The Queen of Curvy Sewing.

Not it is not My Assistant.
Although she was very taken with this incredibly clever book.

I wrestled it out from under her and read it through from cover to cover.
Ever wanted to make curved blocks but been put off be twisty bias-cut fabric turning evil? This clever lady makes it all soooooo simple even I could do it effectively.

Look! I made a strawberry!
Wanna see the trick?



By cutting the squares on a set curve they interlock with other pieces easily and when sewn together they make a single square, this means there are only ever straight lines to join. No fiddling with miles of bias cut edges. Oh I do love this new trick.

Yay for Oxfam having this book hidden away on its shelf and a huge thank-you to the craft-loving woman whose children donated it.

Look at me Mama!

I'm crafting!!!


(pics to follow)

Uhoh...

... think my head may be about to explode.






Want to paint new pattern I found at painting this week.

Want to finish knitting 'plane socks'.


Want to finish knitting Will's Christmas present.

Want to finish Treeclimber's wonky star quilt.


Want to start pirate quilt.

Want to bake fabulous recipes from here.


Want to knit something with the stunning bright red 2 ply lace yarn from Posh.


Want to knit scarf with gorgeous brick red alpaca yarn.

Want to read 'clever' book. (not sure which one but something not chick lit-ish)


NEED to finish current block for Around The World - Christmas - Swap.

Want to finish travel, quilt, picnic blanket and all the other bazillion WIPs I have lying around.





Head-exploding due to fact that someone somewhere has decided that


i) 24 hours is sufficient for a whole day


ii) I require sleep.

OK non-believers, hold on to your hats!

This is said quilt in its finished and drapey state. Pretty, non?
Filled with lovely colours Emma Scrapbag put together, interesting texture in the chenille.
A mix of both my worlds with the inner fabric a blog friend gift and the outer a mix of shirts
(one of which I actually loved and wore - don't tell my mother about the other) and a dress belongum Princess C-W.

And then we have the binding.
Gorgeous girlie, frilly pretty binding a gift from a friend.
Binding that was machine-stitched on both sides.
Oh Patch Andi, you clever, clever girl to make me feel brave enough to try this.

And then we have several reasons why it took so long to actually finish completely and 100%.

Have you ever been in love?

I think I may just be.

Isn't he gorgeous?

And because it really is true love, this is on the other side.

This is one of the vinyl-lined bags I have been making like a crazy hound these past two weeks.

It started with a washbag for my girl to take on her weeklong residential trip last month. This fabric was too perfect to leave in the shop and some pretty floral, lightweight vinyl from the old-fashioned haberdashers in town.

These were such a delight to make and look so blurry good (even if I do say so) that the decision was made to create more for that end-of-year scam - the teacher present. This year d/Boy has had six 'teachers' (don't get me started), and Princess C-W three so for once I am ahead of the game and have made five so far.

The first was the boat one for Mr. Headteacher and then d/Boy picked out some shapes for the rest. Gingerbread Man and initials for the really lovely teaching assistant (TA), angel for the god-loving TA, bell for the uber-music loving teacher and a Dala (swedish horse image) for the horse's arse faced evil teacher. This just leaves the knitting one, the coffe cup one and the 'gods-alone-know-what-to-make-for-her' one and there is still a month left of school.

But these need not be just wash bags. I made one on Friday for my gods-daughter's half-year birthday and told her it could be for pencils, shells, felt-tips (textas/markers) or, if her mother really insisted, a damp flannel.

And finally I am managing to post the pictures of the most recent blocks I have made for the 'Quilt Around The World ~~ Christmas Blocks' for Carroll and Sudi-Laura respectively.

I am very excited about both of these because I pieced with reasonably sharp points for a first-timer AND also did needleturn applique! Yay me!

Potential errata

Have just read comments left on 'I think I have issues with perfection' and am beginning to wonder if I actually meant circles.

Perhaps I am exaggerating the situation? It is a circular piece but the zip only

goes halfway around.

This makes it just a curve, doesn't it?

I think you are right Quinn.

I think I have issues with perfection.

OK those of you who have met me or possibly even those who have been reading this blog for more than three minutes need to stop laughing now.

I rooly trooly do think perfection and my expectations of attainment affect the crafting I do (not even going to look at wider aspects in my life).
I see the finished products I make and most of the time they bear little resemblance to the initial idea of what it will look like. Sometimes this is ok because different is not necessarily bad but usually it results in a big ugly mess that I can't fix and yet am unable to throw into the bin (viz Mrs Onion, her shopping bag and the London red bus cushion cover).

Poppy Treffry and those following her style in a flattering manner (sounds better than copiers right?) have aided me in seeing past the strictures of neat edges, french seams and straight lines laid down by Mrs Robinson and Mrs Heighway so many years ago but still I struggle. I know my limitations; I will never get sharp pointy triangles when sewing. Frankly I still get quite joyous when corners meet in an appropriate fashion!

This recent work with zips and bobbles has been useful in meeting my perfection expectation. While not quite professional or shop standard it all looks fairly good and so I went in to creating the pieces for the Snailblazer's Sample Swap (taking place here) on a high. So far so good but have still to attach the base into both the body and the lining. Let me just say though - zips! In circles!

I have been following 'Whip up's Month of mini-quilts' and am loving the designers being highlighted. These fabulously talented women could split wide the cracks laid by all these years hanging around the crafty blogoverse.

Spreading the cushion love.

There has been some cushioning going on here up at Trash Towers recently.

Our dining room has been awash with thread, d/s bondawebby stuff, cutting mats, rotary cutters and some blue air. Did I mention there was zippage going on? And those bobbles??? This one has a new home to go to but I am quite chuffed as I made up the stitchy bit all by myself.

This was part of the birthday present sent to Missus Moog. It was also my first finish in the Loft Creations 'no Strings Attached' Challenge.

This was an upcycle/stashbusting number. CK's shirt was the backing, some spotty loveliness and a linen tea towel from stash. the wee mouse came from a picture book of the smalls.

And just as soon as I finish it I can look for a new home for it!

A February finish.

My assistant claimed this one.

Seems she is prepared to overlook the eagle-beaky, non-ovine shaped nose of the wee sheep.

Am not sure I am prepared to overlook her stretching out on Maria's backseat after she rolled in the stinkiest badger poo ever. Or the fact that the only cleaning product within arm's reach as I bathed her was my Neal's Yard citrus handwash.

Revenge came later in the afternoon with a pair of scissors, some wispy hair around her ears and 15 minutes of thoroughly enjoyable (for me) coat cutting.

Hooray! 2010 will end with at least one finish!!

Wooohooo I did it!


Remember back here I said I was working on something with the fabrics from my SSCS swapper Pam? Remember how I said it was a Christmas table runner? Wanna see it?

There were nine 6 inch squares so even taking into account seam allowance it was always going to be a long old piece of amazing creative artistic endeavour. I had the the green and the backing red and purchased the gold script after falling in love with it when I sent some to Joy in the SSCS. Ignoring the possibly odd angle and slight curvature of some of those straight lines it really is something I am rather pleased with.

And the thing that I have discovered that has forever changed my quilty/sewy ability and plans? Yay for pullthrough finshing. How come no-one ever told me about the whole 'no need for binding if you sew it all together in the first place' thing? Oh how deliriously happy I have become!

Blogtoberfest Day 22 Perhaps it hasn't gone after all.....

the very lovely Wonderwoman(not!) braved the heavy rain and came for a visit this morning. Both destructoBoy and I were pleased to see her as it brought a welcome break from the intense competition of the Inaugural Ironing Board Table Tennis World Championships that was taking place in the living room.

With d/Boy off sick for the day he lurked while Maria and I chatted. As you do. One of the things we spoke of was our swap commitments and I confessed my worries that any contributions may be Scarey Mary-ish, not least my first attempt at hand-knitted and then felted fabric.

She was kind enough to not only calm my nerves but give me a few tips for successfully turning this into a bag for Pr. C-W to take to a dinner party (!!!) this weekend.

Feeling a bit cheerier I coyly brought out a few other WIPS for her keen assessment. These are jammie shorts for d/Boy and his mate, Dervish to wear for the Halloween sleepover. Obviously they have a pair each because, quite frankly, sharing a bed with Dervish would be like trying to hold a cyclone in a glass let alone a pair of pyjamas.

I am quite chuffed as I constructed the template from a pair of in-house pj pants. Didn't actually cut around actual jammies as I love them too much and was scared they may end up in pieces.

The two girls aren't getting pjs as I am unsure what size Dynamo wears, just that she is waaaaay taller than Pr.C-W. So I made an accidental trip in the hammering rain to the lovely fabric warehouse down the road and 'found' some lovely Halloween fabrics.

Again suggestions were made. So tomorrow (after doing the bag for Dynamo's birthday present bag) I shall be adding some applique to the Irish linen background (less than £5pm!! Yay for old-fashioned haberdashers) and then quilting in the ditch before backing it with the spooky spider and witchy-poo quilting fabrics to make cushions.

Picture is a bit blurred but this is 2/3 of a teddy bear destined for the school hand-made Christmas.

Finally is this year's Christmas piece for painting. Unfortunately I wasn't there the night we began so Miss painted my background.

No. It wouldn't have been my choice either which is a real shame as I am LOVING the pattern and it is soooooo quick to paint up. I just feel a little sad when I look at everyone else painting this on to a plain cream surface.

All this is in the last two weeks so perhaps my crafting mojo wasn't gone but just sleeping.

A finish!!! (edited for clarity)

Some little few weeks back Kootooyoo came up with a plan. A cunning plan to do a blog redwork quilt. She had 5 bazillion pieces of edged cloth that were distributed among 5 bazillion of her best friends and one came to live up here on the hill.

The brief was to create a design in redwork. A design of all of my very ownsome. Somewhat daunting. But then my favourite quote came to mind. That rather special Baudelaire number that speaks to my heart and also I think the hearts of many bloggers.

"A multitude of small delights constitutes happiness."

At which point the memory of a picture I quite liked hidden in the depths of one of the Donkey sketch pads sprang to mind. Add in a few flower/tree-type things and then we have my finished piece. Wanna see?

It is a little bit wrinkly around the edges but I guess any of us would be had we spent several weeks crammed into an embroidery hoop ;-) The angle of the picture is a little wonky but as a piece of work I am really pleased with how it came out and have loved having the opportunity to take part. Thanks a million Kootooyoo for letting me join in with your gang and take part.

EDIT!
dear Bloggers, I have reviewed the above post with particular reference to the seventh sentence of the second paragraph.
"At which point the memory of a picture I quite liked hidden in the depths of one of the Donkey sketch pads sprang to mind."
On reflection and rereading the above seventh sentence of the second paragraph I will clarify for those unsure that while the sketch pads may be called 'Donkey' ones they in fact house several many different types of creature, most notably giraffes, cows, my assistant and some monkeys and (of course) a rhino.

I do hope this has relieved the brain ache of anyone attempting to track down the scientific names of the totally mythological rhinodonkey.


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That just sparked something. Rhino. Donkey. RhinoDonkey. Rhinestone. Donkey. RhinstoneDonkey. ELVIS DONKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(all my thought processes are equally simple and disturbing;-)

Bugger!

Got my sewing groove on tonight and I have just snapped the needle. Can I find the box which is home to the replacements????

Giveaway results complete with added geekery

There are still 11 minutes left before I draw the actual winning names but I am preparing myself ready for the event. I have a random integer generator ready and waiting on another tab but was given pause for thought when the in-house geek/tech support asked me if it was a REAL random integer generator.

After much discussion (read 'discourse') about the science behind true random generation of numbers versus the psuedo-random form in many computer programmes he came out with the comment 'Wouldn't it be really interesting to test it and see if you blah, blah, blah dispersal curve blah, blah, blah display the results from 1,000 million numbers in blah, blah, blah...' and then I woke myself up dribbling. I know that for some people maths IS interesting and intriguing and sexy and lush but I don't see the pretty paterns and loveliness people assure me are in numbers.

However my clock is now telling me it is after midnight here in the UK so ...........













AAAAAAAGH! It has taken 15 minutes to get to this point because I am not as technically capable as I have previously thought. I gave up trying to get the screengrab from Random.Org but the winners were

my thoughts,my voice, Curly Pops, bylulu, & A joyful chaos

Yes there are FOUR winners but I figure that puppy is naughty enough that two people might want to timeshare her ;-)

Thank you so much to everyone who came by for a look at my giveaway. This has been fun. :-)

Ooops! more pictures.

This weekend we are off to the birthday party of one of my ex-children.

I got all inspired and made this cushion cover. I am quite pleased as

a) I made the pattern up as I went along
and
b) I made it from store cupboard staples (except for the cushion pad - there is no room in my lil' cupboard for that. Ask Maria ;-).

You may have heard Maria suggests I laughed because she invented a whole new way of knitting socks. It was more a guffaw of admiration really. But I feel her pain as over a period of several weeks I sent many texts to her, Locket and Lesley bemoaning my inability to count, the general confusion of sock patterns and the weird way I seemed unable to keep track of simple numbers. On more than one occasion the blurry sock and all its octopus needles went flying across the room, through the red fog I heard CK ask if I was really doing this for fun.

It was only last weekend it all began to make sense. You see, I was using the Regia sock pattern-in-a-pamphlet. What you may not know about this is the leaflet contains not just one but TWO sock patterns. Locket's comment when I told her? "Oh? Did I not tell you that?"

This sock is now finished and waiting patiently for its mate AND for me to find it again because I have put it somewhere reeeeeaaaallly safe.


I love that this is how Pr.C-W and destructoBoy spent their holidays :)

However..... are mine the only ones who, despite having been up by 7:00am every single day of the holidays, had to be dragged out of bed at 8:00am first day back at school????

Seriously! This is NOT a craft blog!

I was given a present when I was at home.


Well, actually I was given quite a few, what with it being Christmas and all...... however .... I was given a present by Missus Proprietress at Ballaarat Patchwork! I think she got me off to a head start with a few squares predone, realising if I had a plan to follow and a swift kick workwards it was unlikely to join my fabric collection.

Aren't those some pretty colours? And chenille!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon I had a can of Pepsi. Is it a higher %volume than the other brand? Because in the space of four hours I had drunk my third can. Not drinking tea or coffee MAY predispose me to a slightly unusual reaction to such things, the nett result was me being awake until 0215 this morning ;-)

However I used my time productively - I got the sewing machine out of its cage about 2300 hrs last night and pieced a few more squares and then blocks! I have two more blocks to complete and then BAM! I have nearly a quilt.

OMG! Get me doing all this sewing thing!

Weekend work (fabric has been claimed :-)

It rained here this weekend.



And it was cold.



It was also extremely windy, especially just in front of the main door.



The childer were recovering from all the attendant excesses of a Halloween sleepover.



So CK made us all do boring old house stuff.



The airing cupboard has been begging for a sortout for some many months now. Once our guest had left on Saturday morning CK pulled everything out onto the floor with great relish then came downstairs and said I would have to go sort it all!



Poor old Princess C-W's bedroom was several metres under towels, bed linen, cot sheets, ancient cloth nappies, table linen and fabric. Lots of fabric.



For someone who doesn't sew it seems I have quite a stockpile of fabric - just in case.

Just in case I work out how to use my sewing machine.
Just in case there is ever a worldwide fabric shortage.
Just in case I ever have a need for some wide strips of plum coloured cord.


We bought 10 storage bins - 2x75 litre, 2x40 litre, 6x15 litre. The littles are fabulous for table linens, single duvet covers, 'in-case of'* duvet covers and pillowcases - one for them and one for us, everything all paired up and easy to hand.


The medium ones fit sheets and our duvet covers (kingsize so they needed some space) and then the big ones. One has a couple of duvets and the other? All 75 litres? Is full to the brim of fabric. All kinds, all sizes, all weights and colours. Among all the exciting stuff was a 2 metre piece of dove, grey heavy, slubby linen. How fantastic is that!


However I didn't keep all of it. A few scraps got thrown into the bin and then I put some into a bag because I thought you folks on the innernets may like to have a little nosey too.

There is just about everything in there - from cotton to fleece, fake fur to silk. Some bits are scrappy and others are over a metre long. If you are interested in a bag of scraps leave your name and you may join in the benificence of CK's weekend work :-)

*skanky old ones but good enough to keep 'in-case of' sicky bugs

So much lovely post.

Poor old Smiley Carol, our cheery postie, has had to be terribly brave over these past few weeks. I have been on the receiving end of some rather fabulous post. Why was she brave? Well, my wicked Blackdog lies in wait for the postie to deliver. To the point The Royal Mail flatly refuse to deliver through the door. Consequently we now have a mail box by the front gate and the Blackdog lurks beneath the box hoping Smiley Carol won't actually notice him until he launches himself at her. (Obviously only in a sweet and loving kind of way.)


I do love a good swap, as may be obvious from my sidebar, and this week has seen the arrival of one rather fabulous swappie love. The rather divine QuiltyGal was my secret squirrel swapper for the pincushion swap organised by All Stitched Up .

With great delight and excitement I opened up the parcel and oh! oH! OH!

Obvioulsy I dropped straight to my knees in genuine awe at the amazing skill and ability of that talented Quiltygal. Would you like to see? Okay, let me set the scene ......... we had to make a pincushion. That was it, just a pincushion. Let me tell you - this is not JUST a pincushion, this is a six sided work of art.

Side A

Side B

Side C

Side D

And Sides E&F

(Note the pins? I had already started using it when I took the picture.)


But that is not all, oh no that is not all (*I love that book*) . There were more presents in the parcel! Wanna see them too?

Look at all the work that has gone into that case! Just imagining piecing all those squares nearly sent me blind. And that stitching? QuiltyGal you are one very talented person.


And then I opened it up!




Hee Hee! Pink scissors! And perhaps the finest needles ever in the history of the world - my magnifying glass asked for a magnifying glass when I was trying to thread one. Being the kind and generous soul she is QuiltyGal also included a parcel each for Princess Curly-Wurly and Babyman (they want to blog these themselves) but let me just say they were so excited Babyman took his to bed that night and Pr.C-W and took hers to school the next day.

But that is not all. Oh no! That is not all (I really love that book!) because I got my parcel from Nuno this week as well. Look at that Japanese loveliness, admittedly the cakes and the trees are upside down but you get the idea. Trouble is now that I have them I'm not entirely certain what I am going to do with them, perhaps the trees could turn into a bib for Will?

However it didn't stop there. With the thought of that wicked Blackdog stalking her having shredded Smiley Carol's last nerve we got a new temporary postie, he wasn't expecting the fury of the hounds of hell to descend on him so from his quivering fingers I pulled this triffic parcel - Missus Locket's mini-quilt extravaganza. Talk about talented, people!



That Missus Locket she really is amazingly clever, once again this week I had to bow down in the presence of fabulousness.

And the colours are so magnificent. Thank you Locket. I love love lovetty love it!

And then to cap things off Sylv sent through the long awaited and much desired 'Apple Quilt' - wanna see?

Oops! Ol' Dopey Me forgot to photograph the back but trust me it is beeyooteefull and I will put up pics when I can take some - translates as when it stops raining!