Ripple Blanket and Duvet Cover

Posted on 19 January, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Not much to show this week except for my ripple blanket progress and the start of a duvet cover for our bed! Must start DD’s cushion covers soon though as it’s her birthday next weekend!

I have found that as long as I don’t switch back and forth from acrylic to wool I can manage the acrylic ok as I get used to the feel and rhythm of working. This also has the added advantage of keeping down my WIP pile! It’s quite a wide blanket so each row takes quite a while and every now and then I get carried away and forget to make the increases on the ‘hill tops’ and decreases in the ‘valleys’ and so have to undo a few trebles! Once you’ve got going past row 3 it’s a really easy and relaxing project as there is no need to refer to the pattern (from Attic 24) – each row is the same. It is a good seasonal make too as it keeps me warm whilst I’m working on it – in summer this might be too uncomfortable.

ripple blanket in Stylecraft Premium Acrylic yarn

Ripple Blanket Week 3

My daytime project this week is a duvet cover for our bed. I decided I wanted to finally use up my 200 x 2 inch squares of Liberty Tana Lawn which I bought online last year and was dismayed at the thought of sewing together such small fine fabric pieces. Luckily I came across a good method of working with such small squares in the Very Berry blog but it is actually Elizabeth Hartman’s method found on her Oh Fransson blog I have bought quite a bit of liberty fabric from Ali at Very Berry and all her tutorials are very helpful. Basically I ironed each square onto Vilene first, making a large patchwork square and then sewed the rows together in the normal way, ie right sides together. This way it gives the fine Tana lawn some body and stops it getting chewed up in the machine plate at the start of sewing!

I now have the middle of the duvet completed and am now sewing a surrounding border of triangle -within- a -square using my tri-recs templates. This is a bit fiddly and I am making up my own pattern so will take a while!

patchwork quilt top using Liberty Tana Lawn

Quilt top of 2″ Tana Lawn pieces sewn into 7 inch blocks

So that’s my work this week! Looking forward to seeing what everyone else been up! Linking up with Handmade Monday!

Beanies, Blankets , Cross Stitch and Cushions!

Posted on 12 January, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Well this was going to be the dreaded ‘week of the tax return’ ! But, when I registered online to start it, I discovered they have to send a code through the post before you can fill it in – and it took all week to arrive! Good job I didn’t leave it till the last week in January to begin the process or it would have been an expensive mistake!! However I wasn’t bored at all because as well as progressing with my Attic 24 style ripple blanket I started another beanie using the lovely Adriafil Knitcol wool.

Second week of Ripple Blanket!

Also, I went to the Abakhan sales and bought fabric to make cushions for my daughter’s new house! I have 2 weeks till her birthday so should manage to get those done in time! I am using some very nice bird patterned fabric for the front, with a plain linen look for the back.

Bird patterned fabric for daughter’s cushions

One interesting thing I found whilst doing my crochet is that real wool is much easier on the hands than acrylic, even though it is premium Stylecraft. The Adriafil Knitcol just slips through my fingers and hook with ease, but the acrylic seems to have a little resistance, and so takes more effort to work with. It’s a shame my ripple blanket is in the acrylic as it’s going to take quite a while to finish. I think I will be looking for any 100% wool bargains I can find in the future though, even if it means waiting a while as the difference it makes as to how much crochet I can do and how tiring it becomes is quite remarkable. I wonder if this is a common difference between wool and acrylic or more down to my arthritis and fibro problems?

Here is my completed Beanie which is going in my Folksy shop. My other one sold in London quite quickly.

beanie in varigated pink, yellow and orange wool

Beanie with wavy edging

I also couldn’t resist buying some more Aida and embroidery hoops from Abakhan. I find cross stitch and crochet such relaxing evening crafts whilst watching TV after doing my sewing in the day time. So tonight it’s Dancing on Ice and a bit of cross stitch and crochet and a mooch round the Handmade Harbour! What are you doing?

New WIPs for 2014!

Posted on 5 January, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well the holidays are almost over! Son No 2 has returned to London. Son No1 left last week and tomorrow my DH goes back to work. WOOHOO! House to myself again!! (they don’t read this!) . I have been having a good rest this week, mainly because I got a seasonal virus just after Christmas day and am still not completely well. Having Fibromyalgia, amongst other things, seems to mean getting things badly and taking a long time to recover. I think the strain of going to London for the ill fated craft fair didn’t help either 🙁

For anyone who was wondering how Handmade Christmas at the 02 went – well it wasn’t a very good experience and I would not recommend anyone to book with this event in the future before being very sure that things will be different from the December one. We were not the only stall holders unhappy with various things – there is a facebook group of us all trying to get some compensation from the organisers. I have written to the OFT, as have others, and am awaiting a response. You can read more about it my last weeks POST which also has a link to the Folksy blogpost about it.

But to move on to happier things – I have started my first WIPs of 2014! A Ripple Blanket using the Attic 24 pattern and am really enjoying making it whilst resting on the sofa.

Ripple blanket

Remember the crosstitch heart in last month’s craftseller? Well I decided to have a go last night and it’s coming along nicely, just the top half to do now!

Half a crosstitch heart!

So that’s two WIPs already- one good thing from having an xmas fair is that all but one of my other WIPs are finished – and some even got sold!! It’s soooooo good having the opportunity to build up a new stack of WIPs!! 🙂

When not making new things I am spending my time planning them from ideas in these two fantastic books I got for Christmas! GBSB from DH and Vintage book from DS2!

Crafts books for new ideas!

And that’s me sorted for a couple of weeks! Looking forward to reading about other people’s holiday adventures and new year plans over at Handmade Monday Have you got a stack of WIPs Yet? Do tell!!

Handmade Christmas at the 02 – a tale of woe

Posted on 29 December, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Gosh it’s been ages since I had the time to update my blog! Before Christmas I was sewing madly making things for Handmade Christmas at the 02, then it was Christmas, and then I got ‘the bug’ so feeling quite poorly now.

Regarding the handmade Christmas organised by Peninsula Exhibitions I am sorry to report that this was a big disappointment. Not just to me but many stall holders are talking via a FB group about taking the organisers to the small claims court and the Office of Fair Trading. The event was not the amazing prestigious wonderful occasion it was made out to be when we booked. For visitors there was certainly a wonderful variety of high standard crafts as many people had been fooled into exhibiting as well as us.

My first concern on arriving was that my stand was not where I had booked it in the ‘Folksy Trader village’, near the entrance and opposite what was supposed to be a bar/café. No, it was at the end of the market opposite an empty dark space. There were many issues which I am not up to recording today but please be very wary should you think about exhibiting with Peninsula Exhibitions again. They refuse to offer any compensation to stall holders for various mistakes at this event and to refund our deposits for the Spring event which we now do not wish to attend – despite admitting it was their error in not placing our stall in the spot we booked!

They also charged visitors £8 for the first two days and £6.50 on the Sunday – not the £5 stated when we booked – so visitors had paid a lot before they got to us! They didn’t seem to have spent any money at all on festive lighting, music or decoration. Many stalls were so dark the goods couldn’t be seen!

Folksy have been very supportive – you can read their blog post about the event here

http://blog.folksy.com/2013/12/20/handmade-at-the-o2

hoping to feel better in the new year and get back to making things again. Hope all you Handmade Mondayers had a good holiday and best wishes for the new year!

Quilting and Finishing Off

Posted on 1 December, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Non stop quilting this week combined with sewing in the ends and adding fastenings to all the things I’ve made over the last few weeks! I hate the finishing off bit – I’d much rather do the designing and initial making! If I ever have a business that requires staff then that is the first thing I would delegate! In the meantime I have to rely on family and so drafted in my mum for a sewing on buttons and press studs day! We drank tea and chatted while we sewed and it was a nice relaxing change from all the machining.

Strip patchwork bag with stippling

I think that my favourite thing is making patchwork bags and pouches ! I hope they sell at the fair as I am taking quite a range of items to London so that I can get some feel for what in the future I should be concentrating on, ie the items which sold or which I felt people liked.

: hippy fabric bags and tablet covers

I have also been making a disappearing 9 patch quilt top – I learnt this on a Craftsy class ages ago and have been wanting to make one ever since. It’s quite easy and yet looks like it has more sewing than it really does!

: Disappearing Nine Patch

Anyway I’d better get back to it! Just linking up with Handmade Monday for the usual Sunday evening stroll round blogland. See you there!

Free Motion Quilting

Posted on 24 November, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Ooh it was an exciting day yesterday! Of course it was the Dr Who 50th Birthday show but I was also on a free motion quilting course! I had a lovely day learning how to free motion quilt (it’s not easy!). Basically it sounds great – no keeping to straight lines – you can just wibbly wobbly all over the place – but actually that’s quite hard to do evenly! Anyway I am now a lot better than before I went and so hope to be doing lots of quilted items with this free motion style of quilting in the future. Here is one thing we did learning how to do different types of stippling! – some loose threads there as this was just a first practice!

stippling

As well as the course I was also getting ready for my first big fair in 3 weeks! The passes came on Friday! I was so excited!

exhibitor pass for Handmade Christmas at the 02

exhibitor passes

And lastly, I have been working with my ‘hippy’ fabric – I have loved every minute of it as I really am just an old hippy!! These would be great for free motion quilting I think – swirly hippy psychedelic patterns!! (more loose threads as these are not finished off yet).

tablet covers in psychedelic hippy fabric

hippy fabric bags and tablet covers

And now over to Handmade Monday! I love my Sunday evening stroll round the blogs!

Labelling Handmade Goods

Posted on 17 November, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Well I’m on countdown to chrimbo now! The Handmade fair that is, not the actual feast day on the 25th! I have table runners, lap quilts, bunting etc all over the craft room and woolly granny squares all round the living room! I am really looking forward now to seeing what sells and what may not, as several Handmade Monday people have said before, you can get a good idea of what people think about your stuff when you are selling in person.

Next week I have to attend to label making and pricing! All the traders have recently been contacted by Trading Standards in London to alert us to what we need to have in place on our stall and on our paperwork and on our goods. If anyone isn’t aware of what complying with Trading Standards entails in terms of labelling handmade goods and documentation needed etc I would suggest you research the TS website or contact your local branch as you may be surprised to find all you need to do! For my items I have to label them with the type and % used of every textile included unless it’s a decoration amounting to 7% or less of the finished item. Any jewellery sold has to have proof that the parts you bought were sold (and had been tested) in line with nickel regulations – this means asking the supplier for a statement of compliance. I wonder how many jewellery sellers at the forthcoming 02 fair have all the supporting evidence in place already? I suppose all sellers should already know these things but if you only occasionally trade at little craft fairs this is never brought up when booking a stall and I have never traded at a large event before. Even our table cover must be made from flame retardant material, so no use getting out the big sheet I have used at smaller events!

So that’s my work next week – labelling my handmade goods and also preparing receipts in advance as these have to be issued to every customer and need my name and address printed on them. This has been a big undertaking for me – I wonder if I will find it all worth it? – I will let you know in December!

Making Beanies (and too many other things!)

Posted on 10 November, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Like so many of you, I suffer from TMPOTG! (Too Many Projects On The Go!!) Trouble is, the more blogs I find and tutorials I read, the more I want to do! Now I’m investigating cross stitch as well as too many other things!

I am making lots of things for the O2 Handmade Market I really am, and this should be enough – what with sorting out labelling, pricing, and the display as well. But no, I’ve only got to go and get some Aida and embroidery threads and plan out a nice little xmas crosstitch as well! Oh and then that led to thinking about machine embroidery which I used on the advent calendar I showed last week – where else could I use this new found stitch?? And so on it goes – mind a whirl with possibilities, dreaming of new things to learn about and make.

At least I have managed to finish two Beanies this week – one with Sirdar Crofter which is Acrylic/Cotton/Wool mix and one with Knitcol 100% pure wool. The Sirdar is quite lightweight to use and ideal for a lightweight hat. I love the Knitcol wool – it feels nice to work with and the variegated colours go very well together once it’s knitted up.

beanie using Crofter doubleknit varigated wool

Beanie with Crofter Wool

Crochet Beanie with fluted edge

I bought this knitcol wool whilst on a visit to Wells but somehow lost the label after taking the wool out to feel/stroke/admire long before I planned to use it. Once it was knitted up I really wanted some more but had no idea what it was and how to get it. However I hit upon the idea of a virtual travel and shopping trip round Wells using google maps. It actually worked! I went up and down roads I remembered us walking along till I found the little well stocked vintage style shop in a courtyard. Amazingly I was able to enter the shop – something you can’t do in lots of other places – and I ‘walked’ up to the counter and spotted the same wool! It’s a fantastic and weird experience going into the shop again but sitting in my chair 100s miles away!

So the end result is I found the name of the wool and researched it online to get the best price 🙂 and am now stocked up again! Tonight I will be comfortably curled up on the couch with a glass of wine, the next Beanie on the hook and a little virtual stroll round the blogs of the friendly peeps at the Handmade Harbour! Cheers! 🙂

Christmas Market Makes

Posted on 3 November, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Managed to make a few more things towards the Handmade Christmas Market at the 02 this week. It’s getting near now and I am very excited!

Patchwork Tote in Scrappy fabrics with matching fabric handles

Patchwork Tote Bag

Christmas Table Runner!

Christmas Countdown Calendar - the little present pockets

Alternative Advent Calendar!

This patchwork bag was based on the tutorial at Sew Mama Sew. I used much tinier scrap pieces in mine and made the fabric handles instead of using webbing. However I have now managed to get some and so the next ones will have cream cotton handles.

This is a Christmas table runner in lovely thick white fabric with ‘Joy’ and ‘Peace’ and ‘Love’ printed on it as well as snowflakes and reindeer! It’s padded and backed in red but not quilted.

This is the start of an alternative type of advent calendar. I am cutting up Christmas fabric into little squares and sewing them onto a plain cream background to make 7 little pockets which can hold 7 little presents for the 7 days leading up to Christmas. My mum did something similar for us as children and I have continued it with my grandchildren too so I thought it might make a good sell at the Christmas market!

The next task now is pricing! I hate this part – I have read loads of articles and books on the ‘art (science?) of pricing’ and yet the main feeling I have is – all this is no good if items don’t sell – the pricing needs to fit the situation as well. Shop prices are somewhat higher in London than the provinces – but does this apply to handmade craft fairs or has the boom in online sales evened out the regional differences? Another quandary is, I imagine over a 3 day event sellers are expected to hold back stock to ensure enough is for sale on the last day, but how to do this without ending up with unsold items at the end? I would appreciate some advice on what others have done if anyone has exhibited at an event longer than one day.

Maybe the Handmade Mondayers can help? I’m linking up at Handmade Harbour again for a lovely evening’s blog reading and maybe some helpful advice?!!

Scandi Table Runner

Posted on 27 October, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Well the hour went back today which is the ‘good’ way for me as it means I get up earlier without even trying! Consequently I managed to watch both Create and Craft Quilting programmes live! I love the Sunday morning shows but I can never take advantage of the offers on screen as it’s usually Monday when I watch, which is, of course, a good thing for my bank balance! However it’s still good to watch the demonstrations and learn techniques! This morning I loved the rectangular scandi table runner and circular scandi table centre. Both patterns were for sale but the patterns aren’t difficult and I decided to have a go by looking at the pictures on the website!

red and white cotton xmas type scandi fabric

mmm love new fabric!

Luckily I had some new scandi fabric from Abakhan which I have been trying to decide what to make with. I love having new fabrics and dreaming of all the potential designs I could make and I seem to spend far too long at this stage instead of getting on with actually creating! This is lovely fabric too – quite thick and easy to use in patchwork as it sort of stays still while you piece it – unlike my favourite Liberty Tana Lawn which is beautiful but flimsy.

But today wahoo – I made a decision! Here is my attempt at a Scandi table runner for Xmas! It’s not finished – the binding is only sewn at the front edge at the moment.

Table Runner in Red, Cream and Green Scandi Fabrics

Xmas Table Runner

So one more thing nearly ready for the xmas fair! I seem to have settled into a nice evening crochet habit recently, but tonight it’s over to Handmade Monday instead, for my evening stroll round all the lovely blogs over there! Oh and thank you to everyone for the comments last week to help me in my quest for orderly yarn keeping! I am still working on it!