Projects Round Up

So, I’m just back from my holiday (I took part in this year’s Camp for Climate Action in London) and am in that end-of-the-holidays-back-to-school-new-start kinda mood. I spent yesterday cleaning and tidying and baking but I’m still in a really domestic mood so it looks like today’s activities will include sewing. There are quite a few projects that I’m working on at the moment and I think it would be helpful for me to list them in an effort to force myself to complete some old projects before starting new ones.

Quilts

Black and White Mod Sampler

Both Sophs and I are making a version of Oh Fransson’s Mod Sampler. Sophs is pastel colours with white sashing whereas mine is black and white with grey sashing. My first attempt at machine quilting was a bit of a distaster (luckily the recipient really likes things to look ‘handmade’, aka a bit shonky) so I’m a bit worried about ruining this quilt. The flimsies look great but I’ve been putting off sandwiching and quilting. Stippling is off the cards so I’m currently choosing between a grid pattern and ‘random’ all-over curved lines. I really need to buy some batting and just get on with it.

Metallic String Quilt

Ashley over at Film in the Fridge has been making a lot of versions of her Kaleidoscope string quilt and I can really understand why. I’m a fair way through my take on it using a jelly roll with gold metallics on various colours and patterns, with a dark beigey, creamy colour as the constant thread running through. In all of hers the pattern runs right to the edge but I think I’m going to have to give mine a border in order to get it to thr right size for my bed. I have 2 blocks left to do, then sewing the clocks together, adding the border and piecing the back before I even think about quilting it.

Christmas Block Swap

Yay, our first ever block swap. Sophs and I are really excited about it (Hellie didn’t have a chance to get her blocks done before she left on holiday. I can’t wait to see what we get sent. I’m planning on making some more blocks myself as we only signed up for a six block swap. Here’s what some people’s blocks are looking like. I’m trying to decide what to make with our bloacks when we get them.

Other craft projects

Rag rug place mats

I’ve posted about these before. They’re intended as a Christmas present so I’ve got a while yet to finish them. So far I’ve done two blue and one black, or maybe the other way around. Either way I need to make one more.

Handquilted trivets

These just need binding so it’s a little ridiculous that I haven’t finished them yet.

Beach Houses patchwork picture

I took these to Belgium and to London but I’m still only halfway through. The project was created for the express purpose of entertaining myself on long journeys but I think I’m gonna have to start sewing in front of the tv to get this one done before Christmas.

Handquilting, on a coach

The first quilt I ever made was a handquilted star lap quilt for my grandmother’s Christmas present. It was a year when I managed to make handmade presents for everyone:chutney for my uncle, a cushion for my sister, matching wristwarmers for my parents, a scarf for my cariad etc. I was almost organised enough to have everything made in time, but not quite. I ended up finishing off sewing my sister’s present on the coach and doing frantic stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on Christmas Eve.

One thing I learned however, is that sewing is a surprisingly good activity for doing on the coach. I read so fast that I can never carry enough books, travel games are silly and looking at the scenery only works in daylight. This weekend I’m travelling to Belgium by coach which will take a good 15 hours each way so I’ll need something to keep myself entertained.

I’m looking for a quilting project that will be nice to do by hand. I plan to choose and cut the fabric before I leave, and just do stitching on my journey. I don’t want it too fiddly as that way I’m in danger of losing crucial scraps of fabric on the coach. On the other hand, I don’t want long boring stretches of plain stitching. I’ll let you know what I choose, suggestions very welcome.

Mosaic!

Sophs managed to wangle us a bunch of mosaic materials (I’m sure she’ll post how she did it at some point) and here are my first attempts.

Here’s my landscape, which I actually quite like and is now up on my wall. We don’t have a more precise way of cutting the pieces than wrapping them in newspaper and smashing with a hammer so getting sufficiently small and appropriately shaped pieces was a little tricky. The mirror backing means it makes lovely reflections when the light hits it.

I also made this boat mosaic but I’m not so keen on it.

Shelter card quilt part two

Hey, Sophia here. I’m back from a very exhausting but very lovely Glastonbury festival (Madness, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Blur in the same 4 hours!). Just thought I’d post a quick update before getting back to blogging properly. Before I left for Glasto I finished sewing my entry for Amelia’s Shelter Card quilt. It looks rather simple (especially compared to some of the other awesome entries) but I think I still like it.

two of hearts

Guest blogging

Hi,

check out my guest post over on Graham’s blog.

That is all.

Shelter Card quilt

Shelter is a pretty cool housing rights charity. They’re organising a fundraising art auction based on the idea that the entire housing market seems as fragile as a house of cards.

The housing market is as fragile as a house of cards

A friend has been asked to produce a piece of artwork on the ‘Two of Hearts’ and they’re asking for lots of people to submit playing card designs of the two of hearts with which to make a pseudo quilt. Check out here for the design brief and this facebook event for some of the designs so far.

I’m planning on joining in. So far all I’ve done is sketch out an idea and gather the fabric I plan on using. It’s gonna be very bright and the level of detail will depend on how distracted I am in the coming week. Please feel free to take part and submit something to the open brief because Shelter is a great cause. Or just check out their website.

Sudoko quilt

I’m in the middle of a quilt-along and I’ve reached the stage where my blocks are all pieced and just need sashing so of course I’m ignoring the neat little pile of fabric and planning my next quilt.

My computer at work is really rubbish and takes about half an hour to load in the mornings so I’ve taken to having a pile of old Guardian sudokos in a pile by my computer, reading for that wasted time.

example sudoko puzzle

I got to thinking (partly inspired by the comments on this post: ) that I’d like to have a go at developing a sudoko quilt. Basically a sort of nine patch in a nine patch with nine colours and no repeat colours in a block. I’m thinking possibly all the colours of the rainbow plus black and white, with a neutral sashing. The basic plan would be 1 = red, 2 = orange etc etc. Some sudoko setters leave a pattern in the numbers they give as hints and those squares could be picked out in patterns/plains as appropriate for a little extra interest. What do you reckon?

I’m in the middle of a quilt-along and I’ve reached the stage where my blocks are all pieced and just need sashing so of course I’m ignoring the neat little pile of fabric and planning my next quilt.

My computer at work is really rubbish and takes about half an hour to load in the mornings so I’ve taken to having a pile of old Guardian sudokos in a pile by my computer, reading for that wasted time.

I got to thinking, partly inspired by the (erroneous) comments on

Tutorial: Rag Rug Place Mats

Hi, Sophia here. I thought that for my first post I’d like to do a quick tutorial. It’s a very simple idea and great for using up those awkward bits of fabric that are too big to throw away but too wonky to be useful. It is also very cheap to make and reasonably speedy. I give you the rag rug place mat.

My first attempt at a rag rug place mat.

You will need:

• Fabric scraps (I used one leg of an old pair of linen trousers for the base colour and a handful of left over scraps for the stripes).
• Fine cord for the warp. I used linen twine but you just need something that is reasonably strong and not too thin.
• A piece of cardboard slightly bigger than the size you want the placemat to be.
• Scissors – one pair for fabric, one normal pair.

Piece of cardboard with slits cut into opposite edges=low cost loom

First, you need to cut your fabric into strips about 1.5cm wide. Snip into the fabric along the grain of the fabric and rip it until one centimetre to the edge. Then, a few centimetresalong, make another slit 1.5cm in the other direction and repeat (the fabric will end up in a sort of zig zag).

Then, you need to prepare your loom. Cut short slits in the cardboard every 2.5cm along two opposite ends. If you really want you can cut out every other strip so that it looks like the crenellations on a castle, but it isn’t necessary. You then wind your warp threads around the ‘finger’ on the end, bring the thread down through the slit, across the cardboard to the opposite edge, around the finger and back up to the original edge and so on and so on.

Cardboard shuttle in use.

Use an excess piece of cardboard to make yourself a rudimentary shuttle. You basically want to cut a giant needle out of stiff cardboard. It’ll be a couple of centimetres wide at its widest point and you’ll need a hole big enough to put your strip of fabric through. Thread a length of fabric onto your shuttle and start weaving over and under the warp threads. When you reach the end of one strip of fabric tie on the next using a figure-of-eight knot.

As you go, use your fingers to push the weft threads down so that they bunch up a little.Keep weaving until the loom is full. Then tie off the warp and weft threads securely. Finally, slip the whole thing off the loom, give the thing a little shake to even out the threads, and admire.

Hi, I’m Sophia

Hello I’m Sophia, one of your friendly neighbourhood bloggers.

Sophia

I am cheerfully semi-competent in a variety of crafts. Since I was a little kid I’ve had a tendency to have a bash a various crafty activities from candle making to woodwork. For my GCSEs I insisted on doing Resistant Materials (woodwork, metalwork and plastics) rather than Textiles or Food Tech, both of which I could have done much much easier, because I was cross at the gender assumptions made by the teachers.

At the moment, I am rather fond of patchwork and quilting although I’ll happily play around with pretty much any craft except knitting. Knitting and crochet are the two crafts that I simply don’t get on with. The lovely lady who managed the Oxfam shop where I volunteered tried to to teach me but I’ve never got past resentfully asking other people to sort out my dropped stitches.

Thanks to Sophie blagging all the necessary materials, I’m working on some mosaic mirrors, I’m making some Christmas presents for my family (yay, organised!) and working on some quilts.