Motoring on with the patchwork

Getting on well with the patchwork this week. Not much to show you at the moment but I can offer you an archive picture of the fabrics before they all got chopped up into hexagons!

It's nuts, isn't it? You take perfectly good fabric, cut it up into wee pieces then sew it all together again in a different order. The things we do for fun! x K

Playing with hexagons

My crafty energy has recently been going into playing with some hexagons cut from Christmassy fabrics.

I've decided on the pattern and it's going to be dubbed something like 'Poinsettias in the Snow', that is red flowers with green leaves on a creamy/gold background.

Here is a wee sketchy layout. Don't worry if you see things like identical fabrics side-by-side or other clashes, it's just to help

me visualise the basic outline. DH helped me with the physical laying out and his keen aesthetic eye too.

I've made a few refinements since then and it's shaping up nicely. The four main flowers are sewn with their leaves attached and the green lozenge in the middle is done with its light row around it.

Yes, hexagons are a bit fiddly to work with, but these babies are 5 1/2" each, so they aren't quite as tricky.

Making progress and I'm sure it will be ready for Christmas 2011. Well, when I say sure... x K

Not late for Christmas '09, just organized for Christmas '10.

Here's another Christmas holiday make, this time it's for my new five-year-old niece who joined the family in December.

It's a stocking of about 28cm tall and 22cm across the foot.
It's not pieced, it's just fancy pre-printed faux patchwork cotton fabric I got at the SECC Hobbycrafts in 2007. The boot shape for you to cut round is printed on the cloth, and there are still three more boots of different designs left on my fabric piece.

The lining fabrics are gold on green, one having decorative smudges and the other "merry christmas", all lower case.
The wadding is a re-purposed padded pillow protector, and I machine quilted it with straight stitches along the grid pattern of the design.

The hanger is a little strip of spare fabric with musical notes on it which was an off-cut from my main piece. That little hanger was a devil to turn the right way out, even with sock knitting needles to help!

The recipient wasn't exactly enthusiastic, but I was showing her it on New Year's Day, maybe next Christmas when it's stuffed with goodies it will come into its own! As she joined the family in mid-December I didn't have the chance to finish it in time for the big day.

I hand-stitched the red bias binding round the top. It wasn't exactly quick but it has given it a good finish.

There will be more patchwork and quilting in my coming posts this week, but don't worry if you're all Christmassed-out, there won't be any more Christmas projects for a while yet. x K

Christmas Quilt

Back home in Glasgow to find the snow still here!
Long gone in Dumfries and Galloway, although they did do a great line in ice and black ice down there.

Took advantage of the Christmas holidays to do some sewing. I made this quilt from William Morris Christmas Cat fabric purchased at John Lewis in Glasgow.
I'm not a cat person, I'm not a pet of any description person, but these guys looked very festive and because I am crap, sorry, inexperienced, at sewing I thought the linear pattern would help my sewing and especially my quilting. (Plus, it was on special offer.)

I'm quite pleased with it overall and it doesn't bother me at all that it wasn't finished for Christmas Day- we've been getting the good of it over the Festive period, and will continue to do so for many years ahead.

Pic one is on the red armchair made famous by the Siesta Blanket .

Pic two is a close-up of the cat pattern and the buttons added to the centre for decorative reasons, and to help tame the wadding.

Pic three is of the complementary backing fabric.


Pic four is a little detail shot of the edgings and quilting. I added the black binding to cover my raw edges, then I added the gold ribbon to dress up the edges and frame the cats.

It wasn't all easy peasy, but we can admire it and snuggle up under it for years to come.

Consumerist refuseniks

Hiya,
If you're interested in anti-consumerist and anti-consumption ideas, why not call in on my friend's new blog?

It's very new so he just has one design to showcase so far. He hopes it can be used on T-shirts, hoodies, mouse mats etc. in the fullness of time.

This link is for adult users.
Consumerist refuseniks

Enjoy! x K