2020 Week 51

 This dotty paper foundation pieced quilt was finally finished this week

The binding was black (with small white dots) onto black fleece - I'm glad that's finished, it was really difficult to see where each stitch was 

The upteenth attempt to start my crochet spiral circle is actually working!  As I cant start a crochet piece I'm in the hands of others as to how it's going top look, but Lisa made a great choice in the style of this one - I'm using the variegated wool and the cream wool together!

My friend Louise had her first baby, Jessica, the same day I had Lisa - that's actually how we met - in adjoining beds.  We used to see a lot of each other but over the last 29 (!) years life has moved on so its less frequent but it's always a joy to see her and her three girls.  Grandchild number 3 has a feeding issue and has to be tube fed . . . could I find a way to add front / belly zips to baby vests so the port can be accessed.  I started with creating a lined opening and trying to add the zip to the front but it was a lot of fiddling ... so for this one I added a second zip put to the zip, stitched it on the outside, then opened the zip and cut away the now unnecessary fabric behind it - took about 5 minutes!  It's gone in the post to them - if it works for them I can easily adapt other vests for baby M

Louise's second daughter, Claudia, is my God Daughter, and she has just become a mum - baby William was born earlier this week.  This EPP quilt seemed a perfect gift - with three big cousins who can use the fussy cut hexies to invent stories for him!

So I've added his name and this has gone in the post too!

The girls and I did another on-line Brush Party painting class - it was great fun but we are not natural painters so would like to do one with a real life person - when ever we are allowed to!!!  Anyway, I don't think these are too shabby!!!

A very good friend of mine is Jewish.  She ordered a few Christmas gingers from me: I added a Hanukkah ginger for her - just mixing my faith and non faith celebrations!!!!

More Gingers - these went to Manchester to my childhood best friend (I love that we've reconnected through Facebook!)

For a quite week there seems to have been a lot happening!  It was mum's birthday last weekend - but we were not allowed to meet in a home so we agreed to meet for a walk and a picnic - come the day it was *pouring*, so we chucked the gazebo into the car too and used the boots of the cars as seats!

A birthday we wont forget in a while!!!  Mum enjoyed it!

Nat used the Elf Ginger costumes

My friend Jane crocheted me an awesome Julenissen

And Barbara made me a mask with a matching zippy - isn't it great!!!!

If I'm not in touch with you before "the" day - I hope it's a great one even if it's not what we hoped for and we cant see the people we want to see, but by doing the right thing this year we can see each other next year.

Lots of love xxxx 

2020 Wk 14 - CV Sewing

I found a supplier who sells coloured bobbin thread for Lizzie (until now  I only had white) so when I decided to sew a version of a rainbow to put in the front window for the kids to find I was delighted to manage to stitch it two sided!

I've also been making masks: (a lot of research, and design and research signed off by local chemist, and just for people who can’t get proper masks, this video shows how valuable they are ) using t-shirts and cotton

EDIT: Some people have asked how I am making them so the instructions are in the link above, but my adaptations are ...

• I have been using old t-shirts for one layer and old pillowcases or other 100% cotton for the other layer. 
• The t-shirt stretches a bit but SOOO many go to landfill, so it feels good to use them! 
• I boil washed everything first.  
• My village chemist asked that we include a channel for a metal strip (maybe a few lengths of garden twine twisted, or a pipe cleaner, or food tie warps) so the mask can grip the top of the nose:   I cut a strip of fabric 7 inches wide and about 12 inches long, I folded the two long ends in 1/4 inch and in again to make a hem and stitch them down (see pic below with the cat), then cross cut into hemmed strips 1.5" wide, fold in half, wrong sides together and press (and then the cat went to sleep on it so I had to start again!!!) When you layer the fabric in instruction 1, add the channel bit, centered, matching the raw edges. (if that all sounds Greek I can send you photos) 
• I also made my own bias tape, but it doesn't need to be cut on the bias. I found the 6" elastic was too short - I went up to 8" so people can knot them if they are too long 

I carefully handed a few to Lisa whilst keeping the 2m rule

And she modeled one for me!

 All quality inspected by Luna!

We've been exercising to Joe Wickes' Senior keep fit video - 5 of us in 4 locations!!!

And I've done some speed dating on this stalled project.  I'm not sure I like the blocks in alternate directions

But I'm not sure I like them alternating with plain blocks either.  This may have to go back into the the-be-allowed-to-mature pile

2020 Wk 8 - customer, fabric and crochet

Crochet fun - the blanket I started at Jackie’s has grown - I'm on at least the 4th colour (the jury is undecided whether the first few rows are a different colour)

And Lisa’s first Persian tile has been done - isn’t this lush!

Mum has just got back from visiting my brother in Oz.  She picked up a jelly roll of Australian Fabrics . . . I need to clear the decks so I can get stitching!

I was asked to embroider a logo and company name onto some tabbards.  I don’t know what I was thinking when I quoted for one small logo for each one.  That covered the girl, but the writing was bigger, and more annoyingly on a wide pocket stitched down the middle.  I had to unpick the sewing, embroider, and then re-sew the pocket!  Dope!!!  Anyway it’s done , delivered and paid for now!

I went on line shopping for green (grass and trees) fabric for a project , somehow these other colours fell into the basket🤦🏼‍♀️

2018 Wk 20 A finish and a visit

I have finished a Chemo quilt that Niki requested for a colleague at work.  There is a LOT of white at the moment but she is taking it to work with a handful of fabric pens so that people can write in the white squares - I'll hopefully be able to post another pic when it's been  decorated!

We had our monthly (!!!) Days For Girls meeting this weekend.  We were aware that some ladies were being put off by the high quality expectations from the charity, so we added a new project - boomerang bags.  These can be made to roughly the suggested size, can be overlocked OR zigzagged, can be made of the donated fabrics we would otherwise have to reject as they aren't ok for D4G and are the simplest construction imaginable

We got one finished and several more are close to being finished.  We were going to give them away but decided we would sell them to people in the churches which would raise money for the D4G fabrics!

We also found we were spending loads for time each month sorting through and seeing what needs what doing next - so with the help of loads of zip lock bags we now have bags of items all at the same stage and we feel much more organised!

Mum and I went to see the poppies at last.  We missed them at the Tower on London, but two sections of the display are now doing a road trip and one is just a short drive from her at Fort Nelson, Royal Armouries Museum, near Portsmouth

They looked amazing!.

And Brian and I spend all of yesterday at the girls' house.  They had hired a sanding machine and wanted to do all the upstairs floors in the one weekend.  I wish I had filmed them using the machine.  It was an industrial one, and was stronger than them.  They switched it on at one end of the room, they then ran with it, trying to slow it down, and trying to turn it off in time that it would stop before it hit the opposite wall, then they would drag it back and repeat.  Dad showed them how to master the beast, and 12 hours (!) later the whole of upstairs has been sanded - despite all three bedrooms having the usual amount of furniture - much of the time was taken moving it from one room to another, do you remember these puzzles?

It was a bit like doing one of those, but worth it in the end.

Today they are varnishing - today I am staying at home!

2018 Wk 16 a crafty weekend

Mum and I had a glass bead lesson on Saturday - melting the glass to make beads and then making jewellery from the beads we made - great fun - and no one got burnt!!

Mum, in action:

 And our creations:

I was sent these awesome pics by Graniger’s grandma - he seems to love his taggie!!!  Isn’t he a  cutie!!!


And I have been doing some sewing - the yummy mini charms that Jackie sent me are on the way to becoming this -

The one where we've nearly made a dress

My Lisa has no idea of her limits and abilities! She (who has never done dressmaking) bought a pattern for a dress. She bought everything she needed (thanks to the help of the lady in the shop) and plans to wear the dress to a wedding mid November

A dress with a 7 piece bodice and 7 piece skirt (lined with another 14 pieces) and with a sort of rouched bra. I'm not great at dress making, but can cobble a simple pattern together - but faced with pieces like this one I knew we had to call in reinforcements!

 

Or one specific reinforcement! My mum!

 Three of us worked for most of the day . . .

 but it was worth it

 A bit more work to do, but having got this far Lisa and I should be able to finish it - thanks mum

 

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