tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22376668350815074542024-03-14T02:48:26.636+00:00Crafty 'n' ClothyA blog about crochet, yarn dyeing, quilting and other crafts.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.comBlogger220125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-5765733359868268402014-11-17T18:40:00.001+00:002014-11-17T18:40:51.833+00:00Bit Of An Updated NeededWow, it is ages since I last posted. I've just been so busy I haven't had chance to post individually so here's some of the things that have been keeping me busy:<br />
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<u>Edward And The White Bear Quilting Retreat</u><br />
It's not often I get a weekend away without the kids so I jumped at the chance to do not just that but to spend the whole weekend playing with fabric! There were 3 projects on offer and I knew I wouldn't have time to do all three and I didn't want to add too much to the UFO list so I decided I wouldn't do the Zig Zag quilt.<br />
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I started on the Friday with the cutting out for the other two projects so that I could then spend Saturday and Sunday relaxing with the sewing. I decided to start with the table runner and really liked the block (good job Sarah was on hand or I'd have sewn the last sections in the wrong places as it is so tempting to sew them where you last cut!).<br />
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Having got the three blocks sewn together I decided to leave the quilting until I was home and get to work on the bag, since I knew I'd probably need help with it. I have been wanting to make a bag for my mat and rules for ages so this was my first choice of the 3 projects. I didn't get it finished so it too has joined the UFO pile, fingers crossed I finish it at some point. After making the incredibly fiddly ties I am sure I won't let this hang around as a UFO for too long.<br />
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We also had a Kantha demo from <a href="http://www.gillitheokritoff.com/" target="_blank">Gilli Theokritoff</a> and were given a kit so we could have a go. I'm not great at hand sewing and wasn't sure it would be my sort of thing really but the design (a bird) was really lovely so I made a start in front of the tv one evening when I was home. Well, it is so relaxing. It's not as fussy as a lot of stitchery/embroidery kits so felt more relaxing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting out</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finished and Framed</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<u>Graduation Ceremony</u><br />
I had a bit of a surprise back in August when my degree certificate from the OU arrived as my ceremony was booked for November. So it felt a little odd when I went to graduate on Friday roughly 3 months after getting it. The ceremony was really nice and the kids were permitted a day off school to come and watch.<br />
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And congratulations to everyone else that graduated that day too!<br />
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<u>Felting Workshop</u><br />I taught a felting workshop this weekend at <a href="http://www.riversmeetcraftcafe.co.uk/" target="_blank">RiversMEET</a>. A lovely way to spend Saturday afternoon, covering wet felting and needle felting. I think everyone had fun. I even managed to remember to take a picture at my workshop, so here are some of the sample wet felted pieces:<br />
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Fingers crossed it doesn't take me so long to make my next post.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-53757258666036056952014-08-25T22:16:00.001+01:002014-08-25T22:16:36.797+01:00Back From Holiday with a Finished Quilt!It has been a really hectic month or two. I've been working full-time, planning/teaching workshops, had visitors, been on holiday, been to a quilt show and trying to fit in all the usual kid/house stuff too.<br />
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So, our holiday...what can I say?! It was just so lovely. We booked a week at <a href="http://www.wildsidelodges.com/" target="_blank">Wildside Highland Lodges</a> near Loch Ness to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. I think it might be the first time we've ever stayed somewhere where we felt our accommodation lived up to the pictures on the website.<br />
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The lodges were lovely and clean. The kids loved the hot tub (and so did we!). We were really pleased with our visit. We had been a bit worried about it being so far to take to the kids but it wasn't a problem and we were slightly worried that there might not be enough for them to do but they loved it. Neither of them wanted to come home.<br />
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They enjoyed the walk to Falls of Foyers:<br />
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And they got 'Nessie' t-shirts when we went to Inverness:<br />
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Their favourite bit of the holiday was doing a <a href="http://www.cruiselochness.com/cabin-rib" target="_blank">RIB boat trip</a> on Loch Ness.<br />
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We had no mobile signal in the lodges and WiFi wasn't available in the lodge we stayed in (we could get a signal at Reception and at the play park area) and it was quite nice to feel so remote! I managed to read a couple of books on my Kindle and start a third, as well as finish the binding on a quilt.<br />
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It's probably a good job I've finished something as I bought quite a lot at the Festival of Quilts - more to come on that soon!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-48129967187412542792014-06-15T16:25:00.000+01:002014-06-15T16:25:06.678+01:00Still here...and still sewing!I've just realised it's quite a while since I did a blog post. I've been really busy the last few weeks. Being back at work full time has been really great. I'm really enjoying it and the kids are enjoying before & after school club. We're all settling in to the new routine well. Mondays and Thursdays are busy, with Erin going to activities in the evenings.<br />
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I've also gained another degree. I got the exam result for my second Level 3 module the other day quite unexpectedly (I thought they were due out a bit later than this) and that made me eligible to claim my BSc. My OU studies aren't totally finished as I can take another two modules to get the Honours part of the degree but I'm going to see how it goes - there isn't a lot of time with working full-time, the kids, teaching workshops, going to workshops, etc. but, being under the transitional fee arrangement, it's a lot cheaper to do it now than leave it until later.<br />
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With all that I hadn't had much time for sewing but I forced myself to baste the two quilt tops I finished in May's quilting class. I was then able to take the first one to Monday night sewing and get it quilted, the other I took to yesterday's quilting class and started the quilting. I finished the second one last night while Alan watched the football.<br />
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The granny square quilt above was quilted with diagonal lines in a green thread. This was made from a very badly cut jelly roll and is definitely far from my best work!<br />
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The other quilt is hopefully going to be a Xmas present for someone. I took some time to decide how to quilt it. I didn't want to do straight lines that went through the green triangles. Equally the diagonal lines created by the green triangles didn't work as the angles would have caused the lines to cross into other green triangles (does that make sense?!?). I also didn't really want the hassle of going around all the hexagons and lines with my walking foot as it's quite hard, slow work turning the quilt around lots and the blocks were a bit large for just quilting the edges of the blocks.<br />
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So, I decided it was time to get over my fear of the meander. It's one of those free motion quilting 'patterns' that looks so simple <i>until you try to do it</i>. It's basically a squiggly random line. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, the problem is that I don't really think in a random way when I have to fill a quilt top with it. I start going along a side to make sure it's filled or I start going left to right so as to not leave any gaps. I have to really focus on <b>not doing those</b>. I think the end result was pretty good. I could definitely improve as my stitch length is a lot more uneven than I'd like but it has definitely got that random look to it.<br />
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<br />Here's a close up of the quilting:<br />
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My next job is to make the binding for these two quilts and get them finished.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-42273612287484147492014-05-08T14:58:00.000+01:002014-05-08T14:58:44.988+01:00FO: Zippered PouchI have some big news. Next week I'm going back to work. From Monday I'll be working in an office, full-time for the first time since mid 2006. So I'm now the proud owner of a normal sized handbag. That perhaps sounds a funny thing to mention but when the children were babies I carried around a huge, huge bag full of cloth nappies & wipes and bottles with my purse and keys and not much else (who wants to carry more than that?!?). Since the children potty trained I've been pretty minimal as I'm so used to not needing anything else.<br />
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I have a small basic zippered pouch that holds a few pens and similar that I made ages ago. It makes them easier to find in your bag. This time though I wanted something for a few bits of make-up so it needed to be lined. Most of the tutorials online are similar in the technique used with just a few subtle differences. I decided to follow <a href="http://flossieteacakes.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/lined-zippered-pouch-make-up-bag.html" target="_blank">this one</a> by Flossie Teacakes. It has covered zip ends, which I liked the look of.<br />
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I picked out a zip first because I had a limited selection in the size needed. Isn't that always the way? The fabric was a Christmas present from Alan back in 2012 I think! <br />
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I struggled with the sewing around the outside (the final stage before turning through) as my machine doesn't really like sewing through bulk so it's not as neat as the one in the tutorial but it's good enough.<br />
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I lined the bag with the same fabric as the outside, not least because I was an idiot and cut two rectangles for the front and then realised the picture/text would be running the wrong way. I was so concerned with remembering to double check the picture/text before stitching to the zip that I totally forgot to do it when cutting out.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-34785957398838719932014-05-07T19:11:00.003+01:002014-05-07T19:11:46.682+01:00A Couple Of Finished PiecesWell firstly, sorry for such a delay in posting. We had a really busy school holiday. It was Erin's birthday during the holidays and so we had a party for her at <a href="http://www.ponderosa-centre.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ponderosa Centre</a>. They have various options for parties and Erin chose the one that included a tour, a reptile talk and half an hour in the play barn as well as party food in the party room. We were really impressed with the party. Everyone got to feed the llamas and goats, there was the chance to hold a giant snail, rabbits & guinea pigs and during the reptile talk you could hold a snake and a bearded dragon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alan with the bearded dragon...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and a really bad picture of me holding the snake</td></tr>
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<br />After the party, everyone is able to stay in the centre for the rest of the day if they wish so it works out very good value for money (especially if you book a morning party as we did). Erin had a pony ride (Orla didn't want to!)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her "I Love Ponies" fleece was very apt</td></tr>
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We also spent a few days in the Lake District visiting family. We managed to go for a few walks too as the weather was lovely.<br />
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When we got back I was able to finish sewing the binding on my Star Trek quilt. So it joined the finished cushion on the sofa. I took the pictures outside as I thought it showed the colours a lot better.<br />
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I really love the back of it too.<br />
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That's not all I've finished though. There's a reason it took me so long to finish sewing the binding. I had to put it on hold because I've been redesigning my friend's website and the person who was updating the original site for her wanted to give it up fairly soon so I had to focus on that for a few days to get it to the point where it could go live. There's still work to be done on it (isn't there always with techie projects!) so I guess it's technically a WIP but one that is finished enough for me to ask you to take a look. If you're in/around Leeds/West Yorkshire (or if you want to travel there for yummy cake and crafty workshops) here's the link to <a href="http://www.riversmeetcraftcafe.co.uk/" target="_blank">RiversMEET Craft Cafe</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-21422174427179274232014-04-15T12:06:00.000+01:002014-04-15T12:07:31.326+01:00WIP: Almost There!I'm far more of a night owl than an early bird so when Alan had a night out on Friday it was a great opportunity for me to sit and sew. I'd added some applique to one section of the backing fabric for my Star Trek quilt at sewing class on the Monday night and needed to blanket stitch around it. I don't really enjoy this bit as it's one of those tasks that seems to take a long time but you don't really see any progress with the quilt. So Friday evening, I got the kids to bed and sat down and forced myself to get on with it.<br />
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I hadn't used the blanket stitch on my quilting machine before so I did a bit of testing on some scrap fabric first. It's ended up slightly wider than I'd have liked but the only way to go narrower was to reduce the stitch length and it seemed to pull the fabric regardless of the tension setting.<br />
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I decided that while I had my machine out I might as well piece the back. Another job I dislike. One of the big selling points of jelly rolls for me is that it saves me from having to cut across the full width of fabric. Where I have to cut big bits of fabric I usually get Alan to help hold the ruler with me so it doesn't move while I'm cutting. I didn't really want to put off finishing the back as I'd always prefer to leave a project ready for doing a nice part so I'm keen to pick it up again so I managed without his help.<br />
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I also managed to get the quilt basted after climbing up into the alcove at almost 1am to find some wadding. I must remember not to baste quilts at that time of night (morning!) again as I managed to stick wadding to my slipper.<br />
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Yesterday I had to wait in for a courier. As the kids were playing really nicely I thought I'd make a start on the quilting. The hardest part was choosing thread, particularly with the really bright and very different colours in the quilt top. I ended up just following my original instinct and chose a variegated Gutermann Sulky. Despite using Gutermann thread for all my piecing and dressmaking, it's not one I really consider for quilting. The Sulky thread was part of a pack I got for Xmas with some fat quarters and 3 reels of thread. I'll definitely consider it in future as it was really nice to work with and I was really pleased with the outcome.<br />
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I didn't want to do really heavy quilting and wanted to stick to straight line quilting. I chose a wadding that could be quilted up to 10" apart. My blocks were slightly under this so I was able to quilt next to each line of sashing. Then I quilted around each rectangular picture to frame the image. The cushion was fairly similar.<br />
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I then cut out two bits of fabric to make an envelope back for the cushion. I used a decorative stitch for one of the hems to give it a nice finish. I stayed up until 1am making the binding and sewing it onto the front of the quilt. Today I've started hand sewing it to the back.<br />
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I'm hoping to get it finished this evening and I might get out at some point to get a cushion pad. And that will be two items ticked off the list of UFO's.<br />
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Hopefully some finished object pictures one day this week.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-7662878315979937352014-04-07T13:44:00.000+01:002014-04-07T13:44:11.781+01:00Making & BakingI bought this Star Trek fabric ages ago (June 2013 apparently!) from <a href="http://stitchmelane.com/" target="_blank">Stitch Me Lane Fabrics</a>.<br />
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I was a little worried about cutting into it. There's some very obvious rectangles to cut but of course you have to allow for seam allowances in some way - cut along the lines and lose a little picture or cut 1/4" outside the lines and lose a number of rectangles. I pretty much opted for the first of those. When it came down to cutting some of the lines were slightly out of line or not quite with the grain of the fabric. Still I ended up with 20 rectangles (4 were slightly smaller).<br />
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That gave me the opportunity to make a cushion cover using the 4 slightly smaller ones.<br />
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Leaving 16 rectangles to make quilt blocks from. For a while now I've been wanting to make some blocks with a contrast fabric offset in the block and so I decided to do this with the picture rectangles.<br />
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I knew I'd need to add some sashing to make it a bit bigger and another thing I've wanted to try is putting squares in. I had some leftover fabric and managed to fussy cut 4 pictures. That still left me with 5 squares to make. I decided to add character names to them with my sewing machine (which does lettering).<br />
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I thought settling on a final layout might be tricky due to the limited colours (and their similarity) as I didn't want it to look too regular, but it was actually pretty quick.<br />
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I got most of this sewn together at Saturday's class. I just have one more line of sewing to do (isn't it always the way?!). Then I need to hunt down the backing fabrics I bought for this quilt. I think I bought enough for borders and backing but it was a few months ago now so I'll need to double check.</div>
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Speaking of Saturday, it was a busy day. As well as quilting class and a friend's party in the evening, Erin had a party in the morning. Alan took her while I looked after Orla and we did some baking. We did some little buns and a bigger victoria sandwich cake.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-12621155444224534342014-03-26T11:41:00.002+00:002014-03-26T11:41:12.456+00:00WIP Weds: More ArtJust a quick post from me today. I did some more painting/mixed media stuff yesterday morning, creating some backgrounds. I picked up some pictures from a craft shop on Saturday that I'm planning to use. I also want to get a few more bits - the canvasses I've done are really simple because I didn't want to spend money on tons of stuff if I didn't enjoy it.<br />
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I want to add more texture so these will probably wait until I've got some more supplies. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-88365722219631602012014-03-24T11:19:00.003+00:002014-03-24T11:19:46.278+00:00Birthday GoodiesI tend to be given money for birthdays so that I can choose what I like and it's also easier given we live quite a distance from family. This year I managed to pick up a bargain book at The Works. Dare To Be Square Quilting by Boo Davis was only £2.99 and I couldn't resist it for the lovely quilt patterns (robots, owls and skulls - what more could I want!). I had a look on Amazon when I got back and it was selling there for over £13.<br />
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We went to a craft fair at RiversMEET yesterday. As well as enjoying the pulled pork sandwiches and cake, I picked up 5 fat quarters of fabric.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-2947557878157269332014-03-24T10:59:00.001+00:002014-03-24T10:59:20.084+00:00A Few More Bits & PiecesI've been a bit busy lately with an assignment due but I've managed to do a couple more blocks for the crochet block a month project.<br />
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Firstly, the January 12" filler square <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/frostbloom-12-afghan-square" target="_blank">Frostbloom by Shan Sevcik</a>. I really enjoyed making this pattern.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry, I haven't sewn the ends in yet!</td></tr>
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Secondly, the February main 12" square <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/center-heart-square" target="_blank">Centre Heart Square by Ginger Badger</a>. I've actually made this square before with DK yarn and a smaller hook and really wasn't keen on the result as it didn't seem to lie flat. Part of me was dreading making this pattern again but I'm quite pleased with the outcome.<br />
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As you can see there's a little ripple and the edges bulge slightly but I will block this square before joining it to any others which should even it all out. <br />
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I also finished the canvas I was making for the living room.<br />
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I then thought about my robot quilt and decided to make a canvas based on the robot block I designed for it. This involved tracing the outline of the robot from the quilt and using similar colours.<br />
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Here's the original quilt block for comparison:<br />
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In order to make the canvas a bit more 'mixed media' style I added some words by stamping onto decorative papers. Orla went through a phase of playing robots and would say "I am a robot, I am coming to eat you" and I thought that would be perfect for the canvas. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-37550498012659143452014-03-12T11:01:00.001+00:002014-03-12T11:01:43.198+00:00WIP: Playing With PaintThis week I've been having a play around with some mod podge, paper, decopatch papers and acrylic paints making mixed media canvas art.<br />
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It's been loosely based on <a href="http://debbiesaenz.typepad.com/blog/2012/04/mod-podge-monday-mixed-media-tutorial-freedom-bird-in-cage.html" target="_blank">this tutorial</a> by Debbie Saenz but with less detail and using a few techniques from elsewhere on the web.<br />
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Luckily I had a bird template because I can't draw!<br />
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Progress so far:<br />
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I have used decopatch papers to cover a paper template of the bird. I copied the idea in the tutorial to use something on the papers for an eye (the flower in the top left). I have used just one paper for the wing section and will add the printed word at the end - I'll probably do some more colours round the edge of it to make it stand out.<br />
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I also worked on another canvas at the same time. This time without any of the papers, just paint. I mainly did this to experiment with it but quite liking the result.<br />
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Not entirely sure what I'm doing next with this one.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-50016362074734161322014-03-07T11:53:00.000+00:002014-03-07T11:53:16.372+00:00Great British Sewing BeeAre you watching? I love this program and I'm always amazed at how quickly the contestants make the items. The other week, the episode was all about patterned fabric and I found it really interesting. I don't do a lot of dressmaking and had made a New Year's resolution to do a bit more this year rather than sticking to my quilting comfort zone. I've had some fabric for a while that I'd been planning on making a skirt from and decided yesterday to have a go. I had a style in mind but of course didn't have a suitable pattern. A quick search online and I found a site called <a href="http://www.fashion-era.com/Pattern_drafting/pattern_drafting_introduction_skirt1_why_draft.htm" target="_blank">Fashion-Era</a> that explains how to draft a skirt pattern in really easy steps (that link takes you to the introduction, in case you want to try it yourself).<br />
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So I grabbed my tape measure and some squared pattern paper and started the process. Using squared pattern paper made the process easier as I could follow the pre-printed lines as much as possible (ok, I might have rounded my numbers a little to whole centimeters so that I could use the lines!). It was a fairly easy process with some guesswork involved when it came to marking the waist. <br />
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Despite having plenty of fabric, I decided to make a toile first to (a) make sure it fit and (b) practice because I'm so used to quilting I find it really strange using a larger seam allowance for dressmaking. I'm so glad I did because this is when I made my first mistake (through not reading the instructions properly). I forgot to add the seam allowance to the centre back. The front of the skirt is cut as one piece by placing the centre front on the fold but the back is cut as two pieces and therefore needs a seam allowance added to allow for the seam up the back of the skirt and the zip placement.<br />
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I carried on making the toile without as it was cut out and simply didn't bother with the back seam. It was only to check the fit so as long as the back pieces touched each other for the full length it would fit. As it happened it did fit fine so I started cutting out for the main skirt.<br />
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Following what was said on the sewing bee I decided to have flowers running down the centre front. This was easy to work out as the placement of them was pretty much straight with the grain of the fabric so I folded the fabric down the centre of a line of flowers. Cutting for the back was more difficult (and of course I had to add the seam allowance on). It turns out some of the flowers are different sizes which slowed down the matching up process (I think I must have triple checked this part). I again used the centre of a flower for the join point of the back seam. It got pushed out slightly when making but it's not bad for a first attempt.<br />
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My invisible zip could do with some work but I don't have the proper foot for this so I expect one of those might have made a lot of difference.<br />
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Front:<br />
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Back:<br />
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It just needs the waist and hem finished now. I didn't want to cut the waist part until I was sure the skirt part would fit - adjustments could have affected the length of the waist.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-7940451576600827822014-02-26T14:22:00.001+00:002014-02-26T14:22:23.611+00:00WIP Weds: Jan 12" square and 6" squareI've finally got round to starting the 2014 BAMCAL (that's block a month crochet along, in case you're having difficulty working it out!).<br />
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January's main 12" block is the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/free-smoothfoxs-lemony-lime-citrus-square-12x12" target="_blank">Free SmoothFox's Lemony Lime Citrus Square</a>.<br />
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Now I have to admit mine is definitely not citrus colours as I have chosen vintage style colours so the finished block doesn't quite match the name but I really love it. This was a nice block to make, not difficult but interesting throughout.<br />
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See those fleece squares in the bottom of the picture? They are a rag quilt gone wrong. It is too bulky to go through my machine so they're currently covering my living room floor until I decide what I'm doing with them.<br />
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Each month there is also a 6" square. Originally I wasn't going to make these but I decided I might make some of them and make a cushion to match the blanket. This month it was <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/maryellens-easy-daisy-granny-square" target="_blank">Mary Ellen's Easy Daisy Granny Square</a>.<br />
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The petals were different to any other petals I've made and it was interesting to see how they were formed as it wasn't what I was expecting. Again, it's a fairly simple block. The outer rounds follow a basic granny square pattern - I adjusted this slightly to add chains between the clusters as I find this works best for me and helped the block lie nice and flat.<br />
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This block also gave me the chance to try out the honey colour next to the blue I wasn't keen on and I think it works well so I'll stick with these colours.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-80553823982364299782014-02-12T17:32:00.001+00:002014-02-12T17:32:44.252+00:00WIP Weds: Rag Quilt & Half Square TrianglesI had a large selection of fleece that I wanted to use up and decided that I'd make a rag quilt with it. This involved cutting LOTS of squares, in fact I spent most of yesterday doing it. This morning I layered them up ready for quilting a cross over them. They then get sewn together with the seam allowances to the front and then you snip into the seam allowance to give it a raggy look.<br />
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There are 90 'sandwiches' above to give a 9 x 10 layout. I decided to use some wadding between the layers to make it a bit thicker and warmer, so I had to cut 180 fleece squares and 90 wadding squares.<br />
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I also have another quilt in progress made from half square triangle blocks. There are 80 blocks and they all need trimmed but I couldn't face any more cutting!<br />
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So I spent the afternoon using up some bananas by baking a banana bread and some muffins (and a cake with the leftover mixture)<br />
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For a bit of fun after school, I got Orla to help decorate the muffins while her sister was at a club.<br />
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Oooh and my yarn arrived today but I'll show that in another post.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-54224452434355468832014-02-11T16:03:00.001+00:002014-02-11T16:03:41.537+00:00New Project PrepI'm a little late to the party but I've decided to join in with a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/groups/2014-crochet-block-a-month-cal" target="_blank">Block A Month Crochet Along 2014</a> over on Ravelry. Each month there are two 12" blocks and a 6" block to make (to create a sampler blanket), though I expect I might stick to just the 12" blocks. Obviously the finished size depends on the yarn & hook used. I might make some blocks from the previous years too as I'm hoping to make a double bed sized blanket.<br />
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I really wanted to plan this a little more than I usually do. I've been using the Attic24 Stylecraft pack for most of my projects and I wanted to go for a really different colour palette this time for a bit of a change.<br />
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Enter <a href="http://design-seeds.com/index.php/about" target="_blank">Design Seeds</a>! This is a fantastic site for colour inspiration.<br />
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Images are generally broken down into 6 colours, which is a really good number for a sampler crochet blanket. I could have spent hours just browsing the pictures on Design Seeds but I knew I wanted a slighty vintage feel to the colours.<br />
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This is the one I finally decided on:<br />
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In part this is because I managed to find one yarn that I could produce this palette from.<br />
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Lion Brand comes from the US and Vanna's Choice seems to have a good reputation. It's now stocked at <a href="http://www.deramores.com/lion-brand-vannas-choice" target="_blank">Deramores</a> and there are over 40 shades available.<br />
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I've ordered (to attempt to match the palette above):<br />
White<br />
Beige<br />
Honey<br />
Colonial Blue<br />
Dusty Blue<br />
Silver Blue<br />
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I'm hoping that looks close enough when it arrives. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-7801789087206533442014-02-06T11:39:00.002+00:002014-02-06T11:39:53.627+00:00Are You An Organised Crafter?I think I'd *like* to be organised but never quite get there! I often feel a few steps behind on the organising. Since I go to a quilting class (monthly) and a general sewing class (weekly) and my resolution is to do more general sewing at the weekly class I've realised I need to sort out two sets of equipment. I know I don't need as much stuff when I go to quilting and I need things like different pins, different threads, etc.<br />
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I had a sort through most of my craft stuff just after Christmas, using my new tins. By far, the sewing stuff is the hardest to sort. My crochet stuff takes up 2 jars, a trinket box plus tubs of yarn. My felting stuff takes up a small tub (mostly of equipment for classes) and two larger tubs of fibre. But there is sooooooo much sewing stuff. I have massive Ikea tubs for some fabric, a storage bench with 3 tubs in for more fabric storage, smaller tubs for FQs and charm pack type of bits, little metal buckets full of thread, jars of buttons and beads.<br />
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So, I couldn't resist a new tin (planning on using this for a little sewing kit - maybe my hand sewing bits as I'm using those more often to sew badges on Erin's Beavers/Rainbows uniforms) and a little tin for some pins (I have some in a box that keeps opening and they spill out in my sewing box so I'm forever picking them up). They came from the sale at <a href="http://www.lauraleedesigns.co.uk/" target="_blank">Laura Lee Designs</a>.<br />
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How perfect is that tin design for someone who sews? And the button tin is so cute! There were two postcards included in the parcel too and I'll probably let the kids write and post them.<br />
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Speaking of the parcel, I couldn't resist sharing this picture of the packaging as it made me smile thinking of my (slightly grumpy) postman seeing this:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-59487424202787904822014-01-28T13:08:00.001+00:002014-01-28T13:08:32.417+00:00I've Started!Sometimes the hardest part of quilting something is starting the quilting. I think it's that fear of spoiling the quilt top or going wrong. This time though it was more that I hadn't had much time to get my machine out and sew. I've been doing some hand sewing lately as it's been so much quicker to just grab a needle and thread.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've sewn a few more flowers together!</td></tr>
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I have managed to start quilting the binary quilt today. It's quite hard going because it's black thread on black fabric (which isn't very exciting to sew with!) and the quilting has to be very dense. My foot doesn't help AT ALL with this so I'm practically sewing blind in places!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ignore my threads, I've not sewn them in yet!</td></tr>
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I've started in the middle of the quilt with some of the zeros. I've been filling their centres. The next step will be to fill some of the fabric between the zeros and ones in the centre and work my way outwards. Eventually all those grid lines and the pink number outlines will be washed out and I'll hopefully be left with a black quilt with the binary standing out from the densely quilted background.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-4733910863025072552014-01-17T17:10:00.002+00:002014-01-17T17:10:14.193+00:00Pom PomsA while ago I made some pom poms, crocheted a long thin length and tied the pom poms on at regular intervals. I used this garland to decorate the stairs. I made the pom poms by wrapping yarn around a meat fork. Since then, I've seen a few blog posts mentioning the Clover Pom Pom Makers and they recently featured on a Kirstie Allsop program.<br />
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I admit I was intrigued, mainly because the pom poms looked so neat and nicely dense too. I did look at buying some just after Christmas but with the tv programme most places were out of stock. A few places were selling them at ridiculously inflated prices so I decided to wait. It didn't take long for them to come back in stock and I ordered mine from <a href="http://www.cottonpatch.co.uk/acatalog/Yo-Yo_and_Pom-Pom_Makers.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook&utm_term=pom&utm_campaign=pompom" target="_blank">Cotton Patch</a> this week.<br />
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I bought two packs. The large pack and the small pack. I figured I might as well get both when I'm paying for postage. I was glad I did.I tried the smallest one first and then the smaller of the large pack. I expect these are the sizes I'd use most often.<br />
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It was really easy to use and the pom poms are a lovely shape, only needing minimal trimming. I expect they'll be easy enough for the kids to use (with some help to tie the knot around the middle).<br />
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I expect my house may end up covered in pom pom garlands!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-56783975734247521242014-01-15T15:05:00.004+00:002014-01-15T15:06:44.394+00:00WIP Weds: Free Motion NOT QuiltingQuite some time ago now, the start of 2012 if the date on Sarah's <a href="http://69.89.27.245/~edwarda6/2012/02/09/ive-been-a-bit-quiet/" target="_blank">blog post</a> is anything to go by, I was able to see her morse code quilt being made for an exhibition at Bletchley Park (go on, check out the link!). After enjoying the quilting on my robot quilt so much I decided that I wanted to make something that was a 'quilting project' rather than a 'patchwork and quilting project'. I've seen quite a number of quilts at shows over the last couple of years that have been made purely from quilting but I have to admit that I cannot draw! So I've decided to make something similar to Sarah's morse code quilt.<br />
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Her quilt combined morse code with camouflage but I've kept mine a bit simpler by not copying the camouflage. I'm using binary rather than morse code and will be free motion quilting around the 1's and 0's using black thread on black fabric.<br />
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So last week I made these to draw round:<br />
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I had a bit of a stupid moment when I planned out the spacing. I had a limited amount of fabric and worked out that I could have a 3/4" space around each character...except that I had only measured the width and not noticed that they are taller than they are wide (duh!).<br />
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This only left 1/4" between the characters height-wise. I redrew the templates above taking 1/4" out of the height (this was pretty simple to do and didn't affect the shape too much) and after experimenting decided to use the shorter templates.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 1/4" spacing wasn't quite enough!</td></tr>
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I finished marking the quilt top in Saturday's class and got it basted too. I was really hoping to be able to show an in progress photo of the free motion quilting but alas, this happened:<br />
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Yes, one poorly child. Out of the window go sewing and studying plans for this week. Fingers crossed the older one doesn't get it too!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-70257261709546202842014-01-01T18:26:00.000+00:002014-01-01T18:26:34.990+00:00Happy New Year!Hope you all had a lovely New Year's Eve and that you don't have too bad a hangover. Definitely no hangover for me, we tend to celebrate New Year by getting a takeaway and watching a film if we're not visiting family.<br />
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Onto the resolutions. Do you make any? I seem to make very similar ones each year and I guess a lot of crafters out there will have similar ones.<br />
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Firstly, I want to try and use up some of the fabric I already have. I have a few projects in mind with various bits of fabric I bought last year so I shall try to schedule those in to quilting & sewing classes. That leads me nicely onto another aim; I want to try and get out of my quilting obsession a little. I have realised that I tend to take quilting projects to Monday's sewing class (which is more of a general sewing class) because I usually have them ready to go and I want to make more effort to do some dressmaking/bag making. I'm hoping to make one skirt and one bag this year.<br />
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As always I want to finish off the UFO's. I'm losing my cutting table because we've bought a new sofa (after almost 9 years we are finally replacing the Ikea Klippan cheapy sofa we bought for the part-furnished flat we lived in before we bought this house!!!). The new sofa will be going in the living room (as you'd expect) and we decided we'd keep the Klippan and put it in the conservatory, which meant my cutting table had to go. Why am I rambling about this?? Well, all my UFO's lived under the cutting table so part of the preparation for moving the furniture was me sorting through them. I got rid of some items I knew would never be finished and sorted the remainder into a 'dressmaking' bag, a 'quilting bag' and an 'other' bag. Hopefully this will help me work through them.<br />
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I want to continue working on my free motion quilting. I was really pleased with my robot quilt and I want to do more. When I was following some of the curves on the Christmas panel wall hangings with the walking foot I thought how much I prefer the free motion quilting. My first quilting project for 2014 is already planned and might make this an easy resolution to keep ;-)<br />
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<br />In the none craft-related resolutions I have the usual one to go to the gym more and to eat better. I also want to read more. I'm now the proud owner of a shiny Kindle Paperwhite and I've managed to read 2 books in the last week! My aim is for 12 books this year and I've managed to finish the first one today. No doubt I shall have much less time to read when I start having study deadlines, exams, school holidays, etc. It's going to be a busy year, which is why I've set the target at one book per month.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-12615573307901666852013-12-31T13:54:00.000+00:002013-12-31T13:54:08.372+00:00A Shopping Trip & Crafty PresentsIn the run up to Christmas, the <a href="http://www.fabricguild.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fabric Guild</a> did a series of open days. It's down in Leicester so almost 2 hours away. For that reason alone, I wouldn't go to buy the odd piece of backing fabric or a couple of fat quarters but as a place to stock up for the year ahead...well, that is where it's worth a visit. Lifetime membership is £5 and the shop itself is like a warehouse. There's a section with fabric on the bolt starting at just £2 a yard, a section full of boxes of fat quarters, a table or two full of books, a section for all the printed panels, a wall full of buttons and so on.<br />
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I went with a plan. A definite plan. A plan to buy some wadding and some backing fabric for the quilt I'm making and perhaps some more bargain backing fabric. The husband may have raised an eyebrow and said "Okay" in that tone that says "I know you are going to come home with a truck load of fabric". He may have been right!<br />
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But look, I was pretty good. I <i>did</i> buy some wadding and another new cutting mat.<br />
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And I did get some cheap lengths of fabric<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love those pumpkin faces!</td></tr>
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But I got very distracted by Fat Quarters<br />
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And charm packs and remnants<br />
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And who could resist the £3 Christmas panels<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This may be converted to cushions</td></tr>
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Or this bargain £2 panel<br />
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And of course I never miss an opportunity to add to the button jar or ribbon tin<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That big bag at the back is a £5 for 50 items grab bag!</td></tr>
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It was definitely worth the trip but I did forget to buy black wadding. I ended up ordering that from Cotton Patch and also getting some black thread and bottomline from Barnyarns ready for my next project. Hopefully you'll be able to see that in progress mid-January.<br />
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If all that wasn't enough to fill my craft drawers to bursting, look at the lovely crafty presents I got for Christmas.<br />
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There's a set of 3 tins from Ikea so that I can reorganise my sewing bits. An owl quilting die for my big shot and 3 reels of ribbon on top of those. Next to it is a stack of fat quarters all chosen by the kids (actually I think one or two are long quarters), on top of that is a set of 4 fat quarters and 3 reels of thread from Alan and in front is a couple of fat quarters and a mini charm pack from my parents. The washi tape and sewing needles are stocking fillers I bought myself! Alan also bought me the embroidery threads at the front and the pot at the back, which os from M&S and is made to look like a reel of thread for storing thread in (along with 4 reels). The buttons were chosen by the kids too. The odd looking contraption next to the buttons was from my in-laws. It's a bobbin storage tower that I've been coveting for a while as my bobbins are usually bouncing around in my sewing box making a big mess of tangled thread. I'm planning on putting them all neatly in the tower with one layer dedicated to Bottomline thread so it doesn't get muddled up.<br />
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Did you get lots of lovely crafty presents for Christmas? Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-47210863047515002742013-12-28T20:42:00.001+00:002013-12-28T20:42:58.601+00:00I'm really behind with my blogging!I've just realised that with December being sooooo busy getting everything ready for Christmas, I hadn't done any blogging. First up I looked back at my previous posts and I don't think I shared the picture of Orla's finished quilt:<br />
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Both the children liked their quilts and they made me thank you cards when they played in the Ikea creche yesterday!<br />
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As I've mentioned (many times) I go to a sewing class on a Monday evening and we've had a bit of a regular fuddle sometime just before Christmas. Last year it was done as a big group fuddle with people from the other sewing classes and the same thing happened this year. There were soooo many people, as the number of classes has grown. For those of you reading who haven't heard of a fuddle, it's basically a little gathering where everyone brings some food or drink to share. We also do a version of Secret Santa where everyone brings a wrapped present worth about £5 and puts it in a sack. everyone then gets to choose a present from the sack. It's a nice way of doing things as it ensures everyone that attends gets a gift and, although you're not buying for someone specific, it's not too difficult to choose items as everyone likes crafty or homemade things. I was really pleased to open the following gift, which was pretty much perfect for me - a quilting magazine (with free pins) and pin cushion<br />
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At the December quilting class I knew I couldn't take my Christmas quilt top as I didn't have any wadding wide enough, so I took a pre-printed Christmas panel instead. I cut it into 5 wall hangings (1 large and 4 small) and basted them before the class. I spent the class quilting them. My plan had given me a full child free week to do the binding but Erin decided to share her bug with me and I didn't have the energy to do them. So I spent the last couple of days before Christmas frantically sewing to get these done, along with 2 mats that also needed binding.<br />
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At the point above, one finished, the rest awaiting binding being hand sewn to the back I didn't think they'd ever be finished. I even roped Alan in to help!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out my advent calendars in the background :-)</td></tr>
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They were eventually finished on Christmas Eve, the picture is terrible because it was hanging on the staircase and there's just no way to get a good picture.<br />
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I've quilted the outlines of the hills & road and around the houses, then done some free motion quilting in the sky.<br />
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I'll post again soon with news of quilt-y shopping and presents!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-24879811561808255292013-11-28T15:12:00.003+00:002013-11-28T15:12:58.888+00:00FO: Neat Ripple BlanketFor a while now I've been wanting to make another <a href="http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html" target="_blank">Attic24 Neat Ripple</a> blanket (click the link to go to Lucy's pattern). I haven't really had the time to make one. Then my Mum phoned the other week and mentioned that an Aunty is hoping I've made her a blanket for Xmas.<br />
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So, what do you do when you find out that someone wants a handmade blanket that you would usually make over at least a month and you know the presents for them are being collected in less than 2 weeks???? Well if you're as crazy as me, you start making one with the intention of posting it up sometimes before the last posting date in December. Then you start crocheting like crazy and finish it in <i><b>10 days</b></i>.<br />
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I have to admit I haven't enjoyed making it as much as I usually would because I've been working it up so quickly. I also had to use the yarn I already had and I'd maybe have chosen fewer colours if I'd been ordering yarn for the project. I decided to do interlocking colours.<br />
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This is the ripple blanket withe the first couple of border rounds on. I had to slightly fudge the first round to create a straight edge and went around again in the pink as I thought it gave a neater finish in the corners.<br />
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I then added a pale blue, deep pink and finally a green round in the style of Lucy's border <a href="http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2012/12/interlocking-ripple-ta-dah.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-38153190689523128742013-11-15T12:01:00.001+00:002013-11-15T12:01:52.273+00:00WIP: Xmas QuiltIt's amazing how much you can get done when the kids are both at school full time and the next OU module hasn't started. I'd promised myself that I wouldn't just fill up this time with more work and it's really nice to be able to sit and relax and do a bit of sewing when I feel like it.<br />
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I finished sewing the 16 blocks for my Xmas quilt yesterday. In the evening, Alan helped me lay the blocks out. I'd put coloured pins in some so they wouldn't get mixed up; when I felt one needed to be moved it had to be swapped with a block with the same colour pin. Eventually I was happy with the layout and I've spent this morning putting it together.<br />
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Here it is hanging on the line as I think it shows the colours off better and luckily today the weather is nice & bright. It still needs a border added and I'm sure it won't be quilted before Xmas!!! My next module starts on Tuesday so the amount of sewing will drop off a little then. I just wanted to make sure the top was together as the blocks are very similar and the longer they are separate, the more chance of them getting muddled.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2237666835081507454.post-58836724140090530592013-11-13T13:58:00.003+00:002013-11-13T13:58:42.930+00:00WIP Weds: Another QuiltSo I headed off to quilting class on Saturday afternoon looking a little bit like I was going on holiday for a month. We're having a couple of sessions for Christmas projects and I hadn't decided what to make. I thought the easiest thing to do was take pretty much all my Xmas fabric, some wadding, some plain fabric, some thread in winter colours along with my machine, cutting mat, rulers and sewing stuff. I also had to take the finished robot quilt so everyone could have a look at it. If you're familiar with the big blue bags from Ikea, I had one of those full to bursting plus my machine!<br />
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The plan really was to look through Sarah's quilting books and see if there was a block I liked that I could make into a Xmas cushion (or two) but of course I decided the best thing to do was start a Xmas jelly roll quilt. I'm hoping to have the top done before this Xmas but I'm definitely not planning to have the quilting done by then; I'm not quite that crazy!<br />
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I spent the whole session cutting so most of the stuff I'd carried could have been left at home. After the session I finished the last of the cutting (loads of white squares) at home. I decided to take the project along to Monday night's sewing class as it was all packed up ready.<br />
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The quilt is made up from 16 blocks. Initially the blocks all follow a simple log cabin pattern with half the block from light fabrics and the other half from dark ones. I pretty much completed these at Monday night's class, with just the final few strips to add at home. The final round of each block varies based on its position in the quilt, to create stars between the blocks. Check out Rachel's quilt <a href="http://69.89.27.245/~edwarda6/2013/09/19/some-lovely-photos/" target="_blank">here</a> for the finished look. This means there are 4 different blocks in the quilt. The quickest to make are the corner blocks (there are fewer triangles to sew) and I got these done yesterday.<br />
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Today I made the 4 central blocks. These take the longest as they have the star sections in every corner.<br />
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I have 8 more blocks to finish before deciding on a layout. It all requires a bit of careful checking and double checking that the triangles are forming in the right direction, as well as careful labelling of the completed blocks.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14089427092730576630noreply@blogger.com0