IMPORTANT NOTICE

 I think Google may be about to start charging me for my blog, so I may move to a free version - and that means a new name!

I have transferred the last six years of blog posts to what may be a temporary blog, or may be the new one.

To cover all bases new posts are being added to the new blog and I'm adding the link here

2022 Week 6 Blog Post 

The name of, and the link to, the replacement blog is: 

  SLIKStitchesBlog.blogspot.com

Sorry!

Hope to see you there

2020 Wk 40 - One thing at a time???

 I really should work on one thing at a time . . .  but that's no challenge!!!

I've got a delivery of 80 sweatshirts due next week to embroider for my friend's pre-school so anything 'fun' that needs embroidering needs to be done now . . .

The Halloween quilt has been finished and delivered to a very happy aunty

There was febric left over, so now I've got a few Happy Halloween banners / flags on the go: so far I've forgotten to trim the ginger off the bottom half of one before adding the lettering, forgotten to change to orange thread for the pumpkin, put the black and the orange felt in the wrong place so there are missing bits, and run out of glow in the dark thread (the one I bought last week!) - that's going well LOL

Because they aren't stressful enough I'm also making a baby quilt from a hoard of fab brights (which only had 40 in the back not the 42 promised so I've added from stash)

And I ordered some Alison Glass sun prints fabric and spent ages auditioning them before I stitched them all together . . . wrong!  I have unpicked and re-sewn the dodgy blocks 

And I am now cutting them up to make a square dance / Lil twister quilt (like these) but forgot that I should add the border first (doh!) so am trying to that at the same time AND cope with questionable spatial awareness!

(just whisper it, but so far so good!)

Anyway, on the positive front, this insipid Trip Around the World (honest) is finished and in the Linus Quilt pile

The EPP triangles flimsy is growing

Lisa and Jim finally moved into their house (this was the stuff we couldn't find room for elsewhere!  I think this will be my favourite room when it's all cleared)

The Plus Quilt is also finished.  As it's hand pieced it's probably a bit fragile for a Linus Quilt, so it's waiting for a good home

I finally finished some little bowls that Jackie and I started years ago - they were possibly meant to have zipped tops but finished was better than perfect so no zip

And finally I've changed my Google profile picture . . . this sticker came with a McDonald's Happy Meal, and the whole family said it looks like me!!!!

Griping about Google & some Crafty Stuff

A few years ago I changed my blog address from Slikstitches.blogspot.com to Slikstitches.com.  I did it on a whim, and if I could turn back time I would not have done it!

At first my blog vanished for a while, then last year I had problems paying my renewal fee ( I blogged about it here).  I eventually discovered I had to log into wallet.google, and update my credit card information, so when I got this year's renewal email I checked on the above post and checked my credit card details and sat back smugly,

BUT - this time that wasn't the right place to update the card info - it seems they sometime look somewhere else!  It's taken me a month, but I've finally sussed it - I have to log on here using an email address I never use - I don't even know how I can use it! (B@SS.COM), using a password that I haven't used for years (SS) and change a different saved credit card option. [Billings/Domain Registration / Access Billing Ac]

So now I have it saved here ready for getting hopelessly lost next year!

But because no blog post in compete without a photo or two . . .

Jackie's My Small World is looking awesome

I embroidered a blanket for my Great Aunt, and mum has delivered it

Lesley at Crafty Church embroidered this for her sister

And my God Daughter created and machine stitched this for a friend

Oh, and Lisa received her Christmas Quilt

That'll be FOUR layers now on her bed - a bit like the princess and the pea!

Departure into Dressmaking

I am most very definitely NOT a dressmaker - leaving aside that fact that my mum IS a dressmaker and any attempts in the past have been swiftly sorted by mum, I have issues with following instructions!

If you've read many posts on this blog you will know that I prefer to look at a finished item and have a go at making it myself rather than read instructions. (A quick look at the SLIK and Quick tab on this blog show 30 odd items, of which at least 3/4 are where I've "re-invested the wheel" rather than follow instructions!)

But, I've been seeing lots of basic tunics on Pinterest, and as well as Nessa who sews a lot, Janine has recently made a tunic, and I finally decided to take the plunge and take a departure into dressmaking.

I remembered Clothkits from childhood, and had heard they were trading again, so asked Mr Google, and found their website.  What I *remembered* were dresses etc printed onto fabric, like this:

What looks like fuzzy lines are the cutting lines for different sizes. 

So that's what I expected when I ordered this

What I got was *real dressmaking* stuff!  fabric, paper pattern, thread and oh good grief, a ZIP!  All included so I had no excuse not to start!

I didn't want to use the lovely linen on my first attempt as I'm not a standard size, so I used some donated fabric and gave it a go (do excuse Niki's bedroom as my backdrop, she has the only even half length mirror in the house)

I need to talk to mum about a few alterations, but I'm rather chuffed that (a) I followed all the instructions - they were really well written, and (b) noticed that the zip was optional (phew) and (c) there was no un-sewing necessary and (d) the pockets and top stitching went fine

Get me - I might be a dressmaker's daughter, but I think I just did some dressmaking!

The List and the Lighthouse (Long!)

Yesterday's 'off list' making was almost certainly avoidance tactics - avoiding the Lighthouse Quilt.

The Lighthouse Quilt is specifically requested by my father.  Not just "A" lighthouse quilt, but a quilt depicting the Cape Flattery lighthouse in Washington please thank you very much.

I blogged about starting the quilt, and some photos of the lighthouse here. I made some units for the house and the tower and about 4 months ago it looked like this

It then got put away, but as I've a week off school I knew I should really clear the work table and do something with it.

I didn't like that one building was at an angle, and I didn't like the darkness of the windows and doors, the tower's light section was completely wrong and obviously some sort of land was needed!

I asked Mr Google for some help and found a whole new way of procrastinating!  I found better photos of the lighthouse and the island, Tatoosh:

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/line3406.htm

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/31321617

And a lot of interesting articles about the Washingtom State History page about the island,  the Wiki page for the lighthouse, and article from Lighthouse Friends dot com, and some articles by Heather Bowers whose great grandfather was the lighthouse keeper there for 32 years.  The Lighthouse is no longer manned, and is being returned to the Makah tribe.  The island is virtually untouched by development, and is of interest to the archeological researchers at the Makah Cultural and Research Center, as well as to a variety of universities and environmental research groups. (Links more for my futue reference to save finding them all again)

I also found a few very helpful photos:

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bowers/light/cflight.htm

 

 

http://www.thelighthousepeople.com/washington/cape_flattery.html

 From www.USCG.MIL website

These helped me get a better idea of the layout of the building, and I could see obvious mistakes in the initial layout.

I changed the building so we were looking straight on, I redid the windows and doors: (I know the previous versions were more like the original, but I preferred this lighter look.)  I have removed the tower's light section and will embroider that direct onto the fabric later, and I auditioned green grass and sea grass fabrics.  I also changed the light tower so it came out of the roof,

 

I then looked  more closely at the pictures and realised I didn't have to choose between the two grasses - I could use both

The next job will be to start preparing the applique pieces.  With serendipitous good timing, Katy posted some applique suggestions this morning, and I happen to have some fusible interfacing, and am now stitching each building part to the interfacing.

(But I've just realised the main building part still needs two windows, so I shall do them first!)

Griping about Google

Some years ago I decide I would like my blog name to be SLIKstitches.com rather than SLIKstitches.blogspot.com: a small change, but the idea made me happy, and for £10 a year I figured it was a good plan.

Groan.

The switchover was a problem, and for a few weeks I thought I had lost my blog, but eventually I found an on-line geek who could understand the problem, and give me a solution - yippee.

The next few years I spent days before the anniversary trying to update the payment details; so last year I wrote notes on how to find the info. 

So a few days ago my email arrives

And I wonder whether last years' notes will help at all

 Ah, probably not

So I follow the link

Hummm,

I don't have so how am I supposed to click it?

A bit of Googling and it turns out that I need wallet.google.com. 

So, for *this* year I am sorted - and next year I'll check this post and see how much they have changed again!