shared creative spaces

A little bit of creativity has been going on around here lately and it's about time I shared some of it.

I have been a bit depserate to sew, but had no time to plan / cut anything out so I just dived into the scarp jars and sewed. I have no idea where this is going, but I like it.

Over the summer I let Missy Big who's 7 have a go on the sewing machine, she's been more than keen to try it out.

She broke into her stash (a birthday present) and made a simple skirt for her Build-a-Bear.  

I added the lace trim - there are rules about how close her fingers can go to the needle / foot. 

Of course then the bear needed an apron, for when she bakes. So Missy Big dived into MY stash. She did the lace bit herself this time.

During the holidays we visited my Mum up in Staffordshire and she took us to Unit Twelve, a wonderful gallery / studio / workshop space that she talks about and visits frequently. We happened to go whilst a workshop was taking place, Jennifer Collier was teaching some ladies how to make hair band decorations our of paper with puzzle pieces, buttons etc to decorate. 

Missy Big was mesmerised, she loves to make and she kept going back and silently watched everyone stitching, cutting, experimenting. She took it all in, not even a juice and a biscuit could keep her away. It was a pleasure to see her so captivated. She was desperate to have a go, but it was a pre-booked workshop that was almost over. I promised we'd have a go when we got home.

Of course she remembered every last detail and managed to come away from Granny's with a bag of old jigsaw pieces ready for her creation.

She chose her old scrunched up papers carefully, and designed a new one, so it was just right. She carefully drew around a jam jar lid and then cut out her circles. She took her time stitching them into suffolk puffs and then drawing them up to 'puff'.

She had chosen a hairband and picked out a scrap of navy silk from my stash for the base. I stitched this bit, 'the boring bit' and when the base was ready she carefully positioned, rearranged and co-ordinated the paper puffs, buttons and jigsaw pieces then glued them all down. 

She did a great job, I think this looks pretty cool. I'd even wear it out myself, if she'd let me!

Linking up with Our Creative Spaces.

a week of wonder

Brace yourself, there are half a million photos coming up. 

I've had the most amazing week, I'll start off with the LMQG meeting, they are always fun, interesting and inspiring but this one was a bit special. Sholto Drumlanrig, the designer behind the new Liberty Lifestyle Craft Fabric range gave us a talk in Liberty's Hertitage Suite. 

My photos don't do these justice, I only had my phone with me (argh!!) so apologies. These are the original artworks and the final designs once scale and colourways have been decided upon.

It was fascinating to hear about the inspiration behind the range and how prints from Liberty's heritage archives are sometimes reworked or used as inpiration in current collections.

We got to see some of the next range and know the theme for the third collection too, but I'm not allowed to share. Sorry. What a terrible tease! 

We've also been lucky enough to get tickets for the Paralypics, two swimming events and athletics too. 

My goodness it has been amazing, eye opening, inspiring, exciting, tense, thrilling, I could go on...

The swimming was my favourite, we watched Johnathon Fox, Ellie Simmonds and many others smash World Records. I was completely in awe of these athletes, we watched in amazement as some of the contestants got in the pool with no limbs, I wondered how it was that swimmers without arms were racing against those with arms. How could they be in the same catergory? Surely those with arms had a clear advantage? 

I was blown away to see the swimmers without arms win. Again and again. I can only describe it as like watching dolphins glide through the water. Astounding. 

Union flag bowler hats on and flags galore we went in to cheer ourselves sore and support team GB (and anyone else who happened to run past).

We had terrific seats, row 5. ROW 5!!!

It was a little overwhelming in there, it's massive. There were so many events on at the same time we didn't know where to look. We were quite close to the F11 Visually Impaired Long Jump finals so had decent views, wow those guys were impressive, it must take tremendous courage to run and leap when you can't see.

I think this moment was the girls' favourite.

If that's not enough to cram into a week it was also a return to school, Missy Big into juniors (gulp) and Little Miss into Reception, she'll be doing full days in a couple of weeks. It's going to hit me hard then. She's completely ready, I on the other hand am a bit wobbly. 

 

I'm sure a little sewing therapy will see me right. x

summer

I have been completely absorbed in the summer holidays, I love this unrushed, schedule free family time.

Midway through the Olympics I was sulking a little as we couldn't get any tickets, no matter how many hours I spent trying. So we took ourselves down to the Southbank as we always have a fantastic time there.

There was a massive Lego Map of the World being made, so we joined the queue and made our two squares, then added them to Brazil. We dipped our toes in the rainbow beach, admired the enormous fabric tree and other incredible sculptures around the area. (more photos here)

We took advantage of the sunshine and had a few days camping by the sea. It was so nice to escape from everything and recharge. Life's good when your hardest choice is ice-cream or kite flying.

I have managed to get a tiny bit of sewing done, the LMQG challenge for the month was to make something using the Paper Piecing method, I have been very afraid of trying this. I shouldn't have been, it was oodles of fun! I used these free patterns and turned the letters into coasters for the girls.

This card sums up these holidays, I made it for my Mum's birthday. 

Hope your summer has been just as good. x

finished

This is my very first quilt. I chose a print, threw in some extra colours and made it up as I went along. I picked up tips from friends along the way and spent hours happily hand quilting while my girls played.

It took me four months from start to finish. I didn't work on it every week, just a few bursts here and there.

I have loved making this.

It measures just over a metre square. The hand quilting (on the solid fabrics) is done in 4 different colours in numbers 5 and 8 cotton perle thread. I used embroidery/crewel needles, which made the quilting so much easier.

It now hangs around in the living room, we snuggle under it, play picnics on it, nurse teddies better under it.  

I am very pleased with my first attempt.

Which of course left me desperate to start something new, some English Paper Piecing, another first for me, I'm doing some hexagons and this will become a cushion cover.

I have plenty of scraps you see...


Linking up with Freshly Pieced

hand printed fabric

I haven't yet shared with you the wonderful fabrics I received as part of the HandPrinted fabric swap.

I received from the same four people I sent to, this is what dropped through my letterbox.

 by Kristy Mohan of 107 Quilts

by Aliza at Seams So Easy 

two prints by Bec at ScarletDesigns

two prints by Krystle at Villa Hunter

Aren't I lucky? My love of red was clearly noted by my partners. They are all so different and interesting, I have no idea what to make with any of them. I expect they will sit in the stash being admired for a long time before I dare to cut into them. 

I hope Leslie from Maze & Vale hosts this swap again, it has been so inspiring and has pushed me to try new things. I will definitely be signing up again next time.

  

a snippet

July seems to be a bonkers month, lots going on, too much to try and catch up on. 

So here's a little snippet.

The end of the school year always turns me into a snivelling wreck, where did the year go? Look how much the girls have achieved / grown / matured / done ... blah blah...

This also coincides with Missy Big's birthday, her 7th, which we celebrated with an Olympic themed party, which was oodles of fun. Just a few days later the torch came through Harrow on the Hill, what an incredible experience.

So now on with the holidays, hooray! 

hello

I've been absent for longer than I intended, I tried to juggle way too much. I dropped the blog. Ooops.

There is loads to catch up on, but for now I just have a little  news to share with you, if you want to see what I made with these...

... pop over to The Village Haberdashery blog to see my featured item! Yes, little old me featured over there! I'm so very excited. If you're even a tiny bit in love with fabric be sure to pop by the shop, there are so many gorgeous fabrics to tempt you, and of course you get to admire my project again.  x

circles and squares

I am juggling way too many projects at the moment, and geting nowhere fast on most of them. I need to learn to say no. To myself. My mind races on faster than I can keep up.

So yes, I'm still hand quilting this quilt. I'm still enjoying it, but will be very pleased when it's finished. I'm nearly there. 

Quilting by hand doesn't actually take as long as you'd think - if I'd just get on and DO.

Want to see some more of my fabric printing adventure? Good.

These were both printed with the empty cotton reel again, and an old washing ball for the larger circles.

An old wine cork, I like this effect, I like the white peeping through where the ink didn't take. A block of foam, I liked it's  simplicity and this led onto the squares I did.

The finished fabrics, on their way to their new homes, on time!

Linking in with our creative spaces 

hand printing fabric

I have finally finished printing the fabrics for the handprinted fabric swap that Leslie Keating is hosting over at Maze & Vale. I've tried to work in my partners prefered colours, which are not my usual choices, but I like how they've turned out. 

I have really enjoyed playing around with simple shapes and mixing the colours. I used very basic tools in my printing, empty  reels of thread, old corks and cut out shapes from Mr's foam scraps. 

Never before has a Fat Quarter felt so enormous. 

It is incredibly satisfying to create your own designs on fabric.  I'm clearly very new to this, but I'm rather pleased how they turned out. 

This deep blue with silver highlights is my favourite.

But I like many of the testers too, I'll be adding some more images to my flickr page soon, there are many...

Playing along with our creative spaces.