WIP - Lace making

I’ve only blogged once before about my lace HERE, around the time I first started blogging, and every so often I’ve been thinking that I must get back to lace making!

This Sunday I spent a little time winding bobbins, then during the week I took the kit along to my handicraft group. Luckily there are a few ladies there who are very experienced lace makers, and purely by chance, two of them were sitting at the same table as me, so I was able to ask for a little assistance.

My latest piece is teeeny tiny! I thought small would be more encouraging you see! Unfortunately my instructions had said 12” of cotton per bobbin which I read literally, but bobbins are wound in pairs ..... so I spent a little while rewinding the bobbins I’d prepared on Sunday evening with 24” pieces of cotton between each pair!

Pinterest knows everything doesn’t it, and it somehow knew I was working on lace and fortuitously sent me a pin to this lovely lady’s blog where she clearly shows how to wind a bobbin.

Needless to say, I am now one of her faithful followers, although I can only dream of aspiring to making lace like hers.

Thanks to Pinterest I also found a tutorial showing how to start lacing HERE.

It took rather a long time to make this tiny leaf, and I’m sure it isn’t perfect by any means, but I’m so happy to have made it this far!

I spent approximately 2 hours to make half a leaf, and then most of the evening to finish ..... plus the time it took to unravel almost half the leaf to rectify the mistake I spotted a half way down!

I don’t mind really, especially as now I will be able to work another leaf at home, on my own, from start to finish. I’m so glad I had a go, and now I’m thinking of continuing while the method is fresh in my mind. The leaf was one pattern of about nine in the lace kit, but some look a bit too complicated for a mere beginner like me!

Will any of you admit to having lace projects hiding in your deepest cupboards ..... just waiting for you to dig them out and finish them?????

Thank you so much for visiting, and, as always, I really look forward to reading your comments!


Hugs,
Barbara xxx

Teeny Cushion Cover - Finished!

Hi there,

On my last post I showed you the start of my Teeny Cushion, and Yay! here it is, finished!!!

This was a little project using some of the scraps I'd been gifted and only two colours from my stash.

I was inspired by Patty of Elm Street Quilts who showed us the cushion she had made - HERE. On her wonderful blog!

Do you remember last time I showed you a photo of the plan, with the back  and front almost finished?

Top of picture is my pattern,
Middle -  reverse pieces,
and bottom is the main cover pre-quilting

Patty quilted hers using straight lines, but I'm not confident enough to do the same so I've quilted mine in sections using echo quilting.

You can probably see this best on the back:

I had a go at swirley lines but no Free Motion Quilting!

All stitched together! The two cushion opening on the back overlaps by about an inch - another time I'd overlap more, say, at least, an inch again on each piece.

To make a cushion, I used my original pattern piece (without the seam allowance), so that when it is filled it fits inside the cover.

Waiting for me to stitch the gap closed.

And it does fit very nicely, but for some reason it isn't in the cushion cover in this photo, but it was for the picture at the top of this post?!? What am I like!

But, Yay! that's another finish!!! All good, eh!

Just spotted a lovely new project today! 

Patty has been showing how to hand piece and quilt Pumpkins 

Go to Patty's blog, HERE, for instructions!

Next time I hope to have a finished crochet project to show.
I'm making a hat, hopefully! 
I've made a start ..... you can see a photo on my Ravelry page, under "Projects" ..... 
I'm there as "Knittybarbo"


But for now, I must go!

Look forward to seeing you all again soon.




Hugs,
Barbara xx

Cactus Bag - Finished! and a couple of "Squirrels"

Hello my friends,

First of all, thank you all for your kind comments wishing me well with my back troubles ....... all much appreciated, and just to let you know I'm a lot better at the moment and I am now able to catch up on lost sleep.

I haven't wanted to look at a computer screen because my eyes have been so tired and as soon as I do look they want to close, and I'm asleep again! 

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We had a little sunshine the other day, so I popped into the garden with my newly finished cactus bag (from my last post), and had my own little photo shoot session .....

If any photos look a little blurred
 just click on the photo to see them a little clearer.

Just right for carrying my crochet projects!

Have I mentioned? I've been crocheting this year, and I've actually finished a couple of things!!! A teeny Back Pack (pink and green), a Scottie Dog and, not quite finished, a camper van. It's been fun, and I seem to have acquired bought quite a few balls of cotton, so there are likely to be a few more crocheted projects in future.

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I was meaning to carry on with my cross stitch Cocoa Sampler, but one thing leads to another, and I found myself chasing a metaphorical squirrel! Which fits in nicely with Sandra's meme: DrEAMi "Drop Everything And Make it" Pop over to Sandra's blog HERE to see what I'm talking about. There's lots of lovely patchwork to see. The meme is held at the end of each month. 

 I am saying this is a "possible" Squirrel because it such a small one! Which is why I'm a little embarrassed  to add it to the party, but I'm just saying this has been my squirrel this month! Tee hee!

(Sorry Astrid, if you are looking in, I will have some cross stitching here soon!)

Soooo ..... to get back to the story, I have this new bed ..... with a remote control which will assist me to sit up or lay down in bed ....

after a few days of using the bed I realised my fingers were hurting. At first I didn't realise why. Then it suddenly came to me that the plastic cased remote control was so slippery that I was gripping it  tightly most of the night. I was worried I might drop the controls and not be able to raise or lower the bed should I need to.

Soooo, I decided the remote needed a cosy 

to stop it slipping from my hand .....

therefore the "squirrel" making commenced!

I had a bag of scraps my sister gave me and my idea was to use pieces from those scraps, which worked quite well and I only needed to add a small piece of plain pink to them. It's lined with some of that non slip plastic to stop the controls slipping out ..... but, with hindsight, I don't think that was really necessary! I stitched down either side by hand ..... tricky stitching through the non slip plastic, but do-able. The handle was Osnaburg again, my favourite fabric.

The patchwork went together very quickly. I started at lunch time and I wanted to have it done ready to use that night. I did finish it the same day ...... but don't ask what time it was ...... well into the wee small hours (which wasn't really a good idea in the circumstances).

The patchwork pieces were stitched onto cotton wadding,

ends folded in, and hand stitched together along the edges

As you can see I added a handle, but really it's in the wrong place ..... so, when I've finished the next squirrel I'll be taking the handle off and moving it to to the bottom RH side (of the pink pieces) which should be much more convenient!

Anyhow, the cover does the job and the controls haven't slipped off the bed once! Yay!!

So I'm sleeping much better now!

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 I'm already working on my next project. A little cushion cover (and I do mean little, it's approximately 9.5" x 8.25") which I just had to make after seeing the cushion Patty made over on her blog: Elm Street Quilts (HERE)

My colours are a little pale, but they match the remote cover, as it will be a cushion for the bed.

I think my draft pattern (on the right of the photo) actually looks better than the finished cushion, but maybe the quilting will pull it together better. 

See you soon. Happy Stitching!!!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx