Friday 10 September 2010

Dolls and quilts!

I've been busy at school this week, but this evening I've really taken an evening off. I've been working all week - in the evenings, and haven't been in my sewing room at all. However - I made the most of the summer holidays by doing lots and lots - and last week I managed to finish something else. Last weekend, Dad and Liz came to visit, and saw our mansion for the first time. I was able to finish Dad's quilt in time for him to take it away. I was really pleased with how it turned out!
This photo shows Dad looking at the quilt, having taken it out from it's covering. I made it as a quillow - so that he can have it as a cushion, or have it as a quilt. He looks quite impressed with it in this photo - and loved looking at all the different aspects of the quilt. I saw the quilt kit advertised on the Lady Sew and Sew website; I contacted the makower website for their pattern, and they sent it to me. The quilt in the pattern is smaller than the one I made - that is to say - I made it bigger.

I used fleece as a backing, it has made the quilt quite cosy - it was quite warm attaching the binding. The picture on the right shows the quilt as a whole; the design was appropriate for Dad, and the pattern was quite easy to follow. The quilting was done on the sewing machine, without using the quilting frame. I tried to make the quilting echo the patterns in the quilt, and also to show the movement / shape of waves, clouds, and wind moving through the dunes.

It was lovely to get the quilt finished in time for Dad to take it with him. I don't know what the protocol is for hospitals these days, but it will certainly be useful during recuperation. I was pleased with the quilting, and it was easy to do once I put my mind to it. As soon as I had decided on the pattern, I was able to quilt it - sometimes drawing the pattern first was necessary, so that I didn't make a mistake. I think that the adaptation of the pattern has been successful.

This weekend I shall make more effort to get into my room, and get on with more projects. Look out for the next post in the blog where I shall (at least I intend to) show the rag dolls I made.

Thursday 29 July 2010

Busy, busy, busy!

Hi there all,
well - the summer holidays are here and I'm about to get down to my room once again - so many things to do! First off, the boxes. I've made two more big ones since the one for my step-sister; one as a present (commissioned by my mum), and the second as a wedding gift. This one on the right was a 60th birthday present. Possibly, if you click on the picture, you will get a better view of it, of the embellishment.

For those who are interested, I use an Elna 7200. It's a great machine that gets a lot of use. I recently bought a trolley bag for it, which makes it a bit easier to take to workshops - usually I take the Elna 6005 to workshops, as it is lighter. However, it really depends on what the course is. The problem with using one machine for workshops, is that I have to re-learn how to use it.

This second box is the one I made as a wedding present - the bride kindly gave me some of the fabric from her outfit, which I incorporated into the box. She told me that the colour scheme was orange and Cadbury purple. I had great fun in buying the ribbons and some of the fabrics and other embellishments. It was great fun to try 'braiding' - creating little loops and having the ribbons go over each other. The 'quilting' featured the initials of the couple, and other freehand designs. I gave the present sometime after the wedding, as I wanted to include photos on fabric of the day; the bride kindly provided me with a disk of photos and let me pick the ones I wanted to use.

I am currently in the process of making 2 rag dolls - I still need to add faces, but the dolls themselves are done. I wasn't so happy with the hair, so added more, and now regret that decision somewhat. However, I've been playing hairdresser, and tried thinning the 'barnet' a little. I'll put pictures of the dolls on here once I've finished their clothes; as I've not made clothes before, these are proving a little tricky in places - especially as I'm starting to be possibly over ambitious, by wanting to adapt the patterns and create other clothes - longer dresses, shirts, different style skirts, different sleeves, jackets....oh - and a Mary Poppins type apron!

The final thing to show for today is a quilt - made for my cousin's second son; I've shown the quilt for his brother on the blog previously, and you can't make a quilt for one and not the other - which is why I have other quilts in preparation. I was able to deliver the quilt last weekend, and so get a cuddle with the new addition to the family.

The quilt was well received, and with lots of positive comments. I don't consider myself to be that clever with my hobby - I'm just determined, and like putting colours together, and playing with fabric and my sewing machine. This quilt is made from a panel that I had bought, and then I added co-ordinating fabrics to the sides - the co-ordinating fabrics had been a free gift from a website, and just happened to be from the same range. Perfect! I departed from the usual quilt making on this occasion, using fleece as backing instead of wadding and backing fabric. I had to wait until the baby was born to complete the quilt (actually, I didn't start it until after he was born - family and work commitments didn't allow otherwise), as the backing depended on the baby - boy or girl.

This photo on the right shows the young man in question on his quilt - the fleece is super-soft snuggly, and I'd bought it in blue and in pink. It came from a shop in Tunbridge Wells - C & H fabrics (I think) - I know the initials, as they are perfect for me - and a perfect shop for me - but not for my bank account! I've started making another baby quilt for someone at school who is pregnant (a teacher), and also have one to do for a friend who has just had a baby. I need some more fleece like this, but am not sure where I'm going to get it from - any ideas gratefully received.

As you can see, the quilt was put to use immediately, and young Austin appears to love it! Both he and his brother were lying on it on Saturday. Oh, and would you believe that he is just 7 weeks old in this picture? It's true - he had a VERY good weight at birth!

And now, it would seem that it is time for me to retire - to my sewing room that is! I've got clothes to make / finish, a couple of wall-hangings for my classroom, a quilt or two or three or four to finish, a couple of block of the months to work on, not to mention all the other projects I started a while back - they are NOT UFOs - they are WIPs - I will finish them, I just don't know when...

Do you hear that sound...can you hear it? It's getting louder and louder, calling my name...my room is missing me, so it really is time for me to be going!

Sunday 18 July 2010

Almost the holidays!

It has been a rather busy time lately. This weekend has to be the first one that I've had entirely to myself for about 2 months. Keeping the blog going is not so easy when life takes over, and I've been spending time completing projects. I have now finished the wedding gift box for Mike and Beki, and also the quilt for Austin Hutchby. Photos will follow later. Today I've been working on a quilt for mum, and last week I got going on a quilt for dad. I'm trying to finish the rag dolls - getting the hair on them, and also getting their clothes made - which is proving a bit of a struggle as I've not done any dress-making before. Anyhow, I'd better get back to the tasks that I want to do - I want to get some projects finished this year - so pictures will have to wait until the next post!

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Thank you Marlene!

Today's post is a big thank you to Marlene Chaffey. I have done 3 workshops by Marlene - all of them at Step by Step in South Molton. I would have liked to have had a link to a website of Marlene's, but I can't seem to find a website for her. Anyway, last Saturday I went to a workshop, with the title - Tropical Breeze. Marlene told us that she had learned the technique from Caryl Bryer Fallert at a class in America - the link shows the quilt that Marlene did a workshop in. Marlene has since gone on and designed her own piece, using the techniques she learned in America. On Saturday she showed us the technique, which uses freezer paper, spray starch and monofilament thread in both the needle and the bobbin. The technique also uses washable non-toxic non-acidic (I think) glue. The glue allows the pieces to be put together without using pins, and makes it very easy to manage the curves.
I spent a little time after the workshop to put a bit more of the piece together - so I had a bit more to show mum and Super Uncle George and Fantastic Aunt Helen. Having got back from my travels yesterday, I spent time today in my room - and put together the whole piece. It isn't finished yet, as I still need to quilt it. It took quite a bit of time today to decide on the colour of the stems; Marlene emphasised that the stems needed to be a strong contrasting colour. Pink was the best fit colour that I could find, having auditioned others - the others just didn't have quite the right effect.
The next piece is the first workshop that I did with Marlene. The title of the workshop was 'Devon Landscapes'. It was the first workshop that I did using freezer paper, and stitch and tear. The quilt that was on display showed a landscape in pastel colours, and that was what most people at the workshop did. However, as my blog tends to show, I don't really do muted colours! I decided to show a Devon landscape in the summer - bright colours. I couldn't decide on the colour for the surround - but eventually I tried the pastel fabric, and thought that it went quite well. After that, I tried to find the right fabric for an inner border; as the song goes - I still haven't found what I'm looking for! I have seen a couple of fabrics that I could use - both of them are grey fabrics - one lighter, one darker. I need to trial them both again, and try to get it finished. It is due to have some foxgloves on it, just outside the the oval border.
The last piece I was going to show is going to have to wait until another time now, as it is about time for me to warm up a bit - and read in bed. I hope to do some more work in the sewing room tomorrow, but I really need to do some school work (don't you hate doing work during a holiday); I've got reports to write, books to mark, homework to mark, coursework to sort out and comments sheets to write; schemes of work to get on with, and also positive comments sheets to compile for my tutor group - as well as another couple of surprises I want to do for them - there are only about 30 teaching days left with them until they go! So - until the next time..... - this is me signing off for the time being.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Almost off for Easter

Welcome back again - and a special welcome to my first follower - hi there Kath! Why haven't the rest of you become followers?! I thought that it was really about time that I got another post on here, and I thought that tonight was as good a time as any. Seeing that I have a follower convinced me further of that.

Last weekend saw me at Westpoint, Exeter. I went along to the Spring Quilt festival there, and had a great time! I hadn't planned on going along to start with, but Jennifer Trollope told me that I was going, when I attended her class at Step by Step a couple of weeks ago - and I know that I should do what the teacher tells me!! I thought that I was fairly restrained, but I could not resist the bargains: a 10m bolt of cotton for £10 - thank you Doughty's. It was lovely to see the Step by Step stand as soon as I walked through the door, and great to see Jennifer as well - I get such a lovely welcome from her each time I see her. I'm not sure that I have enough adjectives of the same value to express the pleasure of seeing the Angels of Antique Angel there.

So - what was the best bit of the show? That is a difficult one to answer. There were so many lovely quilts; as usual the brightly coloured ones caught my eye. I especially enjoyed the Engineering Quilts, and the journal quilts. There were some very clever pieces, that I particularly admired; it was lovely to see so many pieces by an individual quilter. Some people at the show thought that it was a shame that the focus appears to have moved away from patchwork, and becoming more about embroidery; I think it is refreshing to see quilters moving with the times, and creating their own pieces, rather than simply reproducing the work of someone else. There was a lovely old quilt on display as well, one which still had the paper templates in it.

So, what shall I show you this time? I thought that I should show you the box I made for my step-sister's wedding:
I was really pleased with the way this turned out; I really enjoyed making it, and I was able to use a lot of fabrics that I already had. I did indulge in the lace and ribbons to go on the box, but I didn't use all of the things I bought. Another view shows some of the embellishment: I couched knitting yarns and some gimps (thank you Jennifer for the info about Texere yarns - and they probably thank you too, as I did indulge rather a lot), and I also added some table confetti that I had collected from other weddings, and from cards and presents from our wedding! I was delighted with the 'free motion' embroidery that I did on the panels to start with. It was good to get the metallic thread working well, and not breaking - I used the Marathon embroidery metallic threads for the quilting. I can't remember how much free embroidery I did, if any - it could be that I just turned the fabric to get the patterns. I used invisible thread to couch the gimps, yarns, and feathers. I was a little reluctant to give away the box, but I did make it with Charlotte and Shaun in mind, so I couldn't really object - and I can always make myself another one.

The idea came from the smaller box I had made at a class last year. I decided to make the wedding box bigger - to make it A4 size - to accommodate the different gifts that you get for a wedding. I will be making other boxes of a similar style; probably more wedding boxes, and maybe even some for friends and family occasions - e.g. new baby, birthday present, special birthday present.

Charlotte and Shaun's wedding was great! It was a shame that Keith couldn't join us - I did feel a bit tearful that I was there by myself for yet another family get-together - as it was another Banks family get-together. However; Keith wasn't very well, and he wouldn't have enjoyed himself, and it would not have been fun for him or for anyone else. It was lovely to see the family again, lovely to spend time with mum, Caro and Stu, and great to see Dad, Liz, Charlotte, Shaun, Maisie, Mike and Kate - and Judy too. I was especially enchanted and delighted when Maisie came toddling over to me on Sunday at the Sun Inn Hulverstone, and saying - well - I'm sure I heard her say Auntie Christine. That was a surprise to everyone - and something really special for me. It was great to be able to give Dad the framed cross stitch I'd done for him. So - to finish with - a picture of my neice.... - the day after her mum and dad got married, and her meeting a dog that was really quite a bit bigger than her - and the smile on her face is great! I'd have liked it if I would have got better clarity photos - but children and dogs rarely stay still for anyone!