2018 Wk 52 Christmas part 1

Hope you had a very . . .

We did! 

M-i-L sadly missing from the Boxing Day festivities but she was very well looked after in hospital with a visit from Santa, gifts of a scarf and a box of chocs and a card from a local school child.

With the festivities over and all the waifs and strays back at their own homes I've actually done some "me" things!

A whole load of 1½ squares have been stitched first in pairs, then in 3s

and now being stitched into 9 patches for the Tiny Blocks quilt Jackie and I are making.

 I am also warping a loom: Have you seen the temperature quilts that people made last year?

You knit or crochet a set number of stitches in a colour that represents a temperature, then you do the same every day.  You can choose whether you use the maximum or minimum or average, just pick one and stick to it.  One of my students from many years ago is a very accomplished crochetter: she blogs at https://lullabylodge.blogspot.com and is cheerleading a crocheted blanket along (!) starting here.  I really wanted to have a go but I'm already thrown by the crochet tech talk, and don't have much in the way of wool colours . . .  however I have plenty of embroidery threads and have no objection to buying any extras needed so I am doing a woven equivalent.

Warping a loom has to count as one of the most boring craft preparations though - which is why I've done half then got distracted by doing my tax return and a blog post!

 I also got very spoiled - pressie pics will follow

The one where we finished our mini trees

The husbands have moved on from the vacuum system, and are fixing shelves and hooks . . . And even finishing each other's sentences "this is bent, I think we need ... " " oh yes, I've got a [insert hardware implement] that'll fix that"

 

We finished cutting and cutting and sewing and sewing

 

And finally finished our mini tree tops

 

Next post - vinyl zippy pouches!

 

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Griping about Google & some Crafty Stuff

A few years ago I changed my blog address from Slikstitches.blogspot.com to Slikstitches.com.  I did it on a whim, and if I could turn back time I would not have done it!

At first my blog vanished for a while, then last year I had problems paying my renewal fee ( I blogged about it here).  I eventually discovered I had to log into wallet.google, and update my credit card information, so when I got this year's renewal email I checked on the above post and checked my credit card details and sat back smugly,

BUT - this time that wasn't the right place to update the card info - it seems they sometime look somewhere else!  It's taken me a month, but I've finally sussed it - I have to log on here using an email address I never use - I don't even know how I can use it! (B@SS.COM), using a password that I haven't used for years (SSG) and change a different saved credit card option. [Billings/Domain Registration / Access Billing Ac]

So now I have it saved here ready for getting hopelessly lost next year!

But because no blog post in compete without a photo or two . . .

Jackie's My Small World is looking awesome

I embroidered a blanket for my Great Aunt, and mum has delivered it

Lesley at Crafty Church embroidered this for her sister

And my God Daughter created and machine stitched this for a friend

Oh, and Lisa received her Christmas Quilt

That'll be FOUR layers now on her bed - a bit like the princess and the pea!

A Problem with Pink

So . . . I had loads of scrappy trip strips left over from Lisa's Christmas Quilt,  I decided to join them all together to make a bonus quilt

I 'd been given a roll of dark red fabric

So I actually decided to back the bonus quilt, and I even quilted it, proper like!

And I did a border and a nice scrappy binding

And then I just thought I'd wash it in case it ran a bit

I did use a colour catcher (ooops!)

It doesn't look too bad on this photo

It looks a little pink on this photo

But is clearly *very* pink in contrast to white paper

Needless to say the fabric is now going in the bin!

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Two finishes

We've been watching Breaking Bad, which means hand sewing and binding time . . . which means both the Orange Consequences Quilt, and the Red Christmas Scrappy Trip are FINISHED!!!!

First I attached a double band of hexies to the Orange Consequences Quilt

Then I bound it

And then I finished the binding on Lisa's Christmas quilt

The UFO list is getting smaller and the "done" pile is getting bigger!

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Rolling in Red

I seem to be on a bit of a red kick at the moment:

I've pieced and quilted Lisa's mostly red Christmas quilt

Some of the sashing is plain red, and some is printed with gold or silver Christmassy symbols.  The sashing placement is deliberate, and even required some un-sewing.  Can you see why I chose that placement? (see below for the answer)
    
And I made myself two red handy items in felt:  A wrist pin cushion and a needle case

 

And I've almost finished Niki's mostly red birthday quilt

 

  

No doubt which birthday she's getting it for (I cant believe I'm old enough to have a youngest child turning 21!!!)

(the number twenty one wasn't on the fabric so I've joined twenty and one together!)

And the printed sashing amongst the plain?  If you look for it, it spells Lisa's name :-)

 

2010 November (2)

 

Avoiding the Log Cabin Candle Tree

I have been adopting the suggestion of 15 minutes of play while I am avoiding the Christmas Tree quilt (is this another frog?).

The idea of 15 minutes is just to have fun with no pressure: so for me, whether it is designing on the computer, or stitching a simple embroidery design, or ripping up some more denim... I get my fabric fix and then I can get on with the boring stuff!!!

At home I have been creating other blocks to go with the 18 or so Raw Edge Applique Christmas Trees : just need to decide how best to join them - any ideas?













And at after school club I have getting into Zentangles (and the kids have been doing them too!). Avril gave me the idea as she was doing embroidery that reminded me of Zentangles I don't think I'll progress to the embroidery, but while looking after a room full of monkeys (oops, I mean children) I can doodle :-)

Don't know what I'll do with them though

Post Card Swaps

I've been making Christmas decorations today (but haven't finished trimming, so no photos yet).

I've received my Home postcard swap from Pam K in Utah, USA, made with card, fabric, feathers, beads, photo, text, embroidery silks ... phew - I'm exhausted just thinking about all the work!!!













Thanks Pam :-)

I also received two of the BQL Windows postcards (from Pauline C and Annette in UK) I love the very different thoughts that have been the inspiration for these cards

I won an award!

Teje and her gorgeous Alsatian, Nero, have awarded me a Beautiful Blogger Award... They cant see me blogging in my pyjamas, with my hair unbrushed, but I think even if they could, it's OK as the award is aimed at the blog, not the blogger!

Thank you Teje and Nero

There is a condition to accepting the award - that I have to post 10 things that you didn't know about me. I see the blog really to keep mum and Jackie (my patchwork twin, but she doesn't blog) up to date with what I'm working on, and there isn't much they don't know. However I have some other lovely people who also come and visit my blog and leave comments so maybe the 10 things are more for you guys ... anyway here goes:

1. I was born in Norway, but lived in UK since I was two-and-a-half
2. My Mum, Dad and Brother all live in a different country to where they were brought up: I live within 15 miles of where I was brought up
3. My blog is called SLIKstitches as my brother's wife had their first baby at the same time as I got an embroidery machine, and they signed their emailed S (my brother's initial) L (his wife, Lisa) I (their daughter's initial) and K (for Kodi the dog!)
4. My mum doesn't patchwork but I learned all my sewing skills from her - she is an awesome dressmaker
5. I was politely invited NOT to take sewing at school - so I did cooking instead - now I don't cook, but I do sew!
   
6. in 2009 I offered a bed for the night to a total stranger, known only through a Yahoo group, and she is now my bested patchwork buddy and we have manage to meet twice last year and twice this year at patchwork shows even though this involves trains and planes. (Love you Jackie)
7. My family all have assorted quilts that I have made them (mum, mother-in-law, daughters, cats, niece and nephew all have at least two quilts or blankets) , but we don't have one on our bed!
8. I taught myself to patchwork, and although I have since attended classes, I still do things that are probably crimes to the quilt police
9. My sewing room is tiny: 2.5m x 2.25m (with 1 square m taken up by a built in cupboard) but as British houses are generally small, I am lucky to have this space, and not to have to put things away every day
10. I started patchworking 19 years ago when I was sent a quilt for oldest daughter - and I thought "I can do that" ... actually I couldn't then, but I can now!
    

(my first quilt, now used as my camp blanket!)

Busy Day

As I have managed to get Thursdays as a not-employed day, I bounce from a packed Thursday (visiting mum, Lisa, or whoever) to a nothing-at-all-in-the-diary Thursday - and today was one of those!

I've upgraded two sets of blocks into flimsies,




















I've got my BQL Secret Santa packages ready to go,



























I've done one named fleece blanket, and the next one is on the machine













And baby Hobby's flimsy is as ready as it can be, just waiting for his name














And added later ...

Another three fleeces, hot off the embroidery machine













and another flimsy (I think this one was started about 7 years ago, next stash splurge will see it becoming a charity quilt I think!)













And best of all, STILL no one else is home so I can have a go at stitching out India's rainbow that I've digitised :-) rather than thinking about dinner - yippee

India's towel

S-I-L Lisa, is Australia has emailed me with a request: India starts kindergarten in Feb, and each child needs their own sheet (for nap time) and hand towel - it needs to be named, and the child needs to be able to identify it. Definitely an Auntie Benta job!!!

Indi asked for a princess for the towel, and I'm going to work on that after Christmas as it will take a bit of work, but she asked for a rainbow and her name for her sheets, and I worked on that last night.

This is just a first stitch out: some of the lines need to move so they meet the previous colour, but I hope she likes this! (Yellow is always disappointing in designs like this, but you cant have a rainbow without it, so I think the red outline ties it all together, and next time the violet/indigo/blue need to be more different













I also finished the Christmas Ornament for the swap that I'm doing - they were doing well until I realised I had to have a way for them to be attached to a tree ... so now the Santas have a bullet hole in the hat - not so good :-( But time has run out, so they are going in the post on Monday, bullet hole or not!