So close…and yet so far!

Posted on January 9, 2016 by craftycreeky

James's quiltI was really pleased with myself last night, I had finally finished quilting James’s quilt, with wrist still intact!! Not only that but I had finished the quilting with about 12″ of bobbin thread left (from a 250m roll!!) Perfect I thought!

I quilted three chevrons yesterday which just left the side triangles. Each chevron has a different quilting pattern. My first attempt at free motion quilting (fmq) on this quilt hadn’t gone well, I tried to do wavy lines down a chevron, but mine have lots of wiggles and squiggles in them from when I had to stop and start. At that point I thought no more fmq on this quilt. Continue reading →

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James’s Quilt

Posted on January 6, 2016 by craftycreeky

cooltext156747814765691James’s quilt is my monthly challenge for January, it had to be, it’s his birthday on the 16th!!! I’ve been making good progress;

Last time I showed the quilt top I felt it needed to be a bit wider, I ended up ordering another layer cake of ‘Sandpiper’ batiks by Hoffman so I could add another three rows of chevrons. As soon as Christmas was out of the way I muscled down to get it pieced. The layer cakes are pre-cut 10″ squares, so I just cut them diagonally to make my triangle, it didn’t take long to add the three extra rows and it’s made all the difference.

James's Quilt

I called into B&M fabrics in Leeds for some backing and found a perfect match, some teal blue cotton, I bought enough to bind it with as well I hope! I bought ‘Warm & Natural’ batting at Samuel Taylors. Just had to put it all together!

Basting my quilt

 

Once all the Christmas decorations were out of the way I could use the lounge floor to sandwich the quilt, it’s the only place big enough!. I pin a double sheet to the carpet, just to protect both the carpet (from glue) and the quilt (from dog hair!!) I was converted onto 501 basting spray adhesive at the Knitting and Stitching show last year, I love it!! I spray a quarter of the quilt at a time from the midline, smoothing it out as I go, batting onto backing first, then quilt onto batting. It creates a lovely smooth finish and I’ve not had a problem with it moving at all when I then quilt on the machine.

Quilting

The quilt in the book which inspired me was quilted down each chevron using several different patterns, I decided to quilt in a similar way, just with simpler patterns. I started off with a ‘quilt-in-the-ditch’ down each chevron, this involves stitching on the seam line, I felt it would give stability to the quilt whilst I worked and also give me an idea of how my sewing machine and I would cope with a double size quilt. I’ve only got a standard sized sewing machine but it coped brilliantly!

Quilting from back

Some of the quilting follows the zig-zag line of the chevron, either in pairs or ever increasing widths. I decided to quilt the centre chevron in straight lines, thinking it would be easy as I wouldn’t have to turn the quilt. It was probably easier than a zig-zag, but I stitched the lines with about 1.5cm between (I used my walking foot as a guide) not realising just how many lines there would be!! I won’t be repeating that pattern! The wavy line wasn’t too successful either, I had to use the darning foot for that and do free motion quilting, I just couldn’t move it smoothly enough to be happy with the result. I’d also forgotten just how much thread quilting uses, I’m filling my bobbins 5 at a time!! I’m using two shades of Gutermann quilting thread on top, one is variegated with darker blues, greens and purples, I’m using this on the darker chevrons, the other is pale blue and green for the lighter chevrons.

This is the biggest quilt I’ve ever quilted, I’m having to pace myself as my wrist is feeling the strain, I’ve got quilting gloves which has made a huge difference, but I don’t want to end up with an RSI! I keep doing a little, then doing something else like crochet, which is a completely different movement. I felt a bit happier this morning when I realised I’ve already quilted half the quilt.

James's Quilt

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The Beginnings of a Ripple

Posted on January 4, 2016 by craftycreeky

I’ve got three things on the go at the moment, James quilt, which is making good progress so I will hopefully have something to show you tomorrow, a shirt which isn’t quite going as planned (more of that another day!!) and a ripple blanket…

Attic 24

Attic 24

Last spring I happened to see a photo of the Coast Ripple blanket, it was love at first sight! and that’s quite a thing for a non-knitter or crocheter! From that moment on I was determined to learn to  crochet!! The Coast Ripple blanket is on Attic 24 web-site, which it turns out is based just up the road in Skipton.

Attic 24

Attic 24

Lucy has quite a few ripple blankets on her blog, but it was the coast one that caught my eye, she used about 15 different shades of wool, all inspired by the coast. Isn’t it gorgeous! She also has some very simple instructions on how to do the ripple pattern, so well written that even I could understand them!! You can even buy a pack of all the right colours from her.

 

Learning to crochetFirst I had to learn to crochet, I bought a couple of books, but it’s not easy to learn from the page. As Tea and Tents, the WI camping and crafting weekend  was coming up I decided to pack a ball of wool and a hook, there was bound to be someone there who could teach me…I was right! The wonderful Sarah from Seven Hills WI in Sheffield (who as Camp Mother for her WI adopted my friend and I for the week-end when our gas stove blew up on the first morning!) spent a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon patiently teaching us to crochet…and she needed a lot of patience! She taught us the basic stitches, how to do a granny square and helpful things like how to hold it.

Crochet scarf

Abandoned scarf!

After the weekend I decided to try crochet a scarf to consolidate what I had learnt, there was a simple looking pattern with bobbles on in one of my books. The first few inches of simple treble crochet went fine, but I got a bit lost with the bobbles. In the end I decided to abandon it, I could have undone it and persevered, but actually, I didn’t think I liked it enough to actually wear it.

Every year in Skipton there is a big wool festival called Yarndale, I’d never been before but I decided it would be a good place to find some wool for my blanket. I could have got a pack from Attic 24, but although I fell in love with the Coast Ripple, I decided I wanted a heather moorland version, all purples, plums, soft greens and the occasional bracken! Yarndale was amazing, as a non-knitter I didn’t particularly swoon over the wools, but I loved the colours! I came home with a big bag of wool!

Wool for Ripple blanket

In a corner of my sewing room I had a pack of dark blue and teal wool, I know it sounds daft, but I have no idea where it came from, whether my mum gave it to me (she’s a BIG knitter!) or I bought it during a rash moment years ago! I used this as a practice to suss out the pattern. It took me a while with crochet to be able to recognise the stitches I’d already done, but it did become much easier once I could identify the increase and decrease stitches. I’ve decided one reason I like crochet is that it’s so much easier to undo than knitting! I know that shouldn’t be a good reason to like crochet, but I’ve had lots of practice at undoing and re-stitching!! It reminds me of a conversation I had with one of the Doctors at work when I mentioned I was giving up alcohol for February, ‘Why February’ he asked, I explained that January was too soon after Christmas and February was shorter!!! He looked at me and said ‘I really don’t think that should be the reason!!’

Practice RippleAnyway, I decided to use all this spare wool as a first attempt ripple, get the hang of it before I start my Moorland Ripple!! It’s going to take a while as the rows are over 200 stitches long!!! At first it took about an hour and a quarter to get across, I’ve got a bit quicker as the last one took about 50 minutes! It’s meant to have over 80 stripes of 2 rows each, I don’t think I’ll have enough wool for that size but I will keep going until I use my wool up. I’ll have more of an idea when I finish my first balls of wool. I’ve only got two balls of the green, so I’m using one ball first, then I will have a long stretch of plain blue before starting green waves again at the other end.

I’m hoping to finish it in time for the Tea and Tents weekend in July. I might even be onto my Moorland Ripple by then… I might even decide to make the Coast one too, seen as was my inspiration to learn to crochet 🙂

Ripple Blanket

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I think I’ve got a problem…

Posted on January 2, 2016 by craftycreeky

My sewing roomNew Year and all that must have got the better of me as I decided to try and get some order into my sewing room. Hopefully later in the year I will be able to move into a much bigger sewing room when my eldest moves out, but that is dependent on a house sale and purchase so it’s just fingers crossed at the moment!

Last February I counted my stash, my aim over the year was to reduce my stash, I wasn’t promising not to buy any, just to use more than I buy…and I’ve done lots of sewing…but despite lots of new clothes, my dress-making stash has not gone down at all!!! I didn’t think I’d bought that much! To be fair though, at least four skirt lengths are leftovers from a long straight skirt, as there is a metre left, it’s enough for a short skirt…that’s my excuse anyway!!

Linton TweedMy stash now stands at;

6 jacket lengths

18 skirt lengths

12 blouse /dress lengths

6 lengths of ‘fancy’ fabric

…and that doesn’t include the 15m of furnishing fabric I’ve got waiting to recover two chairs!!!

Liberty Tana LawnThe one bit of good news is that my stash of fat quarters of quilting fabrics has gone done enormously from 134 to about 90, the three quilts I made obviously helped there!

Liberty silk stripe

 

I decided to be brutal with myself and measure my stock, with the aim of being able to take control, I’ve logged every length in a book and even taken a photo, so I can easily see how much I’ve got of each fabric. It was rather nice getting them all out, reacquainting myself with some I hadn’t seen for a while! I didn’t dare measure everything last year…I can see why, these 2m here and 1.5m there all add up….to 92.4m…OMG!!!!…and that’s just the dress-making fabrics!!!

This is where you hope your OH doesn’t suddenly decide to read your blog!!!

So, my New Years Resolution has got to be to reduce my stash!!! Again!!! I think I will also be more realistic about lengths I bought years ago that are just not my taste or lifestyle  anymore, I might take a few along to the next bloggers meet-up and see if there are any takers, if not then I know a good charity that will use them.

My Fabric Stash

 

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My Monthly Challenge!

Posted on January 1, 2016 by craftycreeky

cooltext156747814765691

Last year I noticed ‘A Year of Lovely Finishes‘  over on Sew Bittersweet Designs too late to really participate, I liked the idea though of challenging yourself each month to complete something. I was looking forward to taking part in 2016, already planning what some of my challenges would be (namely various UFO’s!) so I was quite disappointed when they announced they weren’t doing it anymore.

So I’ve decided to do my own little personal challenge, I’ve even managed to design a logo button!! That was a challenge in itself for a non-techie like me!

At the beginning of each month I’ll choose a UFO or a new project which I particularly want to finish, tell you all about it, and then hopefully by the end of the month I will have something to show for my efforts!

I’ve got quite a few UFO’s (Unfinished Object!) to get me started, the oldest is over 40 years old (I know, can anyone beat that!!!) I’ve got quilts and embroideries as well as sewing projects, some will need a lot of work, some I will wonder why I didn’t just crack on and finish it!

James's Quilt

My first challenge is James’s quilt, it’s my youngest UFO as I only started it a few weeks ago, but his birthday is in the middle of January, so I’ve really got to crack on and finish it! I made the top from a Bali Cracker layer cake called Sandpiper, it looked suitable male!! I decided the top needed to be a little wider, so I had to buy a second layer cake, I was hoping the stall would be at the knitting and stitching show in November, it wasn’t so I ended up finding one on the internet. I ordered it but when it arrived they’d sent the charm squares instead of the layer cake…and so the weeks went by and then it was Christmas!

Christmas is now over, so my challenge this month is to finish the quilt, I’ve to complete the top, sandwich and baste it, quilt it and finally bind it…I’ll let you know how I get on!

James's quilt

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Favourite Makes of 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by craftycreeky

New Years Eve is a good time for looking back as well as looking forward, one advantage of having a blog is it gives a ready-made record of things you’ve made, the successes, the failures and everything in between. I decided to choose my five favourite makes of 2015;

My cable cardigan; it may not be the most glamourous of cardigans, but oh it is so warm and snuggly I have worn it all winter, I even made my mum one for Christmas! If they made the fabric in other colours I would buy them all 🙂

Burda Cardigan

My Scotties Dog pin cushion; I’ve made fancy pincushions, pretty ones and useful ones, this one definitely comes in the useful category. He was originally made as a soft toy for Otley Show! He’s also pretty cute! The first time I saw one of these oversized pincushions I have to admit I was a little sceptical, but it is brilliant, I use it all the time. I keep my extra long flower quilting pins in it, Scottie is big enough so they don’t come out the other side! He stands still whilst pins are stuck in so easily and I can always grab him by the tail!!! A simple make but still one of my favourites!

Scottie Dog

Sampler Aux Bouquets; I really thought this cross-stitch sampler would take months, instead it was finished in a few weeks. I love the colours and the design, it’s framed and hanging in our hall.

Sampler Aux Bouquets

Vacation Time Quilt; this was a block of the month design by Pat Sloan, so I started it in January, not knowing what to expect, learnt lots along the way and finished it in November. It turned out so much better than I thought it would and made a very special Christmas present for my in-laws.

Vacation Time

My Wedding Outfit; this was one of those outfits that just worked so well. I loved wearing it, the fabric was stunning, the pattern was great and it just all went together. Definitely my favourite make of 2015.

Happy New Year 🙂

Dress for a wedding

 

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A Shirt for Helen

Posted on December 30, 2015 by craftycreeky

Burda 6849It always feels a bit of an honour when your children ask you to make them something, especially when they are a trendy 18 year old, it’s like the ultimate accolade that what you are creating must be at least OK!!

I’ve made a couple of shirts this year and in the autumn Helen asked me if I would make her one. I was delighted to accept the commission!!

Cotton topAs I still had a few shirt lengths in my stash, I checked with her if she fancied any of them. To my surprise she chose a fine embroidered cotton. I bought it last year in Goldhawk Road in London, it was about 60″ wide and cost about £2.50 per metre! It is a lovely fine cotton with quite a heavy paisley like embroidered design. I’ve made a summer top from it already but there was still loads left. I earmarked it for Helen…the weeks went by and Christmas was coming…I decided to make it as a surprise Christmas present.

Burda 6849

The shirts I’ve been making are fairly loose fitting, I decided to make Helen a slightly slimmer fitting shirt. I chose Burda 6849 as it has darts front and back. I’ve made a few Burda patterns up and luckily over the years I’ve made quite a few shirts as I’d forgotten just how minimalist Burda instructions are!!!

I cut it out to a size 8, I had to guess and keep my fingers crossed, I could hardly ask her when it was a surprise! I tried where possible to avoid having the embroidered areas over a narrow seam, cutting out the button band and the collar band near to the selvage where the embroidery was lighter.Burda 6849

I French-seamed all the main seams. The pattern has a straight yoke, a two piece collar and sleeve plackets. As I mentioned before, the instructions were pretty basic, I couldn’t follow their method for the sleeve placket at all, so I did my own thing! The collar turned out pretty neat and I was really pleased with finished shirt but I had to wait to Christmas day to see if it passed the test!

She likes it! I think she may have been better with a size 10, as it’s a little snug in places. Apologies for the photo but she refused to let me iron it first! I thought the sleeves were too short at first, but no, she’s turned the cuffs up! She feels it’s a bit long, but otherwise she likes it 🙂

Burda 6478

 

 

 

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Merry Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2015 by craftycreeky

ChristmasThe last few days have been a bit crazy here, what with unexpected family guests  followed by the expected family guests, all good fun, but it does lead to a crazy few days!! It also means a vaguely tidy house!! This year I actually managed to take a few photos in-between guests (the unexpected and the expected!)

Our house isn’t often this tidy (like once a year!!) housework definitely comes after creativity in this household, so I have to show off once in a while!

I’ve seen a few house tours this  Christmas, most of them are amazing, with like three full size trees in the master bedroom, ours is an average semi-detached home in England, but if the photos give someone an idea for next year, it’s worth sharing!

ChristmasI like to have rooms vaguely themed, it just helps me keep a bit of order! The theme for the lounge is Father Chrsitmas, I’ve got three big Santa’s, two of which I’ve made, then there’s lots of smaller ones who sit on the mantelpiece with a  few reindeer. The wreath over the fire was one of this years makes. We always have a real tree, I love the scent of them, we walk up to the riding stables and carry one back.Christmas For many years we had a tradition that about a fortnight before Christmas we would have a trip down to the local garden centre where they have a huge Christmas display. The children were allowed to choose one decoration each, so we do have a bit of a hot-potch of  decorations!

The staircase is where I hang all the stars, a lot of them are just inexpensive ones from the supermarket, but hung with the precious ones and some twinkly lights and it looks quite pretty. You can also see my Christmas quilt and Rudolf embroidery I made last year.

ChristmasWe have plain white wooden doors in our house. I had a bright idea one year to blutack the cards to the doors. I’ve done it ever since. I work out a theme about a week before Christmas when I see what has come in, it varies every year depending on what is ‘in’ that year, it doesn’t matter who it’s from, it goes on the picture! . I always put my favourite cards, especially any handmade ones, on the lounge door. This year I’ve centred it around an amazing photo of a wolf, it was taken by my friend’s son, it’s stunning! We’ve got robin’s on the dining room door, Christmas trees on the bathroom door (it’s usually funny cards, but we didn’t have many this year!)

Christmas

Our conservatory always has a Christmas tree theme, it’s a long, thin room, 14′ by 7′ I put a Christmas tree in each window and a candle in-between. The trees are varying styles and sizes. This years new tree was my ‘Castle Howard Tree’ which is a bare tree covered in silver, gold and clear decorations, inspired by my visit to Castle Howard. This evening I lit all the candles in the conservatory and I have to say, it looked quite magical!

Christmas

Our dining room  doesn’t have many decorations but it does have the Advent ring and the Christmas cake, the candles look lovely through the Stained glass window. I stitched the Santa on the left last year, the other one is about 25 years old!

Christmas

 

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2016 🙂

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Last Minute Christmas Makes

Posted on December 22, 2015 by craftycreeky

Christmas NapkinsI finished my last piece of Christmas sewing last night, it’s got to be my last piece as my sewing table will be carried down stairs and eaten off on Christmas Day!

A couple of weeks back on facebook, someone posted a photo of some Christmas napkins, I thought they looked great and very easy to do. The only problem I had was working out the size! The napkins are semi-circular, which is actually quite a nice shape as it’s got the width across your lap but it’s not too long, but it does need to be long enough! I cut mine to just over 18″ diameter and I wouldn’t like them any smaller.

Christmas Napkins I used two Christmas fabrics, stitched them together with a quarter inch seam , turned them and then edge stitched round to hold the edge. They’re very quick to make, I made seven yesterday evening (I know, funny number, I needed seven and didn’t have enough fabric to make it eight!!) On their own they don’t look anything special, until you fold them into a Christmas tree, don’t they look great! A bauble or a bell holds it together and finishes it off nicely!

Making Christmas Crackers

This morning I finished all the Christmas crackers, I only found out this year that they are mainly a British tradition. The supermarkets here are full of them, the problem is the ones you buy have really tacky presents in them, you have to be spending £10 to £15 for 6 to get anything even slightly decent! This is why I like to make them. I made some tiny purses last month for the ladies, I also found some kazoos, erasers, mini highlighter pens, bulldog clips, nice chocolates and of course some silly jokes, every cracker has to have a cheesy joke in it.

Ready to roll up!

Ready to roll up!

Making crackers is not difficult but it one of those projects where there’s lots of stages and it’s easy to forget one! I used kitchen roll tubes cut in half for the inside, I’ve been collecting them since August! You also need spare as two extra are needed to hold the ends in shape whilst you tie them up. If you forget to put them in (did it once!) it’s hard to wriggle them back in. The cracker snap is stuck to each end of the paper so that when it is pulled apart, the snap will crack! The paper also needs perforating gently so it will pull apart when pulled at each end. I bought a perforator last year, there is definitely a knack to it, too hard and it cuts through, wrong place and it tears….I found it worked best to do the perforation so it ended up on the tube, rather than in the bit where its tied. I used double-sided sellotape to stick the paper down.

Making Christmas Crackers

I tried to be organised with the gifts this year, I had them all laid out with a name tag, but at the end I had a chocolate and a joke left, so someone hasn’t got one!

Making Christmas CrackersYou can make them out of any kind of reasonable weight paper and decorations can be as simple or elaborate as you want! I used old-fashioned brown paper for my crackers, the decorative papers were free in a magazine and the stickers in the middle of the cracker are made by East of India. I tied a bell and a bauble to one end and tied a froth of curling ribbon at each end. It took me all afternoon to make fourteen!

Making Christmas Crackers

Today I’ve been trying to get ahead before our guests arrive tomorrow, so the big shop is done, I’ve made the cranberry sauce and the gravy (Jamie Oliver’s recipe!) brandy butter and whisky cream ready for the pudding. This evening I made three dozen mince pies, I always use a star cutter for the top as my sealed lids always leaked! A dusting of icing sugar finishes them off nicely!

So tomorrow it’s the last minute tidy-up before everyone arrives! How are your preparations going?

Making Mince Pies

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Christmas Foliage

Posted on December 22, 2015 by craftycreeky

Advent RingAt Christmas I like to have a lot of natural foliage in my decorations, I cut holly and ivy from the back lane and various evergreens from my garden, such as osmanthus and eunonymous.

The Christmas season starts with an Advent Ring, with a week to go ours is just starting to need the occasional dead  piece replacing.

Partrisge in a Pear TreeLast year I went on a Christmas flower arranging workshop organised by one of our WI ladies who is pretty high up in the flower arranging world, one arrangement we made was a topiary style fir tree. It was made from an oasis ball on a stick in a plant pot. I’d saved mine so I soaked the oasis again and covered it in short pieces of cupressus. Last year I made a partridge and a pear so I sat the partridge on top and hung the golden partridge from the side. It’s stood in one of the windows in our conservatory.

We have a long, thinnish conservatory, at Christmas I place a Christmas tree in each window, lots of different styles and sizes, wooden ones, wire ones, tall, small. The partridge fits in nicely and adds a bit of height.

Castle Howard TreeOne new addition to the Christmas tree room is the bare tree, I’ve not ‘got’ bare trees before, until we went to Castle Howard….Castle Howard is a stately  home in North Yorkshire (where Brideshead Revisited was filmed!) the house opens at Christmas time when it’s all decorated for Christmas, it’s absolutely beautiful. One huge tree in the atrium has over 2000 baubles on it!

Castle Howard TreeThere were quite a few bare trees there, one in particular was covered with clear, gold and silver decorations and candles, it was stunning. I’ve got a contorted hazel in the garden in a pot, so I brought it in, tied a ribbon round the base, added some white fairy lights and then hung a variety of silver and gold baubles, fairies, snowflakes and the like. The corkscrew branches of the hazel were perfect for hanging decorations on. I love it! It’s only small, but it’s so pretty! I call it my Castle Howard Tree!

Christmas WreathOn our back door we always have a wreath or something similar, sometimes I make like a foliage bouquet which hangs down, they’re great as they are very quick to make and you can easily make them several feet long for a dramatic entrance! This year I’ve used a block of oasis on a paddle I got a last years workshop. I covered it with foliage and added some dried fruit on wires. It’s not come out quite as big as I anticipated but it looks good on the door. Somehow the paddle doesn’t seem to upset the dogs as much as the bouquet did, I think that must have moved a lot more so they kept thinking someone was at  the door, very annoying after a couple of days!

My last arrangement is a floor-standing candlestick, I stuck a square of oasis on the top and a candle in the centre and then filled it was green and variegated foliage, it took a while to get the shape right, I certainly lost it at one point, but I kept snipping bits off and adding others until it looked ok. A gold bow and some sprigs of artificial foliage add a bit of sparkle.

As the sign in the dining room says, ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’

Christmas Foliage

 

 

 

 

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