Devious Daughters

These two are scheming little minxes - and I love them more than words can say!

Niki worked from home on Tuesday, but had to go to the post office early.  She'd told me she would cook me lunch - home by 2 please!  

I walked in to find not one daughter by TWO!!!!  Lisa had made a spur-of-the-moment decision on Friday that she was done with Australia, but only told Niki!  Niki booked a day's leave (so not working from home) and went to get Lisa early from the airport (rather than the post office) and the two of them sat in the car hiding until they saw Brian and I both leave for work!!!!!

So - disbelief and tears and hugs!  

And then Lisa mentioned the state of her room . . . 

and despite claiming I was promised 24 hours notice so I could clear up, I can see she does have a point!

An hour or so later and she's decided that she wants the box room as a dedicated bedroom and I can have the bigger room . . . so we all got down to work

I see a lot of organising in my future - and a shopping trip to IKEA!  (And Jackie, it's OK, she says you can use her room too!!!)

Fortunately Unfortunately

Are you ready?

 

Unfortunately mum wasn't well yesterday: she fell and took far too long to be able to get up, and scared herself

Fortunately I was home when she called

Unfortunately I couldn't drive over as we'd had a drink

Fortunately she then called NHS direct

Unfortunately they couldn't send a doctor, but

Fortunately they made her an appointment for today

Fortunately I was free today so I could go with her

Unfortunately the appointment was delayed by an hour

Fortunately the Dr thinks it's just a version of the flu

And

Fortunately I had my La Pass kit with me:

And fortunately there was a glass of wine and an Indian takeaway menu waiting for me when I get home

Hope you had a more productive Saturday

 

Posted with Blogsy

Great Gloves and Happy Hearts

I love my first Fridays of the month! Not only do I get to play with fabric but with a great bunch of ladies, and they love trying new things!

Today's project was gloves: pretty easy. Cut two squares of fleece 10 X 12 inches (with the better stretch along the 10" width). Fold in half (so now 5 X 12) and pin along the long edge. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, you'll need to stitch two inches from one end, then leave 2 inches, then stitch the rest. You can then call them done, or you can decorate and / or hem the top and the bottom.

Here's mine

 

And here are theirs:

 

We also had a bit of show and tell - A grades for all homework!!

 

Susan brought a patchwork book, and one of the quilts depicted Christmas hearts that I immediately recognised.

 

In Norway children make these hearts every Christmas - I guess the British equivalent would be snowflakes or paper chains, something every child makes! However there was a problem with the book's patchwork depiction - you can only get the chequer board effect if the two curved sections are different colours, not if they are the same like this

 

I know, not easy to understand, so I made one to show the ladies!

 

Then another and another . . .

 

. . . and soon they were all at it!

 

They are baskets, and would be hung from the Christmas tree with chocolates in. Conventionally they are made of paper, but you see we tried felt too. Also, conventionally, the cuts would be regular, resulting in the chequer board effect like the green and whites ones, but different cuts give different results!

I can't explain how to make them, but if you ask Mr Google about "Norwegian Christmas hearts instructions" he'll tell you. It's a method of weaving; weaving in 3D! I'm happy to post one to anyone who is interested!

 

Posted with Blogsy

New York Geese!

A few months ago one of the ladies at Richmond and Kew quilters brought us a whole load of Thermofax screens and inks (see their web site here) and we had great fun printing

I have a few of these screens myself, and have had great fun with them. I got really excited when I read they make custom screens . . . What could I have custom made?

One of the ladies at Chertsey museum asked if they could do a circle of flying geese. I tend to think of circles of geese and New York beauty blocks as belonging together (but as the proud owner of this you can see why!)

Eventually the idea of the geese, the NYB and the thermofax screen all merged and I designed this.

(EDIT: my plan is to print the lines onto the fabric then foundation piece on using the lines. A bit like the "foundation by the yard" you can buy, but with a design *I* want! By having a screen the students (and I) can print themselves several sections and build up either a full circle for a mini quilt or a larger design, knowing each foundation will be the same size and shape)

But before I get it converted into a thermofax screen I ought to try making it. I'm not very good with EPP, but I do like foundation piecing; my plan is to print this into a fine cotton. For this trial I traced the details onto the cotton.

The New York Beauty block worked well

And the flying geese went well too

But have you seen the problem?

Sigh!

So I've remade the NYB, and although it's a bit messy, I think they are looking good together -

 

I think I'm ready to spend some money on a new screen!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Long List

Despite having had a week off from my 'day job' I have been busy and have suddenly realised there are things I need to finish even though school has started again and I have much less 'free' time

So in the last few days I have embroidered sweatshirts for the pre-school, and made a glove sample for Friday's class

And finished curtain tiebacks for a friend

I also had a go at a circle of flying geese and a New York Beauty - with limited success . . . I'll show you next time

Problems with my Pouch

Following yesterday's reverse applique, I thought the fabric would work well as a wide mouth pouch.  I found Anna Noodlehead's fab instructions, but my fabric piece didn't quite lend itself to her method, so I bodged it a bit

The pouch does everything it's meant to:

It looks fab

It opens really wide

But it's not quite stable!

I suspect its because I made the fabric into a tube, THEN added the zip,and I guess I've distorted its shape, but it does hold whatever I want to throw into it, and I do love the grey / red combo

Two for Tuesday

Two different crafts today:

After mastering inset zips on various bags I've made, I found myself wondering if I could do reverse applique the same way. I think I may have seen this years ago, but decided to see if my thoughts/memories would work!

 

I started this by placing two pieces of my fabric RST and drawing a circle, and stitching around the circle.

 

I cut about 1/2 inch inside the stitching and reserved the two waste circles

 

I snipped into the concave seam allowance 

and pushed the fabric through the hole and pressed it.

I then placed a piece of scrap red behind the the hole and top stitched it in place.

I then repeated the process using the two waste circles

And then I used fusible fleece on the back and quilted circles both inside the red circles and around the outside.

I then had to leave this project to go on to the second crafty session . . .

For my second craft I was at Chertsey Museum with a group of kids making door hangers. As usual the museum and I supplied the resources and a sample, and as usual the kids far exceeded the suggestions and made some fab examples!  They added multiple pockets, secret pockets, pockets from jeans legs, bells, secret bells . . . There was no stopping them!

Posted with Blogsy