Friday 17 March 2017

How much detail is too much?


When I catch up on my blog reading, I notice all the different styles of blog post there are. I'm aware of the ones that keep my attention, the ones where I only look at the lovely pictures, and the ones where I just have to read every word. Of course, it depends on a lot of factors, such as the ratio of words to pictures, the subject matter, the quality of photos etc. Despite noticing all of this, I am still none-the-wiser as to what that magic ingredient is.


This post is going to be about one thing only; My hexie quilt. I'm going to avoid doing my usual thing of adding too many subjects.

I must have started this quilt nearly 10 years ago, when I had the crazy idea to hand sew a large hexagon quilt. I tried to work out how many stitches I made but it was all too mind-boggling. To give you an idea, there are around 25-30 in each hexagon side seam.


The white cotton sheet that I dyed 2 shades of blue for this quilt was quite heavy, and hard on the fingers to sew, so I decided to machine quilt. And rather than wrangle with it by turning it around and around under the machine, I quilted it in straight lines across the middles of the flowers.


Because I didn't square off the corners by adding more hexies, the binding process was quite straightforward, with no tricky corners to negotiate.

I was going add more detail (and, in fact, I did add more) but blogger is playing up, and I managed to delete most of what I wrote, not once, not twice, but three times. So, ironically, considering my first paragraph, I am giving up now while the going is good.

Bye for now
Teresa x



Thursday 9 March 2017

Softies!


I've been wanting to give soft toy making a try for quite a while. So, it seemed appropriate (in accordance with my upcycling ethos) to try memory, or keepsake, bears. It wouldn't be viable to use recycled fabrics in general toy-making, due to the CE testing process that I would have to put them through, and keepsake items don't have to comply with those regulations.

Having not sewn any toys before, I headed to the charity shops to find some baby clothes that I could practice with, and came back with 3 items. I also bought safety eyes and stuffing (there are some things you can't compromise on!).


Armed with a free, downloaded pattern from Funky Friends Factory I set to work, and this is the result.


I learnt a lot from the process about how, in general, toys are put together, how to insert the eyes and whether or not to use interfacing.  I will do all those things differently next time. And I have the baby clothes from the charity shop ready and waiting. I want to try a different pattern next time, so I need to choose that, and get some different interfacing, first.

In the meantime, I'm still working on other projects in the background. This is a toddlers version of the Baa-ble hat I showed last time, that I had a request for. It turned out so cute - I love it!

And.............I've had it on my bucket list for so long, to make a pair of socks, so I'm happy to say that I have almost completed 1 sock! I'll cast on the second one as soon as it's finished so it doesn't get left on the Work-in-progress pile for months until I forget how I did it.

I've also been working on finishing a long-term WIP so will hopefully have something to show next time!

Bye for now
Teresa x