a patchwork fish

a patchwork fish.

because I've finally finishing piecing my liberty quilt! and there were a few spare itty bitty pieces left over. 

also because I am putting off piecing together a back for the quilt, or doing any form of housework, and I had to do something till it stopped raining and then I could go for a walk. 

this week

this week I've

• put up the fairy lights. I couldn't stand the gloom and grey any longer. by calling them fairy lights and not Christmas lights I can avoid the no decorations till after the birthdays rule. (which I made so I can break)
• driven a 70 mile round trip for an outpatient appointment which I think lasted 2 minutes and 37 seconds. teenage boy is now cleared to play sports but he hasn't told his teacher yet.....
• ordered pink striped bags for the sweet making extravaganza, to ensure some of the sweets get taken away.
• made felt robins for a friends craft stall and wished I'd kept one for myself.
• been bought chocolate by a very sweet friend
• bought tickets for the local youth theatre production and driven teenage boy to and from rehearsals.
• drunk a lot of tea
• not eaten any cake............... this really needs remedying.........
• finally put some stock into my woefully neglected folksy shop
• drunk a lot of tea. oops did I say that already.....

working on new embroidery designs. - cow parsley.

When was I preparing for this years Alnmouth Arts Festival I wanted to include some more botanical designs, and with the hedgerows filled with cow parsley I didn't have to look far for inspiration.

To simplify the complexity of the flowers I printed out a photograph and drew in the main shapes, and highlighted particular flower heads that were prominent.

I then drew this out on paper to get a feel for the shape of the design, and also practised drawing the individual flower shapes a few times.

Then without marking the fabric it's over to the sewing machine, set up for free motion and draw with the needle.

So much fun!

the year in books - February. The Fault in our Stars.

I chose John Green's The Fault in our Stars for February's #ayearinbooks mostly because the 15 year old kept telling me I had to read it. When I was a teenager I mostly read science fiction - Arthur C. Clark, Anne McCaffrey, Douglas Adams, crime writing - Agatha Christie, and fairy tales. I found my book of Russian Fairy tales and reread them after watching the Olympic opening ceremony, and seeing all manner of fairy tale creatures in the narrative. As far I as I can tell teenage fiction that is read by my children falls into different categories,action - the Cherub series, Time Riders and the Dark Lord series are all favourites of the boy, whereas the girl flits between books about angels and other divine beings, about hopeless romances and ghosts, (with thankfully not too many about vampires) and amongst them all there is an underlying tone of angst. 

The Fault in our Stars has already been read in #ayearinbooks by that adventurer and 700 words - who said she read it on a train and had to fight to keep back the tears. I read it at home and cried too....... After I finished it, it's a quick read, and not one you want to put down, I found myself rereading certain sections and wondered if I read it from a different perspective to my daughter. You are drawn into the lives of the teenagers within, and feel their pain, but I also felt it from the angle of a parent of teenagers, hence receiving a double dose of tragedy.   Tragedy aside it was also uplifting, and I shall be interested to see the upcoming film to see how it translates as a movie.

What do you think about books that are made into films? Which do you prefer? Does it make a difference if you read the book first? Or does that mean you are always disappointed by the film because the characters aren't how you imagined them to be?

My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations. John. Green.

liberty love

February half term.

The guaranteed grey and damp weather has occasionally been interspersed with splashes of blue sky, and a break in the bitterly cold winds that make you want to curl up with a book and a cup of tea and hibernate until June.

Splashes of colour are starting to creep in amongst the mud brown and the sky greys, there are bright white snowdrops, fresh green shoots, and a few brave purple crocus petals to be found if you look carefully.

I am finding my own colour in my oh so precious stash of liberty scraps, slowly but surely they are turning into a shoal of liberty lavender fish.

Most of the liberty love this week though is being given to this tiny cushion, a kit that was a Christmas gift, and is being fought over by most of the family, apparently it is "just so cute".

the year in books

I'm joining in the Laura at the Circle of  Pine Trees and her year of books. 

I'm going to rediscover old loves, read things I've been meaning to read forever, and even perhaps try out a few of the books the eldest teen is reading to see it helps give me an insight into her world....

For January I've chosen The Hobbit, which I read as a child, reread 20 years ago on an incredible wilderness camping adventure, and am now discovering in a different way through the films.

Bilbo has just escaped the from the goblins and Gollum, I am saving the rest for tomorrow, as it's coming with me on an adventure of my own.

where I will also be taking this.

thank you Alice.

drawing with threads.

black thread on cream linen.

 

 

inspired by wild flowers,

 

fossils,

 

and feathers.

 

panic has set in over prepartions for the Alnmouth Arts Festival next weekend, if you want me I'll be buried under a pile of threads somewhere.........

 

 

sewing news.

 

There is something insanely satifying about turning a pile of scraps into something new,

 

choosing the eyes to match each fish might just be the best bit of all.

 

and turning even tinier scraps into teeny pictures is even more fun,

 

almost addictive.

multiplying like rabbits.

I promised a friend some knitted rabbits for her comic relief bake sale.

 

Knitting on the train and when you are chatting means sometimes you don't quite pay attention to the pattern, and there was quite a lot of variation. The blue bunny on the right was the most wonky and affectionately referred to as a mole rat by certain family members...........

  

Next I tried a different pattern, but this bunny clearly hadn't been eating enough carrot cake, as she was rather anorexic.......

 

 

At this point I admitted defeat and headed for my sewing machine.

 

 

Much better.

 

 

This bunny was part of a "guess my name game", she was called Buttons.

The rest of the bunnies were sold for Comic Relief.

 

When I got home the first thing I was asked was "did you sell any bunnies?" and when I said they were all sold 

 

 "What??? Even the mole rat?"

 

 

a recycling project

Problem 1. I need some paper bags for a craft stall.

Problem 2. The house is becoming over run with magazines

Solution. Make a pot of tea. Spend a happy hour tearing pages out of magazines.  Choose pages that go together nicely and stitch together along three sides using an old needle and some cheap thread.  Trim off the torn edges to make them neat.

Have fun selecting the right bag for each customer. 

dreaming of a liberty summer

2 years ago today we had weather like this!

This week it has been a deluge of rain, thankfully we haven't suffered the misery of flooding that is in some areas.

When faced with such weather it might be sensible to plan to winter clothes, warm scarves, mittens and socks. But no, I am distracted by liberty fabric, and dreaming of wearing another summer blouse.

Since Coffee Lady convinced me that I would be able to sew one, and showed me all her wonderful pattern alterations I have been loving this top, and wanting another.

So a special day out was planned, and fabric was chosen, and every so often I get it out and look at it, and dream of summer.

And then I go back to writing lists, and planning birthday parties and refusing to accept that it will be December at the end of the week. I am Not ready for December. Are you?

lavender fish

how does the nursery rhyme go?
Lavender's blue dilly dilly, Lavender's Green......

well these lavender fish come in blue, and green and in all the colours of the rainbow.

they were very popular at last years Art's Festival, and I hope they will be again. 

Just over two weeks to go, I shall probably start panicking soon. 

valentine heart lavender bag tutorial

I have to say thank you for all the kind comments about my valentines lavender bags.

If' you'd like to know how I made them read on. otherwise go make a cup of tea and come back another day.

take a piece of fabric (I used some cream cotton) 10cm x 20cm.

cut a small heart from a scrap of fabric or felt and position it on the right of the rectangle, about 15cm across the fabric.

stitch around the heart to attach it, and then stitch a stem and a few leaf shapes.

I used an embroidery foot and dropped the feed dogs on my machine to do this, but you can easily do the stitching by hand (see further down for an example) with little running stitches and embroidery thread.

cut a piece of ribbon 15cm in length, and fold it in half (wrong sides together) then place the ribbon 15cm across the rectangle, so the ends are just sticking out over the top. take a pin and pin the ribbon in place in the middle of the rectangle (well away from where you will be sewing)

fold over length ways and pin.  Sew around the edge, leaving a gap at the bottom.(I marked the gap I leave with the pink pinheads) I always reverse and go back over the ribbon at the top, making sure it's really well secured. I sewed this by machine but you could it by hand using back stitch to make sure it was very secure.

clip the corners to reduce bulk, and then turn it inside out, watching out for that pin on the inside.

I stuffed mine with lavender, but you could use any dried flowers, or stuffing scented with some essential oils, or even just sprayed with your perfume.

I stitched this one by hand using some embroidery thread.  The fabric was fraying terribly so I made a feature of it and frayed it some more, before sticking it onto a piece of card.

one valentines card. 

hope that all makes sense, let me know if you make one.

lavender bags and a winner

Brrrr it's cold out, and it's gently snowing/sleeting/hailing outside. Hope you are all safe and warm and cosy.
Time to announce the winner of the Handpicked Collection giveway, and thanks to a random number generator the winner is
Lisa from Periwinkle, let me have your address and your caterpillar vase should be on it's way to you soon!

I've been making lavender bags this week, just in time for Valentines Day.

little mouse tutorial

fold a semi circle of fabric in half right sides together, and sew down the straight edge. I used a machine but you could easily do it by hand, if you used small running stitches or backstitch.

turn it the right way out and stuff it with wadding, cotton wool, or even some lavender. it wants to be quite firm, and make sure you push it right to the tip - the nose.

then sew a running stitch all the way round the edge.

and pull it tight, then stitch across the hole a few times to secure it.

measure across the base of the mouse, and cut a circle of card that is about 1cm less in diameter. cut a circle of fabric slightly larger than the card circle, and then sew a running stitch around the edge. lay the card inside and pull the stitches tight.

 

sew to the base of the mouse, using tiny stitches just catching the fabric (not the card).

cut circle or teardrop shap ears from felt, pinch and sew them near to the nose, make some eyes with french knots, and stitch some strands of thread across the nose for whiskers. attach a tail made of a piece of wool, ribbon, or string, and your mouse is finished.

 

now you just need to give it a name, feed it some cheese, keep it away from the cat, frighten someone scared of mice with it, make it a friend. hope you have fun.