Posts Tagged patchwork
Altruistic Knitting and A New Project
Posted by tialys in Arts and Crafts on March 22, 2012
I wrote a post on here just before the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, on a fun book entitled ‘Knit Your Own Royal Wedding’ which, incidentally, I bought for £1 after all the hooha had died down as my own eccentric souvenir of the event.
Now, I can knit – quite well actually – but I seldom bother because after years of knitting everything from scarves to dresses, I realise that I don’t really like knitted items much so don’t wear them. All that expensive yarn, puzzling over complicated patterns and buying trendy bamboo needles in every size and I find that, as with lots of things in life, the journey is more fun than the getting there.
Perhaps it is for this same reason that the phantom knitter of North Yorkshire, known as the ‘Saltburn Yarnbomber’ has been knitting away like mad and then leaving the results of her (or his) labours in carefully chosen spots around the town at night. This knitter (or knitters) with a big sense of fun has left a set of knitted books outside the library, some woollen buns by the cake shop and teddy bears with miniature knitted sandwiches on a local picnic table.
Now, in a spectacular tour de force, the knitter has wound a 50 yard ‘scarf’ around the pier. The scarf has been adorned with figures to represent the 2012 London Olympics and includes skiers, rowers, runners. I particularly like these little synchronised swimmers.
Maybe next time I get the urge to wield a pair of knitting needles, I will do a bit of this ‘altruistic’ knitting and leave little knitted items around the rural French town near where I live. Somehow, I don’t think my efforts would be appreciated as this sort of thing seems so ‘British’ – it’s probably no coincidence it happened in a seaside town where people will actually wander along a pier in the midst of winter and sit in deckchairs in coats and scarves overlooking the sea.
This afternoon I’m off to my friend’s house where we are going to start a new project. A more ambitious and practical one this time. It is a sewing machine cover which I have lusted after for a while and, because I am making it as part of a communal project, it will force me to sit down and do it. This pattern is from a great book called ‘Born to Quilt’ by Véronique Requena. Gorgeous isn’t it? It’s a bit tricky but I’ll let you know how we get on.
Talking of projects – don’t forget to enter my giveaway for Scott which ends on Sunday 25th March.
Extreme Patchwork
Posted by tialys in Arts and Crafts on June 13, 2011
Well, I’ve done quite a lot of patchwork but I’ve never tackled anything like this.
How amazing is this!
……and you can be sure your neighbours won’t have one just the same. More striking furniture here.
Flower Fairy Box
Posted by tialys in Arts and Crafts on February 20, 2011
The latest box to be finished in my Patchwork group is Doreen’s which she made in a gorgeous flower fairy fabric for her little girl Enola.
Actually, Doreen wasn’t there when I showed the others in the group how to make the sewing boxes and she was shown by one of the other women who had learnt from me but I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the box and the lovely Enola.
I love that everybody is so chuffed with their boxes and nearly all of them want to make a second one.
Learning New Things
Posted by tialys in Arts and Crafts, Life in France on January 12, 2011
When I still lived in the U.K. I belonged to a patchwork group which met every week and a whole lot of chatting and oohing an aahing over fabric went on and, sometimes, we even used to make stuff. I have missed this camaraderie amongst the fat quarters so I have been meaning, for the past 6 years, to join a similar group here in France. Ironically, given my frequent tirades against La Poste, it was one of the post office clerks who discovered I was a fan and offered to take me along to a local group. Most of my quilting, I have to say, is done by machine as I have neither the patience nor the teeny tiny stitches to do it by hand but my main reasons for wanting to belong to a group are the opportunity to improve my ‘chatting’ skills in French and because it’s one of the only places still left to me where I can be one of the youngest there!
one of the younger group members
The level of skill of some of the women there is frightening. I am hoping to learn some new crafts.
Hardanger
Hardanger embroidery or ‘ardanger’ as we say in France (!) is a form of embroidery traditionally worked with white thread on white even-weave cloth, using both counted thread and drawn thread work techniques. As somebody who almost checks herself into the nearest institution when attempting cross stitch, I’m not sure this is going to be one for me.
Boutis
What I do fancy, however, although it looks incredibly fiddly and difficult, is boutis. A tradition in Southern France, the art of boutis was highly prized in the 17th and 18th centuries. Boutis is embroidery on two sewn cloths, giving printed or plain motifs a raised pattern, and filled inside with a layer of cotton. Ooer! Tiny, tiny stitches, fiddly patterns, plain white cloth – bring it on! Well, I’m going to give it a try anyway if only because it is traditional in this area and I feel obliged. Also, I need something to do ‘à la main’ whilst I am with the group so I might as well give it a go. It will not be anything as complicated as the above. Yvette (the head honcho of the group) gave me some patterns to trace. I did laugh. One of them is a big heart, adorned with flowers and there are two birds in the centre. As if! I am going to try a single heart! I’ll let you know how I get on.
On a Roll
Posted by tialys in Arts and Crafts on August 22, 2010
I don’t know whether you saw my post about planning a quilt for my daughter’s 18th birthday (a whole year away yet but it will go soon enough) here https://thetialys.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/planning-an-heirloom/ but I have promised myself to do a block a day and, that way, I should have the top pieced in around 3 months. I have made 9 blocks so far and I need 120.
A Beginning
Having bought a jelly roll – which is 42 x 2 1/2 inch strips, cut across the width of the fabric – without any clear idea of how I was going to piece the top of the quilt, I then decided to use the coordinating panel on the back, surrounded by one of the fabrics from the range and completely piece the top – thereby making the quilt completely reversible. I deicided to make blocks with a square of fabric surrounded by 4 different strips. So, of course, I needed to buy 2 charm packs and another jelly roll, which wasn’t easy as this range was (I think) last year’s so isn’t widely available. I probably won’t need that much but, better to have more than not enough and I can always make other things from any surplus.
I bought a book with quilt patterns using jelly rolls so now I’ve got another two which I may, or may not, start before I’ve finished Megan’s quilt. This is the reason my workroom is a bit of a mess . Too many projects on the go at once.
Gourmet Patchwork
Posted by tialys in Arts and Crafts on August 5, 2010
I’ve been trying to think of the best way to utilise the lovely fabrics that I bought to make my daughter’s quilt and, during my internet meanderings, I have discovered that there is now a veritable ‘menu’ of pre-cut fabrics to choose from.
I love the names and the way they are presented. Moda even has a ‘Candy Bar’ pack which comes wrapped like a bar of chocolate. Yum!
Clockwise from l to r, Candy Bar, Turnover, Layer Cake, Jelly Roll
Here is a guide for those of you who, like me, haven’t made a quilt since there were only fat quarters and charm packs.
A Layer Cake contains 40 or 42 10″ squares.
A Candy Bar contains four pacs of 40 2 1/2″ x 5″ strips of each fabric included in the fabric lines.
A Charm Pack contains at least one 5″ square of each fabric included in that fabric line.
Turnovers contains 80 triangles (40 squares). Join 2 triangles to make a 5″ half square triangle block.
A Jelly Roll contains 40 strips, 2 1/2″ x width of fabric.
A Honey Bun contains 40 strips, 1 1/2″ x width of fabric.
A Jelly Cake contains one Layer Cake AND one Jelly Roll!
A Charming Jelly Cake contains one Layer Cake, one Jelly Roll & one Charm Pack! A Dessert Roll contains 10 precut 5″ x WOF strips
What hope is there now for those of us who already have a fabric addiction? These people really know how to push our buttons. Have they no pity?
Tialys 