Sew much fabric…sew little time

I just can’t resist a pretty fabric! My recent purchases arrived on the doorstep a couple of weekends ago….. and at least this time I have something in mind for them.

I have decided to make a mini station maker by lillyella. I have made a number of sewing organisers for others during swaps, but never one for myself.

First I quilted the main fabric – but wasn’t convinced I could do this freehand so instead decided to draw lines on grease proof paper and sew over these. I think it worked quite well.

I then prepared the pockets at either end of the design using contrasting fabrics. I also decided to add binding to the ends of each pocket which I will then match up to the binding around the edge of the whole pattern.

A little tray was made to sit on the top  – to hold sewing notions – as well as a matching pincushion. Each of these contained magnets in their bottoms so that they sit on the metal strip. I wasn’t totally happy with the finish on the tray as I think it needs to be sturdier and you can see that I caught the fabric. Finally I made the little thread catcher.

Sew here is the, nearly finished, tidy. All I have to do now is sew on the button that holds the thread catcher.

I was quite pleased with the finished result and the instructions were easy to follow. I think I might make one of two more as gifts!

Happy stitching everyone and I hope you are enjoying the lovely summer sunshine.

 

 

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SAL 16: No fishing!

Oh no, so sorry everyone but I am afraid I have made no progress what so ever on my little fish! It is getting to the end of the school year so I have been busy making thank you gifts for all my parent helpers and TA!

Although the pattern is simple enough, I do have quite a lot to make! I am using the ‘Wee braw bag’ pattern by Laura Zuckeruss and materials that I have in my stash. This is how far I have got – still got another weekend or two to make something for my super TA!

I have also been trying to make myself a little armchair tidy for sewing in front of the tv – it is coming along nicely – but I will save that for another post.

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL. If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Clare, MaryMargaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

 

 

Halo, halo….

Another trip to Hampton Court and a little nearer to finishing (I hope!). I have been working on the halo towards the top of the picture. My tutor has suggested a uneven satin stitch effect. I am not sure if I like the stitch as I was wanting to use more of an interesting eyelet stitch. I also worry that after spending so much time colour matching the halo has a rather random colour theme.

You can see the random nature of the stitches in this close up. I have used ribbons, perle and a glittery embroidery thread.

The day started off wet, but as the afternoon went on the sun came out and I was able to get around the grounds of Hampton Court. The gardens are lovely at this time of year.

Thanks for popping by – Happy stitching everyone.

Circus fun….

On a totally unrelated theme, my little Kingfisher class (30 year 1 children) produced a magical big top filled with circus acts for a summer fayre art competition. Each class at school enters the Frensham fayre competition every year – and here is our entry…

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Inspiration came when I found a large circular piece of wood at home – and a child’s brolly at the local charity shop. The children covered the brolly in papier mache before painting it. They covered the wooden base in a mix of sand and glue and painted lolly sticks to go around the edge. We then brainstormed all the acts that might be found at a circus and, with a little adult support, they made peg dolls of each of these. The children even made the props, a fire ring, canon and knife thrower’s wheel.

I am so pleased with the result! And my little Kingfisher’s cannot believe how it has turned out.

Quick update – they one first prize – whoop, whoop!

Sal 15 – going fishing

Sorry folks, but not much stitching going on here. What with report writing and assessments my weekends are not my own! I have managed to attach the second fish to the background, not quite a shoal I know.

Here is where I was up to last time….

And here is where I am now… Unfortunately I have mislaid one of the fishes fins, so am now deciding whether to  make another of simply put the second fish to bed!

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL. If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Catherine, Clare, MaryMargaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

 

 

Face off!

Finally felt ready to tackle the problem with the stitching on my canvas work piece and so spent over an hour carefully removing the stitching that had taken me a whole day to put in!

It is always at this point that I wonder whether or not I have done the right thing, but there was no turning back now. The tutors suggested that I replace the original stitching with a twill stitch which did go in a little quicker and give a better coverage of the canvas. The only thing that I am unsure about is the shading as the stitch is much bigger! So now the face looks like this…..

And here is an overall picture of the whole canvas…

So now I have to await my next visit to Hampton Court – hopefully all the tutors will now agree as I don’t think I could take it out again!

Happy stitching everyone!

 

Facing up to it!

Aaahh! This is really all I can say following a day at the RNS and much reverse stitching. I was so pleased with myself and beginning to envisage an end to my canvas work – I should have know better. Here is my piece before I went to Hampton Court.

As it was a Tuesday I had two different tutors who instantly picked up a problem with the stitch that I was using on the face of the woman. The stitch is quite boxy and square creating lines around each stitch that meant not all the canvas was covered.

We tried adding additional tent stitches and running a bar of thread underneath the stitches, but neither worked, leaving me with two choices; leave in the stitch and in my notes to the accessors, explain the problem (and lose marks), or take out the stitch. I didn’t have the heart to take it out on the day and instead chose to complete more of the background so at least it looked like I had made some progress.

Happy stitching everyone!