Saturday 29 December 2012

Happy New Year to you all

Well that is it nearly to the end of another year, I have scraped through with only a few close shaves.
I  have made some wonderful friends along the way. It is almost a year since I created this blog, it has helped me to put into words what I love about my sewing. I know this needs to improve, also up dating my blog. These are projects I will be hoping to achieve in the New Year. 
I have so enjoyed all of my sewing project. 
I have caught up with my Tast stitches organised by Sharon at pintangle.  Also completed my 12 CQJP 

The bottom right contains the latest 3 Tast stitches Buttonhole Eyelet Flower, Berry stitch and Knotted Chain Cable. The rest of the CQJP I have used herringbone, french knots portugues border, bonnet and chevron stitches.
Both projects have been wonderful as I have learnt so much. Looking forward to learning a lot more as Sharon is continuing with Tast in a slightly different format.
  
I came second in my first every competition which was organised by Quay Quilters, a local group I belong to.  We needed to select something that reminded us of childhood. I thought so hard and in the end came up with this, can you guess who it is?
  It is a Quillow.      ( Quilt that folds up into a pillow) it has a fleece backing so technically it cannot be called a Quilt,so I am told, as it does not have three layers. I do not care I love them and they are so warm.
Well have you guessed yet? When I was a child we used to go to a fair organised by Old Hertfordians Rugby Club. Called the Yogi Bear Fair. I loved the fair and in the winter months loved to watch the rugby. I was 1 week old when I was taken to my first rugby match my Dad was the captain of Pinner RC at the time, we went every week and as I grew older I used to run up and down the side line trying to keep up with my Dad. When we moved to Ware Dad was a qualified Ref. that was how we got involved with OHRC  They were magical times for me.

See you all in the New Year Thank you to everyone who has come by and left comments.

Friday 28 December 2012

November CQJP

Rattling through these Tast stitches Pintangle link here . Loved the Portuguese border stitch and the magic chain. I think the arrowhead stitch needs to be on a more counted thread work. Needle Picot open and closed would be good with a combination of other stitches.

Wednesday 26 December 2012

October CQJP

I have included my TAST stitches I tried Beaded Hedebo Edge I used two different sizes of beads I prefer the larger beads. Knotted Loop Stitch, Italian Knotted Border stitch, and Buttonhole Wheel Cups. All of these stitches can be found on Sharons web pintangle.com for Tast 
Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas Day and enjoy the rest of your holidays.

Thursday 22 November 2012

I had a brilliant day today.

I teach a group of students with learning difficulties on a Thursday morning. 
 This is a young lady who has never used a sewing machine before. In 3 weeks she has managed to make a patchwork bag. I showed her how to cut the fabric, what a 1/4 inch seam was and I changed the settings from straight to zig zag.
 This is what the finished bag looked like I did have to pin the pieces together otherwise it was all her work. 
These are two pots that she made earlier in the term she made them all herself I fired and glazed them she seems to pick up anything to do with her hands. She struggles with life in general. 3 weeks was the longest I have ever managed to keep her on one project. 
 Sometimes it is worth while getting out of bed in the morning. 


Monday 19 November 2012

CQJP and Tast 34, 35, 36.
September CQJP
Decided I must catch up I found when I started stitching again that I really enjoyed it and had not realised how much I had missed just stitching for my own pleasure.
   So here is Pistil stitch.
                     Drizzle stitch.
                     Knotted buttonhole stitch.

Monday 12 November 2012

Tast catching up and CQJP
 This is my August block with my August stitches.
  I know I am way behind but will catch up promise. 
 Cast on stitch, Pekinese, Linked double chain and Sheaf stitch which ended up looking like little butterflies flying up the quilt.
It was looking a bit bear top left so I crochet a little flower. 
Sharon has said that Tast will continue after this year so check out her web site not just for the wonderful tast stitches but for everything else she shares.   http://pintangle.com/

Monday 22 October 2012

Look what came in the post this morning

THANK YOU KARRIN.
From Karrin's Crazy World  

Look at this I have just received this. It is a giveaway that I won from Karrin her blog is here

So beautifully wrapped

It was wrapped in this beautiful fabric and tied together in the ribbon.





A clearer picture now all I have to do is find something just as beautiful to put in it.




Thanks again Karrin. 

Tuesday 16 October 2012

GROUP QUILT

On Saturday I had a lovely day A few from my Quilt Group gathered to put together a quilt, that we have all helped to make.

I arrived a bit late and this was already on the table. All of the blocks were made by individuals of our group.
We squared up the blocks and began putting them together.


This was taken at the end of the day. Almost put together taken home by Ruby to finish

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Crochet

Well here it is my latest playings.
I have pulled out my crochet hooks and had a play.
I found the pattern on Mollie makes.




Really enjoyed making these, I changed the design slightly by putting on the thumb bits. They are big enough for me to have gloves underneath when it gets really cold.

I will show my tast soon.

Friday 21 September 2012

New giveaway from Jenny

I promise I will post some of my own work soon. I have been making just not posting.

Give away from Jenny fabulous fabric. Jenny calls them Gum boot far to pretty to be called Wellington boots go have a peek  on Jennys blog

Monday 27 August 2012

Thursday 16 August 2012

CQJP

Here are my 4 blocks for April, May, June and July
I have been working on them for some time but thought I would wait until I finished them all.
I started to get to adventurous when doing April and May so went back to basics for June and July.
These are all done using stitches posted by Sharon
  take-a-stitch-tuesday 
July

June

May bullion blossom

April

Sunday 12 August 2012

I know it's been a long time


What I have been up to.

I have not posted for some weeks because I have been busy playing.
Star pocket  

I  had been given 6 fat quarters and I wanted to see how far they would go.

I made this big enough to carry an A 3 cutting mat








.

This is on the other side my interpretation of a square Union Jack.








 This is what I made with the remaining 3 fat quarters. 

Quite a lot really. 

I do like the star in the bottom right I will play around with that.

Molly's cushion


   
A bag from an old pillow case plus scraps  
 






 
  Pin cushion mouse with Poppy's nose inspecting. She still loves soft toys and will pinch the grand-children's if I do not put them out of reach.

 
Last but not least this is what I picked up at a local carboot this morning. 


 Not bad for 50 pence works out at just over 1p each. I do love a bargain.

That's it for now as I am way way behind with my Tast and CQJP    

Thank you so much for stopping by.


Sunday 8 July 2012

Tast week 27
Bonnet Stitch

Bonnet Stitch I really loved doing this stitch it is very similar to herringbone. Another reason for liking it is that the thread used is nearly all on show not a lot on the back. I have been brought up to utilise all that I can and to not waste anything, and to me when there is so much thread on the back that cannot be seen is just a waste. I know it makes for lovely stitches and a lot of beautiful stitches you can do nothing else.
 Close up of the stitch using wool. The pink is doubling over and it becomes quite a different stitch. Also learnt that by making the top stitch bigger and the bottom stitch smaller it changes again. Loved it.


Thanks Sharon for another lovely stitch that I can add to my achivements. Tast link  take-a-stitch-tuesday here  

Thank you for stopping by. 

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Sunday 1 July 2012

Tast week 26
Palestrina stitch.
 I really enjoyed this stitch. 
I have been wanting to make pictures with my stitches but do not have the experience to see a stitch and think that it will make a nice outline for a leaf or a seahorse. Queenie here is a link to queeniepatch suggested starting simple so here are my 3 circles.
There have been some stunning work done with this stitch check it out here on Sharons pintangle site.


 This is a side view I like how this has been raised off the fabric. Do not know if this is what is supposed to happen but it is a different effect.




I have also posted on stitchin fingers site so will see if I can link to that as well stitchinfingers will try this out fingers crossed 
Still learning how to blog it is getting better slowly.


Thank you everyone for all the encouragement that I get on my blog






 

Friday 22 June 2012

Tast week 25 cable chain
Sharon's blog link to tast here

 

Tast weeks 21,22 and 24


I started this blog in an attempt to make myself write about anything really. I thought that by choosing stitches to write about it would help. What it has done is stopped me posting my stitches because I do not know what to say. So I think that I will post the photo's without putting pressure on myself to say a great deal about it all. It is the stitches which are important not what I have or have not got to say about it. 
Here is three week of tast stitches. 

Butterfly chain stitch












Knotted cretans








Buttonhole fan.

Sharon's blog Tast here

Sunday 20 May 2012

Tast Bullion Stitch
Week 20
Well I did not know when I started this Tast I would learn so many new stitches and so many different ways of using them. For some really good examples go to Sharon's web site here.
 My selection of bullion stitch. A versatile stitch many comments on it being worm like. I can see this but also roses of which I have not mastered yet. With a bit of experiment I like the way that if you do not pull the stitch to tight when putting it in its place you can make it curl.I can see that with a bit more practice it may be possible to manipulate it more.

A close up of my stitch the needle that I used for the long straight bullion is 1.1/2 inches, and the straight bullion is 1 inch. I also used this needle with the green thread and it curled really nicely. The pink is wool and I think it loses the lines. The blue and red are two threads mixed together.

Saturday 12 May 2012

Tast 19
Half Chevron

 This is a lovely stitch their are so many different  combinations. I have been looking at how others have used this stitch will defiantly be using some of those.  Look on Pintangle Here take a stitch-tuesday

Just realised that I have not put up the wheatear stitch so here it is. 
 



 


 


Sunday 6 May 2012

Tast week 18
Crossed Buttonhole stitch

Sharon's blog pintangle


http://pintangle.com tast

 
 

Close up of crossed buttonhole stitch. I like the way that when looked at from a distance on from on top it looks like cross stitch but you have a surprise when you look close up.
 



 I have used this for couching different shapes and it seem to work well. I like the different effects you can get just by changing the stitch length. A good one for my crazy quilt.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

CQJP.  MARCH.
 This is my March quilt detail. A tatted butterfly in a variegated thread, I love doing these.









Dorset button. My first one it is just buttonhole stitch and whipped wheel in the middle.




 These are my whipped wheels, running and barred chain stitches.






 The whole piece. 
I have used silk, cotton, some hand dyed and some recycled clothing.
The stitches are all from Tast Sharon's Pintangle I am going to try to put a link to her site pintangle 


My  knowledge of stitches is growing week by week and I am now starting to plan a bit more thinking of how to combine stitches colours and fabrics. All this because of Sharon's Tast and the  Crazy Quilt Journey Project. cqjp2012 It is a journey that I am enjoying very much indeed. Writing about is still a bit of a struggle but even that is getting better.  
 

Sunday 22 April 2012

Tast week 16
French Knots
 Well here is my attempts at the stitch.
I have tried out a few different threads, ribbon and wool. The top row is embroidery thread starting with one thread and ending with 6 threads. 
The thread that worked the best was the crochet cotton 
As you can see not a patch on my Grandmothers but I have time and patience. 

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Tast week 16
French Knots

 I just wanted to show you some of my treasures. They are only 3 inches in height.
  These are not my embroideries they were done by either my Grandmother or one of her sisters or  a cousin of hers. I cannot be sure as Mum had a lot of needlework given to her when her Aunts died.

 
This one is finished and is on display.
I have taken it out of the frame so that it may photograph better. The whole piece is done with single thread and the French knots are beautiful. 




Here it is again in the silver frame so it can sit in my living room.












  This piece has not been finished and I found it in an old needlework box with a whole load of threads. It does show me how she went about sewing this. The design has been painted on first, looks like water colour, onto silk. This has been tacked onto a very open weave fabric almost like a gauze, then embroidered on top, all in single thread.




 A closer view. I cannot get any closer as it distorts to much.

I hope you enjoyed these images I wanted to share them with you as I am so proud of what my relatives have done before me. I just hope that some of there skill is past down to me. 


They all died before the internet and did not get a chance to share, they were all a very sharing family.