2021 Week 8

Ooops, that was  a bit of a gap between posts!

Not much crafting seems to have been done though

I was given this lovely clay Ginger

 

And these vanilla scented Ginger melts for my wax burner (Thank you Niki - a bit of a theme going on here!)

The lovely Carolyn at church started off a crochet blanket for me (no, I can't cast on - doh!)  It twisted a bit to start with but it's getting better

I put on my big girl pants and started adding some extra types of stitches (I don't know anything fancy: just UK double and trebles)

And apparently added some extra stitches at one end and lost them at the other end - I'm trying to sort them out as to where they should be, and hopefully this bit will be ok after blocking 

To reassure myself with something I *can* do, I made another sari rope basket for my balls of wool

I made a bunch of log cabin blocks, but I've put them away for now - the contrast (between the brights and the grey/white) is disappointing

I was asked if I could do a couple of trampolining Gingers but I couldn't quite envisage them

Lora grabbed her felt tip pens and drew these for me

So I made these

2020 Wk 7 - in Ireland with Dennis (and Jackie!)

Storm Dennis has hit Ireland and means it’s too blustery and too wet to venture outside - so sewing and crochet has mostly featured this the weekend!

So what have we made?

I was given a load of shirt fabric and brought over what seemed like far too much: we cut it into 4.5” x 8.5” bricks and stared sewing - each fabric is different so no auditioning.   It’s made about 1/4 of a king sized quilt so far, it’s lucky there is plenty more samples left at home so we can do some more next time we meet up

We made some cork baskets (some hand sewing needed)

We made a Pepper Pig quilt for little miss L - to be delivered tomorrow

We learnt that two FQ packs from Aldi cut into 8.5” squares just needs two extra blocks to made a flimsy that fits an Ikea fleece with *just* enough left over to make 2” binding and hardly any waste!

I’ve learnt a new crochet stitch and am making this blanket (waiting impatiently for the first colour change!)

Jackie’s Tunisian crochet

And my travel project has been more chambray hexies!

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

2019 Wk 24 - D4G update and some new ideas

Niki set off on her safari adventure on Wednesday morning.  She's packed everything into these two backpacks and is clearly apprehensive about going and missing her mummy (not!)

She's sent a few pics - I think it's safe to say she's having a great time!

As well as the two backpacks she also took a suitcase filled with 48 Days For Girls kits - and these have been delivered top the lovely Pamela who has undertaken to get them to Connie at Kisumu

I have bought some more brushed cotton for more D4G kits - if you ever wanted to know what £180 worth of brushed cotton looks like here is your answer!

I don't know about your sitting room but we have two double sofas - he has one which he shares with the cat and the TV remote controls and I have one that I share with my hand sewing projects!  My project basket was a rubbishy woven one with the lining on the outside rather than the inside to stop it scratching the sofa.  

So I made myself a fabric caddy, with pockets that holds it all and is gentle on the sofa, and can be picked up and moved if I have to share my sofa with another person!

I have been thinking about being unemployed from next month (!) and maybe offering a sewing / making / mindfulness class.  Something that will teach people a new skill but just as importantly let them zone out of the daily stresses of life and concentrate on themselves.

I've been Pinning loads of ideas, and decided to try this one - handmade fabric beads.  I store my embroidery threads on clothes pins, so used one to wrap fabric (and wadding) around
 

and then started stitching.  The phone clearly doesn't like zooming in that much, but they were really good fun to make and only took about 20 minutes each - what do you think?  Would there be any interest?

And finally this week I was going to a meeting and needed pen and notebook.  I was tidying up some leather (Jackie arrives in less that a week so I need to have *some* work space to share with her) and made a quick pen holder before I put it away!

2019 Wk 19 - since last time

Since the last post  . . . The Chertsey Museum ladies made fabric baskets (thank you Plum)

And Briege has been busy in Kisumu (near Nairobi) handing out our Days for Girls Stitch bags

The cat has been happy sitting on the first half of my rainbow flowers hexi quilt (grrrr) while I finish sewing the other half of the hexie flowers - now to sew the rest of the flowers on!

And I have been inspired by Instagram's #libertysocietykanthastitchalong  So I have sorted some scrappy liberty squares and some liberty hearts (thank you Amo) and some lovely embroidery threads and have been stitching to my heart's content.  Before stitching . . .

And after stitching happily for a few hours . . .Look at the difference!

 And a different version of Kantha stitching (or stitch doodling!) - this is my sample fabric basket made for the Chertsey Museum class, now finished

Annnnnnd, I have also been working through this pile of spotty strips . . . 

. . . making these blocks (foundation paper piecing) . . . 

. . .  which will eventually look like this - curves with just straight lines!  I will scan the template and add it when I get a chance