2020 Wk 2 - memories quilt

I’ve finally stitched together what looks like a fairly basic quilt

The Janet Clare fabrics really spoke to me and with her help I created some FMQ embroidered blocks of images that I associate with holidays with my father.  I added some embroidery machine designs I created that also “belonged” and put them all together this afternoon

The fabrics show very nautical images - lots of different boats - and trees and red cottages, and birds and seaweed from the island, and weather; particularly wind and rain which the west coast of Norway is well known for

There are ten or eleven embroidered squares - this Viking ship and the rose are reminders of his memorial service 18 months ago.

 These are the FMQ blocks from before

Now I just need to find time to bind it!!

I have also finished the temperature embroidery, (difficult to photograph 15 foot x 2 inches!)

 And the Red Velvet crochet has grown a bit

And a final gingerbread man has finished some weaving - and will be a pressie for a young lady who helped me with a weaving project!

2020 Wk 1 - Hexie Round

The Hexie Round is getting really rather big - to sew one hexie on at a time is a lot of holding a big flimsy, so I've been making it easier for myself.

I have tacked what feels like a zillion pieces, and sorted them into light and dark - and here are the darks for the next round.

I've stitched them into rows about a dozen hexies long (wide?) - the next round needs 14 on each side

I've now speed-dated the strips - first attempt:

But these two blues are too similar to be next to each other

So I can slide the row along and separate the blues. 

I can add the extra hexies to the row or to the flimsy, and I'll probably do the same with the two circles of light hexies - speed-date them and add them to the darks then add all three rows to the flimsy in one go

And I thought I'd share some of my gorgeous Christmas pressies

And the prayer weaving we did at the Christingle service on Christmas Eve

And the penultimate gingers - two of these for Niki's teacher friends

2019 Wk 52 - copying quilts.

You may remember I made a whole load of Gingerbread men for the Chertsey Museum ladies: I also made some for bloggy and real friends,  but I couldn't show them until they'd been delivered!

Now I can!  They aren't actual copies of the quilts (or knitting) that my friends have created, but I hope they gave the recipients a laugh as they unwrapped them!

First is for Amo -it's her "Scheepjes Crochet-a-Long, Rozeta, based on a stained glass window." from this post

 

This is the original that inspired it

Next is one for Plum based on one of her many sampler quilts, in 'her' colours - so many quilts to choose from but I decided to represent this one

This is the original that inspired it

Next is one for Sharon who doesn't blog but made a gorgeous quilt, finishing it at Crafty Church

This is the original that inspired it

Fourth is for Avril to represent this stunning quilt

This is the original that inspired it

And fifth is a paler version of this quilt that poor Kathy had to make twice as the post office lost the first one

This is the original that inspired it

The next one is for Janine - a very old post , but a very lovely quilt that is now mine so I thought it very appropriate!

This is the original that inspired it

Finally here is one for Jackie - with her crochet ...

2019 Wk 52 - Merry Christmas and happy New Year

I thought 'd finished work!

I added some more hexies to my Hexie Rounds

I made myself a rope bowl

I made some German Christmas stars

One of the Stitch ladies brought some thick aluminium foil from Germany.  Cut eight circles, and snip in 3/4 to the middle 8 times

Twist the outer arcs around a pencil to make a point (well, 8 points)

Like this, then snip two small squares from an elastic band.  Thread a needle, and sew through elastic square, 8 pointy circles and then a final square of rubber, and pull tight!

 I embroidered some initials onto linen napkins for a customer

 I machined the binding onto the Kaffe Fassett quilt

I embroidered a name onto an already made brick I-spy quilt for a friend who has just become a grandma

and then I discovered these two have wondered off somewhere - and I was planning on gifting them tomorrow!!!

And wouldn't you believe I have no white felt left!

2019 Wk 52 - Crafty Church

This month's Crafty Church was mostly making Christmas decorations!

I was taught how to make these fun decorations

And Daisy, Ellie and Rosie (who taught me) and their mum made 6 large versions between them and then joined them together to make this mega star (about 20" across)

Tara made this *tiny* Christmas scene from a kit

And Lynne is working on this in secret as a Christmas gift for her daughter

 This kept me warm on the way to church - tank you Janine - I love it!!!!

I popped into my LQS last week.  I've known Helen for (we worked out) at least 23 years.  She has a log cabin in the front garden - it's a shop and workshop.  I have spent many happy hours there, but she and her husband have put the house on the market and plan to move to the south coast for retirement - the shop has now closed :-(

I help the retirement fund I bought a few bits and pieces: some shocking pink spraytime for the Kaffe Fassett quilt

 some Sashiko stencils for a class I'm teaching next year

A beautiful teale fabric and some brown spraytime to go with it, a few meters of dark blue, some sky and some random FQs

And I think I'm ready for Christmas - woohoo!

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