Bear evolution?

In one of my crafting fits and starts (and perhaps because of a new class at the local craft show if I am honest with myself) I started to think about making a bear.

Lots of patchwork bears have been making an appearance on quilting groups on Facebook.  I have not tried to make a toy from scratch since school.  So I expect it may have stayed a passing thought except I came across some red fleece in my stash.  I have had it a goodly while, it was a "do you want some scraps of material" offer from a lady at work about eight or nine years ago.  Left overs from a summer play scheme her daughter had worked on.  No idea what I would do with the whatever it was, still it was free material, in such circumstances I'm just a girl who can't say no.  

Anyway materials origin aside I though it would make a nice bear, off to the library for a book with hopefully an easy pattern.  Back I came with this. 

You may be able to make out the blue bear clutched in the little boy's arms on the cover. Red, blue that should be an easy change over one for the other.

Here is a better picture (from the book) of the bear.

The starting point

Now the eagle eyed among you will have noticed that the seams on this blue bear are on the outside and blanket stitched. This is because the pattern is for a felt bear.  Not undaunted I decided it shouldn't be too much of a change to sew it up with the seams turned to the inside.  Ah? but what about the ears, a single piece of fabric on the original I would need to double up on mine.  Scraps of pink fabric from a quilting project and destined to be leaders for future sewing projects became the inner ear.  The same fabric was also sufficient to make the pads for the feet.   

Arms and legs (even with inserting the feet) went OK, well one leg did end up a bit longer than the other but a bit of uniqueness did not bother me so much.  Time for the body and the head gusset, at this point the evolution from the blue bear took rather a more drastic shift than colour or seam.  I decided to put the ears on at the same time, sewing them into the seams on the head.  I had not considered how much that would change the aspect of the ears which on the original sat across the seam not in line with it.

Seams sewn it was time to turn the main part of my bear so I could see the outside and get a feel for the character of my creation.  

Mouse ears!

It looked like  a mouse, pinching the ears into the seam had turned my bear ears into those of a mouse.

What to do, unpick them and re-think how to attach them?  Too logical and not very me, anyway those seams would be a pain to unpick with the red thread I used sinking into the fleece. 

Give up on the project altogether as a bad idea, no, I had come to far for that.  Well then that left only one other option.  Yes, make a tail, a mouse tail to go with the mouse ears.  Of course there was no pattern for a tail, after all the pattern was for a bear.  Back to the scraps, sew a tail and realise as it was impossible to get it turned more than halfway out  that I had made it too skinny.  Second try and I gave turning out some thought before I started.  I put a length of thread anchored at the skinny end of the tail down the middle as I sewed.  Between pushing with a knitting needle and tugging the thread, tail number two turned out OK.

Mouse tail

On to the stuffing, now my parsimonious nature comes to the fore and out with the bag of wadding trimmings.  Never a bit too small to save I have plenty to fill my mouse.  Oh and on the theme of waste not, that very stiff tube of half turned fleece that was meant to be a tail, well I put that into the neck to give it extra support as it is quite a long neck. Time to sort through my button tin for eyes and for shoulder and hip joints.  I found some bonny buttons for eyes but rethought them as they were slightly faceted and a mouse with insect eyes would be evolution gone mad.  Mind I had already been told my creation looked more like a kangaroo at this point!

Some simpler black buttons for the eyes and black embroidery thread and on went the nose and a small  if somewhat wry smile.

The jointed limbs had to be sewn through the buttons the limb, the body the other limb and the button on the other side. 

My needle was not as long as I would have liked for this job but I managed.  With the added satisfaction of getting some use out of  a needle I had not used before. (you know those sets of needles you get for the little ones and end up with huge , or curved or spear pointed needles you wonder what you will do with).

And hey it worked, a jointed mouse (not a kangaroo, a mouse I am going to be firm about that).

Now all he needed was a scarf, it needed to be a bright colour to go with the primary bright red.  Now as you will hear about in more detail (should you visit my blog again) I am not much of a knitter, but as with material I have accumulated some oddments of wool one way and another. 

Wool chosen, with eight stitches a row on size 11 needles I set off to make a scarf.  Happily with so few stitches, although a lot of rows, that went quite swiftly even for me.  I don't have a name for my mouse, suggestions will be considered.  Oh and as for the show, it is at this point in the future.  I will let you know how that goes.  But till then, here is the once but not future bear who became a mouse in all his glory.

Red Mouse, side view seated

Red mouse, side view, standing

Red mouse, front view, seated

Red mouse, front view standing

A small update, after Facebook suggestions, a quick check on meanings and associations and the Mouse who was to be a Bear has a name.  Mr Giles Gentlemouse.

CLICK HERE to see how he did in the show.

My first evenweave project (cross stitch)

This is the first pattern that I bought for myself.  The colours appealed to me and the relaxed feeling.  I started in the middle an worked my way up to the right at first.  That meant the full pink sleeves were under-way before the figures head.  I don't know how many of you will recall the sit com 'Allo 'Allo! or the story line with the indelicately named portrait ?

I have previously mentioned that something other than the planned design can be seen during sewing, in this case the large round pink sleeves were interpreted by more than one person as being the indelicate area of anatomy in that portrait.  I never saw it myself.

Nantucket Rose

I made some  intentional small changes to the original design to both make it mine and to suit my own preference.  The edge of the lace on the original where it went over the skirt and the background has missed stitches to let the material colour show through however, I added in the colour of the area they were crossing instead.  Oh and there was some back stitching on the cottage that I left off.

You will note I said I made some intentional deviations from the pattern.  Well I also made some unintentional ones as well, fortunately from me they were small and not so  noticeable so that I could live with them. 

This design contains lots of lessons learned, some indirectly. Whilst I was doing this my friends wife was also doing a design with a flowing draped skirt. She started at the top of a drape and followed the one colour all the way down to the bottom then went back to the top for the next section of the drape only to find part way down she had a miss count at the top of the first section and it all had to come back out. 

She shared her story of dismay with me before I was seduced by the one colour bug in the same way on the skirt here.  So I moved the skirt down four or five rows in any shade then brought the next section down so I could make sure they matched and the count was right.

Visiting a cross stitch shop with the same friend and her mother I spotted a finished Nantucket Rose on display.  I examined it closely, spotted a mistake or two (only because they were in an area I was working at that time and knew it very well), I was delighted to do so.  I am not sure that my companions understood my glee, perhaps they thought I was being a bit picky or mean.  That was not the reason, I was having an epiphany, the item on display looked great, not perfect but great, I did not have to follow the pattern perfectly to have something of worth.  Small deviations were not just OK they made it personal, they made it unique.

I originally framed it myself , in a very simple frame echoing the framing on the pattern.  Later my framing friend re-stapled the back as that kept popping off.

It takes turns on the wall with the first kit I finished CLICK HERE to see that project which was started before this and finished after and a much later finish made for my mother. CLICK HERE to see that one.  Rose tends to make her appearance in summer and comes down in the Autumn.  

I am updating posts by adding internal links and where I find a song that feels like a good fit, for whatever reason, title, lyrics or just because I am a Forestella fan and think it would be nice for others to discover them and share hopefully in the joy, they started in 2017 and I did not find them till 2024.

The link is to You Tube.

This one is from the original taken competition they participated in and won.

Thanks for visiting, if you can please leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

Update on current kit project (cross stitch)

It has been awhile since I did anything with the kit.  A pause after the cross stitch part was finished to think how best to progress with the "fancy" stitches.

I prefer to stitch cross stitch without a hoop, just holding the fabric in my hand.  However, the various specialist stitches don't look like they would react well to that.

For the first time I am trying a scroll frame.  I had to trim the edges so it would fit.  Made a start top left corner with the stem stitch, read the symbol wrong and had to take the whole lot back out, although I did consider labelling it as a design variation, but the discrepancy in the colour was too jarring to leave. Such a mishap would generally signal another  period of hibernation for the project.  Not this time, this time out came the wrong thread and in went the right one, quicker than the first time.

Scroll frame

You know that annoying trace of colour you get when taking out stitches?  Well in this instance it was a help as it acted as a guide for where to put back the stitches and no careful counting was required, so not only did I get back to the position I started before unpicking I actually got a bit more done.

Whilst I have made progress,  I am doubtful that I will have this finished in time to enter it in this years local craft show at the end of August. 

(Cross stitch) Be careful what you wish for

I had been working on what felt like a forever of patterns with many fractional stitches, blended threads or confetti placements.  I yearned for big blocks of solid colour and minimal factional stitches.  

The birth announcement/sampler for my nephew offered me just that.  His mother was and is a BIG Disney fan with a marked fondness for Winnie the Pooh.  I spotted a kit (best way to get the specially shaded range for use with Disney designs) that although not specifically a birth sampler  had room for me to add name and other details.

There it was big bold, just what I wanted and oh how I struggled to get it finished!  I got fed up fast with the big blocks of the same colour I wanted to move on, do something else, dot about, count in numbers under ten or twenty.

I bemoaned my choice and grumbled more over this than any of the more complicated patterns I have worked on.

Eeyore's Bounce

To keep myself going I worked up and down in blocks of ten, that was not a good move, I can see it on the finished piece, it it the first time I noticed the direction you work (even though the top and bottom threads of each stitch lay the same) can show when you look back at it.

I did not trust myself to frame it, both because it finished up quite big and because by the time I had finished it, I liked it very little and thought that might be reflected in the care or lack of I would take. So off it went to my friend the framer.  I even abdicated choice of mount and frame!

Here it is framed and wrapped to protect the edge.  Oh and the little V you can see at the bottom right, well that is a different project and I will be coming back to that at a later date. Happily my nephew (by the time I finished it he was old enough to express an opinion, shame on me) and his mother liked the design. I put a family tree on the back, although I note it is my mother who is the family historian not me.

Looking back on it, now that I am not sewing it, I can see again why I chose it, the design is very eye catching and fun, but I shall avoid any large Disney projects in future but I have not abandoned them altogether, smaller designs remain an option.

appliqué baby quilt number two

So some time after the Guardian Angel was finished on came the announcement of further expansion to my friends family.  This time the design was chosen with an awareness of the baby's gender although it remained a general secret.

Once again the design was  to be based on a cross stitch pattern.  William in the Window designed by John Clayton for Heritage Thread Bears.

John Clayton's William in the Window

                                                                                                    The bit which needed some though this time was the right side of the design as I did not want to add window frame all the way round and as you can see , in the original it fades into the fabric.

That was not something I could envisage for the quilt.

My solution ivy leaves down that side.  I took a few real ivy leaves to make the pattern, I picked a couple in various sizes that appealed to me and used them. A little bit of padding to the leaves gave them texture.

William in the Window quilt

The fingers holding up the quilt in this picture belong to the baby boy (not so much the baby now, he is sitting his GCSE's this year).

As with his big sister's quilt, the back is also pieced and includes his initials.

The quilting was easy to decide on just following along the lines of the pattern on the main fabric.

Oh and just in case you were wondering, no the recipient's name is not William.

Since early2024 I have discovered the delights of Korean Cross over group Forestella and have been adding links to you tube videos of songs as I think they somehow "fit" with one of my crafting posts.

In this instance a bit of the lyrics and something in the video right at the end. This is a solo piece by the base singer of the group.  It was a snippet of a song featuring his deep mellow voice that drew me in in the first place.

Lap Quilt (log cabin)

I made this lap quilt for my Aunt.  She was a wonderfully charitable lady and attended many a coffee morning, fair, church jumble sale and many another fund raising event.  She often found bits of material she would bring me.

She kept a special eye out for greens aware of a project I have been fabric collecting and discarding for many a year (more about that later, when at last I get it finished) although none of the bits was ever just what I was after. A lot of the bits I collected for the project weren't in retrospect what I was after either so no reflection on my Aunts eye for fabric, just on my knowing what I wanted. 

Some of the bits my Aunt brought me went into my bits-a-quilts, others still await a suitable home.  (I think I have found a pattern for using up some of the greens, again update later if it happens).

In addition to being a powerhouse for local charities my Aunt was bold with decided opinions and a quirky sense of humour developed over her two interesting careers firstly as a nursery nurse and then as a policewoman. Although she had left both to be a wife and mother by the time I was taking notice of such things.  I chose for her quilt a rather big bold pattern for the middle of the log cabin arrangement and slightly subtler ones for the rest.  The darker pink tones picked up some of the colours in their living room.

Happily she very much liked the resulting combination and her quilt was regularly used for naps in her chair when her health became poor.  I miss her and find it hard to say my Uncle's name without it being in combination with hers, sometimes I forget and the sad fact of her absence hits like it was new. I am glad that she is included in my bits-a-memories and they help me remember the happy things, the smiley moments and the gift that was knowing her.  

A curtain bag

 I was given a bag of scraps, it contained quite a mix of bits, including a curtain sample complete with rings.

The black and white material was quite sturdy so it became this bag.  The curtain rings made an interesting way to attach the handles.

IHSW May

A little more progress on my designated project for the International Hermitage and Stitching Weekend.

             






The stocky deer has vanished but I can't decide what has replaced it.

 My mother sees a wizard but no matter the angle I'm not seeing anything much in this shape at all.

Celtic embellishments (quilting) .

For my second multi coloured Bits-A-Quilt I decided to make it a bit longer so as not to get cold toes if I wanted warm ears. The same thing applies to the bits making up this quilt as the last, although there are a few less childhood memories in this one and a lot more quilting projects.  I estimate it took seven years for there to be enough bits to make the top.

If you look carefully you will see a blue circle, it is a fine check material and is the decorative ring of material from the top of a jar of lemon curd I bought at a fair.  A fun addition to my quilt and the curd was nice too.

As the quilt grew to the desired size I wanted to do some Celtic knots and zoamorphs. However I did not want to have the fancy bit on the back, just on the front.  So I firstly did a sandwich with the top wadding and voile to keep the weight down a bit, all those seams adds quite a bit of heft as it is.

It was fun picking the designs and  dotting them around the quilt. You may recognise the dragon knot from my carved box.  I still like it and may well use it again on something else.

Celtic bird

Dragon Celtic knot

Orange fish on white

White fish on orange

Zoamorph

tri knot

Knots

Celtic Swirl

As with my earlier Bits-a-quilt I love looking at this quilt as it is full of memories with scraps from many a project (you can see the tartan below that was left from the Young Women's quilts, I told you that would make an appearance).  It is a bit like a memory game, what bit came from where. 

The original multi Bits-A-Quilt

This is the first quilt I made out of bits.  Not pre-cut, no pattern, just bits.  Bits from my mothers scrap bag, so there are scraps here from dresses she made me and I wore as a child. Bits from the quilts I had made up to that time, bits cut from the legs of trousers that were too long for me.  So all the bits hold memories and some times I amuse myself by trying to remember the origin of each.

I did not wait to have enough fabric to make the whole quilt top before I started sewing.  Each time I had the sewing machine out for a project I would check the bag of bits, see if any fitted together and sew them.  Each time I had a piece left from a project or from clothing alteration I put it in the bag.  Slowly over years it grew till it was big enough for a backing. Bits left over, well they stayed in the bag and became the starting point for the next quilt of bits. 

The green fabric for the backing and the boarder I bought in a discount shop that sold what ever they had found cheap and could sell for a reasonable profit, from door mats to toilet brushes and fabric. It has been a good find and hard wearing.

I finished it in 1997 having quilted in the furrow (mainly) randomly round the blocks.  I find that I remember things I was watching on TV whilst I was working on a particular project.  That is not a hard stretch of the memory for the quilting on this project.  I was watching the procession to her final resting place from the funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales.  I did not sew during the actual service as that would have felt disrespectful.
   

This is a picture of the quilt I took after it was finished...or perhaps that should be after it was started!

Bits-A-Quilt start

I say started because the fabric is all ages and all weights and the quilt has been in use most days since the boarder went on.  So seams have pulled apart or fabric has worn out.  Each time that has happened I have fixed it.  Adding new patches over the worn spots and covering the weak seams.

So I guess this quilt is not so much finished as it is ongoing, perhaps at some point the original quilt top will be totally covered in fixings.  I quite like that idea even if it is covering up old memories with new ones.  So far there are over twenty new pieces on this quilt and it is still getting used on a daily basis.

This is how it currently looks (hooray for digital cameras) who knows how it will look in a few more years time.  

Bits-A-Quilt current

If I am still blogging I guess we will find out.

OK I am adding this picture as an update on 16.03.2021, the current status of the quilt after its next set of fixes.

January 2025 and it is again repair time so adding the current  look of the quilt after more patching.

I have put the picture in the same orientation  to make it easier to play spot the difference.