Canvaswork wallhanging

One of the things I purchased at the Knitting & Stitching Show was a cnvaswork wallhanging kit.

As with most things it took me a while to get round to it, but it is now finished and hanging up in my room.

There are four square tiles, each worked on canvas in six strands of embroidery cotton, then backed with a plain fabric with a square of wadding inside.

They each have little beads all around the edges too.

Here are the four tiles:

I'm getting to be a big fan of canvaswork now - there's something about the texture that I love.

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An iPad cover

Having invested in an iPad the other week I had to then make myself some sort of pouch to keep it in.

Rather foolishly I decided it should be patchwork, which meant it took rather a long time to complete (six hours to be exact!).

In fact, it took me nearly as long to decide which fabric to use! In the end I settled for Etchings by 3 Sisters for Moda, which I had a charm pack of. I selected the prints I wanted to use and set about cutting them into 2" squares.

Here I am ready to go ...

And here are all the squares ...

The next step was to piece them together. I sewed them into strips, then sewed the strips together, and quilted them down to a piece of batting with a red zigzag stitch.

This made the back piece and envelope flap. For the front piece of the pocket I used a plain fabric with one strip of the squares on.

Stitched together round the edges, et voila!

I also made a binding for the top of the pocket in the same strip of squares.

It was certainly a labour of love and it works just great, but if I make similar things again there will not be anywhere near as much patchwork!

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Learning patchwork - Inner City block

I'm taking part in a beginners patchwork course at the WI Office in Rodley over the next few weeks.

Led by the incredibly talented and experienced Anne Starkey it is a six-week programme that shows us several different blocks and styles of patchworking.

Earlier this week our first session was English piecing, which is something I have done before. I always need more practice though and Anne is full of wonderful hints and tips.

We had a choice of Tumbling Blocks or Inner City, and I chose the latter.

Basically, you sew strips of three different fabrics (roughly light, medium and dark) together on the machine, then use freezer paper to make little hexagons. They then go together in threes to make the 3D geometric shapes.

Hopefully here you can see how it comes together.

I need to get these finished off and stitched together before the next session in a couple of weeks.

On the agenda for the rest of the course is: chain piecing, curved piecing, American piecing and foundation piecing. We'll be doing blocks such as Log Cabin and Monkey Wrench. Drunkards Path is on the list too but I don't like that and it's rather tricky so I'll be doing a different curved one.

It will probably become a quillow when finished, but we'll see what happens!

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Quick quilt update

Here's my quilt at 11 rows sewn together.



I've now done 12 and my size estimate seems to be right, so just five more rows to go!

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Crazy patchwork keyrings

A little bit of crazy patchwork for you today.

We're trying to get together some new goodies to sell on our Buns & Roses craft stalls, so I rustled up these little keyrings.



I pieced together scraps on my machine, then made a sandwich with the crazy patchwork piece, pelmet vilene and a single piece of fabric on the back.



Stitched over the fabric joins on the top piece through all layers, then round the edge, and finished off with pinking shears and an eyelet and keyring.



Rather nifty I think. Hope they sell!

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My birthday week

T'was my birthday on Thursday and I was very lucky to spend at the The WI's Denman College in Oxfordshire.

My room ...



I was there as the College Host for the week, which meant I was there to assist with any problems and generally keep an eye on the students and visitors.

This turned out to be the main part of my job as Hazel Everett was there teaching a goldwork course and she always manages to have a classful of cheeky women! There was plenty of laughing going on, but their work was fantastic too.

It was incredibly busy at times but always great fun and I met some lovely people.

On my birthday everyone sang as I walked into the dining room for breakfast and there were lots of treats and surprises for me. I can think of no better way to spend a birthday than in beautiful, peaceful surroundings with dozens of (slightly crazy) women and having all your meals cooked for you!

Among my pressies I had a box of cucpcakes delivered from my friend Kat, Hazel's goldwork book, plenty of wine and sweeties and .... an experience day at Silverstone!

Hayley, Helen, Flower and my mum had coordinated to get me a session driving a single-seater at the track. I was so excited and overwhelmed with it all I was bawling like a baby!

Cupcakes ...



Needless to say I had an excellent birthday and a really lovely week.

On Thursday night I hosted a quiz for some of the students, which seemed to go down well, and we even got a bit of snow.

Denman in the snow ...







I'm back at Denman next month for a conference, then a further two times later this year for WI Adviser training.

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Just Believe card for a girl

Another card commission for Hayley for a little girl who likes pink!



The lack of typical girly things such as princesses and fairies has never worried me and instead I turn to the Just Believe stamp set, Boho Blossoms Punch and Beautiful Wings Embosslit.



Some Rhinestone Jewels for added bling, et voila!

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Canvaswork

Canvaswork has been a bit of a love/hate thing for me.

I love that it is fairly straightforward, even more so than cross stitch, and the geometric designs really appeal.

But sometimes I hate the feel of the canvas and it always catches my threads as I'm stitching.

Here is one thing I have done with canvaswork recently ...



A little brooch and a magnet, which is handy for when you drop your pin box all over the car park/living room floor! It also keeps the random sewing pins in my workbox in one place!

I'm now working on a new canvaswork piece, which I hope to finish in a couple of weeks.

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Hi! My name is ...

Gemma!

At Embroiderers' Guild we are all encouraged to make a name badge so we have a better chance at remembering names! It's really great for me - I meet so many new people at WI alone I can't really cope with trying to remember any more!

Here is my badge ...



I stamped my name on to paper and traced it on to the plain calico, then satin stitched over it in black cotton.

The tiny hexagons are paper-pieced. Very fiddly and not too symmetrical, but very cute.



I'll be wearing this to WI as well - we've started giving out sticky labels there to help everyone get to know each other.

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Kindle cover

I challenged myself to make something new last week - a Kindle pouch.

It's just a bigger take on the phone pouch I made myself a while back, but needed to have a flap and some sort of fastening so the Kindle doesn't fall out.

Also, it was for a male friend, so I couldn't just go for my usual flowery fabrics.

And here it is!



Luckily I had some of this funky boy fabric with cars and bikes and boats and planes, which is great for a small feature panel. It also matched in with the chequered fabric and I went with the traditional blue and red fabrics for the main construction.



This is the back, with two panels. I pinked them round the edges and stitched on with a zig-zag stitch. There is a layer of batting and the lining is a plain calico.



A Formula 1 car on the front and the flap has a press-stud for easy opening (and also because I had no velcro).

I used measurements from a tutorial online and it actually came out a little long for the Kindle, but it does the job.

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Love, love, love

With Valentine's Day coming up I thought I best prepare a card to send to Jenson Button! Well, you never know!



I've gone for what I hope is quite a sophisticated look and used Crumb Cake and red.



The little envelopes are made with the Petal Card Double Punch, which cuts and embosses, and the DSP is the now retired Love Letter series. The images are from a hostess set from last year called Cute By The Inch but it is one of my all-time favourites. The ribbon is Real Red Taffeta Ribbon.

Hopefully it will help me win Jenson over!

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Latest quilt progress

Having spent all of Christmas working on my quilt I had to put it away for a while and do something different. I was getting hexagon blindness!

I've been drooling over several quilt patterns and new fabrics recently and have in mind a "proper" quilt to make, but first I really should finish the Japanese hexagon one.

So, last night at our Buns & Roses WI meeting I took my quilt along to get going on it again.



I now have nine and a half rows sewn together and it's looking pretty good.



It's getting pretty big so it keeps me warm as I sit and stitch.



I was delighted to be able to share my project with the WI ladies too. I received so many compliments on it and everyone wanted to know how (and why) I was doing it.

I do have a slight conundrum though - the edges.

When I started I thought I would leave it pointy as there are no raw edges and all the shapes are finished as they go. But now I'm not so sure - it feels like it needs something to finish it.

Any thoughts? I might keep the pointy edge but go round it with some binding. I could just straighten it off, or add a border, but the latter would be extra work and it's already taking rather a long time!

All input is welcome!

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