Another class!

I had a great time teaching at Bee Crafty on Friday. A group of ladies joined us on a Stitched Landscapes class. The idea was to take a photograph, and re create it using scraps of paper, fabric, Tyvek, threads and wool, plus anything else they could think of.

The challenge is usually getting people to "free up" - many of them are used to the precise measurements required in quilting - like the 1/4 inch seam. This is more of a free form class, so I found myself saying "do it however you want to" when they asked questions like "how big should I make it?", "what colour should I do the sky?" and "Which thread should I use?". They soon got the hang of it and here are the (as yet unfinished) results:

The pictures that they chose varied, from a beach scene to a cityscape of Moscow and the results were just as varied.

I think that they will be looking at those scraps they usually throw away in a new light from now on!

A Fabulous Distraction!

Today was a red letter day! Nothing creative happened but I had one of the most amazing days.

I love my Sci Fi - and I always have. Star Trek, Dr Who, Star Wars, Torchwood... I love 'em all! I have a huge collection of audio books from Dr Who and Torchwood which I listen to as I work in my studio.

So the fact that there is a show on this weekend in Peterborough where all these shows are represented was too good to be true!

 Me & the cast of the Dr Who the Movie. Sylester McCoy was a delight!

 Excitement of excitement - All of Torchwood where there! I was leaning into John Barrowman who had his hands on my should, when Gareth put his hand on my bottom! Result - made my day!!!

Never one to miss out on a hand crafted item on any occasion, I found this fantastic Tom Baker Dr Who bear. Isn't he fabulous! I just loved him instantly.

 And there was plenty of opportunities to snuggle up to a man in uniform, even if that uniform was quite a scary one!

Well I am heading off there again tomorrow to rub shoulders with a couple of Star Trek crew members and Avon from Blake 7. What fun!!!

A small gift

Every summer for the last few years my lovely Dad has decamped to Canada to stay with his brother for a few months. Being a friendly and approachable kind of fellow he has made many friends. When two of those friends became grandparents, Dad thought "I know what would be the ideal gift - a quilt! I'll just ask my Sarah to rustle something up for my next visit". Being the dutiful daughter that I am, I readily agreed. How hard can it be, I thought? A turned 9 patch, an evenings work and weyhay... an heirloom!!

Unfortunately this is me we are talking about... so this is how the conversation went in my head...

"Turned 9 patch is a little simple, lets try something a little more interesting... I know - an I SPY quilt. 

So what shall I put in the quilt? Cats, dogs, babies, grandparents, parents... how about photos?

I have used photo fabric before - should be a doddle!"

So in the end I tried to keep it simple! Bright and cheerful once I had mastered the various elements and got my printer to play nicely!

After a bit of messing about, I got it done last week in between pond building sessions. So next was the 'how to quilt' conversation to have with myself.

Even with that one I talked myself into going all out. No stitch in the ditch for this sister! No way! Free machined heart and flowers motifs with invisible thread (something I had never used before) - which took me 3 solid days to complete. Who knew quilting could be so painful - I ache all over!

Well at least it is done now, and I (and my dear Dad) are delighted with the results. I hope Emilie and her family will be equally happy when it goes to Canada in June.

I am glad I am never one to take the easy path - It leads to some rewarding results!

Drought? What drought...?

I my last post I mentioned our holiday plans - to build a pond. I have had a lot of enquiries on how it has been going, so I thought I would share an update.

This is the state at the end of the first day - Saturday. It doesn't take long to dig through the topsoil and reach the clay, and being chilly I decide to call it a day! Like my wellies?

Sunday - a night of rain and my lovely half dug pond looks like this! Ooops! I heard there was a drought on...

A burst of sunshine on Monday morning filled us with renewed vigour, and 48 buckets of water later - and the pond is empty again. The clay was fun to work with now as the increased rainfall turned it to slop! Lovely!

 So a few hours slopping and shaping the pond - and in goes the pond liner!

So now with the aid of a few buckets of water and some bricks and tubs to weight the liner down, we just wait for rain!

 And more rain is what we got! It rained all day Tuesday so we stayed inside all toasty and I worked on a quilt.

This morning 1 1/2 tonnes of pebbles were delivered on our drive so we thought we had better get on with it today. These need to be hand sorted so that we only use round pebbles (no sharp bits to puncture that precious liner!), and washed so we didn't fill the pond with grit. Oh boy!

We started to put them in the pond and disaster! The rain on Tuesday had seeped underneath the pond liner and made it bubble up. The rain has also half filled the top of the pond, so the liner was suspended somewhere in the middle! New plan - peel back the pond liner as much as I can and use a jug to bail out the water under the lining. I emptied the jug into a bigger bucket and Pail emptied the full buckets down the drain. Talk about laborious.
So once that was done, we were back to filling the pond with pebbles!
A few hours of backbreaking work, and we are nearly there! About a million buckets of water later (or so it feels) the pond is starting to fill up.

 Yay - a pond!

So that is the end of phase 1! Next we wait for some rain to fill it up ... and then the planting begins. I want plants in the pond, as well as a bog garden to one side (using the rest of the pond liner) and then plants around the edge to soften the look (and ensure that Paul won't have to mow over pebbles).

I think we will wait a few days before we begin that lot! We both have aches in places we didn't know we had muscles, so a rest may well be on order. Tomorrow we are heading to the plant auctions in Spalding to pick up some summer colour for the new bed you can glimpse in some of the pictures. At least that means digging in soil rather than clay!

I will soon be back at work for a rest!

What fun!

I love a good class! And one of the joys of having your own shop is that sometimes (workload permitting) you get to go on one!

The fabulous Gina Ferrari came to the shop on Friday to share her "Cords, Tassles and Beads" class on Friday. You basically create all the components and put them together in a necklace. This is mine - unfortunately the light wasn't very good so the picture isn't great, but it is purple with a splash of pink.

Being a smart arse, I made the treble tassel, and now I know how to make them I can see me making many many many more! The Tyvek beads wound with beaded wire were great fun to make and I am sure I can see many more uses for them, and the twisted cord is destined to turn up in bags and all sorts of places. So the whole class, as well as being huge fun, was a great source of inspiration!

Today is the first day of my holiday, and we have decided to stay at home and build a pond rather than go away. Being in the middle of a drought we hoped for some good weather. Obviously this has not happened, but undaunted we ploughed on (literally!). Perhaps the rain forecast for the rest of the week will save us having to fill it with buckets!

So after 2 hours digging, we have the beginning of a pond!

Still a bit to go but it has been a joy to get out the old floral wellies and get mucky! By the end of the week we will either have a pond, or a very muddy puddle!

Something and nothing!

Sometimes there is the urge to make something! Sometimes it is to make a 'nothing' - a thing that you make just for the joy of making and looking at - a piece of artistic ephemera. Other times I want to make 'something', something useful, something with a real purpose. Today has been one of those days!

I finished this "round the world" cushion for my friend's birthday gift last night for delivery on Monday, even sewing a zip in the back which I am particularly pleased with! The finished squares are an inch across and I really enjoyed the challenge of putting it together. 

I feel the urge to make a bigger one now with equally small pieces. But until I decide that it's time to say good bye to my sanity and start on that particular project, I decided to make something else functional. 

 

So I made my little netbook, which currently resides in my studio ready to use when the mood takes me, a fine new jacket! I used this fabulous Robert Kauffman fabric with a terrific co-ordinating blue lining and now my little box of tricks is the best dressed tech in town! 

 Once Paul saw my new snazzy laptop case, he wanted one for his camera. His colour choices are a little more muted than mine, but at least I managed to get him away from a black bag with a black lining!

So he's happy too, and I have posted the tutorial here if you fancy having a go!

So what shall I make next....?

Fame at last... kinda...

I am not a great one for having my picture taken - and even less happy having being filmed, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and get on with it! So when Just Hands On TV wanted to come to Bee Crafty and film an interview, I just had to grow a pair and get on with it! 

Valerie Nesbitt, me and Julie

The film is up and available on their website if you want to go and have a laugh (and don't count how many times I say "indeed")! You will need to register but it is part of the free content and there is lots more to see there besides us.

Julie has been on telly a lot (having been in Eldorado and The Office in her career before being part owner of Bee Crafty) and is used to it, but I found it completely terrifying. I just had to remind myself that I am talking about something I love - and that should be easy! Famous last words! But at least it is done, and we have had some lovely comments from people who have watched it and then dropped in to see us, so it can't be that bad!

A Winter Silhouette

A great thing about having a shop is that you can work on your own ideas and turn them into classes!

This is one of my designs for a Christmas class called A Winter Silhouette - an appliquéd wall panel for the festive season.

 This is a close up of the free machined snowflakes and the free motion quilting.

It was great fun to make and I can't wait to share it - we just have to pick a date!

A Gift of Quilts

As a quilter I was very excited at the opportunity to take part in the cultural Olympiad for 2012 with a  project called “A Gift of Quilts”. This projected aimed to give a quilt to every Olympic team paying us a visit in 2012 – one for the Olympic and one for the Paralympics team. With a total of 500 quilts to make, it seemed like a huge task, but quilters are givers and the project was well over-subscribed. As a result, 500 quilters and other groups were chosen at random to take part. I was one of those lucky ones, along with brownie groups, schools, quilt groups and individuals from all over the UK. We were not told which country we would be making our gift for, as that would be selected at a ballot once all of the quilts were received.

 This is my quilt "Diving In" at Olympia in March

With our quilt we were required to send a comment as to why we wanted to take part. My quote was published in the Quilters magazine which was a huge buzz for me and a surprise as I flicked through the mag with a cuppa!

This is my comment:

“Since that day in 2005 when we were first awarded the Olympics, a lot has changed: for the world, for this country and for me personally. Sometimes it may seem that the world has gone crazy, but 2012 offers us the chance to throw aside political, social and economical differences as the pride of our nations battle it out to be the best they can be. This is the greatest show on earth. This quilt has allowed me to become part of such an occasion. With the stitches that I have worked I can become part of the history of this country, the Olympics and of the world. I can look back and say I took part. Now that is a gift to me.”

Just reading that again gives me goose bumps as I was hugely thrilled to be part of this, and to be able to share my love of quilts with somewhere I will never go and with someone I expect that I will never meet feels tremendous. I also attached a letter to the quilt so that the recipient will understand that these gifts are made and sent with love. I hoped that wherever it went, someone would appreciate it and it would be used in the spirit in which it was made. 

I was absolutely delighted to be involved with the Gift of Quilts but this was nothing to my delight when I discovered which country my quilt was going to! Through World Vision I have been sponsoring Fatoumata Boiro in Patiana in Senegal since 2005 when she was 5 years old and she is now a bright and intelligent 12 year old. My sponsorship helps pay for medical programs ensuring she has help when she is sick, and education including a recent school activity where 82 teachers and 240 children learnt about malaria and HIV. 

 Fatoumata Boiro

Personally, I find this very rewarding and I love receiving letters and drawings from her, as well as updates on what my contribution is doing for her community. I feel that I have a connection to Senegal. So imagine my surprise when the country that my quilt was awarded to turned out to be the one country in the world I had a personal relationship with! My quilt is going to the Senegal Olympic Team.

I part own a craft shop called Bee Crafty in Ellington, Hunts and my quilt had been hanging up on the wall in the shop for about 3 weeks before I sent it off to A Gift of Quilts. Now I get people coming into the shop who want to see it in person because they have seen it in the book that was published containing all 500 quilts. When I mention the story about Senegal it always raises a smile with people. It is funny how things turn out; Serendipity at work! I have had another chance to give a gift to this troubled country and I never even knew it!

Making gifts - with pleasure

It has been busy at Bee Crafty lately, but there is always time to make a few gifts so I thought I would share a couple!

This is my gorgeous nephew James proudly modelling his new bed quilt which I made him for his 8th birthday on Saturday. He was dead chuffed and I am so pleased he loved it. The joy of panels is that they grow quite quickly and look amazing without too much effort! When this one arrived in the shop I had a home for it immediately!

This one is a birthday gift for my friend Sarah. She is a little older than James, but was equally delighted! As soon as I saw this fabric I knew it would look perfect in her living room.

I have a couple more commissions between now and Christmas to be cracking on with, so there is no danger of me getting bored ;)

Snow is an excuse to stay in and craft!

Not that I really need an excuse but things have been so busy recently that I leap at an opportunity to have a bit of a play. 

This is the result of today on the sofa in front of the telly instead of trawling around Tescos! It is one of my new beaded buttons that I have turned into a brooch for my coat! Beaded buttons are great for all sorts of things, and I will be filmed doing something in this vein over the next few weeks I thought I had better make up some examples! (details to follow when I know more...)

So a bit of snow and my coat is ready to be festooned with a bit of sparkle!

News flash - Cold stops play!

Well that is my excuse anyway. I came down with a stinking cold on Boxing Day and it is still lingering as a rather attractive rattling death cough! So all my plans of being busy and proactive in the New Year have been put on hold until this week! At last I took the studio out of moth balls and got to work on Monday.

My first task was to make a Valentines themed cushion that I am teaching as a "learn to sew" class on Saturday 11th of January.

I am pleased with the result - though Paul pointed out the buttons would make it uncomfortable to sleep on - I guess he is missing the point!! I think it is delightfully cheerful and look forward to teaching it!

I have also been teaching my beaded buttons this week, with the Crafty Mugwump taking part,  and the ladies did a brilliant job! This is the result at the end of the day.

 Linda has sent a picture of her finished button and now plans to make a seaside themed wall hanging to display it on! I am hoping she will send me a picture of that too!

Pam has shared a finished piece picture as well. As usual, her colour choices are stunning!

The ladies had a brilliant day and left with bags full of button blanks - so I hope to see lots more soon! They are on strict instructions to send me pictures because I am just too darn nosey lol!

So as the cold fades into the distance I am looking forward to a colourful and creative 2012. I hope you are too! x

Feels like Spring Time...

.. well not quite! It may be cold and gloomy outside, and I have to switch the lights on by 2pm but there can always be a little bit of spring in my studio. So as I was finding it a miserable the other night I decided to get creative and create my own bit of sunshine!

So some felt, scraps of fabric, a few buttons and some beads and the sun came out! The quilting was fun, but it would have been easier if I had bought home any of my feet when I brought home my sewing machine but alas... so this was quilted with a zipper foot! Who knew that was even possible?

I am still on the hunt for a bee button to put at the top, so I will be paying Etsy a visit, but apart from that it is all done!

It has proved so popular that I will be teaching it in the shop on 21st January next year and hope it makes some other people remember those spring days that seem so far away!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit!

Well it's not long now - and we are all gearing up for the onslaught! I am feeling a little festive now that I have finished my designs for the Christmas Beaded Baubles class.

I finished the black one last night whilst listening to an internet radio station that plays Christmas songs constantly, just to get me in the mood!

If you fancy coming along, just let Bee Crafty know and I will see you there!

Clearing out and clearing up!

If you are anything like me, you probably collect scraps of fabric like it is going out of fashion! Rather than throwing them out, I have started collecting them in boxes - all colour coordinated and organised. So now I have them, and the collection is growing, the next question is what do I do with them?

Well, the answer came to me last weekend - and here it is. A bed coverlet using scraps as small as 2.5 inches and I am thrilled. The ladies in the shop liked it so much that I will be teaching it next year as a 'stash-tastic' quilt.

I like it so much because when I look at it, I can see bits of every quilt and gift I have made over the last two years, as there is a part of all of them somewhere. It shows my own quilting history.

I hope everyone has as much fun making it as I did!

Busy Busy Busy!

Well I have been busy with work and life, but I have finally got around to making some bits and pieces. But before I share, here is a quick picture of myself, Julie & the fabulous Jennie Rayment who joined us in the shop on Friday.

She was brilliant! She said some lovely things about our little shop and enjoyed herself so much she is going to come back 3 times next year to teach some more yumminess! I really do have the best job in the world!

Well on my last post I teased you with a picture of a few bits of twisted bargello, but now we have some (almost) finished ones (just borders to go)! It took some doing but I eventually finished the twist part. I still have to choose a border but I am getting used to it before I steam into that decision! I was a bit worried that my usually bright colour palette would be too much this time... but I love it!

This one belongs to Barbara - though she blinked as I took the picture!

And this one is Jean's

Vicki had planned to finish hers too - but baby Logan arrived 3 weeks early and put paid to that!

Twisting....

I know that I haven't posted in a while, but we have been so busy in the shop that there just hasn't been time to make anything, let alone blog about it. But yesterday we had Jill Adamson in the shop teaching the second part of her bargello twist quilt course and I was lucky enough to take part (while poor Julie was left to man the shop! But don't worry, the tables will soon turn....)

We had lots of fun, lots of laughs and Anita didn't let us down with her cinnamon and pecan cake (yummy!). But there was lots of concentration today, as we had to start piecing our strips together and a bargello twist is quite a challenging pattern. However, once we got started it all became clear, and, apart from the occasional 'dammit' we all ran away with it! There were 7 of us today, and here are the fabulous results....

Mine is the one with the black twist (I just HAVE to be different!) They are all brilliant and I can't wait to see what they all look like when they are finished!

I was so inspired after finally getting a chance to get sewing that I carried on once I got home! It wont be finished by next weekend... but I am determined that it wont become another UFO!

All done

Just a quick post tonight as I am banjaxed after a long day followed by a visit to the cinema to catch the last installment of the Harry Potter story (such beautiful and atmospheric music!).

So my Gift of Quilts is finished, and hanging up in Bee Crafty until I post it off in a couple of weeks so at least I get to enjoy it for a while. It was great fun but I am glad it is all done! I already have the next quilt making a noise in my head so will be ready to get on with that soon. I always try to finish one before I start the next one!!!

Some help and a little excitement

I have finally got the binding stitched onto the outside of my quilt for the Gift of Quilts project for the Olympics (where 500 quilts are given out to all competing countries) so I thought I would post a quick pic... but someone had other ideas!

 I had to shoo her off so I could start on the finishing touches before the quilt goes off later this month. I am quite excited as all the quilts are going to be photographed and published in a commemorative book, as well as being displayed at the Stitch & Craft Show at Olympia ll, London, 15-18 March 2012. That is definitely a trip to London book!

Another item happened today when I bought this month's addition of the Embroiderers Guild Stitch magazine - one of the ladies who will be teaching in our shop has a project published! Kathleen Laurel Sage will be showing us all how to make fabulous jewellery and it is quite exciting to have a 'published' teacher pay us a visit! It's cool having a 'stitching celebrity' pay us a visit!

If anyone is interested in joining me on her class, she is teaching Machine Embroidered Jewellery at Bee Crafty on Saturday 5th November. These are the samples she sent, and I am really excited!