NEW PRODUCTS

I'm having a go at a video tutorial in the new FB group I belong to called Andy Skinner and Friends. 

Andy has generously provided the video to all the members and he has used some 'new to me' products. I have one of them, Crackle Glaze, but have yet to buy the Antiquing Cream and Interference Paint. 

However, my little piece has to dry, preferably overnight, so I see yet another trip out tomorrow to source those items.

Andy's sample was created on an ATC size of MDF. I don't have any so I've used the smallest of a set of butterflies from my stash.

The crackle is on and now the waiting begins. This is such fun.

Pop over and request to join if you fancy sight of some utterly amazing projects.

QUILTING WITH A CUDDLE

Well almost a cuddle. I was finally allowed by Tilly to stroke her.

She is coming on in leaps and bounds - literally. What a difference since she found her forever home with our Paula, Quentin and Huxley. Much happier now.

Paula helped me to sandwich my throw. I couldn't have done it without her. We taped the back to the floor then began to spray glue and pin.

Hard on the old knees for me but it all came together.

It's back home and ready for quilting.

Thank you Paula xx

A BIT FISHY

Had another go at the canvas and finished it this morning.

The base is a mixture of Distress Sprays, Adirondak Sprays, Perfect Pearl Sprays, Art Basics mica made into a spray and Dylusions Sprays. The underwater plants are cut with Tim Holtz Alterations Holiday Greens dies. The bubbles are Art Basics 3D gel through a Prima Bubbles Stencil. Those tiny shells are from Brixham in Devon held on with Art Basics soft gel and sprinkled with Beadazzles. All on a deep edge 6"x12" canvas.

I guess the sea would be bare without a fish or two, so I made a couple.

I saw something similar the other day but just can't remember where. The body is a Crazy Bird and I just drew the tail and stuck it on. I used lots of Distress Markers with a water brush to colour him. Have to thank Kassa for her amazing colouring tutorial.

Here is the finished canvas. Such fun.

DIFFERENT TRACK TODAY

After kneeling on the floor yesterday trying in vain to pin my throw, I gave up and asked for help. My pal, and step daughter, Paula, is going to help me on Sunday. She has far more space than me so together I hope we can get the thing straight so I can move on with it.

This morning I decided to have an inky play instead.

No idea where this canvas is leading to and I have no intention of just jumping in and playing around with it. I want it to be a distraction from sewing for a day or two, that's all.

It's lovely and warm outside, so I've been doing a bit of tidying the perennial border. 

Just look at the state of the path after all the months of rain. It will soon be time to power wash I reckon. 

Right, the tap on my nose isn't working again so I'm off to go through yet another box of paper hankies.

THE NEXT STAGE

After falling foul yesterday,  of this awful allergy(?) I have, my nose and eyes stopped running and leaking enough for me to sort the backing out this afternoon.

I decided to cut the cream to the size of the blocks plus the first border then to add enough purple to give me the rest of the size plus a couple of inches all round. The idea is to quilt the blocks and the outside 4" border and in doing that it means the quilting won't interfere with the seam on the back, if you get my drift.

So, the next step is to make a sandwich - not the edible type unfortunately.

I am really dreading this part so wish me luck as I may be quite some considerable time!!!

EMBRACE IMPERFECTION

One day I will write ' this is perfect' or something similar on my sewing projects. Until that day arrives I will continue with this,

Today's looks like this

I'm not up to the bending and maths today so I've packed in. 

ER! EXCUSE ME...

The cheek of it, really I ask you. Turned my back for one minute and look what happened 

Actually I suggested he go in my room because his computer desk is by the window and he would have blocked the light while I was sewing.

Talking of light, here's that jam jar with a battery night light in it.

Not a brilliant photo so when I get to finish the jar I'll try taking a better one.

The sewing of the garden throw took on a whole new meaning today. This is it with just the outside border to go.

And voila, this is it finished

I am pleased with the result but will difinitely be embroidering ' embrace imperfection' on it somewhere.  I now need to decide how to quilt it so that I can plan where to piece the backing. I don't want the quilting to look silly on the back by merging with the joining seam. At least I have enough batting so won't need to buy any. 

I've learnt a lot by making this, least of all, it's very difficult to keep everything straight and true.  Practice makes perfect I guess so it will be a very long time before I feel confident enough to use my extra special fabrics. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Today is a special day for 2 very special people.

My son-in-law, Quentin of Quentin James Design, has a birthday.

And my lovely friend Sylvia, also has a birthday.

I'll ring you later Sylvia for a catch up.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you both xxxx

I LOVE IT WHEN THINGS GO RIGHT

A good day sewing. I never thought that last year when I started to make patched blocks from the spare fabric after making cushions for outside, which by the way, we're all shapes and sizes, that today would see them actually looking ok.

I trimmed the life out of them at all hours of the past 2 days. The finished pre-sewn size was 11 1/4".

A bit of a daft patchwork size but I had been trying to achieve 12" squares when I started!!!!

Anyway, I had this pile of 12 blocks so planned the next stage.

The decision on the shashing colour was a joint effort. I have my own ideas but sometimes ask hubby for his because he has a good eye for colour. They need to 'pop' so cream it is.

I am so happy with it at this stage and will look good against the outside cushions.

I'm going to surround the outer edges in cream too having tried a few other options which didn't look right, then decide whether to surround the whole thing with another, but smaller, border then a larger one to finish off. 

So far so good. Who would have thought I could even do any of this last year when I started to teach myself a bit of patchwork. What I have learnt is - it's addictive.

OUTSIDE THROW TIME AGAIN

I've spent quite some time these last 2 days working out my jelly roll stash to make a quilt from one of my books. It looks easy enough but patience will be my downfall. I really must keep that under control once I start that one. Just sourcing a bit more fabric. In the meantime, I decided to crack on once more with the throw for outside. I only have 2 more blocks to make so I'm getting there.

I've measured all the others and I find the best size I can square them up to is 11 1/4" giving me a sewn size of 10 3/4". Hark at me being so precise. You can see that no matter how careful I sew them they will be completely different!!!

Anyway, I'm determined to make them into something even if that just proves to be a mess....

I have 3 big pieces of wadding and the smallest will fit and that's even accounting for a good overlap to allow for quilting shrinkage.

Not sure how much fun I will have but I've got a stack of paracetamol at hand for the headaches it will cause and hubby has already taken himself off into his little den so he won't hear me cursing LOL

WATCH THIS SPACE.

A BIT OF ALL SORTS

Well, I'm afraid to say that I've given up on the bag. My head is aching trying to work out the next bit. It also appears that the first bit I've finished is 1/2" short so I have to sort that out.

I finished the embroidery on the second bit this morning but that was it. I can't face it again today.

To re-focus, I made this instead.

It's a tea light holder but was a Hartleys jam jar. Once the glue is dry I'll pop a battery light inside and take a photo to show you the magic.

So, what to do next. How about this

If I can source the rest of the fabric I need - trying a lady in Torquay at the moment - and if I can get it right, this will be the first full size quilt I will make. That won't happen in a day but it might come together in a couple of years!!!!

EMBROIDERY TIME

Not getting on very quickly today. I struggle holding a needle these days and it's time to add some embroidery highlights to the front panel of the 'flip flap' bag.

If I can get this finished with my dwindling few lengths of embroidery thread, I can move on to the next part which is the inside pocket. 

Doesn't look much at the moment. Better get a move on then.

A QUICK CATCH UP

Have to be quick as I'm cooking tea.

After going into the next village this morning on an errand, I decided to get stuck into sorting the 'flip flap' bag. Most of the mess I had made had to be unpicked and that was my first job. I removed the walking foot from my machine and attached the 1/4" foot. How glad am I that I found a shop selling attachments for my now 20 year old Husquvarna. I so love it still.

This 9 patch was so wrong. I unpicked it, re-sewed it with 1/4" seams and got away with the circles. Success!

Same success with the other pieces and when the flying geese worked out, I was quite happy.

The front panel to date. More twiddling to do but tea beckons.

NO PLAY TIME TODAY

Had to go out today. Where I live means a lot of miles have to be covered every time there's shopping to be done so most of the day gets taken up.

All I've done to the bag is dismantle one little bit.

However, I did get to meet this young lady.

This little beauty is Tilly and belongs to my step daughter and her husband. She is a rescue dog so is a little shy but I'm sure her new brother, Huxley, will help her on that one.

Tomorrow will see me getting on with that bag.

PLEASED AS PUNCH

I've actually made something that looks the part. Even hubby thinks it's lovely.

The rag throw is all washed, dried and raggety. 

The seams look perfect as all the colours blend so well. 

The back isn't bad either.

A bit of colour to brighten the dark brown settees.

As I'm on a high, I may just have another go at the throw for the outside benches. That's more complex because I got carried away with making patched blocks using the material left over from the cushions I made. Some blocks are a different size to the size I had planned and I don't know how to rectify that because of the patterns. Thinking cap time me thinks.

SNIP, SNIP, SNIP

I started snipping my throw yesterday. It's such a monotonous job. Doesn't do my arthritic thumb any good either!

I snipped about 4 rows before having to give up.

This morning I began again but my new snips seemed to be getting a bit blunt so very silly me used my Fiskars scissor sharpener to try and sharpen them!!! I succeeded in blunting them completely. So the wrong tool to use. I took off into the mad Saturday traffic into town and bought 2 new pairs.

The first ones I opened were worse than the ones I broke and probably won't even cut through butter. Good job I got 2 lots because the other snips were amazing. Guess what? I've finished the whole thing.

It just needs a quick wash to rag all the seams, drying and voila, I will have completed my little throw.

I'll have to plan my next project now. Sewing or bottle altering or canvases or ..........................

ITS SEWN!

I didn't get the chance to do any sewing yesterday. The time was taken up with shopping and gardening. However, I was determined to 'crack on' with my throw today and I have finished the sewing. Yippeee!

I began by sewing the remaining 5 rows then I had to sew each one to this little lot

One last one to go about half an hour ago

DONE

This is the front

And the back

Now begins the clipping - dreading this bit.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SUNNY DAY TODAY

After the numerous horrendous storms of the winter, today is simply gorgeous. Not overly warm but enough to dry washing under clear blue skies. 

A busy day with the dreaded 'H' having to done and I'm now trying to sew the remaining 5 rows for the rag throw.

I've just been granted access to the man cave!!!! What a difference in there. I suggested hubby used the remaining Lino tiles on the side of one of his wall cupboards to neaten it, so he is busy doing that. When the weather gets warmer I'll shampoo his rugs. In the meantime, let me show you round.

The little tv is linked to Freeview Sky which used to be in my craft room.

I'm going to get him an end panel for that base cabinet.

Every inch has been used. I wonder how long it will remain tidy .........