2021 Week 35

 This has felt like a 'normal week - largely because Chertsey Museum was back for the first time in 18 months!!!  Woohoo!!!!

Limited numbers and only 2 to a table, but we were back . . .  and with three new ladies!

We were doing something based on what Jo Avery calls Modern Crewel (check out her book due out in November, no affiliation, just a big fan!).  I described it as colouring with thread!  My samples were the feather and this tote bag

A number of ladies started on the feathers (but I forgot to take photos!).  I also brought some funky fabric and some ladies did some colouring in modern crewel on this too.  There was a LOT of talking, so they've all gone home with their fabric, hoops and thread to bring something for show and tell next month!

I took myself out of my comfort zone and did some different colouring in - watercolours this time.  Inspired by 'the other Tara' I found Iris's box of watercolour pencils and painting this giraffe that she had helped me draw at Crafty Church in August

A friend's grand son starts 'big' school next week and she was feeling daunted by all the labels she's offered to sew on so I did them

He's a little dot but with a long name so I had to sew a lot of them on folded or he never would get his head through the neck hole!

I also made him a Ginger wearing the same school uniform!

A few posts ago (week 32) I showed you some fabric that the awesome Sharon got me in South Africa a few years ago.  The fabric is called Shwe shwe and it feel like a slightly waxed cotton.  I made myself a cross body bag (not actually finished yet - doh)

and with the strips I cut off to straighten the fabric, and a packet of sash rope (which did not work for the rope baskets but I've kept for the last half dozen years just in case!!!) I have made myself  matching necklace

There was also a  need for more Gingers!  I have been doing gingers based on my own take on Craftivism: they have been based on national days (blood donation, smear awareness, drowning prevention, chess, Samaritans etc): the latest ones have been for Teaching Assistant Day

And beach / world clean up day

And I'm all prepared for National Talk Like A Pirate Day!!!

And this chap is for a local pub

I have started sewing together some hexi flowers from a swap group ( flimsy pic to follow)

And Lisa's b/f Jim wanted cactuses (cacti?) for his birthday so I got him some seeds, a potted cactus, and (of course) a Ginger holding a cactus.

I didn't know he was going to repot the one I bought - I'd have bought one with fewer prickles if I'd known!  Here's the full WhatsApp post from Lisa

2021 Week 22

As mentioned in my last post: a long time ago a lovely lady called Iris,  from the Chertsey Museum class, asked me to be executor of her craft room when she passed.  Sadly she passed early this year and I was called by her neighbour to come and help empty the room.  To be honest it was not so much a craft room as a craft 4 bedroomed house!  There was every craft imaginable in every room of the house! 

So not much making to report this week - mostly sorting the goodies from Iris's, and categorising them as to where they go next: To give you an idea, I filled my car three times and Emma from the museum filled hers once (she took a lot of beads in case they can be used on the replica costumes and most of the paper based craft stuff as her sister Claire teaches that kind of craft there) 

So far the list of crafts I now have kits and / or resources for (or have passed them on to someone else) are at least:

Macrame

Needle punch 

Glass painting 

clay

leatherwork

beads

wire craft

EPP, 

cricut, 

leather 

scrap booking 

sizzix 

card making 

weaving 

painting 

stamping 

embroidery 

rug making 

Viking knitting 

tie dying 

patchwork 

dress making 

jewellery making 

crochet 

French knitting

circle cutting

ordinary knitting

Please, much as I loved her, DONT be like Iris - some of the resources she has two or three unopened packets of, some where bought from Woolworths or even pre-decimalisation (50+ years ago).  So there are now bags and boxes of craft stuff all over the house as I sort out the final bags of stuff from hers and at least have all the associated stuff together.

What I have done in breaks is finish piecing this little EPP hexi rainbow trip around the world

Made this for my God Daughters who works for the ambulance service as a 999 ambulance handler and recently delivers her first baby by phone

And I'm rather chuffed with myself in that (with Lisa's help) I actually cast one for a crochet poncho

And I made this - in anticipation of the day, surely coming soon, that we can all hug!!!

2018 Wk 36 - bits and pieces

Last weekend was the Church's 'Garden Party' (a village fair really but arranged by the church) in the sister village.  The Vicar's wife and I manned the Stitch stall - selling boomerang bags and talking to people about Stitch (and Days for Girls) and showing the kits.  We sold lots of bags while dressed as Vikings (this year's theme).  We listened to Abba music all afternoon, enjoyed the end of summer sunshine, and took donations of £85 - pretty much a perfect afternoon!

In other news - I treated myself to a EPP template organiser (Amazon think it's a jewellery organiser but what do they know?) and have sorted all my templates

Some of the templates were then used at Chertsey Museum on Friday - we did Quilt As You Go hexies - looking good ladies!

As for me, Lizzie and I have been working on a dozen or so babygros (onesies) and vests - just a little bit fiddly to hoop!

And husband has repainited two walls in our bedroom  . . .

and assembled a corner unit for me as a kind of dressing table

And finally a pic from the lady who one my Black & White & Bits of Bright quilt in a WI raffle - she used it as a picnic blanket!

2018 Wk 32 - Chertsey Museum

Just had three great days with Jackie - including an afternoon at Chertsey Museum: sadly the fun ended at 5:30 tonight when I had to take her back to the airport :-(

We did get loads done, even if we worked in utter chaos most of the time! (see next post!)

First Cherstey Museum and Fun with Fabric: some of the Chertsey ladies had finished their inchies projects

And for this class we made bobbin necklaces (with magic sliding knots).  Some finished and some going home to be finished!

 And then home to a tidy-just-waiting-for-us sewing room

Oh and a few quilts on the spare room wall - Ferris Wheel has been finished . . .

And so has Seattle Sixteen

2018 Wk 27 Beads, EPP and Inchies

I've been wanted to make a rain necklace out of coloured wooden beads . . .but couldn't find what I wanted, so I bought plain wooden beads and attacked them with sharpie pens.

The colour wash didn't come out quite as I envisaged so once they were stacked by colour on these sticks shoved into corrugated card I did some speed dating and these are the ones that made the grade.

I made three strands and the gave them a bit of a twist, using a stick and circle thingy as a fastener

And I'm rather chuffed with the result!

 I'm coming near to the end of the hexi and triangle EPP that I'm making at M-i-L's . .

just these last 31 triangles to be added then it can be backed and quilted

The templates will be glad to call it a day!  I only go through the template on the first and last stitch so you can see how often these have been used

I was at Chertsey Museum on Friday: a few ladies had finished their patchwork baskets and brought them for show and tell

And Friday's class was inchies: As usual, a huge variety of gorgeous creativeness - Well done ladies