2018 Wk 33 - mostly Rainbows

Just look at these lush threads I used today!

My old Boss has been training to become a Methodist Minister and starts this on 2nd September.  I was honoured to be asked to make him a stole, but then panicked and have procrastinated for several months.  However 2nd if September isn't that far away, so today I pulled on my big girl pants and cut the first two pieces, and embroidered them.  He was a maths teacher before being a Head Teacher and now Minister so a cross made of triangles was ideal for this side.

The other side will be purple, and I'll do a Celtic cross for that side - maybe next weekend!

At the same time as embroidering the rainbows, and Lizzie was embroidering some uniforms, I was sizzixing card pieces for a WW1 project starting next weekend, and sizzixing fabric for Chertsey Museum in a few week's time - my lovely new big desk is only just big enough to hold everything!

These hexies are the start of a rainbow quilt-as-you-go project for Chertsey

I got a bit further with them tonight but they need stitching together still

I also did some patches for aprons for Monty's Popdog stand

And embroidered over 50 pieces of school uniform . . .which made a *bit* of a dent in the pile - just 125 left to go!

And earlier this week I finished hand quilting the last block (Australia) and put together the pieces from my interchange applique.  I decided to make two mini quilts rather than one big one as I only wanted one of each shape on the quilt.  I can't remember how to finish the edges so I'm hoping a R&Q friend will remind me (that's probably you, Plum!)

In case you can't make out the shapes, they are, from top left to bottom right . . .

• Scissors, Boris the skink, Halsnøy Island (south of Bergen), husband's spanner
• Button, wine glass, coffee cup (UK), Mr Twiglet the hedgehog
• Daffodil, Viking ship, Cat (representing the 7 we've had over the years), Tango the rabbit
• EPP Hexies, husband's hammer, sewing machine, coffee cup (Ireland)
• Australia, St Michael's Church, a bee (one of 4: we live at 4B) and a budgie (representing 4 budgies and two+ lovebirds over the years (they were a breeding pair: 14 chicks in total I think)

And the same again, but inverse design, and different placement

 Back to work tomorrow for a rest I think!

2018 Wk 18 - Sewing with Jackie Part 1

A perfect weekend!

Jackie arrived, lots of sewing, Crafty Church, a bit of fabric and wool shopping and mostly decent weather!  What more could I ask for?

Zippy pouches from lined hessian (I'll be finding hessian dust for weeks but they didn't need any stabiliser!

Do your children every actually ask you to make something?  Usually I get "It's lovely mum, but I really don't NEED another quilt" but on this occasion it was "mum, can you and Jackie make a chemo quilt for Claire at work? Any colours, any design (more points there kiddo, well done!) but plenty of blank space so we can write messages for her", so this has been started

We made a box pouch with a vinyl pocket  - finished item will be in the next blog post, but the pain that was making the bias binding is evidenced here - never again!

Tara at Crafty Church brought in her WW1 Heart Pincushion kit.  Explained here, it takes the occupational therapy practiced by injured soldiers in WW1 and has turned it into a commemorative project for the 100th anniversary of the end of the war later this year, asking people to recreate these hearts for an Art installation.  For example:

Some of us will buy one the of the kits for the Untangles Threads project, but we also decided to make named hearts for the 7 soldiers from our village who served in WW1

Lesley brought in a picture of an Amsterdam street she has completed.  It has been framed and I really struggled to get a pic without reflection, but it's worth zooming in to have a closer look.  it is all made of fabric, stitched in place.  She made each house twice - so there is a mirror image house upside-down in the water!  Its absolutely stunning

The next post will follow when Google photos has caught up with the photos I've taken!

Thank you Jackie - I've had a wonderful weekend -I love you xx

Sweat Shop and Sweet 16

I've been embroidering uniform for a local transport company.  Each item takes 7 minutes to embroider.  There is no point in going off and doing anything around the house as I'll need to be back soon; there is no point in starting anything new, as I'll get distracted and forget to set up the next item . . . so . . .

I dug out all my sweet 16 blocks (some of them shown here)

and started assembling them in strips.  Using my Quicker Than Quilt As You Go method I've got it started yesterday

And have them all assembled today

The embroidery?  Two big Ikea bags filled, another 14 items then I'm done!