5 :: playing with fabric...

A progress post today. I didn't make a mad decision to make a whole load of Christmas presents this year as I knew from experience that it just stresses me out.  There are just a couple of things instead. This is what is on the wall at the moment awaiting completion:

The front of a potholder, bottom left and one block of another potholder, top left. Inspired by this pin.

The blocks on the right are for a festive table runner for my Christmas table. Now I have my final numbers (20!) I know how long I've got to make it. It all depended on whether I needed one or two additional leaves in my table, you see.

Today I have woken up full of No2's cold (yeah, I'll blame him!) and a 6 chapter attachment from my copy-editor (eeeek!) to go through. Who knew that a document with 'track changes' looked so scary? What to do? Carry on sewing or hunker down and cringe at my punctuation?

A finished object...

Another item I can tick off my list of UFO's.

I actually started this cushion last year when I was on holiday in Portugal!  I'm not really sure why I stopped hooking it because I was loving the colour combinations.

It came out of my hibernation a week or so ago and it has been amongst other projects on the worktable.

I took a bit of chance in my method of making it into a cushion and ended up tacking it to a piece of leftover quilt backing so that I wouldn't make a hash of machining it together with the back of the cushion.

The extra bits of the hexagons are just tucked inside and virtually unnoticeable from the front.  Pattern from here.

I like this shape cushion and it is snuggled nicely in amongst the others on the sofa in the conservatory.

I'd like to make two more smaller cushions to replace the original sofa ones at either end but for now, two more projects have taken priority.  More of which soon.

Making me happy…

The first week of the school holidays has passed in a bit of a blur but it has been good to have No2 at home, even if all he does is sleep, play Xbox and grunt in reply to any attempted conversation.

For the first two days I looked after my two nephews and niece and I have to confess to being stunned at a period of quietness in the house only to discover they were playing… wait for it… a BOARD GAME!  Shock! Horror! No machines!

I have been able to spend 2 days writing and our book progress is steady, thanks to some self-discipline.  It means that I haven’t been able to spend as much time sewing or doing the other things that my busy hands usually like to do but s-l-o-w-l-y I have been making a quilt for my sister.

 

 

Putting together my quilt sandwich was made a whole lot easier after getting some clamps to hold it together on my kitchen table.  Crawling about on my hands and knees on the floor (usually with a nosy four-legged friend with a waggy tail helping getting in the way) was too much for my aching back.

 

(is it just me, or does this clamp remind you of an albatross?!)

As ever, I can’t wait to sew the binding on – maybe this weekend.

 

 

There are other projects in the pipeline too and this wonderful roll-up finally made it onto my work table after spotting it in a little quilt shop in Warwick a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

Look at that saturated colour.  I’d love to have a go at making one of these.

 

 

My front garden continues to make me very happy indeed.

 

 

And with that, I’m off out in the garden.  My back is already grumbling about the digging…

WIP…

I’ve got a free day today – the only one of this week.  I have been weak and so I got out my stash of Katie Jump Rope to have a play with for the thing that was supposed to wait in line.

 

I thought it was high time that this line of fabrics came out of the box and took centre stage in my workroom.  I’ve had a rough idea of how I wanted to use the fabrics and before I got my hands on the chair, I had the opportunity to have a play at upholstering a box cushion for a friend with the leftover scraps from the quilt I made her for Christmas.

 

 

 

The end result was just as I’d hoped and so I started out by cutting 2 1/2” strips and a 4 1/2” square for the middle.

 

 

Then, starting with the square piece, I started going round it in a log cabin style…

 

…until it was the size I needed for the top of the seat cushion.  As this is only quilting weight cotton, I have decided to quilt it in pieces to hopefully give it a bit of strength and durability before I make up the actual cushions themselves.  I made a quilt sandwich with some batting off cuts and some muslin from my stash.  At first I quilted around each block but soon decided that I wanted something that looked more significant… so out came the seam-ripper!

 

 

Now I am quilting it either side of the seam of the first square and then throughout the rest of the block.  I’m hoping this will give it a nice graphic feel.  I won’t be holding my breath over this project but it is something that I can pick up at any time and have a little go at when time permits. I’m already loving the feeling that I will be doing this project purely from materials that I already have, so the cost is virtually zero other than the reels of thread I am bound to get through. 

 

The rest of the week will prove to be quite heavy: I am visiting one of my bereaved parents tomorrow; I have supervision for my support work on Wednesday; I will be at St Mary’s on Thursday and on Friday I have a writing deadline to meet.  Today’s distraction has been most welcome.

It's a whopper...

You know when I said that doing 2 rows of my ripple blanket a day was a do-able goal?  I don't think I mentioned that the blanket is over six feet wide!  I think, on average, it has taken me about an hour and a quarter to do my daily quota, but I have managed it.  I'm running out of yarn now and so in a couple more days I think I will have to put it back on the back burner until I can buy some more.

I am loving it though.  This was the first time I had actually laid it out on my bed and it is now clear where this blanket is going to live.  My bedroom is completely white so it will add an intense block of colourful snuggliness...

While it's in the WIP pile, there are a couple of other more manageable crochet projects that I'd really like to get done with the yarn I bought ages ago.  Then I'll be ready for winter.

WIP...

I am working this week! Yes, working.  And I'm loving it.  I can work at my own pace, in my own space.  I am liking working to a deadline.

This is what I'm working with and you know how much pleasure I get from fabric and colour.

I have made metres and metres of binding, which I couldn't resist rolling up just to see what it looked like!

There is the always satisfying pile of scrappy offcuts next to my cutting mat.

There are lots of buttons to cover. 

My progress is good.  I am more than halfway there.

I am grateful that I have a walking foot on my sewing machine!

Change of plan...

So, last year I embarked on my biggest crochet project to date.  A Babette Blanket.

As is always the case, I seem to get fixated on a yarn and a pattern and then try and bring them together in the hope that things work out.

This mixture didn't.  I started off enthusiastically, but the bigger the blanket grew, the heavier it became.  And I mean heavy!  So it all got neatly tucked into a basket and slowly became forgotten about.  Then, a few weeks ago, the guilt of having such a lot of yarn potentially going to waste got the better of me and so I refreshed my memory with what I had done so far and as I was laying out all my blocks on the sofa it struck me that this one was the exact size of the big cushions on the sofa!  It was a light bulb moment.  I started to rehash the other blocks (on my Dad's hospital bed!) to make a pair of cushion fronts.

Over the last few weeks, in between quilting, gardening and taking parents out on day trips, I have been crocheting the back of the first cushion using the remainder of the yarn.  I still love the back of the granny square cushion I made No2 last year so that's the path I have been going down for the first one.  But have a slightly different plan for the second one, which is yet to be started.

My plan for the weekend is to get the first one finished and let the big sofa revamp begin!

WIP...

As predicted, I have spent the day outside working on my current project. 

Moving around the garden in search of a shady spot in which to sew. My fingers are sore but I am nearly finished.

Full of beans...

It's been another productive week but I have come to a bit of a standstill on the quilting front because the batting I ordered from here is out of stock. So I have not one but TWO quilt fronts and backs waiting to be hand-quilted now. They are sitting patiently in my workroom.

So, it has given me a chance to play hooky again and finish off making a little something for Jasmine to go with her quilt. It's not quite finished but I will tease you with a few snippets in the meantime:

They are the perfect weight and size, but I'm not eating them.

I tried a brad and embroidery but then settled for a button.

Then I made a fluffy pompom.

I've rummaged through the scraps from the quilt and have used some fusible interfacing for the finishing touches which just need to be sewn on...

Textured cushion...

I am stupidly pleased with my textured cushion of Summer Tweed fame.

I love the texture! And the spiky edging.

I loved just going round and round and round...

I love the way it goes with my Katie Jump Rope quilt.

I closed it with some buttons rather than crocheting it together.

Speaking of love, I'm loving the way my red and turquoise quilt is coming along. Want a sneaky peek?

And lastly, I love cherries...

Summer Tweed...

So, 8 skeins of Rowan's Summer Tweed have been bought.

Ready to make a round, textured cushion to go with my Katie Jump Rope quilt on my other garden sunbed. Same only different to my Urban Garden quilt and cushion!

It has been wound into balls - that really makes your arm ache!

I love just looking at them all snuggled in my basket ready to be used!

This yarn is lovely and slubby - it's made of silk and cotton, so has a real matte texture to it but still feels nice and summery.

My latest crochet book is this one by Erika Knight. It has some great patterns in and I love the hexagon blanket on the front. I'm dying to get started on a crochet blanket of some kind but can't decide on whether it should be a ripple, a Babette or a hex... Oh well, I'll peruse these options while going round and round...