Remember these?

Well, I'm pleased to say that they did eventually transform themselves into a bear. I don't know why I left it so long to sew them up because it was easy peasy when I finally got round to it, mainly because you don't need to darn in the ends if they are going to be inside the bear anyway.

I think I might call him Norbert (pronounced the French way - i.e. 'Nor-bear').

Hour Glass Quilt Top

I finished a top! Yay for me! Can't you just tell it's Easter and I've been on holiday over a week? I've had a lovely time doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted - no deadlines to meet, no 'to do' lists to worry about. Just a bit of crafting here, a bit of spring cleaning there (but not too much - got to pace myself, you know) with a bit of reading in between.



This is the cot quilt I'm making for my friend's new baby. (If you click for a close up, excuse the stray threads but the sun was out so I had to run outside to photograph it whilst the going was good - I will snip them off later.) Had the devil of a job to avoid the same fabrics being too close to each other - I just gave up in the end and hoped for the best.



I'm hoping it won't take too long to quilt - I'm just going to do nice, simple, straight lines. Next up will be a quilt for DD to take to university in the autumn - she has requested it especially so I can't disappoint her. It reminds me of when I went to university and my Nan crocheted me an afghan to put on my bed - it really brightened up my room and everyone liked it ... seems like a long time ago now.

Better late than never

Okay, so I missed the Easter boat - I did change my blog banner to show my Polish painted eggs but as I didn't post before Easter that was a fat lot of good. Then, I saw these chicks at Knot Garden, who linked to the pattern at Fuzzy Thoughts. Quick, made all in one piece, got to be my kind of activity - albeit that I made it yesterday instead of before Easter.

I was full of good intentions at Christmas to really make an effort to post more regularly but I seem to have fallen by the wayside again - I think I'll stop going on about it and just accept that work gets in the way and there's only so much that I can do.

How do you keep patterns that you print off the Internet? Not long ago I bought a laminator from Aldi - they are really cheap nowadays. I've found it really useful for laminating instructions - saves them from getting all creased and I like to be able to prop them up where I can see them when following the instructions. I keep them in a box file.

Notebooks

I don't buy many 'novelty' fabrics - they're not really my thing, but occasionally I can't resist the general overall design so I buy them and worry about what to make with them later. I don't like to cut them up small because you lose the effect of the large pattern. So, I take them out, look at them fondly and put them back again. Until now. I came across this great tutorial from Bloom and Blossom via Sew Mama Sew and it's just what I've been looking for. So far I've made 5 notebook covers and I'm going to be making more - they are so quick and inexpensive to make and excellent for keeping by when you need an emergency gift or indeed just a gift for the sake of it. My Dad has earmarked the Landscape one for himself, DD has bagged the Bon Voyage one and my Mum likes the teacups.

I made the notebook on the right in the picture above the same as the instructions - I didn't have any linen so I used a sort of linen-look instead. Now I could have said 'faux linen' if I'd wanted to. The word 'faux' always makes me laugh. When I was young we called man-made fur 'fake fur', then all of a sudden a few years ago it seemed to become 'faux fur'. Why? Does using the word 'faux' make it more up-market - it only means fake in French? What word do the French use? When my brother told me he had bought a 'faux fur throw' I nearly fell about laughing.

Some of you commented on the picture DH took of the buses in London. When I told him about the feedback (he does not read my blog), he said he had another picture. He goes up to London several times a month for work and happened to be there on the day of the State Opening of Parliament. Because all the roads were closed off there were huge traffic jams. He always has his camera with him and snapped this picture of a traffic jam composed entirely of London Buses on Waterloo Bridge.

Another friend had a baby - I'm hoping to finish his quilt before his fifth birthday!! I've never made a 'proper' hourglass quilt before and as it's a boy I've chosen red, white and blue. I thought I would probably have to cut down the blocks to make them nice and square but (fingers crossed) they seem okay so far. I used the EZ Angle ruler to make the triangles from strips. This quilt seems to have a lot more new fabric in it than I usually use - though naturally there is fabric from the odd shirt or two tucked in there.

London Calling

Bit of a blog break there - we had a few days in London over half-term - didn't take any pictures myself but here's a couple that DH took - the London Eye at night and a row of London buses with The Gherkin in the background. I know feelings are mixed about The Gherkin, but I think it's a great building.

When I was a kid, if we ever went to London we always had to 'look out for someone famous' - the premise being that London is full of famous people and you've only got to keep your eyes open to spot one. Needless to say, we never say anyone remotely famous, until now that is, when we saw David Blunkett catching a train to Sheffield while we were waiting for our train home.

Part of the reason for the break was that my daughter had a briefing session for the course she is starting at University in the autumn, so we thought we might as well all go too (to London, not to the briefing session, that would have been well embarrassing).

I also found time to find my way to Fabrics Galore in Lavender Hill. I did succumb to temptation, but really, I think I need to call a halt to fabric buying and start using it - otherwise I'm in serious danger of running out of anywhere to put it.

Ecobag

Nowadays it seems de rigeur to refuse a plastic bag in favour of one you've brought along yourself. Before Christmas I bought this Japanese pattern book for eco-bags from e-bay:

The link to the page on e-bay is here and shows more pictures from inside the book. There are lots of great quick-to-make bags to save on using up plastic ones. It's taken me until now, but here's the first one I've made. I used some old poly-cotton that has been hanging around for years waiting for its time to come. Well, poly-cotton, your time is now - 100% cotton would probably be too thick to use in this bag, in the book it looked like they used rip-stop nylon for strength, but the thought of sewing slippery nylon gives me the shudders - poly cotton is bad enough.

You fold up the bag into the little pouch that you can see attached to the top - about 3 X 4 inches - just right to pop in your handbag.

And here it is, modelling a loaf of bread to show its capacious properties. Actually, if I made another one I would probably make it a bit longer, this was the largest of 3 size options and even so, I think it's a tad short. The other problem I had was converting all of the measurements from centimetres to inches, because my rulers only have inches on them. Even though we 'did' metric measurements at school, I'm still an unreconstructed ounces, pounds, inches, yards kind of a woman. Still, that's my problem, the instructions in the book were really clear and I just followed the pictures. I'll definitely make more bags from the same book.

Can you tell what it is yet?

Leslie and I have been chatting about feeling the yearning to knit but not wanting to make a man-size jumper but something small, like a baby item or a teddy bear (big hint there). We loved Lucy's knitted bear, Rainier, and it reminded me that I made a bear from a pattern in the same book as Lucy last year (you can see it here), and that I had actually knitted up all of the individual pieces for another one in the summer. But sewing up the pieces is my least favourite part of the process so I just left them to fester in the meantime. Now I've published a picture of the pieces I feel kind of obligated to sew them up so watch this spot.
When I fished them out of the bag I had put them in, I also found these. I bought them in Carlisle at Christmas, they are made of papier mache, the large head is about the size of a ping pong ball. I thought they would look good with arms and legs made of yo-yos. (Though goodness knows when, if ever, I'll get round to that!)

No-sew Valentine Garland

I'm back in the creative groove. I am always so behind in making seasonally appropriate items, but no longer - look at this - a whole three weeks in advance of the day. I was desperate to use some of the red and white fat quarter fabric that Andrea had sent me and this idea had been in my head for a while (several years actually - I like to let my ideas mature don't you know).


I thought I might as well take a few pictures along the way so here it is - my no-sew heart tutorial.


BTW - the background is my old cutting board that I don't use for cutting fabric, it is messy and horrible but ideal for a base to cover the table while I glue.


Here's all you need:

• cardboard from a cereal carton or the like
• scraps of batting
• glue gun
• cotton fabric
• ribbon

Step 1
Draw round a heart template on your cardboard, I used 5 hearts in my garland but you could have as many as you like.


Step 2
Cut the hearts out of the cardboard

Step 3

On the coloured side of the card, use your glue gun to put 3 dots of glue on the heart shape (one near the point and the other 2 either side of the 'V', if you see what I mean). There is no need to spread the glue all over the card, this is just to hold the batting in place so that it doesn't move around so three dots are all you need.

Step 4

Plonk the card glue side down on a scrap of batting - I used what I had around - you want it to be a fairly high loft to give the heart some shape.

Step 5

Cut the batting level with the edge of the card.

Step 6

Cut your fabric about 1/2 inch bigger than the heart template (I just drew round the template I used for the card and cut the fabric a bit bigger by eye, but you could make another template just for the fabric)

Step 7

Position the card, batting side down on the wrong side of the fabric, making sure that it is placed in the middle of the fabric.

Step 8

Holding all the layers together, turn it over and pin the fabric to the batting.

Step 9

Pull the fabric over to the back of the heart and glue it down all around the edge with the glue gun. I made sure that I stuck down the top and the bottom of the heart first, because you have to pull the fabric quite firmly and that way it doesn't shift around too much. The back of the heart should then look like this ...

... and the front of it should look like this.

Step 10

Take a piece of ribbon long enough to go through all of your hearts with excess at the ends to hang your garland from. Glue the ribbon to the hearts with a dot of glue at each side of the heart, leaving about an inch of ribbon between the hearts.

Step 11

Use your heart template again to cut more heart shapes, this time out of pelmet vilene - you need to cut a smidgeon within the line you have drawn so that you can't see it from the front of the heart. Because I am a lazy good for nothing woman, all I did then was to glue the pelmet vilene onto the back of the hearts - after all, no one's going to see them, they're against the wall. But ... you could do it in a couple of different ways, depending on your inclinations. You could either use the same fabric as the front to sew a heart shape to the back, turning in the edges as in applique, or, you could use heat'n'bond to fuse fabric to the back of the heart.

After you have done this, your garland is ready to hang and will look something like this.

Which looks okay - but we all know that more is more and I think the addition of some ribbon bows does add a little je ne sais qu'a (or even je ne sais quoi - who would believe that I've got A-Level French?)

And there you have it - a very quick and easy Valentines Garland

Ta Da!

Good grief! It's a finished quilt, and not just a cot quilt, or a single bed quilt, but a humungous double bed sized quilt.

Now, I would have tried to get a better picture, but you just can't get quality quilt hangers these days. They mumble from behind the quilt and say things like "My arms are going to fall off if you make me do this much longer" or "This is so unfair, I've just started a game on Runescape - if I don't get back I'll be locked out". No stamina, that's their trouble.

Quilting this was a bit of a marathon, though I say so myself. My machine has a tiny space under the arm and always stops with the needle up so it wasn't the easiest of things to do. Which could be why I am craving this machine - it's not available in the UK yet, and will probably be out of my price range when it is, but it is very tempting.

I finished the top for this quilt quite a while ago, you can read about it here. I loved putting it together, and followed Patti's crumb chaos instructions.

The border fabric is navy blue, not black, and I free-motion quilted it with a pattern of leaves. I quilted the centre of the quilt in wavy lines - I thought it was in keeping with the wonkiness of the quilt, but I'm still not sure that it doesn't look like I can't quilt straight. Still, as my kids would say 'Whatever', at least it's finished.

Some people have all the luck

And this time it's me! Andrea and I had arranged what turned into a New Year Swap between us and just look what she sent me.


A most beautiful sewing box that she made herself (how awesome is that?) and four lovely fat quarters. I could just squeal in delight - in fact I think I will anyway because after all, you can't hear me.

Here's a close up of the exquisite workmanship. I could never, ever make anything like this myself and I can't stop looking at it. It has certainly brightened up this dull January.

And - better late than never, here is a pic of the swap I received from Sandi in Chookyblue's SSCS. Once again my luck is in - don't you think the Penny Rug looks good in my kitchen? Seems a shame to put it away until next Christmas.

I'm not very good at New Year's Resolutions but I've copied Clare, in resolving to answer all my comments this year (just so long as they're not no-reply). And, don't faint, some time very soon I may just be able to show a pic of a finished double-bed sized quilt. Wonders will never cease!

Merry Christmas

I am so in tune with the season ... finally got my stocking garland up today!!!

The latest in my collection of Christmas houses has been up for some time though. (They seem to be getting smaller every year)

Here's how they look on the mantelpiece - the light's no good (too sunny!!!! unbelievable!!!) but you get the general impression.
I would like to wish all who read this (now very occasional) blog a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Christmas Stockings

See - I can still sew! These are my Christmas cards, I started them months ago with every intention of finishing them nice and early. Best laid plans .... they were finally finished last Sunday.

I wanted to take some good pictures before I wrote out the cards but the light has been terrible lately. I've made more than I can send so I'm going to turn some of them into a garland for my above my mantelpiece so hopefully will get a better piture then. They are made in the same way as fabric postcards - just in a different shape (you can click the picture for a closer look). Very fun to make - especially if, like me, you have lots of ribbons to hand.

I don't blog, I don't comment - I'm a bit rubbish really! Can you guess where we went at half term? Great weather for the end of October.

I still haven't got my crafting act together but I have dipped my toe back in the water - I've nearly finished my gift for the 2008 Secret Santa Swap (good job really, seeing as it's got to be posted on 25th November). I've also been doing some Christmas related stuff - photos to follow. In the meantime here's a picture of the garden of the Grand Trianon at Versailles.
Did my legs ache after spending all day walking in the grounds!

The English Riviera

Last week I spent a night in Torquay in Devon as I had to speak at a conference (get me!). Lest you should get the wrong impression of my lifestyle and job status - this only happens once in a blue moon, so I made the most of the sea view from my very swanky hotel room. Torquay is known as the English Riviera because of the temperate climate - hence the palm trees.

Other than that, nothing much going on here - been quilting my crumb chaos quilt but it's slow going so not worth a picture yet - maybe next weekend!

It's for a girl

If you know someone's going to have a baby, you've got months of notice in which to make a quilt, right? So why do I always leave it until the baby is born to even start it?

I delivered this to my friend D's wife yesterday. Actually, I didn't do too badly as the baby is only 3 weeks old. I'd had a few days leave from work so at least I could get going on it pretty quick. Of course, I'd wrapped it all up nicely in cellophane with a nice fabric bow (the ribbon stash comes up trumps again!) and then remembered I hadn't taken a picture of the finished article! Doh! I couldn't bring myself to undo it as I would have probably had to use new cellophane but I think you still get the gist of it from the 'wrapped and folded' version. I wanted something simple and quick to put together so rail fence seemed to fit the bill in pastel blues and pinks. I used a very thick batting so it would be nice and comfy-cosy for a baby. Can't say the quilting is anything special, and there's a few small tucks here and there but I asked DH what he thought and he said (a) he wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't pointed it out and (b) they added to the artisan feel of the piece! Good enough for me.

My other best news is that DD got the grades she needed in her A-Levels and won a place at University in London. She is taking a 'gap' year this year (much to the chagrin of her father) so she won't go until September 2009 (and needs to find a job in the meantime) but we are all very pleased and proud of her.

Holidays

We've been on our annual summer holiday to Wales - mixed weather, but not too bad. The credit crunch is meant to mean that more people are holidaying in the UK this year instead of going abroad, but in fact, it wasn't as busy as it was when we went in early June.

I took some knitting with me - more bears, but smaller ones this time. I'm knitting 3 at the same time - one each for DD, DS and DS's friend M. Nothing much to see yet apart from a pile of tiny bear parts (someone remind me that I don't do detail or tiny, I obviously temporarily forgot and thought I was someone else).

Unfortunately while I was away, Elf Donna announced the Secret Santa Swap for 2008 - no surprise that it filled up and closed before I'd even shaken the sand from my suitcase with a massive 128 swappers. Probably just as well, because my productivity of late is somewhat lacking, but I have fond memories of the lovely swap I received last year from Cheryl and I'm sure it will be even more successful this year.

My Mum has also introduced me a to new blog - not quilting or sewing related but this one is all about cakes. Called the Caked Crusader it is dedicated to the promotion of the most delicious looking home baking and is also quite quirky and funny - highly recommended!