2024 April

 I have a few customers who make patchwork quilts and are very organised about wanting labels for them, so I've been doing some designing and stitching

I made some fabric bowls as a sample for a class, now I just need to get some fabric that can be suitably fussy cut

We had made pincushions-in-glass-jars at Chertsey museum, and some came back for show and tell

as did a finished purse

And for April we all made felt rabbits thanks to Stephanie who led the class

A future class (I hope you are impressed how organised I am!) involves crayon pictures which then have the wax iron out of them and are then over stitched

These are my samples

The top one is based on a stained glass window in my grandmother's house which is now at my aunt's  It isn't a typically Norwegian scene but I though it would be easy to copy.

My favourite is Hamish!

One of my favourite girls in the village is representing England in the World Cheer Leading championships.  Its a bit demeaning to call it cheer leading - its more like synchronised gymnastics if you want to watch their GOLD MEDAL performance it's here.  I am beyond delighted for her!  The training and dedication from all the girls is incredible.  Me?  I just embroidered on t-shirts for mum and dad!

I bought a tray / table from Ikea, in the as-seen section.  It was all black and a bit scratched.  The lovely Hayley drew on some flowers and we did some painting together

And I finished it off and poured resin over to seal the paint

Talking of Hayley, as well as being a fab artist, she is also the queen of charity shops!  She bought a half square triangle bed sized quilt (if you're not a patchworker it's made up of squared made up of two triangles)

She bought a fleece blanket and a gilet (to get the zip) and made this fab jacket for less than £15!

Lisa has been making too - this hexi flimsy was 90% finished but she wanted to move on to something else (husband is the same - 90% is good enough?) so I added the final row of not-hexies to give a straight edge

This is another one she has been working on since she her own sewing machine at Christmas - this got layered for quilting and she tells me she's done half the echo quilting (and is finding it boring!)

Niki is happier creating with food that with fabric - she and George have bought a pizza oven so we had a lovely afternoon trailing different bases, tomato sauces, cheeses etc.

Although I'm really please with the kitchen since we got the new doors and work surfaces, it's not big enough for the stuff I've got, so a while ago (during that year when we couldn't go anywhere or see anyone) we put up some cupboards on top of existing cupboards to make more storage

 It was never lovely, the various layers of cupboards came from different ranges to suit our plans and everything was off set for a variety of reasons, but it did make a LOT of storage.

So a few weeks ago, the washing machine came out of the downstairs loo (that space is needed for something else), the spare larder unit that came from Lisa's kitchen and the assortment of white units came down and went up in a new configuration

 

Once the larder unit door is replaced with white it'll look OK, I just needed to find homes for all this stuff 😳

That's my April in a nutshell, I'm hoping for sunshine and blue skies in May - what do you reckon????

2023 December

Happy New Year

I started December with some playing with clay with Jane and Hayley.  We used air drying clay and made toadstools

My finished toadstools drying

and then painted

We had a Christmas themed class at Chertsey Museum, making seasonal badges

I made a few samples for a future class - I put out a plea for glass pots and loads of lovely people turned out their kitchen cupboards

My Christmas tree decorations are almost exclusively  hand made by me or friends, or bought on trips - I think I know where or who they all came from

I managed to make a few Gingers with Christmas trees

I had a few requests for Gingers - for a stable where a friend's daughter rides (yes I know their zip is upside down - she wanted them anyway!), and the other daughter's trampoline team

and the cheer-leading squad

I got some lovely crafty Christmas presents - this sewing machine was one of two decorations, plus some wool for crochet, an embroidery project kit, and some fabric as well as a hand made fabric bowl and other bits and pieces

EPP balls were gifted to the very gorgeous Amelia and Freddie who seemed to like them 

I got started on a crochet blanket in this lovely Northern Lights wool

Niki had a clear out of stuff left at ours, and her karate belts from 20 years ago got the heave ho.  I nearly let them go into textile recycling, but then started playing

And then the year ended!  I hope you had a good Christmas, and have a very happy and crafty new year

2023 February

 It's been a funny old month - we were finally able to hold M-i-L's funeral, and I've been on and off sick with a 'lurgy', and HRT has finally kicked in: the main side effect is that while I'm no longer overheating my toes feel like blocks of ice!

Any way, I have some photos (as always!)

The Chertsey Museum group had a choice this month - pretty much the same pattern can be used for a small jewellary pouch or a sewing kit /pin cushion

I started a crochet shawl, the colour change is very subtle, but it's starting to show!

I was commissioned bu Chertsey Museum to help with a Go Wild project: depicting the flaura and fauna reored on a site called Chertsey Mead.  I roped in my friend Hayley and she helped design the (originally) 2 part wall hanging

which then became this

I guess I have a moth problem although I have cedar wood coathangers, and have never seen moths in the house, anyway, an evening's darning fixed two jumpers.  Not quite invisable, but at least they won't get any worse!

I have a few pairs of thick knitted socks that I use as slippers, but they wear out.  I have a few pairs that have been darned several times but one pair had been better looked after ... until ...

I thought I'd try something different this time, and got some felted soles and stitched them on: so far so good, and they are even warmer than they used to be!

Hayley and I then went to Chertsey to teach some family learning sessions.  We did explain about suggested sizes, and how while we weren't looking for perfection we were hoping for reasonable colour represention.  Some people really got it, and we had some great creations

A few failed to quite grasp the concept

Anyway, we had so many attend that we have ceated a third wall hanging too.  Now all these flura and fauna are all being sewn on

 

The shawl has finished

and here is being compared to Yve's far more technical crochet shawl.  I made the mistake of upping the order as the wool was on special offer - my shawl took 1 ball - does anyone want another 3???