My ORTS project.

Some people put the bits of left over embroidery thread in a jar.  Some put them inside clear plastic ornaments and use then as Christmas decorations.  Some, throw them out!

I have had a different approach, for many, many and I do mean many years.  Much longer than the Thread bag even before the Thread Ball there was 

 THE BAG

Also on occasion known as the everlasting project (wrong as it is finished but I am getting ahead of myself) there is of course a story behind the existence of

THE BAG

A brochure popped through the letter box, landed on the mat.  A brochure from a charity selling things to raise funds to save endangered species and their habitats. So I looked through the W.W.F brochure and I bought a stationary set and a 100 % cotton bag with a design on each side in green.  A picture of the world surrounded by  some of the creatures the charity aimed to support.  I rather liked the bag and I had been using it just as it was.

Then it went to London with me on a trip, and I put some fruit in it (in its own bag, but that split and I ended up with squashed fruit on my bag.

That's OK it would wash and it did and it did again but this time I noticed a bit of fading in the green.  That was this projects moment of birth, I wanted to keep the design, so I would sew over it.  If you have visited my blog before you will know it could not be just that simple, and it wasn't, I would just use bits too small to use for anything else. 

And so it began , about twenty five years ago, it began.  

For the first side I just wanted to use earth tones, the greens and browns and subtle yellows.  They did tend to be the colours I was working with the most.  My brighter toned threads went on the other side.

That is not to say it stopped being used as a bag whilst its pattern preservation commenced. It became the project bag for holidays, the stuff a jumper in it and it becomes a pillow bag for camping trips and it was still getting washed and still fading.   

The green side was finished first.

W.W.F Caring for our world.

I did bend my rules for the blue lettering and the leaves, but only in so far as these leftovers could  have been used for other small projects

(The dark green in the body of the whale, elephant and the continents is the original print, I settled on outlines for those rather than trying to fill them in.

The second side took longer, it felt longer, for there to be the thread to fill in all the little dashes of the pattern.  I guess there were less bright colours in the other projects I was doing to produce bright ORTS.

The coloured side

Having finally finished the sewing I felt the bag needed a lining to give it a bit of extra strength.

Here it is finished

WWF shopping bag

WWF shopping bag

oh and a few close up shots just for fun and to mark all those years.  With my sewing thread (thread bag) and my embroidery thread scrap projects completed, I wonder what I will do with them next.

W.W.F Panda

The classic black and Gold Panda on the green side.

W.W.F Panda

And one in a green that is very close to the original stamped pattern colour.

Tree with French Knot fruit.

Penguin and Polar Bear

Brights penguin and Polar bear

Elephant and Kangaroo

Trees

Bird and giraffe

close up of the dashes on the tones side

and on the bright side

And its first job as a fully finished lined bag, to carry my parents large print scriptures to Church for the 2018 Carol Service as we all had readings to do.

Nearly almost started

the watch this space project.

What!

Well back in 2013 I shared my Christmas Embroideries inspired by Christmas cards and showed a picture of the frame for the next planned for the set, with the note to watch this space.

Well I have finally moved the design from the many a piece of tracing paper (with the aid of an iron on transfer pencil) to the material.

This will, when I get started with the sewing that is, which may take some time as I am now contemplating what and how to sew it, be a full coverage piece, so the haze of pink caused by particles of iron on pencil dust is not an issue.

Now I was thinking of using DMC light effects, and I am still inclined to use some metallic here and there however, there is their new thread range which I am told is softer and easier to use whilst still having some sparkle.

Sooo I might order some and see before committing thread to needle and needle to project.

Anyway here it is in transfer stage. I have no idea of timescale for getting the next step started and certainly not for it being finished.  Years is more likely than months, it has taken me years of pull it out put it away move it about just to get this far.

Mini monogrammed selection box

Another Christmas gift with letters as a focus. This time a gift for a couple, of a little wooden box with some sweets in it.

So how to decorate it, well the title of this post rather gives it away.  A monogram made up of  their initials (first name and surname) which is quite suitable as they have a hyphenated user name for their Facebook account.

So out comes the pyrography tool once more to create something personal.

As noted in my last decorated box post little-box  I feel that a nice outside needs to have a nice inside when it comes to boxes.  So this box needed a lining to give a bit of internal style.  This time I used felt.  I found putting this lining in rather satisfying and it went quite smoothly.

Once the outside and the inside were decorated it was time to fill, with a bit of gentle arranging and asking them nicely to breath in, I managed to fit two each of four chocolates into the box. (six in the main part of the box and the last two sweets in the lid).

  Making it a mini selection box.

Do they do selection boxes in the USA? I will have to ask the recipients of this one.

Cross Stitch Crazy

mini photo album.

Personalised for the missionary sister who loves to take photographs.

Found the perfect rose to pop in the aperture and a little stitched initial and good to gift.

Fingers crossed it made her smile.

23 December 2018 Advent Calendar blog hop.

Here we are the penultimate day of the Advent Calendar 2018 and once again Jo our host has set a question that has had me thinking hard.  My favourite piece of Christmas music.

So is that my favourite popular Christmas song or carol, is it my favourite to listen to or to sing myself. Please note the links to songs will take you to a u Tube video.

Well my Christmas stitch for this years hop would suggest the title of a song and I do like it quite a bit, is it my favourite?

I made this cross stitch into a card for my pen pal, the original called for the stitching to be blue on white aida, I swapped it around and like the change.

I have even made a cushion 

With the same words and it is nice and fun to sing along , but no not my favourite

To listen to, I like Handel's Messiah and I guess the chorus For unto us a Child is born as per my  embroidery  (although the U -Tube video of silent monks doing the hallelujah chorus is very funny) .

My brother feels it is not Christmas until he has heard  Greg Lakes I believe in Father Christmas                                          on the radio or in a shop (it does not count if he has to play it himself). My BFF feels that it is not Christmas til she has sung Hark the Herald Angels Sing at a carol service. 

For me it is the utterly wonderful song from...the best version of Charles Dickens a Christmas Carol.

Yes The Muppet's and  It feels like Christmas  I just love it.

Now if you did not come here from Jo's blog then do consider heading on over to see the earlier days and for the link to the next page tomorrow.

And if you aren't visiting my blog before then, or even if you are I wish you all a very merry 25th of December and I do hope that for you it Feels Like Christmas.

Spoons, that touch of pyrography

that I said needed doing so paused the much tweeding project and then I forgot to share.

So we were having a social evening at Church to celebrate 50 years since it was built, the evening which included a baking competition for the brethren.  The categories,  Large cake, small cake and sweet pie.

I made spoons as prizes.  The winners names were added on the night.

I had to nab my selection of cake before heading off to a separate room to add the names (health and safety, those tools get HOT!

Anyway here they are , the spoons.

Yes they are backwards...well spotted, that's what happens if the only picture you have is the one sent by Facebook Messenger to let the organiser see the little chef design.  It it backwards...that was a bit of a surprise.

This is the picture the winners of the sweet shared after they won.  It is the right way around.  The entry was an apple pie made by a father and son.

Secret Santa 2018

the trouble with making my Secret Santa gift for work is that who it is from does not stay all that secret.

This year I turned to material for my crafting and made a satin book cover with the recipients initials on the front.

A few sequins of various styles to decorate.

Happily it was well received.

Sampler Quilt Grandmas fan

The next block is something of a next step from the drunkards path.  The book gave the template for the middle quarter circle and the blades of the fan.  The outer shape I had to make flowing instructions.

A square ruler was a big help.

I had issues with the seams on the blades  but that was trimable to a size. Added the outer edge and at first glance it looked OK , this picture makes it look rather twisted..I think that is my poor picture skills. 

If I ever get my new phone (which has too many functions bells and whistles for my brain) to be friends with me, I may update with something better.

Cutting the mount

for the Poppy Lady

with a most useful ruler

and the cutter

Ready to go in the frame as per the earlier post.

An Act of Remembrance 100 years

There is something both hopeful and melancholy,  timeless yet, "of that time" about this piece that drew me to it for this centenary remembrance day.

There are few that have not some connection to someone from either of the world wars or the conflicts between and after them.   Those who fought, those who waited, those who mourned.  Those who died, those who were damaged outside and in, those who survived and those who could live their lives as they would due to others sacrifice.

This is a picture of my paternal grandfather,  a boy soldier. 

He came home from World War One.

This is my maternal grandfather in his Home Guard uniform, he was eight at the start of World War One, he as his father before him was a miner. 

Great Uncles, cousins, aunts, uncles, all with stories.  Some they never would tell.

We owe them so much. 

On the 100th eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month I will be participating in the remembrance parade in my home town.  A remembrance of all that was given and of the responsibility that lies with those of us who remain.  

Halloween Trick or Treat Blog hopp 2018

Here we are again...spooky how time flies.

And speaking of spooky flying here is my 2018 Halloween stitch.

Now for your letter, wouldn't want you to go batty waiting for it

F

Then on to your next stop

twododo

Have fun and I will see you again next year (if not sooner I hope)

(oh and if you did not start at the beginning pop on over to Serendipitous Stitching , there is a link on the right.

Quaker Sheep

I have posted about two projects so far made with material gifted from another quilter doggy-bag and playing-cat-and-mouse.

A new work colleague with whom I share this hobbie and who shares stashletts, eggs and stories of mad chickens, grumpy pregnant sheep and stroppy horses.

So what do you make for a fellow quilter who keeps sheep?

Well in this case a cross stitch sheep.  

With a hint of  quilt?

Quaker Sheep.

Quaker Sheep

The original pattern called for the whole sheep to be in the same shade of oatmeal.

Once I had chosen the material I decided that the "quilt" section needed some colour. 

It is not my usual style, however I rather like the look of this chunky sheep on its spindly little legs.

Happily so did Nikita.

Oh my

that was quite a roll whilst it lasted. Lots of progress on this project before I ran out of steam this time around.

I have a bit of pyrography to do so this will have a rest.  Additionally the Halloween Blog hop is on the horizon so some bits and bobs to keep me busy till the mood strikes for this one again.

Logcabin variations duvet cover number three

On this one I again played about with the triangles on the graph paper.

The pale peach is a bit thin and the seams show through in this picture however, they don't do that when the duvet is inside.
































I like the layout and the way the colours in the patterned material works with the solids.

Logcabin variation duvet covers 2

Still using logcabin I was a bit puzzled what to do for another cover still on the four by five layout.

Graph paper is ever the quilters friend and I played around with triangles as a general idea how the finished blocks would come together and came up with this.

It coordinated with another set of bedding and again used up the available material.

Conference stitching..project update.

All the stitches worked today were tweeding.

I could look at this and see all the empty space that still needs to be filled.

But no!

I am looking at it and I can see the progress for today.

With the building stitches for more progress next time it comes out.

I have something to finish for November first.

Then I hope to have a bit more focus on this.

Logcabin variation duvet cover 1

In mini-mint.l I shared a patchwork cover made for a small duvet.  It was not the first cover made for that particular duvet.

Previous covers were made with my go to pattern of the time, logcabin. The size required some rethinking.  The normal sizes I had worked with allowed for even numbers of squares, generally four by six for the lap size.

The duvet was four by five.

For the first variation I went with a diagonal stripe arrangement. 

Logcabin duvet cover

A lot of the books I have seen since completing  my first logcabin recommend small prints or solids.  I have rather delighted in using large patterns and seeing how the slices of colour reform as the log cabin forms.

In this instance using two colourways of the same material, one with more orange tones and the other more purple. I like the way this came out.

Close ups of the sliced up material resewn.

Chorley Postage Stamp Quilt

There is a reason I think of this as a Chorley quilt, it is not a style related to that town nor did I make it there.

However, it is where the material came from.  Not from a quilt shop, not even directly from a fabric shop.

No it came out of a skip, a skip in front of a curtain shop.  They had been refitting and had thrown into the skip several pattern books.

I have mentioned this find before in relation to the second quilt I made from this fabric source hidden-star-hidden-beauty  I asked permission and I took as many of the sample books as my Dad and I could carry.  My Dad did suggest driving back to get them all, I declined, there are times I wish I had not but as I still have fabric to use it was perhaps a good choice.

The beauty of a sample book is the various colour ways of the same pattern and also the same colour palette for differing patterns.  I chose for this project to randomly cut strips from the various materials in the sampler book.  Sew the strips together, then cut them into strips (of squares) and join them into blocks.

I will admit that when working the blocks I was a little less random and did make some choices of which strips to use together as I went.

I remain quite happy with the result of the lightweight quilt.  The quilting pattern on it is the closest I have come to a dresden plate so far (there is one ahead in the sampler quilt).

 Here is a closer picture of the squares that make up the quilt.

And the quilting on as viewed from the back

Sampler quilt, spiders web and

Grandmothers Fan (a start and the pause)

So since returning to the Split Rail after a long gap I have been on something of a roll, started and finished the drunkards path and then I started the next page in the book.

Spiders Web...and finished it too. (I may need to work on the corners to get it squared up)

Still the points and seams on the web part came out so much better than I had feared when battling with the Split Rail.

So, whilst waiting for access to the sewing machine to add on those corners, I cut some of the pieces for the next chapter  Grandmothers Plate.

And started the sewing for it.

I have finished the panels for the fan and I started pinning the point of the fan to the panels in the same fashion as the drunkards path.  The book says that this should be easier as it is a more gradual curve.  

Nope!

And at the third time of pinning and it is still not happy I feel my roll slowing to a halt for this project at least.

Perhaps the cross stich will make a come back.  It is General Conference this coming weekend so my long term project will hopefully make an appearance and be progressed.

Sampler Quilt.

This is the layout I settled on for Drunkards Path.

I did the whole block by hand.

It needs a bit more pressing.  However, I will let that wait till I am ready to consider putting all the design blocks together and make arrangement and stashing decision.

Drunkards Path variation

So that is six different blocks done (well almost done some of then need borders adding to bring them up to size and again I am waiting till all the blocks are done as that might make a difference in the colours I chose to use).

The next block is back to strips joined, cut into triangles and rearranged.  

Sampler Quilt Drunkards path

So after the stall on the Split rail I expected progress on the next block with curves to be slow.

The book has this as a hand sewn block, for the curves at least and described the pining as looking like a hedgehog.

I can see the correlation....

my BFF asked how do you sew that, the answer...carefully.

Sixteen blocks later and much quicker than I had anticipated there is the fun part of looking at the layout to see if I prefer an alternative to the version heading the chapter in the book.

So some options 

There are two that call to me more than others.  One is the chapter picture, one a variation.  I may not need to choose one or the other.  I had a little miscount and made 4 more blocks of the blue and pink than I needed.  So I can make another twelve and try both if I feel like it.

Click here

for an update on the end result and to see what happened to the extra 4 squares.