SLIKstitches

Monday makings and Windsor Wednesdays

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:18:00 +0000

Busy week, this one: Lessons on Monday and Wednesday, and Friday and Saturday! If they all go as smoothly as the first two I'll be delighted.

As usual the pictures are available in more details, with some words, on the Fun With Fabric blog, they they are just for me to show off what I can inspire people to create (LOL, or what they can do perfectly well without my help!) . . .

Monday at Broom Farm

And Wednesday in Windsor with the A to Z project (not a very catchy name, but it is what it says on the tin)

If you go to the other blog, have a really good look at the stitching on the J block. I'm not sure if N is 7 or 8, but fantastically neat stitches.

There is a website where we can make a kind of mosaic, but it's like a design wall, so you can put pics of blocks as they've been made, to get an idea how the whole patchwork will look - does anyone have any idea of it's name? I'm thinking blue frog, or green cow, something like that? But Mr Google cant help me, so I hope someone else can

Project on a Budget

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:24:00 +0000

Lynn, over at Lily's Quilts, is offering the opportunity to win £20 of fabric, to make something with a Jubilee theme. I've added her button here to show you, but I don't want anyone to go and join in, as that will reduce my chances!

A humble apology

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:42:00 +0000

This is a humble apology to the patchwork and quilting world: there is a new patchworker amongst us, which means that our share of the available fabric, threads, wadding, notions and gadgets will be a tiny bit smaller. And it's all my fault.

13 months ago I started Crafty Church at my church: just two hours on a Saturday afternoon once a month, and when Janet started attending she seemed a normal person. She brought along a patchwork bag that she wanted to copy - and did, and then did again, and again.

(I am sorry sisters, I should have seen the signs)

I make the mistake of taking her to Sandown last summer, and that when I started to worry about what I had unleashed - we had to leave early as I was worried about just how many quilts she was buying supplies for. You know normally people start with squares: something simple, no, she started a triangles quilt one session, and brought it finished as a "Show and Tell" the following month. First quilt, ever.

She then started quilt two,

(!)

Then she didn't sew for a while, as she spent three months in New Zealand (visiting fabric shops?)

She came home with a photo of a quilt like this,

and a suitcase full of fabrics, and two template pieces (which I couldn't make head of tail of); luckily Jackie was there to unravel the mystery, and less thatn three weeks later Janet has pieced the top, basted and in-the-ditch quilted, and is ready to bind it.

I need something that's going to slow her down!!!

Meanwhile my creating has been restricted by the old problem of not-enough-hours in the day. I have managed to join three donated blocks and make them into a growth chart for Jessica - the daughter of Sally at Chertsey Museum - to go with the baby quilt that all the ladies contributed to. The presentation will hopefully be on Friday

And Blogger seems unprepared to check my spellings for me, so apologies for any errors!

Windsor Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:54:00 +0000

Since I updated here, we've had two sessions at school working on the A - Z wall hanging project. As usual, the full photos are on the Fun With Fabric blog, but here are the mosaics:

Week 3 (including our first finished square)

and Week 4

No pressure, but I've been told Adult Education is being inspected by OFSTED in two weeks - and to expect a visit - gulp!

Bank Holiday Bonus

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:07:00 +0000

So far today . . .

Endless Ribbon has been renamed Ribbon Race, as it's down to 6m long which hardly qualifies as endless. I wish I'd used more picture fabrics as I think it would make a great I- Spy quilt. Maybe next time

I have started on an embroidery order of sweatshirts and fleeces for the local pre-school

I have made scissor tags for A who I will be seeing tomorrow (and who has sons who have little respect for fabric scissors not being designed to cut other stuff)

And I've been proof reading a 2500 word essay on ": Leibniz argues that our freedom rests in the fact that reasons ‘incline without necessitating ‘. Assess the concept of freedom in Leibniz and compare its strengths and weaknesses with at least one other rationalist’s concept of freedom." - wonder why I've got a headache!

The best sort of shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:51:00 +0000

You may remember I made a quilt for a friend of Lisa's 21st. [Heather's Black and White and Pink] Well her mum, Carol, asked if I would make another one, for her sister. In purple please

I don't know about you, but purple is one of the coloursI have problems matching - so many shades. I pulled a whole load from my stash, and sent them off with Heva (Heather!). There were a few Carol liked, so we agreed to meet at Helen's - a log cabin in Helen's garden where she sells fabrics and holds classes.

Like me, Carol likes Spraytime, and the one I think of as snakeskin: we had a lovely time choosing these fabrics. So just to make this very clear . . .

I got to go to a fabric shop,
I come out with fabrics that I can cut into (however I like)
and stitch back together (however I like)
and I didn't have to spend any money

I didn't think the day could get any better, until Carol asked if I could make some place mats too, so we had to choose MORE fabric for me to use

I even got some sewing done: no pic as it's just a pile of fabric, but Endless Ribbon got ~~ironed~~ pressed (thank you Jackie) and the first row stitched - it is now 27.5m long and 4.5 inches wide - What a fab holiday weekend!

Kitchen Kapers

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Sat, 05 May 2012 21:33:00 +0000

Not a stitch, or a thread, or a FQ in sight, but here is my new love. Black, pretty, and oh so shiny, meet my Rangemaster 110 Classic:

And proof that I cook (very occasionally)

With raw, fresh ingredients, even if I don't have a whole or complete kitchen.

We have bought the sink and the taps, and think we have found a work surface we both like: but the shop was closing so we haven't spoken to a salesman yet

Scrappy Sewing (Take 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:17:00 +0000

Darn iPad - since blogger changed, I cant see posts to edit them on the iPad. I assumed they were just not showing - until I tried to publish a draft post from the iPad, and there it was gone!

So here I go again

Niki has asked for a green and black and white quilt for her friend Laura's 18th in a month's time. I bought the blacks and whites at Lady Sew and Sew's a few weeks ago, and Niki was inspired by [this one] I'd pinned on Pinterest ages ago for another project. So I cut and stitched, and stitched and stitched, until I had 11.5m of striped blacks / whites / green fabric

but then it needed pressing, so I looked around for something else to do

I have a drawer full of 2.5 inch strips left over from the last 5 years or so of projects. On the rare occasion I rootle in there for a particular fabric or colour , I usually cant find it, so I decided the time had come to reduce it.

I really enjoyed the Jelly Roll Race I made a few weeks ago, so decided to join all the scraps into one almost endless ribbon (Does anyone else remember 'Endless Grey Ribbon' from Nick Lowe in the 80s? I loved that album)

So this . . .

Got reduced to these . . . a 55m endless multicoloured ribbon, and a few scraps in a box

But then the endless ribbon needed pressing too, which is why I wrote the blog post . . . the one that the iPad ate

Happy Hexies

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:21:00 +0000

These . . .

became this

and will become this (ish).

I enjoyed piecing these over a chat and a cuppa at the church Craft Fair

It only used about 1/4 of my tacked hexies . . . I think I may join some more too!

Fab Families, and Friday Finishes

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:17:00 +0000

The "Fab Families" refer to the family groups that came along to the second session for the Windsor A-Z project: a patchwork wall handing we are making at school to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The photos can been seen better on the Fun With Fabric blog, but a taster of the work in progress is here

The Finishes - well I actually finished two quilts today! I'd been working on the binding just 15 minutes at a time after tea, in front of the TV, but here they are, finished:

This was made from charm squares bought (and hand stitched) in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, bound in a darkish blue, thanks Heather

And this was sitting in the UFO pile for far too long, until both Heather and Jackie suggested a darker orange binding, and I happened to have the perfect colour in my stash. Thanks ladies!

Wishing Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:37:00 +0000

I wish my sewing room was a little tidier

And I wish I had the time and the inspiration to make something with this yummy collection of rainbow colours that have been building up

Broom Farm Update

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:45:00 +0000

I havn't done much sewing . . . but the Broom Farm Ladies have!

Catherine put the finishing touches to this fab Humpty Dumpty

And three new ladies all started I Spy quilts, while Katie started the binding on her table runner

Didn't they do well

Fabric Friday, (and Saturday, and Sunday)

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:02:00 +0000

A fab weekend with Jackie, yummy fabrics brought by her, a visit to a fabric shop, and Hobby Craft, a squishy in the post, then a quilt show and a visit to the Lady Sew and Sew warehouse - bliss! (but what a shame I have to go to work and can't stay home and play!)

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

Why I'm sewing, not being a Domestic Goddess

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:30:00 +0000

OK, I'm not sure I could do the Domestic Goddess very well anyway, and of course I'd rather be sewing than pretty much anything else . . . but do look at my kitchen

As if that's not bad enough - look at the photos from the same kitchen in 1988 (yes, 24 years ago)

To be fair, the 1988 kitchen was eventually finished, and then in about 2002 it moved to the room at the back of the house, and now it's moving back into the middle, but sewing is a far more attractive activity!

Anyway sewing has been in abundance - and not just me. The Fun With Fabric blog has the full info, but here are some mosaics to whet your appetite:

Some Finishes at Broom Farm on Monday

(You'll never guess how Catherine managed a perfect zip on the back of her cushion, the secret is revealed on the Fun With Fabric blog)

The Windsor A-Z project started on Wednesday

And some Mola Magic at the Museum today (top right is an inspiration, not one of our creations, LOL)

Embroidery Extravaganza and a Secret

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:29:00 +0000

Today has been mostly embroidery: design and stitch

These first two are for my SIL's nieces, to go on quilts their mum and grandma made for them when they were little

And this is for my friend Sue - for her first granddaughter who arrived last weekend

(OK, not quite an Extravaganza, but I couldn't think of anything else alliterative!)

This is the Secret . . . this is, finally, one of my Pay It Forward gifts. Both have now been packaged and are waiting for a trip to the post office. No pics until they have been received!!!

Finally - If you are following the arrival of the yellow blocks from the Chertsey Fun With Fabric ladies, two more have arived and are on the Fun With Fabric blog

Back to school, and Binding and Hexies

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Was that really two weeks off school? It really didn't feel like it! For most of the holidays my body clock still woke at 7am, but this morning . . . I did not want to get up! And then I got a text from the girl who covers Breakfast Club - she wasn't well, could I possibly . . . How long until the next school holiday?

After a day at work, I managed to fit in a little bit of sewing this evening. Mega thanks to both Jackie and Heather who suggested a darkish binding for the 'warm and cool' log cabin quilt. I found a dark orange in my stash which is perfect, so that has been machine stitched onto the front. There is plenty left over and I think it will be perfect for the British Racing Green (Jelly Roll Race) quilt top too, so that's two solutions, thanks girls.

Instead of sewing binding on tonight in front of the TV, I started tacking fabric to the hexagons that arrived earlier in the week - 62 down just 13 more paper hexies left, so I'll start joining them soon, but I have loads more fabric scraps, so this could be a nice size. I'm going to join them randomly, not as flowers

Straight Line Quilting (Hadley Style)

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:30:00 +0000

I have been pondering how to quilt the Stained Down Under (sorry, I still haven't thought of a better name) quilt.

I really like Hadley's approach, but didn't want to start in case it was too hard work. I decided to use the technique on the Racing Green quilt, and see how I got on with it. My machine doesn't seem to pull the fabric through at an even rate, so I was pulling it through to help, but it's really made one of my hands ache.

Well, Hadley, I love the effect, and thanks for showing what you did, but it's not for me!!! (Hadley did 119 lines of quilting - I've done 32, and that was certainly enough for me!)

Hadley, I am in awe!

Jelly Roll Race (Racing Green)

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:21:00 +0000

After my failed attempt to make a quick quilt top, I decided to try a new technique - a Jelly Roll Race.

I used this post as my basis, but I joined my strips at 45 degrees rather than at 90 degrees. Apparently joining the strips results in one strip 1600 inches long - it certainly look up loads of space on the sewing table. This part took about 35 minutes

I chopped 20 inches from one end, and then picked up the two ends and started sewing them together. That took about 15 minutes, but was wonderfully monotonous as I didn't have to think about anything. When I got to the end I cut the fold to make one piece - long and thin.

And then I picked up the two ends and started sewing them together . . . then cut the fold, then pick up the two ends . . . five times altogether . . . and this, after just over an hour, is the result

Next step is ironing, basting and quilting, but I think this will make a good boy quilt for the Siblings Together (number 2, Hadley!)

Quick Quilt? Not Quite!

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:24:00 +0000

I was itching to start something that would grow quickly, and found some red flowery fabric that my Uncle and his wife gave me a while ago. I cut the flowery fabric into 6 inch blocks, and got the left-over 2.5 inch strips from the cream quilts I'd been making a while ago. As the blocks were the same fabric, I decided to use a variety of fabrics for the strips, although they are all the same tones.

I added two borders to each block (well, I did until I ran out of cream fabric!!!!)

This is how I will arrange the blocks - but first I need to get some more cream fabrics - so much for a quick quilt!

I've used this block before, but still have no idea what it's called!

Creative Kids, and an ooops

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:47:00 +0000

Yesterday was the last Children's Holiday Fun session at Chertsey Museum, and today I have been learning to make computer mosaics over at Big Huge Labs, so here is (hopefully) a mosaic of the customising and accessorising that was going on yesterday (more details on the Fun With Fabric blog)

The reason I needed to learn how to make a mosaic, is a Aurifil competition that Lily is hosting - and I would love to win 12 Aurifil threads of my choice. I thought the hard part would be the mosaic, but it was actually choosing the colours!

Anyway, I went (surprise surprise) for a rainbow theme, and this is my mosaic:

(It's one of 178 on Flickr at the moment, so I don't much fancy my chances, but I do love the colours!)

On to ooops - can you please make sure that the door is closed, the phone switched off, and there is no-one hiding under the desk or looking over your shoulder . . .as I have been a bad girl!

It's just SO easy.

I sit at the computer, follow a link or two, press a button or two, and then postie arrives and that's when I realise what I did...

From Prints to Polka Dots . . . these yummy fabrics arrived

And I seem to have ordered these from these too

And from Quilt Direct I ordered a felting tool, and some pre-cut paper hexies for these lovely muted greys and purples left over from this project and this project,

And I also got an iPhone 4 cover that is prepared so it can have cross stitch embroidery done to it - now I just need to think of a design for it, and that will be part of Niki's birthday pressie

Have I got enough hiding places?

Stained Down Under

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:58:00 +0000

Stained Down Under has been pieced and basted - YAY!

Inspired by Sarah's Stained Quilt, but without actually following any of the instructions she worked long and hard over, I LOVE IT!!!

No idea how to quilt it though!

Basted and Quilted

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:38:00 +0000

This is a very old flimsy that I found when I was looking for something else - it was so forgotten that wasn't even on the to-do list! Poor thing! Anyway, I had planned to piece the Stained Down Under top, but the machine was threaded with white, so lazy whatsit that I am, I decided to do this instead. (Doesn't it look like stained glass in this photo, taken with it hanging in front of a window)

I quilted a big spiral on each quarter, but have now put it to one side again, as I have NO idea what colour to bind it with

The machine was STILL threaded with white, so this top - an I Spy hand pieced in the Blue Mountains in December, was basted and quilted too

But I don't have enough cream for binding this one either, so back into another pile

Tomorrow will be the Stained Down Under!

Sewing for Siblings

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I had a fun day today - I finished piecing and quilting (with chevrons, or zig zags) a square quilt from extra blocks from block lotto, and made a dozen scrappy log cabin blocks, all destined for the Siblings Together charity

Postie Love

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:30:00 +0000

My lovely postie has been bringing me yummy packages again . . . first I got these from Victoria who came to the Chertsey Museum Fun With Fabrics last month

Thank you, Victoria, these are great

Then I got this little squishy from Ayumi's ETSY shop (Ayumi from the Pink Penguin blog)

With these yummy fabrics that I had ordered inside

And these extras too - thank you Ayumi :-)

Excuse me for a while while I go and fondle my fabrics

Bothering to Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Benta At SLIKstitches) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:10:00 +0000

I followed a link to another blog the other day, and what I read really made me stop and thing . . . Why do I blog? It started for me as a record of what I've made, and somewhere to record HOW I made something, so I don't have to re-invent it if I decide to make it again.

My best friend, Jackie, (a flight away) and my mum (90 minute drive away) would visit regularly to see what I'd been up to, and then a few more people joined - and now I have 62 followers. While this is a huge boost to my ego, it was never the point. Sometimes I blog when I don't really feel like it, sometimes I acknowledge people's comments only because it's polite to do so, and sometimes I comment on other people's blogs because I feel I ought to . . but is that really the point?

I found one blog where the writer had TURNED OFF THE COMMENTS facility! How brave is that? I'm not sure that I can do that, as I do love to get comments (down, ego, down) but I have decided to join the Blogging Without Obligation movement. If you click on the logo (to the right, and below) you can go to Tiffini's explanation.

So - I will still be making stuff, and I will still be blogging about it, and about other stuff, but I have released myself from . . .

Feeling I should make something just to blog about it
Feeling I should apologise if I haven't blogged for a while
Feeling I should comment on someone else's blog just because they blogged about something
Feeling despondent if no-one comments on a post

And released myself to enjoy blogging when I have the time and the inclination, and to enjoy reading other people's posts, and to comment when I get the urge, and respect that others do the same

Phew :-)