2022 April first half

I felt as if I had spent most of the last few weeks copying blog posts from the old blog onto this one, but as I look throuigh the photos on my phone I realsie there has been a fair amount of making too

I have ticked off some of tyhe projects in the Book of Days:

Labels for cloths store at church

Scissor labels for Kandy and her grand children

Gingers with Daisys for Mothering Sunday (do excuse the art work!)

Gingers with Ukrainian Sunflowers, and sunflowers

And red white and blue bunting for the Diamond Jubilee coming up in a few months

  

I then mutilated a quit!!!

I made this one quite a while ago, and I'd missed the faric in quite a few seams

  

As it's a size that isn't very useful, and there are lots in the same size (a single fleece blanket size)

At Richamond and Kew Quilters a month or so ago we looked at making jackets from a really simple pattern of rectangles.  It fitted by quilt perfectly - and became a no-waste pattern (coincidentally Plum and I have been looking at these) 

The construction is such that you dont have to inset the sleeves: you add the sleeves to the middle of the sides then sew two seams: from side/bottom of the jacket, up to the junction with the sleeve, then out to the sleeve cuff.

Luckily I was able to keep the quilt binding as the binding on the bottom of the jacket and as the cuffs of the sleeves.  AND I found the box of left over fabric so I can bind the centre front and the neck in the same fabric.  The photos are poor but I'll take better ones when it is ready to be shown off!

 

I made April's crocuses for the Facebook Hexie swap group I'm part of

And I finally got round to teaching screen printing at Chertsey Museum: it was put off from a few weeks previoulsy when I had COVID.  The ladies have printed onto tote bags (after lots of test prints on paper and waste fabric).  In a few weeks time we will embelish these

As I was buying some paint and some screens ready for the class I also ordered one I designed myself:

To design a pattern with a repeat you start off with a few parts of the design on a piece of paper the right size.  You then cut the paper into quarters and rearrange them so the newly cut pieces are the edges and the blank bits are in the centre - this enable you to add more designs

By leaving a small clear section around the pattern I can print it again and again so I get a repeating pattern.  This will now be sashiko stitched with red embroidery thread

Lisa specifically asked for a patchwork for her birthday: it needed to be bir enough to go over the top of the beds and to cover the sides!  Either for her and Jim to sleep under with blankets added for each of the according to preference, or to go on the spare bed to keep it free of cat hairs.  She chose these colours and was happy with the design.  It isn't actually finished but I wanted to be sure it was big enough before I added the binding.  I think the 225 squares represent 10 m of fabric!!!!  Anyway they like it and are delighted with the size - phew!!

A friend of Niki's asked if I could make a chemo quilt, so I did.  

There were some scraps of the fabric left over  so I added a matching tote bag

And finally a few more Gingers - This lovely couple from church gor married this week: I had made a gebneric bride abd groom but once they posted wedding photos on FB I realsied I could match their colours 

  

And these two from our church gor confirmed in February.  Due to work and other uissues they havent both been in chgurch since then so this weekend we were able to gift them a bible.  I made covers for them both, plus (of course) a ginger bookmark!

2022 March

Gingers are usually cheerul and happy, but  that was totally inappropriate for the shocking events that have happened this month, so I made this sad Ginger holding a Ukraine sunflower.  I'm not making them for sale but I have made a donation to the Red Cross appeal

On a more cheerful nore, the very talented Janine blogged about keeping a Book of Days - projects that grab your attention.  They are entered in the book as a safe place to keep ideas, they may never be made but they have been recorded.  My art skills are not up to hers and I tend to use Pinterest for ideas I want to keep, but she did inspire me to make a log of everything I have started to make and really should finish one day!

Be kind about my drawings - they are rubbish, but they are enough to remind me of each project, and that's all I need.  As I type this I realised there are still more to go in the book, but this gives you an idea!

I really do need to finish something before I start something else!  My plan is to cut off the top right corner if each project as I finish it so I can have a visual pat on the back for actually finishing something!!!

Not in the book, because it's crochet not sewing, is the Fall Shawl V2.  By mid March I got back to the size when I'd had to frog it 

And now, it's 99% finished (about 6 ends to sew in).  It's about 2m wide on the longest side so very difficult to photograph

It's lovely to wear, and I'm loving the "picot triangles" on the edge: I totally failed to grasp the instructions but with long distance help from Jackie and Amo I bodged a wiggly edge and am more than happy!

I went and set up the village hall early for Stitch and Crafty Church this month so I could speed date these 'covered corner' blocks in peace and privacy.  My thought was that I could do it at Crafty Church but I needed 8 tables which is all we have, and it's Lisa's birthday pressie so it's better if she doesn't see it!

Talking of birthdays - this glass panel was Brian's birthday pressie from the girls and I, I love it!

I made this Ginger for a friend,

And lots of these for Mothering Sunday at Church

However life then changed based on one of these (well two actually as husband had a matching one!)

So - jobs that had been put off for years no longer had any excuse to be put off any longer!  New kitchen cupboard doors and worksurfaces are due in April to transform this

So cupboards came down and walls and ceilings were painted

Cupboards cleaned

Patio tidied

And the fabric matched and cut

And half way to being a Chemo Comforter requested by a colleague of Niki's

But an opps!  

Do not proceed if you have any affilliation with the Quilt Police!

I cant believe when planning this block  I never considered seam allowance

How stupid is this!!!  How many years have I been patchworking????

It's simply too late to do anything about this - I think've used ten packs of FQ!!! I can't start again -  All I can say is I hope Lisa loves it despite the gaps!  (Plum I need to re-write the instructions!!!!!)

PS - and blogger spell checks seems to have gone on holiday, so aplogies for any spelling mistakes!

2018 Wk 26 - a bit of a catch up

 I've been having problems getting photos from my phone to the computer, so I haven't blogged for a few weeks, but today it worked - so here is a quick catch up

Niki's colleague's colleagues all attacked her chemo quilt with fabric pens- and my concern that it was too white has been blown away - doesn't it look great!

I went to Ireland for a few days this last week.  Officially it was to see Jackie, but (shhhhh) there was another person I was eager to meet - this little beauty, Leah, my honorary granddaughter!  We spent lots of time with her big brothers too - D in the pic and A who was at school - my gosh . . .  boys are exhausting!

We made a few bits for Leah (or possibly her mum!): this changing clutch

 and changing mat (it did get finished before being handed over)

And her I-spy quilt was finished and handed over too (pic to follow).  Jackie had been on a course and made this fab elephant pic for Leah's room

We made ourselves some great project trays too, by coincidence we had instructions for two: different sizes, different designers and different methods but very similar result.  They have Peltex 72F (I think) in them which makes them really firm, and the closure action from tray to storage is really satisfying

A friend decided to join in the Untangled Threads art installation to commemorate WW1 - I am totally in love with her heart - she needle felted these poppies in a field and it's beyond awesome!

And Jackie and I bought some pickling jars.  For pickling you ask?  No - of course not - for beautiful buttons!!!!