress

As I am working at my machine, I am pondering what I am going to do with them?! So, on the carpet at my feet, I start to organise them as I sew. I don’t want to be too restricted at this stage but it is a delight to see what may or may not happen.   

               Trial run

               More shapes

               Even more

And so this colourful project will continue. In the meantime let me share a beautifully machine embroidered cushion with you. This was made by Pat, one of the ladies who sit around the table with me at Suzette’s. I have watched it being sewn over many, many weeks and I think it is fabulous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Pat’s cushion

             Detail 1

             Detail 2

BLOG 329

Blog 329

We all look back over the year just gone and ask ourselves, ‘Where has the time gone?’ I can look back over my blog (which is why I write it) and I have evidence of all the work I have done and here it is for you to enjoy:

             Sunflowers for Llangollen

            Whirligig quilt for Gresford

              Sunshine and Shadows quilt for Gresford

               Multi-coloured dream quilt for Gresford

            Disappearing 4-patch quilt for Linus project

               Triangles quilt for Linus project

               Baby’s floor quilt: gift

          Soldered table runner for Gresford

           40^th birthday gift: Fishy panel

             Group quilt: A Quilters Tale by Shakesmeer

            Bespoke cushions

          Thread flowers

   

           Xmas gifts: wall hangings

               Xmas gift: cushion

          Luggage label (One of a collection of weekly fabric labels)                                              

           Corner log cabin

 

BLOG 328

Blog 328

It’s that time of year again! In the kitchen, the robin is hanging again and the cards are strung.

               Robin

In the hallway, one of my Christmas trees is adorned solely with patchwork decorations.

             Patchwork decorations

Up the corridor, the church pew is wearing a quilt.

                Church pew

And the Christmas box, made for me by two special friends, has found its place on the wall again.

             Christmas box

The kitchen dresser looks cosy with its red lights and its greeting ‘ Nadolig LLawen’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Dresser

And the family Christmas tree is dressed and surrounded by presents.

                Family tree

The fire place just lends itself to decoration and so all is well with our world.

                 Fireplace

All that remains is to wish you all a very happy Christmas and all the creative best for 2017.

 

 

 

BLOG 327

BLOG 327

Something messy is afoot! Just one look at the creative clutter in the loft room will confirm that I am obviously on a mission and need to get a wriggle on! No heed is given to tidiness and order because all I want to do is sew and get things finished. This is what it is like for me during the run-up to Christmas and it always makes me ask myself why I just don’t go out and buy everything. It would make life a lot easier! But, the fact of the matter is, I really enjoy giving a little bit of my creative self to others on these special occasions. I have always done it and, as you can’t buy what I make in the shops, that makes these gifts truely unique! QED

                Creative clutter

            Foundation piecing

I hadn’t done any foundation piecing for a long time so I was pleased to have been using the technique last week to construct the boat wall hanging. That sorted out one neighbour! So, fired up with the precision and effectiveness of that hanging, I decided to do one for another neighbour who lives in a cottage in the woods. Here are some of her completed blocks which I have placed on potential sashing fabrics to audition them.

           Fabric 1

                                                                    

           Fabric 2

 

I preferred the darker fabric on the left and so I used this to join the 4” squares together. The fabric on the right was used for backing.

             Completed hanging

A third and final neighbour will get a special cushion this year. Sometimes you see a fabric and you know it is just right! These particular neighbours buy and train sheep dog pups and sell them on as working dogs. What about this for an appropriate fabric? I made the cushion centre by printing off an image from ‘Footrot Flats’, my all-time favourite comic strip. It just requires a zipped back and a cushion pad and that’s another one ticked off!

            Appropriate fabric

               Cushion

I exchange hand-made cards with some friends and this year I have made a fabric wreath inspired by an image I found on the internet. My wreath was made from six 2” squares which were cut with pinking shears. Each was then roughly folded into 4 to give an uneven edge and then it was well pressed. A dab of glue in the centre helped to hold it in place. I stuck these onto a circular cardboard background first to form the wreath before sticking it onto the actual card. The centre of the wreath is a pinked circle cut from card which is the same as the background. A bow and some sequins completed the effect.

            Hand-made card

I never really forgave my daughters for leaving primary school! They did me out of the nativity play which always started the Christmas festivities for me. So you can imagine my delight now that I can legitimately attend those plays which involve my granddaughters. The first traditional play was last week and quite charming as usual. We laughed when one little angel lifted her long gown to show everyone her underwear and we howled when two of the cutest possible sheep started to brawl across the stage. But the star of the show was the one little boy who yelled every song at the top of his voice, and sometimes he almost hit the right note! Aw Bless!

BLOG 326

BLOG 326

I have been making steady progress with my Xmas gifts this week. All 5 blocks of the boat wall hanging have been sewn using the paper foundation method and joined together with narrow strips of the sea fabric. It was decoratively quilted through the batting only. The backing fabric was cut out to the same size and placed over the top with RS together. You will notice a slit through a strip of Bondaweb just below the top of the backing strip (RS); this is for turning the wall hanging through after it has been sewn.

                 Fusible strip

             RS together

The layers were sewn together using an accurate ¼” seam allowance. Notice the dot ¼” in from the corner. I stopped sewing just before that dot and sewed 3 stitches on the diagonal across the corner.

                   Corner dot

I usually go back and forward along these corner stitches a couple of times to reinforce and soften the corner when the wall hanging gets turned through. I forgot to do it and so I went back again to do it.

               Reinforced corners

The wall hanging is turned RS outwards through the bonded slit just below the top of the hanging.

                   Turning through

When the paper on the fusible is removed, it is easy to match the cut edges and iron them together so they stick onto the cotton wading. A thin hanging sleeve will go over the top of this to hide it.

               Fused slit

                  Decorative hanger

             Completed hanging

I attended a wreath-making workshop run by a local gardening club yesterday …  and walked out with an 8’ decorative strip!!! The trouble I had to get it into the car! It was all done on a willow base with natural vegetation from the garden and it fits fine along the top of our fire place. I was thrilled to have learned how to do this for the first time, and I also know how to make a wreath too from watching the other more experienced members. I really want to make a willow sheep but haven’t found a suitable workshop yet.

                Decorative strip

I have been running a small course with our village craft group and here is the simple 5” tree block.

                Tree block

I am just at the quilting stage now and I have noticed that I have sewn 6 blocks instead of the 5 I intended to do. This is above and beyond the call of duty and, as there are some unfinished demonstration blocks, I think it is fair to assume that I will be making 2 hangings now!

              In progress

The other project I demonstrated was a wall strip made with 3 hexagon stars. And so Christmas gets closer and I am so excited!

 

                     Hexagon stars