When will it be over? Please let it be over soon...
Monday, 17 June 2013
Saturday, 15 June 2013
Non-matroyshka, non-babushka doll
I'm quite a grumpy person. I often shout at my computer. It's often about the incorrect use of apostrophes. I can't understand why people don't know how to use an apostrophe, it's not hard! Another thing that gets me is when people call matroyshkas "Babushkas". Babushka is Russian for grandmother, Matroyshka is Russian for stacking dolls. They aren't actually interchangeable. The reason for this diatribe? I thought I'd stitched a matroyshka. I haven't, it's a Kokoshi!
Mini rant over. You will have to forgive my grumpiness, I'm still undergoing treatment for my eye which means I'm walking around with white crust round my eye and in my eyelashes. Also, my glasses slip down my nose constantly. It's extremely annoying.
Enough! I've not got that much to show you, I haven't been very productive as I just don't feel like it. But I did finish that little cross stitch cover kit (and no Kerry, I AM not making a list of cover kits!).
Jojo expressed amazement that I'd sewn this without a hoop, but the whole thing is only about 4" high and it's sewn on aida which is quite stiff. I find it easier to work in my hand for things like this. Look:
See, no bigger than my diddy scissors.
Right, I'm off to try to motivate myself to do something other than play Candy Crush and watch back-to-back episodes of friends.
Mini rant over. You will have to forgive my grumpiness, I'm still undergoing treatment for my eye which means I'm walking around with white crust round my eye and in my eyelashes. Also, my glasses slip down my nose constantly. It's extremely annoying.
Enough! I've not got that much to show you, I haven't been very productive as I just don't feel like it. But I did finish that little cross stitch cover kit (and no Kerry, I AM not making a list of cover kits!).
Jojo expressed amazement that I'd sewn this without a hoop, but the whole thing is only about 4" high and it's sewn on aida which is quite stiff. I find it easier to work in my hand for things like this. Look:
See, no bigger than my diddy scissors.
Right, I'm off to try to motivate myself to do something other than play Candy Crush and watch back-to-back episodes of friends.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Saturday, 8 June 2013
Skill Builder BOM - Woven Chevrons
In order to prevent me being kicked out of the EMMQG, I thought I'd better actually do some quilting, well patchwork at least. I haven't forgotten the Skill builder BOM, hosted by Pile O Fabric that I signed up to, though you could be forgiven for thinking I have considering I have done nothing since March (except basting 13 hexies!). I'd been putting off March's block 6 - woven chevrons - as it looked hard. It actually wasn't.
Oh, Ange, this is that boring quilt in just shades of blue, you know the boring one I was telling you about that you said sounded boring? ;0)
I cut 40 million QSTs and 20 million HSTs* and sewed the QSTs together.
So far so good. Then I had to sew these pieced HSTs to the HSTs.
I was pretty sure I'd end up with loads of different sized squares, so I thought I'd better trim them up. Alyssa said they should be 3.5". They were all a fraction over and a quick trim sorted that out. I was stunned.
The squares were sewn into rows... all these rows are the same length. Hmmm, something odd going on here.
Done. Most of the points match. MOST OF THE POINTS MATCH! So you're thinking "so what", well that's never happened to me before! I know why it's happened, some lovely lady, I think it was Kerry, explained to me what a scant 1/4" seam is. It has changed my entire world. OK, so it hasn't. The house is still falling down, I still don't have a kitchen, I still have to go to work tomorrow, but MOST OF THE POINTS MATCH!
It also measured 12.5", just as it should. None of the others did! I added some borders and called it down.
MOST OF THE POINTS MATCH! I'll accept your admiration now ladies.
*slight exaggeration
Oh, Ange, this is that boring quilt in just shades of blue, you know the boring one I was telling you about that you said sounded boring? ;0)
I cut 40 million QSTs and 20 million HSTs* and sewed the QSTs together.
So far so good. Then I had to sew these pieced HSTs to the HSTs.
I was pretty sure I'd end up with loads of different sized squares, so I thought I'd better trim them up. Alyssa said they should be 3.5". They were all a fraction over and a quick trim sorted that out. I was stunned.
The squares were sewn into rows... all these rows are the same length. Hmmm, something odd going on here.
Done. Most of the points match. MOST OF THE POINTS MATCH! So you're thinking "so what", well that's never happened to me before! I know why it's happened, some lovely lady, I think it was Kerry, explained to me what a scant 1/4" seam is. It has changed my entire world. OK, so it hasn't. The house is still falling down, I still don't have a kitchen, I still have to go to work tomorrow, but MOST OF THE POINTS MATCH!
It also measured 12.5", just as it should. None of the others did! I added some borders and called it down.
MOST OF THE POINTS MATCH! I'll accept your admiration now ladies.
*slight exaggeration
Related posts
Thursday, 6 June 2013
What I'm working on
I mentioned in my last post that we'd had a meet up of the EMMQG. After the show-and-tell, talk from a lady from the Quilt Guild and lunch, we had time for a bit of sewing. I'd taken along the hexie block from the Skill Builder BOM to do. Sitting outside in the sunshine, having a good old natter, I got LOADS done.
Yep, 13 hexies basted. I sew like the wind, me. I'm also working on a dinky little cross stitch. It was a cover gift with CrossStitcher and one evening, not feeling very well, I wanted something mindless to do, so out it came.
Stitching it again on another evening I starting thinking of challenging myself to stitch all the cover gift kits I have, it could be a new list... NO WENDY, do not go there! Sorry to disappoint Fiona but I can't give myself any more challenges or lists, I already have this one and this one, not to mention this one!
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Sewing-themed necklaces
Morning ladies. I hope you all had a good weekend? I had a lovely day on Saturday, we had a meet up of the EMMQG in a gorgeous little village in Derbyshire, home to Guild members Mandy and Lynne. Despite being bullied by Ange most of the day, it was so nice to be with other sewingy-type ladies who all accept me into the Guild despite the fact that I'm almost a quilt-virgin. I got to see some amazing quilts in person and eat some wonderful food. And cake. Chocolate cake. The only downside of the day was the horrible migraine that came on as I was driving home. I was in bed by 8pm on a Saturday night.
We have a little birthday-swap going and three ladies had had birthdays since I'd seen them, or had birthdays coming up, so a present was in order. But what to give extremely-talented quiltresses who would surely laugh at my wonky sewing? Handmade jewellery...
The cute little sewing-themed charms came from ebay and it took me ages to track down plenty of different ones! I decided to make each necklace the same-but-different. So we have a black version.
The round beads inside the silver donuts are glass millefiori, just beautiful.
Then we have a pink version. Those almost-round beads are made of paper. I didn't make them but making paper beads is on my list. No surprise there then, there's not much that's not on my list.
I used purple crystals with this one.
And finally a yellow and green version.
This one also has glass millefiori beads and some lampwork ones on the sides.
A necklace as a gift requires a gift box. I am rubbish at buying things like that so I decided to make them, how hard could it be?? I should have realised at that point! Some of the charms had come in a dinky little pizza box, so I opened it out to use as a template.
I used scrapbooking paper stuck to card for the first trial. I thought the card would give it rigidity. It didn't quite work. I think the problem was that the template is made from thick card and my card wasn't as thick. Version 2 was made from card alone, slightly thicker card. It still wan't great. It kind of worked, but I did have to tape it shut!
As this wasn't working, I decided to draft up a standard box with lid. I made the base. I made the lid a few millimetres smaller.
Except I didn't, the lid was the same size as the base! I finally gave in and measured the base before making a lid and had a workable box. Clearly I forgot to take a photo though! Ladies, I do hope you forgive me crappy boxes!
Sunday, 2 June 2013
Hardanger SAL #4
I'm still keeping up with Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL, even if I'm miles behind with the Skill Builder BOM and I'm running out of May for May's block in the And Sew On BOM.
This is May. I loved stitching this, there's something so soothing and relaxing about Kloster blocks and the cut work. The needleweaving on the bars was the Uneven Weave, a new one for me but not hard. The fan stitch (the dark blue in between the needlewoven bars) was also new for me and my first attempt wasn't tight enough, so out it came.
This was another octagon block, so I added the corner fans and klosters to make it square, as I did with February's block.
Here they all are together. Just June to go and I'll be adding "sashing" between the blocks and turning it into a hanging. I can't get any decent photos of this work at all, my camera sees white and turns it blue!
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