Rounding up

A selection of blocks made for bees!

 It has been a more productive year than I had thought. All the time, I feel I am not getting as much done as I would like, and I see so many blogs where folk are doing sooo much, and I am full of excuses. I am too tired, I am too busy, I ran out of imagination. And that which I do produce is not as good as someone else's, it falls short and is left wanting, and the dissatisfaction fairy has come to stay. And then, following what others are doing, and having a look at a round up of the year, actually, yes, I have done a fair amount. and I have had a lot of fun doing it. I have learnt some new techniques, and tried very hard to do good work for the other folk in various bees.
This past year, I have joined swaps for the first time, and joined bees for the first time. I have made some lovely bloggy/online friends, and met up IRL with the lovely Lucy. She is so ready to pop, I do not know how she is still standing!

The number of bags made this year is astonishing!

I have been introduced to frame purse making, and still have a frame lurking, awaiting the perfect project . I have tried free embroidery on soluble film, and made brooches with the technique. I have made key fobs with 'key fob furniture'
I have been introduced to box bottoms, and varieties of zippy finishes.
My pocket making skills have also been honed. And my under pressure sewing ordeals have been tried and tested!

So what is new?

I have been ultra extravagant, and bought a ticket to the FQ retreat next summer!

I am not usually good at gatherings, and I am very nervous about it- But May will be there, and Hadley- my most recent swap mama,- and Jan and Nicky and all sorts of other folks I would love to meet- I am sure I will love them all- but will a weekend be long enough to get to know them? All of them! I cannot list them all- too many!

But I will be brave, and go and I trust all will be well.

So here is looking forward to a new year, and lots more fun sewing!

May your new year be fun, and filled with love and laughter- may you be well and be happy.

Weekend makes.

 As you know, I was sent some lovely co-ordinating fabrics with my lovely frame purse, by the lovely Rhonda. I decided immediately, I was going to make a useful something for me. Very often you get inspired and make a something or other, but it is for someone else. And I suspect some of this lovely stash will end up going to live with someone else, but at least some will stay with me! So I followed a tutorial, and made this weighted pincushion/table pocket/thread baggy - well they call it an organiser, but that is because they have clearly never met me!
If I made it again, I would put some interfacing in the bag itself, to make it sit a bit firmer when dangling from it's loop.
The tutorial was really well written, and the whole thing didn't take long to put together. I only had to introduce the stitch ripper the once, as I misinterpreted an instruction ( called being too clever by half and only half reading the distractions). And, as you can see, I am already using the little kit, and finding it very handy.

Now, at Christmas, I was given a kit to make Ginger giraffe, complete with clothes. So, having my machine to myself as it were, I decided to stop procrastinating, and get her going! All the bits and instructions are printed on the one panel, but there are one or two gaps, so it is just as well I sort of know what I am up to, in places. I still have her frock and her mane to make up, but overall, I think she is quite sweet! The same website does a doll panel, and clothes. Not quite as good as a doll panel my elder daughter had, aged 10. Jessica still sits on her bed at home.Didn't go off to get a degree with her though!

Postman knocking!

Oh it has been exciting!
I have been containing myself with difficulty, waiting for some post to arrive.

Let us go back in time a little. No, a little further than that! And a little further- no stop! not quite that far!

I have a set of cousins in Australia. Scattered about, but over there. About as far away from me as they could get! Then introduce Skype! And two Sundays ago, I was chatting to my eldest Coz, for about an hour.
Now, in 1999 he visited this country, to see his Mum. And we visited whilst he was there. When I was small I would have followed him like a little dog, given half the chance. My lovely, soft big Coz! well, he is still big, and still soppy and soft! And lovely. Just older! He had a video camera, with autofocus and zoom and all sorts. And he took videos on that visit! Chatting on Skype, he remembered.

So, he edited them, and sent me a copy, which arrived today.
Have you watched a video, 13 years later, having never seen it before?
I can tell you, I didn't recognise my own children! My 19 year old back to 6 years old! My 22 year old, is now 9! and my son is only 11, with his voice starting to change. I never noticed at the time, but on the video, it is obvious. And do I still sound like that? I don't know, but I don't think I sound like that to me!

happy post!




But that was not all! As you know, I have been participating in the Frame Purse Swap. A lot of folk had already received their purses, Certainly, my purse had arrived safe and sound, at it's destination. And today, the purse for me arrived!

A big box!

 But well filled! I thought the brief was a SMALL something to go in the purse!

 But somehow some extra fabric has found it's own way into the box!

 Did you see these cute birdie buttons?

 And a fat puffy pincushion is inside- no room for anything else, with that fattipuff....

 Gorgeous back as well,

 Oh there was room for a little something else!

But where did all those goodies come from?


who could tell?



What wonderful fairy sent these?







I think there is a slight clue on the card!



Now amn't I the lucky one!




Thank you Rhonda, you are a star!

It arrived at my partners!

I posted a parcel, yesterday.I had some wrapping paper, but as I know my partner will be doing some 'interesting' block making shortly, I thought, I could give her an interesting trim, rather than just 'normal' parcel ribbon. so I tied her parcel, with this rainbow organza ribbon.




Now, you know what was inside,




 There was this frame purse. And the little butterfly brooch which was attached on the outside. And, thank goodness, my partner seems to like the purse. Phew! As she hadn't commented I was rather nervous!



The instructions dictated that there had to be a little something for the inside. But I was not sure what. So my initial thought was 'machine needles'.  As a sewer, these have to be useful, and welcomed. So a couple of packs lurked inside the purse. But I had a thought about a little something, which I really really wanted to make. But I needed an excuse. Sorry, Partner, you were my excuse. So I made this,



Oh, I forgot, you can't see through the wrapper. And yes there are some other ribbons there for her to use, Because they are pretty!

Now, I said at the time this was for someone special, so here it is again,

A little etui, in pretty fabrics.



My daughter does occasional swaps of what are called, 'Crappy Day presents'

And I thought, this lovely lady has had one or two less than wonderful days lately, so, let us try to put a smile on her face, So this fitted into the purse neatly.


And no 'Crappy Day present' is complete without chocolate- so a small amount of chocolate went into the parcel too!

 

And Then I made her a card. It is a dead simple card, and I made several at the same time- I forgot to take a photo of her one, but this is similar. Quick and fun, I think!

And I only posted yesterday, but she received it today! Yeay! and I am so glad she was my partner!

New skills

 I have never had a go at free machine embroidery, but, about a year ago, Kirsty Allsop was doing some stuff to submit for a county show, and I thought, I want a go at that!

So, I acquired some soluble embroidery stuff at a craft fair around Easter, and I set about just having a go, after all, from a position of complete ignorance, you can go wrong very easily, and find out how not to do it? yes?

So the embroidery stuf goes in the hoop, a pencil sketch is made on this, and it gets loaded onto the machine. And feed dogs dropped, embroidery foot in use, and hey, we're away!

This was the second lot, I forgot to photograph the first one in progress- over-excited?

 I was trying to copy a garden geranium roughly, though I am not sure anyone would guess, I was using a lilac-y pink Gutermann Sulky thread, and a topstitch needle. And it seemed to go pretty well, I think. What I didn't know, was how densely to do the stitching, nor how much to do in the opposite direction, before I started to sew in the texture direction I wanted, to give a 'net' to work with.



But it seemed to be working. and, because it was working, I got bolder and braver, and added another colour, to try to give some of the petal markings on the real thing, and then added yellow, to look like stamens.








And then, how about a leaf? And a yellow centre to the flower?


And then these were cut out roughly and dropped into a bowl of water, to dissolve the base fabric.








And you end up with some free flowers, and a leaf.











Now, I am doing a frame purse swap with a wonderful group of very talented ladies, and I have not attempted a frame purse before, but for my first one, I wanted to like it myself, so if it is any good at all, I would use it. The next one I will have to try to make to my partners taste, but this is from fabric I have in anyway, and no extra supplies procured, other than the frame itself.
So, having decided where to start, and cut the basic shape, I decided to use my first flower, and free embroider the leaves to go with the flower, using a pretty variegated green thread, and then attach the flower.


Then lining. Again, I acquired the lining fabric- not the pocket- at the craft fair, a lovely John Louden lawn, very fine and smooth.







and this made up, so far, into this. After supper, I will have to try to glue the frame onto it. That is the frightening bit!

Once it is done I will take more photos.

what do you think so far?



I hope, not 'rubbish!'

 As a by product, I am starting to feel I may be able, with practice, to do FMQ at some stage!

Just don't hold your breath!

 just editing to show a bit of finish!

 some piping stuffed into the channel to occupy the space. Need to get that tucked in really well!

 one side glued, now wait for it to cure!

 Both sides glued. Wait for cure!

All done and dusted!