The trouble with blogging is....

You get sidetracked.  I follow some blogs, that link into other blogs and you think "that's a good idea".  I've gone into challenges this way, though I have been strong and said "no" to myself I have more than enough to deal with, but it is interesting to see other people's take on the same thing.

Kate's site has a couple of things going on - a Stay at Home Round Robin, here, where participating bloggers are given instructions of the next round of a quilt each month and it's interesting that although the same design is achieved the individual's colours and interpretation creates very different outcomes.  She's also running Another Little Quilt challenge too which isn't on a theme but is a specific size. I don't know how she keeps up with it all, but there is always interesting things to see.

Through Online Quilting, Lis' blog, there's another, not so much of a challenge but more of putting aside time for quilting, with the Friday Night Sew In, which I think runs once a month. This month on the 19th will be the second time I've taken part and I do have a few Christmassy things to do. I have a posting from last month's Sew In here.

E-mail groups have been just as bad and someone on the BQL list had suggested to someone else as a small item to make to get back into the swing of sewing, like a mug rug (like a large coaster big enough for mug and accompanying biscuit) on this site, Pleasant Home.
 On this site are tutorials and photos of what people have made from them. Lovely pics and the thought "I want to make one of those" on the one hand and "no I've got enough to do" on the other.

No photos to share today (shame) as I don't want to spoil any Christmas surprises, but I have finished off the postcards for the forthcoming "Bit of Bling" swap coming up in December and sent of the Black and White postcard swap.

Better not get sidetracked then.

The weekends go so quick

Last weekend saw us going down South and visiting our 2 sons and their families.  Little ones grow up so fast and so much has changed in their lives recently.  Sophie our eldest granddaughter is now at school, our eldest grandson, Leo, is at pre-school and our youngest, Freddie is now crawling and walking around the furniture and Isobel, Sophie's sister is talking a lot more than when we last saw her.  It was also good to catch up with my Mum & Dad before we headed back up North again.

I haven't been up to much last week but I do have a new toy.  Nothing to do with sewing, but could come in useful perhaps.  I have a Big Shot die cutter, which can also emboss items too.  I had some in texture plates come with it which I tried out on some sketch paper.  I will get around to getting some dies to go in the cutter as I have seen some "stackable" ones of basic shapes that stack inside each other which will come in useful.  In the meantime here are my attempts.

These samples were from the basic texture plates

The samples were on green foiled card and on kitchen foil glued over card

 

And this is the Big Shot machine

Yesterday as it was a lovely if cold day David and I went to Skipton on the trail of sheep in the town.  These were the "Flock to Skipton" sheep and armed with a map of the town went looking and photographing the sheep. Quite a few of them are on my facebook page, so click on the facebook badge on my sidebar to have a look.  We could not leave without visiting a bakery shop - Wild's, of course - where we bought a Yorkshire Curd Tart. 
After lunch we went on to Bolton Abbey just a few miles further north of Skipton.

The ruins of the abbey are fascinating and both David and I were clicking away with our cameras.  The sky was turning cloudy by now and with the autumn colours of the leaves they made for some good photos. These ones below show the doors on the church adjoining the ruins I was quite taken with the fancy hinges - quite a work of art

And at Bolton Abbey we even found a beach!

More cards (again)

Seems that Blogger has picked up that I've done a blog post with "More Cards..".  I'm getting into card making a few more at class and having a go at techniques I've learned at home the next day.

So this was what I made at class - I think this could be a form of monoprinting - putting ink onto a craft heat mat and spritzing with water and spreading onto the card from the mat.  Wasn't too impressed to start off with, but with the stamping and addition of rubbing on more ink around the edges they were looking a lot better.

Here are samples from class:

A Christmas themed card, matted onto silver card on white cardstock

Another distressed effect card.

Then these were the samples that I made at home, bearing in mind my limited resources, though my collection of bits and bobs for card making are growing slowly. The first one I stamped and embossed roses and after the paint effect I stamped over pink roses, rubbed on stamp ink around the edges followed by a gold stamp pad on the very edge.  The purple bit is meant to say roses but these alphabet stamps aren't terribly good.

 And this one below I messed about with the stars stamp pad embossing some and stamping with a blue pad after and stamping with the remaining ink on so that some of the stars were faded.

I'm quite enjoying the Wednesday morning playtimes with the radio playing. There won't be a class next week ;o(( .  I'll have to find what I can have a go at next.

This and That

Here are the photos as promised from my last post from the Friday Night Sew In.

Before the binding was hemmed

...and after.

Seeing all those colours in the backing is rather startling, but it works well with the stripy binding.  

As mentioned in the previous post here are the Wiggly Bags.  They're now ready to go in the post.

 
Earlier in the week I had a go at painting having another go at painting with transfer dyes. Once the paper has been painted it can be placed face down onto poly cotton or any fabric with synthetics in the fibre and ironed onto it. Haven't done any transferring yet, just painted the papers in red, purple and lime green and mixtures of the three colours.  I also printed some papers using the shaving foam monoprinting method.  That's using shaving foam and dripping colours onto the foam before spreading the mixture on a flat plat (I used a glass table mat)before placing the paper on top.  As more prints were taken the more the colours merged and turned into a lovely pale green with bits of the colours in it.  I quite enjoyed having a couple of hours playing.  A reminder that I wouldn't be doing this if I was working.

Here are my papers using the shaving foam printing

Transfer dye painted papers drying on the floor

 

 

Papers made with acrylic paint rolled on with a brayer with elastic bands wrapped on it.

 Earlier today David and I went to Cannons Hall just outside Barnsley for a walk.  We'd passed before but never visited as the car park is pay and display and never having the right change!  Wonder how many other people are put off by pay and displays to go off elsewhere - we can't be the only ones!  It was a nice sunny autumnal day for a walk around the gardens and went inside the house for a wander round.  Whilst there I took photos of some metalwork sculptures made by "Paul" who was the person to contact to buy them.  They look really lovely so I couldn't resist taking the photos (shame I wouldn't have anywhere to put one).

Friday Night Sew In

No photos yet so I'll post those this evening.  Yesterday I took part in the Friday Night Sew In, though it was a case of sewing in front of the telly!  I had some binding to sew down after putting that onto a quilt earlier in the week and got it all done, so I am pleased that I set aside time to do this.

Earlier in the day I completed 5 "Wiggly Bags" to add to 5 that I'd done earlier in the week and before started on the quilt binding I'd threaded tape through the casings of the bags.  I found this tutorial a little while here on Florence's blog a little while ago and now I have some time out decided to make a few and will send off to the Liberty Rose Trust an organisation supporting children with cancer.


David and I are off to Peterborough today - he wants to go to a model railway exhibition and I'll go and have a wander around the town.

Will catch up with photos later.

More cards

I've been for a second cardmaking lesson last night and am really learning quite a bit.  I made 2 last night using Distress Ink pads in different shades and rubbing those on with a sponge pad to create a light middle and darker outside to the cards.  As last week I have a bash at what I've learned, but because I make do with what I've got the results are very different but quite pleasing.

This was a card I made last night with a pale orange to dark orange around the edge

Two shades of blue over the pearl paint and dark blue snowflakes

Out of class the cards I made this morning with a bird stamp embossed on top

I've used a dark purple pad to stamp the bird and embossing powder on top (which I shouldn't have done as the powder stuck to the bits it shouldn't).  Having learned that the powder wouldn't come off easily I then used a cotton wool pad to wipe away the excess and have a circle of it around the bird on the purple card.  For the blue one I stamped and embossed the stars first before running the ink from a blue pad over it.

As for sewing it has not been neglected.  Here's a pic of what I'm working on and since this pic was taken on Saturday I have now put a border on so the quilt is getting there.  Here it is - a quilt for Freddie - long overdue (the quilt that is - he is 10 months old now).  I can see myself working on this on the Friday Night Sew In which is this Friday 15th October - I'll go and correct that, what a Wally!

Cobwebby pics

Couldn't resist taking these photos this morning.  It's bin day and going out to collect my empty bins this morning (a foggy one there was still a mist hanging around) I went and got my camera and took pictures of cobwebs.  Don't they look pretty?

Had to duck under this cobweb so I didn't break it.

A whole line of cobwebs along the top of the wall

Of course there's always a cobweb gathering on the rotary washing line

And a few on the patio chair (on top of the table from when the grass was last mown.

Now for something completely different

This should be a sewing blog (it started out this way) but as you know I do divert to other places and things and I've decided to get to know .....cardmaking!  Don't know why but I am attracted to the special effects of stamping and the artwork used.  I do have a small collection of rubber stamps and stamp pads and as those who have had postcards from me will know that I have a personal stamp that I put on the back of them. So I've been to the craft shop at Elsecar Heritage Centre and joined the class there on Tuesday evenings and this Tuesday learned about alcohol inks, which are used on non porous surfaces so made a card front with a shiny card surface and another from cardstock primed with acrylic paint. Below is the result of the class.

I just had to have another go and went to my nearby garden centre which sells and see if they had any of the inks which they did so bought a couple.  I then made a bookmark from the shiny card remaining from the evening before and stamped over that with a flower stamp which just about shows up.

The quilting hasn't taken a back seat though.  I have just finished a Christmas present last night (so can't show on the blog now) and last week I finished sewing all 18 Christmas swap postcards (so can't show those either!).  There are a couple of items that need sorting and will get onto that this week.

Going back to Saturday I went with Janet to Quilters Guild Region 14 Regional Day at Clifford, near Boston Spa.  I did get us a little lost in getting there but we did get there on time.  We met up with Hazel who has blog called Cotton Cocktails, and although I've followed her blog it was the first time I'd met her.  I was a good day with a very informative talk from Carolyn Gibbs from Sheffield, followed after lunch by a mini workshop.  The workshop provided by Beryl of Leven Crafts was of a mini notebook.  Measuring just 2" wide and 4" high this was really sweet and handy for a little present. Having made one I can see a few more of these being made.  I really enjoy the regional days and its really good to meet up with other quilters.

Day out in York and Bridges

Yesterday David and I had a day out in York as I was hoping to get to see the Sewing in Wartime and African Fabric exhibitions at the Quilt Museum.  A wonderful collection of quilts and some with memories of the war which were combined with artifacts and clothing from other local museums from Hull and the Yorkshire Air Museum near York, which made for a very interesting exhibition. There was one tale where a family was bombed out of their home while away on holiday with neighbours and the mother had found a house in which she moved the family, but they had nothing at all and had to start everything from scratch

One recent wartime quilt was one made to commemorate the Falklands War in 1982.  There was a block on the top left hand of the quilt that had the names of the ships Canberra and Uganda, which meant something to me as I sailed on the Uganda in 1970 on a school cruise to Madeira, Gibraltar, Tangiers and Lisbon . She was an educational ship owned by P&O and was still being used for this purpose until it was commandeered by the navy to become a hospital ship during the conflict.  After then the ship was sent to the Far East, where it was scrapped, which was a sad end to the ships life.

Anyway I digress. In the smaller room in complete contrast to the faded and worn fabrics of quilts with dramatic histories to the bright and colourful world of quilts made with African fabrics, you could just feel the sunshine from those quilts.  This was organised by Maggie Relph of the African Fabric Shop which is based in Yorkshire.  Unfortunately no photography was allowed in the exhibition rooms so I can't show anything of these but here is a link to the Quilt Museum here.

After this visit and meeting up with David for lunch, we went to the Treasurer's House, which is situated at the back of the Minster away from the crowds outside the front of the Minster.  This is owned by the National Trust and before their ownership it was once the house of Frank Green, the son of a Wakefield Industrialist Edward Green and had made several changes to the old house, part of which dated back to Medieval times.  There's more about this on the NT website here.  We had a wander in the garden afterwards.

The back of the Treasurers House

View of the back of the Minster from the garden

Garden fountain

This week I took delivery of my sewing cabinet and I am still trying to organise myself around this.  There is just enough room for my wheelie units that hold the fabric.  Not quite sure if about the cutting and ironing area as David has added extensions to the legs and cut down the top to half its size, not sure if that's quite right (or in the right place) but see how it goes.

Neat and tidy all closed up

Opened out with the wheelie units

And remember the Bridges postcards I sent out?  I'd had these below in return, aren't they great?  Two of them you will have seen in my last post so the other 3 came in this week.  I was really impressed by Anette's which was printed on both sides and had used Photoshop to manipulate the photo of the bridge.  I've had Photoshop Elements for ages, must get to grips with using that!

Here they are then...

The complete collection

And the back of Annette's card (I've blocked out the address)

Still keeping busy

A postcard post this time.  I've come up with inspiration for the Bridges swap for the BQL postcard group.  I drew a bridge shape and Bondawebbed this onto light blue sky and dark blue water fabric with the addition of characters on top of the bridge.  I started with gardening children from a novelty fabric, but then found some others that were sort of the same scale as the cards I made, so there are elephants going over a bridge, a giraffe, and a zebra.  I know that wouldn't normally happen, but I am using my imagination here. Anyway with the addition of some green grass and flowers they don't look too bad.  So here they are before winging their way to their recipients.

I thought, while on the subject of postcards, show you my complete collection of purple postcards from last month, which was completed only recently.

I also had a postcard sent to me in error, on the theme of Ice from Jacquie.  I didn't take part in this and it was meant to go to another Sue. I hope to return the favour and send her a card in the future.

I've also received a couple of cards from the Bridges swap from Janet and Pauline

As a break from postcards yesterday I had a go at a block that I hadn't tried.  This was called Pineapple Plus from a book of the same name by Karin Hellaby of Quilter's Haven.  I bought this book at the Festival of Quilts.  It took less than an hour to make one block and all went together quite well with her method of quick piecing.  As I may be making a large quilt next year to replace the one currently on the bed in the main bedroom, this might fit the bill.

Onto something completely different, I thought I would let you know that there is a giveaway on Quilt Times of a book called "Tis the Season", so go over and have a look if you want a chance of winning this.  Ghastly thought though that Christmas is just over 3 months away! Where has this year gone.

I've not been idle

After finishing my job last week I have been catching up with some sewing stuff.  I had to make a card for 10th Sept for Ruth's birthday - made in a rush last week and I have another birthday postcard for 25th September to make for Plum's birthday (that won't be in such a rush). So here's Ruth's postcard

This week my husband is at home too having had a hernia operation as a day patient on Saturday.  It will take at least 2 weeks recovery and he's resting watching dvd's and telly so I've taken to my sewing room and started on Monday with a pattern that I bought back in June from Quiltessential.  It has been difficult to get going with this and I should have known it wasn't going to go well when the first square was a 9" x 8" rectangle instead of 9" square - oops! The pattern instructions are in multiples to make different sized quilts from table runner to king size quilt. I cut out the fabric to make 2 panels to make 1 wallhanging, but found I didn't have enough of one of the fabrics and however I tried to fiddle with it.  In the end I have made 1 panel, which is quite wide.  So this will now be hung on its side as a long wall hanging instead.  In spite of whatever could go wrong did go wrong I and quite pleased with this quilt top.  Here are pics below.

1 panel just joined together above and below after adding the borders

The photo above shows how much fabric that I've got left as I intended to do 2 sections, as it turned out the one that I've made hung on its side will be enough.  Will have to get creative with what I have left.

I've also made an ironing board cover for my Ikea table top ironing board.  The original cover was quite disgusting with Bondaweb marks on it (from when I forgot to cover the web with baking parchment).  I had this lovely turtle fabric and also took the wadded cover of an old ironing board cover to add to the original wadding on the board.  I made the cover an inch bigger all round than the original as I thought it was quite skimpy in the first place and no longer have to battle with a cover that keeps falling off.

 One grotty ironing board cover above and below, nice new one with turtles on.

I also found amongst my UFO's a Mariner's Compass panel which I made yonks ago which was appliqued onto a beige background and that was it.  I haven't got most of the other fabrics now but I did have a bit of the red, which was some Rose and Hubble fabric.  Gosh, must have had that for a very long time.  Another wallhanging perhaps?  Think that might go in the spare room.

I am also starting work on a set of Bridges postcards, I think when signing up for this that it came under that category "seemed like a good idea at the time" as I am having trouble with this theme. I have 6 of these to do.  I will get there - eventually.

I have decided that I will back off the postcard making for a while and get done those that I have committed to.  I have a couple more cards of this year's birthday swaps, a black and white one (I'll not have trouble with that) and a Bit of Bling which at present stands at a whopping 18 cards (I'll have to get going on those - hope I have another week next week of not working).

I also managed to fit in a few appointments that I was meaning to get sorted when I finished work so quite pleased that I've managed to fill the week.