Crochet

I needed a change of pace so I got out my crochet hook (the big one, 7mm) and a ball of 8ply variegated purple (very pretty) and retaught myself how to make an afghan square.  I've made 4 so far (two came out correctly!) and I'm quite pleased.  My crochet tends to get looser and looser but that doesn't really matter for this sort of project.  Sometimes you need to do something different - have a go, life's not an exam.  There's no evidence of crochet before 1800 which I find interesting.

Thread painting

This tabby cat is one that I embroidered recently, with a technique called thread painting.  After stitching the black outline where I wanted it to show, I threaded my needle with three different shades of grey DMC embroidery cotton, a pale, a dark, and a medium grey.  Towards the end of the tail where you see the shades are lighter, I used two strands of pale and one of medium grey.   Around the rear, I sometimes used two strands of dark and one of medium - and each stitch goes from the unstitched area into the stitched area, in between two other stitches, so that it all blends in together.  That is thread painting.  The background to this is fabric painting, which is another story altogether.  Have you seen my other blog yet?  Its at http://bird-diary.blogspot.com/

Hoping to get the website up tomorrow!

Here are my patchwork mice, though the pink one is not patchwork but felt.  The pair are smaller than the bigger blue one.  I made these last weekend, sewing together lots of squares of fabric to make a larger piece of fabric, then cutting out the mouse body shape and a gusset.  The ears are felt and the tails are felt except for the blue one, that is a piece of string covered with zigzag stitch which was quite easy, just put the feed dogs down on your sewing machine and use a darning foot, then you can zigzag as densely as you like with blue cotton, slowly working down the string.  I made the gusset by holding the 2 body pieces, after sewing them together and turning inside out, and pressing the seam flat,  hold them open over felt or fabric and draw round the wedge shape, cut it out and sew onto the bottom, stuffing before you close it up - also put the tail in before you close it up.  Make the ears from felt, giving them a little pleat when you sew them on to make them look right, and sew on a couple of black beads for eyes.  Add a few stitches for a mouth.  I forgot whiskers but you could use fishing line - they might stand out instead of flopping - I'll have to think more about whiskers.

Getting organised

You can find info on getting organised at my other blog http://filingspace.wordpress.com/ where I will be giving you tips on how to organise various things around your home, including shortly organising your sewing area. If you are making a few notes about what you plan to make next, you might find my ideas useful.

Craft and Quilt Fair

Just been to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Adelaide - had a terrific time, saw some wonderful quilts; I feel full up with the beauty of it all. I enjoyed the traditional quilts but mainly I was drawn to the art quilts, they were absolutely riveting.

I bought a kit to make silk flowers, and some fabric paint that I was looking for - I have learnt the hard way that not all fabric paints can be sewn through when dry, so always ask!

A technique I saw a lot of at the Quilt Exhibits was the building up of layers of tiny pieces of fabric to show texture and shading, e.g. trees, landescape; and the building up of layer of various media for the same purpose, e.g. yarn couched on fabric A, which is then sewn on to fabric B ...

Also texture was shown with "clumps" of beads, and different types of stitching on the same piece, next to each other, such as areas of close machine quilting next to open hand quilting.

I'm ready to experiment!

Free pattern

You can now get a free pattern for a Crazy Patchwork bookmark, from CQMagazineOnline, in the article I wrote for this online magazine. This mag has some delicious photos in the Showcase, including my green vest(waistcoat), but lots more besides, and will wet your appetite to make some crazy patchwork yourself.

UFO's

UFO's, in textile terms, are "unfinished objects", those craft items that we started, ran into a problem with, and put away to finish later. I can't bear to leave these UFO's hanging around for too long; it's all too much clutter. So I get them out again, and have a fresh look at them. It may take a few months to do this, but I can't leave them for years like some people do. Often, a break means the brain has had chance to come up with a way to tackle the problem, or I may need to research how to do it. If I can't see any solution that I am prepared to actually do, then I either put it in the charity box for some hardier soul to have a go with, or - yes - I may well chuck it in the rubbish bin! It is only stuff, after all, and if I can't make use of it then it is no good to me. The quilt I am sewing in my photo on this blog is one of my UFO's which I had half-completed, having finished the patchwork, then put away for some months while I psyched myself up for the quilting. I just couldn't get the enthusiasm to finish it until I read the idea of using fleece as a backing, instead of a layer of batting and a backing layer. This is much simpler, quicker, and it quilts really easily too by machine.