Making Progress on The Splendid Sampler

Posted on June 12, 2016 by craftycreeky

I’ve managed to make four blocks of My Splendid Sampler Quilt over the last week or so, so I’m slowly catching up, unfortunately as they come out twice a week it’s like two steps forward, one step back!

Block 33 was designed by Pat Sloan, one of the joint organisers of the whole project. It’s a lovely block made from selvages. The selvage on printed fabrics often has the name of the fabric, the manufacturer and also a pretty row of colour circles, all the dyes included in the making of the cloth. Apparently now some quilting fabrics change the circles to little fun shapes such as rabbits or frogs! By joining them altogether, you have a nice record of some of the fabrics used to make the quilt.Making the Selvage Saver

I picked the ones that had the prettiest selvages and used some of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine to stitch them to the base cloth. A variegated quilting thread gave a bit of variety to the stitches. Once the selvages were stitched together it was easy enough to trim it neatly to the right size. I really like this block and it was nice and quick to stitch.

Selvage Saver

Selvage Saver

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Little Sewing Bee Week 3

Posted on June 6, 2016 by craftycreeky

Great British Sewing BeeIf my offerings today are anything to go by, I think I would have been the one asked to leave the Great British Sewing Bee last week…

We are up to episode three of the sewing contest and the challenges have been fairly tough, particularly when sew against the clock in front of a TV crew! This week was all about underwear, so silky fabrics, french seams etc

The first challenge was to make a bra, I had wondered if this would come up as it is becoming quite the ‘in thing’ to make. It seemed to be the one item the contestants hoped wouldn’t come up…especially the chaps! One of them did comment that they’d never stayed on long enough to study how they were made!! The winning one was pretty much perfect. It was interesting to see what made it so good, the picot edging on the elastic was just showing, there were no gathers into the hook and eye bar and of course the lace edging was symmetrical.

bra making kitThere’s quite a lot of specialist haberdashery needed to make bras, soft elastic, clear elastic, hook & eye tape, sliders etc which has always put me off having a go. However I spotted on Etsy a bra making kit for about £12.95 which includes lace, satin and all the bits, so I’ve ordered one, purple and black. It’s not arrived yet so watch this space! Continue reading →

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Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on June 6, 2016 by craftycreeky

Early June Garden

Well I’ve decided it’s time to reintroduce Mondays Meander Round the Garden, mainly because I really need to get out there and get inspired again.

Early June GardenWhen I look at my garden I see all the weeds and they are threatening to take over. When you see a list of nasty perennial weeds in a book, well we’ve got about 75% of them! We back onto an old disused railway line, which is great for walking the dogs, not so good for the bramble, bindweed, dandelion, buttercup, couch grass…not to mention the mares-tail. I’ve got lots of plans to make it easier to keep on top of the garden, some of them pretty major, as I said to my OH, we’re not getting any younger and I’ve created a pretty high maintenance garden! Continue reading →

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BOM’s Update

Posted on June 4, 2016 by craftycreeky

Well I’m pleased to say I’m now up to date on one of my quilt-alongs! I’m doing three at the moment, I know, probably a bit excessive! One of them is just a 16″ block once a month, it’s organised by Pat Sloan and it’s called ‘My Secret Garden‘ I’m stitching mine in mainly purples and greens with a touch of creamy gold.

My Secret GardenI’ve stitched two blocks in two evenings. I have to say the pieces seem ENORMOUS after Splendid Sampler ones, I’ve sort of got used to stitching 1.5″ squares and 2″ squares, to start cutting 5″ squares is quite a change!!

One of the blocks involved making twelve pin wheels, my heart does still sink a bit when I read cut 24 squares, I rather like just doing small quantities! My quilting has improved a lot since I started Splendid Sampler, I’ve learnt such a lot, all my pinwheel seams are furled and I’m pretty pleased with the result, they all lie nice and flat at the centre.

My Secret GardenThe second block was a double star, I rather fancy making a star quilt next time with lots of different star blocks, especially now my points have improved!

I wasn’t sure about my colour and pattern choices at first with these two blocks, I felt the first block was too dark in the middle and the second one was a bit too bitty and too purple!

I’ve made six blocks now out of nine, so I put them all together and actually I think they look ok. It was a useful exersize arranging them like this as I can see I need to use a bit of cream and more green in the next ones to help balance it out.

My Secret Garden

Anderson's FarmThe second BOM I’m stitching is called Andersons Farm by Lynette Anderson. This is the one I really didn’t want to fall behind one as for one thing, it’s the only one I’m actually buying, the others are free. I was feeling a bit despondent about this one, I was struggling with month two and three and four had already arrived. One thing I have noticed with this one is that I’m really missing the one-line camaraderie of the other two, everyone encourages each other, if anyone has a problems with one there’s lots of people to help, it’s even just reassuring to know you’re not the only one! I really feel on my own with Anderson’s Farm, coupled with that the instructions are not particularly comprehensive…

Anderson's FarmMonth two was a cockerel done with applique, as you can imagine his tail feathers, feet, beak etc were all rather fiddly, I was trying to do it using the needle-turn technique so a narrow hem is turned under each piece as you stitch round. I spent hours trying to get it neat! I love the effect of ‘proper’ applique and I really wanted to do this properly…well I tried…

I just wasn’t happy with it and I still had the comb to do! After much deliberating I’ve decided to use bondaweb and blanket-stitch, I like the effect when I’ve used it in the Splendid Sampler and it’s not like this one’s going to get washed regularly.

I started on month three to see how it went. Two little pigs and a tractor, in two short evenings it was finished. I’ll go back and redo the cockerel with bondaweb at some point but I’m happier with it. It’s one of the situations when it’s better to finish in a different way than not at all!

Anderson's Farm

Fabric Stash Report; May 2016

I’m getting this one in quick before parcels start arriving! I’ve made a couple of outfits from my stash with my Little Sewing Bee so…

Stash at end of April   83.9m

Fabric used    4.5m

Fabric bought    0m

End of month total   79.4m

Unfortunately I made the mistake of looking on ebay at vintage silk saris…I’ve got three coming, so that’s about 15m of silk…oh and I’m off to Goldhawk Road in a couple of weeks time to hit the fabric shops…oh and there’s the 1.5m of Avoca Donegal tweed I bought from a Fabworks stall at an Embroiderers Guild event! I had to laugh as the assistant got me sussed immediately, she gave me a free roll of sewing tape with a quote from Oscar Wilde…

“I can resist everything except temptation”

 

I’m linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday and Super Mom No Cape for Vintage Embroidery Monday, why not have a look what every one else is hand-stitching.

 

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Me Made May Monday

Posted on May 30, 2016 by craftycreeky

Me-Made-MayWell Me Made May 2016 finishes tomorrow, I think my daughter for one will be quite pleased it’s over, being chief photographer is obviously wearing a bit thin!

I’m sure many people outside the UK wonder why we always talk about the weather, there aren’t many conversations where it isn’t mentioned at some point and it is certainly the opening topic at the bus-stop when chatting to others in the queue (along with the unreliability of our buses!) Our weather is very variable to the hour, never mind the day, I rarely get dressed without peeping through the curtains to see what the weather is doing, I recently read an amusing article which described weather forecasting as a job creation scheme. Well this weeks photos might just demonstrate why we always comment on the weather…

On Monday Helen and I went to the Alhambra theatre in Bradford to watch the musical Billy Elliot, it was brilliant, I laughed and cried my way though the performance. It’s a very gritty musical, set in the North East amid the miner’s stike of the 1980’s about a miner’s son who sneaks into ballet classes instead of the boxing his father sends him to. There’s a beautiful bit in the middle where he is dancing with his future self, and I cried my eyes out when he read the letter his mum had written for him before she died, though apparently the lady on the other side of Helen was crying even more!!

It wasn’t too warm so I wore my purple knit cardigan and skirt, comfortable but smart.

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I finished stitching the buttons on this Anywhere skirt on Tuesday morning and wore it Tuesday afternoon, it was a beautiful warm sunny day and I certainly didn’t feel underdressed in the fine Liberty tana lawn maxi skirt and a sleeveless top when I popped into Otley.

Anywhere Skirt

On Wednesday I went on a walk with WI, it was a circular walk from Linton to Burnsall, about 7 miles. It was cold, my cagoule never came off and I seriously wished I’d packed my hat and gloves like several others had done! Underneath all those layers I had a white shirt I made last year, but I wasn’t going to take of my layers for a photograph! At least the rain didn’t start until the last mile or so…and of course being WI, we finished at Linton Village Hall with homemade tea and cakes, the carrot cakes were scrumptious!

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On Thursday I went to visit a friend, she has a lovely big, airy conservatory and unintentionally (I think!) Andrew has made the perfect place for sewing, the light is ideal! It’s probably a good job I don’t live there!! I sat and embroidered my Splendid Sampler in the afternoon. It still wasn’t brilliantly warm so I was back to a warm skirt and my Damson Gin  jacket, it’s not as shiny as it looks in the photos, it just reflects the light somewhat! The photo is back at home as I finished the block.

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Friday was all about comfort as I was on night duty, so I needed something to keep me warm on the way in early evening and certainly for when I’m tired and cold Saturday morning on my way home, my grey cardigan fitted the bill perfectly!

Saturday afternnoon was warm and sunny when I finally woke up. I threw on my Eva dress with a pashmina and sat on the patio with a glass of sherry and my OH.

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Sunday was hot and sunny, a day for gardening, I potted up some planters, tied up the rose over my arbour and generally weeded and tidied. I wore a pretty cotton sleeveless top in a delicate blossom print I made last year.

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Yesterday evening I made a sleeveless shell top from the Great British Sewing Bee book, I wore it today, though I did keep it covered up when I was doing exciting things like shampooing Rosie (our Golden Retriever) and then the inevitable clean the bathroom afterwards!

Sleeveless Shell Top

So as you can see we’ve had weather for sleeveless tops and weather for woolly hats and gloves, all in the same week! If nothing else, our weather gives us something to talk about!

I’ve enjoyed Me-Made-May this year, it’s certainly been a lot easier than last year as I’ve made quite a few clothes over the last twelve months and the balance of clothes is better, I’ve sewn quite a few shirts and tops so days when I needed to wear jeans or trousers weren’t quite such an issue…I still need to make some jeans though!

 

 

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Little Bee Week Two

Posted on May 29, 2016 by craftycreeky

Well the second episode of The Great British Sewing Bee was all about children’s clothes. Great British Sewing BeeThe first challenge was to make a babygrow, so not only were they being tested on sewing jersey, they also had to sew a perfect gusset and poppers! Shall we say some gussets were more perfect than others! One contestant was asked if she had made babygrows before, her response was great, there’s no point as…

 

Velvet capeThe main challenge which they can practice before hand was to make a children’s cape from wool, there were some lovely ones, including a gorgeous red one and a great one for a little boy that was Sherlock Holmes style, beautifully made. I never made a cape for my daughter but years ago I did sew myself an evening cape from midnight blue velvet with a turquoise satin lining. It was commonly referred to as my Scottish Widows cape after an advert on TV at the time! I remember vividly the problems I had trying to sew velvet to satin! I still wear it occasionally for black tie events.

SmockingI’ve made lots of children’s clothes over the years but my children are all grown up now so I haven’t got any little children to sew for. I used to love making pretty little dresses for Helen, this is a smocked one from when she was about two.

Luckily when planning the Little Sewing Bee challenge I did give myself the option of making something from one of the books…phew!

In last years GBSB book there is a pattern for a sleeveless shell top which is a simple cotton top, I decided to make the hack version which has a button fastening down the back. The patterns are all included with the book, you just have to trace them off, Burda style. The fabric I chose is a fine cotton lawn with a delicate flower design, it feels like Liberty tana lawn but there is nothing written on the selvage.Cotton Lawn

It’s a very simple top, the seams are all stitched with french seams, I added some light weight interfacing to the button plackets just to support it a bit.

In the hack version the neck and sleeve edges are finished with bias binding. I thought it might be perfect opportunity to try out a new toy, a bias binding maker…well I think it needs a bit more practice! I cut the bias strips to the width stated on the packet, put it through the contraption and ironed it as it came out, but it came out like a dogs dinner so I gave up and turned it under as I stitched it on.

Sleeveless Shell Top

I cut it out last night and stitched it this afternoon, adding the buttons after tea, you can’t get much easier than that! It’s a very comfortable top to wear and as a bonus I don’t need to undo the buttons to get it on and off, I think it will be well worn this summer, if we get the sunshine!

Sleeveless Shell Top

 

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The Splendid Sampler

Posted on May 27, 2016 by craftycreeky

splendid_button_TMAt the beginning of the month I took a deliberate step back from The Splendid Sampler as it was beginning to take over a bit, sewing is meant to be enjoyable and when you start sewing under pressure to keep up, that pleasure diminishes pretty quickly.

I was a bit concerned however about getting so far behind I might never catch up…however it’s actually worked really well. Each time a new block is released (Sundays and Thursdays) I print it off, I stash them all in clear pockets on my desk. I can now pick and choose which block I want to do according to how much time I’ve got, whether I want to do a simple block or a complex one, hand-stitching…

I’ve managed to do four blocks in the last 10 days or so. Two of them are appliqued, one of them was the reason I stopped for a while, I took one look at it and thought I just haven’t got time to do that properly in the next few days. However the Sewing Machine one is what got me back on board again, isn’t it gorgeous!

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It’s designed by Pat Sloan, one of the organisers of The Splendid Sampler. Each designer writes a little about how their design came about, this is what Pat wrote;

“The day I walked into 9th grade Home-Ec class and the teacher asked us to ‘turn on the machine,’ my life changed forever. I discovered not only a new skill, but a new hobby, new friends, and ultimately a new life with my own design business. I have owned my own sewing machine since 9th grade and have sewed clothing, my wedding dress, curtains, pillows, and quilts. Many, many quilts. I can’t thank my parents enough for buying me that first machine so I could sew in the dining room, sew in my college dorm, and sew my entire life”

I was visiting a friend soon after it came out and I realised that if I did all the bondaweb first, I could take it with me and blanket-stitch round by hand whilst I was chatting. It worked perfectly so when I was visiting again this week I chose the rabbit applique to stitch. This one is designed by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs, it’s called Sunday Best. It’s a little twee for me but it’s all good practice.

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Foundation paper piecing is a very new for me, I did it for the first time a few blocks ago, I still have to really concentrate but at least I don’t have to get the instructions out each time now. Charise Randalls block is a really pretty block but it did take some concentration, there’s some very small pieces in that block and it’s definitely the most complicated FPP I’ve done so far. I’m pretty pleased with how it came out.

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One evening I just had an hour or so to spare, so I chose a simpler block called Hand in Hand. Well, I say simpler, it did have a new technique in where fabric is folded and not stitched down. Karri Carr wrote a lovely piece about this block;

“Without a doubt, the person who influenced me the most with sewing and crafting was my mom. With an abundance of patience and kindness she shared her knowledge with me from a very early age. She had the daintiest of hands that created such beautiful things for our home. I loved to watch her create and found such peace and contentment as we worked together at the sewing machine. I designed this block with red in the center, representing Mom’s heart. Radiating from her to future generations we will go hand in hand creating, sewing, loving.”

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So I’ve stitched 26 blocks so far, I’m a quarter of the way through and only four blocks sitting on my desk waiting to be done…mind you, one of them is Dresden Plates, so that might be sitting there a while!!

I’m linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday, why not have a look what everyone else is hand-stitching.

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The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Sketchbook

Posted on May 27, 2016 by craftycreeky

The Travelling Sketchbook is moving fast! Sandra, AKA Lady Red Specs from Please Pass the Recipe has already made her entry and it’s winging it’s way to Megan!

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The Sisterhood of the Travelling Sketchbook

Posted on May 26, 2016 by craftycreeky

I first heard about the Sisterhood of the Travelling Sketchbook a couple of months back on Kate Chiconi’s blog, Tall Tales from Chiconia, it’s a great idea thought up by Anne Lawson, an amazing artist from Australia. Anne has handmade a beautiful sketchbook which is now travelling around the world, each person who receives it will decorate a page, it could be a painting, a drawing, embroidery, calligraphy. The sketchbook will then get posted on to the next person. There are about twelve of us taking part, the book includes a map so we can trace the route as it goes from Australia to America and over to Europe. I’m last, which I think is a bonus as I will be able to see everyone else’s entry for real!

The sketchbook went to Kate first, she has made a beautiful feather using foundation paper piecing, as someone who is very new to this technique, I can appreciate the work involved! This is what she wrote about it;

“A stitched image in fabric, a bit of loopy hand lettering and a sorta, kinda poem. The sewn fabric piece is the hardest bit of foundation paper piecing I’ve ever made, but knowing how fond Anne is of feathers, it was a challenge that just had to be met…. I’m not totally in love with the lettering, but sometimes you just have to commit to getting something down on paper, don’t you? And I like the words… Actually, I’m not even sure which way the page should go, landscape or portrait.  I think I prefer portrait for the feather, but then the words are on their sides. You decide for yourselves which is better.”

Tall Tales from Chiconia

Tall Tales from Chiconia

I love the verse Kate has written too, have a look here for the full post. I’ve a few ideas in my head of what I can do but I really need to make a decision and start creating as it will be my turn in no time at all!

Chas Spain has made an interactive map here so we can trace it’s progress, at the moment it’s still in Queensland, Australia. The participants are listed below, why not pop over and see what they are planning;

and finally, back to Anne herself in Melbourne, Australia

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A Very Purple Quilt

Posted on May 25, 2016 by craftycreeky

Purple Quilt

In amongst all my Otley Show entries etc last week, I also made a quilt…

My God-daughter celebrated her 18th birthday at the weekend, a couple of months ago messages came back via my daughter Helen that she would love it if I made her a quilt for her birthday. I was well chuffed that she wanted one of my quilts and started planning it immediately.

I’d saved a photo from facebook of a simple but effective quilt pattern that I felt could be made from precut fabric packs. It was ideal. Rachel wanted a purple quilt, I fancied making it from batiks and when I looked on line I spotted a gorgeous Bali Cracker called Hummingbird, it’s all purples with a bit of teal. Perfect!…only all the UK shops I found were out of stock!

Purple QuiltI found some on line together with a charm pack of 5″ squares at Sandcastle Batiks on Etsy, it was a really good price compared to UK prices, I enquired about shipping and Janet messaged back, she was horrified at the price she was having to quote. It was still a reasonable buy from my point of view so I went ahead and bought it…what I hadn’t factored in was the 20% import duties I would have to pay before delivery!!! When I opened the package it was beautiful fabric, but what cheered me up no end was a personal note from Janet, she was so shocked by the shipping costs that she had added some extra squares from the hummingbird range, isn’t that lovely, it made my day!

Having waited for the fabric to arrive and then waited for a chance to buy a plain fabric for the sashing in Leeds I was basically left with a week to make the quilt, and it was last week, like the week before Otley Show!!

I laid out the 5″ and the 10″ squares on the floor, choosing the mainly purple ones first and then adding the ones with a bit more teal.Some of the 10″ squares looked a bit busy, I wasn’t quite happy with it yet.

Purple Quilt

I remembered that I had some plainer purple batiks that I had ear-marked for another quilt, I tried them against the others and it worked, I just used two squares each of three different purples.

Purple QuiltOnce I was happy with the lay-out it went together fairly quickly, I sashed the sets of four first and trimmed them down to 10″, then it was just a matter of working my way across the blocks. It wasn’t quite big enough at this point so I used the scraps to make a border. I laid it out on the lounge floor to spray baste it. I love seeing it at this stage, all beautifully smooth.

I think this is the biggest quilt I’ve quilted so far, it’s certainly my best so far! Machine quilting is definitely a matter of practice makes perfect, whilst I’ve still got a long way to go, I’m happy with my progress. I think it also helps that I’ve worked out a pattern that suits my skill levels so far. I stitch a sort of scroll/leaf shape, the important bit being the wave ends in a point, it gives me a regular point at which to stop without causing a wiggle!

Purple Quilt

I stitched the binding on and hand-stitched it down, I’ve never quite had the confidence to machine stitch it down and I don’t mind hand-stitching it, a couple of hours day dreaming and it’s done!

Purple QuiltMy last job was to hand-stitch a label for the back. I used a variegated purple embroidery thread and just back-stitched my message. I tend to do the stitching by eye, rather than writing it in pencil first as somehow it comes out better that way.

I gave her it at the weekend and she loves it 🙂

 

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