October (second half)

Trousers Too

When mum had completed my tunic to a level that I could be trusted with, we then looked at a pair of summer trousers I'd started about the same time.  I can usually cope with a pair of simple pull-on trousers, but I'd managed to cut them to the size I would use for my top half, not for my bottom half (no numbers being mentioned here, other than to say I buy tops at least 4 numbers bigger than I buy trousers)  No, I have no idea what I was thinking, but needless to say, these looked like clown trousers.


My lovely mummy has waved her magic wand, and now they fit, so I just need to do the waist and hem the legs

Thank you mummy xxxx

The fabric was pre-patchworked, and I love it.  I had some solid in a similar colour so make a matching tote bag - I'll use it this way if I'm wearing the trousers,

But have the option of reversing it if I'm wearing something else

Fantastic Floors

Quite a few of my recent posts have been scheduled: when I get a chance I write a few and then schedule them for every few days if I think I wont have much time to write any.  Part of the reason for the last few being scheduled was that I was going to Rome on a girly weekend.

5 of us went: we all have children (cough, young adults) that went to the same school from the age of 5, and are now aged 19 to 26.  We also all worked as classroom assistants at the same school.  For the last dozen years we have tried to go to a different European city each autumn.

We had a great time, visiting the Vatican, and the Colosseum, and that Parthenon, and a whole bunch of other ruins, but I want to share with you some photos from the Vatican.

Yes the walls and the ceilings were amazing, but I was looking down, not up!

I wasn't sure how well the photos would come out so I sketched them too:

I think someone should do a patchwork book based on these floors!  There are plenty of other designs too, I got more photos, but haven't yet sketched them. 

 

 

 

 
These were all in this room:

There were more in the Sistine Chapel, but no cameras were allowed :-(

Marvellous Mosaics

As well as the great patchwork designs on the floors at the Vatican (see yesterday's post), there were some lovely mosaics that resembled quilt designs:

There was also some, um, *interesting* parking

And these four ladies that I travelled with

sporting these bags, made by moi :-)

We did of course do all the touristy locations (tip: book ahead then walk smugly past all the saps joining five hour queues!)

but I dont think I need to see another Roman ruin, ever!

Got to go now, as I'm picking Jackie up from the airport soon - three whole days of sewing and chatting and making and fun :-)

Wonderful Weekend (part 1)

Jackie arrived safely on Thursday night.  I had to abandon her on Friday morning to go to work (while she baked break and cake - can you imagine?  I do love that girl) but by lunchtime the the weekend could begin!

She brought me lovely pressies (although she shouldn't!)

We started with a class at Chertsey Museum, where the ladies made button pictures in embroidery hoops:

Then spent the evening chatting and planning projects

Bliss

Wonderful Weekend (part 2)

On Saturday Jackie and I managed to visit 2 fabric shops!  The first one was a bit of a gamble - in a village called Cowley there used to be an underground fabric shop (in a basement unit in an industrial estate): a real cave of dressmaking and upholstery fabrics with some other random items thrown in.  I had been told that it had moved to a ground floor unit, so I thought I was worth a try.

The new shop is real Aladdin's Cave - the same strange mix but with patchwork and bag fabrics, including vinyl, added.  Upstairs there are two classroom (one with a gazebo set up in one half with jaunty gingham curtains!) and classes held quite regularly.

We (obviously) had to support the shop in its move: Jackie bought the makings of a Christmas garland, and I'm going to make a Christmas quilt from these lovely fabrics (sorry Hadley, normally I'm with you on brown, but this one really appealed to me)

 

We also popped into my friend Helen's log cabin / workshop / fabric shop and Jackie bought the makings of this Christmassy wall hanging

Later we looked at this EPP project that Jackie is working on (I L.O.V.E. the fabric choices) and arranged all the hexies, squares and triangles into this arrangement

And there may have been some chatting and some *more* baking (buttermilk scones if you want to know, and yes, they were yummy)

Wonderful Weekend (part 3)

Sunday saw a change from the fabric related fun of the previous few days

In fact on Sunday Jackie and I, together with Brian and Lisa, spent the day under a garage roof with a man called Duncan and a pear-eating dog called Gerald!

 (Gerald first :-)

Do you know what Lisa is doing?

Or what Jackie is doing?

If you haven't guessed, this should be a bit more helpful (Lisa's first project):

Yes we spent the day with a stained glass craftsman

After we'd made our first pieces (coasters?) we had a scrummy lunch of homemade tomato or squash soup, followed by apple crumble, the we started on a second piece - with curves, gulp!

Jackie's

Brian's

Jackie's again

 And here are all our creations together

A lovely day :-)

Monday Makes

I was concentrating on showing you what a great weekend I had had, and forgot to include an update from the Monday Class.

Full pictures are available here but I just wanted to show you the little tree C has made to go onto an advent calendar.  She cut *tiny* triangles and stitched them all (by hand) onto a foundation piece, and made this fab little tree

If you are interested, I have also added a new page showing all the newspaper reports about the projects I have been involved with

Liberty Love

A while ago Jackie gave me a pack of liberty fabrics, and I started to make a bag with them, and then put it aside for a while, well today I got so fed up with my every-day bag that I finished off the liberty bag, and I love it

Big enough to take all my cr@p

with a double pocket on the outside (fairly well camouflaged)

Can you see them now?

And although I doubt if I will reverse it, it is lined with this lovely My Folklore fabric that I adore

And has several internal pockets  as shown by these sheets of paper tucked into them.

Not so obvious, there is also a dog clip on a bit of ribbon stitched into the top seam - I don't feel the need to have a zip on my bags, but I do like to have my purse deep down and clipped to the bag


I received a fab package a few days ago from the lovely Fiona at Celtic Thistle.  She hosted the Holiday Memories mini quilt festival, and although I wasn't one of the winners (gosh they were amazing) I was lucky enough to be sent a pack of Aurifil threads in lovely summery sorbet colours, thank you Fiona

Weekend Roundup

I went to see mum yesterday: she lives just over an hour from me, just outside Port Solent which is a marina outside Portsmouth.  The marina has plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants, and has just opened a crafty shopping area too, so we had to go and visit.

No fabric shops, but a lady selling card making supplies managed to take some money off me

There was also a lady selling, and making, glass beads suitable for Troll, Pandora etc bracelets.  I have bought the girls one each for Christmas, but what was really great was being able to watch their beads being made: white with three red hearts

And red with three white hearts

Today I was expecting to teach Sunday School, but no kids turned up at church, so I had a lovely morning listening to the service from the mezzanine floor, checking all the felt tips work,

And tidying the Sunday School corner

Gone Fishin'

No, I haven't really gone fishin' - yuck! But there is a boy who was almost part of our family for quite a long time (the only boy I childminded from a baby - the only boy whose nappy I have changed) who is a very keen fisherman.  He turns 13 later on this week, and this is his birthday pressie:

Hope he likes it.

I've also started on customer embroidery orders: One finished for Chertsey Museum, seven more to go - at half an hour each!!!

I prefer to stay nearby while the machine is working, but at 29 minutes each, it can be quite boring, so I am working on a secret project.  Doesn't the back look lovely - it's the first time I've hand quilted a quilt. 

It is hand pieced too, but the binding will be stitched by machine to the front, and by hand to the back

Late Night Sewing

I had two fun evening sewing sessions last week: my friend Linda came round and we spent an evening putting the world to rights, and cutting into this pile of pashminas
 

and this pile of woven (some slightly scratch) scarves

and a short time later had this collection of mostly infinity scarves

 

 Not on any list, but some Christmas presents sorted all the same (is it OK to add to a to-do list and then straight away cross off as completed?)

I've now found a whole load more scarves - when are you coming back Linda?

The second evening was at Chertsey Museum: Chertsey Chicks!  Using the lovely Plum's 'recipe' again the ladies made chicks and a strawberry (there is always one who cant do as she's told!)

Pretty cute aren't they

Plodding on

I have finished the embroidery for the museum, and while I was babysitting the machine (great phrase Katy) I started a new project (yes there may be a *few* UFOs but I got the urge, I'm sure you understand!)

I started with these Christmassy fabrics

 Cut into 6 inch strips

Stitched together into rows of three (width of fabric)

cross cut into 6 inch sections

And by then I had finished the first lot of polo shirts

Just these to go

Still plodding

Annoyingly the next customer has chosen the same dark red  from fruit of the loom, but these are sweatshirts rather than poloshirts, and a much quicker-to-stitch logo

So while babysitting the machine during this lot I managed to get the Christmassy fabric stitched into nine patches, then cut into quarters

And all trimmed to size

And even completed the sweatshirts

Next I need to see what's in these two bags - they seem quite light so maybe not too  much work, and hopefully these will be their usual navy not *more* dark red!

Still the list is getting shorter

2013 October (first half)

Making Memories

A very long time ago, (it seems like a hundred years or so ago,) I got married, and this year we found ourselves celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.  As a treat for putting up with each other for so long we booked a holiday we had talked of for many years.

We flew to the very north of Norway, inside the Arctic Circle and took a rather luxurious ferry for a six day trip south to Bergen.  We had the most amazing time, and saw some of the most beautiful parts of the world during the six days (see here for just a few of the thousand or so photos we took) but one of the highlights was seeing the Northern Lights

I knew that one day this image would be made into a quilt, and even bought the Kona solids from Cindy at Fluffy Sheep quilting (Cindy was amazing, I emailed her this photo and she sorted the colours for me).  And the fabrics sat on my desk waiting for me to start.

The push came when Fiona at Celtic Thistle opened up a Holiday Memories virtual quilt competition.

So I cut and stitched and pressed and cut and stitched and pressed, and unstitched and stitched, and unstitched and stitched, and then pressed and embroidered and finally finished.  It finished about 26.5 x 18 inches - as with most of my patchworks it chose the size it wanted to be - nothing to do with me!

And here is my version

 I decided to use mostly black as the nights were really dark.  The couple watching the lights were machine embroidered black on black, but I tilted the stitches at different angles so they would show as two people rather than as one. 

 

It is difficult to photograph as there is so much black.  Below is a screen shot of the embroidery of the couple.  It's not really based on Brian and I as obviously we are not in our own photos,  but I think with artistic licence it could be us, we were there after all!

The ship's railing were created by black satin stitch.

I used Bargello to create the staggered effect, and also to echo the vertical lines that were suggested by the lights themselves.   I then FMQed more almost vertical lines in three shades of green and in black to sort of drag each band of colour up into it's neighbour's band

 
The inspiration for using Bargello for this was this quilt made by Eldrid Røyset Førde who blogs at Kameleon Quilts.    If I was to make mine again I think I would use more shades of green rather than just the three

Eldrid made my all time favourite quilt, Blue Night, and she emailed me some much appreciated suggestions of things to see while we were on our trip, so it seemed very fitting that the style should be inspired by her too

** Pictures 'borrowed' from Eldrid's site, permission has been requested **

Fringe Festival

I'm typing this post on my phone whilst sat at Windsor Baptist Church doing my stint for the Fringe Festival.  It's lovely to see my quilts on display rather than folded in a drawer

And it's lovely to see some of the art work created by others:

Finishing at the Fringe

So while I was "working" at the fringe festival earlier in the week I had plenty of time to sew while I was chatting to visitors

So this I-spy got bound

And photographed

Friday Foliage

Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon with mums and children from Oakfield School. We have been working on a wall hanging to celebrate the school's 50th anniversary later this month.

The school is called Oakfield for a big oak tree in the field that is part of the playground, so we took the tree as our inspiration. Fifty leaves, and fifty inspirational words, six owls to represent the six head teachers, and one tree.

Today I brought in the embroidery machine and the embroidery design software on a lap top. "A" took a basic leaf design and with a brief lesson created the whole name of the school in embroidery

(for more info of what "A" had to learn, and images of his creation, click here)

The other children each had a go at programming the embroidery machine to stitch their own name  . . . 

 . . .  While the mums stitched leaves and owls to the wall hanging

And this is our achievement to date:

Random Roundup, and a Reminder

Just a few random thoughts, and pictures.

First a reminder that the voting for Fiona's Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Competition is now open.  Just click here and you can vote for your favourite mini quilt in each category - just click on the heart above the one you like best
 
As well as celebrating my birthday over several days, pressies carried on arriving too - I was so spoilt!  Jackie sent me this fab notebook, and a hexi necklace,

and I got a voucher to visit the Shard, and to have afternoon tea at Tower Bridge, lucky me

And as our church harvest festival is today it seems appropriate that the field behind my house was being harvested yesterday:  I heard the combine harvester and took a pic before it got into sight, it was taking a while, so I went and put the kettle on

Before coffee

After coffee!

Tuesday's Toy

I bought myself a new toy - Hobby Craft were advertising the Sizzix Big Shot reduced to £50 (usual price £74 I think).  I couldn't get to the store before the end date, but when I looked on the website I could get it for the same price, with free P&P, and if I signed up for the newsletter I could get a further 15% off, so for just £42.50 . . .

My new toy

The *slight* drawback is that I don't have any dies - until now I have been sharing with Jackie, so she has a machine and all our dies.  I have had two sent to dad in Florida, and am waiting for Niki to visit him next month, but until then I have to look and plan

Handful of Hexie Quilts

Do you remember the Huge Hexi flimsy?

 

I blogged about it here.  The 3m square flimsy was given to one of the ladies at Chertsey Museum, but no one had a use for it.  Finally we chopped it into six pieces, all 1m x 1.5m, and various people took them home to quilt and finish

Well a few hours chatting to the family and watching TV over the last week or so, and I have a handful of them ready to go to charity

Sizzix Shopping

Well done to all who guessed that I couldn't possibly wait until middle of November before I used my Sizzix machine.  I just happened to be passing Hobby Craft a fe days ago, and somehow this cute owl die happened to fall into my basket

I have to do some learning with these things: I guessed he would need a charm square, but he needed a bit more, so some bits got missed off. 

I cut four initially, thinking I could then swap the body parts around to get multi coloured owls, but I'm a bit confused as to why a "cut" makes dents for two eyes, but only cuts one eye, and only cuts one wing

I did sacrifice the pink body to get more arms and eyes, but it seems a strange design decisions  - can any of you seasoned Sizzixers explain?

Dressmaking Day

A few days ago mum came up for the afternoon and evening, and I got her to help with some UFO dressmaking projects.  I'm not one to following instructions very well, and I'm not very impressed with the pattern instructions, but I love the look of the top so started it a year (or maybe two) ago

I did the grunt work (stitching and ironing) while mum did the matching and pinning and the understanding which bits go where, and which bits I hadn't cut enough of

So now she's left me with the finishing off that I can be trusted with

(I sent Jackie a copy of that first pic, and she was very complimentary about the state of the table - this is the rest of it, we only cleared enough to work on!!!)