Holiday Roundup

All vegetables fromthe allotment, Christmas cake courtesy of my Mum and Christmas T-shirt customised by me (modelled by M)

Birthday Bear 2013

Remember,  remember second of December; a birthday not to be forgot.
Remember,  remember to mark the occasion with an offering of finest tricot -
For a personal bear with a wardrobe now so extensive,
To make something novel will need thought most intensive.

So with thinking cap on and with strong coffee by the mugful -
To arrive at a solution that's chic, in vogue and thoughtful.
Ideas swirl around in the knitter's tight brain: oh poor Mummsie!
What solution emerges? Oh gosh it's a..................................
................................................................................Onesie!

Diagonal decisions

A snapshot of my current work in progress. Deciding between sewing all the hexagon strips diagonally to form a diamond or whether to create a square - before adding borders and quilting.

Patty Pan Party

We are now entering the time of the year when the allotment is being really productive. For a few years now, we have had a summer squash plant. The resulting vegetable is eaten willingly by M who won't stomach courgette - even if they are very similar. Now that the summer squash, but I prefer the name patty pan, are in full production mode I am resurrecting some of the recipes that I used last year as well as discovering a few new ones. Unsurprisingly I am using courgette recipes.  First a little help from Nigella, with her Happiness Soup or try some fritters. (also found in her book Forever Summer). More recently, I had been waiting impatiently try Thomasina Miers's summer tacos with courgette and corn, found here in The Observer Food Monthly (but also in her book Mexican Food Made Simple). Sadly the corn is not ready so I had to cheat and use frozen - but still - deeeeelicious!

Circle and Spiral Quilted pencil case

A small little project to use a practise quilt sandwich from the BOTM quilt.

Jungleberry Jam

In the midst of various berries and currants needing picking, I save time by making a mixed fruit jam.  Some people call it tutti frutti, some mixed berry.  I found the name "Jumbleberry" appealed to me and so I always made Jumbleberry jam when I had a small amount of red gooseberries from our solitary bush, threw in some blackcurrants, the last handful of red currants that I would pick and the throw in some of our prolific raspberries for good measure.  M misheard me - so "Jungleberry Jam" was born!

Ingredients:
2kg of mixed currants and berries (redcurrants, blackcurrants, raspberries and red gooseberries)
2kg granulated sugar (its way cheaper than jam or preserving sugar if you are not fussy about clarity or setting)
optional: bottle/packet of pectin

1. Warm fruit in large preserving pan and slowly heat, letting the berries burst and juices run.
2. Meanwhile warm sugar in a low oven (& don't forget to warm those dishwasher clean jam jars)
3. Add sugar and stir to ensure even melting of all the sugar.
4. Bring to the boil, keep stirring and bring to setting point (105 C / 220F or passes the wrinkle test).
5. If in doubt stir in the pectin (I used Certo) - if your fruit was acidic enough you may not need it - in my house this jam needs to stay on the toast otherwise I end up treading in jam all the time because SOMEBODY considers plate use optional at times.

Craftsy BOTM 2012 Quilt finished

Made by me, started on 23rd January 2012, finished on 26th April 2013.

This is the project that has consumed most of my creative time in the last year.  I have learnt so much and it has given me the hunger to continue with quilting.  I now find myself torn over some of the clothes sewing projects I stopped myself from starting or starting another quilt.  I have a few little projects on the go just using up some of the scraps and leftovers from this project as well.

This weekend's job

Is recovering after some minor surgery.  This will involve me planting myself on the sofa with Saturday Kitchen, a TV box set, and some hand sewing.  For this I got myself prepared and got my quilt ready to bind (when they say don't operate machinery for 48 hours afterwards I include my sewing machine). So watch this space for the big reveal.

Still here

Just fallen out of the habit of communicating. Last few months have been quite involved: some disappointments, an exciting purchase, some sashing, some basting, some quilting.....

A little support

It has been observed that I can't seem to have a new gadget for long without sewing something for it. So here is a handy stand for a tablet very useful for following yoga videos or TV in bed.

Whilst I can't charge it at the same time in landscape mode it does the job of holding my tablet whilst catching up with BBC iPlayer programmes very nicely.

I vaguely followed a couple of tutorials here.

Work continues.....

On getting my quilt finished. Although the Crafts BOTM 2012 is over pushing ahead with turning this from a UFO to something to keep warm with.

Early to rise

Unusually active this morning - up, made up new muffin recipe, baked it, yoga done, coffee brewed & breakfasted.

Craftsy BOTM 2012 Catch up 4

1. Craftsy BOTM 17, 2. Craftsy BOTM 18, 3. Craftsy BOTM 19, 4. Craftsy BOTM 20

The September and October Blocks were really completed in November - I had got that far behind.  But the fabric was bought so I am going to get this quilt finished.

Septembers blocks involved curved piecing, with the Chain block pattern and Cleopatra's puzzle block.  I tried a special foot for curved piecing (like my tools/toys) but with lack of experience and at this size it was a no-go.  I will probably return to this foot when trying a larger curved piece, but for these blocks I went with the plenty of pins method.  Once all the pieces were pinned the sewed up quickly. At least the templates and my small rotary cutter made quick work of the cutting for these blocks.

The October lesson involved paper piecing - which I found quite fun but needed a little planning up front to ensure the fabric pieces were large enough and placed in the correct areas.  The blocks are Friendship Circle and Circle of geese (template for this were designed and provided by piecebynumber.com).

Craftsy BOTM 2012 Catch up 3

1. Craftsy BOTM 13, 2. Craftsy BOTM 14, 3. Craftsy BOTM 15, 4. Craftsy BOTM 16

July saw me getting a little behind, but I got on track when I saw that it required (well not really but it was a good excuse) for a new tool.  It was the month of Dresden plates - one tradional and one a little more contemporary.  As I didn't trust myself to be that accurate with a homemade template, I treated myself to a tool for guidance - nice and quick with a mini rotary cutter.  I think the best bit was picking out all the different fabrics and mixing them up for the traditional plate.  I could see myself playing with my scrap fabrics and producing a cushion cover or a few blocks for another quilt this way.

August (well October/November) was a return to basics with some star blocks - Ohio & Double Star. Covering quarter square triangles and introducing flying geese in the double star block.

A Wizard Birthday

This year's birthday outfit from Mummy Bear Maker.

A little gift for myself

Amongst all the various treats and gifts I have received for my birthday was a lovely pampering break at a nearby spa.  I decided to continue with the relaxation with this lavender eye pillow for my yoga sessions. The treat was completed with a piece of hand dyed silk satin from my stash.

Craftsy BOTM 2012 Catch up 2

1. Craftsy BOTM 9, 2. Craftsy BOTM 10, 3. Craftsy BOTM 11, 4. Craftsy BOTM 12

The block stitching starting getting a little slower during the early summer, but were more or less finished within sight of the month there were introduced. In May I looked at the wonky log cabin. The really wonky one was a revisit for me to crazy patchwork land. I did some crazy patchwork in the early days of my City and Guilds course. One piece I did the base my machine (ans was frowned at by not slip stiching it all by hand), this time I refrained from adding embroidery - I think the Amy Butler prints are embellishment enough! June returned to something a little less complex in the form of modern 9-patch blocks. Not amazingly exciting but a good chance to return to some of the seam matching techniques from previous months.

Craftsy BOTM 2012 Catch up 1

1. Craftsy BOTM 5, 2. Craftsy BOTM 6, 3. Craftsy BOTM 7, 4. Craftsy BOTM 8

Whilst I have been more (or less) keeping up with getting my Craftsy BOTM blocks done, I haven't posted any of the images anywhere. These blocks were completed on time for each month.  March saw me learning about foundation pieceing, with the string block and the broken spider's web block.  April saw me "coming home" with English paper piecing - there was a time when I was first introduced to patchwork when I took it to just mean doing frustratingly inaccurate things with hexagons.  This time I completed the hexi stripe and sunny with a chance of hex blocks in good form after being introduced to the delights of using copier paper wrappers (the stiff paper kind) which do a similar job to freezer paper.  I did have some issues with my can of spray starch  - less spray more intense jet of starch which ends up discolouring and going yukky.  I have since picked up the tip from another quilter to use a pump bottle spray starch than a can of spray starch.

I really liked both techniques - both could be useful in using up scraps in my fabric compost.  The English paper piecing is a good portable project which can be done whilst TV watching or waiting about.

More to follow but - I need to pack for a pampering.....

Last weekend's adventures part 2

 

 Last weekend was a lovely long one in the Brecon Beacons, staying just outside the town of Brecon. I wasn't in the best of health (or fitness) to do some of the cycling planned by my fellow travellers (great company, good curry eaters, fantastic bakers and breakkie chefs). I did however, get a little walking - a 7 mile walk which turned into more like 8 as we lost the path. The walk was mainly sunny but it wouldn't be Wales without a little rain. This was also the muddiest walk I have ever completed due to some forestry work which had churned up some of the trail. The mud river was soon forgotten after climbing to the open moor and being able to see the stunning views of the snow topped Fan y Big and Cribyn and enjoying the cool delights of some of the cascades of the Nant Menasgin.

Last weekend's adventures

With textile jewellery:

at Walford Mill Crafts in Wimbourne

with Melissa Warren a textile artist and designer based in Wales.