Well the urge has hit me again. I rummaged in my bag of 'things' to find something. The choice was hampered by a) capability, and b) mmmm what do I fancy doing?
I found a piece I had started months ago. My grandmother had given me a load of old linens, and I liked a plain white traycloth. It was made up from linen squares all crocheted together. I took it all apart and took the crochet out, and added my own squares too. Basically I wanted to try a bit of handsewn patchwork since a neighbouring lady had shown me how to do it. The linen squares were fine as they were as they had the edges all sewn, but my coloured squares needed paper templates, pinning and tacking etc. The multicoloured floral is from a shirt (Boden I think)which I thrifted nearly 2 years ago, and even put on this blog. The red squares came from ebay almost as long ago.
The whole thing was a bit daunting as I discovered that the linen squares were not all the same size, whilst my squares were, so I had to just compensate with my linen squares, and turn them around each time to find what fitted best. I enjoyed doing the tiny stitches, it was so therapeutic.
You can see what look like pinholes on the white squares. This is where the crochet type joining was done.
I now have my 'piece' finished and have to iron it and decide what to do with it. My first thought is to back it with something old and give it to one of my girls as a doll blanket (how Caroline Zoobish of me!). Or it could be made into a cushion cover. Please tell me if you have any suggestions.
Next I have a tea-cosy urge. I found a great Boden shirt in a charity shop here the other day (somebody in Omagh is throwing out their Boden shirts and I am liking it a lot). It's hanging drying here; still thinking it's a shirt. Little does it know I can see it lining a fab tea cosy.
I have also been trying to felt a few woolly jumpers to make a patchwork blanket.
Or something.
It's very busy here. We now have windows and insulation in our house. Ceilings are going up and rooms are being plastered. We are choosing doors, tiles, paint colours and bathrooms. I am hoping I can source material for curtains at a good price. I will be able to reuse a good bit but I want a bit of new stuff too. Does anyone know where is good for a bit of floral fabric? Obviously I know Cath Kidston, Laura Ashley, but if I could get some more recommendations. I am hoping to get some from Vanessa Arbuthnott. There's a nice red and white fabric I love.
We really needed (read...we didn't need this at all) one of our dogs to have pups, but she has. Six cute sheepdog puppies. So that's 11 dogs now! All sheep dogs, my husband has an addiction. We are 3 miles from the farm at the moment so it's not ideal.We had one at our house overnight as it was a bit poorly. He rallied for one day but alas this morning he had gone to the big sheepdog trial in the sky. I took these pictures the other night when we were nursing him.
Hence we had a 'natural selection' talk with the 3 distraught kids this evening.
And a visit to the farm to see the remaining five puppies. It is sad, but part of the farming life.
How are your weeks going? Any crafting going on? I think people don't blog about their crafts as much at this time of year as they are working on secret Christmas presents. I'd love to know what people are working on.
Two suggestions for backing your quilt top (which is very pretty!) First, you could use fleece, which is soft and cuddly and easy to use, or second, you could layer it with wadding and flannelette sheet - also cuddly, but a little more work!!
Posted by: Anne Donald | November 26, 2009 at 06:35 PM