ALAW - week 20 and 21

Here are weeks 20 and 21 of the stitched flag letters for A Letter A Week.

You can read about the theme here.

Chemo Scarf made from a fat quarter

I thought I would do a little tutorial on how I did the chemo scarves. These are from a fat quarter, which leaves a very small tie at the neckline. The result of the tutorial is for a pre-adjusted scarf that can just be slipped on. You can adjust the directions to suit you.
Cut wadding strip (from offcuts of quilt wadding). approximately 15-16in x 2 1/5in.

1. Take one fat quarter or cut a square from a length of fabric. Mine were approximately 20in square - a fat quarter metre. Square off the fabric - all the sides should be equal.
Fold from opposite corners to make a triangle. Press fold.

2. Fold the fabric in half on the folded edge and press a little crease to mark the centre.

3. Turn the fabric with right sides together. Fold the wadding strip in half and place the fold of the wadding against the centre crease mark.

4. Open wadding and pin in place through top layer only. Open fabric and tack stitch into place. (not pictured)

5. Fold the fabric again with right sides together. Stitch a 1/4in (or 1/2cm) seam along raw edges, leaving an opening on one side at least 4 or 5in unstitched (so you can turn it right side out.) Trim corners and point.

6. Turn the scarf right side out through the opening and poke the corners and point of triangle out.

Press, making sure the edges of the opening are turned in by the depth of the seam allowance.

Adjust the wadding so it is flat. Stitch lengthways up and down and along the short ends to hold it in place. (Scroll down to the bottom photo to see what it will look like. This keeps it from shifting around when it is washed.) When you have started sewing, remove the tacking from step 4 before you get to the point where you stitch over it.

I just feel the position of the wadding through the fabric and stitch it, but you can use your favourite marking method to make sure you know the placement.


7. Put it on your head and tie the ends at the neck. The ends will be very short, so just the first step of tying. Hold onto that and slip off - pin the knot tie so it won't shift. If you have a wig stand or hat stand, put the scarf onto it.
Adjust the scarf by tucking the point in behind the knot and tucking the sides in. Pin the point to the knot.

(If you are making the scarf from a larger square of fabric, you may be able to make a larger secure knot that you don't have to stitch in place.)

8. Use a small button and stitch through all layers. This will hold the knot and the scarf in place so it can be slipped on easily.

9. Put it back on your head and adjust the sides the way you like them. Different fabrics will behave differently, so if you didn't use quilting cotton, the fabric will drape more. It also depends on how far forward you want to wear the scarf. If the person you are making for has lost their hair, they may want it further forward than someone who has a little hair to show at the front.

Hope you find this useful. If you have a question, just ask in the comments.
As I said, you can adjust the steps if you find a way that suits you better.

Lady Sew-Forth - quilting

I got the quilting done on Lady Sew-Forth.

I quilted various sewing things into the borders. Reels of thread, buttons and pin cushions.

Now I am doing the binding. I am trying a mitred corner, but done with binding strips. I can do continuous binding, but have not been able to work out a way to do mitred corners when you are doing strips on the side. Or, I should say, I have worked out a way, but am not happy with it.

I found this tutorial, which seems to sound reasonable. But I found working with navy binding and navy thread this evening was far too hard to see, even with an extra light behind and a small LED light in front. I think I got there in the end on one corner. It took me a while to work out what I was actually trying to do. I am going to wait til tomorrow to do the others. Maybe they will go together better now that I understand what the fabric is doing and when I can see what I am doing!

distraught

So, this morning I woke to great noises behind the back fence.
and then went through a rather fraught day watching the decimation of 'my' beloved trees.

Well, some were drastically trimmed, but the one I have been watching for years with the 3 large mistletoe balls and the recently built magpie nest...gone.

At lunchtime - I couldn't bring myself to watch when they were chopping the rest. I was trying to do my fabric bead - I think it turned out rather porcupine-y as a result.

The cherry and red maple were given a haircut so as to stop roof damage - to houses...which I can understand. But still, I was still full of anxiety that they would take them too.

I think the man who lives next to the red maple wants it taken out. If they do, please plant something else for the birds to avoid the cats!

See how big the trunk was?

I know, it was just a tree.

But it was special.

 

 

"And the Bead Goes On..." 13-19 May

2013 - Week 20 Daily Beads

no.133


no.134


no.135


Fabric colour change
no.136


no.137


edit: oops, I thought I posted these. I sorted them in PSP, but must have got distracted.
So, here are 138 and 139

no.138


no.139

Something on Saturday

The other week when we had a few nice days, we had a wonderful sunset reflecting from the clouds.
I found a 'sunset' setting on my camera which meant the photos came out just right!

I even managed to zoom for a 'close-up'.
Sigh, Awesome.

Lady Sew-Forth WIP

Seeing that I have been on a roll with making and finishing things... but with this week being full of bits and pieces of life...


Cast your mind back to November 2008 and Lady Sew-Forth. I made her as an exercise in proportion for one of the Fast Friday challenges. I was thinking at the time about The Bayeux Tapestry and realised that style was really playing with proportion - a king holding a church in his hand, and so on. So, decided to do it in the style of the Tapestry, incorporating bits and pieces important to me...in fact I turned the image of one of those kings in that embroidery into a version of me. Follow the link above to read about my ideas in making it.

Well she was in the pile with the not-finished Swamp Dragon...
(Looking back now, I realise that is just when my sister got sick, I went to America and while I was there, she died. So, I will let myself off for not finishing.)

anyhow... since I have decided to send the Swamp Dragon for the next Stretching Art exhibition which is called "Hi, It's Me!" (not that I am a Swamp Dragon! But that I love dragons and making them and telling their stories.) Sometimes they have a hard time getting enough work to do a good exhibition. So, I thought I should also do one that is more of an obvious self-portrait... and so, why not try to finish Lady Sew-Forth off.

So, I am. I have gone into some of the colouring of the image a bit more with my Triplus Fineliner pens. and now I am adding a border. (Who, me? This is like real quilting!) But this border is because the work as it was really needed a surround and also it is only around 15in. and the smallest the Stretching Art Work can be is 18".

So, here is a border added. Now this weekend, I will add wadding behind the whole thing (there is a thin layer behind the piece as is, but that will help it stand out.) and backing and then work on the quilting.

and next week which is not so full of life I will work on some ideas for work that might go to Festival of Quilts.

p.s. (are you tired of parenthesis yet?) HaHa!

SAQA 12x12 donation - 'Ramshackle'

The other day I showed a glimpse of something I was really pleased with. I thought I might finish it by Friday. But I got it all sorted today!
So tomorrow it will go off in the post for the SAQA Auction to be held later in the year.

Anyway, here is 'Ramshackle' completed.

The thing that really pleases me about this is that it is from some sketches I started developing a few years ago. As I hinted, some of the techniques I have been discovering with the last few pieces I have been working on became just the thing to depict these images.

And the plus side is that it was not very complicated! So, now I have some ideas on how to work some of the other sketches in this style.

I am going to link this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. You can go over and check out what some of the others are doing.

bits and pieces and fabric stash busting

Today a Certain Lad went off on an Adventure for a few months to help my parents with some jobs they need help with...roof fixing, wood chopping, and garden digging, etc.

Then, being of a tired mind after all the getting ready and away, I made a postcard for my other family member. But, sent it off without getting a photograph. sigh   But it uses the same colour and motifs as in the teaser project I posted yesterday.

And then I washed some of the random things you find lurking under and in piles in a lad's bedroom and took a nap.

And before this turns into a twitter type saga...I did something Sewing related besides my fabric bead for the day.
I am managing the Fabric Stash contest on Pattern Review. It is running through June and July. So, I needed to get it set up today. If you don't know Pattern Review, you can check it out here.

I usually hang out on the Contest Review part of the board. Actually, I have a link set up to go straight there! The rules of the contest can be found on the thread called Fabric Stash Contest 2013 - Official Discussion . It is all about sewing as much of your stash as you can. and even if you don't have a top score, all the yardage sewn by the contestants are tallied together and can reach awesome amounts! You don't have to pay to be a member and the rules have recently changed so that if you sign up as a member before a contest starts, you can begin participating in a contest straight away.

But then again, if you aren't fussed with contests, you could get involved with sewing up some of your stash as a bit of a follow along on your own. As manager I can't take part, but I can sew along. So I hope to do some more of the skirts and maybe some shorts for the over 10 year old children where my friend works in Ethiopia. and I hope to make some more of the chemo scarves.

Oh, you need a photo?
here are the fabrics from my stash for the chemo scarves!

And now off to bed.

random photos for posting a review on Pattern Review.

selecting the URL of a photo

where to put the URL