Museum Session

 I had a great afternoon at Chertsey Museum today - 8 ladies all having a go at smocking!  Luckily I had prepared 8 sections of fabric ready to be gathered and smocked, and they all got stuck in.

 Most managed to get two lines stitched, generally top and bottom of the gathered area

 some started on a third row

 while others just worked from the top

I confess I completed very little, but largely because I didn't have a spare piece stitched ready to be gathered, so I thought that was a jolly good excuse!

I have, however managed some embroidery - machine embroidery on another block for Hilary's texture quilt.  This is four squares filled with a programmed fill stitch, so nothing technically impressive, but it feels lovely!

 

and this block is an embroidery of a Labrador puppy - must be Dixie!!!

Found time to post!

The beginning of the week is always difficult for me to blog, I get bogged down with work (apologies for the four letter word there) Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then treat myself to some sewing on Thursdays, finally getting to blogging for a few days before we start with Monday all over again!

So, excuses over, and here I am

So an apology for being tardy - and here are the photos of the very high tech give-away random winner generator:

Basket of scraps of paper,

and the first two slips drawn from the basket. 

 

As you can see, neither Plum or Teje relieved me of decision making, but they did narrow it down!  I decided to go with two children's charities

So the vanishing nine patch will go to the Foster Network, organised by a friend of Plum's, and the fail fence zig zag will go to Great Ormand Street hospital in London

 This going-to-be-a-whirly gig top hasn't progressed. :-(  I couldn't find any suitable border fabric locally, so went on-line and found what looks like the perfect fabric, and ordered it.  It was only when I got the dispatch email that I realised I'd ordered it from Germany!!! so hopefully that will arrive next week

 I have however managed another texture block for Hilary's quilt.  She has no idea that this is happening, but i needed to know how best to do these braille dots.  I stitched the braille for 'texture' in a few different ways (satin stitch, running stitch outline, triple stitch outline etc) and got mum to take it and ask Hilary for her help on a project!!!

So with Hilary's help (she chose the satin stitch) I have created another surprise block for Hilary - isn't that great!

One last piece of news before I go and pack my stuff for a lesson at Chertsey Museum (we are going to tackle hexies (and pentagons) and make either a pin cushion or a child's ball), I finally have furniture again in my living room.

This arrived on Monday, and is so squishy and comfy, I love it, (even if it is a tad too big for the room LOL)

A block, a flimsy and a postcard

Folded Prairie Points   No idea why they are called this, but I found an easy-to-follow guide on how to make them here, and thought they'd be great for Hilary's textured quilt.

I have today finished the flimsy for the warm and cool log cabin.  I do like it better now that it is all joined together.  I added more blocks of white in the hope they would look more intentional

 
 


And finally, a postcard under construction for Hadley

I use pelmet/craft stabiliser from the local fabric shop. and I cut it to 6" x 4".   I cut my backing fabric slightly bigger and glued the fabric to the stabiliser

Then I cut a piece of fabric for the mug, and sketched on the mug using a frixon pen (it vanishes when ironed)
 


I drop the feed dogs on the machine (although some people don't bother) and use a darning / free motion quilting foot.  These are the ones I can use, my preference is for the middle one

I then kind of draw round the mug with the needle on a slow speed.  I went round a couple of times, and I don't try to follow the previous stitches.

When I'm happy with the mug I trim back the excess mug fabric.  I like these applique scissors, but any will do: take care not to cut the base fabric.



I also have some cookie fabric which I love, co I cut out a cookie and added that in the same way

Finally I cut a sheet of paper to the same 6X4" size, and glue that to the back of the card, and the stitch through the base fabric, the stabiliser and the paper.  As I used paper I just did a running stitch.  I could have used a piece of cotton fabric, and then I could have used a blanket stitch or another decorative one

Enjoy your cuppa and calorie free cookie!

Decisions, decisions

I've had a busy week, and in the odd free time I've had to chose between sewing, or blogging - I chose sewing!  But now I have a free day, so I'm catching up with the blogging before I switch the machine on :-)

The Lower Juniors at school put on a production of Cinderella in the week, and last week they were having problems with their backdrop.  I suggested they stitch tape along the top so they could pull it tighter without ripping ... and somehow I brought home 2 backdrops, about 5m x 3m, each one thickly painted.  The sewing room is about 2.2m x 2.5m, and the worktable is just 18 inches wide, and this fabric was very unwieldy!  A tip posted on the BQL group  had me bringing the ironing board into the sewing room - I lowered it to the same height as the workbench, and put the sewing machine on it, which gave me more space to push and pull the backdrop around

Even so, it was hard work

 and the paint came off as a dust, so goodness knows how much is inside the machine!

I did get a bottle of 'thank you' and a card, and the production went well, so it was worth it - and the tip about the ironing board will be remembered!

I also managed another block for the March block lotto

and a trapunto block for Hilary's textured block

Making Hexis

Hexagons are probably what non- patchworkers think of if you mention patchwork.  The traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden made up of hundreds (thousands?) of tiny hexagons - usually one in the middle of six, surrounded by 12, to represent a flower, joined to the next flower and to the next.

I do generally feel that life is too short for stuff like this, but every so often there is a reason to try something new.  I thought that a hexi block would be suitable for Hilary's textured quilt.  I did look at buying pre-cut hexi templates from ebay, but with P&P they became too expensive, so I found MoxyIdeas.com who offer separeated hexis in a choice of sizes, and Incompetech.com who offer joined hexis.  (I've tried the separated ones so far, they are more bother to cut out, but may be more accurate)

So: I've cut the hexagons, and I punch two holes for the pin, and pinned each one to a square cut from a 2.5 inch jelly roll, and then trimmed the corners

I folded one fabric edge along the edge of the card template, and started tacking in the middle of this side, from the back.  Needle to the front then to the back just before the corner.  Fold down side two of the fabric, and bring the needle down into the fold, to the front, and back just before the corner.  Carry on.  Because we started in the moddle of the first side, it is possible to have all the folds layong clockwise (or anti clockwise)

 Voila, one hexi.  Once these have been whipped or ladder stitched together I can remove the card templates and use them again

These will be joined in a flat arrangement to make an 8 inch block for the texture quilt, but I am also going to copy Hadley's idea, and make a child's ball (or dodecahedron apparently, thank for the maths lesson Hadley) out of bigger hexagons and brighter fabric.

I've also finished another texture block - folded nine patch.  I struggled with the instructions in the book, so sort of made it up as I went along.  I love the block, but I think it wastes loads of fabric.  Thank you Jackie for sending me the strips from your jelly roll - much appreciated!

working for others

Over the weekend I did two more blocks for Hilary.  This first one is just quilted at 1.5 inch intervals,

while this second one is one inch postage stamp blocks, quilted at two inch intervals.   I tried it in this spotty pink fabric first, and decided quilting at half inch was too much. It may be that the small squares and the quilting is too much, but it's get auditioned at the end and we'll see.

On Saturday night and Sunday I helped my God Daughter and her mum make outfits for World Book Day this week: Thing 1 (from The Cat in The Hat), and Winnie the Pooh.  We made both outfits the same size, and the Thing 1 circle is hand stitch so both outfits can be used for other things

Today I was helping at Poppies Children's Centre.  I forgot to take a photo of the completed Opening Ceremony Plaque, but it looked good, and Louise, the manager, was really pleased with it.  I cant be there tomorrow afternoon, but I painted this field for them to use as the background for the craft session with the great and the good tomorrow, and finally found a way for Kate to make the concave petals.

I also got told that the notice board was mine to liven up!  I'd made some felt poppy drawing pins, and used their borders to make a patchwork effect, and sugar paper to make 'grass'.  As I left, Kate was cutting cloud shapes to go on the red to display photos.

I still have three bags of fleeces to do for Suzanne, but they can be done later in the week - now I'm off for a bath and then my bed!

Long post - lots of stuff :-)

I've been working on the to-do list today, and have a few thing crossed off:  I have done 5 t-shirts for a friend's sons and their friends who are doing a sponsored cycle ride to raise money to buy games for the children's ward at the local hospital.  Harry is diabetic, and Adam had meningitis earlier this year, so they know the shortcomings of the children's ward VERY well!

Then I did a few more blocks for Hilary's tactile quilt.  This spiral is machine embroidered in a rope motif which feels really nice to my fingers and I know Hilary's fingers are much more sensitive then mine

This block uses 5mm fusible bias tape

and this one is folded flying geese

Then I finished a flag I've been working on.  Friends have a real flagpole in their garden (Phil puts up the Norwegian flag when he knows I'm coming round!) and we made a flag for Natalie's 21st a few years ago, and now #2 is coming up for his 21st!  Somehow I got conned into making this - Liz has a far fancier embroidery machine herself, but there you go!

 I struggled to put the flag somewhere to photograph it, but I think a solution may be on the horizon (pardon the pun....)  As I look out of my bedroom window, I see lots of sheds in Dales' garden.  He stores books in them, which he sells on-line. 

But wait a minute ... what is that to the left of the log cabin?  (It's OK, you don't need to zoom in, I've done it for you).  He seems to be building a look-out post. 

(Maybe so if the Thames floods he can look out for pirates??)  Actually I'm not too bothered about the "why" question - my immediate thought was that it would be ideal to hang quilts from so they could be photographed!

My last task today was related to a tapestry the school has been asked to do. We are one of a number of schools making a 1m x 1m tapestry of our local area.  These will all be joined together and will be part of the Olympic celebrations.  My friend Jane has been given the job, and came to ask me for ideas.  The kids are expected to plan the work and to decorate the tapestry, which is based on rug canvas.  I thought that fabric strips could be woven (using plastic craft needles) through the canvas giving a watery effect.  I'm sure it will work for tree trunks, leaves etc too.

Good grief, what a long post !!!