Another Squirrel, and two tiny finishes!

This week I suddenly realised I had a DrEAMi (a project I just had to stitch this minute!) and I was chasing squirrels ..... so I am linking to Sandra's DrEAMi link party, do pop over and see some of the lovely projects that other people were sidetracked enough to make this month.


A few days ago I visited a lqs, intending to buy some fabric to finish one of my cross stitch projects. I only needed a couple of fat quarters, and I'd seen just the ones I wanted on a previous visit but had resisted buying! Unfortunately I couldn't find those same ones this time, but while searching I picked up a whole bundle of fabrics I just knew wanted to come home with me!

There were a couple of projects I had in mind, and I was very pleased with my colour selection this trip.


Now this all started because I wanted to make a mini thread catcher for a sewing friend at my handicraft group. I had one thread catcher already made but decided I shouldn't give that one to my friend because the fabric came from another lady from the handicraft group ..... but before I got started on the thread catcher another idea came to mind.

These thread catchers are really tiny and I decided I just had to make something for my friend to keep the thread catcher in so that, hopefully, she wouldn't lose it straight away.

I remembered seeing a small pouch on Pinterest that had been made for use as a sewing kit. I searched and found the tutorial "Snappy Coin Purse" on Rashida Coleman-Hale's blog i heart linen.

Rashida used fusible interfacing ..... I didn't have any so I used cotton wadding. I downloaded her PDF but found the pattern smaller than my 8" square of fabric so I added a 1/4" all round. My flaps only just overlap so I might have altered the shape by enlarging the pattern, but that's fine, it still works for me!

I just love these fabrics!

Oh, and, of course, I quickly started making the blue and pink thread catcher at the same time.

It was a bit fiddly because I decided the rim was too small narrow first time (meaning the base wouldn't push up inside it properly) so I took it apart and started again. I'm really pleased with the finish the way it looks so far, and I will eventually update my tutorial with some fine tuning. This was the fourth one I've made practically finished, (it was a matter of finish the hem or write my blog post!!) and I think it is the best one so far! 

I even learnt how to use "pie" to find the circumference of a circle (but that's another story) ..... maths has never been my strong point.

there were a couple of other items I added to make it a proper sewing kit.

a plastic insert in the base and  it becomes a
 really handy tray for keeping things together too

All in all this was a sweet quick DrEAMi project!

Hope you've all been busy stitching this week too!

Hugs,

Barbara xx

Gifted Gorgeousness/TUSAL - April 2018

Hi there!

Thank you for popping by. It's funny, isn't it, I don't post for ages and then I have lots to say!

You can see another of my cross stitching projects over at "Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics", and I will be back again soon with a IHSW post, and if I have time there are a couple of other things I want to post about, but for now I am joining in with Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness and Sharon's April TUSAL.

I do hope Jo and Sharon won't mind if I tie these posts together this time as I'm running late again .... and the two posts do "go together" in a way as all my threads are from my GG projects.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Firstly these three are my "travel projects":


SPRING BIRD:

I've been finishing this free gift from The World of Cross Stitching (TWOCS) ..... mainly working the backstitching which I found really tricky! The magazine states the fabric is 14 hpi but it seemed smaller than that to me, but then I do soooo hate backstitching!

Anyway, it's finished, Yay! All bar putting it in the card.

 TWOCS - Issue 266

VINTAGE ROSE:

 Slow progress here, as the colours are all soooo very similar.

Free gift from TWOCS - Issue 267

I'm really looking forward to starting on the leaves as I'm getting a little bored with all these light pinks ..... apart from which I'm actually a little disappointed as I've just been looking at the photo in the magazine and I think I might have used the light pinks the wrong way round!!!!! Oh, well, its too far gone to frog it now!

BOOKMARK:

This pattern is from a TWOCS Design Library - Victoriana Collection by Joanna Sanderson. It was going to be a gift but, so far, I'm not very happy happy with the colours I've used.

I mostly used the colours from the key, but as I was using colours from stash I changed a few ..... the frame around the rose and between the rows was a very pale yellow in the original which I felt wouldn't show up. I've inadvertently squashed the alphabet too much and maybe I might frog that and put it at the bottom as there is plenty of space ..... not too sure what could replace it though ..... maybe beads! Oh well, that means a trip to the shops so we'll see!

TWOCS - Issue 121

The following is one of my long term projects, or evening stitching, as it were!

STITCH BY STITCH:

"Stitch by Stitch" by Anchor

The picture within the stitched frame is taking shape nicely now, after a visit from the froggy ..... I got in a muddle with the greens, they are really so similar!

MINI THREAD CATCHER/TUSAL

And for my last project I knocked up another Mini Thread Catcher, which will eventually be a gift.

Not much use on its own, it needs a pouch or something to anchor it to, or I can imagine it being lost pretty quickly, but I haven't decided what that something will be yet!

New MTC is mid picture.

And, of course, those are my last month's ORTS from all the above projects and they will now be joining the others in the jar.

I'm looking forward to visiting and seeing what everyone else has been stitching this month.  If you want to join in with either of these lovely get together's there is a link at the bottom of this post. In fact the link below for Daffycat will take you to the rules etc, the link at the top takes you to Sharon's current post where you can see who is joining in.

I do hope you will be back to visit again soon, and don't forget ..... if you don't say "Hi" I can't come to visit you!




Hugs,
Barbara xxx

If by any chance you don't know what GG and TUSAL are read all about them over at Jo's blog - Serendipitous Stitching and Sharon's - Daffycat.

Bag It - 3 entries

Hello my friends,

Thank you everyone for all your lovely comments on my most recent posts ..... I will be replying as soon as possible, but I wanted to quickly enter this post for Bag It, then I will be back to visiting. Soooo ..... Many apologies for my delay in reading/commenting, but I haven’t forgotten you!

**********

I am rather late but hoping to enter these Mini Thread Catchers (about 2 1/2" high) and Tissue Cover at Patty's "Bag It" party. They were all made in October, therefore within the “Bag It” timescale.

I wrote about them HERE.

However, maybe you would like to make yourself a Mini Thread Catcher? You can read how to make one HERE, or THIS version has more pictures.

Or if you would like to make Tissue Holders read HERE - the quick version, or HERE for the neater finish which only takes fractionally longer to make!

Any queries, don’t hesitate to let me know. If you don’t want to comment on the blog, you could always email me. Email address in RH margin.

*********

Thank you Patty for holding your “Bag It” competition. It’s been great fun, and a super opportunity to meet likeminded bloggers!

Happy Christmas everybody!
Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Mini Finishes & Gifted Gorgeousness

Hello Dear Reader,

Today I’m linking to Jo of Serendipitous Stitching with my cross stitch finish. Actually I completed this in the summer but kept missing the linkup for Gifted Gorgeousness.

Gifted Gorgeousness is our opportunity to link up showing gifts we have received or sent, or can shoehorn in  ..... for instance gifts from magazines.

And I am shoehorning this one, as it was a gift
from a cross stitch magazine

My cross stitch friends might remember seeing this before when I was stitching it (that's the white bit in the middle) and might recall me saying how long it took to stitch, for such a small project. There were too many half stitches and the fabric was 16hpi (for non cross stitchers that's 16 stitches to the inch), too small for me. I'm much happier with 14 stitches per inch.

I couldn’t post without showing you these lovely mittens, or should I call them fingerless gloves, my sister made for me earlier this year. These were the first pair she had made ..... wasn’t I lucky! Our Mum has been making lots of these gloves for charity over the last few years and my sis thought it was about time she made some too!

On the stitching front I fully finished off a few tiny projects:

The first being this tissue cover, made last week for a birthday pressie for Mum, using some of my favourite pink check which I normally use to line items, but as Mum has very poor eyesight (Retinitus Pigmosa) I used the pink on the outside so, hopefully, it will be easier for her to find in the depths of any bag. 

For the lining of the tissue holder and the outside of the Mini Thread Catcher (MTC) I used some flowery scraps which I had been gifted by one of the ladies from the handicraft group I attend. Ohh, and the pink MTC is another little gift for Mum.

The tissue holder is still in my possession at the moment because I felt it really needed a little embroidery, and that has taken this week to stitch. 

As I started the post with a yellow photo I thought it would be nice to finish in a similar vein!

And the other MTC will be a future pressie

With three finishes this week, I am also linking to Amanda's "Finish It Up Friday", albeit a little bit late, but I'd hate to change the habit of a lifetime ..... tee,hee!

If you like teeny weeny stitching as much as I do, you really must pop over to Amanda's blog: Crazy Mom Quilts, just to see the incy-est (not sure how to spell that!) pouch she has made. It's such a darling! 

All that said, I hope you will pop over to both Jo's and Amanda's blogs to see what others have made.

Thank you for popping by today.

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

October 2017 - Catching Up!

This project started with cross stitch in mind ..... but, my search for the perfect stitching kit has taken me away from my cross stitching, for far too long!

Tee hee! Can you guess what this is?

Traveling on the train with DH recently, my glasses were sitting on the table as I stitched, and DH thought this would make quite a funny picture of ..... and I'm sure you will have guessed ..... another Mini Thread Catcher (MTC)!

It was also a handy way of showing the size.

*********

What's coming up?

• Some of you have asked me for more details on my book holder (HERE) ..... and I intend to edit the post as soon as I can.
• Also I've been meaning to start work on a new bag, and, again, will blog about it eventually!
• However, I really do have the bug for making more Mini Travel Sewing Kits, which of course means making more Mini Thread Catchers.
• Shortly I'm hoping to share a "Gifted Gorgeousness" post with an update on my cross stitch.

**********

For some time I've been wanting to make a sewing kit that, by attaching a lanyard, could also double as a name badge, and, as I've said before, a sewing kit really needs a Mini Thread Catcher (MTC) (Tutorial HERE).

At the time of writing the MTC tutorial I hadn't taken photos, so hopefully these pictures might be helpful if anyone wants to make one.

Maybe I've got a little bit carried away ..... but they are cute!

..... I couldn't decide which fabric I liked best.

Did you notice my teeny painting in the background, I was testing colours for one of the Mini Sewing Kits I'm making? Can't show it properly as it is going to be a present ..... the Mini Sewing Kit that is!

And then I've been working out what size to cut the base ..... for the perfect fit .... it needs to be smaller than the rim so that the MTC will push up and stay closed. Hopefully, all will make sense as you look at the pictures!

Rim circumference measures 4 1/2"

My rim measured 4 1/2", therefore, allowing for the seams, my two pieces measured 5" x 2 1/2".

Use 1/4" scant seams throughout. Read about scant seams HERE.

It is important to turn a 1/4" hem at this point, top and bottom, and press (with a hot iron) ..... and remember that's a scant seam again, so keep it small. Press the centre seam towards the base (inner fabric) 

Press centre seam towards lining fabric

Then, pin the short sides to make a tube (Right sides together), and machine another scant seam. 

Taper the seam slightly towards the hem of the inner fabric,
catching the hems in place.

I used a wider rim for these later versions.

Excuse these pictures taken on the train on my lap, but the light is so much better on the train than indoors at home at this time of the year.

From this point it is all hand stitching.

This time I attached the puffs individually,
but I think the Mark I  MTC (in the link above) was the quicker method.

Oops, I guess I should have trimmed this large seam.

A bit fiddly turning it through.

The outer fabric needed a row of gathering stitches
and attaching to the inner sussex puff, before
finishing with the outer puff.

You can see the hand stitching keeping  the rim in place.

Then simply twist the base, and push up into the rim, until it looks like this .....

Any loose threads will be held inside until you are able to dispose of them, or add them to your TUSAL jar.

 the base

To date I've made a total of three MTC's, 

**********

This weekend I was tempted to make some Rock Cakes, using a recipe I've gradually been adjusting over the years, until finally it has become Vegan. 

Don't laugh, but I had intended to have a go at making Super Mom No Cape's recipe for Beer Bread. I made my usual bread only last week and I thought I'd love to try Susan's recipe ..... I'd bought the beer (tee, hee, good excuse for buying the beer, not that I need one really!), bought some Oregano, and Thyme too, but then I wasn't sure I had the right flour. We have lots of different types of bread flour, but not much all purpose flour which the recipe called for, so I decided to use up my old flour on some cakes, and buy fresh for the bread next week.

Sorry the photos are a little dark as it was a very cloudy day.

I had to try one as soon as they came out of the oven ..... it was delicious!

 Both DH and I love them with custard too!

Now I'm in the baking mood I hope to try Susan's beer bread later in the week.

*********

Oh, last week we found out what geocaching is. We were on a guided walk and were shown this hole in a reconstructed wall where a plastic box lives with lots of details inside. The box had been here for years and when the wall was rebuilt its own "home" was included. You would have to know it was there to find it as a brick has to slide out to reveal the box.

**********

In years gone by we've had sunflowers which have grown from the seeds dropped from our bird feeders, but these days the seed that we buy for birds has the husks removed, meaning the birds spot the seed dropped on the ground, and therefore we rarely get plants springing up under the feeders these days.

So these sunflowers make me really happy! They are just a few of the plants that DH planted specially from seed this year, and they have grown into absolute giants. A couple of them have flowers as big as dinner plates ..... certainly a record in our garden ..... and you should have seen the size of the stem!

This plant has about five, or six flowers!

The light wasn't quite right, and I changed the contrast to take this picture ..... I love the effect.

They remind me of the nursery rhyme of Jack and the Beanstalk when I stand next to them, as some of them are over 8 feet tall.

I love this one ..... looks like a heart in the centre!

We are not sure what to do with the sunflower heads now that they are dying back. We are more than happy to leave them in position for the birds to help themselves, however, has anyone experience in this, and would you suggest harvesting them, and if so how should this be done? Advice please! (It's only a small domestic crop of about a dozen heads, we are not looking for the loan of a combine harvester.)

**********

By the way, if you are looking for some Halloween stitchery, you can find some lovely free vintage embroidery motifs on Super Mom No Cape's blog this week.

*********

Oops, sorry, that's quite a long post, but I hope there was something here to make you smile (in a really nice way, of course!).

I'll try not to leave it so long next time!


Hope you are keeping safe and sound.

Hugs,
Barbara xxx

A Mini Finish & a few Quilting WIPs

Hello!


I'm linking to Amanda Jean's (Crazy Mom Quilts) Finish it Up Friday (where, for a few weeks, the link up will now be open until Sunday afternoon).


I wonder if anyone can help me! Somewhere I saw a link up party for "things you just had to drop everything for, to make that item", and I would have linked there too, but I'm afraid I can't remember where it was! I'm sure one of you will know, if you do, could you point me in the right direction please?

*********

Yippee! I have a Mini Finish!

The other day I fell down "the black hole" that is Pinterest ..... just for a change! Tee hee!

A friend had said she would like to do some embroidery, and that she had never done any before. Because I can't resist trying to help I looked at Pinterest, remembering seeing "Pins" that said something like "10 easy embroidery stitches for beginners". Of course I couldn't find even one such "Pin" now that I wanted to!

But while searching, something drew me to thread catchers ..... and then, I saw ..... Mini Thread Catchers (MTC)!

Oh, the excitement of it! Well, you know me ..... I love my "Mini" projects. And, that was it! Everything else went on hold.

I'd been meaning to make a MTC for some time, although I had tried to convince myself that I really didn't need one!

My Mini Thread Catcher (MTC)

When I read about the thread catchers that Jill had made, on her blog "Creating My Way to Success", they looked so dinky, I couldn't resist any longer, and set about gathering the materials to make a start. 

You can see the plastic I used here, with the finished
thread catcher, and a tassel I was making on Friday night

In case anyone fancies a go, here's a few notes on how I made mine (Jill has a tutorial link on her blog)

• I made a rim from the plastic - 5" long and used sticky tape to make it into a circle.
• Fabric - 5 1/2" x 5" (You need to measure your rim, and add 1/2" to the width for seam allowances. I used 2 scraps 5 1/2" x 2 1/2" and joined them together)
• Cardboard circles x 2 (I made my circles 1/16" smaller than the rim, but would advise 1/4" so the bottom will fold up into the rim)
• Fabric circles plus 1/4" seam allowance - stitched in the style of a yo-yo (or Sussex Puff) x 2
• Wadding same size as cardboard circles x 2

1. Start by turning 1/4" hem down, top and bottom of your main fabric.
2. Then make into a tube, by stitching the short sides together .... this is the fiddly bit! you will need to graduate your seam  ..... to make the bottom fit the cardboard circles.
3. Thread fabric through your rim and fold the top edge down to join the bottom edge.
4. Make a row of stitches, holding the top neatly around the rim.
5. Stitch around rim of fabric circle, as if making a yo-yo. Then layer your fabric circles, RS down, wadding, then card. Gather thread, and secure. Stitch both yo-yo's together, RS out.
6. Stitch yo-yo's to base, catching both inner and outer fabrics.

Et voila! Finito!

It seemed a good idea to be able to attach the MTC to my Mini Sewing Kit ..... so I've used a few old fashioned poppers!

And here's the thread catcher folded away!

This was another Friday evening stitching project, and although these stitches look large here they are actually quite teeny!

More poppers were needed here to hold the MTC closed

It will be much easier to use than storing my threads in my glasses case!

I will definitely be making more of these ..... Mum has already said that it is just what she needs to go with the pouch I made her!

~~~~~

WIPS

Just prior to making the MTC I was tempted to start this little quilting project, for my handicraft group where we are making things with birds on using embroidery, crochet, appliqué, patchwork ..... whatever! Oh, and I meant to link to Tusal ..... that's why my thread jar is in the picture ..... but I keep missing the date! Sorry no time to add links here, I will talk about this again another day, with more detail.

I must work on this some more now I've finished the MTC!

************

And my other WIP - "Laundry Day" quilt:

Here's me ..... quilting "In the Ditch"

For my non quilting friends - this means stitching as close to the edge of the folds as possible.

Wavy line quilting the road

I'm not sure how close to the edge to quilt .... on my experimental block (blogged about HERE) I stitched all round the block to keep all the layers together, then when I added the binding the needle kept wanting to slip off the block, making it very difficult stitch an exact 1/4"seam.

I've quilted the pathway too, but then had the dilemma..... should I be changing thread colours for the sky and the grass! Decisions, decisions!

I'm ready for the binding though! 

I've chosen 2.5" binding

I will finish this binding by machine stitch, and so I am using a slightly wider binding than I would normally ..... hoping to catch all the binding with the machine.

**********

And just look what I found yesterday!

He was just peeking at me!

Our cheeky little cat was sleeping tucked under our duvet, adjacent to DH's pillow! he obviously thought he'd found a very nice place to sleep!!!!! How cheeky is he, the little imp (the cat!). But don't worry I didn't tell him off .... I think he was feeling the cold after being out in the sunshine all morning. We were so relieved when DH finally found him, as we had been looking all over the house, and in the garden for ages! We were both very relieved to see him.

Sorry this was a bit long ..... I got quite carried away!

Have a great week, and stay safe everyone!

Hugs,

Barbara x