Focusing in on the detail

I decided it would be nice to do some French-inspired cross stitch.  But on calico, because I don't like aida.  The stitches are tiny.  I have to concentrate very hard indeed.  I would only attempt this sort of foolishness in the University holidays when I have hour after hour free, to sit squinting at calico and deciding where EXACTLY to put my needle in next.

I do love holidays.  Full of pointless, small satisfactions like this.

It's quilt time again

I don't have time to make quilts any more.  And yet mysteriously there appears to be another quilt-in-progress on the sofa this morning.

I have been yearning for a Kantha type quilt for ages, and last night I just snapped and  pulled out my sewing machine, grabbed a fairly random selection of fabrics off my shelf, and began cutting and sewing.

Kantha quilts are traditional Bengali quilts, made from large blocks of bright sari fabric, stitched together with tight rows of running stitch and other embroidered motifs.  They're all about colour and embroidery.  They are also made without wadding - just from layers of cotton cloth.  This is one of the reasons I wanted to make one, because even though I used the lightest wadding I could find for my quilt, it is still too warm on top of a duvet.

My new Kantha quilt is simply a top pieced from a mixture of vintage and quilting cottons, and a back of plain, unbleached calico.  No wadding in the middle at all. I sewed the top and back right-sides-together and left a gap for turning, so there is no need for binding either.  The top is nice and bright and true to the Kantha style in shades of pink and blue, but I left the back deliberately plain because I think when all th embroidery is done, it will show off the stitching beautifully.  Plus I love the way that plain calico shrinks and puckers when it is washed - it will really add to the wrinkly, faded feel of my quilt.

I have no doubt at all that I will spend years doing all the embroidery; the quilt is massive.  But I can use use it in the meantime, because it doesn't need binding and there are no pins in it.  I spread it out over my side of the bed last night, and I wasn't too warm at all.  It made me smile this morning too, when I woke up to to rain and wind lashing against the windows but sunny pink fabric spread out over me, as if spring was already here.

Two pink bags

I haven't done any sewing since Christmas, and I've missed it.  Over a couple of evenings this week I sewed two bags.  What I had forgotten was how quick sewing is compared to knitting, and how deeply satisfying it is to create something from nothing and end up with an item which solves a problem.  Both these bags were made to solve problems.

O's old ballet bag was looking a little childish suddenly, and it was awkward for her to carry into class because it had a drawstring rather than handles. 

She really wanted a stylish tote bag like everyone else has.  I was very happy to make her one and asked her to pick out fabrics.  Despite declaring that she isn't into pink at all any more, she chose two eyewateringly bright pink fabrics for the bag.  I think she likes to keep me on my toes. 

O's new ballet bag - extra pink

I whipped up this tote bag for her in an evening, and she loves it.  At ballet this week she sauntered off into class with her new bag slung over her shoulder, looking very pleased with herself.  All the other 9 year olds in her class were exclaiming over the deliciousness of the cherry, polka dot and gingham fabrics, which pleased her even more.  She can be sure that no one else will ever have a ballet bag quite like this one.

O's new ballet bag - everything still gets stuffed inside any old how

The second bag was made for a friend's 12 year old daughter.  S didn't want her small bedroom cramped with a big washing basket, so her mum asked me to make her a drawstring laundry bag which could hang on the back of her door instead.  S picked out the fabric for her laundry bag, and also chose pink - but in much more muted colours than my 9 year old.  Like me, S's mum also thought her daughter didn't like anything pink, but was proved wrong.  I think maybe all girls like to keep their mums on their toes.

Embroidering a label

Laundry bag label

I embroidered a label for the bag, and was delighted to find a little steam iron image amongst my vast collection of embroidery transfers from Sublime Stitching.  I really love this bag, and the fabric S chose.  I think it would be a nice idea to have one of these myself to pack into my suitcase when I go away, and keep dirty washing separate from clean clothes.

S's laundry bag - to hang behind her bedroom door

I hope S likes it as much as I do - I have a feeling she will.  I know her mum will just be delighted to get those dirty clothes off the floor and tidied away.  What is it with girls and discarded clothes?

O's bedroom this morning - with discarded bath towel, pyjamas and tops flung around.

Felt lavender toys

The bag of felt monsters that I made for one of my baby nephews for Christmas was a hit.  He loved taking them all out of the bag, and then posting them back in.  He could happily squish and chew them too.  Since then, I've been thinking about making something similar for my Etsy shop, but with some lavender stuffing.  Everybody who saw the monsters asked if they were filled with lavender, and each time I explained that they weren't, I thought to myself what a good idea.

So after much thinking and a few experiments, I made these felt lavender toys at the weekend.

Their bodies are filled with toy stuffing, and the fabric circles on their tummies are filled with lavender.  The children are enchanted with them, but I'm not so sure.

I find their faces a little creepy - embroidered faces are difficult to get exactly the way I had imagined. I'd planned to leave the edge of the fabric circle raw and unfinished, but when I finished them, I thought it looked a bit messy.

This purple one had a different mouth to the other two.  I prefer this big smiley mouth, but the children said it looked wrong.

The combination of toy stuffing and lavender stuffing is good though.  They smell strong, because the fabric containing the lavender is just thin cotton; but they are still soft and squishy to hold.  C and O love them, and have put them in bed, next to their pillows.  That's a pretty good recommendation.

I think I'm nearly there - perhaps just a few more experiments with embroidered faces are required.

If it is packed away tidily, it is not rubbish

I came back from Switzerland with loads of nice maps, exotic-looking train tickets, timetables, brochures and postcards that I had accumulated while I was away.

I didn't need this pile of paper once I was home, but at the same time it was so evocative of our trip that I could not bear to throw it away.  It sat on my desk for a week - a tottering pile of redundant Swiss information.

And after a while I decided that if it all had a nice folder to live in, it could be stored on a shelf and would no longer need to be described as rubbish.  A paper folder might be seen as temporary over time, but surely a custom-made fabric folder would attach some kind of posterity to these souvenirs?

So this week I made myself a folder to store all these sentimental bits of information in.

There are two large pockets (18cm by 18cm) for postcards, timetables and maps.  And there is one smaller pocket (10cm by 10cm) for train and bus tickets.  The pockets are all lined, and have thick interfacing in them as well so that they stay nice and stiff and do not sag under the weight of the paper. 

I sewed the pockets onto a rectangle of quilting weight cotton (46cm by 30cm).  Then I cut a matching rectangle of leftover quilt wadding and final rectangle of quilting cotton and made a quilt sandwich with them.  I sewed through all the layers along the spine of the folder and then enclosed all the raw edges with binding.  To stop the folder from falling open I added velcro tabs to each corner.

For the front I knew I wanted a label.  I started embroidering Switzerland and the date onto some scrap calico, and then realised I would have to embroider a flag as well.  The Swiss love their flags as the Americans do, and Swiss flags were fluttering from almost every shop, restaurant and house that we saw.  Happily the Swiss flag is much easier to embroider than the American one.

The Swiss use a great deal of black in their designs and crafting so I added a black flourish in as well.  I stitched the label onto the front of the folder, and then added underneath a very short length of some Swiss ribbon that I had brought back with me.  I love this ribbon and how it uses such typical Swiss colours and Alpine flowers.  They use this ribbon on all kinds of traditional clothes, as well as bags, dog leads and cow bell harnesses.  I even saw a bicycle saddle decorated with it.

So the folder is done, and now sits on my shelves making me feel very organised in a Swiss sort of way.  And whenever I want to reminisce about some of the walks we did, I now know exactly where to find that map.

  

Ten things

• The embroidery hoop is back.  I stitched this lovely little ball of yarn for part of a friend's birthday present.  The pattern is from Sublime Stitching and I just love all her patterns.

• I finished a very good book today.  I started the book yesterday and raced through it in almost one greedy sitting.  The main characters' path to love is close enough to mine and G's to be spooky and slightly confusing.  I was so absorbed in the story that I started to feel that it was our story - just slightly distorted.
• But in the end I realised it wasn't our story at all, and I don't want our ending to be like the book's thank you very much.  So do go and read the book if you haven't already - it is very good.  You must be intrigued enough now!
• I have been revisiting some old, favourite sewing projects and making more of the same.  I've made another bath mat and another letter satchel from Amanda Blake Soule's Handmade Home, and I've made some zip-up pouches from Amy Karol's Bend The Rules Sewing.
• And another project has been revisited.  The beautiful, expensive ribbon that I bought on my trip to Sussex at half-term (and the last time I wrote Ten Things) is now on my denim skirt, and looking very fine indeed.

• It is British Pie Week this week, so go and make yourself a pie!  You know you want to.  I made a very good chicken, celery and leek pie, with a crunchy breadcrumb topping, on Tuesday.
• I've been doing ballet hair again.  I just can't take enough pictures of her like this.

She looks so elegant.

• Helen, over at Angharad Handmade sent me a link to this article about an exhibition of lists which is currently on at The Smithsonian in Washington DC.  I may have to move to Washington DC.  Check out Picasso's list and the wonderful illustrated packing list by Adolf Konrad.
• I made a very chocolately chocolate cake at the weekend.  And I will always love my sister for giving me the recipe.  My sister has many wonderful qualities, but her chocolate-cake-making skills are among some of her finest.

Arctic Mum tagged me for this list.  If you haven't already read her blog, do go and have a look.  I have a cousin who also spends a great deal of time in Norway - working above the arctic circle tracking lynxes - and the photos he emails back, and Arctic Mum's blog, both really make me want to go and explore the country. 

Mind you, not right now.  The temperatures are nicely up here in London, and there are daffs to be admired on the mantelpiece.  It finally feels as though spring has sprung!

Ten things

• All the solo lunch suggestions from the comments on my last post were great.  I am much cheered to learn that I am not the only one who finds lunch at home a bit of a non-event.

• There are some snowdrops in the garden.  Just a few, but enough to make me smile when I squelch through the mud to get the eggs each morning.

• For pancake day I made a batch of little drop pancakes for breakfast.  But remember, just because they're really small, doesn't mean they don't fill you up!
• O has discovered she likes doing embroidery.  Like other parents who love to sew or knit, I have to back off and look nonchalent in order for her to remain enthusiastic. 

•  Tomorrow, C and G are going to hear Jason Bradbury, from the Gadget Show, talk about his Dot Robot books at the Southbank. C is immersed in the first book and loves it - highly recommended for any computer/tech minded pre-teens you know.
• O's quilt is well underway.  I have cut up the 184 four and a half inch squares needed for the sashing around the appliqueed blocks, and started sewing them together.  I wish I got on better with my rotary cutter, but I'm so cack-handed with it that it's quicker for me to use scissors and a plastic template.

• I'm re-reading My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell, for about the four hundredth time.  I dug it out to give it to C to read, and ended up re-reading it myself.  Reading in bed last night I was laughing out loud so much that I woke G up.
• I bought some scarily expensive, but incredibly beautiful, ribbon yesterday.  I am going to re-trim the denim skirt I made at The Make Lounge eighteen months ago.
• This might make me want to make more skirts - I find that the more I sew, the more I want to sew, until my head is bursting with long lists of projects, fabrics, trim, patterns and ideas.  But this is not a bad thing.
• We went to down to Sussex to see friends yesterday.  They took us to the seaside at Birling Gap, and I was exhilarated; filling my lungs with huge breaths of cold sea air.  However, G does not like any weather that I describe as 'bracing' and the toddlers in our party were struggling to stand upright in the wind, so we ended up going for a wander through Seven Sisters Country Park instead, which brought a smile back to G's face.

A handmade Christmas

I managed to sew almost all the Christmas presents I gave to my family this year.  A handmade Christmas felt good and very much in the spirit of these frugal, crafting times.  It also felt very good to reduce, though admittedly only slightly, my scarily tall pile of beautiful and unused fabrics.  Now there's some room I can buy more!  Very frugal.

I made these stationery wraps for my mother, my sister and my sister-in-law.  The pattern is a free one on Amanda Blake Soule's site - she calls it a gratitude wrap. I was appropriately grateful for the pattern.  It was straightforward and the end result looks lovely.

The wrap holds a small moleskine cahier, a packet of postcards, or other 6x4" notecards, and a book of stamps.

I made great use of the reinforcing stitch on my new machine.  Each stitch is sewn three times, making for a very strong line of stitching.  Perfect for defined folds like these.

I bought some great cards from Etsy to go in the wraps.  These knitting ones for my Mum were from Local Gringos - she has an Etsy shop full of fine and quirky knitterobilia.

I also made an adapted version of the stationery wrap for a good friend, with just two pockets - one for pencils and another for a bigger notebook.  But then I posted it without photographing it, so there is no proof of my creativity with that one. 

Next were some cushions for my niece and two nephews.  My niece, Alex, who is six, got my favourite cushion - the one I would have most liked to keep for myself!

I think this daisy fabric is so pretty, and a field of flowers would definitely have some butterflies in it.  Did you spot the secret pocket?  After making O's cushion last autumn, I decided that all cushions for small children need secret pockets in them.  And of course secret pockets need small, secret things to go in them. 

Alex got two tiny felt matryoshka dolls to hide in her cushion pocket.  Unrelated to a field full of daisies and butterflies I know, but I was in love with these little Russian dollies.  Originally I planned to make her a felt butterfly to go in the pocket, but when I made the matryoshka, their sleeping faces suggested night-time friends to me, and in they went instead.

The pattern for these matryoshka comes from Felties by Nelly Pailloux - a really lovely book full of small, quick, felt projects.

Will, who is three, had a bird cushion.  With a not-so-secret bird pocket, and a felt bird to go inside.  I hope he likes birds.

And baby brother, Ben, who is just two months old, got a cushion made from the most tactile, soft, cloud covered flannel fabric imaginable.  Ben is a happy, cuddly sort of baby, so I'm sure he will appreciate this snuggly cushion.  He didn't get a secret pocket, but did get his name embroidered on the air balloon basket instead.

For my brother and my brother-in-law I made some coasters, like the one I made for Mum when she was recuperating from her operation.

My mother-in-law's present was not a surprise.  She had asked me to make her a jewellery roll, incorporating the colour purple, and with some antique lace she had inherited.  Frankly I was terrified.  It has confirmed that I would be no good making commissions for a living - it is far too stressful.  But although it cost me many weeks of angst (which design? how to use the lace? purple - how?), I was very pleased indeed with the end result.

I decided on a simple, pocketed design in the end - a little like a knitting needle roll or a crayon roll, but with shorter, fatter pockets.  In the picture above you can see the three pockets (and the velvet ribbon for a tie - yet to be sewn on), and the picture below shows the beautiful vintage lace in more detail.  The lace was very old, very precious, very fragile, and extremely worrying to work with!

And below is another picture (after so much fretting, this jewellery roll had MANY photos taken of it once it was finished).  You can see the lace peeking out, even when the top is folded over.  I sewed the ribbon onto one side so the whole thing can be rolled up and secured with a bow.

And finally, on my last, quiet sewing day alone (the final day of term), I made G and the children house trousers or pyjama pants (you can read my discussion of what to call them here).

G's were made from some William Morris fabric (and in the picture above you can see my masking tape temporary labels saying 'front' and 'back', 'left' and 'right' - it's very difficult to tell with these trousers until you sew the label in).  The children's were made from some Amy Butler fabric.  I think I love C's acid blue ones the most.

The children's are made from Simplicity pattern 3669 and G's are the pyjama pants pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. 

Next Christmas I'll throw in a soft white t-shirt with each pair to make a complete lounging about outfit.  For more inspiration on handmade pyjama pants from wonderfully eccentric fabrics have a look here and here.  It seems to be an American Christmas tradition that I was not aware of.

I really should have made myself some as well for the full Von Trapp family, weird trousers look, but I ran out of time.  I think that was enough sewing.  Even for me.