End of Year Show and Tell

I can't believe the last few weeks have gone so quickly.

I have been sewing and felting up a storm as

 I set myself the challenge of making most of the presents this year.

Certainly the females in the family anyway, I find men difficult 

to buy for let alone make for.

We have also had a couple of Christmas events with Carols at the pub

which was fun and a Christmas party for the Surf life saving club

which was great fun.

I also had a coffee and mince pie morning with

the ladies at my Patchwork group  as we had our

end of year show and tell.

It made me feel a little inadequate seeing some of the work brought along.

I loved this one below. The ladies daughter

set her the challenge of doing something abstract

and her words were

 " This was the best I could come up with I'm afraid"

It's fantastic to see how so many different designs

appear when we are all given the basic block to work with.

I wrote about my version of this Here

The shop is starting up dress making classes in the 

new year and the lady running them put some of her

work on show.

I don't need beginners dress making skills

but I do want to learn to smock as this is fabulous.

I don't think I'm alone in this either as these 

dresses generated a lot of interest.

I can't show you any of my work except the advent calendar below  as some members of 

my family read my blog and it would give the game away.

This I made for my eldest daughter though 

and of course she already has it full of chocolates.

She absolutely loved it and I have to say it was good fun to make as well.

This quilt below is for one of the classes next term

and I love the colours so might have to use similar ones

for my project next term.

One thing I can show you is my Harris tweed 

applique project. I really like the colours

of this fabric and have used this little bag a lot.

The long wooden' button' I got n Australia a few years ago

and I think just finishes it off.

I didn't use any bond a web or stiffening on the appliqué and

it is fraying a little but I rather like like that.

I can open my Santa Sack Swap tomorrow so look out for another post very soon.

Gillxx

Book Review- Harris Tweed Appliqué

I know that, like me, most of you will be forever getting e-mails trying to get you to 

advertise or give away things on your blog and probably, again like me, you delete the e-mails

with out giving them a second glance.

Having said that just occasionally I do give one of them a second glance and thats

what I did with the one from Vivebooks.

The book they were asking me to review sparked my interest and  so I agreed.

I haven't done a lot of appliqué and, as Harris Tweed is fashionable at the moment

I thought I would give it a go.

The book is an e-book and is available either as a download or CD Rom for £17.00 from Vivebooks.

I will leave you to make your own decision on the price but this company

tends to publish specialised non-fiction titles  

which probably wouldn't get into print with main stream publishers.

E-books are totally new to me as I'm a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to my craft books ( of which I have quite a few) and usually prefer my 

books made of paper so I can browse when I want but I have to say 

I have been pleasantly surprised

at how easy this format has been to use . 

I  sat at my work table with my laptop open to the side and 

could keep checking what I was doing.

On the up side for me

The book takes you from start to finish with information on the fabric 

 and tools needed for the projects.

It also has tutorial videos embedded as well as links to additional videos on You Tube.

The writer is an experienced tutor in textiles  who is passionate about tweed

and this shows in both the videos and 

the instructions in the books. It has plenty of photos with some beautiful ones of the isle of Harris and all the templates are at the back ready to be printed off.

On the down side I found some of the projects and motifs uninspiring.

I also thought there were too many cushions included while a really nice little bag

which is pictured at the rear of the book I would liked to have seen included.

I decided to try a couple of samples with the tweed fabrics I already had in my stash as Harris Tweed can be a little expensive just for trail purposes.

Some of them  worked and look OK while others frayed too much and had to go in the bin.

Harris Tweed apparently doesn't fray so much 

so to do a full sized project I have bought some pieces of Harris Tweed from Etsy

in some fabulous colours. 

Watch this space.

I haven't been paid to write this review, I have done it for a bit of fun

although I did receive a free copy of the book.

Gillxx

Project Linus and Country Living

I have had a wonderful week with a bit of Mother /Daughter time

and spending a couple of days with some wonderful quilters

doing what we love best.

Until recently I had never heard of Project Linus and

for those of you who are also unaware of this organisation here is a short introduction.

It was originally started

in the US in 1995 to make and donate 'security blankets' to 

children with cancer in a local hospital.

It was named Linus after the peanuts character created by Charles Shultz

who gave his permission to use the name in such a good cause.

It was started up in the UK in 2000 and well over 211,000

quilts have been handed out so far. 

The Norfolk branch  will give quilts to  any child 

who is going through a really tough time whether it be 

in Hospital,  foster care, bereavement and premature baby units.

Hundreds of quilts a year.

Sew Creative at Wroxham barns where I go for my quilting group

decided to hold 4 days this week to coincide with Children in need

and create as many quilts as we could.

The fabric was manly given by the shop with 

some of the quilters bringing in their scraps which 

would be suitable to use on children's quilts.

There was about 10/12 ladies there everyday

and we had a little system going on with

a couple of ladies cutting fabrics into blocks

which the next lot stitch into strips ( the strippers)

It was then added to backing and wadding by

a quilt as you go method.

Some for boys and some for girls.

They need various sizes from 20 inch quilts

for the premature babies up to single bed size for teenagers.

With one day to go, when I left today 

they had nearly 25 quilts made

including these pretty little ones all made by one lady.

This was the first one completed.

If you want to find out more then have a look at the

UK website here .

The day in between my quilting days was spent in London

with my little one, her boyfriends Mum and her daughter.

A real girly bonding day and it was great fun.

Sorry if the photos are up to much but I had tried a couple of the

liquors in the food hall by the time I took these. lol

We all caught the train from Norwich and made our way

to the London Business design centre at the Angel Islington

where Country Living Magazine where holding their 

Christmas Fair.

There were a lot of people there as expected with 

stall sover 3 floors.  There appeared to be a lot selling cashmere and scarfs

but also a nice selection of crafts, vintage and christmas decorations.

I did managed to buy a couple of Christmas presents

and got a few ideas for others as well as 

ideas for things to do around the house.

I loved this horse not sure how I would have coped

on the tube with it though.

These boxes were another favourite.

Santa greeted you as you entered on a stall

chock a block with dried fruit and flowers.

Then a nice  italian meal for heading back to Liverpool Street

for our train home.

So a busy but very enjoyable week 

but I am looking forward to a fairly quite weekend.

Hope you all have a good weekend and 

speak again soon.

Gillxx

At Last I'm Back.

HELLO EVERYONE.

At last, I am up and running again.

 I won't go into details but I have a new computer and

have a faster (supposedly!) fibre optic broadband so I should now be super efficient.

Nice idea but don't hold your breath will you.

So many things have happened since I last spoke to you 

that this post would turn into a novel

if I went through them all now.

So here are just a few of the highlights.

A trip to the American Museum at Claverton ,Bath

to see the Kaffe Fassett exhibition 

and have a 2 day workshop with the wonderful

Janet Bolton.  She is one of the nicest ladies

I have ever met and the workshop was a real dream,

So relaxed and was part of the Bath Summer School

programme of events.

I would love to show you

some of the photos I took of the workshop

 but a couple of the ladies

there weren't happy about being put on the internet

so instead just a couple of photos from the exhibition.

Including the sample wall which I think is a fabulous idea.

Kaffe knows that the first thing any needle person wants to do

is grab hold of the fabric so he had a collection of samples so 

you could have a good old nose at the back.

Makes you feel a to happier about your own work I can tell you.

Of course there has been

Plenty of time at Cromer watching the sunset and spending time with 

my children at the Surf life saving club.

We have had some wonderful sunsets this year.

Short breaks with my Brother in Bradford on Avon, 

Wiltshire

My Son on the Gower peninsular in South Wales

and of course the fantastic poppies at the Tower.

I have bought one of these to remember my Great Uncle

Herbert and Guy's Great Grandfather both of whom 

where killed in the Great War (WW1).

We both found the experience very moving and were so very glad we 

made the trip down from Norfolk.

So with a week in Somerset and a holiday in Madeira 

and Rugby at Twickenham  last weekend

that about brings you up to date with my many and varied

 travels while I've had my time away from blogging.

Next time I will try show you some of the projects I have managed 

to complete over the last couple of months although I also am going on a trip 

to the country living fair with my daughter  this week so might tell you about that instead.

We really need a nice cup of tea and a good old natter don't we.

 Anyway

Hope you are all well and 

see you again soon.

It's good to be back.

Gillx

Normal Service Soon ( I hope)

My computer has died on me, totally, not repairable.

Luckily it had been backed up recently but until I can

get another one ( Hopefully soon) I will only be posting when I can get

my hands on a somebody elses. 

Please stay with me folks.

Gillxx

Oranges and Lemons

 Hello and greetings to you all.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

I have my eldest daughter home with me for a couple of weeks.

She is a teacher in Exeter, Devon which is a long way from

North Norfolk so I look forward to the school holidays

when she comes home for a while.

While she has been home I have managed to get 

my quilt from this terms Patchwork group finished

and it has gone off to her best friend from school 

who has just had a beautiful baby girl.

I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I 

started, I just thought I would go for something really bright 

and summery after having used quite muted colours on the 

others I have made.

The colours are a bit in your face aren't they.

When it came to putting it together I decided plain white squares

in the middle didn't look right.

I tried a trapunto pattern but that didn't go with the style

of the quilt and

 has ended up as a cushion

 Then my friend Lynn and I came up with a solution

that I love.

She has done a workshop in screen printing and has all the

equipment, so, I found myself a design and off to Lynn s I went.

We had a great day matching colours and trying 

different things.

Once it was all put together with my screen printed squares

I was really pleased with it and was pleased when 

it was so wonderfully received by it's new owner.

All my children love making and crafting things

and eldest daughter ( K) has been given a wonderful old 

Frister and Rosman sewing machine from her Aunt.

So I bought her a copy of " love at first stitch"

by Tilly, one of the contestants from the 1st series of 

the GB Sewing Bee. It comes with a pattern pack which you trace from

so I got some tracing paper as well.

Now K loves vintage style clothing and amongst the

stash of vintage fabrics I inherited from my Mother-in-Law

was this pretty cotton print which she has had her eye on.

So yesterday, with Mum around for advice if needed ( the zip 

caused a few choice words), off she went  to my sewing room.

 With the hem finished this morning, she has gone off

to the beach at Cromer feeling very pleased with herself,

in her new skirt.

And so my little one didn't feel left out

I made the draped top out of the

Great British sewing bee book for her.

It takes just a metre of fabric and was so quick and easy as 

there is no fitting etc to do.

She was thrilled with it but it is definitely not for someone with

a larger bust as, although it fitted me, it didn't fall right.

So that is what I have been up over the last week or so.

K is here for a few more days yet so there may be some more

sewing done before she goes back.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and speak soon.

Gillx