Dad's quilt - sort of a tutorial (1)

Cut a lot of squares in your favorite fabric.
How many?
Depends on the size of the squares and how big you want the quilt. (Not much help here HAHA!)
You can figure it out - I'm sure of that.




Lots of yummi fabric !!!!


No. You better go to this blog first and watch a nice tutorial with beautiful photos, that will make your mouth water. Now you know much more about this quilt and why I can't help you with the amount of squares:-)

So - you cut a lot of squares.
Then you cut a lot of batting squares... but only half the amount of the fabric squares and a tiny bit bigger..

Then you put two fabric squares on top of one batting square and line them up. Make sure that the top fabric square is face down and the other in the middle is face up. My plaids are the same on both sides of the fabric, so no need to pay attention to that.




Line the two fabric squares up right on top of each other. My batting squares are a tiny bit bigger cut.


Make a lot and stack them to make them look like a mountain;-)



Pretend it is Killimanjaro - with snow! (it is important to excercise your imagination!!)


Sew each little package together from the fabric side (batting down towards the sewing machine) and leave a gap in the middle of one side. This way you can turn it inside out and cut away the corners to make them nice and pointy.

When the square is turned inside out - fold the seam allowances in and close the gap with a narrow stitch....

... it looks like this. Use a better color thread than I did. I s*uck at picking rigth color thread:-)



Narrow stitch to close the gap



And now you are tired.
You have sewn all day and need a break and a treat.

So go get dressed, put on some lipstick, a dab of perfume and explore the city.

If you don't live in Copenhagen and can go to Tivoli - too bad.
I'm going :-)))


(... to be continued...)

Plaids for Dad

Lousy, lousy weather.

In my last post I declared that summer was here.
It was. For 6 hours. Then it began to rain.
Ever since I have been wearing woolen socks and sweaters, sipped a lot of hot cocoa and watched a lot of movies and television sitting on top of my bed, surrounded by various kinds of nescessities like embroidery projects, crochet yarns and hooks, crime fiction novels, soduko puzzles and a tray with coffee, cocoa, water and too many snacks. Remote control just at my left.

It sounds like holiday, right?
It is.

Inspiration doesn't care about lousy weather or rain.
It pours too....

Squares cut out of yardage.

Lots of plaids...




I was so bored that I played with the photos when editing them on PicMonkey!



 ... to be made into a quilt for dad's birthday - a quilt that does not need to be quilted (great, when the new sewing machine has not yet been bought!) - but needs embrodery and crochet.

All will be revealed in due time....
;-)

Sticks and dots

Summer is finally here after days of rain and cloudy dark weather.

In between a lot of small cleaning projects and staying outside as much as possible improvisations pop up and I play a little.

There are bags to be practised for the swap when the frames arrive from the shop and a major quilt project is being planned.

The Portuguese whitework is being lined with silk embroidered with french knots and should very soon turn into a small pouch for my pearls. I'm also dabbing a bit on some very old linen and making a baking cloth embroidered with some cuteness. My crewel projects also gets attention on a regular basis.

I'm very well aware that my UFO's are stalling but I'm not going to quilt anything - I finally gave in and realised that I really need a new sewing machine - one with feed dogs that can be lowered and a Walking Foot.
I need to drag myself into the 21st century, pamper my self and for once get that wallet out of its dark place and let go of the savings.

Summer holidays - which for me means travelling abroad - are therefore suspended - instead I'll treat my self to a trip to London in October, where I have booked some small crewel lessons with the super talented Philippa Turnbull from Crewelwork.
I can live with that. Ohhh yes I can!

So - summer at home in Copenhagen - what to do?

HAHA - pack you bag, sister - and get on that bus, that train or that bike - this city is packed with fun stuff to do.

I'll do that:-))

.. and keep playing..........

Dots on a stick

Ahh... ;-)

Danish vintage embroidery

Once in a while I find small treasures of embroidery at charity shops. Usually they are unfinished pieces, some still with the pattern and lots of thread - others are all new and never touched or even opened.

Some of these packages contain really large pieces of perfectly fine linen, meant for a tablecloth - it is perfect for practicing all kinds of embroidery - hardanger, whitework, cross stitch - and it cost practically nothing. I love those finds and I love to 'rescue' some of these embroidered pieces.

Some time ago I found a small bag filled with all kinds of vintage embroidery patterns - from the 60'-70'ies - and I picked one out because I clearly remembered this kind of embroidery - a stylised geometrical flower pattern - and I've tried to recreate it.

Now - the pattern suggests to make it in only 3 shades of either greens, yellows, blues or lilacs. I chose to make it in two shades of teal and orange and a yellow-green for the small leaves.
Appleton crewel wool on linen.

There is no information as to which kind of thread to use - I would think a DMC stranded cotton would be the choise.



Pattern properly documented



Nancy Crow in UK

I really need to buy a new sewing machine and get myself into to 21st century together with everyone else.
There is no point pretending that the dear old Singer ever will grow feed dogs that can be lowered and suddenly will be able to quilt without that little wonder of a Walking foot.

So summerholidays this year is cancelled as in no traveling. No more dreaming about Riga, Sofia, Dresden or  Dubrovnik. Its time to spend the savings on a piece of delicious humming electronic device!

Okay. I can live with that. But of course there is that trip to the UK and the course at RSN that I have been wanting so much... I could give myself a small trip later in the fall as a birthday gift, yes?

No.
I checked up on plane tickets and accomodation yesterday and there is no way I can afford it. It turned out that it coincides with fall break so no cheap plane tickets that match up with a crewel course at Hampton Court this year.

But then I read in the newletter Twisted Thread that The Knitting and Stitching Show 2012 takes place at Alexandra Palace in London a week before fall break and yes! - the plane tickets are affordable.
But then again... be sensible woman! Think! You don't need it.

But I DO!!!! Because Nancy Crow is giving a lecture at the Vicoria and Albert Museum and I can only buy a ticket if I also buy a ticket to the Show!
When I checked the list of teachers giving 1 or 2 hour lessons and saw that Philippa Turnbull herself will be teaching TWO lessons in crewel technique - I lost it. I'm such a sad case of woman-out-of-control.

Long story short: I'm going. And I've bought 3 teaching lessons at the show, two days entrance ticket and I'm going to hear Nancy Crow speak about her wonderful quilts. (Tickets are limited, so hurry!!!)

I am a domestic Goddess!

Don't believe it!

I have disgusting and horrible pictures to prove it - so consider yourself warned and take action (or heed) if you can't stand photos of dirt.

But before I show the whole world that I seriously lack in the Goddess department let me show you one of the ghosts from my dungeon - the basement where ghosts from my past live a dusty and forgotten life.

One of them has made it up the stairs under the roof to my tiny and old appartment, it has been washed and ironed a little bit - all so that you can see what once was on the table - so to speak.

This was the tablecloth I believed was embroidered in Hardanger. Totally wrong. My brain is not what it used to be *sigh*
Obviously it is what I believe is called counted needlepoint (?)

Also - and this is even more important (or embarassing) - I did not make this. I thought I did, but no. A friend gave it to me many, many years ago and I have treasured it so much that I seriously believed I made it my self. But I know I made some Hardanger but I haven't got a clue where it is or what exactly it was.

Here it is - almost half of it hanging from my ironing board - a tablecloth made many, many years ago by a dear friend.
Such good memories:-)



And now to the filthy part. I warned you!

I have been doing more of that once-a-year-cleaning. Not amusing. And some times scary.
In the near future some poor guy will visit me to read the meters on my radiators. So - time to clean the radiators!
I have four of them. Remember I live in a tiny appartment - so bedroom, living room and kitchen were done without problem. But the radiator in my tiny, tiny bathroom is a problem.

A BIG problem. HUGE.
Here is why:

Yes. Som building-inspector-genius mounted the radiator under the ceiling!

I never use it. But that doesn't stop the darn thing from being filthy, gross and utterly disgusting!
There is no way I can clean that thing up there. The bathroom is 1,8 m2 and there is NO room for a ladder and even if there were I could not reach anyway.

I try not to look too close at it. I wipe dust and cobwebs with a broom and that's it.

And then I got that stupid idea to look a bit closer at the handle. The one in the kitchen - which by the way is very close to the stove I sometimes kick cook on.

OH MY GOD!!!




For heavens sake, woman!!!!!

 I told you it was horrible!!!


I don't usually stick my nose or bad eyes down to check handles on radiators for dust and ugly stuff - I wipe them down with a wet cloth on and of - but I never ever had the idea to check behind the handle in between those plastic ribs.

I'm absolutely sure thats what a true domestic Goddess would do.  I'm sure that YOU do it.

Oh - how I HATE this kind of cleaning.

It's supposed to make you feel GOOD when its finished but this just s*cks.


I need chocolate.
And peanuts.
NOW!

15/6 UPDATE: I deserve to show you a cleaned handle to prove that I'm not a totally domestic pig *lol*
Now - I cleaned them with cotton sticks and took pictures of the handles 3 times and each time the darned things STILL looked dirty on the photos!
Some things just can't be done perfect - a 90% clean radiator handle have to be okay!

Almost clean!

Beginner's Quilt-along

Phewww... I've spent the last couple of days cleaning. Not the heavy-hard kind of cleaning - more the 'needs-to-be-done-once-a-year' kind.
That is actually hard enough.
Climbing that stepladder to clean on top of the cupboards in the kitchen - I don't like it.

So I've rewarded my self with more work (!) and signed up for a summer quilt-along called Beginner's Quilt-along hosted by Michele Foster from the Quilting Gallery and the famous Pat Sloan is quilting along with all us beginners.
It it supposed to be a traditionel and very easy (mystery) quilt for beginners and I already made my first block.
I chose to use some old fabric from stash, most of it is Andalucia by Patty Young - very bright:-)

Want to join in?



Beginner's Quilt-along block 1

Efter et par dages heftig/hæslig omgang sommerrengøring af den slags, som nødtvungent bør gøres i hvert fald en gang om året og som indebar livstruende stigeklatring i køkkenregionen og indvolverede faretruende bevægelser med våd klud ovenpå køkkenskabe så var det tid til belønning!

Og hvad er mere sejt og logisk end at belønne sig selv med MER' arbejde???!

Ikke fordi jeg ligefrem behøver det.. men det her er sjovt og så er jeg på. Hver gang;-)

Beginner's Quilt-along styret af Michele Foster fra The Quilting Gallery og med berømte Pat Sloan på sidelinjen som med-quilter (se links øverst-tilmelding på Flickr-linket)
Quilten er en mystery quilt med nemme traditionelle blokke og kan laves som en rektangulær quilt eller som en kvadratisk med alle blokke sat på spidsen:-)

Jeg har en nærmest ugudelig mængde stof med en del år på bagen, så jeg bestemte mig for at få brugt noget af alt det Andalucia fra Patty Young som jeg har yards og yards af. Måske kan der gøres et indhug her;-)

Har du lyst til at være med?

A finish...

Det var supernemt, hurtigt og utroligt afslappende.
Portugisisk broderi kan varmt anbefales:-)
Og så er det færdigt! (jeg er stadig i chok!)

Men... jeg vil jo gerne bruge det til noget, som ikke er en pynteting. Små lyseduge og lignende er ikke mig - så idéer er meget velkomne:-)



Motif meassures 8,5 x 8,5 cm (3,25 x 3,25 inch)


The Portuguese whitework was super easy, quick and very relaxing.
And best of all - it is finished! (I'm in shock!)

But what to do with it? What can I make out of it?
I'm not really into small decorative embroidered pieces laying around on tables, shelves etc. so I want to incorporate it into something useful.

Help and ideas are most welcome!

Portuguese Whitework

Some time ago Mary Corbet recommended an embroidery book about Portuguese Whitework written by Yvette Stanton. I found this review rather interesting because the technique is a mix of Hardanger and Bullion Knots - and that this kind of embroidery only uses 21 various stitches - all of them also used in Crewel embroidery.

I bought the book immediately and have been reading a lot about the history, patterns, stitches etc.

 

My photo


For et stykke tid siden anbefalede Mary Corbet ovenstående bog om portugisisk broderi skrevet af Yvette Stanton. Denne type broderi er specielt for området Guimarães i det nordlige Portugal og er et mix af det vi kender som Hardanger og Bullion Knots. Der er oprindeligt kun 21 forskellige broderiteknikker (eller sting) - alle sting som også bruges i Crewel, som jeg er meget optaget af.
Så bogen blev omgående købt og jeg har læst en hel del om historien bag, om teknikken osv.

 I picked out a beginner's project...

 

photo from the book - more cuteness sneaking into my life!

 Jeg valgte et begynderprojekt fra bogen..

...and this is where I am to-day.

 ... og så langt er jeg i dag.


The funny thing is.... when I had embroidered a couple of minutes I suddenly remembered that I used to do a lot of Hardanger when I was about 11-12 years old. I actually have a rather large tablecloth embroidered in Hardanger - it is white on blue linen. I haven't seen it in years - I'm sure though that it is hiding somewhere in the dungeon I call my basement - a place filled with old forgotten, dusty and scary things from my past *lol*

Det mærkelige er, at da jeg havde broderet nogle få minutter så huskede jeg lige pludselig, at jeg havde lavet en hel del Hardangerbroderi da jeg var en 11-12 år. Jeg lavede bla en stor blå dug som nu befinder sig et eller andet sted i 'undergrunden' - i min kælder - sammen med en masse andre gamle, støvede og glemte sager fra min fortid.
En fortid, som man åbenbart ikke kan løbe fra, selv om man har glemt en masse - det sidder på rygraden..
Så jeg er på Hardanger igen - og det er (foreløbigt) sjovt og nemt:-)