Little Things

Now the Big Quilt is finished, there is time to mess about with smaller projects. In the aftermath of the patchwork, there are loads of colourful scraps, which are just right for fiddling with to see what happens.
It was high time Squirrel and Stitch had a squirrel on its pages, so here is a scruffy little autumn fellow, about 4 cm tall, surrounded by raw edge oak leaves. The applique is attached using tiny tacking stitches, following the ideas on this lady's inspirational blog.   https://spiritcloth.typepad.com/

little piece is backed with several layers of the blue flannel fabric used for the Big Quilt backing, making it very firm but soft to the touch. I made the front by chopping up two applique experiments and rearranging them into something completely different. There's a mixture of hand and machine stitching, leaving some edges raw. It measures about 6 x 9 cm.

There is a wide band of the blue flannel left over, so it will probably be making regular appearances on the blog. This is a sleeping bag for the Reception class Christmas Elf, who gets up to mischief in the classroom when the children aren't there.

Finally...

The Big Quilt is finally finished!

 After 18 months of daily stitching, combining 2584 triangles and a rough estimate of 38,000 quilting stitches, very battered fingers and a lot of pride, the finished article is on the bed. Looking forward to snuggling under it tonight.

The quilting is simple on this one, a curve across each triangle which gives a pattern of interlocking circles.

Patchwork Tray Cover

The colourful patchwork traycover is now complete so here are some photos to show you how it turned out.

The next step is to make some matching patchwork bowls to hold the bits and pieces for the projects.  Currently on the tray is the cathedral felting and various try outs for the foliage!

Pipes and Gears

The Big Quilt is nearing completion, and, while the last couple of hundred triangles are being quilted, I've been experimenting with pipes and gear motifs. 

For a change, I have pieced this patchwork using the machine, which is quick, but requires a lot of messing about to ensure accuracy. The pipes are also machine appliqued, and because of their long and floppy nature,  they were backed with interfacing. The result is quite stiff, so I probably won't be taking this any further. However, I will probably quilt it at some stage and add a few details - maybe some fish for those peeping cats!

I'm making cogwheels in varying quarters to eventually join up in a quilt. The left hand sample is appliqued through flannelette sheet under the background, giving it a much softer look and cutting out the need to quilt the whole thing when the blocks are joined.

Very heavy quilting on thick wadding means the applique really stands out on this sample. The cat and little owls are cut from printed fabric and sewn on with a narrow zigzag stitch, making them very puffy to the touch.

Mice on the Move

Some members of the mouse family who had taken up residence in the ivy and were greatly enjoying the bird seed. Since the removal of their food source, they seem to have moved on, though I keep looking out for them because, as you can see, they were very charming. 

This one is undaunted by the disapproving face behind it.

Running round the tops of flower pots was a favourite occupation.

This one appeared to be quite young, and has the most beautiful gummy little feet! It spent a lot of time darting in and out of the plants before it was brave enough to nab a few seeds.

 

Felt Dragon Picture

Following on from my shell felt picture I thought I’d try something else.  For this one I intended to make the picture in felt and then add some detail with embroidery, it didn’t actually turn out like that!

I had an outline of a dragon’s head from a previous project and thought it would be ideal for this piece.  My first step was to draw the outline on thin paper and then tack it to my support square of felt.  The felt is 5 inches square.

From there I stitched the outline in blue thread and then, very carefully, tore off the paper.

As this is a bit of an experiment, I wasn’t sure where to start but decided to block round the whole outline with the darker felt.  Then I started adding in the colours in the more clearly defined places, the spines, the neck and chin area.  Gradually the colour built up and I realised I could keep felting on top of an area, changing the colours, until I was satisfied with the result. 

At this stage I still intended to embroider in the details, in particular the eye.  Then I decided it would look odd if only the eye was embroidered so I carried on with the felting.  The eye was a bit fiddly but I kept going over the area until I was happy with it. 

I was surprised how precise I could be with the felting and was pleased with the result.  

Felt Picture Experiment

When Sar and I visited the Goole open art exhibition we saw a piece created from felt with stitching to enhance the design.   I was quite taken with the idea and decided to give it a go. I based my simple design on a rock I picked up on our walk to Spurn Point, the rock is dark red and embedded with a lot of small shells. 

My design incorporated a ripple pattern to suggest the origins of the rock from the seaside and I needle-felted this onto a 4.5 inches square of red felt.

I did some trial runs to find the best way to transfer the design onto the felt.  The fluffy nature of the felt made it difficult to draw a clear line.  I found the best way was to draw the design on thin paper and tack this paper to the felt.  Then I stitched through the paper and the felt.

With the sewing complete, I carefully tore away the thin paper to reveal the pattern.

The final step was to fill in the shells, with felting, to cover the ripples showing within their outlines.

I enjoyed trying out this method on a simple design and, of course, now have plans for something more elaborate!

The pencil sharpener and the dragon.

Which came first?

Well, it was actually the game which is the reason there haven’t been any entries on here for a while.   There’s quite a bit of dragon action in the game and a shortage of a baby dragon for Bess to find. 

So out came the pastels and a lot of time was spent trying to find a sharpener which gave me a good point.  I ended up using the craft knife which, for me, isn’t ideal and so decided to buy a mechanical sharpener.  After some research on the internet, I settled on a Swordfish Ikon sharpener which, from the reviews, would work for pastels.

The sharpener duly arrived and I eagerly started sharpening up different pencils and was very impressed.  Unfortunately, one of the pastel pencils then showed their tendency to snap and left a lump of lead in the sharpener.  After some poking various implements into the slot to try and dislodge the offending lump of pastel, I again consulted the internet and found the instructions for taking the sharpener apart.  Perhaps the craft knife would have been quicker after all!

Anyway, that pastel pencil apart, it has put a lovely point on everything else I sharpened, including other pastel pencils, as the photo below shows. 

With a good set of points, I started my drawing of a baby dragon for Bess to find at a hidden location!

Frogs and Ducks

Frogs and ducks, what do they have in common?  Instead of doing all the things you intended, you end up watching them.  So here are some photos that I have to show for my time spent watching.

Taken on the 1st June 

Taken on the 13th June

Taken on 28th June 

A Blackwork Bookmark

I recently had a big sort out and reorganise, of course nothing much was thrown away but everything is now more logically organised.  During the process of finding things long since forgotten I came across a small unfinished sampler strip of blackwork which I can remember sewing when Sar was on board.  

With so little work required to finish off the sampler I'm surprised I hadn't completed it.  So out came the needle and the required rows were added.  As the piece is roughly bookmark sized I stuck a red felt backing onto it and added a row of running stitch around the edge to finish it off.  

This is probably the shortest entry on the blog but I found it quite satisfying to finish off a piece so easily.

Christmas Swan 2

After Sar suggested the Christmas Swan would be a good addition to the game I decided a more exotic version was required.  It also gave me the opportunity to practise the negative watercolour painting techniques.  I picked the colours of sunset for the swan and started the painting with some weak washes of this colour across the paper and then added some blue around the swan's outline.  On top of this I painted the swan.

I drew in the outline of the wave motif and then painted round the shapes in a series of washes.  I painted over some of the waves to vary their tone.   The photo shows a wash in progress.

I gradually deepened the washes and added some prussian blue in places.  I started to paint the sky with washes between the cloud shapes.  

As I liked the red and gold showing through the sky I didn't use as many washes as I did on the water. Finally I gave the swan an eye and tinkered with his beak to finish the picture.  Now I just have to give it a story in the game!

Christmas Swan

It's always good to try something new and the Christmas present from Jo and Haydn gave me the opportunity to do that.  The wooden swan came as a 'flat pack' kit with a set of instructions.

The lovely smell of fresh wood was released when I opened the pack and laid out the components for this photo.  The shapes were pre-cut and just needed pressing out from the sheet of plywood.  

The reverse of the cover sheet gave the instructions which were rather brief but I soon realised they didn't need to give a lot of detail.  Each slot had a number which matched up with the number on the piece which would fit into it.  

It was quite satisfying slotting the pieces together, a bit like a puzzle.  Here's the basis of the body and the little cross piece attached the head and neck to the body.  Later additions to the body reinforced the structure and the finished piece is very stable.  

So here is the swan gliding along the bookcase.  But the swan's potential didn't end there.  I thought the wooden shapes and structure of the swan were attractive and would make a good subject for a drawing.  

So thank you Jo and Haydn for a good present, it's something I wouldn't have thought of buying for myself.  

Negative Painting Experiment

Whilst perusing Pinterest I came across some attractive watercolours which were the result of a negative painting method.   Keen to have a go a I watched a you-tube video and then set to with a simple flower motif. 

The painting starts with a very wet sheet on which you dab the streaks of colour.  The advice on you-tube was to make sure the paper was completely dry before continuing so I prepared this sheet the night before.  

The next step was to draw in the first of the flowers which in the finished painting will be the palest flowers.  The background is then going to be darkened; I decided to strengthen the existing colours but this doesn't have to be the case.  Again the paper has to be dry before continuing so I went for a walk with the girls; this method can't be rushed in the early stages.

I really doubted how this would turn out so omitted to take any photos of the next stages which were to add more flowers and continue to darken the background.  I worked this stage 4 times in total and then decided I needed to consolidate the background.  I had veered away from the you-tube advice by now and in a bid not to turn the background to mud I applied a thin glaze of blue.  

Instantly the colours on the flowers stood out but due to all the washes their outlines weren't very distinct.  This was remedied with a black biro outline and then I continued to add a couple more flower shapes and some leaves.  I knew I would be applying another background layer and to make this final layer neat I needed to break up the background.  As this was an experiment I added double lines which would create a break in the final background colour. 

The final glaze was a thicker wash of dark green which brought out the paler shades of the flowers.  Although the lines were a device to break up the background I like the effect of the previous layers showing through them.  I added a blob of colour to the middle of all the flowers but decided against tinkering with the petals and risk spoiling the clean colours.

So that's the method and now I've tried it I'll certainly give it another go.  

I also have a tip if you order your library books online - check the print size; it might not be obvious they are in large print until you go to pick them up!  

Bits and Bobs

Most sewing time has been taken up recently by the Big Quilt, which is currently about 18% quilted. Here is the back of it, folded in half and taking up most of the living room floor.




I'm already planning the next quilt, which will have a steampunk, cogs and gears theme, and possibly a robot or two. These two experiments have been made into coasters.

Here is the garden at Chester, taken with the camera in watercolour mode, which gives a lovely flowing effect. That may be Kev's knee and Bess's bum on the right!

And here are some of the frogs, enjoying the Easter sunshine.