Finished projects

Two of my unfinished are now finished! I'm so pleased with the cushion. I used maroon moire for the back of the cushion and did a simple envelope flap for the opening.This is the four square pieces tea cosy except that I used one long piece the equivalent of the four squares, so there is only one join in the piece. Pretty simple to make and wouldn't take long. I spent easily as much time sewing on pink beads as I did the machine sewing, but I think it was worth it.

Another go at Chicken Scratch

I couldn't get anything to work on that multicoloured squared fabric I mentioned in the previous post, so I gave up on it. I worked on the 1/8" green gingham and this is how it turned out:

The weaving part in the daisies would have looked nice in yellow. The darker weaving is a sage green.

Definitely a day to stay inside

It's been snowing all day long. The roads are too slippery to venture out, so, hey, I'm gonna sew all day!

I've got three projects on the go and one rolling around gently in my mind! I'm still on the tea cosy merry-go-round, finishing up the second and third ones from four squares. Not quite true, the navy blue one with the cherry blossom flowers is made from one long rectangle. This one is not a crazy quilted one, so there are no pieces to join. I have had a bit of fun with this. I've sewn pink beads to the little sprays of flowers on the fabric. It looks quite nice. I also found the nicest little bobble for the top to pick it up with. It's about 1" dia., metal, cloisonne bought in the $1 store!The green cq tea cosy just needs it's hem taken up and a knob on the top.

And the cushion cover I'm making for my sister is just waiting to be moved to the sewing machine to sew it all together. The "percolating in my mind" project is wondering how to use this fabric in the chicken scratch project I'm taking part in. They are 3/8" squares.

Hello again!

That nasty cold that I mentioned on the January 12th post turned into a nastier pneumonia and I spent a week in hospital. Of course the first few days I wasn't even thinking of sewing, but by Wednesday I was giving my daughter a list of threads and supplies to bring in. I worked on the second CQ block of the green tea cosy. Here's some photos. I wish the colours would show truer.

Palestrina stitch using Sassa Lynne #5 perle is one of my favourites on this piece.Some swirls and a row of up and down buttonhole stitch using DMC #5 variegated. CED 18th to 25th January with a couple of "sick days" off.

Stitch Explorer 2009 - Chicken Scratch - added to Jan 17.

SharonB's choice for the first stitch is Chicken scratch. This is good! I'd been fooling around with it in December and found it so interesting. It's great to have the push to try more. First is my sampler from the end of December. I was experimenting to find out which attempt would have the most impact. I was making a dotee doll. I used white, pink and dark pink threads. I also tested leaving either the white square open, or the darker pink square. I liked the effect of the white square open with the dark pink thread (top right), the pink square open with the white thread (middle of middle row), and the white square open with the white thread (bottom middle), this is the combination I chose. The others blended into the fabric I thought. These are what happened last night. I marked out 1/4" squares and used #5 perle for the stars and #12 for the circles.The woven bit was copied from one of the samples suggested by Sharon. I would like to try more of this weaving. The right hand block below I used 4mm silk ribbon and a few strands of silver for the weaving. I added this photo Jan 17 because it's brighter than the one below it.This piece of gingham has 1/8" squares. The cross stitch is in #12 perle and the weaving #5 with a tiny seed stitch in the middle. This is called diagonal laid filling in my book and looked good in the frame when I'd stitched it, but it collapsed without the hoop. The part I anchored down looks OK, but it didn't have the 3D effect anymore. I think I've made a reasonable start, and any more that I do, I'll add to this post. These photos are all on Flickr where you can see them enlarged. On here I cannot make that happen. On Saturday, 17th Jan, I've added this new bit of stitching. The fabric was marked in 1/4" squares. In every other square I made a cross with cream thread to match the fabric colour. Then I wove four different shades of #5 DMC blue perle. It measures 3" x 2". "Creative Every Day" for Jan 15, 16 & 17.

On the tea cosy road again

I had so many nice comments from my Seniors group on Tuesday about the maroon tea cosy, I'm making another. The maroon one used 8" blocks, this new green one will have 9" to 10" blocks to fit a larger tea pot. Here's it so far. This section is my favourite. I've used Sassa Lynne Summer Forest #5 Perle. I love this thread.

• Note: I honestly don't know the secret of how to post pictures that enlarge with a click of the mouse. Some of mine do, and some don't. Anyone know the answer? I also have my pictures on flickr where you can enlarge.
• Creative Every Day contribution for 14th Jan.

SharonB's New Challenge for 2009

I keep checking the date to make sure that I haven't missed the 15th! SharonB's new challenge begins on Thursday the 15th. It's called Stitch Explorer. This is how she describes it on her blog, Pintangle.

• "On the 15th of each month I will post details of of either a slightly unusual or lesser known stitch, or a style of embroidery. Please note I will be looking at embroidery styles as well as stitches. Sometimes it will be both. Sometimes it will be one or the other.
• Looking at how a stitch is constructed and adapting that makes for some interesting discoveries. The same holds true when we look at different embroidery styles. Looking at how and why a style might be worked in a particular manner and investigating that, makes many styles more versatile than people realise.
• Each month I will provide readers with enough information to enable them to explore, investigate and or adapt the stitch or style. Readers can use the challenge stitch or style on any project they choose."
• To find out all about the new 2009 challenge, check out SharonB's blog, Pintangle. You'll find a link on the right.

To prepare for this challenge I made a section of the sampler that I will use for the various stitches. This is my "Creative Every Day" piece for today.

Turkey Soup

Because mum and I are both suffering from the nastiest of cold and cough I fished around in my freezer and brought out all the containers of turkey and chicken stock. In all I think there was ten cups. Most of it was from the Christmas turkey my daughter Heather made. It was marinated with Dijon mustard, lemon juice and soy sauce. Inside the turkey was herbs and the lemon peel. The whole carcass went in the stock pot and you can imagine the tasty result. And in turn, imagine the delicious soup with onions, carrots, celery, potatoes and thin noodles. It's been very comforting and is my "Creative Every Day" for the 12th January.

East End Cake Decorators - December Workshop

At December's workshop there were 12 members and guests present. Lyne Coderre led the Graham Wafer House workshop. Here are some of the little houses under construction: Glenys working on her house.

Diane K. concentrating on keeping the sides upright Glenys with her finished house.Sweety concentrating:Sweety's finished houseDavid's sleigh, house and outhouse!The sample house Sugar Cookie House Demo Jean Skinner demonstrating a house using social tea cookies or Nice (Peak Frean’s) cookies. Similar but with the scalloped edge. Graham Wafer Sleigh Demo We gathered around Glenys Davies for her to show us how to assemble and decorate a sleigh. She distributed pre-cut parts for the sleighs and we went to work. This is the sample sleigh. Santa Faces Demo Glenys demonstrated how to make Santa faces using colour flow and royal icing. They are great to make ahead of time and stick onto gingerbread men. NEXT MEETING Sunday, January 18, 2009. St. Margaret’s-in-the-Pines church. This photo below shows the group's work. Each person was able to build and decorate the prettiest little Alpine house and a sleigh to take home. Lyne and Diane K had a lovely surprise for everyone, they had made enough cold porcelain angels for everyone to take one home. (It was suggested that they do a workshop on making them, probably in October 2009. They agreed. ) I couldn't find a photo of our President Lynn working on the little Alpine house, so I've chosen one from the cookie decorating event in November. She's working with Sweety.

Next Meeting: Sunday, January 18th, 2pm to 4pm at St. Margaret's in the Pines Church.

• David from Scoop 'n Weigh will be your instructor at the next EECD meeting on Sunday, January 18th, from 2pm to 4pm at St. Margaret's in the Pines. We will be making two small boxes from graham crackers, and heart shaped chocolates with caramel filling to go into the boxes.. What you need to bring:
• 2 decorating bags and couplers
• Tip #3 or #4
• 1 cup of red royal icing. This will be used to "glue" to boxes together and to decorate the boxes.
• Two 500 gram empty containers like margarine or yogurt to take your boxes home.
• Serrated edge knife and board to cut the graham crackers
• Spoon
• offset spatula
• Toothpick
• damp cloth

There will be a $2.00 charge for materials - You could bring, if you wish, another colour of royal icing for decorating such as pink. Your choice.

Tea Cosy from four square blocks

I saw a neat tea cosy this past weekend. It was just four 8" square blocks. They fit together this way: Picture the four squares, each piece folded in half vertically, with the right sides together. Now, still folded, pick up two squares and put two wrong sides together and sew up the long side. Still folded, sew together the two top half pieces that have their wrong sides facing each other. The top sewing should only reach the middle of the block. Repeat with the other two blocks. Today I prepared two CQ blocks, 8" square and will embroider these. The other two squares will be plain. Since I posted this yesterday, I've been thinking. If you just wanted to make a very quick tea cosy, then instead of having four pieces that you join together, start off with the equivalent of that, 8" x 32". Join to make a circle, fold in half and mark the folds, fold in half the other way and mark the folds. Half way between the marked folds becomes the centre and should be tacked together. Then sew the four top edges together.

Tea Cosy from four square blocks - continued

I'm sick with a nasty cold and sore throat, but when I'm on a roll with something, I have to keep going! I chose a maroon velvet for the two other squares and joined them together. Next, I cut and pinned a piece of thin batting to the four blocks.I joined the four blocks into a circle.I cut a piece of lining and put right sides of the lining and squares together and sewed around the top to hold everything together. Turn inside out, mark the middle of each block across the top. Overstitch from the outside in (from where the CQ block and the velvet block are stitched together) to the middle mark. Repeat three more times. I used a maroon variegated #5 perle because the thread needs to be pulled tight to bring the pieces together. Catch the outsides with your big needle so that your lining doesn't show. And it looks like this. I still have to finish the bottom edge and find a knob of sorts for the top centre.

Tea Cosy from four square blocks - finished!

I chose some heavy taffeta like fabric for the bottom trim, machine stitched it on the right side and hem stitched inside. I found a couple of buttons and beads for the knob on top.

Here's my teapot, a bit on the small side, but the handle is quite big. However, it fits really well.

This is a larger tea pot that the one above. I tried the cosy on it and with the spout and handle in the pointed areas, it fitted quite well too. I would suggest that a 9" or 10" square would work better for this size of teapot.I tried the cosy on it with the spout and handle in the pointed areas, it fitted quite well. I would suggest that a 9" or 10" square would work better for this size of tea pot.

Sandi's Fairy block RR

I'm the last one to work on Sandi's Fairy Block. I've done my job and now the block is heading home. Here's a picture of the finished block and my contribution.

I used a lilac/violet variegated perle #5 for this row of chevron and added beads to match the colour change in the thread.A row of up and down buttonhole with a bullion inbetween.A row of scalloped chain stitch with some straight stitches and beads.I added the "pea pods" to the rick rack.This was a large empty turquoise metallic space which I knew was my job to fill! I pondered a long time over it and finally added a piece of tatting in the "sky", a willow tree and some flowers and fairies. Around most of the edge of this block I did a meandering line of various beads. On my Angel block in this RR, Cathy added a bead chain which I loved. This was a great Round Robin and I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Can't wait for another one! This will count for Jan. 5 and 6 Creative Every Day project.