Happy Hexies
A few weeks ago I cut spotty fabrics into hexies, with a plan to use them with yellow to bulk them out. But as I started stitching them together I realised that even with the added yellow there wasn't going to be anywhere near enough to carry on with this density of flowers.
Lisa had two brilliant ideas when she was home last week.
Firstly to do two bands of flowers, top and bottom, and to then have the middle mostly yellow with random flowers and hexies dotted around.
Secondly, for her to take some tacked hexies on the train and she would stitch them on the way home.
Yay! Thank you Lisa, love you xxxx
Lisa had two brilliant ideas when she was home last week.
Firstly to do two bands of flowers, top and bottom, and to then have the middle mostly yellow with random flowers and hexies dotted around.
Secondly, for her to take some tacked hexies on the train and she would stitch them on the way home.
Yay! Thank you Lisa, love you xxxx
Bag Lady? Or Bucket Lady?
I had a bit of fun making a bucket bag today, a reversible bucket bag to be more precise!
I put a strip of pockets around the bottom, and adjustable straps. I'm rather chuffed with this but it seems a bit dark for (hopefully) spring.
Pockets on the outside: (the red is the top of the pocket and the pocket lining)
Plain on the inside
OR reversed so pockets on the inside
And adjustable straps
I put a strip of pockets around the bottom, and adjustable straps. I'm rather chuffed with this but it seems a bit dark for (hopefully) spring.
Pockets on the outside: (the red is the top of the pocket and the pocket lining)
Plain on the inside
OR reversed so pockets on the inside
And adjustable straps
And Another One
I so enjoyed making yesterday's bag, I thought I'd make another one, from more summery fabrics:
Again with a pocket
Again reversible. The pocket is across the whole of the bag, and then stitched down randomly to create smaller sections for train ticket. sunglasses etc. These bags don't close so not really ideal for a handbag, but for a book and a bottle of water - ideal!
Again with a pocket
Again reversible. The pocket is across the whole of the bag, and then stitched down randomly to create smaller sections for train ticket. sunglasses etc. These bags don't close so not really ideal for a handbag, but for a book and a bottle of water - ideal!
Super Star
The final star block from my month of the Star of Africa bee arrived today:
The lovely Sana lives in Berlin, and made me this picture of the iconic Berlin TV Tower for my Star of Africa star quilt. I love the ribbon with the skyline that she added to the applique.
And with the other four blocks that very greedily asked for from each of the girls . . .
How awesome is that? Now I need my mum to come home from holiday so we can arrange the blocks on her spare room floor as I don't have any space big enough!
The lovely Sana lives in Berlin, and made me this picture of the iconic Berlin TV Tower for my Star of Africa star quilt. I love the ribbon with the skyline that she added to the applique.
And with the other four blocks that very greedily asked for from each of the girls . . .
How awesome is that? Now I need my mum to come home from holiday so we can arrange the blocks on her spare room floor as I don't have any space big enough!
Super Strings
When I posted my string quilt flimsy a few weeks ago, Jen messaged me to offer me some more string blocks. She had these from a swap, but didn't know when she would get around to using them, could I use them?
Well clearly I don't have enough fabric, or UFOs (please don't look at the UFO & PHD tab) so of course I accepted, and just look what she sent me. FAR too gorgeous to cut down to extend the previous top, and with just a few more squares will make a fab top in its own right.
What can I say? Except thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Jen
Well clearly I don't have enough fabric, or UFOs (please don't look at the UFO & PHD tab) so of course I accepted, and just look what she sent me. FAR too gorgeous to cut down to extend the previous top, and with just a few more squares will make a fab top in its own right.
What can I say? Except thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Jen
Soccer surrender
I should have listened!
When I asked for suggestions for putting the badges onto football shirts the general advice was to stitch onto a patch and stitch the patch onto the shirts.
Well I ignored you
And I shouldn't have
To start with it went OK, not brilliant, but acceptable
But then . . .
I did all the usual, change the thread, change the bobbin, change the needle, but it still shredded the thread and made a pig's ear of the shirt. So I've given up on 'my' idea, and I'm reverting to 'your' idea and will spend the evening stitching patches onto football shirts.
Sigh!
When I asked for suggestions for putting the badges onto football shirts the general advice was to stitch onto a patch and stitch the patch onto the shirts.
Well I ignored you
And I shouldn't have
To start with it went OK, not brilliant, but acceptable
But then . . .
I did all the usual, change the thread, change the bobbin, change the needle, but it still shredded the thread and made a pig's ear of the shirt. So I've given up on 'my' idea, and I'm reverting to 'your' idea and will spend the evening stitching patches onto football shirts.
Sigh!
A Yummy Mummy
On this occasion I'm not writing about my mummy, but a mum at school - or rather an ex school mum!
Julie and her family moved to Amsterdam last summer, and I had sent some stuff to help the kids get places at the school out there.
Julie is back for a weekend, and popped in to school . . . And brought me these yummy batik fabrics as a thanks for my help!
Isn't it lovely when you get such appreciation for just doing your job :-)
Thank you Julie, it was lovely to see you, and I love my fabrics
Julie and her family moved to Amsterdam last summer, and I had sent some stuff to help the kids get places at the school out there.
Julie is back for a weekend, and popped in to school . . . And brought me these yummy batik fabrics as a thanks for my help!
Isn't it lovely when you get such appreciation for just doing your job :-)
Thank you Julie, it was lovely to see you, and I love my fabrics
Moo Moment
I've heard a lot about Moo cards, but it wasn't until I got a link from the lovely Plum that I actually went onto the site. I was reasonably controlled, and so far have just gone for the free card, but I can see I will be buying some in the future
They look exciting before you even before you get to your own design of cards
But when you then see your own quilts - back AND front of the cards, it really is a lovely sight!
They look exciting before you even before you get to your own design of cards
But when you then see your own quilts - back AND front of the cards, it really is a lovely sight!
They do postcards too, yes, I may need to spend some money there!
Chertsey and Crafty Church
I just realised it's been a while since I shared the creations from the two monthly sessions I am involved with. This has partly been due to me having problems with Big Lab mosaics, but today Janine made a suggestion, and
Tada . . .
April at Chertsey Museum
And April at Crafty Church
Just click on the links to get to the Fun With Fabric blog with details of the April sessions, and class info
Tada . . .
April at Chertsey Museum
And April at Crafty Church
T-shirt Sweat Shop
Well the school football shirts finally got finished and delivered
A shame they went wrong and I had to spend an age hand sewing ten patches on, but the football coach is delighted , and I'll get paid, so all's well that ends well (-:
I then moved onto the next project: six tshirts for a group of teenagers doing the London to Brighton cycle ride in June. A number of designs had been discussed, but in the end they went for this one - it was my favourite too
These are being stitched in my 'time off' - the time that I'm at home rather than at school. I do usually work hard at school too, but today I took a little 'me' time and sat with my new friend - I've called her Sunshine
She came from one of a dozen eggs delivered, with an incubator, on Monday. As I left school today six had already hatched - an amazing experience for the kids to actually see this happening in their classrooms!
A shame they went wrong and I had to spend an age hand sewing ten patches on, but the football coach is delighted , and I'll get paid, so all's well that ends well (-:
I then moved onto the next project: six tshirts for a group of teenagers doing the London to Brighton cycle ride in June. A number of designs had been discussed, but in the end they went for this one - it was my favourite too
These are being stitched in my 'time off' - the time that I'm at home rather than at school. I do usually work hard at school too, but today I took a little 'me' time and sat with my new friend - I've called her Sunshine
Astonishing Archaeology
I didn't get much sewing done today as we had a bit of a day out. In our (small) village there is a big gravel extraction plant, it's been there 10 years already. They have an archaeology team working one month ahead of the diggers, and today they held an exhibition of their finds in the village hall of the neighbouring village.
Completely free, they had over a dozen of their staff there answering questions (did you know there was such a thing as an osteoarchaeologist? she was fascinating) And lots of information as well as the items themselves on display
Phil Harding from Time Team on TV was there, flint knapping, and chatting
There was clay for the children to make their own pots - and plastic bags for them to use to take them home
Assorted 'finds' that we could pick up and feel
and gold beads from a necklace worn 4300 years ago (!!!!)
All the items on this poster were there for us to see
And this poster shows where they are known to originate from, FOUR THOUSAND YEARS AGO
They also had photos of evidence 4 extremely rare Early Neolithic houses (5500 years old) There are only a few dozen found at all in the UK, and they have never previously found more than one on a site. The BBC has more info here
A lovely day
Completely free, they had over a dozen of their staff there answering questions (did you know there was such a thing as an osteoarchaeologist? she was fascinating) And lots of information as well as the items themselves on display
Phil Harding from Time Team on TV was there, flint knapping, and chatting
There was clay for the children to make their own pots - and plastic bags for them to use to take them home
Assorted 'finds' that we could pick up and feel
and gold beads from a necklace worn 4300 years ago (!!!!)
All the items on this poster were there for us to see
And this poster shows where they are known to originate from, FOUR THOUSAND YEARS AGO
They also had photos of evidence 4 extremely rare Early Neolithic houses (5500 years old) There are only a few dozen found at all in the UK, and they have never previously found more than one on a site. The BBC has more info here
A lovely day
Happy St Georges Day
OK, so St George's Day was last Tuesday, but this is the first Sunday after. I only had one child at Sunday school today - Rodney, and he was telling me about the St George's Day parade he was going to later, so we scrapped the planned lesson, and taught each other about St George, and made a picture.
After the service, Sunday School always does a Show and Tell, and Rodney (age 9) told the whole story himself. I just tried to do the glamorous assistant bit and held up the pic!
Annoyingly I then came home to a flat tyre, so I spent the rest of Sunday Morning at Kwik Fit getting it repaired.
I did manage to get to the sewing machine in the afternoon, but I'll show you that tomorrow.
For today, I will leave you with this sent to me today by my boss
After the service, Sunday School always does a Show and Tell, and Rodney (age 9) told the whole story himself. I just tried to do the glamorous assistant bit and held up the pic!
Annoyingly I then came home to a flat tyre, so I spent the rest of Sunday Morning at Kwik Fit getting it repaired.
I did manage to get to the sewing machine in the afternoon, but I'll show you that tomorrow.
For today, I will leave you with this sent to me today by my boss
Chunky Chevrons
I managed to spend some time sewing on Sunday, and then a bit of time quilting (!!!!) and here is Chunky Chevrons in Yellow. I cut half a dozen yellow fabrics (mostly FQs) into 5 inch strips and then started with a triangle off centre along one side of a fleece blanket.
The strips were then added (right sides together, stitch and flip method) on alternating sides until the fleece was full.
I then echo quilted each side of each chevron with more or less straight lines, and also a few extra echoes on every other one
The strips were then added (right sides together, stitch and flip method) on alternating sides until the fleece was full.
I then echo quilted each side of each chevron with more or less straight lines, and also a few extra echoes on every other one
Now I just need to get some more yellow for a binding!
Baby Boom
All of a sudden there seem to be babies under construction: two assistants at work, a friend of Lisa's, and a friend's daughter. I usually have a few I-spy quilts on hand but they have all gone, so I spend a few lovely hours cutting, sewing pressing, sewing, and I had this,
and this ready for binding
and this ready for binding
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