2019 Wk 51 - a day in my happy place

I actually had pretty much a whole day to sew on Thursday - unheard of!!!

And my extra fabric from Janet Clare arrived too so guess what I did!!!

It’s all cut and speed dated, the pieces are mostly joined into strips, and I am loving it!!! The (few) free motioned pictures are included, and the fabrics are all chosen to remind me of my father, the family holiday cottage south of Bergen, and Bergen itself.  There will be enough fabric left over to make a smaller one for my step mum too

And Luna clearly gives it her seal of approval!

This was supposed to be the last Christmas pressie - a bag for the tiles for a favourite game of Lisa’s

But then I got the urge to make rope bowls.  I hadn’t made a totally scrappy one before, I’m really happy with the result.  Niki can use it for bathroom stuff,  food or rubbish!!!

And then I made a much subtle one for Lisa. I’ve bought her a crochet pattern and the wool for Christmas and I think this will be a good size basket to keep it all in.

What I don’t understand is how they decide for themselves what shape they will take! I swear I made these the same but they came out very different shapes - at the end I decided Lisa’s needed handles too

One of husband’s nieces sent me this pic - I made a sack for her oldest daughter Chloe ten years ago when she was a baby - and now one for the much younger new little sister Olivia

And this arrived in the post from Jackie.  I’m sure the inside will be awesome, but at the moment I’m happy looking at the outside - it reminds me of our “small world” that hangs in my bedroom

2019 Wk 48 - Drat and fiddlesticks

Fact 1: I had thousands of photos of my phone - some were family photos, some were blog photos and some were ones that had come in through WhatsApp etc and stayed.  And my phone was using battery at an alarming rate

Fact 2: I used to have to save my phone photos to my PC to be able to add them to my blog, but some time ago (my guess is September 2016*) a new option appeared so I could add photos from my phone which saved a lot of time.

Fact 3: Someone suggested that I delete some of my photos from my phone to see if that helped with the battery usage.

Have you guessed what happened?

Fact 4: I saved the family photos from the phone to the network, but I deleted the others that I'd used on the blog starting at about 2013, up to about April 2018: I planned to carry on later.

And the reason I can quote the dates?  Almost every photo on the blog between September 2016 and April 2018 has been replaced by this

I have done the hair pulling and the screaming at the computer and the crying - and finally the thinking ... Google give me 60 days to change my mind about deleting photos - phew!  So I think I have reinstated most of them!

I have managed a bit of sewing too!

This planning

and this cutting

and this making-binding-by-bodging happened (sorry about the striped ironing board cover, makes it difficult to see what I'm doing but the binding is purple and then red)

and making this

And this

And then doing this ...

More to follow when it's been pressed under a weight to get the vinyl creases out!

I've started working on this with the Kaffe Fassett 3" squares I got from Jackie - I'm really loving the fabric!  : It's planned and ready to stitch

And I've done the prep for the next Chertsey Museum class - we are doing scrappy pennies

These were fun to do.  They all started the same but I did different embroideries

And finally I've received another Pudsey themed hexie flower from the Facebook swap group I've joined.  Roll on next month

The one where I multi-tasked (and selvedged)

I'm *still* ploughing my way through the school uniforms!  I cant go very far from the machine as (a) very occasionally the machine gets hungry and tries to eat a sweatshirt, and (b), although each one only takes 6 minutes to embroider I need to trim the threads on the one that has just finished and hoop the next one, which leaves just 3 or 4 minutes free before I need to set up the next one.

So I need an easy project, that requires no planning or thinking, and that I can leave as often as I like and come back to easily.  Today's multitasking was selvedge edges.  I have a drawer full of them, so I've joined similar lengths together.

Not sure what I'm going to do with them next, but together with all these

 
and the lovely Pinterest (https://uk.pinterest.com/slikstitches/selvedge-inspiration/) I'm sure I can get some good ideas

In the meantime - I have some more of these to do!

The one where I did *more* machine embroidery and some quilting

You really don't expect *more* photos of preschool uniforms I hope?  I'm getting a little fed up with them - 44 down, 31 to go!!!

However the HST and Strings / £7 quilt has moved along and now looks like this

I've done some liberated (free range) quilting in the solids . . .

using a lovely variegated thread . . .

However, my drawer of fabric strings doesn't seem to have gone down AT ALL!!!

What have you been doing?

I'm not working on any particular projects at the moment, but during a drive to my mums, and a day at hers, I tacked a whole load of La Passacaglia pieces and got this far on my third cog

Back at home I got fed up with my 2.5" strip drawer overflowing,

and inspired by this from Kitchen Table Quilting I started sewing the strips in pairs

and then trimming them to 4.5" squares.  It will take a while, but its a good enders and leaders project.

I also made some patches for the girlfriends I go away with each autumn - our last trip was to Gibraltar and we went on a dolphin spotting trip!

And I tidied my room so I can see nearly all of my workbench

And I machined binding onto three quilts ready for hand finishing

 I love school holidays!!!!

Sweet Sixteen Scrappy Blocks

I may have got a bit carried away making these sweet 16 scrappy blocks:

I made five pairs . . .

 Than another five . . .

And I have some single blocks plus lots of strips left over

Don't they look fab together!

Ive made 30 odd so far and have plenty of scraps left, and Jackie is making some too,  and Sue is sending some over to be swapped with duplicates, so by the time Jackie comes over in early July we'll have enough between us to make a top each

Sweet Sixteen Scrappy Swap (and Stupidity)

Jackie had a really good idea - we should do scrappy blocks, but make two of each and swap the spares.

We discussed various blocks, and finally decided on a 16 patch where alternates were white ish, and the others are using up whatever we've got - it would be fun to see if we can have each patterned square as a unique fabric.

Jackie started yesterday with this one

and I had a play this afternoon (rubbish day at work so I needed therapy!)

I rooted through my far-too-full strips box

And paired a whole load of strips with fabric that was white or certainly low volume

And joined them together and cut them up and rejoined them:

So a 16 patch needs to be 4 x 4 yes? And I need to think double to make one for Jackie too?

Well in my mind that was a lot of doubling. It was only after I'd joined each one to white and pressed them that I realised I had enough not for TWO sweet 16 blocks, but FOUR!

Anyone else want to make and swap some sweet 16 blocks????

Posted with Blogsy

2011 January (1)

 

Feeling giddy ...... I won AGAIN!!!

I am in shock!

If you look at the blogs I am following (on the left hand side of my blog) you may have seen Block lotto.  This has been going for years: in summary, Sophie picks a block each month and the members make up to 9 blocks following her guidelines.  Each block (or pair of block some months) made (and a photo posted on the blog) equals one chance to win up to about 50 blocks out of the ones made by the other members.

The December block was pairs of liberated trees: one black on jewel tone, and the other one the opposite - here are the blocks that I submitted













If you click here you can see some of the December blocks that other members have made, really rich colours, and such fun trees.  Well I got one entry to the lotto from my blocks (only one as I didn't have two different jewel fabrics to use) and then some other kind ladies donated their chances to the Newbies (maybe ones that had won recently, or didn't particularly want these blocks) ... and somewhere along the line my name got pulled out of the hat (or at least the electronic version of names in a hat)

So I will be receiving 22 pairs of blocks from the lovely blocks seen here

And that's why I am feeling giddy :-)

Where did that week go?

That's the trouble with having to go to work - it takes up valuable crafting and computer time!  I have been working on a commissioned sort of bed spread since just after boxing day: a colleague at work's daughter turn 13 at the end of this month, and LOVES Cath Kidston stuff.  Mum bough two meters of coffee with cream spots, and another two of milky coffee with cream flowers, and a scrap of grayish blue with cream flowers.  If you look carefully you can see the start of the daughter's name (Jessie) in the blue flowers on the cream flowers.

They wanted the spotty fabric as a binding, so to make up for stealing some from the back I joined off cuts of the two flowery fabrics for a strip across the back.  It's really heavy fabric - more suitable for upholstery I reckon, but she's very pleased with it so far, and has paid very well, so who am I to comment!  (I just told her how much I had spent in cash (for the wadding) and in time and let her decide how much it was worth!)

My first Block Lotto squishy package has arrived - Kate is the other UK based member so her trees didn't have to travel too far.  These are really lush colours, thank you Kate.  I've got ideas of what to do with them, but none that I'm really pleased with so we shall see!

I've been doing a bit of hand sewing while we've been watching Lost of an evening.  Do you remember the 6.5m of 1.5inch squares that I'd sewn for the Log Cabin Christmas Tree?  Well I finally got replacement fabric for the sky, and the quilt has gone back into the pile of UFOs, although I do now know exactly what I am going to do with it ... which was more than could be said for all the blinking tiny squares.

Well another UK blogger, Kate (Kate of the luscious trees above) had posted a photo of a quilt using similar blocks, together with some snowball blocks, and it's perfect for my little blue squares, so I unpicked every third seam, and have now restitched them into nine patch blocks.

Once I find some suitable white I can make the snowball blocks, and then I can join them all together :-)
(do you think I should get a new ironing board cover sometime?)

Right, that's one thing off my list - back to the dreaded tax return!!!

Ooops, I spent some money

My Brother Embroidery machine has been playing up, and a couple of times has locked and I've had to talk very nicely to Brian to get him to take it apart and get it working again.  I finally decided that it would be better to get a replacement, maybe with an extended warranty; a machine that should be reliable.  My current machine is a combination sewing and embroidery machine, but since I got a new sewing machine a few years ago I haven't used the sewing element of the combined machine at all.  So I've today bought a new Brother 750e (practically the same as the 1200, but embroidery only), and it should arrive on Wednesday.
The man tells me that there is nothing to learn as it will work exactly the same as embroidering on the 1200, so I can just plug, and play!
He did offer me £100 (1/12th!) in part exchange, but we decided that we'll keep it and Brian can take it apart and try and get it going - when I have got a big order on another machine would be a bonus, I just hesitate to confess that I'll be up to six (keep it small so it doesn't seem too bad!) sewing machines by Wednesday.  In my defense one has gone to Lisa, one is a hand crank machine that is about 70 years old, and is just kept for it's beauty, and one will be Brian's project, so that's only really three machines - and one of them is just for embroidery ... that's OK isn't it?

 got organised!

I went to put some scrap fabric in my scraps drawer - and couldn't fit any more in!  It's been full for quite a while so I've just left it a few inches open and shoved stuff in, so it all got creased, and finally refused to accept any more!

So I emptied out all this lot (yard stick included to show the size of the drawer!)

... ironed it all, and separated it into piles: little bits suitable for applique,

...bits which belonged in project bags (like these bits which will be ideal with the blue Stay At Home Robin)

and longish bits which could be cut into strips.

...  and big bits

 ...and nearly-enough-for-another-quilt-top bits!

I then cut all the longish bits into 2.5inch, 2 inch and whatever-was-left strips, which have been separated into three labeled drawers,

  and now the box looks like this :-)

and I'm very happy!!!

I love my postie

What a day this has been ... first I received a sparkly red package from the lovely Madam Samm from Stash Manicure, with so many goodies I went weak at the knees... look at these thimble thingies, notions and scrummy Layer Cake (mum, this means 48 coordinating fabrics all cut to 10" squares) Lovely warm earthy colours.  I'm thinking of making this quilt from them, adding maybe brown or dark green to make the diamonds

Then there were all these quilt patterns ... so many choices!

THANK YOU MADAM SAMM!!!

Then ... the postman handed me a bunch of envelopes and I was still looking at the bills when I realised some of the envelopes were squishies :-)

Yay!!!! 
These lovely trees came from Laura in GA, USA

 These fab trees came from Cathy in Australia...

And these super bright trees came from Maree in New Zealand - what an international forest this is going to be!

MORE squishies :-)

I got back from a lovely (although wet and misty) day at Mum's yesterday, to find Mr Postie had brought me two more Block Lotto squishies:

 Thank you to Julie D in San Jose for the lovely turquoise and yellow trees

and to June (in San Diego) who sent these fab blue and orange trees, together with a spare piece of fabric

Thank you ladies :-)

Sewing and postal lovliness

I have finished and delivered Jessie's quilt, and mum is very happy.  Jessie's birthday is on Thursday, so I should hear then whether she is happy !

I worked on the three Round Robin flimsies: not all to Kate's instructed sizes, but I don't think she'll banish me from the group!

The pink version uses up more orphan blocks, and adds (at the top in this photo) the big liberated star, and the skinny inset together with a bit of extra pinkness to bulk it out.  I think I might prefer it on the bottom, enclosing the very pink piano keys, but that puts the stars close together, so I'm not sure

 For the blue I made three log cabin blocks, and these are pretty much the right size.  However I think they need to be moved too from the right side to the left, distributing the cream sections more evenly.  It's strange that it is easier to see this in the photo than looking at the flimsy itself!

The black and white piece level 7 addition didn't work at the top or the bottom of the piece, so I have changed it from a squarish finished top to a rectangular one, adding the new block to the left.  However with this photo too I am thinking maybe it would be better on the right.  Deep sigh, almost a productive day!!!

I received more trees, this time from Kathie  in Pennsylvania who sent a lovely chatty letter (which I will reply to Kathie, thank you) and a half yard of fab turquoise fabric...

and Belinda in Texas who sent these great wonky trees and some really sweet strips of valentine's fabrics, which I 'm sure I can use!

Thank you ladies :-)

Bits & Pieces

Three more pairs of trees have arrived :-) 

These - from Michelle,

and these from Deana, thank you ladies (I do hope I am getting the right names to the right trees!  My list has first names, and the envelopes have surnames, so I give it my best guess)

 

These cuppas went off with Mr Postie - To Lisa at Uni, to Mum, to Jackie, to Tante Berit in Norway, and one to Niki, here.  4 have been received, hope my favourite Nonagenarian gets hers soon!

Today Lisa and I went to Sandown, to the The Stitch & Creative Crafts Show, and had a great time.  Here is a photo of our haul, especially for Jackie :-)

The Hoopla cone is a long strip of t-shirt type material - we are gong to have a go at crochet!  Next (clockwise) is a mini iron for Lisa (she's been using her hair straighteners to smooth fabric!), followed by three tins of 505 spray adhesive, and two tubes of an Aloe Vera hand cream that we've had before and really like.  Then a small jelly roll of creamy coloured 2.5 inch strips for Hilary's tactile quilt, and 4 FQs in landscape prints (grass, pebbles, stones and bricks)

Carrying on round, clockwise, and two tiny packs of 2.5 inch strips for Lisa's postcards and 6 business card sized boxes suitable for buttons and other bits and bobs, finally in the middle, three packs of buttons for Lisa

The show was good, but only about 10% patchwork stuff, and slightly more each of card making, scrapbooking, other crafts, and knitting, with another third being ready-made stuff, or random stalls of bread, licorice, hand cream etc

Still we had a lovely day out!

For Indi

India, (my niece) starts pre-school next month, and the parents are asked to provide bedding and a towel that the child can recognise as their own.  Indi asked for a rainbow, or Disney's Belle.  Belle raises all sorts of copyright implications, so I thought I'd suggest Lisa gets her a Disney towel, or I can send one, and I would stick to the rainbows.  It has taken my longer than it should as I needed to wait for the new machine, then I had too much choice of cot size bedding (cotton, terry, flannelet, yellow, pink, blue, cream, white, not all fabrics available in all colours...) and then finally I decided I would stick to Brother threads for this machine rather than the cheap and cr@ppy threads which I usually use ...

So finally, now that all the excuses are resolved,

Ta-daaaaaa!!!

India has a set of rainbow themed, recognisable stuff, about to go in the post ready for going to school!