Rag Quilt and Crochet Bag

Posted on 7 July, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Well after a lot of thinking I decided my crochet circle would be a bag! However it isn’t really looking like one and is more like a sombrero! I am following an Attic 24 pattern so it should turn out ok but I am wondering if floppy cotton was not the right yarn as the original pattern is in merino. Oh well – perhaps an interfaced fabric lining will be required to give it some form!

bag base and 12 rows on

The other thing I decided to make this week was a quilt for me to take on holiday in a couple of weeks – it’s using up lots of the stash I recently received and as it’s a rag quilt it was fairly easy to make compared with making a quilt top and then quilting it to a base.

I made some quilt ‘sandwiches’ first, then quilted each ‘sandwich’ with a cross of stitching. These were then sewed together in long lines and then the lines joined up – all had a half inch seam allowance for fraying later.

quilt sandwich showing the wadding / batting

diagonal stitching to quilt the ‘sandwiches’

using the walking foot to quilt the edges

After sewing all the quilted squares together I made some long sashing strips in bright purple and made long rectangular ‘sandwiches’ to sew right round each edge. I quilted these separately with long diagonal lines and then finally a line right round the egde of the quilt leaving a half an inch seam allowance for fraying.

The hardest part if snipping all the seams for the fraying but it’s worth is when you take the quilt out of the tumble drier and it’s all soft and lovely! It’ll certainly keep me cosy of the cross channel ferry!

pastel shades of floral fabric rag quilt

finished quilt

I’m rather late for Handmade Monday as I was at a Boyzone concert in beautiful Delamere forest yesterday but that’s another story!

Boyzone in Delamere Forest

Not a disappearing nine patch!……

Posted on 2 February, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Just a short post today as I have been in hospital for another knee op and so not been up to much sewing. However, just before I went I made myself a very quick patchwork cushion for my bathroom chair as I thought it would cheer me up when I was hobbling around in there! Well it sort of did – if I hadn’t had a forgetful spell whilst making it that is! Can you guess what happened ?

NOT a ‘Disappearing Nine Patch’ patchwork cushion!

I completed it fairly quickly, added a purple zip to the back piece and was admiring it in the bathroom when I thought – ‘the centre looks so plain’ – then BOOM the brain rebooted and I remembered I had been intending to make a disappearing nine patch pattern! This looks best if the centre square is plain as you cut up the finished 9 square block to end up with four large squares comprised of a big floral square, two floral rectangles and a small solid colour square at the centre corner of each of the four new squares. Then by rotating these new squares you can achieve pleasing results which are a bit more interesting than the above cushion!!

As this occurred the day before my op I cannot excuse the brain on grounds of post anaesthesia confusion either! Oh well – will have to make another one as soon as I can get back in the sewing room!

Luckily I can still blog-hop even with a poorly knee so am off to Handmade Monday for the weekly linky party!

[Sorry if my comments box seems to work for some and not for others as it seems it allows all comments but won’t let some people add their name and link, I am waiting for my web guru to fix it :)]

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!

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!

Liberty Tana Lawn Wedding Bag!

Posted on 18 August, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Have I mentioned that I love Liberty Tana Lawn fabric before? 😉 Yes I thought I had! I realised this week that when writing about the wedding last week I’d omitted to say that I’d also made myself a special little wedding bag for the day from my favourite fabric – Liberty Tana Lawn! I just adore the colours, the ditsy prints and the feel of Tana Lawn and I have been collecting pieces of it for a year or so now. I make mobile fone covers in it to sell on Folksy and every time I buy some I have been squirrelling away bits to make myself a bag. It is a very simple clutch bag with interlining and fusible fleece for support, a magnetic closing and floral buttons just for decoration. It all echoes the lilac colour scheme from the wedding. I loved making this the day before the wedding – it was a special bit of relaxation and ‘me time’ in the midst of all the preparations!

clutch bag in assorted lilac floral Liberty Tana Lawn fabric

My wedding bag in Tana Lawn patchwork

inside of clutch bag showing pretty pink floral fabric lining

pretty pink lining

I’m linking up with Handmade Monday now so I am off for a read around the crafty blogs over there, why not pop over too! UPDATE- I can’t comment on lots of your blogs – I keep getting an error code – I assume this is a google/blogger problem as others are ok.

Swingy Seat Covers and Cloutie Bunting!

Posted on 7 July, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Oh gosh I am too hot! Yes I one of the very annoying people who hate hot weather, give me a ‘might need a cardi’ spring day anytime!

Anyway, thank you very much for all the lovely comments and sympathy left on last week’s memorial post to Jess, it was lovely to read them. We are adapting to life without her slowly. I think I have ‘seen’ her twice already, which was slightly startling but not scary in any way.

I have done a lot of sewing this week. It is my sister’s 50th birthday tomorrow and I made bunting for her party and two cakes! I also recovered her swingy seat cushions and made matching patchwork cushion covers out of the leftover scraps of fabric.

garden seat with green and brown covers and bunting hanging on yhe top rail

Swing Seat new Covers and Cloutie Bunting

The coloured garland hanging on the seat is my ‘cloutie bunting’. I did make some fabric flag style bunting as well, but the cloutie bunting uses up all the scraps of fabric leftover from any project sewn onto a strip of fabric or tape – like the fabric clouties tied to tree branches as a Beltaine/May Day celebration.

As well as sister’s 50th I also finished a pram quilt for my daughter’s best friend’s daughter!

Patchwork quilt for Pippa’s 1st Birthday

I am now almost up to date with presents and so now have to start making items for our stall at the Handmade Christmas at the 02 event. It seems a long way off but if I don’t start building up stock soon I won’t have enough to sell for 3 days!

I am now going to have a cold glass of wine in the garden whilst the bbq cooks – ‘spose hot weather isn’t too bad sometimes 🙂

Later I will settle down to watch ‘The Returned’ – one of the best, scary series I have seen in a long time, and I will also be perusing the crafty blogs over at Handmade Harbour, see you there!

Patchwork Quilting Course

Posted on 9 June, 2013 by patchworkfairy

So this was the second week at my patchwork quilting course and I thoroughly enjoyed it again. This course has not been what I expected at all – so far we haven’t used a sewing machine at the course – only at home! We have learnt to cut out and hand sew pieces of fabric which are sewn together to make up 12″ ‘blocks’. Each block is made up differently using varying techniques. Out of the 6 blocks needed, so far I have two blocks finished and two half finished.

One of the nice things about learning techniques by hand sewing is that it is very relaxing and quite therapeutic to have to sit and sew, away from normal life . It’s also easy to listen to the tutor whilst sewing by hand. I now have several squares, hexagons, diamonds and hearts made up, some of which are to be used as applique on top of background fabric. I have taken some pictures as I sewed at home for putting together a tutorial on some of the techniques I have learnt. I will be uploading these in the next few weeks but for now here is a peak at what I have been doing.

two hexagonal pieces of fabric, one is kight ourple the other is yellow with a purple butterfly

Starting to sew hexagons together

As the weather has been so warm and sunny I have been sitting in the shade at the bottom of the garden sewing up all my fabric pieces! – Bliss! Here is the hexagon doily first row after the centre completed

6 pale purple hexagons of fabric sewn around a middle yellow one. The yellow one has a purple butterfly on it.

Hexagon Doily – one more round to sew yet!

We have ‘homework’ each week which has meant a lot of sewing. Before the next lesson I have to buy some more fabric to use as the backing. Oh the hardship! A trip to buy more fabric :). But more about all that and the rest of the course in a future post, now I am off on my weekly trip round the crafty blogs over at Handmade Monday!

Dangers of Craft Lamps – I nearly had a fire!

Posted on 12 May, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Here’s the mini bunting I made from the scraps I was given last week!!

It hangs below my Angel in the front room – seems appropriate given what happened last week because – Oh my goodness – I nearly had a fire!

The morning sun fills my craft room and makes it a very nice place to work. Last Thursday however it nearly caused a tragedy! Bright sunlight was streaming into the room and onto my lovely magnifier lamp which I use for close work and threading my overlocker. Unfortunately the magnifier top was burning my calendar!

I had woken earlier than usual and strangely for me had jumped straight up. My husband was just leaving for work and as he left mentioned he thought there was a strange burning smell. I had been doing pyrography the night before and just thought it was a lingering smell from that. However, as he left I went into the craft room and noticed how strong the burning smell now was! I couldn’t believe it when I saw that my calendar had a hole in it with the edges brown and the first whisps of smoke starting! What a shock! My eyes travelled from the smouldering calendar to the large magnifier lamp and the sunlight puring onto it!! I quickly moved the lamp away from the window and covered the hole in my calendar with a metal tin, fortunately the smouldering died out!

It’s not very often these days that I am up before DH goes out and often it is an hour later when I arise. In that time the fire could have taken hold and I could have lost all my fabric at the very least, at worst the whole house could have gone up while we slept!! I can’t help but think my Guardian Angel woke me up that morning and helped me get straight out of bed! (Thanks Dadxxx)

So if you have one of these lamps make sure it is not near a window or that you cover the glass magnifer top at all times – you never know when the sun will come out. Hope none of the lovely crafters at the Handmade Monday linky party have had anything so scary happen? but if you too have any danger warnings please let us all know!!

More fabric buying..

Posted on 7 April, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Eek been buying fabric again ! I really should be using up my stash as soon the craft room won’t be usable but will just be a giant fabric store room!

I just couldn’t resist this jelly roll

lovely jelly roll!

and when I opened it – wow! all hippy tye dye and flowers and ‘peace’ printed!

hippy flowery fabric!

So I really had to make something! First I was going to make a bag out of the strips but somewhwere along the way (you know how it is..) it turned into a cushion made out of other stash with some vibrant purple from the roll as the border!

Patchwork cushion!

Very pleased with myself and I’m keeping this one for our house!

I still haven’t heard from the person who bought the Faery Garden even though I sent two messages so I don’t know if it arrived intact but am guessing it did or I probably would have!!

Over to Handmade Monday now for my Sunday evening treat – reading all the other crafters’ adventures!!

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Sewing, Sun and a Cup of Tea!

Posted on 2 March, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Been a busy week this week making things for up and coming craft fairs throughout the year. I’ve also taken some more pictures for my portfolio book which once finished will be photographed and uploaded in this blog. Been really beautiful sunny week too and I have interspersed my sewing with tea breaks and, I had my first cup of tea of the year in the garden again 🙂 I am sure February is the earliest I have ever managed it! Although I did have my down coat and furry boots on!

snow boot in grey with red upper and black furry inside

snow boots!

These boots are wonderful – good grip in wet/snowy weather and warm to wear! As I have a dodgy knee and need a knee replacement I can’t risk slipping anywhere as then I will be disabled again for a few days and unable to do anything much, let alone sewing!

Here are some ipad and netbook covers I will be putting on folksy this weekend! I only make things in fabrics which I like to look at and feel! I am currently in a retro/shabby chic phase, having developed a liking for Cath Kidson prints and flowery fabrics in general. The exception to this is the cow fabric for my new moo range – more items to come in this!

Netbook cover in black and white patch fabric

Netbook cover in my new moo fabric!

ipad sleeve

Pink and White ipad cover in cath Kidson and Laura Ashley fabrics

ipad sleeve

patchwork mobile fone covers in mixed colours - mainky pink and red. 1 green one and 1 purple one in Kaffe Fassett fabric

‘Phone covers using some Tana Lawn and Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Here are some of my new mobile ‘phone covers mainly in Tana Lawn fabric which I really like as it’s so soft and the colours are all visually appealing to me.

Actually the Kaffe Fasset fabric has been made into a Kindle cover!

Kindle cover

This is a Kindle cover which has a retro look – it reminds me of my teenage years in the 70s!!

And now it’s time for Dancing on Ice and a look at what other interesting things fellow crafters have been doing over at Wendy’s Handmade Harbour!