Sewing Case

I finally finished my sewing cases. I just need to iron the white marker pen out so you can't see where I drew the quilting pattern on. I made two so that I could try different things out on each and learn with one so that the second would be perfect. Of course I just made mistakes on both instead.



I cut the wadding too small. My 1/4 inch sewing didn't leave enough room for the trim. My binding was too thin. My cord too fat... etc etc.. but even with all that, I am very happy with them.



I was intending to give one away, but I love both of them so much, I don't think I can. They have all my favourite scraps of material in them. They are really too precious. And it's always useful to have two of something right? They're the kind of thing that you need when you're on a train doing applique on the move. I bought a new pair of mini scissors just for the other case so now I have two sets of scissors, unpickers, threads, needles and pins. I feel very organised. I still prefer my mums case, but that's always the way I find.



I am also the owner of my very own bodkin now which I found I really couldn't make cord without. I tried with a safety pin but it was arduous work. Then bizarrely enough I was in a cheap shop and there was one right in front of me for £2 and I thought, "why not splash out on a bodkin". I am so very decadent.

The Year Review

So it's the first day of 2011, a fine time to take stock of the year.

Things I made this year
An iPad case
The Country Quilt
A baby quilt for a forthcoming baby
A baby quilt for baby Mabel
A pin cushion
Another iPad case
A knitted blanket
A cushion

Unfinished projects from 2010
1. The crazy quilt which I have done NOTHING on.
2. A baby quilt for Mabel Done!
3. The kit to make which I have been saving for a rainy day.
4. The partner to the speaker quilt which I haven't even thought about
5. The Country Quilt, Finished! It was a huge task but I cracked it!
6. The Sawtooth Star Quilt I haven't really tackled it this year as my aim was to clear the decks, so it almost doesn't count.
7. The Stripey Quilt, which I need to do the borders and binding for.

Oh dear, 2 out of 7 is very poor indeed.


Resolutions for 2010
To do a course which I did do in crochet.
To get more done. Well that's always tricky but I think I did pretty well.

Resolutions for 2011
To finish things off instead of starting big new projects (small ones are okay)
To improve my knitting

Better get back to my sewing case...

Blanket done!

Well it's taken me nearly a year, but finally I finished my blanket. I am very chuffed with myself. I can't quite believe I knitted something so big! The only bad bit is how I joined the two pieces in the middle. I did it really badly so it's all lumpy. I am hoping it stretches out with use though. In a way I can't wait for more cold weather just so I can test out it's warmth. I reckon it's going to be amazing. I would like to thank my new wool winder which just made the whole process much easier!



I got a cabling book for Christmas so I am going to try out some new cabling stitches. I might just make some squares and see how they turn out. The new local knitting shop had some lovely knitted cushions. I wish I needed cushions. I seem to finally have all the cushions I need!

Sewing case

Today I decided to make a sewing case just like my mums. It's an old fashioned thing really but I really like it so here I am rummaging through the scrap bag, trying to dig out my favourite materials I have kept all the ickle bits of. It seems like a good holiday project. I thought I might make two at the same time. The pattern is from an old magazine that my mum bought me when I first started out.



I had forgotten how rubbish I am at flying geese though. I just keep trimming them, then I trim them again. I swear they are now an inch smaller than the pattern. I am not sure about using templates either. They seem less accurate than cutting them straight from the measurements.

Amazing gift #1 - A woolwinder!

I mean I really don't deserve one as I am hardly what you would call a hardcore knitter, but it seems that the posher the wool, the more often it is twisted in a skein which I have to hand wind. It was really starting to get on my nerves. So I was kindly given a woolwinder which I am inordinately excited about. I plan to try and up my knitting skills next year. They do make more attractive wooden ones but you need more space for them and to be honest I don't think I will have it out all the time as I don't knit THAT much. It will be great for crochet though as I often spend lots of time winding small balls of wool to take on the move with me. When I went on the crochet course I could see they wound their balls with a machine as they had this lovely pattern to them. Now mine do too!

Xmas wrap

This year, my xmas wrap was based on gold and yellow. Not as flamboyant as some years.

Pin cushion

I'm quite up for the idea of some cross after seeing some lovely examples at knit and stitch


I thought these were lovely.


I asked for this book for Christmas. It's full of fancy alphabets.

Xmas Presents

So this year it was let's make a cushion year! So me and Rachel spent a snowy day in the workshop making cushions out of scraps.


I did a bit of prep work.


The set up in the workshop.


My bunting has found a great new home!


The front with mum's friend's scraps of furnishing material.


The other side, using my £1 pillowcase from the second-hand shop. I didn't make the flap quite deep enough.


A detail.

What I bought

There was nothing I really needed at Chilford, so I just ended up buying bits for half-formed ideas. I've realised that often the bast matching materials are the ones from the same series so it's good to get a few when you see them.


I liked these birds and the dots went well with them.


These were super cheap. I have no idea what they would be for.


You can never have enough stripes.


I love Liberties material. It's a bit expensive and patterned for my liking, but I couldn't resist these. Maybe I'll build up a collection over time and do something with them.


These go together perfectly. I have no idea what you'd use them for though.


I have a half-formed idea with these. Maybe sooon, maybe... There seem to be so many other projects to do.

That's it! A ood thing to. I just have NO MORE SPACE. I need to stop buying and start making!

Single Girl Quilt

Another day, another project finished. Here is the quilt for the baby Mabel. A year late but finished. I really loved the pattern when I saw it. It's called "single girl" and it's by Denise Schmidt.



It took quite a long time because I had to make all the templates out of Myla so I didn't hack the pattern to pieces. I tried to make it as random as possible so each ring looked different.



In the end I did most things wrong. I cut the white material too small and had to unpick it. In future I would cut it much bigger so I could trim it down afterwards.



I finally got to grips with how useful two rulers can be when your quilt is really big. I am not too good at folding them in four and trimming. It just scares me, so this lining up of rulers felt safer.



The biggest problem was the machine quilting. I found it really hard to keep turning the quilt as it was quite bulky and involved a lot of folding it then re folding it. All the twisting and turning and stopping and starting meant that the needle kept jumping when I stopped and started and it took me a long long time to work out how to minimise it. So it's a bit rough round the edges, but I learnt loads and those are my favourite kinds of quilts to do.

It looked great in the end.

Chilford Quilt Show

Another year, another quilt show. This year I thought I would pay close mind to how people appliqué and observe how shoddy I am in comparison. I really loved these folk art mini quilts. I think, although they are not really my style, there are parts of them that I really appreciate. Just the sheer time involved for one. I really got up close to people's stitching and marveled at how accurate they could be in something so small.











As for what I bought. Jeez, that's another post

Cloud Nine

So for my birthday I asked my mum to buy me some Cloud 9 flannels. They were pretty costly as they seem to be only available in the States and I had to pay import tax on them, but I saw this pattern on Cloud 9 and I just really wanted to make it.


I really like the pattern as it's modern and retro all at the same time and the flannel is so soft. After spending years on my last quilt, it just felt so nice to do something easy and straightforwards.


It only took a few hours to cut the strips, sew them together. By the end of the day I had the backing on and was sewing it together. I didn't quite follow the pattern at this point as it's for a baby and I had used some offcuts of wadding so I thought it needed some slightly more substantial quilting.


I did pin the quilt as opposed to doing my usual tacking. I do find however that pins ping out and scratch me, so used quilter's safety pins on the edges.


I ended up doing simple straight lines inbetween the owls in big, white, perle stitches.


And here is the finished thing. It's bigger than I expected, but I really enjoyed doing it as it took a week in total.

Knitting

So I finally had the push to finish off the knitting I started last winter. I was much quicker and before I knew it I was on the borders... only to run out of wool. It's so annoying as I saw it everywhere at Knit and Stitch but now I can't get it for love nor money. So it's back in the bag it goes until Loop have more wool. Another project so nearly finished!

I changed the pattern a bit as I didn't really want a stole, I wanted a blanket, so I just knitted the main panel twice and knitted them together.