Project in Progress

So. A few months ago I mused on here how I missed the Flickr community. Well, long story boring, I am in a new little bee running a mini improv round robin/travelling quilts type thing, the PIPs. Send out a starter piece, have some additions added, get home a top for a mini quilt or a cushion cover or whatever you fancy. Boom!

I decided to finally give improv piecing a shot. This first little block was made without a rotary cutter (apart from squaring up at the end) It was fun!! It finishes at 6 inches. And is... okay.....I just wasn't totally feeling it.

But this one? I like this one. Constructed the same with just scissors for cutting. I especially like that last minute navy vertical piece and it measures 4 x 10 inches.

So it needs a signature block mate for everyone to sign and then it's off to sunny Virginia to play with my pal, Dee! There's only 6 of us but with a 2 month window for each stop it will take a year to get home. Safe travels little Jupiter Storm, Eye of Sauron, Ochils Sunset block!!

And the other green block? I think I might continue to play and see if I can make it into a wee cushion cover. Oh, and Flickr actually seems okay! Yay!!

another Chardon skirt

Ha! I could really, really get to like this dressmaking lark. I've managed another wearable item!

This is the Chardon skirt by Deer and Doe - I made one for Chook earlier this month. Well this was my turn and I went for a navy cotton/linen blend for a slightly more rugged look.

It's got that same very cute bias tape hem as hers. And, of course, I have managed to take a photograph of the one bit that was printed badly! See that big white stripe? Typical. *g* 

I went for the short version and added the belt loops. They were mighty fiddly; the fabric isn't super fine and they were quite bulky but also quite squidgy and not crisp. Even after multiple starchings! But I'm happy enough with them. I suppose they would be handy if you really needed a belt to help a gaping waistband.

Not that I need that! (ubiquitous chesticles shot - slightly fuzzy with the Chook provided photos. *g*) Because it's all pleated there's no pesky hip measurement like the Arielle had, Bonus!

And on account of the bulky fabric I went for a quilting cotton facing. I must properly investigate if there's a better stitch for finishing my raw edges than a zig zag.

And I left out the pockets entirely for reasons of bulk. I wasn't sure how I'd fare with a full skirt (I'm very much a form-fitting girl) so didn't want extra bumf round my hips. I could have put them in no problem, as it happens! I may go back and add them in.

So. A definite win. I wouldn't normally wear red either but my new RocketDogs have red flashes in the liberty-esque print so I thought I might as well go for it, eh? Spouse is well impressed, he's only seen me in jeans and black for years! He may faint when he realises I have plans for no jeans on holiday when we're in London in a fortnight. 

see my pretty bed

A new bed quilt means new bedding, amiright? I have a habit of having big patchwork quilts folded in half across the bottom of my bed - they are rarely all the way up the bed and so you see the duvet underneath. It's just how I style them. With this in mind I made my Natural Blues quilt only 60 inches high (tall? deep?) so it just covers the foot of the bed. I bought a pretty new white duvet set and in lieu of matching pillow cases I went for cushion covers from fat quarters that were bought for, but ultimately rejected from, the quilt proper.

They are pretty, no? I love that bottom vintage print.

These bolster shapes work so nicely on a bed. I bought them years ago to match my original purple duvet (2008!) and keep making different covers for them.

Here's the new pillowcases - I hadn't realised when I bought them that they had grey piping! Perfect.

Winston Teddy and a nice shot of the seersucker duvet. You don't see the sleep creases! It's also piped in grey.

This quilt was deliberately imagined with lots of creams to warm the blues up a bit. I've always been aware that my window treatments are black and white and it's not a colour scheme that sits very easily with me. So I was trying to keep to not-crazy-wild with colour, since I am a subtle colour fan usually, but warm enough to not be stark.

Yes. That will do nicely, I think.

I finished a skirt yesterday!! So next time a fashion show will ensue. A fashion show with one outfit, likes. But fashion nonetheless...

Another quilt finished!

I tell ya, I'm on a roll! My work colleague is due a baby next week (and he really IS arriving next Wednesday - she's having a medical section) and I made the Sherbert Pips baby quilt for her first child a few years ago. Some weeks ago Trudi was having a destash of fabrics on Instagram and she had a bundle of Bluebird Park that was perfect. So I bought it, added the brown and yellow fat quarters from my own stash and got cutting!

Then came the hunt for backing. I thought I might need to buy some when I found a length of an Art Gallery print from Dee. Hmm. That might do...

...it was perfect!! Always a joy to find your presents in my stash dear friend! I quilted a quarter of an inch from each seam so it's nice and sturdy for lotsa washing.

And then I found the perfectperfectperfect binding. Who knows what I bought it for but I do love a stripey binding so it was maybe a sale purchase. And I machine bound it again - I could get to like it, you know.

Photobomb! Fully cat tested. It's okay, the new baby home is also feline occupied. *g*

So another tick on my list! I made cushions at the weekend for my bed to match the new NaturalBlues quilt and started a holiday skirt last night. Rolling rolling rolling!!!

Quilt Deets:

Pattern: I dunno what these fat crosses are called. I just cut 5.5in squares and 5.5 x 15.5 rectangles and got sewing!

Fabrics: mostly Bluebird Park by Moda on the top (with 2 selvedgeless fq's from my stash) and an Art Gallery length on the back.

Quilting and thread: straight line quilting with Gutterman cotton in ivory

Size: 29in by 39in after a wash and a tumble.

Outdoorsville - take 2

*editing coz I forgot some stuff!*  

Lots of outsidey stuff going on this week at Chateau DLM! Chook had a great lesson today on her special favourite boy, Freckles. He's a fairly newly broken horse (not a pony, you'll note!) and a wee bit green but very honest. Chook loves him to bits, even his fidgeting.

Here they are having a wee jump. Excuse the sound - it was really windy! We're on track for the coldest June since the 40s here!

It was The Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh last week and Chook was there with the school. It was their "Pupils of the Year" award and only forty kids from the entire school got to go. *smug* I said to Chook to try and get a photo of her with her pals or even a selfie with something cool. Here's her offering - half a selfie and a goat.

Well Spouse was there the day after "for work" (aye, right) so I said the same to him. Here is his selfie with an animal - his manager, "who is a goat." Le sigh. He's actually going to Italy also "for work." *suspicious look*  If it's for something to do with a beer factory he is definitely at it.

Closer to home Temple has a new favourite lookout point for the pesky neighbourhood cats. 

And I worked up some new lines for them both with groovy rainbow paracord and dinky tough-but-light carabiners.

And look at my veggie patch! Heh heh, stuff is growing! 

Now if only we could get some sun and heat I can go all self-sufficient. Not really. *g* But it's good, eh? EH?

Natural Blues

I finished my Natural Blues quilt yesterday. Woot!! It's a Scrappy Trip Around the World pattern and was made with my bed in mind so is mostly neutrals with some blue, aqua and a hint of pink. (for Finish-along purposes - this is an entry in my quarter 2 proposal - the original post is here)

I won a Village Haberdashery thing way back in January where people who tagged (on Instagram) purchases or makes using purchases from VHD got a voucher. Well my name was pulled from the virtual hat and I won a very generous fifty quid to spend in their shop. Yaay! Here's my original bundle.

I added to it with some stash fat quarters (all but one bought from VHD and the one I was gifted I'm pretty sure they stocked) and ended up with this.

And after a final cut it was time to get cutting and stitching. I cut my strips to 3 inches to make the most of the fqs and ended up with nice big 15 inch blocks.

I was sure I had enough of that Waterfront Park (Waterfront? Something like that) print but alas, 3 metres wasn't going to cut it. So it was pieced with the last dregs of that smashing flowers print from Dee which was perfect! Thanks, pal.

Cotton and Steel for the binding and *gasp* I'm pretty happy with this machine binding!!! I know, I know I said I don't like it. I do very much like the speed though.

Lots of pretty and new fabrics! Braw.

It's a big guy, too. I'm standing on my arbour seat to hold it up here.

Yes, I am very happy with this one. New bed quilt? Done.

Quilt deets:

Fabrics: all sorts including from but not limited to; Doe, Sun Print Mercury, Alison Glass Handcrafted, Petal and Plume, Biology, Cotton & Steel basics, Lighthearted, Priory Square, CatNap and Squared Elements.

Pattern: the scrappy trip around the world as found at Quiltville

Quilting and thread: diagonal lines around 3 inches apart with good old Gutterman ivory.

Size: a rather nice 60 x 90 inches!!

Idol times

We saw Billy Idol in concert last night. He. Was. Amazing. Here, have a dodgy phone pic as proof.

I can't really add much more than that. He looked brilliant (he's almost 60 and has a 6 pack!) and sounded phenomenal. Sang all his hits (including two Generation X tracks and a cover of the Door's "Glasgow Woman" - I'm not kidding!) and 3 that we knew from his last album. Crowd singalongs. Drumsticks, sweaty t-shirts and set lists flung into the audience. A bit of onstage clowning. Just pure entertainment. Spouse's friend took this pic of us from the balcony - we're right in the middle, arms aloft for the support band's singer to take a photo.

I would go in a heartbeat to see him again and I'm not a massive live music goer. He was worth every sweaty beer splattered moment!

a Chardon for Chook

Chookie's at that awkward age where children's clothing doesn't always cut it (size or style wise) but the vast, vast majority of ladies clothing is hopelessly massively sized for her. She may be almost 5ft2 but barely weighs 6 stone and size 4's are hard to come by in Britain! So after the success of the Arielle skirt when I spotted Kerry destashing a Doe and Deer Chardon skirt pattern on Instagram I thought it might be the very thing to solve the school skirt problem. 

Now I wasn't super-duper careful while sewing this. Chook wasn't convinced about the pattern OR the poplin I had chosen. She lives in jersey knit skater skirts at school and while I thought this silhouette was a great approximation of the shape she likes, she didn't think so. Until I had the pleats sewn in and then she decided it was perfect and she wanted it for the prizegiving the next evening, thankyouverymuch. And this was at 8pm. Yikes.

So it's decently sewn but by no means perfect. But it's a nice wee pattern. I loved the hemming method with the bias tape (the photo above) and the pockets  have been a great success and add a wee quirky flash when done in a contrasting colour.

My first garment zip insertion went swimmingly, too. It's not perfect but like I said, I was in a tearing hurry! It'll do, though, and I'll do better next time.

Success!!

Okay, not so successful photo taking during the mad school rush this morning. Could we please stand still for the low light levels? Please?!

That's better, thank you.

I didn't like this pattern as much as the Arielle, purely because of the lack of lining so you see the finished edges. But it won't stop me making another for me this time - the navy linen is ready to go already. And I had a little foresite and traced the pattern on to the fabric with tailor's carbon paper so I didn't have to cut the pattern. Go me!! And I was also confident enough this time to alter the length of it on the pattern before cutting. I could get to like this clothes making lark. Uh-oh....

this girl.

Warning. Maternal gushing ahead - move along if you're only here for textiley stuff! Fair warning, okay? *g* 

I'm always a proud Mum - I think it generally comes in with the pregnancy hormones, right? Every little achievement is something to be carefully savoured and locked away in the vaults of memory for leisurely perusal whenever the nostalgic mood takes. From blink-of-an-eye toilet training to the shyest of shy girls doing a reading at her last primary school assembly the moments stack up and I have quite the wobbly pile now. But last night tops the whole bloody lot.

We knew she was getting an award at the junior award ceremony a few weeks ago when the letter came home. We were understandably thrilled - first year (sorry, S1 *rollseyes*) has been quite a transition so to know that at least the actual schooling part of school was going well was a brilliant boost for us all. And then there was a run through on Wednesday afternoon and it turned out she was getting more than one. Well now. It is kept a closely guarded what you have actually been awarded until the night so she was very excited as we got ready to leave. Here she is - incidentally in a skirt I made. Ha! 

(fuzzy photo on account of the nervous excitememt - from both of us!)

And here's her pile of awards. Yes, that's FOUR certificates. *blinks* The English endeavour, the German academic, a Citizenship for her baritone playing in the local youth band and - what I am most proud of - a GOLD personal commitment award. 

For that last one they take into consideration merits for the year (house points), demerits (she has zero), attendance and punctuality and there were only six gold ones handed out in the entire first year. Chook was the only S1 to get an award in all four categories: academic, endeavour, citizenship and personal commitment. So I think we can say she's an all-rounder. I'm trying hard not to be smug but I'm absolutely bursting with pride.

She's a funny wee thing, insisting on wearing her new specs even though she wasn't reading anything at a distance. Specs are cool now, you know. And, given my employment, she has no shortage of choice!

(no photos of her in uniform with them on - so have this one from last weekend)

And she fair skuttled across the stage to receive her first certificate - Spouse and I compared her to a wee nervous duck. But she got straighter each consecutive trip - she had practise doing it four times, I suppose - and we got a cheeky grin and a wave after the last one. Again with the pride bursting from my chest. It's a shame it's not an energy that can be harnessed - we could power the whole of Central Scotland today!

(Photo courtesy of the school Twitter feed!)

And a sign of the times in that it's not a book token you receive now like in my day (this is my old school and I appear to have lost my Robert Louis Stevenson 3rd year biology merit book - rats) but Amazon vouchers! Which I think is deeply cool and thoughtful. Celebratory tea tonight, methinks. And perhaps a little frivolous something. The child has earned it!

Foosty Sewing Day

Foosty* coz I'm very late this month, you understand. Not because what I made was yuk. I can prove it, look.

 

See? Pretties. I've made another skirt, too! Not for me, for ma Chookie. But I might make one for myself, too. I'll show once I get photos of her in it - we have a prize giving at the school tonight!

*Foosty - Scottish slang for less than fresh. Can be a smell or mean something has gone bad.