Little Birdy

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Weekends are for craft, and by the time I get to them I’m so tired all I want to do is something easy and small. So I printed some patterns and sketched out instructions from videos for a few small projects I wanted to try.

One was the Little Birdy Pincushion by Sharon Holland Designs. Once I’d printed it out and cut out the shapes, I went looking through my bundles of scrap fabric for combinations I liked. The body and tail of the first one is an old handmade hankie of Mum’s, the second uses dress fabric scraps she gave me.

I didn’t add the dried lentils, but they sit well enough if you give them a firm tap. They’re stuffed with chopped up scraps of fabric and batting. The eyes are french knots, but I think I might switch to a bead as it might be more easily seen.

The first one took me more than two hours. I started off hand sewing then realised that the seams would gape once it was stuffed, so I switched to machine sewing. The second one took a little bit over an hour.

I kinda want to make a flock of them, and maybe line them up along a shelf or branch.

The Cat Bag

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I bought this pattern and the materials for it at the Craft & Quilt Show. The cutest little Japanese-inspired cat bag caught my eye and I guessed it was a sample. So I took it to the woman working at the stall and said “I have to have this! What do I need?” and she furnished me with all the components.

Once at home, I decided it would be a palette refresher when I needed a break from my two long-term slow stitching projects: the skirt and the kawandi-inspired quilt. Last weekend I needed a quiet few days of craft after a busy week, and a small project seemed like the perfect project.

I’ve never paper piecing, and it was much more time-consuming than I’d expected. Though it was obvious it would be much faster sewn on the machine, I embraced the slow pace. It wasn’t finished until the following Tuesday night.

So cute. And quite impractical, really. I have no idea what I’ll do with it. But that isn’t stopping me wanting to make another one. There’s enough of the outer fabric left over, I just need some more iron-on felt and lining fabric.

Cutting Table

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Having swapped the drawing board for the Lotas loom, I’ve found the lack of a flat space in the craft room meant I suddenly wasn’t inclined to pick up a sewing project (aside from slow stitching, which I’m doing elsewhere). So I got thinking and found a solution:

The Lotas Loom can now become a table with the simple addition of a board resting on top. The board is a piece of plywood – the lightest material I could find that came in a large enough size. Cork tiles have been glued on the underside to protect the loom (recycling something I already had). My cutting board fits on top leaving a small area at once side that currently has melamine covered mdf on it, but I’m thinking I’ll replace with an ironing pad.

Early versions had fold-down legs that attached to the front beam and castle, raising the board above the beater. Then I put the beater in the front position and discovered it sat at pretty much the same level as the castle, so didn’t bother with the legs.

The removable castle shelf that Paul made now has hinges so its sides can fold away, making it easy to stow when I’m not using the loom.

When I first put the plywood in place to test out the idea, I found myself using the surface to sort scraps of fabric and lay out potential project materials. Of course, I got a nasty splinter under a fingernail because the surface was unfinished, but it did prove that a cutting table was all that was stopping me sewing. As soon as I had added the cork, drawing board and mdf the creative juices began flowing and I had a new project underway and had made several bundles of fabric for future ones.

Rainbow Cat Couch Quilt

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When I finally did some actual craft again after the big room reorganisation and craft downsize in May and June, it was to finish this quilt. I’ve waited this long to post about the quilt because it was a birthday present.

I’d ordered some multi-coloured gradient thread, but it took four months to arrive. I do wish online stores wouldn’t list items they don’t have in stock. Still, they were apologetic and kept me updated on the order progress throughout the long wait. At one point I gave up and decided to hand quilt. I gathered and bought some needles, thread and a frame, but I’m glad I never got around to it because the gradient thread is perfect.

I used white thread on the back.

The binding fabric is a piece I noticed in a scrap bin beside the counter at Spotlight while I was being served – one of those lucky fabric moments. I had barely enough, though, which is why the binding is so narrow. It was not easy to apply!

If you knew the recipient, you’d know a ridiculously bright, cosy rainbow cat quilt had to go to them. It’s always so nice when something you make chooses its owner!

A New Quilt Thing

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I decided earlier this year that I wasn’t going to start a new quilt until all the ones from the Summer of Quilts were finished. Well, I completed the last one in July so I was free to start something new. What I’d been most itching to try was a kawandi-inspired project.

The Kawandi approach appealed because I like repurposing fabric and doing running stitch. I already had a half dozen men’s shirts to find a use for, some yellow mercerised thrums that would make a nice contrast, and waaaaay more old sheets for testing sewing patterns than I need.

As it turned out, I also had a piece of leftover flannelette about the size I was thinking for the piece so I decided to use that as the battling/filler. From the old sheets I chose one I’d dyed with indigo ages ago for the backing, cut it 2 cm larger than the flannelette and pressed the excess in as the hem.

Then I started tearing the shirts into rectangles and sewing those down along the edge.

Once I’d made it around the edge of the whole piece, I tucked in the flannelette rectangle as I’d seen done in videos. This was really fiddly, and I can’t see much advantage in doing it in this order, so next time I’ll simply lay the flannelette on top of the backing before pressing in the hem. But at least doing it the fiddly way means the above photo shows the fabric on the underside.

I’m not including the little fabric tassels on the corners that traditional kawandi have because, well, I forgot to add them. Rather than pull the stitches out I decided to keep it simple. It’s a piece to learn with, not an attempt to get it ‘right’ first time.

Slow Stitch Skirt

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Having done two fairly random slow stitched pieces then turned them into useful objects, I was ready to make something more intentional. I had lots of ideas to choose from. What I settled on was a skirt with a slow stitched front. The base fabric will be black and the scraps sewed onto it will be colourful so the result looks a bit like stained glass. Because it’ll be washed in the machine, I’m folding in the edges of the scraps.

I didn’t want to wrangle a large piece of fabric so I’m doing it in strips to be sewn together later. The strips would be indifferent colours, with red at the bottom then purple, blue, aqua and green in turn to the waist.

My small stash of fabric scraps wasn’t going to accommodate this, so I began sourcing more. First from a friend, who supplied most of what I needed from her bountiful stash. Then by buying scrap packs at the Craft & Quilt Show, and at the Embroiderer’s Guild destash sale. I also ordered a random scrap bundle from a quilting shop but the colours were either too muted or not the hues I’m looking for.

I didn’t want the skirt to be as thick and poofy as a quilt so I’m using strips of leftover flannelette from making quilts instead of batting. For the thread I’m using up more mercerised cotton thrums, but where I don’t have the right colours I’m using perle cotton embroidery thread as well. I really like the soft shine of mercerised cotton, and enjoying stitching in saturated colour.

Making it Easier – July

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The last weeks of June and first of July were unusually cold for the time of year, and we spent them huddled inside. The last few days of the month were also pretty bracing.

During the month we had some better lights installed in the kitchen/dining room, which made it MUCH easier to see. I have to admit, I’m now moving to the kitchen table to work when the lights in the craft room aren’t good enough.

And on the craft front… After a brief flirtation with topstitching by hand I returned to the easier sewing by machine method. I held a Craftmas afternoon on the last weekend, and was so tired from the week before that I just sat and slow stitched because it was all my brain was capable of. In fact, slow stitching is the main craft I did in July. Once set up, I just take out the latest thing when I have the inclination, pick a thread colour and stitch, and get working.

Craft & Quilt Show

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It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a craft-themed show. I remember going to one decades ago that was enormous, with at least ten rows of stalls and a crush of shoppers in all of them. This one was much, much smaller. A few rows of stalls, a display area and that’s about it. And yet what was there was, at least initially, pretty crowded and the stalls were mostly relevant to my interests. (I say ‘mostly’ mainly because they had the usual filler stalls of products unrelated to craft who I suspect have a cheap “fill gaps at the last moment” arrangement with the event organiser.)

I bought some fabric and trim scrap packs and a few fat quarters, some sashiko books and project patterns and materials, and some erasable pens to try. The only items on my shopping list I didn’t find were sewing patterns. The last item was more of a task: to ask at the Jenome stand if there’s anything I can do to get my Juki cover stitcher machine working properly. A question I didn’t expect to get a specific answer for, but I hoped they’d recommend someone who could help – and they did.

Unfortuantely, I didn’t think to take photos until after all the fabric and tools were incorporated into my stash!

Cats in Squares Quilt

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This was the last quilt to be top-stitched and bound, and though it was small I struggled a bit with it. Mostly in deciding how I wanted to top-stitch it. First I tried hand quilting in white sewing thread, but I couldn’t see what I was doing. Also, I’d started slow-stitching by then and didn’t want a less interesting hand-stitching project taking up all my hand work time.

Then I sewed a wood-grain-like pattern using wavy lines and the rainbow thread. At first I tried treating the cat squares like knots to be avoided, but that looked terrible. Fortunately, I’d used a longer stitch length so it was easy to unpick the bits I didn’t like. I continued with just the wavy pattern. Then bound the edges and it was done.

With all the Summer of Quilts quilts done, I’m free to make another. But it won’t be flannelette. Kwandi, or something with sashiko panels, appeals. I’m heading for the Quilt and Craft fair soon so maybe it will inspire something. Or maybe I’ll sew more clothes and non-patchworky homewares. Or maybe I’ll be sucked into a completely different craft.

The End of the Warp

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Well, I didn’t get a full dishcloth out of the new supplemental warp. Turns out, the cardboard spacer on the base warp had slipped and made it look as though there was a lot more left to weave. But the slightly smaller dishcloth is still useable and it was interesting to try the tie-on warping method.

That just left sewing the hems, and then they were done.

I also sewed hems of a sample from when I was still working out the draft – a version that had the supplemental warp woven as part of the weft.

With all looms clear, I have a decision to make. Do I move the floor loom to the family room and keep the Jane loom set up on its stand in the textiles room? Or do I put away the Jane loom (to be my portable loom for lessons), move the floor loom into the textiles room in place of the table and put a removable table top on it?

There are pros and cons to both options. The removable table top idea might not work, but perhaps it’s worth a try.