Red and white

I thought I'd show some of the things I have made from that red and white fabric, over the years, and have managed to unearth some, not very good photos. The items in question have long since gone to new homes, so these photos will have to do for now. These Christmas hearts were made some years back when I came across a bag with lots of little cross-stitched christmassy motifs I had stitched when I was a young girl. I added some fabric, cut out heart shapes and stuffed them, making them into Christmas ornaments for someone's tree. It might not be entirely clear from this picture that this is a fabric cone filled with sweets. It has an angel's head and wings attached to one side, making it look as if the angel is offering an armful of sweets to you. I made some of these for friends, and had planned on making some for myself as well, but as these things go, I never got around to it. This Christmas, however...

These angels in their nighties are ready for bed. The pattern for these, and the angels above came from one of Tone Finnanger's books, one which has been put to good use here over the years. I think I might have made about half the little people and creatures she presents in this book, so it is one I can really recommend. Hm, I suddenly got the urge to sew something - must go and have a look at that book...

Preparing for Christmas

Preparing for Christmas
Originally uploaded by crafty mathea

I have been rather quiet lately, mulling over what will be my next project, rifling through my fabric and notions, but not getting anything done. It might just have been that quiet moment before the storm sets in, though - it suddenly dawned on me that it is Christmas in just over a month, and if I am to make any presents I really need to get started! Some recently added fabric might give me the push I need, though.
Now, what to make... I'm thinking of making some storage bags/buckets from the first two. The red and white seersucker is one fabric I keep coming back to, so I keep buying more. It has been used for christmas ornaments, angel clothing, and all sorts of christmassy things over the years, and I'm thinking of making some candy cones from them, decorated with some pretty ribbon or something. The charcoal linen/cotton blend at the bottom of the pile is the only one I have very specific plans for - it is destined to become a messenger bag for my middle sister. She has requested one similar to the one I made for my youngest sister a while back. She didn't seem all that interested at the time, but after seeing all the use it has been getting, she has come to the conclusion that she "needs" one too. It's nice to know that my efforts will be appreciated, so I'm more than happy to make one for her. I'd better get my act togehter and get started !

Bewitching

It must be the season, the chill in the air and the darkening evenings, but I'm getting the urge to do some hand stitching again. I have been thinking along the lines of doing some hand quilting and was very inspired by Jan's post yesterday. But a bit of cross stitch wouldn't be so bad either, and looking through my charts, I realize that I have several fun ones from Twisted Threads, two of whi(t)ch seem to fit right in with the season. I have several witchy pieces in my collection already, and these would fit right in. I just love the quirky humour here. I have the chart for the first one in my stash, but when I was looking up the page to link to these, I came across the pumpkin one, which made me laugh out loud. I might have to order that one too!

The first witch is saying: "I made my husband a pumpkin pie" The other one replies: "I made mine a toad".

Grateful

It was my birthday last week and I took the opportunity to gather friends and family for a small party. Any party, however small, takes a bit of planning, shopping and work, of course and I tend to get myself a bit worked up about all the things that "ought to be" in place before people arrive. I ought to dust and hoover, the sink ought to be empty and shiny (creating the illusion that all the food didn't take any work at all, but just appeared by magic) and the windows should be clean and... You get the picture. Sometimes it just gets too overwhelming, and all the fun seems to drain straight out of the event.
It might just be that I'm getting older and wiser, but in the midst of all my preparations it suddenly dawned on me that I was the one setting the standard for how things were supposed to be, and that really there was no need to strive for perfection. After all, the guests were all close friends and family members who choose to come because they want to be with me, not to check on the cleanness of my floors.

I did get some dust bunnies out of the way, but there were unwashed dishes in the sink, and I allowed my guests to help me setting the table. It all made for a lovely, casual gathering where the hostess was relaxed and had time to chat with everybody - and you know what? I don't think anyone noticed the state of my window panes! As we were all gathered in my living room I realized that I have so much to be grateful for - lifelong friends, newer friends and family who all get along and care enough to take time out of their busy lives to give me a wonderful birthday! I got lots of nice presents too, and one of the best was this ladder that was made especially for me. I happened to mention some weeks ago that I was looking for an old ladder to use in my living room to hang quilts from. And it turned out that they had all been searching high and low for old ladders, but because none were to be found, an old friend had spent the evening before my party making this! A certain way to win a special place in my heart - a handmade gift is really the best gift of all, isn't it?

On a roll

I was saying in a comment over at Jan's the other day that I hadn't bought any Jelly Rolls yet. But it seems that her post about Moda's new Authentic range got me on a roll ;-) I just couldn't resist Authentic, and went straight online to order some yardage of the most interesting prints, and a Jelly Roll too. I could see several of these fabrics as accents in quilts and other projects, and smaller pieces would be just right for these. A bit of a "stroll" through some web shops later I had come across this roll from Westminster - strictly not a Jelly Roll, (as that is a registered trademark, I believe), but lovely just the same. So, of course I "had to" get some...

I have been thinking of getting some Kona cotton solids too, but there were so many colours I wanted, and I didn't really want that much of each, so getting a roll seemed like a good idea. The only problem with these rolls is that they are so pretty, that it is hard to convince oneself to unroll them.

Maybe just as well that the Authentic strips came flat-packed in a zip-lock bag. I was slightly disappointed at first, but realized that probably was so that they could be mailed in a small envelope and get here quicker, and anyway, the roll already being opened makes it easier to start using the fabric.

Another little something

I seem to be dabbling away at lots of little somethings these days. But at least I'm doing something. I showed the beginning of this and told the story behind it here. But I knew that it wasn't finished. It needed something, but I didn't know quite what. Some kind of caption, I thought, and finally managed to decide that it would be "Say cheese!" Yet another curious thing adults demand, without explaining why. - I seem to have gone through my childhood completely baffled by all sorts of strange, unexplained adult behaviour, which is probably why I tend to go at great lengths to explain things to the children in my life. My cousin has a fond memory of a conversation I had with his first-born when she was about one year old, and I tried to explain to her what it meant when her parents said they were going skiing on their winter holidays. My explanation was apparently complete down to the description of the wooden sticks that they would fasten on to their feet and that white thing that covers the ground and that we call "s-n-o-w". The sweet little girl was sitting on my lap with a deep frown of concentration as if she were really trying to understand it all. Well, I'm still the one she comes to fourteen years later when she wants things explained to her, so I must have been doing something right!
Anyway, back to the subject. I stitched the letters on black felt using my sewing machine, and cut them into tiles which I stitched to the background with a running stitch. It just didn't look right. The tiles were too big and overwhelming next to the sketch. I tried adding some black blanket stitch around the edge to counterbalance it, but no, that wasn't enough. I added some shisha mirrors in the top left corner with black perle cotton, thinking that you would occasionally catch flashes of light in the mirrors like the one's you get thrown in your face in a photo booth. I liked the effect, but the black tiles were still too big. I contemplated removing them and making new ones, but having used a sturdy perle cotton to attach them, I realized that there would be holes in the background fabric, so that was not a good idea. Eventually I came up with adding some decorative stitches in green to blur the edges of the black a bit.

It took a while, but the time I used was really what I needed for it to evolve into what it wanted to be.

By the way - I wanted the blanket stitch around the edge to be a bit uneven and random looking. I didn't realize how hard that was! My hand and needle only wanted to make even stitches, and I had to pull them out and start again several times before I got the hang of it!

Now off for another little project: hosing down the balcony to try to get rid of the mossy patches a mostly rainy summer has left- how exciting...

A little something

I vaguely remembered having seen a tutorial for a moleskin pencil pocket a while ago. After a bit of googling I managed to find it again here. Thank you Krommama. I made my version with a whole piece of fabric for the pocket, and attached some selvages and a scrap with the text "for colour" on it. That seemed fitting for this book, especially as there turned out to be room for three watercolour pencils in the pocket next to the drawing pen. So there you have it. A few minutes by the sewing machine and a handy accessory was made. Very satisfying.