Continued progress - and other things as well

A latest photo shoot of the commission. Am loving working with these colours. Its the great thing about making things for other people - you get to try out loads of different colourways for things, that you may not have thought to put together yourself. Very stimulating! All pics can be embiggened by clicking on them :)

 

The pic above is the almost finalised layout, depending on instruction from the customer. It'll finish at approx 63" x 77" which is an ideal size for a single bed, or twin as you say over the pond. Blocks are 7" finished. Border round each square is 1" finished.

 

This one is a detail of some of the fabrics used. As usual, the photos don't capture the movement of the fabric in reality and the richness of the browns and golds. 

I've also been busy with some crochet. The cream borders round my crochet granny squares are coming along, although its a bit ... boring ... so I have been tempted by other things....

A wee bit of this:

In a Noro Cash Island yarn - sooooo lovely to work with!

And I was tempted by this cheeky little number when I saw it on the Woolly Brew website:

Its the lovely and deceptively simple Imagine When from Ravelry. I decided to go with the Louisa Harding yarn that Woolly Brew used for the colour changes: Amitola, shade 109 Salsa, which is quite bright, but I think the Scottish winter can take a bit of cheering up :)

Well, I'd better get on with something crafty.... X

Swoon blocks - surfing the Zeitgeist...

I know, everyone in the WORLD has made these, and I am just getting to grips with my first few blocks. 

But that's ok. I like taking time over something, getting my head around it, deciding what I like and what I dont like. 

So here are some Swoon blocks, making me almost half way through the top:

I'm using a dark teal for the background, a fabric I bought a few yards of ages ago and this is finally the right project for it. A few FQ of rich reds, ambers, forest greens, browns and navy. 
Its a surprise for my folks, I know my stepmum really likes these autumnal colours so I hope they like it when I eventually finish it. Its their anniversary in June, but if its not finished then, I'll definitely have it done by Christmas.

4 down, 5 to go then!

Creations - of all kinds

Well, the house has been a shambles these last few weeks. With the cold hitting the household very hard, then a few days of building tear-downs and refits (the Blighter's bedroom) and the plasterer going through the house to plaster the bedroom, then today new windows are being fitted in 3 rooms upstairs.....

The place is a skip. A real mess. Dust, plaster, clothes everywhere, furniture has been moved from various rooms to accommodate the window and wall replacement. The sewing room is full of my last craft show stock plus stuff that has been dumped out of the way (see previous comments) so is also a mess.

Am fed up.

On the plus side, have had a birthday with cake:

There's even the gymball I sit on to sew! Fab, fab and delicious :D Although it looks more like my mother than me - this is what I have to look forward to!

And took the Blighter to pony club on Saturday, as a reward for getting enough stickers on her chart of good behaviour (the only thing we have found to really work).

And have been making wee xmas decorations that have worked out chuffingly well:

Just one of my ideas for the next Craft fair - and will hopefully be putting some up on Etsy once I get my finger out. Check me out at Fankle Quilting :)

And I managed to finish this too, which I really enjoyed making:

Single bed size, stitch in the dicth zig zag quilting, plain turq backing

And got this top finally finished too (Space! On the sewing room floor!):

Single bed size, will be big floral patch backing. Quilting - prob crosshatch.

And here's my boy who is just lovely :)

(Spot the sock mitre blanket in the corner, up to 50 squares now...)

Hope you're all having a good Monday. If that's at all possible.
Cheerie!

Work In Progress

Friday Finish - only 2 days late! :D

I know, I know, bit of a cheek really :D but I have been looking after a sick almost 6-year old, so couldn't really get anything done before now. She's a lot better, started arguing back today after a day of being sick (Friday) and a day of lying on the couch shattered (Saturday). Poor wee soul. Kids are at their most forlorn when they're ill.

Anyway.

I've been a busy bee today - the long weekend has been a fantastic aid to sewing. And the sun has meant a request for a sun hat for said almost 6 year old.
Thanks to Riley Blake and April Cobb, I have a fantastic pattern to work from. Kt chose the colours, and off I went...

First I fused interfacing to the fabric, and then cut out some shapes:

Two fabrics, as the hat is reversible. Three pieces for the brim, three for the sides and one piece for the crown from each fabric, and interfacing ironed behind each bit.

Quarter inch seams used to sew the pieces together, then topsewn with an eighth seam to secure. You can see that on the back of the red spot. Then comes the hard part - sewing the round shapes together. Not v good at this, but got better with practice - black one is better than the red one I did first :)

Spot the deliberate mistake? Yes, I had to unpin this one ... Just as well my hubby spotted this!

I put the two hat pieces together WS out and sewed them round the brim. All the curved seams and the brim were 1/2 inch, cut down to 1/4 to reduce bulk with notches cut into them to ease the curves.
Leave a 3" gap, turn right sides out, and topstitch around the edge. Et Voila!

One reversible hat. It's a teeny bit big, but better that than the alternative! Took me a few hours over the day but I am really pleased with how it turned out. I love the colours she chose too, they look amazing together. I'd like to say she gets it from me, but I reckon the wee smasher has her own style. I'd love to show you her modelling prowess but she was in a foul mood by the time I'd finished so this is the best shot I have:

 Hehehe :D

Finish-it Friday and a First for me

Very alliterative :)

I made a cushion today! Well, finished one really. I'd made most of the top up before with some tweeds that my folks had sent me, and needed to finish it off. My cousin is looking for autumn-coloured cushions to go with her living room, and I thought this one would fit the bill perfectly.

And I got to do something new on my sewing machine today - Buttonholes!
I know, I know, I should have practiced them before, but somehow never got around to it. Today was the day :) I had a couple of practice runs and launched myself onto the main back. And it worked! Yay me!

Have some photos:

 The finished size is 20" square. The front is pieced with 1/2 " seams because the wool tweed frays like mad, and it is quite bulky. The green is less in your face in real life :)

 I made the back from two pieces of corduroy fabric I found on ebay. Love it! Love the seams too, look at that baby. Nothing showing, nothing squint! Excellent to cut too, you just go along the lines :)

Because the wool was a bit frayish and a looser weave than I'm used to, I hand-quilted the seam again, sewing parallel to the machine-sewed lines, just to catch it at the back and make a feature. I also cut the corners where the seams meet, to reduce bulk on the inside. To finish the front, I ironed on interfacing to the back and cut it to the shape of the top. All three layers (front, interfacing and corduroy back) were sewn together on my wee Brother (which sounds funny when you read it out loud!) XL5700.

Luckily I found three matching buttons in my stash. You can see that the middle buttonhole is slightly lower, but for a first attempt I am pretty chuffed. Have a close up :)

 I used hemming web in the fold to give it a bit more stability and because I'd never tried it before. It held pretty well, but it might have been ok anyway. It's a sturdy fabric and nice to use. How clever are sewing machines to make a buttonhole in one go!

I filled it with two IKEA pillow forms, cos one looked a bit weedy.
And voila! If I can tell you anything else, please ask!
Linking to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom x

I'm a REALLY lucky lucky girl!

Have received a beautiful, gorgeous and stunningly well-finished pants bag from Jen at Glinda Quilts. Check out this link for pics, I have had no chance today to get the camera out, and even if I did, pics could not do it justice.

UPDATED TO ADD: Some lovely photos. The inside of the bag is as beautifully finished as the outside. Am looking it over and being massively impressed at the neatness and perfect finishing. The detail! Love. MUCH too nice to put pants in. Thinking my (small) cashmere yarn collection or a Faberge egg or someone's first born child ....

The blue ombre fabric is soooo gorgeous!

Adore the facets on the jewel! So clever!

Look at the attention to detail - 2 folds here, for ribbon going both ways, and it STILL looks neat and perfect. Look at those teeny finishing stitches!

Inside out. The inside is as neatly finished as the outside. Am stunned. Love the wee pocket.

The finishing is exquisite, the sewing and quilting amazing, and I am beyond delighted.
Thank you Jen! So much!
Am very,very lucky :D

Appearances can be deceptive

For example, it looks like a gorgeous spring day - sun beaming down from the blue sky, birds singing - until you step outside and the chill wind goes right through you and freezes your kidneys.

For example, it looks like I am sitting at the laptop, surfing the web, playing Words With Friends and listening to Radio4 Extra - whereas I am actually pondering the commission I have to do and email off in the next couple of days.

Honest.

Extra strings to my bow

Working away - again - at my sewing machine, only slightly hampered by the remnants of my virulent cold attack Yay! Am trying something new this time for my craft stall, making cards with fabric.
I'm cutting out background shapes and sewing mostly hearts on top. So far they look very cute :D and am
hugely chuffed with how they're turning out. Proper photos tomorrow after I find the camera. And the camera battery...

This is my baby - Brother XL 5700. Pretty basic but a hard worker :)

Have fussy cut some wee motifs too - owls, children, with so far excellent effect. I've been raiding my scrap bins (which are full to overflowing) for these wee titbits, although not making much of a dent yet. I think the next step is going to the stash and choosing some lovely wee bits to fussy cut.
Looking forward to that tomorrow. As well as paying for the Blighter's next round of swimming lessons, gettting acupuncture, picking her up from school early and tidying the house after a family visit and before the first Book Group meeting at our house tomorrow night. Phew!

Here's to feeling better!

Stuttering to a halt...

Ha. So much for my lofty ambitions. Ill again, Flu-type cold again. Am so utterly fed up of this state of affairs that I have booked a session of acupuncture to see if it will help my desperately failing immune system. Hubby has had a course and swears by it, and I can see the improvements every time he goes.

Hopefully this will be me on Thursday!

So, my turn now. Another way for a quilter to be involved with pins :) Will be attending a preliminary consultation on Thurs morning and hopefully it will be gravy from there!

Wish me luck....

Experimenting

Time for some quality experimenting, now that I have my latest commissions done and dusted.

Have been browsing some fantastic home design and storage tutorials online, such as Lunch bags, Buckets and Cushion Zip installation with a view to my next project. What really interested me was this: Round bottom storage buckets!

Picture from Film in the Fridge, an excellent blog if you havent found it already :)

Genius.

So inspired by this clever idea, have been experimenting with my own fabric stash. I had no interfacing at the time, nor much in the way of decor-weight or heavier weight fabric, so tried it with quilt batting instead.

First attempt - oookaaaaaay. Lot to be improved upon, but still functional.
Second attempt - better. More in proportion, working out a few niggles.
Third attempt - much happier with the results!

Check this out, in order of making from left to right (Tall one = first one, green one = attempt number three):

I didnt use anyone's pattern, just a rough idea in my head. This is how they were done, roughly:

• Cut out a circle for the base from one layer batting and one layer fabric, quilted together. 

• Quilt more batting and fabric together, and cut a length of this to use as the sides, (used my rusty maths skills) and measuring the circumference of the circle by using Pi x D. Sewed the sides together, sticking in one of my labels about half way up.   

NB Make sure you sew the base to the right end of the side fabric or you will have your label upside down. This is the voice of experience...

• Sew the base to the sides (right side together) using LOTS of pins and a slow speed with approx half inch seam.

• Turnedight side out and put aside for a minute.

• Cut second base and second sides from lining fabric, making them half inch smaller diameter and according side length. Sewed side, sewed base to side as above.

• Put lining into outer with all right sides showing. Pin sides together at mouth of bucket.

• Cut length of lining fabric for rim overlap - I wanted to have a good 2 inch overlap so used a 6 inch deep piece. Same length as side for lining. Sew short ends together. Fold in half lengthways, iron fold if desired.

• Pin raw edges to pinned raw edges of bucket, with fold on the inside of the bucket.

• Sew all three pieces together at top (inner, outer, rim). Fold rim overlap over the outside edge of the bucket, as in picture. 

My favourite one so far:

I was using some scrap fabric to experiment with so colour choices will be better in next batch. I also bought some interfacing so will try that variation out too. The quilted version is nice in an organic way but bulkier round the seams, so I imagine the interfaced ones will be firmer and finer.

     The overlap is not perfect either but I like the effect. The beauty of this version is that the seam at the top allows a sewn-in hanging loop while still having the overlap; the fantastic ones from Film in the Fridge dont have that option without a separate add on loop.

      The mathematics has not been perfect either - there was a fair amount of fudging it going on, and a few creases. Still, it mostly worked out, and sewing can be very forgiving :)

The lining looks the best in this one too, much less crumpled and it reaches all the way to the bottom nicely!
 
Et Voila! Sorry if my instructions don't make sense,  I have not taken any pictures of the process yet. And I still want to make some with the hanging loop so I can have a wee row hanging over my sewing table with all my bits and bobs in them. I'll just have to keep chugging away till I perfect them! Or till I get bored and try something else.... :D

Ta-dah! A finish!

Guess what I managed to finish? My two commission quilts, Oh yeah!

Have some loverly photos :)

This is the two of them together, not identical but fraternal twins. I used the same fabrics for both but went with whatever star fabric content I felt like at the time.

 

Another shot of the pair of them against my lovely beech hedge :)

I am quite chuffed with how they turned out, after being a bit ho-hum about them to begin with. I still have to finish some pillow covers but am not going to be long with that (despite all the ills that have been hitting me this last 2 weeks. Am beginning to think we are a secret germ-testing laboratory).

Really enjoyed this finish! Really looking forward to making something new! I sense some buckets in bright spring colours in the near future...