Viennese Waltz - update 12

Good morning everyone.  Another 3 weeks has passed since I last showed you my large cross stitch project.  I'm stitching Viennese Waltz by John Clayton which is a Heritage kit.  Here is where I was 3 weeks ago:

And here is where I am now:

No, your eyes do not deceive you - I have finished!!  I finished this on Saturday morning before I was to venture out for the first time in a week.  I've been bed ridden for the last week with a horrible chest infection.  I would have thought it would have been the perfect opportunity to get some sewing done, but I didn't feel like it and spent the entire week watching TV and sleeping.  I'm still not better now.

As this WIP is now finished, I'll be starting another project for the SAL in 3 weeks time.  It's not actually a new project, I'm going to pick another UFO so stay tuned to see what it is.

I'm sewing along as part of a SAL, you can go and see what the other participants have been up to here:

Claire, Avis, Gun, Carole, Alison, Jule, Elizabeth, LucyAnn, Kate, Cathy, Jess and Jacqui

Silversmithing - rings

Last year me and Mr CA did a 2 day silver jewellery making workshop.  The teacher was so good that I put myself on her waiting list for her evening class.  Back in January, a space came up so I'm not attending a silversmithing class every Wednesday evening.  My teacher is Lisa Pearson, I can't find her on social media, so you'll have to believe me when I say she's a brilliant teacher.  Not only does she clearly know her onions, she's a really good teacher, great with an explanation and very patient.

Most of the class have been doing it for a while, so they kind of get on with their own thing and Lisa helps and advises when she's needed.  She also does a demonstration on different silversmithing techniques each class.  There is one other newbie besides me and we are going through a schedule designed to teach us the basics.

Over the first three weeks we made 3 silver rings.  The first (on the left) is made from simple 2mm round silver wire, shaped, soldered, filed and hammered to give a nice texture.  Mine turned out too big so I didn't bother polishing it up, though I may incorporate it into a necklace in the future in which case I will finish it.

The middle ring is made from 2mm x 3mm D-wire.  The inside is flat to your finger, the outside is curved.  This is just shaped, soldered and polished and I'm really happy with mine.

Finally we made a ring from 1mm sheet silver.  We used a pre-cut blank and textured it with a cross-pein hammer to give the bark texture.  We then soldered, filed and polished before burnishing to bring up the shine.  I'm also very happy with this ring but don't find it very comfortable to wear as it's 7mm high and I've only got titch fingers.

Week 4 was a pendent so watch out for that coming up...

rope baskets

At January's meeting of the East Midlands Quilt Group, the lovely Ange showed us how to make rope bowls using cotton cord.  I used white 4mm cotton cord to whip up this baby.

I say whip up, it took me the entire meeting, in between gossiping and stuffing my face with cake.  They are brilliant fun to make and the possibilities are endless.  I really wish I'd taken photos of some of the other bowls the group made.

The next day, I wanted to make another, so decided to use up the rest of the rope, just keep going until it was all used.  I also incorporated some fabric scraps for a dash of colour.

It turned out massive!!  I made a right mess of attaching the fabric scraps, but I really like it anyway.

I wanted to use up the rest of the roll so that I wouldn't have oddments of cotton cording hanging around, but now I want to buy more and make more baskets!

birdie embroidery

I got three lovely little birdie kits for Christmas.  (I actually got more kits than that, but just three in this series).  They are from Nancy Nicholson and are beautifully presented.  Each kit comes in a little cotton bag.  You can also embroider this though I haven't got round to it yet.

Inside is all the thread you'll need (though I added some as I wanted some different colours), a stitch guide and the pre-printed fabric which is printed in full-colour as the embroidery is sparse.  

These kits are definitely suitable for beginners, but also great fun for those of us that have some embroidery experience.  I didn't stick exactly to the stitch guide, but chose different stitches in some places as the fancy took me.

I bought three flexi-hoops on e-bay to frame them. I would have loved wooden ones but you can't get them in the right dimensions for these little kits.  Now I just have 2 more to stitch up, but I've told myself I can't do any more until I've finished some WIPs.  Wonder how long that little promise will last?

coffee cosies

I made these coffee cosies just after the New Year and completely forgot to show you!  Mum had requested crochet versions for her and dad for when they're out and about, but I couldn't find a crochet version I liked.  I decided to sew them instead.

I chose suitable fabric - mum loves pigs, dad loves Notts County (a football team who play in black and white).  They are quilted in a simple grid.

I didn't follow a pattern, I used a cardboard sleeve that I'd swiped from a coffee shop as a template and just winged it.  Both are bound and I chose nice big buttons to fasten them.

Mum loves green as well as pink, so I chose green for the inside and binding.  Dad got different black and white prints.  I sewed the binding on by hand as I just can't do it on the machine and think that those of you who can have special superpowers.

Erm, seem to have taken loads of photos and can't think of anything else to say.

How about a flat one?

kumihimo with beads

Whilst doing a bit of blog hopping yesterday, I came across a blog called... the crafter's apprentice.  It's a wordpress blog, set up in 2014 (I've been here since 2010).  Surely it's unlikely that someone else would think up the same strange blog name and not check if it's already taken?  I feel a bit strange about it.

My experiments with Kumihimo braiding began in August 2013 and lasted most of the summer.  I don't think I've touched my discs since, but I've always wanted to try kumihimo with beads.  I bought a kit to make a beaded braid at one of the shows and I finally took it out and had a go.

It was really easy.  This is a mixture of pearls and glass faceted beads, so it's nice and sparkly.  Hard to get a photo of...  Unfortunately, there's a major flaw which I discovered the next day when I put it on.  The clasp is absolutely pants.  I doesn't work.  That little toggle is far too small and just drops out and down the bracelet falls!

The toggle is part of the end cap which is glued in so I have no idea how to fix this.  Anyone got any bright ideas?

needlepunch pouch

Before i start, I'd like to say thank you for the comments on my last post. I had some messages of support which were lovely to read. It real does help to know people understand and/or care.  So thank you.

I made a little needle punch / punch needle picture ages and ages ago... let me have a look.  Oh!  February 2013.  So three years ago.  My WIPs just get older by the day!  Anyway, I pulled it off one of my many WIP piles and made it into a little pouch.

I don't know what the fabric is that I used, but I wanted something that went with one of the threads used on the main piece.

That unsightly buldge on the back is one of my needle punches, see...

I lined it with an old Petit Ecole print that I thought matched the colour scheme.  

I've made loads of pouches in my time and I STILL can't get the zip ends neat.  I don't know how other sewers do it.

Viennese Waltz - update 11

Another three weeks has flown by and it's time for an update on my Viennese Waltz cross stitch.  Here is where I was:

I have to admit to barely touching this since the last update.  I've been so busy at work I don't leave until 7, and I have yoga on Tuesday nights and silversmithing classes on Wednesdays - I'm not sure if I told you about that?  On top of all that, I'm reducing my very high dose of anti-depressants as I can't cope with the side effects and think I can cope emotionally on a lower dose.  The withdrawal symptoms are horrific.  Enough about that, on to the update.  Here we are:

I have added a bit to her skirt on the right, and I've started the ground/shadow underneath his foot.  Better than nothing!  I really need a final push and I can get this done. When I've finished writing and scheduling blog posts tonight (it's Saturday evening), I'll get on to it, if the world stops spinning long enough.


I'm sewing along as part of a SAL, you can go and see what the other participants have been up to here:

Claire, Avis, Gun, Carole, Alison, Jule, Elizabeth, LucyAnn, Kate, Cathy, Jess and Jacqui

Craft Book Review - Seed Bead Chic

The generous publishers at GMC sent me another book to review.  Although the book was provided for free, all opinions are my own and I was not told what to write.  The book in question is Seed Bead Chic, which you can see on Amazon here.

This is a beautiful book full of gorgeous projects.  This is definitely not a book for the beginner, some of these projects are pretty complicated.  A few that caught my eye are:

This Art Deco brooch, I think I'll make this one at some point.

This tube necklace.  I had intended to make this, but didn't get round to searching for the tubular material it's strung onto.

This lovely summery piece which I may well make, but I'd probably make it in copper as I'm not a fan of yellow gold.

This lovely bracelet.  This is actually the project I chose to make, but I made it into a necklace.  See below for more details and pictures.

This is another one I intend to make at some point.  I don't like the giraffe print beads much so I need to find a nice alternative.

I decided to make the bejewelled barrel bracelet as a necklace.  It required 2mm Swarovski rounds (as do a lot of the projects in this book).  I did some searching on line and bought some from Mail Order Beads / The Bead Shop Nottingham, not out of loyalty but because they had the best price on Swarovski.  I paired them with white 15/0 seed beads and clear 11/0 seed beads.

The actual necklace is a copper herringbone tube which was really easy to do, though it took a while!  The barrels are stitching in place so they don't all clump together when wearing it, as I'm going to prove in the next photo.  Oh yes, a photo of me.  In fact, my very first selfie!

I love this necklace and have worn it a lot.  The instructions were really clear and very easy to follow, I didn't have any false starts or any moments of "eh?  What does that mean".  Though remember, I do have some experience bead weaving so can't vouch that a beginner would be able to follow the instructions.  The weaves themselves are set out at the beginning of the book with easy to follow diagrams and written instructions.  Overall, I like this book and think it's a great addition to the library of intermediate to advanced bead weavers.

Let's finish off with another selfie:

Product details Paperback: 128 pages Publisher: Lark Books,U.S. (7 Dec. 2014) Language: English ISBN-10: 1454708174 ISBN-13: 978-1454708179 Product Dimensions: 28.2 x 21.6 x 0.9 cm Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Bee Block tutorial

Hello ladies of the Bee Together.  I found this block on Pinterest, it's by Anne of Play Crafts, but it was just a Flickr photo, so I've put together a bit of a photo tutorial for you.  I'm no expert so I hope this makes sense.  If you can see a better way of putting it together, go for it!

I'm not overly worried about precision, I'm not a precise piecer myself, so don't worry.  As you can see from the photos below, I cut the strips longer to help me with piecing and just trimmed them off afterwards.

I'd like blocks in blue or yellow.  You can do two of one colour or one of each, but please keep each block to one colour only.  For the sashing, please use any light-medium grey solid.  You can use a different one for each block.

Cut:
- Centre block - 1off 8.5" square
- Small blocks - 12off 4" square

Grey strips:
8off 4 x 1.5" (between the squares)
2off 8.5 x 1.5" (top and bottom of the centre square)
2 off 17.5 x 1.5" (right and left of the centre square)
2off 17.5 x 2" (side sashing)
2off 19.5 x 2" (top and bottom sashing)

For the bottom two strips, I cut mine a bit wider and didn't trim at the end, please feel free to do the same.  PLEASE DO NOT TRIM YOUR FINISHED BLOCK.

Below is the layout.

Sew the short grey strips to 8 of the small squares. 

Sew another square to the other side of the grey strip.  You will now have 6 pairs of squares joined with a grey strip.  2 of the pairs will have a grey strip on the end.

Sew two of the pairs to the pairs with the extra grey strip.  Sew the grey strips to the top and bottom of the centre square.  When I do my next two blocks, I will actually chain piece it all, but I stopped and pressed to make it easier for you to see.  I haven't made the next two blocks yet as I want to balance out the colours depending what I get from you lovely ladies.

Sew the 2 remaining pairs of small squares to the top and bottom of the centre square.  Sew those long sashing strips to your outer columns, then to the centre.

I then trimmed around the edge.  At this stage it measured roughly 17" which, if I've done my maths correctly, was a bit undersized.  Not to worry!

Finally add the outer sashing to the left and right, then the top and bottom.  I cut mine to 2.5" by mistake so I'm not too worried by those missing corner bits and you shouldn't be either!  It measures approx 20" of useable block.

I plan to quilt-as-you-go each block, then sash them in either yellow or blue.  Leaving it untrimmed with a bit extra on the outer sashing will help me finagle it together.

Thank you ladies!

Finishing off

In a previous post I mentioned a box of jewellery WIPs I have lying around.  Back in the autumn I started to tackle them, and some other WIPs lying around.  It was slow progress!

I made some silver links and a silver heart in the silversmithing class Mr CA and I took in September.  See here.  I finally got round to adding some chain and a little porcelain bunny to one of them.  They are designed to wrap round the neck, then the part of chain with the dangle goes through the coil to hold it in place.  They don't really work and I need to rethink the design.  They fall off a lot when I wear them.

Also in September, wonderful mum and I went to a mosaic class, which you can read about here.  My tray needed finishing.  I'd bought a little pot of tester paint and over Christmas I set to work painting it.  Finally it is finished and in use!

In a ceramics class in August, wonderful mum and I made brooches.  She had hers all finished and ready to wear the day after the class.  Mine were ready in December!  You can see the original post here.

The second from the left isn't ceramics, that's a beaded cabochon I made for a blog hop back in June!

It was nice to get these pieces out of the box and into use.  I still have quite a lot of projects half-finished.  I need to get better at finishing!