Gone To Earth

It ' s Friday.. with a giveaway

This little beech tree in the corner of the garden is doing it's best with autumn colour now...

The squashes have been harvested....

I'm so proud of those butternuts ....

The leaves are definately falling... and burying the garden... and the chickens and anything else that stands still for long.

Something else which is burying me at the moment are the number of pieces of fabric that get left at the ends of bolts that aren't exactly any particular size and I've loads of them....loads and loads.

So, time to for a sort out and I thought I'd have a giveaway on my blog every Friday until Christmas. Sometimes, it'll be a set of fat quarters (because I've some new fabriccy news to share next week), sometimes it'll be a 'large-ish' collection of fabric remnants. It'll include the cuts that get left at the end of bolts, so 6 inches or so wide cut across the width of the bolts, sometimes there will also be fat eighths and fat quarters. So, quite a lucky-dip, fabric in a mixture of sizes and from a mixture of designers. I'll also include some useful solids...

This collection includes some Heather Bailey Pop Garden and Bijoux fabrics, some Amy Butler Midwest Modern, some Lotus and Belle fabrics, spiced up with a little of Amy's home dec fabric. Plus, there are some pretty Moda fabrics, which I wish didn't disappear so quickly and some glorious Anna Maria Horner Garden Party fabrics. (You can click on the pictures for a closer look.) Useful bits and pieces for those little projects and useful colours and designs for applique. Some of these fabrics are current designs, some have now been discontinued and others have been discontinued and are about to make a comback due to crafters demands. (Being re-printed as we speak...)

If you wish to join in then please just leave a comment on this post and I'll announce the winner next Friday when I'll post the next giveaway.

Some free and easy stitching

 acquired this last week, which has been a lovely diversion from all the sick people around me. Colds and flu and it's only October whatever will the winter bring !! (I have a terrible book habit.)

I've loved Poppy's work for a long time, you can see some of her bags, coffee cosies, egg cosies and cushions here. (She makes tea and coffee cosies for Claridges Hotel you know!)

I'm completely guilty of dragging protesting children into shops to admire her bags. Now they're older they more often stand outside and wait, pulling faces of desperation at me through the window! I just love that 'folky' charming style she has, that looks so simple and yet you just know that it isn't. I love the way she signs her work too. as any artist would. A stroke of genius!

The book is about the stitching techniques (by sewing machine)... feed dogs down, darning foot or no darning foot (depends on how brave you are) and off you go. She talks about suitable fabrics to use, those which help create more texture in your work, the role played by the frayed edges of the applique in the 'look' of final project.

Poppy also talks bout threads and mixing bobbin colours and top thread colours to achieve yet more effects as you stitch in this free and easy way. There's loads of information about finishing off your work, layering fabrics, stitching, drawing and shading plus some projects to try. I think it's one of those books that reveals more secrets as you begin to experiment and understand a little more of what she's saying and why it's important.

There are a few stitching projects in the book; a greetings card, book cover, wall tidy, egg cosies bag, clutch type purse, apron and headband, picnic blanket, doorstop, coffee pot cosy, cushion covers and curtains. All made completely stylish and charming with the stitching.

As the 'girls' are very busy laying eggs I thought I would start with an egg cosy....

The patterns are included at the back of the book but they're the kind you either photocopy and enlarge (sometimes) or trace in some way. Templates for the applique motifs are included too.

I followed the egg cosy pattern almost slavishly, but I think if you really want to develop a skill at something 'copying' a master isn't a bad place to begin. Artists do that don't they when they study the 'greats', copy in order to understand.

O.K. back to reality and my little egg cosy. I hooped up the fabric in my tiniest hoop.

My sewing machine paniced and demanded oil before it would allow me to go any further. But once that was done, I lowered the feed dogs, added the darning foot and sewed in black and pink... felt like a bit of a rebel...

My finished egg cosy. Simple but charming...

Pink background fabric with a little polka dot heart in a cranberry red- a sugary sweet colour combination and I used a red 'stripy' fabric for the loop and the lining.

My big complaint is that the scribbly freestyle stitching was over too quickly. So, I'm going to attempt a 'free and easy' stitched cushion cover next with a few more motifs or maybe a tea cosy.

Distractions....

This week has been full of distractions. Some good some bad, some extremely frustrating and connected to the 'dark side' of trying to build/develop an internet business. On the positive side though I've been getting distracted by all the lovely bloglines that I need to catch up on, by the glorious autumn sunshine outside and by bright and beautiful fabrics....Today isn't going well in terms of 'getting things done'.

Remember this bag?

Sometimes it seems so simple.

You draw a pattern out and off you go.... but then you decide it'd be nice to share and you have to find way of translating you're wonderous artwork into something electronic that can be printed off and used. A doddle I thought....

The design is already worked out, I know the measurements the basic shape, seam allowances... shouldn't take any time at all. mmmmmm! Confounded by software.

It's taking me an age to get to grips with the software that's supposed to enable me to create a printable pattern and I don't think it's because the software is particularly complicated. I think it's more that I'm not that familiar with concepts of canvases and then layers. I got to a point where I wanted to print it out because it might be nice if I tested it.... just to check... before I unleashed it on an unsuspecting world. Ooooo! or should it be 'Arhhhhhgh!' (more dramtic emphasis in an Argh.) there's nothing to print.... just blank pages! Why?

I won't describe the agony involved in drawing that simple curve...

Where's the masterpiece I can see just in front of my eyes? Ah, yes, well you're trying to print out the 'Master' canvas and the little canvas you want to print is buried more deeply than that....!

You're next test of complete incompetance is it to see if you can retireive it... Hmmmmmph!

o.k. that hurdle overcome... Now I need to mark in the darts that give it, it's shape and move on.

At least now I can start thinking about which fabric to use .... I'm considering using Heather Bailey's Pop Garden and Bijoux fabrics ... because I fancy something bright and cheerful. Just because the days are growing noticeably shorter doesn't mean that everything else has to suddenly get dark and sombre too does it?

I was thinking about doing something interesting with that big bold stripe as the top band and the Daisy as the main body of the bag...

... or there's these fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's 'Good Folks'....

...It's a happy combination but maybe not right for such a little bag...

and I'm looking at these two fabrics...

I love the deep turquoise blue of that Mingling - reminds me of the sea off of the Hebrides. Yes I know that sounds unlikely but really even when the temperatures have been enough to freeze your bits off, the colour of the sea in the sunshine has been extraordinary. Just that colour of blue. (Deep, deep Sigh!)

I then got distracted by this fabric for a while... for quite a while actually...

... this is Honeycomb with a plain burgundy fabric. The 'struts' inbetween the honeycombs are brown so I tried this one next....

... I like this mix but it maybe just a bit too much for the bag.

So, thinking about the brown I then put this fabric, Park Fountains in Brown, alongside, just to see what that looked like. It picked the brown up really well and the yellow ... but thinking about what I wanted to use it for it didn't quite work.

I then tried out a fuschia fabric, one of Amy's quilting solids....

... perhaps the pink might work? It might be a bit too pink and sugary sweet looking. It would let me share/use a new trick I've learned using fabric cover buttons, any button would do really... I'm excited about trying that out...

So, after all of that fabric overload (can't happen can it?) HELP! Do you like any of those combinations? Do you think they'd work in the bag? You know the more I think about it the more I think that maybe using just one fabric on it's own may be enough with perhaps something 'contrasty' for the lining..... Back to the drawing board I think....

Begging for Sewing Attention...

At least I think it does....

This fabric, Paisley in Earth from Valori Wells' Del Hi collection ( Link) only arrived in the shop this week and I love it. I've been cutting fat quarters of it and sending it off on it's way but what has really got my 'sewing fingers' itching is that when you look at it, really look at it, what do you see?

(It's quite a large patterned fabric....the top photograph is truer to the colour - it's a bit dark here for me today to get a good 'colour' representation of the fabric.)

What I see is a piece of gorgeous fabric in a warm tan, with a design printed on it that just begs for attention. It says 'embroider me ......' in a very loud voice....

I see a piece of fabric that would look fantastic, filled in with soft colour, painted or stitched, or painted, stitched and beaded. I can imagine it as a Clutch Bag made special for evening outings or as a skirt with a stitched and beaded lower hemline... In fact a piece of fabric full of possibilities.

I couldn't keep my hands off it any longer. So, I've 'hooped' a piece just to see what I can do with it... I haven't embroidered anything much for a while... but with the longer darker evenings it seems like a good thing to be doing. Plus, it'll be a good excuse to learn a few new stitches... Anyone cruel enough to challenge me to a French Knot to fill in those 'berry' type shapes?

I find stitching like this completely absorbing, even though I've a great deal to learn .... I enjoyed the time spent picking out this pattern and the thread adds a nice texure to it. The thread colours I've used are based on the colours I can see in the garden just now. I'm sure the natural world has more skill in mixing and matching colour than I do. I'll show you how it ends up and what it ends up as when I'm finished. It may take a while!

Have a good weekend.

A little bag.... having a bit of a name crisis

...the fabric is Tapestry from Valori Wells' Del Hi fabric collection... I'm waiting for a few more fabrics from that range to arrive....

I've called it the Drop-in Bag because you can drop in your keys, you credit/store cards, your shopping list (Does anyone actually write those and remember to take them with them?), drop into town, and drop in for a coffee whilst you're there. Dear daughter however is adamant that it should be called the 'Purdy'! (Perhaps I should spell it 'Perdie' as she says it's short for Perdita.) I wonder which one of us will win. Only time will tell.

I love the soft shape of the Drop-In/Purdy. It's not a large bag, just a useful size to pop things into and go, whether it's into town or hurrying off to pick the children up from school on time. It's got a zipped pocket for keeping things securely tucked away from unwanted, prying hands and a slip pocket behind that, making it quite an organised little bag. There's simply nowhere for anything to hide!

..the lining is a pretty polka dot from the Crazy Eight range by Sandy Gervaise in a gorgeous 'berry' red.

As it's a bit of a prototype I took it out with me on Saturday, just to see if it works 'practically'. So, now I have a couple of ideas for modifications. I think the interlining needs modifying a little. I used Vilene H630, fusible fleece which is quite a low loft fleece which worked really well with the gathering of the fabric onto the top band because it didn't give too much bulk. I may however, achieve a better effect if I use the H630 and a medium weight sew-in. This should give it just a little more structure but not interfere with the softness of the gathers. I'll have to see what the next version turns out like.

The pockets you ask? They're a bit of a success story. I'm really pleased with the pockets. No more will the children manage to up-end my bag as they get into the car at the end of the school day and manage to tip everything everywhere. So, they're definately staying as a feature in the next version. The handle could probably do being a little longer, as I like to carry bags on my shoulder and it wasn't quite long enough to be comfortable. Otherwise, with a few embellishments I'm happy with it. What do you think?