January Round Up

It's the end of the month, so it's time to have a look at all the challenges/alongs I seem to have joined - what was that about not joining in much this year??

First up is Needlequest.  The theme was silk shading, which I interpreted as long and short stitch.  Cue the Scabious V&A kit I bought and almost finished years ago.  This is a rework of it as I'd run out of thread.  I got quite a lot done considering I work full time and don't spend all my spare time on one project.

I certainly think my long and short stitch is improving.  I've done all of the long and short stitch flowers and now I'm working on the stems, which are stem stitch, and the leaves, long and short again.

I never expected to finish this in the month, I'll carry on working on it.  I'm really loving stitching this piece.

What do you think?  Successful so far?

This was also my "old" for Something Old, Something New.  The "new" was a ribbon flower brooch which, sadly, never made it out of the drawer (though I did find it!).  A semi-success there then!

The Sew Kitschy BOM block was sewn, last minute, but not only pieced but also finished and made into a trivet!  Resounding success there (if I do say so myself!).
  

My piece for the Craft Book Sew Along also happened, though I honestly can't remember if I mentioned it or not!  It was this spiral rope necklace.

I managed to join in Fiona's New to Me in 2014 with my turned-edge applique Colin and my efforts at woodwork!

I've still got 2 months to go on the 2014 Finish A Long, and I'm going to need it!  On my list:

1. Restart and finish Crewel Flowers - working on it 2. Finish hooking my rug - I have done a little 3.  Finish Jacob's quilt.  So far I have cut 16 squares so a long way to go with that one! - still sitting on the sofa... 4. Sew chair cushions for my dining room.  I have completed 1 piece of patchwork for 1 chair and now I've lost it... - sitting next to Jacob's quilt fabrics, minus the lost block... 5. Handquilt/machine quilt my And Sew On quilt. - I did take it to the EMMQG meeting, so it's had an outing! 6. Finish the wrist warmers I'm crocheting. - erm... nope! 7. Cross stitch the last Silhouettes picture for my dad. - I took the kit and put it in my WIP drawer, that's progress I think?
One item I really should have included in the FAL is my mosaic tray.  It's a work in progress and has a slight chance of being finished.  I never showed you, did I?

The last mosaic I did, the house number sign, had me putting on the tessarae with glue.  This uses a double-sided sticky sheet, so it's a different method.  It's easy and good fun.

I joined, but never admitted it, the Smalls Sew Along.  The perfect excuse to get some of those small cross stitch kits and cover kits done.  My entry for January is very, very, very nearly done. Should be done tonight...maybe.

I didn't join in A Lovely Year of Finishes this month, but intend to next month.  I also discovered the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I know, I know, I don't need another challenge BUT, I desperately need some scrap baskets, and what better way to make them than from scraps?  January was blue so I might have to try and shoe horn that it soon, I'll start next month.  As in tomorrow.

Oh!  Before you go, pop over and say hello to Tiff and Harry.

Sew Kitschy

After completing the And Sew On BOM last year, I knew I would also join in with Kristy's BOM this year, Sew Kitschy.  Then January came and pretty much went as fast as it had arrived.  I didn't think it was going to happen.  Then, out of the blue, I just did it.  It's quite a simple pattern, perfect for beginner but I wanted to add something more to it.

So I made an economy block for the potholder!  Yep, just the one economy block.  And it has a little birdy sitting on an arm chair.  

And here's my finished block.  Our kitchen has black counters and hob and a black floor, the cabinets are all white and the walls will be when we paint them.  The tiles are multi-coloured so any colour scheme goes, though I'm drawn towards red.  I bought some new oven gloves in Tesco last week which are red gingham with little birdies.  I wanted to piece the oven glove in red gingham but the only one I had was too dark, so I went with this pretty print.  The back ground fabric is black to represent our kitchen counters.

Now I had an issue.  Not the FMQ issue (which I'll come to later), this was when I came to quilt the potholder.  It just wouldn't work, I couldn't sew it.  Then I realised why.  I'd forgotten to remove the paper!! Just from that square.  Surgery was required.

I'd already quilted the background so I couldn't just undo it!  I cut a hole in the back and wrangled the paper out.

So what do you think of the quilting?  I took Trudi's advice and FMQ'd random swirly loops.  I'm sure it looks like a dog's dinner to all your accomplished quilters, but I'm quite chuffed with it.  I had an issue 3/4 of the way through.  I'd just finished quilting, turned it over and it was loop and nest city on the back!  You know what I'd done?  I'd forgotten to put my presser foot down!  I made sure to keep checking after that.  

The potholder and glove are done in straight lines in a grid, just like my real oven gloves.  And that hole I cut in the back?  (not sure why Blogger is forcing me to have this bit of text centred)

I used a small square of fabric and glued hems around the edges, then glued it in place and quilted over it!  It is the back!

I think you can see I have slight tension issues, along with wibbly stitching, but my tension wheel doesn't seem to do anything at all.  I'm convinced it's just there for decoration!

I used what little there was left of the oven glove print for binding, but it was nowhere near enough, so I added in some of the blue star from the economy block.  My binding is a mess.  There was no way I was doing this by hand, my evening sewing is my crewel work at the minute and this is a trivet, so I did it on the machine.

And ripped half of it out as it hadn't caught the binding on the back, and redid it.

And it still looks a mess.  It's staying a mess.   After all, this is a trivet"

This is sitting on our ceramic hob, the perfect place to put hot dishes taken out of the oven.  I asked Mr CA if he knew what it was.  He said "yes, it's to put hot dishes on", so I explained that I wanted to know if he knew what the picture was.  He said "yes, it's a bird or something on a chair."  Oh dear...

The Super Simple Slouchy Sling Bag

First of all, thanks for all the comments on my Grow Your Blog post, I will be getting round to see you all eventually!  Thanks too to the new followers.  A lot of you are no-reply bloggers, so I couldn't respond to your comments.  For those of you on Blogger, you can fix this so people can reply to your emails - go HERE to see how to do it.  Don't know if you're a no reply blogger?  Leave a comment on your own blog, go into your emails and try to reply to that comment.  If the address it's sending the comment to is no-reply@blogger.com, no-one can email you back!

I also found that a lot of the blogs I visited, especially the newer ones, had word verification on.  Please consider turning it off.  It can be really hard to get those blurred characters correct and a lot of people just won't bother.  If you need help, leave me a comment (with your email address if you're also no-reply!) and I'll help you.

Anyway, on with  the post!  Mrs. H asked her bag testers to test a new bag for her.  She calls it the Sling Bag, but I prefer her original title of the Super Simple Slouchy Sling Bag which she abandoned as she can't say it (probably that Welsh accent of hers*).  

And here is my version.  I made the outer using this lovely red patterned fabric, I have absolutely no idea where it came from.  It's thinner than quilting cotton and so I interfaced it and added the fusible fleece.  The lining is a green solid that I think I bought at Ironbridge.

There were issues making this bag.  None of them relating to the pattern I hasten to add - all relating to the fact I seemed to have left my brain cell at work that week (my colleagues will deny that).  I cut out the interfacing and when attempting to fuse it, realised it was sew-in interfacing.  Sew-in interfacing?  What's the point in that then?  And WHY did I buy it?? So I basted it, and it turned out a dog's dinner.  So I threw it at the wall, got some fusible interfacing and tried to make it fit.  Not helped by the fact I cut the two pieces the same, rather than mirror image.  Ah well, it's partially interfaced!

I also had no magnetic snap, so it's just open at the top.  That's alright though as the strap is short enough that it fits under my arm so no-one would be able to get their hand in there - not without great risk to their personal health.

I started off with 2 half metre cuts, so I didn't have enough of either to make the strap.  I pieced it in the middle and I like it.  The pattern comes with options to make an adjustable strap or a static one like this.  I can't do the fancy-pants method of making a strap and my D rings weren't the recommended size so I used my own method and did some maths.  Perfect for the handle, not so perfect for the tabs which I forgot to scale!

I added a double slip pocket, smaller than Mrs. H's as I was making use of the little scraps I had left.

I also made the zip pocket, again using whatever size of fabric I had.  I love Mrs. H's method for this, it's a much better way than the way I was doing it.

Not sure about that pink zip.  It matches one of the flowers on the print so seemed a good idea at the time!  Anyway, the pattern is now released and IT'S FREE!  

You can get the pattern HERE.
Go and see Samantha here to read all about the bag.  She also published the testers' bags which gives you loads of ideas on how to personalise it.  Thanks Samantha for letting me test your bag, you're my favourite Welsh blogger*!

Something I noticed when blog hopping for the GYB event, I realised I've stopped putting any personal little anecdotes in my posts.  I was never one to talk about my personal life, but I did tell you about my disasters in life.  I suppose I stopped doing that because the depression meant there was nothing good in my life and I couldn't even laugh at myself (usually a rich source of humour), but now I'm (finally) starting to get better, I must make an effort to share.  One notable story you missed out on was how I badly sprained my ankle just before Christmas as I was attempting to do the moon walk outside my office and I fell over a brick and landed in a hedge... you missed out there girls!

*Disclaimer:  I know she's not Welsh but it really, really annoys her when I insist that she is.

Grow Your Blog

Good morning and, if you're here for the Grow Your Blog hop, welcome!

My name is Wendy, I'm married with 4 bunnies, I live in England and work full time in an office, in my spare time I like to make things.  I started blogging back in 2010 when I started making things, as a bit of a record, but then I made friends, found blogs I love to read and now I'm pretty much hooked.  I'm on a one woman mission to try every craft there is going, I've made a great big list of all the crafts that I'm ticking off, slowly!

If you're interested in seeing what kind of things I make, I've put together some pictures and links to posts for you.  I'm keeping this short and sweet as I know you've got many other blogs to visit.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a quick explanation of the event:

The "GROW YOUR BLOG" event is designed to bring more readers and FOLLOWERS to your blogs. The premise is simple-- just visit as many blogs as you wish and sign up to follow those that interest you. In turn, all the other folks will be doing the same thing.  You can see the other participants at 2 Bags Full.

I love to do many different crafts, here are some of them...

I love sewing...


I love to quilt...


I love to crochet...


I love to make jewellery... 


I love wire work...


I love making chain maille...


I love beadweaving...


I love macrame...


I love polymer clay...


I love bead embroidery...


I love cross stitch...


I love embroidery...


I love needlepoint...


I love Chicken Scratch...


I love Hardanger...


I love blackwork...


I love punch needle...


I love to work with glass...



I love making mosaics...


I love to felt...



I love to make candles...



I love making cards...


I love latch hooking...


I also love bunnies, chocolate, bunnies, coffee, bunnies, The East Midlands Guild of Modern Quiltiness, bunnies, reading, bunnies and staying at home with the hub.

I do NOT love Knitting, I do NOT love English Paper Piecing and I certainly do not love housework.  

Nice to meet you ladies, thanks for dropping by!