2018 Wk 22 Old Men and New Babies

I'm taking part in the Untangled Thread art project commemorating the end of WW1.  The pin cushions are based on an original design which was used at occupational therapy for wounded solders and they made something they could send to their mum or their sweetheart. 

We don't know much about Brian's granddad, but we know a Henry Channer was enlisted in 1916, and we know Granddad was known as Harry.  He married Rose in 1923, so it may have been him, so I (with help from Lisa & Niki) stuck a couple of hundred pins through the same number of beads to make this

We have had a spate of babies amongst neighbours and friends: A neighbour who used to babysit our girls when they were little has moved back in a few doors away from her mum and dad, and had baby William

Another neighbour has become a Grandmother to baby Amelia Rose.  I just need to finish the binding on these and I can deliver them

And Jackie has become a Granny again with baby Leah (but her quilt is being delivered in ten days so I'm not showing it here yet!)

My old boss and friend Dalwyn starts his new career as a Methodist minister in the autumn and I was delighted to be asked to make a stole for him.  Just in the draft stage at the moment but the stained glass rainbows have been posted to him to look at - does he want near solid or solid colours

And does he prefer hand stitched binding or twin needle stitched on the sewing machine?

My step mum sent me a memory box from my father's belongings:

I remember the hat - or one like it - he always wore one when he was sailing

Brian was really happy with the plane (bottom right)

A whole set of nautical flags will look great as bunting in the garden - really cheerful!

 Some photos of him, and of me from childhood

And my favourite of all - lots of photos of the girls that I have sent him over the years - all had been propped up on book shelves or stuck on walls!

2018 Wk 21 A Triathlon Finish

Proud mum alert!

Niki completed a triathlon today!  She says she will NEVER do another one but here is the photographic evidence that she was there!

WELL DONE NIKI!  And raised nearly £400 for blood cancer research too!  (Her JustGiving page is here if you want to donate!)

Far less strenuous was Friday's Chertsey Museum class making a patchwork basket block from the Farmer's Wife book (thank you Plum) using the template method.

And looking really colourful:  Niki's colleagues have started to add graffiti to the Chemo Quilt

2018 Wk 20 A finish and a visit

I have finished a Chemo quilt that Niki requested for a colleague at work.  There is a LOT of white at the moment but she is taking it to work with a handful of fabric pens so that people can write in the white squares - I'll hopefully be able to post another pic when it's been  decorated!

We had our monthly (!!!) Days For Girls meeting this weekend.  We were aware that some ladies were being put off by the high quality expectations from the charity, so we added a new project - boomerang bags.  These can be made to roughly the suggested size, can be overlocked OR zigzagged, can be made of the donated fabrics we would otherwise have to reject as they aren't ok for D4G and are the simplest construction imaginable

We got one finished and several more are close to being finished.  We were going to give them away but decided we would sell them to people in the churches which would raise money for the D4G fabrics!

We also found we were spending loads for time each month sorting through and seeing what needs what doing next - so with the help of loads of zip lock bags we now have bags of items all at the same stage and we feel much more organised!

Mum and I went to see the poppies at last.  We missed them at the Tower on London, but two sections of the display are now doing a road trip and one is just a short drive from her at Fort Nelson, Royal Armouries Museum, near Portsmouth

They looked amazing!.

And Brian and I spend all of yesterday at the girls' house.  They had hired a sanding machine and wanted to do all the upstairs floors in the one weekend.  I wish I had filmed them using the machine.  It was an industrial one, and was stronger than them.  They switched it on at one end of the room, they then ran with it, trying to slow it down, and trying to turn it off in time that it would stop before it hit the opposite wall, then they would drag it back and repeat.  Dad showed them how to master the beast, and 12 hours (!) later the whole of upstairs has been sanded - despite all three bedrooms having the usual amount of furniture - much of the time was taken moving it from one room to another, do you remember these puzzles?

It was a bit like doing one of those, but worth it in the end.

Today they are varnishing - today I am staying at home!

2018 Wk 20 - What happened to the blog?

Sandra recently messaged me to tell me "Your blog seems glitchy - or is it my computer".  She went to to explain " I've noticed some weird glitchy things involving your blog.  Your posts list in my blog reader, but when I click on them, it just opens another copy of the blog reader page.  That's been happening for a while, and I assumed it was a bug with the blog reader.  However, when I actually GO to your blog, to the homepage, your first/latest post isn't clickable - it's viewable at the top of the page, but it isn't clickable so I can't go to the first post.  Also, if I click on Comments to post a comment, it goes nowhere.  If I scroll down the page though, and go to a different, older post - I can get the post page up and I can comment."

I have no idea what the problem is, but if I create a blog post on the iPad and then try and edit on the PC I get this message

Eh?

Anyway, apologies if it misbehaves, and if you have ANY idea how to correct it please let me know!

I am creating this post on the PC so it might behave better!

2018 Wk 20 New To Me

The lovely Fiona runs a new To Me blog hop at the end of every month - and I very occasionally manage to join in the fun - this time I think I am making up for all the missed months!

On a short holiday to Norway I made a model Viking ship (NTM)

We then set it alight on the fjord as part of my father's memorial service (NTM)

Against the back drop of a fab sunset

And Niki took me out in a canoe in the fjord (NTM)

Today I blind hemmed a top (NTM) with a great idiot's guide from this web page.  Look you can hardly see the stitches.  I though my hand sewing was neat, but this is awesome!

And I lost out on Mother-of-the-Year (not NTM!) award when daughter was using a rotary cutter and suddenly uttered a loud gasp and put her thumb in her mouth - with hindsight "don't let blood drip on the fabric" maybe shouldn't have been the first thing I said

I have owned up to my UFO collection (definitely NTM) - also now known as the rail of shame

That's five New To Mes!  Have you linked to Fiona?

2018 Wk 18 Sewing with Jackie Part 2

And more making this weekend!

This is the boxy pouch that needed that blinking bias minding - perfect for EPP projects 

With vinyl pockets for the tacked shapes and the ‘naked’ shapes

We also tested applique rainbows for a friend’s stole when he becomes a Methodist Minister in September.  I will experiment and see whether machine sewing with twin needles or hand sewing the binding works best

I saw lots of pretty lava bead necklaces on holiday, but instead of buying any I bought the beads - we both made a necklace 

I also spent some non-sewing time with my sharpie pens and some small wooden beads.  I’ve coloured all the beads I have, and have strung them but I think actually I need more, so I’ve ordered another pack.  Watch this space!

Jackie made me some awesome crocheted slippers

And this pretty "Svetlana" drawstring bag.  I gave the badge to her, although she ended up doing half the sewing!  (I have stitched a badge back on now Jackie!)

It’ll be a while now before I get much more done to blog about, although I hope to get the Chemo Quilt finished this week

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

2018 Wk 19 Chertsey Session & other stuff

Friday's class was making felt balls (wet felting) to make a necklace like this one of mine

These were bought but threaded to give the girls an idea

But as usual, not help was needed!

Sushi beads!

Multi coloured beads

Beading looking like seaside rock

And assorted beads

Rhona also brought her waste weaving creation - a really useful pot!  She plans on cutting a water bottle to size and using it as a vase!

 And finally - I asked my great niece to do a sketch of the village hall that I can use as a logo for the hall committee - hasnt she done a great job!!!

Thanks Roxi