My Social Side

I seem to be flaunting my social side at the moment!

Over the last few weeks I've joined a quilting bee AND a quilt-a-long.

I was thrilled to be invited to join the The Quilting Bee by Maria over at sew love to sew 

and of course said "Yes"

The Bee is made up of 6 of us

Maria @ sew love to sew

Amy @ Cloud CouCou Crafts

Fran @ PatchyRose 

Sarah @ Quilt Candy 

Glinda @ Glinda Quilts 

Me!

and we are making one strip each. The finished quilt will be 40" wide and we can choose to make five 8"blocks or eight 5" blocks or whatever else will fill that width.

This is my finished strip

It's a disappearing pinwheel block using a couple of Amy Butler Soul Blossoms prints that I had in my stash. 

It is refreshingly liberating to start a quilt that you have no pre-conceived ideas about, as to overall colour or what room it is intended for.

My second social venture is a Swoon Along! 

It is being organised by Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs

I watched Katy's Swoon along take the quilt blogging world by storm last year and regretted that I didn't join in then. This time I'm on the ball! It only started yesterday, so if you fancy playing along, follow the link and join us!

Finally, I have some finishes to share with you.

If you are a regular follower, you will know I am stash busting my knitting yarn oddments this year by making baby items for  Greenfields Africa

I challenged myself way back in January to make 52 items (one for each week of the year) using only oddments from my stash (I'm including fabric stash too). well, we are half way through the year at the end of this week, so I should have 26 items. With the 2 fabric blankets I finished yesterday, along with a couple of knitted items from earlier in the month, I've made it - just!

These bring my year total exactly up to 26 items.

Phew! That bundle is quite big! By the time it gets to December this parcel will need a sizeable box indeed! But my otherwise not very useable stash will be zapped and a few more babies will be wrapped in something other than rags.

Right now, I'm off to choose the fabrics for my Swoon.

Have a good week! 

An Amazings Crafting Class Giveaway

                   

I love learning new techniques and new crafts, don't you?
Yes, of course you do, that's why you're reading this post!
Well today I have something very special for you - a free crafting class !!

Many of you have heard of, and doubtless used, Craftsy, a US based learning platform, but have you heard of The Amazings?
I certainly hadn't until a couple of weeks ago, and the more I learned about this enterprise, the more I felt strongly about what they are doing.
We all know that there has been a resurgence in crafting and there is a whole generation of young (and not so young) people  without crafting skills, who are very eager to learn. The Amazings works on the premise that it is the retired and retiring age range in this country who have these skills in abundance and they should be shared.
Amazings Co-Founder Adil Abrar says:

"There's nothing better than learning from someone who has a 
lifetime of experience, sharing shortcuts that you won't find in
most books or websites, and dropping in little stories that make 
the learning experience really special. We've worked hard to 
replicate that amazing-ness so people can experience it online, 
all over the world "

The Amazings are based in London and now have over 200 real life workshops run by the over 50s encompassing a wide range of crafts from Italian glass art to kiltmaking. But demand has far outstripped what they can provide, so they have now started to offer on-line classes.

I was privileged to be offered a couple of these classes and found them to be entertaining and informative. They have a relaxed approach and you feel very much as though you are just sitting in your lounge (which you probably are!!) with the teacher by your side. The style is conversational, with both the teacher and the student in the video and it is heartwarming and encouraging to hear the student asking exactly the same questions that are on the tip of your own tongue.
There are 8 online classes to date, with more coming very soon. You can choose plant pot mosaics......

 ....or silver clay jewellery making.

 Perhaps if you watched "The Great British Sewing Bee" a few weeks ago, upcycling a man's shirt into a summer dress would be more your thing.

As someone who is very conscious of what chemicals are in my food, my fabrics and also my beauty products I was totally inspired by Judith's Natural Beauty Products class and I'm now off to have a go at making my own face wash and lip balm!

Although I have done English Paper Piecing before, I still learned a few tips and tricks from Virginia's Heirloom Quilting class. She has a very down-to earth, waste-not-want-not style, using recycled fabrics. This is refreshing in a world where avid quilters can so easily get caught up in the rat race of always wanting the latest designer fabrics for their quilts. Recycling is, after all, exactly why the first quilters quilted in the first place!

The classes are economically priced, but thanks to Farzana at the Amazings,  I have a very special offer for you. 

You can get one of the 8 online classes from The Amazings for free by using this link
The only hard part is deciding which one to choose! Be sure to let me know which one you go for, as I enjoyed my freebies so much, I'm sure I shall soon be buying some more :)

Have fun!

Julie

Mariner's Compass Cushion

Sometimes, no matter how carefully you prepare, things just don't go the way you planned.

When the June theme for Le Challenge was announced, I decided upon an idea (the theme is Maritime) and ordered some fabric from the US. I had plenty of time, and was fully expecting it to be here when I returned from Toronto, but, alas, it wasn't! A few emails later and the company informed me that my parcel had, for some unknown reason, been returned to them. They promised to re-send it, but this, of course, meant I had to completely re-think my project for the challenge. (This was Tuesday, so I only had 3 days in which to make something!!) I spent a day and a half dithering, wondering what I could make in the time, and then suddenly it struck me - a Mariners Compass block! I have wanted to have a go at one of these for a long time, but I certainly couldn't make a quilt in a day and a half. I settled on a cushion, found a paper piecing template and used fabric from my stash.

Time was short. I had to stay focussed and concentrate. No time for mistakes!

So, I selected my fabrics....maybe not my first choice, but what I had on hand....

I colour coded on an extra template and kept it prominently displayed on my desk

I made a list of which colour each numbered segment was, and kept that on my desk too

By the end of Thursday night 3 segments were done, and by Friday lunchtime all 8 were complete

Yes, the seam ripper did come out a couple of times, but they were only small mistakes !

Joining the segments together was a little tricky. Just how was I to cope with all those seams coming together at the centre?

They don't sit as perfectly as I would have liked, but under the circumstances, it could have been a lot worse.

I decided I didn't have enough time to make a cushion front and quilt it, as I had originally planned, so I decided to appliqué the compass onto an existing cushion cover.

Hmmm, Was this going to work? I only had a 1/4" seam allowance on the compass, and a lot of seams to turn smoothly under. No time for errors.

I decided to follow a technique used by Sarah Fielke in her latest book "Hand Quilted with Love"

                                       
You cut a cardboard template the size of the finished piece and place it on the wrong side of the applique. You then wrap tin foil around them and iron, pressing the seam allowance smoothly under.

I do recommend using good quality tin foil. Mine was from the "value range" and had a tendency to tear as I was pressing the edges as hard as I could with the iron. But nonetheless, considering all those seams, I think I got a pretty smooth curve to my circle.

Sarah suggests using applique glue to secure your piece to the background whilst you hand sew in place, but I prefer not to use chemicals where possible, so it was good old fashioned pins for me.

The cushion was finished by 7 pm - just in time to sit in the evening sun and enjoy a little celebratory drink (In the middle of all this fast sewing my son and his girlfriend had phoned me from their holiday in Cornwall to tell me they had got engaged !!!)

Cheers !!

Needles and Pins on Little Bird Wings

I have made a little bird pincushion! She is for  Le Challenge, a monthly crafty challenge which is organised by Lucy and Nat, and this month's theme is "Wings".

I knew as soon as I read the challenge theme that I wanted to make a bird pincushion, partly I suppose, because I have a bit of a thing for little stuffed fabric birds, and also because I needed a new pincushion that would sit comfortably on the arm of the sofa

My little bird is so proud of her wings that she lets me store my needles there.

She has a nice flat bottom (if only I could say the same!) so that she sits still amongst  all the crafty paraphernalia on my desk and she is firmly stuffed with Polyester filling so that pins push easily into her back.

 I have added an additional felt layer to the underside of each wing so that I can store needles there to keep them separate from the pins.

The wings are attached with spotty heart shaped buttons and the eyes are really tiny flower shape buttons - the type that you buy for scrapbooking and card making.

I embellished the tail with short lengths of ric rac, folded in half and sewn into the tail seam.

My little bird is going to get a lot of use, but when she's not needed for pins, I know she'll be very happy sitting amongst the ornamental branches in my lounge.

 I might even let her sit outside on sunny days - just as long as my cats realise she is only a stuffed bird of course!

I am hoping to get a tutorial written up so that can you have a go at making one for yourself. The technology is beating me at the moment. If anyone knows an EASY way to convert a scanned drawing into a professional looking line drawing using  Photoshop Elements or Touchdraw, please let me know. I found some tutorials but the learning curve was way too steep for me to tackle to get it done for this post. One day I'll manage it, hopefully!

A Quilt Finish

 

 

 

Yay! Ive finished another quilt. A very pink and girly quilt!

 

 This is made with just one jelly roll - Coquette by Chez Moi for Moda and some Kona Snow.

It came together really quickly. I didn't even spend ages arranging and re-arranging the blocks as I usually do - they just sort of fell into place first time round.
 

The backing is even more pink.... and I used the remaining strips of jelly roll to make a scrappy binding.





It is quilted with a simple straight line quilting 1/4" away from the seam lines.

When I bought the jelly roll, I didn't realise quite how pink it was. Too pink for this house and I don't yet have any "girly" relatives to give it too, so I think this would be a good quilt to donate to Siblings Together

 

As it's Wednesday, I also have a couple of Wishful Wednesday projects to share with you (the things I would like to make if I had a magical unlimited amount of time!)

First up is a knitted shawlette

Although I wasn't keen on them at first, shawlettes have grown on me over time.They are a quick way to dress up the jeans and T shirt that I'm wearing, when I'm off out and running late - a bad habit of mine!!

This is a free pattern and the equivalent yarn for UK knitters would be any aran weight yarn

 

And secondly, I have this crochet butterfly to show you.

 

I really must try and make time to have a go at these - I know they wouldn't take long. Again a free pattern (UK terminology) and you can find it here

The Le Challenge theme this month is wings - I've already planned my entry, but a few of these might just find their way into the photograph too! If I can tear myself away from the garden sunshine we have at the moment, that is...

I hope you like my pattern choices this week, and that the spring sunshine is filling you with energy and enthusiasm too.

Till next time..............Julie

 

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day

 

Guthrie Ghani Grand Opening

 

If you have been watching the Great British Sewing Bee on TV, you are quite likely to know that one of the finalists, Lauren was opening a fabric and haberdashery shop, called Guthrie-Ghani, in Moseley, Birmingham on Saturday. Now Moseley is not too far from where I live, so I went down to join in the celebrations.

Fortunately I got there earlier than I had intended, but even so there was quite a crowd to witness the opening ceremony. A kind lady let me get near enough to take my photo. This is Lauren with her husband Ayaz.

Stuart another contestant was there to help with the cutting of the tape

 

and then we were less loose on the goodies inside. My goodness! What a treat that was!

Lauren has wonderful taste in her choice of fabrics for her own sewing and that shone through in all stock she had ordered. I didn't know which things to Ooh and Aah over first.

There were drinks and cakes and a delightful large cake decorated with all things haberdashery!

 

and so many visitors that some had to wait outside until there was space enough to be let in. Tilly arrived and helped Lauren serve and chat to customers.

 

The shop is beautifully laid out and even has a seating area where you can rest awhile, have a coffee and peruse the patterns. It even has THIS wonderful vintage treadle Singer sewing machine on display!

I remember my gran having one just like this. Funny, it looks smaller than I remember it, as a child. Guess I've just grown taller!

The queue for the till stretched round three walls of the room, but the atmosphere in the shop was so vibrant no-one cared in the slightest! Ermmm, that happens to be ME behind  Tilly with my arms full of books and yarn!

 People had come to visit from far and wide and I was lucky enough to meet up with fellow blogger Gilly from Gilly Makes. It was great meeting Gilly for the first time and she kindly took this photo of me and Ann, who was this year's winner of the Great British Sewing Bee.

Ann is 82 and makes all her own clothes. She has so much energy and enthusiasm and was encouraging everyone to give sewing a go, whether they were 5 or 55.  I want to be like her if I live to 82!!!!

Guthrie-Ghani is going to be a wonderful addition to the fabric shops available in the West Midlands. There is an amazing,  well-lit studio upstairs with beautiful oak beams where a wide range of sewing, quilting and knitting workshops will take place, and if you live too far away to visit, don't worry - they have an online shop too!

 

Farmers Wife Quilt

My Farmers Wife quilt is growing!
I managed another two blocks over the weekend.I think I picked just about the most complicated blocks in the book! Or maybe I've just got to step up, as I think there may be quite a few like this.
These pieces are so tiny!

That block on the bottom right of the top picture nearly got the better of me.

There are 33 individual pieces in one 6" block and you have to be so accurate - which you can see from the photo, I'm not :(
The un-picker tool got a lot of use this weekend!
Despite the challenges, the tiny pieces look really sweet, especially when chained pieced like these - almost miniature bunting.....

 

The blocks I completed this weekend were numbers 53 and 64

and here is an excert from the letter that goes with them saying why the author would be pleased if her daughter should marry a farmer.

"Nothing ever compels so sweet and deep a response in a women's heart as does strength. I hope my daughter's husband, strong with the sun-browned strength of a farmer, clean minded, true, may inspire in her the kind of love that will dare any obstacle."

I guess these days with modern machinery, it's not strength that the farmer needs, so much as determination - and in the UK, you're not going to get many sun-browned farmers, just wind browned ones maybe. The letters are providing interesting reading though.

I said on Friday that I hoped to spend some time gardening, and as Saturday was a glorious day, I spent the whole day in the garden.

I had a small plan to try and gradually raised the level of the lawn at the bottom of the garden as it flooded a lot over the winter and I lost a lot of plants. My son offered to help, and before we knew it the small plan had become a big one with levelling (we used a spirit level!!) and raising of the border, taking out plants, and ordering turfs.

Hopefully we can get the turfs down next weekend as it looks a bit bare at the moment, but I'm sure it will look great in a couple of months time.

Finally, it's Earth Day today, and as I'm sure you know if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, I love organic cotton, so if you are starting a new project, consider using organic and do your bit to help this earth of ours :)

 

I'm linking up with "Let's Get Acquainted Monday"  which is over on the  Quiet Play blog this week