Thursday 26 May 2011

More mistakes to learn from... you'd think....

I've been back in the cupboard again, and It Is Good.  Even if I don't necessarily love everything I make, just the process of making something makes me so much happier!  I got a couple of W.I.P's tidied up and out of the way.  Remember the scraps cushion cover that I went a bit mental on with my learning FM Quilting zeal...?



I told you the front looked nicer than the, admittedly insane looking, back.  I also took my practice Lynnebobsquarepants block and quilted and bound it.  Don't know what on earth for, as I cant think of a useful place for it and its a bit pale and wonky looking for my liking, but it was just scraps and it was all good practice for Mays Brit Bee Blocks.




I cant show you my finished bee blocks... but I can tell you a few things...
I thought I'd be a smart arse and ease my jangly nerves of HST's by carefully drawing on the exact line my stitching was to follow.  I thought I was oh so clever using my invisible fabric marker pen, I even tested it first on a teeny scrap to make sure it would disappear first.  I marked all my squares, pinned them, sewed them up, and cut them into triangles.  A few hours later when the marker lines had all disappeared, I went and pressed my triangles.  Something to remember for next time - fabric marker pens with ink that magically disappears, equally magically re-appears twice as bright, twice as dark, and apparently permanent if ironed over...  Perhaps not quite the brainwave I thought it was to use said pens to mark a sewing line, on someone else's fabric!
I confessed all to May Queen Bee, and not only was she incredibly sweet about it, she actually encouraged me to keep going and even to do a second block!  I have to be honest, I was ready to have a little sniffle and mope - I really, really don't want to be the weakest link as it were...  So, a huge big thank you to May Queen Bee, and a huge big hug too as she really did give me nothing but kind words of encouragement that really made a difference.  My finished blocks are not perfect, but hopefully they are not a complete disaster!  Such pretty fabrics, and pretty fabrics can make anything look good!

Talking of pretty fabrics...

 A sneaky peek at a quilt I'm making - the bee blocks needed seams pressed open, which is something I had to learn how to do and get some practice in!  Never mind burning myself on the hot iron I almost scalded myself on the bloody ironing board....

The sewing cupboard might have to come second to cooking in the kitchen this week though, I made a classic, rookie Narcolepsy mistake...  Did the shopping when I knew I was feeling a bit, well, dopey...  And hungry...  When I got to the checkout I do remember thinking "great - didn't take too long and it's almost over, soon be back home and I can kip".  Then as I started unloading the trolley I realised it was rather more full than it should have been...  A stronger (less knackered) person might have stopped there, turned back and put away the extra unnecessary items remembering the size of the fridge back home.  Not me.  Mind you, even a strong person might have cried at the bill and I am pleased to say I managed not to.  Oh, and as for "didn't take too long" it was actually over an hour...  Spare a thought for my poor man sat outside waiting for me.  Though I don't suppose that was quite as bad a wait as when I "nipped to the toilets" in Perth whilst we were away - he was stood outside the ladies for 40 minutes as I apparently fell asleep on the lavvy...

And now for... Brit Quilt Swap!  Lots of exciting designs popping up every day on flickr...  I had a good look at  the mosaic my partner did of everything she likes, did a wee bit of stalking, a bit of Internet browsing and found this
         
It's a painting called Asian Dream by Adriana Oancia, and she gave me the okay to try and do something with  her work as inspiration.  She has an etsy shop if you want to check her stuff out, it's bloomin lovely http://www.etsy.com/shop/adrianaoancia
So, here is my idea sketch for what I'd like to try and do...  Hope partner approves...


The tree will be a mix of applique and machine embroidery, the branches on each panel representing seasons (of which I realise there are four but that was looking too complicated all together..) so bare branches on the first panel, wee green buds on the middle panel, and white/pink blooms on the third panel.  Easy, huh?!
Actually, all I'm worried about its the colour grading - how am I going to do it?  Haven't got the foggiest.  Same way I do everything I suppose, a bit of trial and a lot of error!   Over-ambitious?  Me?!

Congratulations if you've made it to the end of this post!  I promise when my man's back at sea I will make more of an effort to post more regularly and hopefully not do so many 3000 word essays...

Thursday 19 May 2011

Got a plaster?

My poor neglected blog...  what can I say?  My man came home!  I've got cooking and stuff to do, so not so much awake time for the cupboard...  I've been missing it though.  I've decided to make more of an effort, try and spend less time on-line and a bit more sewing!   I did have my wonderful weekend away in Edinburgh, and I got my trip to the zoo.  The chimps were amazing, and the penguins were nesting and adorable.


As my man said "females of many species just want to be given a rock of some kind"...

I have got a little done in the sewing cupboard.  Remember the red, white and blue block I messed up by dropping the rotary cutter on it?  Its had some stitches and has made a reasonable recovery.



I've finally made a start on my part of the swap bargain for Magpie Mimi, as today I got to play with this bundle of lovelies

One of my favourite lines, Robert Kaufman Metro Living.  I've got the colours cut, just got a mountain of white to chop up now.  And, I've got my pre-cut (thanks Trudi!) squares ready and waiting to be made into the first block for the Brit Bee..



And believe it or not I've made a fair bit of progress with my hand stitching for the single girl quilt this past week too.  I'll save the proper pics for when its finally finished, but here's a wee sneaky peak just to prove I have actually been working on it (honest I have).



In other news, the Brit Quilts Swap has finally started!  There was a great deal of excitement as forty or so of us were all on-line on Sunday night - I cant remember the last time I checked my email so obsessively - waiting to receive news of who we are to stalk make a mini quilt for.  Of course typically enough I am now freaking out as my partner seems to be much better at quilting than I am...
As I'm not much of an artist I do find coming up with something original really difficult.  I've seen something on-line that I'd like to try and do as a mini quilt, but I don't fully understand the whole "copyright" issues, so I've emailed the creator to ask their permission.  Is this the right thing to do, or am I just potentially delaying doing anything for some time?  I don't know.  Fingers crossed I'll get a reply soon so that I can get on with things.
Meantime I'll continue popping in to Brit Quilts Swap on flickr to nosey at what others are doing, admiring and envying all the really cool ideas that have been posted so far...and there have been many, believe me (and yes, I've already spotted one in particular I really hope is mine!)

Wednesday 4 May 2011

delay can be good

Okay, I know I said I'd post with some sewing done, but things dont always go to plan do they? 
I spent a good 3 hours painstakingly learning to "stipple" (at least I think thats what I was doing) FMQ on my red white and blue lynnebobsquarepants.  The front looked okay.  The back didnt.



If any clever FMQers want to tell me what I'm doing wrong feel free, though I should point out I've been through all the tension settings and it all looks like that.  And I also made sure I was not pushing/pulling the fabric.  I dont know.  Anyway, the front looked okay, then I dropped the rotary cutter on it.  Little ****er takes 3 goes to cut through one layer of fabric completely, yet I drop it and it sliced very nicely through all three layers...


 
So, I'm sticking my tongue out at that one and blowing a huge big raspberry.  It can sit on the UFO pile for a while.  I also had a go at quilting the scrap/block cushion cover thingy I did a few posts back.  I think I got a little carried away.




This is the back by the way, (yes, its not as faulty as the other one, no I have no idea what I did differently, other than cease to care...)  the front looks nicer, but you dont see the quilting madness on photos of the front so I thought I'd treat you to pics that really show how carried away I got.  Is there a rule as to how many patterns you put on one wee cushion?   Probably.  Do I care?  Naahhh.   

Okay so these pics all look less than pretty, I was hoping to be posting lovely pictures of finished cushions.  Nevermind.  I will at some point, but not in the next week  -  The narcoleptic is leaving the cupboard...  My man is taking me to Edinburgh for a long weekend :-)  Yay!  So happy!  All very last minute, decided and booked this afternoon, leaving tomorrow!  Bet the good weather breaks and it pours...  I DONT CARE!  (Really really excited!)  Might even go see some Monkeys...  (fingers crossed). 




Tuesday 3 May 2011

Nowt much yet.

Sorry my blogging has been a little sporadic of late, I think I'm done with my mopey cow funk now.  Or at least I hope so!  I dont have a great deal to show on this post, last week was another little experiment in "how long can sarah go without getting as much as 1 hours uninterupted sleep at night?"  Apparently its 5 nights in a row, and then I get 2 days of not being able to stay awake for more than an hour or so...  such fun!  I now have a pain in my throat when I bend my head down, I think I must have dozed off and dropped my head down too quickly and squished / pulled something...  Oh, and today I fell asleep dusting (who wouldnt, its bloody tedious) and I auto dusted a candle and glass dish off the mantle piece!  I'm not too bothered about losing the dish, I was way more annoyed about the resulting broken glass meaning the hoover had to come out again... 

Anyway... since last post I've done 2 stints of sewing.  Very poor going but I aim to triple it this week!  I had another go at the Lynnebobsquarepants block, (just in time too as my pre cut (yay!) fabric pieces for the first block in Brit Bee have arrived...no pics on that till next month, bee rules!)  So here's my second attempt, I made it a bit bigger, maybe that helped.


I know, I know, Red White & Blue...  Coincidence I assure you ;-)  This one went much better than the last, lets hope its a learning improvement not just a fluke! 


Look!  Most of the points even match up!   I had a few goes practicing more quilting on Friday - I'll let you see in the next post...

Meantime I'll be giving miss Elliecat a talking to.  I'll be telling her that although I do appreciate her enthusiasm at my horticultural attempts, her attempts are, I'm afraid, not appreciated...


Ellie cat attempts some repotting...
  Here's hoping I'll be posting again in a few days with something a bit more interesting, I've certainly got plenty of ideas and w.i.p.'s piling up...