Saturday, 23 June 2018

Cutting the mount.

I recently re-shared King-arthur-and-guinevere on Facebook and was asked what I had used to cut the mount. So as I was getting my cutters out to adjust a purchased mount, here it is, or rather they are as I used two cutters. 

For the long straight edges I used this cutter.


It attaches to grooves on the ruler that came with it.




But for the smaller fiddly bits I used this cutter made by the same manufacturer.



This is also the tool I used to cut the mounts for small-owls  and to adjust the mount for the teddies' toes in birth-announcement.

As for the project I pulled the ruler and cutters out for? Well that is the funny thing, The aperture looked too small and I was sure it needed to be made bigger.  However once I took it out of the frame it was just right and I did not need the cutters at all. Typical.  I can't share that project just yet as it is a gift not yet given.  It will make its appearance at a later date. 

Sunday, 10 June 2018

Project more progress

Sometimes when a project comes out for a little work then a little more and and before you know it quite a bit gets done.

I even know which bit I will stitch next...I call that progress. Still a long way to go....


Thursday, 7 June 2018

Project update

This is a few sessions worth of update on this project.  I have been mostly working with whole shades and full stitches.  Although I did do a small section of tweeding. 



Saturday, 2 June 2018

Doggy Bag

Now this is not a bag for taking leftovers home.

Although it is a bag of leftovers.

Some of my own and some of Nikita's

Another bag of random bits leftover from Nikita's past projects made their way to me.  Now this is a double win.  Guilt free de-scrap and de-stashing for Nikita and a bag of inspiration for me,well and some shared inspiration fro my BFF who got the purple bits, hey a triple win.

So last time the fist inspiration was two bits of material with -cat-and-mouse. This time it was two bits of material with dogs on.  The style of dog put me in mind of a famous brand for purses and bags.  I mention  no names, you either will know or you won't.

So a bag I thought. Hmm sure I have some of that dark shade of pink.  Checking required a trip into the loft.  I did indeed have some of that pink, in a box, in the loft. However the some was more like tiny bitty.

Fortunately there was also some paler pink that matched the spots and of that there was quite enough to do the job.

Handmade doggy bag
Doggy Bag


I could perhaps have gone with blue or green or even grey.

If I had found any of those colours during my expedition to the loft perhaps I would.

However pink is what I recalled and what I found.

As for the itty bitty of dark pink.

Well I used that too, in the handles of the bag in a slight reflection of the style previously used in my dragon-batik bag not quite as successfully but then this time round was on a smaller scale, both the handel size and the bit of enfolded material.

This is how they looked before the sewing and end folding.

As you can see there was not a lot of dark pink to play with.

I did wonder if it was worth attempting this way of incorporating a second shade. 

Whilst I was sewing it I was thinking nah! Should not have bothered.

Once done I am glad I did it pulls it together rather nicely.

Previously buttons have been a feature of attaching the handles to the bags I have made.  Decorative buttons not functional ones.


On this bag having already braved a loft search I did not feel like instigating a button hunt.

Normally delving into the button jar is fun.  It is a trip into my childhood.  I could play for hours with the buttons.  There are actually in my jar some of the buttons that I once played with...wow.  Today the prospect of looking for just the right size, colour, shade and shape did not appeal to me.  Then I recalled some little embellishments to hand (yes that is another pun) previously used on a subject related item  a toy dog. In that instance on the collar, this time four would replace the buttons.



A little hand stating hand made.

Also the idea of a hand tag on a bag with dogs rather then the dog tag from that famous unnamed brand amused me, still does. 

What can I say I have an odd sense of humour.






Now what is this bag for, or for whom? Well I am trying to decide if the finish is good enough to donate it at work for an up coming charity day in aid of tinylives, a local charity that supports the families of premature and sick newborns. A former colleague and his wife received a lot of support from this charity for their son. It has remained a charity close to our hearts.

The handles are not quite as I would have wished so I am giving it some thought.  Perhaps I will buy something to donate to the raffle and keep this bag till it becomes a suitable gift. 

I will let you know when I have made my mind up.

Oh I almost forgot, there was enough of the lighter pink to make the lining too and so that fabric is all used up bar the bits heading off into my bits-a-quilt number 3.

(PS, the bag did go to work for a Charity raffle and I understand the winner of the bag intends to use it as a lunch bag)

Sunday, 27 May 2018

Little box

a little pyrography


Pyrography dolphin pyrography box

The simplicity of the dolphin silhouette on the top
on the pale wood  it a pleasing effect.

A simple message on the bottom, that's OK too



somehow the inside of the box is a bit of a let down.... had to do something  about that!

Some gifted scrap fleece in a fetching shade of burgundy trimmed to size 




There that looks so much better.

All ready to be gifted.

Saturday, 5 May 2018

Tom Mouse

has all of his backstitching and at last that mouth makes sense.

Now on the pattern the envelope in hand reads "to you".  However I have taken the option to change that to the name of the baby boy who has spent some of his Sundays (along with his mother) sitting in the same room as me listening to the talks whilst I stitched.

Tom Mouse Country Companions cross stitch
Tom Mouse

Oh I took the picture without the glass to avoid glare..and got a bit of shadow from me taking the picture.


Tom Mouse

Friday, 27 April 2018

This is where the dragons went...

so here is the finished duvet cover with the sleeping dragon and the opening paragraph from Sir Terry Pratchett's Guards!Guards! 

A wonderful combination for me of my favorite subject, a dragon, my favorite piece of prose about dragons and the beginning of one of my favorite books by a favorite author.

So after all of those favorites, is this piece a favorite?

Quilting this is were the dragons went

That would be a yes! 

If you are new to my blog and not suffered enjoyed the process of getting to this point with me, or want a reminder here are links to the previous posts.  




to-quilt-or-not-to-quilt.

dragon-rinsed-and-beyond

I have also confirmed the name of the original artist on who's work the image of the dragon was firmly based. Anne Yvonne Gilbert. Pleased to be able to credit her for the inspirational dragon images.

This is the original image that inspired the sleeping dragon, you may be able to see the just opened sleeping eye, daring a closer inspection.


You can also see that I have interpreted the colour of the scales ect to meet my personal preferences.


Now I am looking to see what else that I have in progress I could finish...however I am getting distracted with ohh look at that I had forgotten that bit of material I was going to..oh look at that I put that to one side to do....ohhhh.

Finishing something can lead to starting several other somethings, or as the poor centipede in the poem, sitting distracted in the ditch trying to figure out which leg comes after which. 

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Modified Roman Stripe

Finished

All the quilting done (I did not go with the free motion quilting on the edge.  The hand quilting had turned out so nicely I did not want to take the chance of messing it up.

The binding was not quite as planed I had intended to do the fold, sew, fold over and and sew the folded edge on the back of the quilt.

That's what I did for the short edges. The long edges I had to do as a single piece of material with hems at front and back.  Both resulted in a thin binding which is all I wanted so to the good.

I did hand sew the binding in both versions on the back of the quilt.  I did a good chunk of that watching the 2016 final of Australian Masterchef. Yes it was a repeat and I had not watched any of the earlier rounds.  What a contrast to the format of the UK version! Anyway it was suitable company to the sewing without being distracting.

The weather has even cooperated going from the warmest April  day here in the UK on record back to the normal nip in the air Spring weather.  Much more suitable for quilt gifting.


Roman stripe quilt a variation



Funny the way the light in the picture makes some of the blue triangles darker than others.  It is the same material for all the large blue triangles. 


Sunday, 15 April 2018

Sunday stitchings..nearly almost

done


a couple of brown stitches to the neck, soles on the boots and then the delights of the backstitching to do.  Actually as the back stitching  is not bitty and into the middle of stitches (like the gardening mouse from the Easter blog hop) it should be  a pleasant finishing touch.

Sunday, 8 April 2018

More Conference stitching

Well as listening to conference is such a good accompaniment to this particular wip I did it again today.

Love the option on the Mormon Channel to watch all of the conference sessions.

Mind I was not feeling in a confetti mood, nor an ecru, beige, cream , blending (tweeding mood) whatever mood.

So I treated myself to some colour  and some solid threads. It also has the benefit of being to see the work I did today with the help of the Saturday morning session.