September Musings

Amazing that two thirds of September has gone already and it’s been a busyish month.  I can show some socks that I made last month and gifted to my sister for her birthday.  I made a drawstring bag for them too and by chance this fabric went really well with the socks.

These are made from King Cole ZigZag sock yarn, which I know is really hard wearing, the colourway is called Lilacs. I did a pretty good job of matching and didn’t have to wind off too much yarn.

One other important thing that happened was that I bought a new (to me) car.  The red Jazz was 14 years old and had just gone to the dealers for service and MOT when I saw a car which was 5 years old.  The red one passed its MOT, though over the next year would need some work so the time was right to replace it and the new one was just in my budget. I had been agonising over the past year about changing but I think I had a good deal in changing. So here are my new wheels

As you can see it’s another Jazz, though silver is not a colour I would have chosen and even now look for a red car in car parks before realising! It’s low mileage and has the bonus of air conditioning, which my red car didn’t have (well,  unless you opened the window!).

Back to sewing and I made a block for the Siblings Together bee that I belong to and this was a heart block, the original design is by Neverland Stitchers here . The block finishes at 12.5” square in blues and white.  The block bee Mama has now received this so good to get that done.

Earlier this month at West Country Embroiderers there was a workshop tutored by Anne Hellyer, called home is where the art is.  I had to take a picture of the house, of which I made an appliqué of part of it onto a background fabric to make a book cover. Using acrylic paint we had to make features of the windows and doors.

This is how mine looked after I worked on free machining the next day. I don't think my machine was too happy about the paint as I couldn't get the tension right so there's loopy stitching on the back.

I might have another go later or I might not.

There's been some more hexies posted on Instagram

Sewing notions for week 11

For week 12 (as at today it's day 83) the theme was Vintage

This next week's theme will be creatures and I've prepped my hexies ready.

On the yarny front I have crocheted another teddy and both teddies have gone to Yarndale.  This second one is girly, and has a fancy green jumper as the wool I used was self striping I managed the plain green for the body and keeping the coloured bits for the sleeves.  The teddies are bound for the Mercy Ships charity that are hospital ships serving poor countries and the teddies will give comfort for children. I've enjoyed making them so much that I think there may be more teddies on the horizon.

Next Saturday I will be at Yarndale and I'm really looking forward to it.  We've been looking forward to going to Yorkshire, even though its going to be a short time up there and making the most of what we like being there for.

August into September

Seems ages since I last blogged and I had hoped to get this done before the end of August.  But the usual 'where does the time go...'  time runs away with me and its now into September.

Here's my mini quilt from 10 years ago which I've used as a marker for Instagram this month.  I quite like the contrast of the colours against the black and white backgrounds.  I had a phase of using black/white and white/black a few years ago and a still have fat quarters (or parts thereof) of those fabrics.

Anyway what have I been up to?  A second quilt exhibition in a month, this time the West Country Quilt Show.  Luckily one of the local groups was running a coach trip so no driving was involved and it was a good day out.  Being a smaller show makes it easy to get around and talk to people.  The different specialist groups were demonstrating their skills so there are a lot of ideas to pick up.  I've done a collage of some of the photos I took.

Some really brilliant quilts and exhibits, this show is growing popularity.

I've made my Siblings Together blocks for July/August and those have been sent to the Block Mama.

I wasn't too happy about the bottom block (with the fishes) but they might be put to good use. I really like the September block and made that already, but will post that later.

There has been a bit of crochet going on and I've made a teddy, which I started at Knit and Natter last Thursday morning and finished on Sunday.  Here it is before stuffing

 Looks like Flat Eric, but it (he/she?) is lying on a knitted square which was my coach knitting when I went to the quilt show.

 And here it is stuffed and below getting comfortable on the chair in my room.

This is a community project for Yarndale, which I will be going to at the end of September (yay!!!).  There are details about knitted and crochet bears for Mercy Ships (read about it here) and the crochet pattern is by Lucy of Attic24  which was really easy to follow.

Another item that I've made is a Granny Square for Granny Square Day which was on 15 August, though there are still posts about it now - seems like a long day!  This pattern was by Sweet Sharna here and a pretty block it is too! 

I'm still keeping up with with my Bramble Patch kit which has 0.5" honeycomb hexies and a 3rd square has been completed.  What I have done to arrange the blocks before sewing is to make a mini design board 6" square made of mount board with wadding over.  I used binding clips to clip fine net over the top to try and keep the pieces in place.

This was how the other 2 blocks look, so its coming together

I'm also keeping up with #100hexies100days so far on Week 10 and posted day 64.  Here's what the other weeks looked like.

Week 6 - Adventure

Week 7 - Japanese (for some reason I didn't do a collective photo)

Week 8 - Sewists choice - I chose some mini charm squares (but I now can't find the rest of the pack!)

Week 9 - I-Spy - hexies are hidden amongst the Kingfisher quilt ones.

So that's what I've been up to in August.  In September I hope to get some quilting done on one of my Finish A Long quilts and have a quilt top ready to put together for the Scrap Busting Sew Along.  

There's just time for me to link up with Mini Archie's Furtle Around the Blogosphere.  So here's the link 

There's been a few explorations to so will share that soon.

A Finish - Dr Who Messenger Bag

Earlier this month it was my eldest granddaughter's 13th birthday.  I sent her a card but I couldn't gift her present until we saw her on Sunday.  She is growing up fast - always listening to music (sounds like punk to me!) and spending time in her room - she is a teenager alright!  She enjoys Dr Who and by chance a local fabric shop, Lovely Jubbly Fabrics stocked some Tardis themed fabric, which fitted the bill.

So here's the bag that I made her

 The front and below, the back

It has an open as well as a zipped pocket inside

For the zipped pocket I'd only made a practice one hours before I made the one above. so I was pleased how that turned out and may use this method of making inside pockets again.  The bag pattern was a free one on Makower UK's website designed by Janet Goddard called a Walk in the Park Messenger bag.

I also made a vinyl fronted zippy pouch (sorry didn't turn the photo first).  This is loosely based on the pouch from Aneela Hoey's book as I didn't round the corners or make the bias strip.

The strips at the side did stretch a little so I should have backed these with Vilene, but other than that it went together ok.  I thought it would come in useful as a pencil case (or she may have other ideas).

There is still some of the fabric left so she may get something Dr Who themed for Christmas too (sorry, didn't mean to mention that so early!).

August

August usually means one thing - the Festival of Quilts.  I go there most years and this year, being the 40th Anniversary of the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles and a lot of things linked to this event.

I didn't take part in any way at all though - I didn't make a party hat block or make a mini quilt to celebrate the Ruby anniversary.  I did make a couple of thread catcher containers for the Tombola and also won another!  I didn't book a workshop as there weren't any that appealed but I did book the Jenny Doan (of Missouri Star Quilt Co) lecture, which was really brilliant.  She is such an entertaining speaker.

I really go for the competition quilts and the galleries.  I take photos - not that many this time compared with previous years. There are so many on social media sites - Facebook and Instagram and when I've taken photos I don't often look to them for reference.  There has been some retail therapy as well, but more of that later.

Before then there was a hashtag titled helloFoQ on Instagram and I posted my photo and trying to get a selfie right in front of my Dazzling Diamonds quilt took some doing, with arranging myself, getting the phone in the right place and it still wasn't a flattering pic!

The star of the show seemed to be the Red House Quilt.  The original was with the curated collection of the quilts in the Guild's collection and in the new book about the collection called 'Forty'.  There is also a Block of the Month due out soon to make a modern version of the quilt.  Below is the Modern one.

I tried to take photos of the winning quilts but the quilts are displayed under a single spotlight which highlighted the middle of the quilts but made the outside edges dark.  The pic below is called Who Will Tell the Bees  by Mary Palmer and Anne Kiely and is the Best In Show.

This pic is "Hermanas por el mundo" by Naroa y Nahia Sevilla.  The description was in Spanish in the catalogue but I think it is about a cultural exchange between the Spanish and Japanese girls and was in the Young/Quilter Embroiderer (10 - 13 years).

 You can see what I mean about the lighting in the pic above as this was the side of the quilt in the pic below show the colours better.  This was the winner of the Group category "Over the hills and far away" by 4 group members from Cowslip Workshops.

The pic below was a Traditional Quilt but unfortunately I didn't take one of the number so I can't tell you what this is and I thought I removed the person's arm (oops)

I will do some editing and share more photos soon.

Late July Furtling

A bit late linking up for July's Furtle Around the Blogosphere hosted by Archie the Wonder Dog.  After a busy weekend for Festival of Quilts and a catch up on household stuff yesterday I'm just catching up.  (Confession here - I have spent a couple of hours this morning and this afternoon working on some EPP - though more about that another time.)

July has been about going out and about - a TG trip to Lyme Regis and another long day trip to Tyntesfield near Bristol, then another to Guernsey for the day from Poole (link to both here).

There has been some time, however to sew, crochet and knit too.  I started on an Instagram Challenge called 100 Hexies 100 Days and as at yesterday I've posted up to day 36.  Each week has had a theme and on week 6 this week it's Adventure.  Each week I've posted the 7 days worth of hexies and well as posting most days. So here are a few pics

Week 1 - Me (and yes, there are 6 days in this week)

 Week 2 Summerlicious

 Week 3 - Teeny Tiny things

Week 4 - Starts with B

Week 5 - Rainbow

Until last week I've been working on a scrap busting challenge with is hosted by Sugar Bowl Crafts.  That had gone on the back burner while I've been working on a bit of secret sewing, which I hope I can share next week.  For now, I've joined my scrap strips into blocks but not joined the blocks as yet.

I have done two more blocks since that photo was taken and hope that the end of this week I can join together.  I quite like how this blocks look but there may be a change of arrangement.  Who knows.

On the theme of using scraps, I've used skinny scrappy strips to make fabric twine.  I've made this into a coaster and a small bowl, rather like the rope bowls.  They've come together really well, although the little handles I made aren't symmetrical but I think it adds to the charm.

I've also finished off a cardigan, though not blocked or buttons added and also a granny shawl.

Phew, that was a busy month!

And August is going to be all about the Exhibitions, having been to Festival of Quilts, yesterday to Dorset Arts and Crafts annual exhibition.  To come will be Happy Patchers and the West Country Quilt Show.

I'm pleased that I don't work - I'd never fit it all in!!!

As I said earlier I'm linking this post with Mini Archie's Furtle Around the Blogosphere.