Hanging

This was taken at 9am this morning, when this Northish facing lobby gets a glimpse of sunlight. I think it's too high, but Bossman said he didn't think the bottom should be covered up by the plant stand in the corner.

The orchids seem just as happy here as they were in the Southish facing snug, although they have all finished flowering apart from this one...

Ready for hemming

This is the piece pinned up ready for me to hand stitch the tan binding to the back. I think the easiest way to hang it will be a pocket on the back and a curtain rod of the type used for hanging net curtains. Hopefully the next post will be a photo of it in situ.

Progress

Turquoise border.

Layered up.

Safety pinned.

I have the unaccustomed luxury of using batting rather than blanket this time, as I inherited some bits from my friend Dot. I have had to herringbone them together, but they are making the whole thing so much lighter.
I don't have a walking foot on any of my machines, so my machine quilting is very tame. I shall quilt in the ditch. Having done the basic pinning in the centre of each patch with a safety pin, I then use the pintensive method of pinning each ditch at 2" intervals with straight pins just before I stitch it.

Sacrifices have to be made...

...when the Patchwork Goddess demands turquoise;

And from the back of the same wardrobe came a soft green cotton wrap around skirt that will do nicely for the backing.

The result of my excavations...

...in the turquoise mine was a very large zilch. No turquoise sleeping bag liner, no turquoise of any description large enough to go around the modest circumference of my Broken 9's, but poking out of the box below was a largish piece of tan cotton sheeting that might just fit the bill. I have pinned it up to consider the effect. Bossman's comment when asked for his opinion was that he felt that there was a war on. When asked to elucidate, he said that it was like sleeping in a bedroom with blackout curtains, and when was I going to finish it? I gave him the usual answer that a true artist couldn't be rushed, and that anyway my sewing machines have decided that they will only work in the mornings now that it is practically June...

Broken 9 patch

If you have been visiting for a while, you might remember this post and the disappearing 9 patch blocks I had made with some scraps sent by Kate. I never did get as far as stitching them together. Since then, December 2007 would you believe, they have been sitting on my sewing table in a zip-lock bag, being pushed from one spot to another and back again. This morning the spirit moved me to make a wall hanging to fill the blank wall in the new lobby, and those 9 patch blocks seemed a good place to start, but they looked rather dull for the north facing space, so I decided to make a couple more blocks with some brighter colours. I could see some of the turquoise cotton I used to make Pointy Kitty in a scrap box under the table, along with the green and turquoise I used for Paula's Spudgies, and decided to use those to liven things up a bit. I added some charm squares sent by Pam and some bits sent by Paula, and here you can see the result, pinned up on my bedroom curtains. I am very lucky to have such kind cyber friends who send me goodies! I will have a rummage tomorrow for something to frame the outside. Somewhere there is a turquoise cotton sleeping bag liner left over from our boating days. I know I used some of it in a quilt, but I think there might be enough left for what I want. It will be in the cardboard box marked green and turquoise that I can see in the wardrobe from where I am sitting, but getting to the box involves moving more boxes, a fruit crate full of Bus Monkeys, a laundry basket full of assorted tat waiting to be sorted, not to mention....well we won't go into that...


I'm not going to show you any close-ups, either, because there is a very good reason I have called it a Broken 9 patch; The first set of squares were stitched on the Elna and today's were stitched on the Lervia. This noodle didn't take into account the fact that the foot on the Lervia is fractionally wider than the foot on the Elna, and as that is the way I measure my seams, there was a slight discrepancy where some of the corners met. Not enough to bother a Blind Man on a Flying Horse of course, but enough to make me hang my head.

Violas in the shade

The deck chairs up on the balcony get a lot of sun, and because it is not in my nature to remove the cushions and bring them inside when they are not use, they soon fade and rot. The chairs themselves were bought back in the late '70's, and originally had good quality 4" foam rubber mattresses, but these eventually gave up the ghost about four years ago, and were replaced with some bought off the market, and made of polyester wadding wrapped around a 2" synthetic foam core. The covers on these rotted pretty quickly, but the worst was covered up with beach towels and Charlie cat found them quite comfortable, thank you. Sun loving Winter visitors don't get much sun downstairs because the rubber tree has grown so big, and the state of the chairs didn't do much for my reputation as a seamstress when they came up in search of a bronzing spot, so here is my reputation restored. A good strong piece of furnishing linen, 3 metres by 4, bought on the fleamarket for 12€. It had a printing fault down the centre line, but this was easily avoided, and will make cushions at some point, and I have enough left over to cover more chairs or even make curtains...


I just had to show you this pot of violas as well. My friend Elsie bought them for my birthday back in December, and they haven't stopped growing and flowering since. I do dead-head them regularly, and give them a feed now and then, but haven't they done well?

Quilt repairs

This is a quilt I made years ago, and it has been in pretty constant use by DD2 ever since. She brought it out with her for some TLC, as quite a number of squares had disintegrated from repeated washing and wearing. The whole thing was originally made from used clothing from the charity shop , so it is hardly surprising that some parts have worn more than others. The light diagonals were all cut from a tiered cotton skirt patterned with men in Mexican style hats leading donkeys through a tropical landscape, all printed in light blue and brown. This isn't showing any sign of wear, only fading. The darker diagonals were all cut from a variety of Indonesian style cotton batik shirts. In general, the lighter ones are OK, but the darker ones have rotted, so I am guessing the dyes used may have a bearing. Where I haven't been able to find any matching scraps in my bit boxes, I have used the nearest I could find; The dark blue with white and turquoise spots on the left, standing in for the larger spotty pattern on the right,

and the light green with a tiny flower is quite close to the tone of the green and navy print on each side of it.
The top was machine pieced, but I have made the repairs by hand, appliquéing squares that have had their edges pressed over a square of card cut to the approximate size; my skills were not such that every corner met exactly! The top photo was taken outside yesterday, just before it started raining, so the colour is rather dull, but at least the wind had dropped. The only replacements that stick out like sore thumbs are the brighter blue squares, but at closer quarters they don't look so bad, and anyway, it won't be hanging on a gallery wall, but will be draped over cold legs, keeping out the icy blasts of Cumbria! All that remains to be done is to hand quilt the diagonals that have come adrift, and this is quite a pleasant job, as the filling is soft and the backing is an old flannelette sheet. When that is finished, I need to tackle the second quilt, and that is in a worse state...

What kind of needles...

....did I decide on...knitting or sewing? Why not have both? I like embroidery, but these days can only see to do it in daylight, so I usually knit in the evening. I'll show you what I've been knitting another day, but for now, here is the start of a crazy quilt heart. I mean to take step by step photos of the process one of these days, but for now, if you are reading Pam, here's a quick run through of how I got to this stage; I'm sure there are other, better methods, but this is how I got there.


1. Decide on the size of the heart, fold a sheet of paper in half and cut out the shape. Keep both pieces of paper.

2. Choose a piece of fabric for the centre. Here I have used a fragment of an old blouse sleeve.

3. Look through your bit bag for colours that work with your centre fabric. In this case, starting top right, we have cream crepe from a blouse I shortened, rust dyed sheeting from my first experiments, tan cotton left over from a quilt backing, pale yellow poplin from Bossman's discarded shirt, and finally, cream faux suede, again from an alteration job, this time shortening trousers. This should give you some idea of the state of my workroom....

4. Arrange your chosen fabrics until you are happy with the contrasts, then overlap each of them, working your way around the centre, so that each seam end will be covered by the next piece. Using this as inspiration, with a pencil and ruler, draw seam lines onto your cut out paper heart. Hint; a pentagon is usually a good shape for your centre piece.


5. Number each section of the heart, starting with 1 in the centre panel and continuing in the order you will overlap them. In this case, 2 is the centre right bit, three is the tan, 4 is the light patch, 5 is the suede and 6 is the crepe. I then add carpenter's marks as I call them; I draw 2 lines across the seam line between pieces 1 and 2, three lines between 1 and 3, and so on.

6. Cut along the seam lines, then take each piece, draw around it on another piece of paper or card, and add ¼" seam allowances. I add a circle in pencil to the outside edge, so I know I can leave extra fabric here if need be.


7. TIP Take your number one pattern piece again, draw around it, then cut out the centre to make a frame. You can then use this frame to choose which part of your centre fabric fits the shape.

These how-to photos were reconstructed using the patterns I made, after I remembered to blog the process, rather than during the process of making the heart.

Here endeth the first lesson....

In the Bag

Last minute as usual, I was wandering around this morning looking for a present for a friend. I saw a presentation box of her favourite smelly stuff and considered buying it, until I realised how much extra I was paying for the fancy packaging.


Wednesday is flea market day, and there are some lovely stalls selling household linens. I found this creased up pink linen teacloth embroidered with pussy willow for a Euro. OK, it had a small hole, but that didn't matter for what I had planned...

Ta-Da!! A bucket with quilted gingham lining. It can hold her scented assortment now, and afterwards I'm sure she will find something to do with it...



If you are wondering about the blue tartan blanket, I'm sitting here with it wrapped around my legs because it is so cold at the moment. My seat is next to the French window and it is very draughty!

Christmas Dotees...

...for a swap on ArtWeMail. All made from the same material, but finished differently. Nell on the left has her fur-lined coat on, Spangle on the right is wearing her best hoodie, and Rapunzel in the centre is having a bad-hair-day.

A Bigger Peek...

...or should that be beak? The Spudgies have landed at last on the runway of their new home; The World Renowned Spalding Craft Studio on Lincolnshire's High Sierrras. I hope they will be very happy there and raise many a brood of little Spudgies. They were already canoodling in the sausage tree just before they left...
I found the pattern here.

Playing with a pillowcase

Spanish pillows and pillowcases are long and narrow. The pillows span the full width of the bed, and the cases are even longer tubes, open at each end. On the Saturday market they were selling them for €2 each, which is cheap as chips for a piece of cotton cloth 110x80cm, especially when you reckon that someone has gone to the trouble of putting wide double facings and bias binding inserts at each end! I looked at them on my way down the hill, and was tempted, but didn't buy. Further down the hill though, I was tempted by a pale aubergine handbag that was a much better match for the outfit I was wearing than the bright red carry-all I had with me, so on my way back up again, I had a good excuse to buy a pillowcase to match.
So far today I have made a fold-up-in-its-own-pocket shopping bag, and have plans to make a zipped pouch on a long strap to hold my keys, so that it will be easy to haul them out of the depths, and probably a couple of other bits and bobs, and still have the other end of the pillowcase left to make a bag in a pocket to give away. Did I say that I bought an orange red and white pillowcase as well?

Revised owlet

As you saw from yesterday's entry, we managed a photo-call of a parliamentary meeting. The Rumanian barman in the restaurant we use as a club room was quite taken with them, and asked if they were for sale. I've made him this one on the left, trying out a new eye treatment after studying a picture of a real owl. I have decided that my starting price shall be one hot chocolate Lamumba. If he wants to haggle, and offers the hot chocolate minus the lamumba ingredient, I shall settle, but only if he adds a dollop of whipped cream.

Group photo...

...taken at Craft Club this afternoon. Jill has said she intends to try making a penguin with an adapted pattern. I think it might work if they are slimmed down a little.

Owlets

"What can I find for the Craft Club to do?" is a weekly problem. Some ladies seem to be only interested in making cards, but a few are prepared to give other crafts a try. I had seen versions of these little owls in various places around Blogland, and the little chap on the left was my first attempt. He is rather dumpy and has no feet, just a circle of yellow felt to hide his sphincter. His eyes are felt circles behind shirt buttons with the centre blacked up using a CD pen, and he has a felt beak. Then I came across Moonstitches Tutowlrial which gave me a better idea of the proportions between the front insert and the body. I used her method of embroidering a beak, but didn't use her covered circle base. Instead I added feet to a felt circle. For eyes I layered buttons. I liked the way the stripe through the blue shirt buttons added a little life to the eyes.

I forgot to take my camera to the club yesterday, but I shall email a round robin and ask that they bring their little owls in next week for a photo call. As each person brought in their own fabric and buttons, and stuffed in their own particular way, there was a lot of variation in our little parliament.

Edit: Please ignore the wood ash on the mantelpiece. I'm not known for my housewifely competence. Anyway, if Bossman decides to clean out the woodburner, I think he should clean up after himself as well..

Take Three...

....Nine Patch squares.


Quarter them....


...and re-arrange to suit...


...like this...


this...


...or this.

But which? Opinions and suggestions gratefully received, as were the patches from Kate and the idea from Helen.