Still Playing Catch Up - Sewing Shindig

Two weekends ago I went to the Sewing Shindig near Shrewsbury, which was a weekend retreat with a mix of workshops and social sewing.  When I booked to go on this back in March it was just before I finished work and thought it would be a good retirement treat to myself.  Events had overtaken me in the lead up to going to this and I rushed to get things ready for going away.  Together with that, instead of driving myself there and back (route and timings all planned) the car became poorly and David drove me there and came back to collect me at the end of the weekend! I thought this trip is doomed!!

Anyway, I had to make gifts to swap with my room partner, Marie, who made me some lovely gifts in return.  She had requested a roomy storage bag for taking supplies to workshops, a Goody Binding pouch, notebook cover and mug rug.  I didn't manage the mug rug and I had a disaster with one of the bags (more of that later) so had to make another. Here are some pics.

This is the Sewing Date Traveler by Cynthia Frenette which is a free pattern on the Robert Kaufman Fabrics website, which is linked here , which I found a really good make with clear instructions and I used a mix of Alison Glass 'Road Trip' and Beth Studley 'Sundance' fabrics.  A bag like this needed a firm interfacing, but the US sites recommend Pellon interfacing, which we don't have in the UK so the nearest equivalent is Bosal in R Form, a foam interfacing with a single fusible side (it is also available with both sides fusible). Although a lot of seams to go through at the end and the springy-ness of the interfacing making it challenging to machine sew it was a quick make and would happily make another.

Some time ago I made the Goody Goody Binding Kit, which is not a pattern as such, as all the instructions are in a blog post by its designer Vanessa of Lella Boutique.  That was a good make too which I really enjoyed and used a modern print with hexagons by Aneela Hoey which I had after some time broken into and also gave me colour choices for the other elements in the folder as you can see from the pics below.

I'd made a notebook cover from earlier this year which I put in with the gifts as well as some Dorset made Moores biscuits and a pack of Grandma Wild ones too.

From Marie I had this super bag which I didn't imagine when saying I would like a tote bag! She used Alison Glass fabrics too and if you look at my pics above it was the same design range but different colours!

There was another smaller bag as she picked up that I knitted socks and this was just right for my sock knitting.  I used this to put my current knitting in on my journey home!

Another make was this lovely zippy pouch from an Aneela Hoey pattern from her book Stitched Sewing Organizers which Marie made with more of the Alison Glass fabrics and she included some low volume fabric and a set of hexies towards my Kingfisher quilt.

Its in use everyday as I make more progress on this slow stitching project.

It was a lovely weekend of sewing, sewing and more sewing.  I took a workshop on free machine quilting with Trudi Wood and designing how I would quilt my sample quilt, so this gave me the basis on which to start this process and I started on this the next day but haven't progressed since being at home. It was a valuable lesson in quilt design and also learned that I don't have to drop the feed dogs on my sewing machine to free motion.

The afternoon was another workshop from Susan Standen (Canadian Abroad) called Quilt As You Go.  Using small fabric pieces, fussy cutting and selvedges on top of backing and wadding with close stitches to effect.  Also learned about a porthole border to create a cushion top. Here's my sample

I enjoyed this so much I made another piece, below, which will be a large pouch to go in my rucksack  to contain purse and phone.  I used fabrics from my collection of reproduction 1930's style.

There was also a goody bag and a

lucky dip during the weekend and I won some threads and two patterns

 My purchases were really modest

In spite of the problems on the lead up it was a great weekend.  The bookings for the next one is full already so I won't be going next year.  I will be on the lookout for another retreat a bit closer to home as it was a really good to get away.

It's October!

I don't know what happened to September - its flown by so quick! I've kept busy though, with sewing, knitting, days out and a weekend quilting retreat (more of that in another post) which all took place last month.

First of all it was my sister's birthday and I had gifted her the crochet blanket that also doubled as a housewarming present since her, my brother-in-law and nephew moved into their bungalow a few months ago.  I was pleased to get this finished and she was delighted with the blanket.

This was the Woodland Ripple blanket designed by Lucy of Attic 24 which I wrote about in this post here.

Remember the Summer postcard that I made for the UKQU postcard swap of that theme for the West Country Quilt Show?  I received the swap postcard which was made by Norma Hasham with hand drawn and sewn scenery with lots of little owls on the branches of the tree.  It was gorgeous and a really good swap.

My collection of owls could not be missed out of the photo here.

On the knitting front I had a go at making double knit socks.  With thicker yarn, bigger needles and less stitches these took less time than normal 4 ply.  I took this green yarn (I wasn't bothered about the colour) these turned out lovely cosy socks, just right for the winter evenings to come.

These were a close fit and although they will do my small feet nicely I may go up to the next size needles if I make more.  I used the stitch pattern from Hermione's everyday socks, which is my go to pattern to help keep track of rows when using plain coloured yarn.

I've also received the second of a current subscription box from A Little Box of Crochet which featured a design of mini Granny Squares with small balls of cotton yarn to make into a notebook cover for a crochet project organiser. Love the colours

David and I had a trip to the Isle of Wight - an early start to the day driving from Poole to Lymington to get the ferry - but the day was bright and we had a brilliant day.  Visiting the Garlic Farm for breakfast and a wander then onto the Isle of Wight Steam Railway which was really delightful.

The train services run from Haven Street station to Wootton at one end of the line then back to Haven Street and onto Smallbrook Junction, the station that adjoins the railway to Ryde pier. There is also a museum and a carriage restoration workshop where we found the Victorian carriage that was restored of a Channel 4 programme shown earlier this year.

When the railways were drastically cut on the Island, a few of the old carriages were used as homes or holiday accommodation.  Near the museum was this carriage to show how this was done in 1950's style.

I also liked seeing the collection of railway posters too, nice to see the designs of ages ago are not lost but reproduced for people today to enjoy.

There has been plenty of sewing action too most of which I share in another post but I will share this now, some blocks that I made for a Siblings Together block drive, so I made and sent these off to the coordinator.  I enjoy making quilt blocks so I made these in no time at all.

So that's nearly all for September other than the Sewing Shindig which I will follow with a separate posting.  October is seems to be a quieter month but I'm sure it will get busier as time goes on.  

Out and About

This last week was the last week of the summer school holidays and meeting up with my son Alex and his family for a day in Portsmouth.  We used our Tesco Clubcard points were converted to vouchers which we used to get tickets for the Historic dockyard there.  It's a year's ticket which will allow us to visit again later, because we barely touch upon all the exhibits.

We visited HMS Warrior briefly before taking the boat for a tour of dockyard and the ships that are berthed there and different views of the harbour.  Several years ago part of the dockyard was sold to developers and is now well known as Gunwharf Quay shopping centre with its Millennial tower called the Spinnaker Tower.

Spinnaker Tower

 HMS Warrior

View across Portsmouth Harbour with the Isle of Wight ferry coming in

Later we went on Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, which despite its age and being permanently in dry dock is still classed as an operational ship and still has the Royal Ensign at the back of the ship.  There is also a museum about the life of Lord Nelson together with the artifacts that celebrate his life and being victorious in the battle of Trafalgar.

The top part of the masts have been removed due to ongoing restoration.  I couldn't get all the ship in so I took photos in two parts.  If you zoom in on the front of the ship you will see the figurehead of Nelson, which is on the ground behind the ship.

There were some other things on display - outside the Naval Museum was what looked like a wooden Nutcracker statue displaying tattooed arms as there was an exhibition about the Navy and tattoos.

There was also a naval helicopter outside HMS Victory

Yesterday I went on a coach trip organised by Happy Patchers to the West Country Quilt Show half at the University of West of England (UWE).  An early start but I was organised the evening before so didn't take long to get up and out for the pick up.  I took my knitting with me, another pair of socks which I think will be a present when finished (got to start thinking about Christmas!) to keep me busy.  Here's my progress by the time we reached Bath, which I Instagrammed, I started at the grey line

This is a relatively new show, but it does come quite soon after Festival of Quilts, so it wasn't that busy, however it is nice to be able to go around the exhibits without a lot of crowds and there are a lot of contemporary, art and modern quilt exhibits.  There is a small display of competition quilts  and another of cushions which were displayed hanging from rafters at the top of the stand.

I managed to get a close up of one that won a rosette which has curved lines of embroidery.

This quilt I liked which was really unusual in that it was stitched on deer hide and quilted and painted with leather paint.  This was made by Annelize Littlefair, I just liked the texture

I also liked seeing the Modern Quilters' exhibition, with their challenge quilts and also display of sample quilts.  They have teaching cards and also tutor packs that are lent out to groups.

I liked this collection of shoes in this quilt on the Contemporary Quilts West stand.

 Even I had a quilt displayed there!!  No, its a postcard, but it is still classed as a quilt as there are 3 layers!

This was on the UK Quilters United stand and this was the sunflower postcard that I made for this display.

I also met up with my room mate for the Sewing Shindig, which I will be going to later this month.  Her name is Marie and she happened to be at the exhibition on the same day as I was there - it wasn't planned!!  We enjoyed a coffee and had a chat and I think we will get on well and I'm looking forward to the Shindig.

I made some purchases. including some lobster fabric which I was unable to get earlier this year.  The screen printing kit in a tin will. be interesting, I hope I can try that out later this week. I also bought some hand dyed fabrics and threads (the green fabric on top) and blue fabric for another project.

More knitting was done on the way home (got to keep busy!).  The stitch marker fell off my needles so its a good job that I had a long tail of yarn which I could use to keep track of the beginning of rows.

With a two + hour journey each way it was amazing how much the sock has grown

Trip to Somerset

One afternoon this week David and I decided to take a drive out to Bruton, Somerset, about an hour's drive from home.  We'd found in the RHS magazine from last month there was a garden to visit, but it turns out it's an art gallery with a garden attached, which is on a farm.

The gallery owners, Hauser and Wirth, also have galleries in the US, Hong Kong, Switzerland as well as London.  We weren't sure whether to take photos or not so didn't take any in the gallery but waited until we were in the gardens.  The exhibition of work by artist Alexander Calder, an American artist who lived  between 1898 and 1976 and was best known for his kinetic art work and it was fascinating to see how the mobiles that were hung balanced perfectly.  There is more information here on the Tate website and I found more information here which has an interview with his grandson.

There were a couple of his sculptures in the garden

I took the bottom one at a quirky angle as you can see.

The gardens were really colourful in spite of the recent hot dry weather, but there were quite a lot of prairie grass plants so they probably survived the best.

The space age looking white building at the end of the gardens is for events and is reached by a ramp and curls around so there is a space in the middle. The black part of the building is gives a view taking in a section of the garden and the fields beyond.

The gardens were full of colour and interest that also had a pond with some water-loving plants and waterlilies

A longish way to go to view art and gardens and made a change to go somewhere different.

Time for a Bit of This and That

Its been a couple of weeks since I last posted and things have been a bit fraught on the family front, circumstances which I can't go into but I have been trying to craft a bit in between.

One thing I am pleased about is that at my local Slimming World group I have now reached the dizzy depths of having lost a total of 2 stone!!  Thats since May last year when I just wanted to lose a few pounds to look good in my outfit for Sarah's wedding in September last year.  Although I got to a plateau earlier this year I decided I would things a bit of a push.  I hope to lose another 5.5lbs to get to target.

So one thing I have started (and finished!) is a project in A Little Box of Crochet, which I've just started to subscribe to.  I've been contemplating taking up a subscription for this as monthly subs I've previously belonged to have built up to a point where they don't get used.  But this was a perfect little project with everything, and I mean everything, supplied to make a small clutch bag. You do not have to find a crochet hook or stitch marker, it is all there in the box.

 And a couple of evenings this was finished!

I found a crochet flower pattern and added this to the bag, now I can't think where I got it from! So my apologies to the designer and I will correct as soon as I can. I may add a fabric lining, possibly in soft pink to complement the bag.

I've made a couple of things for my newest granddaughter, Florence, who is now 7.5 weeks old.  How the time passes!!  She is getting more curious and wants to see what is going on around her and was finding going out in the pram a bit boring and grizzles when out in it so I made a rag book to tie to the sides of the pram. I chose a colourful assortment of squares to make double sided pages so the picture can be changed and added ribbon across the top. I think she likes it, hard to tell with a young baby.

I've also knitted a cardigan  for her though she won't fit into it just yet as I made slightly larger size. I started it before she was born and left because I wasn't too happy about the finish of the button band.  This cardigan is a bit different in construction as its knitted from the top, neckband, down in one piece, with the stitches for the sleeves held on waste yarn while the rest of the cardigan is knitted to the bottom.  The sleeve stitches are picked up later and knitted straight down to the cuffs.  Then the button/buttonhole bands are from stitches which are picked up from the fronts.  No seaming involved!  The pattern I used is from Ravelry, and called the Fuss Free Baby Cardigan by Louise Tilbrook.  I think this would make a good charity make as the small amount of time it takes to do, though I made it challenging for myself with using self striping yarn with matching in the yarn when picking up the sleeve stitches!

And ANOTHER FINISH!! The Woodland Blanket (which is listed in my Solo Finish Along list) is at last done and even the border is finished.  You know when you get to the point where you just want a project finished and the only way is to just push ahead and in spite of the heatwave.  I have enjoyed this to pick up and put down easily though.

I completed 96 colour changes from 15 different shades, less one as I found the grey was temporarily used for something else but I found that again! So 95 x 2 rows each colour = 190 rows.  The border took 4 colours. It now measures 65" x 43" and weighs quite a bit!  I've got to wash and block but will leave that to next week to do that.  But pleased its finished, nonetheless

 Looking towards the end on Sunday morning.

Here it is, laid out on the landing.

The Woodland Blanket CAL (Crochet A Long) came from the Attic 24 blog and I used the random stripes.  The Stylecraft Yarn came from Wool Warehouse who send this in a net bag, so no hunting around for a large bag to put the yarn in!  I will use this ripple pattern and the remaining yarn to make a matching cushion for C*******s (planning ahead is the plan!!).

Looking through my recent photos I also made another zippy pouch.

I also went to a local Project Linus day and although I didn't do any sewing for then I did take home a pack of prepared fabrics, which has turned into this

I've got matching binding, just got to figure what fabric I use on the back.

Last but not least I've got a growing collection of Kingfisher Quilt blocks, now numbering 13, coming along nicely.

I think that's it.  I've been busier than I thought.

Any comments, any thoughts, do let me know. I welcome your comments and do come back again soon!