Who's writing this? Obviously it's not Daisy.

Obviously it's not Daisy. She's rubbish at sewing. One day I will work out how to separate out blogs - or blogger will. I've had enough problems just locating this one since it all went a bit Google.

Sigh.

Retro Fabric

Love it, love it, love it!

*** Photos will appear when Blogger's feeling better ***
*** next day: blogger still can't upload images, and half the edit icons are missing - what's happening? ***
*** next day: ditto - when is this going to work again? ***

I found these curtains in a charity shop about 7 years ago. They cost me £1.50! I just fell in love with the design, which seems so much of its time. They languished in a carrier bag until last week, when my man finally put up a curtain rail in the kitchen.

What Not To Do At An Exhibition

Here's a handy hint: if someone asks you to steward their beautiful exhibition, be grateful - and when a visitor (me) shows appreciation, don't trash all the work in the show and tell the visitor how great your own work is.

I loved the exhibition but once I started talking to that steward I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Photography: Accidental Solarization

Well, that's my name for it. It just happens sometimes with the digital camera.

Textiles: I-Spy Alphabet Quilt- Method & Design

Good old Blogger: it's just put up 6 photos for this posting without a murmur of dissent. This one shows how I took areas of one fabric and turned them into three differently-styled ninepatch blocks.

BTW, don't forget to look here:

www.helloworldreadme.blogspot.com/2006/04/disclaimer-terms-of-use.html

This is the same thing: I pulled out golden hens for one block and black-and-white hens for the other. The strawberry block is in there because in real life, although I used the same plain green for the strawberries and the hens, it looks as though I used two different colours. I thought this, too would be a good art lesson for the recipient!

I've put this picture in because I felt it was rather unsuccessful as a ninepatch: the butterflies were too big.




Sometimes I used the same fabric in two different colourways.

This illustrates the process of making the ninepatch blocks. Wherever possible, for speed, I pieced strips, as in the 2 red and 1 blue blocks. So I would put 2x9" long strips together (e.g. fruit print + red), then next to one of the 9" strips (red) I'd put a 6" strip (fruit), and at the opposite end, next to the first (fruit) strip I'd put a 3" square (red). These would be pinned, stiitched and cut apart ready to be reassembled into the final block. In this photo the 'odd man out' has been cut off and the other 2 sets of squares need to be cut apart.

The black and brown/house fabrics were marked and cut as squares to begin with, to select particular areas of the design. The black squares were attached to a pink strip and pink square, while the brown/house block is entirely made up of individual squares.

This shows (front & back) 3 sets of 3 squares pinned together into the final block, ready for stitching. I've ironed the seams in different directions so that they lock together nicely when stitched: it doesn't seem to matter whether you press into the middle and out or all in the same direction on each strip, so long as each strip differs from the one next to it. I tend to do all one direction unless one of the fabrics is a plain, light colour, and then I press away from it.

Textiles: I-Spy Quilt

http://www.gammon.com.au/helen/quilts/index.php?id=13

I found this link in another blog: just when you think you've done something original, you find someone else has already done it! This vibrant i-spy quilt also uses single-fabric squares alternating with nine-patch blocks. I was trying to work out why it was different to my design; it's because my nine-patches use just two fabrics, usually one picture and one plain(ish), whereas this quilt's nine-patches are nine different picture fabrics. Is it OK to say that I prefer mine? Phew! Panic over - if I liked hers better than mine, or felt I couldn't add anything to the concept, I'd give up now.

I noticed that Hansons had a sale starting 8th July, and I needed a fat quarter with spaceships on. Needless to say I came out with several gorgeous fabrics*, some machine accessories and a reel of quilting thread...

* including a wonderful Laurel Burch horse design stuffed with so many colours and patterns it makes my heart sing every time I look at it

Textiles: Tai Chi Sword Bag Update

The owner of the sword bag has now bought a scimitar, which (due to his foresight when designing the bag) fits!

See various April 2006 posts for more pictures, etc.

Textiles: I-Spy Alphabet Quilt Hints 1

If you're a quilter, I'm probably preaching to the converted here, but there were a few preparations I made before I started this quilt which really paid off:-

1. Make sure you have sharp scissors
I got 2 old pairs sharpened at Hansons and invested in a lovely new pair. It's made a huge difference as the new ones are very comfortable in the hand, and they cut well. I've hand-cut loads of fabric for this quilt, sometimes because I'm cutting small pieces but also because I find it more comfortable than using a rotary cutter if I'm doing a lot of cutting.

2. Buy more pins
I use those flat flower-headed pins and although I had a box already, I got another box of 50. This means that I can pin loads of pieces together downstairs, then run upstairs to the machine and stitch a load at once. (This arrangement also ensures I get some exercise when I'm quilting!)

3. Buy more bobbins

My machine came with about 4 bobbins, but that wasn't enough to swop quickly between colours on a multi-coloured quilt. I bought a pack of 10 extra bobbins, wound them all before I started any sewing and am so much more relaxed as a result!

Cars: An Invention

When I had a convertible, I never liked leaving it anywhere with the top down because although I'd removed everything else 'pinchable', it seemed to me that someone could take the tax disc (I'm a born worrier). Even though you can be tracked by computer now so someone else's disc isn't that useful (I'm talking about the UK here), someone could do it out of malice and losing your tax disc would still be a pain. I'm surprised nobody seems to have thought about this, or rather about ways to prevent it. First I thought of ways of sealing or screwing the disc holder onto the windscreen and making it lockable; then I thought of having a freestanding holder screwed onto the dashboard, so that the disc was an inch off the windscreen. But then it occurred to me that maybe the disc doesn't have to be ON the windscreen, just visible through it, and so manufacturers could put a circular window in the top of the dashboard, accessible from inside the glove box, and this could hold and display your tax disc. Neat, eh? Because the glove box locks, the disc would be secure. How about it, manufacturers? At least for the worriers amongst us...

Cars: A Prediction

Remember those green strips people used to put across the top of their windscreens with names on, back in the ?1970-80's? I thought the other day that it was probably time they made a comeback, since we've had 1970's fashions for about 6 years and are moving into 80's fashions now. First they'd be ironic, I thought, and then everyone would have them. And you know what? I've seen a couple, but they were red and referred to the car, not the driver + passenger. Weird.

Textiles: I-Spy Alphabet Quilt Update

I now have about 70-80 each of plain 6" squares and 6" ninepatch blocks - phew! That's almost all the different picture fabrics I have, although some are used twice. I'm carrying on making more than enough so that there are plenty to 'audition' for the final arrangement, and then I'll make the leftovers into a baby playmat for a friend. Well, that's the plan, anyway!

I bought some batik fabric to use for backing and turning the edges - I got 1/2 metre of this one to check the colours, but when I went back they'd sold it all, so I got a different pattern in the same colours.