Rescued from Ruin

I am pleased to say that stitching the over zealously trimmed tapestry to a larger piece of canvas worked!

I found some lovely heather-toned wool in my stash and used it to make another brooch

but I like this one so much, I might just keep it for myself!

So, here is the full collection. Can you tell that I really enjoy making these :)

I raided my charm and bead boxes too, and made a couple more Kilt Pin brooches for the sale table too. 

I am hoping the stork scissors charm from Nicole de Bruin on this Pin will appeal to embroiderers at the sale,

and maybe the sewing machine charm on this pin will catch the eye of a quilter!

Discovering a length of tartan ribbon in my stash was the excuse for this Celtic Kilt Pin.

I won't find out until after the event whether the brooches and pins sell, as the sale is on at the same time as a Six Nations international rugby match at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, and as regular readers will have guessed that is where I will be! Scotland will be playing against Italy so there will be lots of these around

and maybe some gladiators too. I shall try to take a photo for the blog if there are :)

Linking up to

Crazy Mom Quilts   

Straight from the stash

I have been stitching up more tiny tapestry brooches for my EG branch tabletop sale next month.

So, these two brooches have been added

and I now have this little collection to take to the next meeting.

I particularly wanted some 'silver' frames for my brooches as I had some odds and ends of threads from the GOT Hardhome Embroidery that I wanted to use up. I hunted high and low on the internet and couldn't find them for sale anywhere. Fortunately the generous Emma at Ann's Orchard Needlework was willing to part with three from her carefully hoarded stash, so I was able to put those thread ends to good use. Thanks Emma!

The 'gold' tone frames are from Tina Francis Tapestry again. 

In my haste to get these finished I am afraid that I got a bit too scissor happy :(

I trimmed this tiny tapestry without measuring it against the frame and discovered to my horror that I had trimmed it too far! Which absolutely serves me right for not checking I know. Fortunately I have some squares of canvas left so I am planning to stitch this to the larger square and then trim that back. I think that will work, don't you?

I found some kilt pin brooch blanks in a box and decided to have a go at doing something with them for the sale too.

You can't see it very clearly in the photo, but the centre of the medallion charm is fabric mod-podged (is that a verb?) to the charm and then covered with a clear cabochon. The lace is another piece of the antique lace handed on by my mum, and that cute pincushion charm is from my stash of charms from Nicole de Bruin. I cannibalised an old earring for the rest of the beads on the brooch, so this is very much a project from my stash!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Tied up in knots!

It seems like an age since I had a finish to report, and not just a finish but a finished quilt! Having a deadline tends to concentrate a girl's mind :)

December 1st was the deadline for handing over the quilts being made by the group I joined when we moved. At the time of joining I blogged that meeting the deadline with one and maybe two completed quilts would be a breeze! Ha! I should have known better.

Only one of the prospective quilts was finished in time. I really have no excuse for that as the second top has been gathering dust in my sewing room since September! I dithered so much about what backing to use and how to quilt it that neither of those things happened.

On the bright side "Fit to be Tied" is completed and handed over, so one wheelchair bound child will have a bit of colourful comfort this winter.

As I mentioned before I Tie Quilted this, which was a first for me and I am really happy with how it turned out. I added a drop of Fray Check to each knot as I was worried about the thread fraying and unravelling. It made the knots stiff so I decided to wash and dry the quilt in the hope that it would take out that stiffness, which fortunately it did. I am not so sure that I would use the tie quilting method on a large quilt but it worked just fine for this lap quilt size. I think the quilting also lends itself more to traditional, block pattern quilts too, although perhaps I just need to experiment with that more :)

For extra warmth, and part of the reason for tie quilting, I used a wool check fabric for the quilt back. I was a bit anxious when the quilt was in the dryer but it all came out looking fine.

For the binding I used the Square Corner Binding method outlined by Carolyn Forster in her book "Sew Jelly Roll Quilts and Gifts" . It was a neater finish than I sometimes achieve with mitred corners, but if I am honest I prefer the look of a (neat!) mitred corner.

 So, that's my first Friday finish in December, let's hope it is a good omen :)

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Patches and Puppies

Welcome to this week's TGIFF link party. Your chance to celebrate that great feeling which comes with finishing a project or two!


Regular readers will know that recently I have been stitching away for the gorgeous new man in my life and today's finish is no exception :)

I mentioned last month that I had been trying out a New to Me method of constructing nine patch blocks courtesy of Generations Quilt Patterns and this is what they were destined for.



I found the delightful doggy fabric at the closing down sale of a LQS before our move and knew instantly that it would be perfect for a quilt for that new little man. I couldn't make up my mind how to use it until a fellow quilter recently suggested intersecting fussy cut blocks with co-ordinating nine patch blocks and that light bulb went off in my head!

With only 1m of the doggy fabric it was a real brain teaser making sure that I had enough fussy cut blocks without having to resort to blocks of half a dog here and there, but thankfully it all worked out in the end without any poor half-cut pooches making up the numbers :)

I have some lovely linen in similar colours that I am thinking of using for the back but that is another day's work.


Now it is your turn to link up your fabulous finishes, grab that button and include a link back to the TGIFF party in your post so your readers can find us and join the party too!

An InLinkz Link-up

Of course if your finish is Christmas themed don't forget to head on over to Sandra Sews :) for this month's Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew link party. There is a great novelty purse pattern up for grabs for one lucky linker :)

Woodland Friends

A few weeks ago I volunteered to test a paper piecing pattern for Juliet, The Tartankiwi. Juliet has designed a set of patterns on the theme of Woodland animals, and I volunteered to test the bunny pattern.

At the time I completely forgot that my fabric stash was hidden away in the depths of a storage unit somewhere between the NE of England and Scotland! I have some fabric with me in France but not much in the way of scraps, but fortunately I was testing a 4" block so the fabric requirements were not very large and I had the remnants of a low-volume scrap bundle from Plush Addict so it wasn't all bad!

I have to admit to having three attempts at the ears, making a different mistake every time but other than that and despite the size of some of the pieces it all went together fairly easily.


As all of my pincushions are also hidden away in that storage unit I decided to turn my pattern test block into a pincushion. He looks rather sweet don't you think?

Juliet is hosting a QAL for her mini Woodland patterns with some great prizes up for grabs, you can find out more about it here


Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Baby steps

Welcome to TGIFF, the link party that celebrates that Friday finish feeling!

This week I have lots of celebrations rolled up into one very little package!

My first celebration is for the fact that I have never sewn an item of clothing in my life before, other than the obligatory costumes for school plays. So, I am beyond thrilled to have produced a recognisable t-shirt :) It might not seem much to the dressmakers reading this, but it is a big deal for me.

Not only is this my first item of clothing, but it is also the first time I have ever worked with knit fabric.

In May I saw the gorgeous baby leggings and hats made by Cathy at Blueberry Patch and thought that it might be fun to have a go. I followed the link to Brindille and Twig patterns and couldn't resist buying a pattern (or two!) Well it was May is for Makers over at LR Stitched, so it would have been rude not to :)

I have to say that working with knit fabric wasn't the easiest thing that I have ever done, and there are definitely a couple of wavy seams in there, but all in all I am pretty pleased with my first attempt with knits.

Which is just as well as I might just have got a bit carried away when I ordered the fabric from Fabricworm and ordered all of these too!

I think that I will have another go at a t-shirt before I attempt the even scarier combination of knit fabric and elastic for matching leggings :)

So, that's my TGIFF finish now it is your turn to link up and celebrate your finishes. Don't forget to check out the other linkers to spread the celebrations around!

An InLinkz Link-up

Meet Basil and Hilda

A while ago I saw an interesting project in the Stitch magazine for some small beaded embroidery birds, but it was only when I saw a beaded bunny from the same designer worked by Wendy at The Crafter's Apprentice that I followed up the link.

I was delighted to discover that Ann's Orchard Needlework have a whole range of farmyard animals to embroider, and with the news that we will become grandparents for the first time in a few months time, what better incentive could there be to start stitching :)

First up,

Hilda the Duck.

Now joined by

Basil the Cockerel!
Given that we are currently living in France and it will soon be Bastille Day, I thought it was particularly appropriate to tackle him now :)

I was really impressed by the quality of these mini kits, the instructions and charts were very clear and there were ample supplies to complete each embroidery with plenty to spare. That was a real bonus when beads were in danger of scattering all over the floor :)

I ordered the frame at the same time as the bead embroidery kits and it was as good quality as the kits, so I will definitely be ordering more. Especially as I have already completed the next embroidery.

Meet Daisy the Cow!

Who will soon be joined by one of these cute creatures.

So, that's my TGIFF finish now it is your turn to link up and show off your creations. Don't forget to check out some of the other linkers while you do so, and give them a (virtual) clap on the back for finishing up a project too!

An InLinkz Link-up

Making an exhibition of myself!

Despite the title of this post, I haven't been going around embarrassing myself, well not to my knowledge anyway :)

I have, however, finished and handed over my piece for the forthcoming Capability Brown exhibition to be held at Wallington , a National Trust property in Northumberland near to where Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, the celebrated landscape gardener was born. The exhibition is organised in conjunction with the Northumberland Embroiderers Guild to celebrate the 300th Anniversary of Brown's birth, and is part of a nationwide celebration that includes dance and theatre productions as well as displays of stitch and textile art at venues that have a link to Capability Brown's work.

In my local EG branch, we were invited to create an exhibition piece to be displayed on an A4 canvas that depicted an aspect of Brown's work or legacy.

Having visited Wallington on numerous occasions I hunted through my photos for inspiration and finally settled on this image taken on a walk in the grounds on a winter day.

Inspired by an EG workshop with Beryl Frank, I uploaded this image and another from the walk to Spoonflower and with a bit of tweaking ended up with these two fabrics.

The aim was to use the Spoonflower fabric as a frame for a canvaswork insert. So, armed with some graph paper and colouring pencils the design for the canvas was born.

Of course, I couldn't resist incorporating some gorgeous hand-dyed threads from 21st Century Yarns and a sprinkling of seed beads!

Put that all together and you end up with this.

Still Waters - my entry to Landscapes of Capability Brown

The exhibition runs from June 11th to October 30th so if you are in the area you have plenty of time to enjoy a day out catching the display and ending a wander around the grounds with a coffee and cake in the Clocktower Cafe :)

If you are in the UK, but Northumberland is a bit too far away, do check out the other exhibition venues around the country here there will be lots of wonderful examples of stitch and textile art to inspire you I am sure.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and

Back to blocks

I haven't sewn any patchwork blocks for ages, or at least that is what it seems like to me. So, in an effort to remedy that and make some progress on a longstanding UFO, I dug out my scraps and set to work.

One of the first Bees that I signed up for was the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee, based on the book of the same name by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison. For the first round of the Bee we made 12.5" slab blocks in various colours.

So, I duly sent off my blocks every month and received back blocks like these

and these.

In the end I had 14 blocks in 7 colourways, Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, Pink and Orange, which sat in my cupboard, whilst I thought about what to do with them.

Well, the time for thinking was over!

I decided that 14 blocks weren't enough to make a quilt top, I needed another two blocks to make a 4x4 arrangement. As I didn't have aqua blocks and had lots of aqua scraps it seemed like a good idea to put the two together :)

The final two blocks for the Sunday Morning Stash quilt!

Next up, to decide on the layout. After a few false starts this is what I ended up with

I wasn't sure how all of the blocks would look, and was a bit concerned that there might be too much going on in the quilt top but, actually, I think it has worked out fine in the end. There are enough "quiet spaces" in the top that it hasn't ended up a headache inducing mish mash, well not to me at least :)

Now all I need to do is decide how to quilt it!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and

Annex Double-Zip Box pouch revealed!

On Wednesday I teased you with this

and now I can reveal what this great fabric from Spoonflower was used for.

This lovely pouch is an Annex Double-Zip Box pouch from the new pattern, released today, by the very talented Sara of Sew Sweetness

I had been intending to make a Box pouch for my youngest son with this fabric when I ordered it, but never actually got around to doing anything about it. So, when a request for pattern testers for this pattern popped up in my inbox, I knew that the time to finally make one had arrived :)

The pattern includes instructions for three sizes, this is a medium sized pouch.

The pouch has two separate compartments, each with its' own zipper, so keeping things neat and tidy should, in theory, be a breeze for the youngest son. We shall see!

Using only one FQ of fabric for the exterior, these pouches are a great way to utilise some of those FQ's that you bought just because. Admit it, I am not the only one that buys FQ's that catch my eye with absolutely no plan in mind for their use :)

So, another gift added to the stockpile and a New to Me pattern tested to boot.

Head on over to Sew Sweetness to check out the lovely pouches that Sara's pattern testers have created. If you decide to make some of these very useful pouches for Christmas or Holiday gifts this month, don't forget to link them up to the Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party, which is over at Threading My Way

You could be the lucky linker who will win this month's great giveaway prize!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts