Blue Shirt Quilt

Well, a quilt block.

I finally did it! I took a pile of old shirts...

...cut them up and sorted them into colour values...

...then started a quilt!

M has more work clothing than it is possible for anyone to have. What can I say, the man loves to wear a suit. But his shirts do show wear, particularly around the collar and cuffs, so he has regular culls. He is down to 15 business shirts now. Maybe 18. He won't tell me.

I wasn't really getting on with using them up in regular sewing. I am allergic to toiles, I used a few bits for facings on dresses and linings for baskets and hats, but made no real dent in the ever-growing pile. Plus, there is a lot of fabric in one mens shirt. I only used two sleeves to make this block - it's going to be a king size quilt!

I learned a thing or two about a new (to me) concept called "colour value". Basically it means that every fabric has a hue and is darker or lighter than another fabric that it is paired with. The sorted pile of shirts is arranged by colour value with the darkest at the bottom and the lightest on top. The check is actually an outlier so I put it outside the white. 

I took the sorted pile and divided it in half, the lightest together and the darkest together. That is how I paired my fabrics. The lightest of the lights will be paired with the lightest of the darks and so on. While I love how the darkest blue pops with white, I am trying to keep the whole effect muted, or "low volume".

I admired this low volume quilt and decided to use the quilt block pattern for my quilt. I like how she has used the same two fabrics for one block and then reversed them for another block. That's what I'm planning for this. By using the same block pattern, I'm hoping that the quilt won't look like too much of a mis-mash (of old shirts).

I'm very pleased with the Ohio Star Pattern. While I have no affinity whatsoever with Ohio, quilting is an extremely popular sport in America so I don't mind a bit of American in my quilting endeavours.

Now it's time for me to carry on and make 19 more, then joining, a border, then batting, quilting, and binding. What about the backing? I might make a jelly roll stripe backing from the rest of the shirts. 2016 is shaping up to be the year of the WIP.

Jungle Cake

This cake is from my "archives", ie, before I had this blog.  I made it a couple of years ago for a 4 year old's birthday when green was the order of the day.

She selected her cake from my trusty Woman's Weekly cake decorating book and I did use quite a few of the ideas from it.

I started with the template for the jungle leaves and made loads of them from ready to roll royal icing. I invested in some new paste colour, Spruce Green, and it came out much better than my liquid colour.  I'm going to go with paste from now on.  When I got bored with cutting out all the little sections from the leaf template, I just freehanded my own leaf design.  Before they dried, I scored a blunt knife down the centre to look like a vein.

I was very fortunate that we had bought a new fridge the week before and the old one was standing, unplugged in my kitchen. Aside from being a huge eyesore, it was extremely convenient as a set of shelves for storing all those leaves as they dried. I really don't know where else I might have put them to dry.

The leaves were the most tedious part, the rest was pretty simple.  I used loads of cake mixes, some chocolate, some vanilla, to make the base slab; covered it with spruce green buttercream icing; made a blue watering hole out of a scrap of royal icing; and then started layering all those leaves.  I added some jelly snakes through the layers and the kids loved them.

I added some sections of Flake chocolate bars around the sides of the cake to look like tree trunks and I used crushed honeycomb pieces for the banks of the watering hole.  I cheated on the jungle animals and just used (washed) plastic toy animals.  I found the cute jungle candles at Party Pieces.

The four year olds loved the cake, they were grabbing at it before I even lit the candles. Before I served the cake, they wanted to play with it and the animals got smooshed around in the watering hole!  Little horrors!

Needle Felted Robin

Uh oh! A new craft medium! Like I needed to add to my distractions.

But add I did. I asked for a needle felting kit for Christmas. When I say "asked", I mean that I ordered it, took delivery and gave it to my husband to wrap. I chose well for myself, I must say. I got a starter kit from Heidi Feathers and it has all the equipment I would ever need, plus loads of different colours of wool. Even the box is nice.

The felting was fun, and incredibly addictive. I started it just before dinner and I admit that dinner was very late that night. I did feel cruel, stabbing a tiny animal in the eyes.

There is just one problem, I am not that happy with how the "robin" looks. I think he looks more like a mouse with wings and a tail. I'll have to practice some more to really get the hang of it and to get some decent expressions into the animals.

Knitted Heart Shrug

I had time before Christmas to knock out just one more project, a shrug to warm up a party dress.

This yarn was given to me last Christmas, by my mother in law, with the suggestion that I might make shrugs for the girls. The yarn is lovely, Berocco Vintage DK, and I made 1 cardigan and 1 shrug instead.

The pattern is on Ravelry, the Heart Party Shrug, and guess what? The designer has added my picture to the pattern page! How very flattering! Thank goodness for a Christmas tree to use as a lovely backdrop.

When I was browsing the pattern gallery, there were almost no pictures of how it looks from the front. I know it is a shrug, and all the yarn is at the back, but it is still good to be able to see it from all sides. So I made sure I posted the front as well.

In truth, my girls are the same chest size so the cardigan and the shrug fit them both. But they are not keen on sharing their wardrobe.

Granny Square Blankets

I bought this lovely DK cotton when I first got into crochet and it was time to use it up. Some doll beds were coming for Christmas, so it was nice to give something handmade to go with them.

I decided to start a Granny Square and carry on in alternating stripes until I ran out of yarn. I did the two concurrently so that they would match, and be about the same size. I like that they are almost the same, but not identical.  I had 6 colours of the cotton and I also added a scrap of bamboo that toned well. I left out a lime green, so I had turquoise, light blue, hot pink, cream, mid pink and lilac. I used the cream for the border in a fan stitch.

I've decided that, as much as I love creating Granny Squares, I don't love the bitty look of them. After much Ravelry browsing, I have decided that the best way to make them work is to repeat the same colour for at least two rows, if not three, and to ideally use colours in the same tones. I think this makes them look more coherent. 

Blankets are delivered, so I'm retiring from Granny Squares. For now.

Another doll hat and top

This is a direct re-run of the previous crochet outfit, just in a different colour. It is made from DMC Petra Crochet Cotton 3. I love the teal colour.

This was given away to a friend, and Big Sis made the white skirt herself!

Crochet Scarves

These two scarves have been crocheted out of sock yarn, hand dyed by a fibre artist in Vancouver, Yoriko, who works at a studio in Granville Island. We had fun browsing the yarns and choosing the skein.  The lovely blues of this one made it an easy choice. The 100% wool, sock yarn was not as easy to make up into something nice. There is no drape at all, and I had a few false starts to come up with something. I first knit a chevron shape, then crocheted a ripple stitch, but both were as stiff as anything and used huge amounts of yarn. So I reverted to my trusty double-crochet-with-chain-stitch to make up this open weave.

It's not the greatest yarn for scarf making, but she hasn't complained that it is too scratchy. Perhaps the lesson is that sock yarn is really meant for socks!

Molly’s Party Dress for Girls

Emily’s owner has been dying for a party dress to match theone her doll has. We both agreed that we should modify the huge ruffle sleeves and turn them into a puffed sleeve with ric rac trim. In hindsight, I am not sure that this works on such a plain, white bodice. While I didn’t want to draft princess seams and three giant ruffles, they add texture and interest to the bodice front, which this dress is sorely lacking.

I turned to my usual girls’ dress bodice block, Cottage Mama’s Party Dress. Size 8, with a larger centre back to allow for buttonholes. I still have the puff sleeve that I drafted for the Red Spotty Dress, but I added some more fabric in the centre of the sleeve to get more puff. It could do with more fabric in the length now too.

I trimmed the sleeve band and the pocket tops with the three colours of ric rac, then added them as details. The fabric is 100% cotton, and the bodice is self lined. I used a full width of the very wide cotton for the skirt, with no under layer. The doll’s dress is very short, which is pretty cute, but I prefer longer dresses on my girls, so the fabric length is 55cm. I made the sash separately, rather than fiddling about, integrating it into the dress. If it slips, I’ll add belt carriers to the sides. It was cut at 6 inches + 2cm.

My favourite feature of this dress is the red buttons on the back. They are vintage, from my Grandmother, or my Mother. They are little octagons and sit up very high, with a deep dip in the centre. I attached them with red thread. The button under the sash is flat and white, for comfort (and so I can keep the rest of the red ones!)

I think I will like this dress more with a red cardigan over the top and some frilly socks, and I'm not sewing a garment with plain white quilting cotton ever again. But, when you are sewing a commission, it doesn’t matter if you like it, the important thing is that the client is happy!

Costs:

Fabric:                £6.00 Rainbow Fabrics, Isle of Wight, 1m.

Pattern:               £0.00 Cottage Mama

Thread:               £0.00 Stash

Trim:                   £0.00 RicRac, stash

Buttons:             £0.00 Stash

Total:                  £6.00

Top 5 of 2015: Sewing

Here is my final roundup: my 5 favourite sewing projects of 2015.                                                 

1. Red Bow Dress

I love this dress! I wear it often and it always feels fun and lively. I get compliments too. After I made it, I did go back and let out the back darts to stop it clinging around the tummy (I forgot to do a short waist adjustment), and it looks better. The fabric is starting to stretch a bit around the backside, but will hopefully stand up to a few more seasons of wear.






2. Yellow Spot Top

Another fun and lively make that I really enjoy wearing. Interesting fabric, unusual colour, perfect pattern choice.










3. Navy Linen Dress

A hat trick of primary colours! This is a wardrobe staple that I have worn a lot. But I am going to shorten it for the SS16 season.










4. Sashiko Birds Dress

This almost didn't make the list, but the fun pattern and lovely colour wins over the cotton. Maybe all my Summer makes could do with being above the knee?









5. Doll Fur Accessories

This squeaks into 5th place because I had such fun styling and photographing this project. What you can't see is the black blanket, covered in lint (which I airbrushed out), hanging from a bookshelf, weighted by a toy box. Me on my kitchen floor, propping up a mirror, taken from the hall wall, to reflect the artificial light on to the dolls face! But the outfit is good fun too, and I secretly wish I had a fur cape and hot pink mini skirt.

Top 5 of 2015: Misses

What is the point of a top, without a bottom? Following on from my top 5 yarny makes from 2015, here are the misses. They are ranked in order of date, I have not assigned a ranking to my fails (in case their feelings get hurt).

1. Dahlia Dress

I'm a slow learner of the lesson: cheap fabric makes a disappointing dress. I probably also should not have made up this pattern, which calls for woven fabric, in a knit. A thick knit, no less. I feel frumpy in this dress, but I do wear it. It's comfortable and warm and I throw it on often.








2. White Broderie Dress

Another poor fabric choice. Just because it looks adorable on your children, doesn't mean it will do the same for you, Cathy. I'm planning to dye this dress, hoping the background will take the dye and the embroidery will stay white/silver - it looks like polyester. I have a swatch in my jeans pocket as we speak, awaiting their next refresh in navy dye. Turquoise would be awesome too, as would hot pink...






3. Drop Waist Dress

Poor child, this dress does nothing for her. It's too big, the colour washes her out and the fabric looks like it came from an old sheet. Oh wait - it did!









4. Peony Dress

I'm clearly a very slow learner: yet another terrible fabric choice. I also cut this dress too long. I'm going to hem it shorter next season. I would make this pattern out of quilting cotton again, but would go for a bold, large scale floral.








5. Crochet Snowflake

This was so bad that I didn't even blog it. It was meant for sending to a Christmas craft show, but I didn't. It went on the tree, but is now set for re-working. There is clearly a mistake in my counting. I will crochet another one in future, but will use a smaller pattern.








Well, I have certainly learned an important lesson from compiling this list. You would think it would be obvious, but it wasn't: fabric choice is key. Key! I have always known this with my kitting, I rarely buy acrylic yarn, preferring to spend my time using high quality (and high price) yarns. That is because knitting is about the process, not the outcome. In sewing, I am guilty of buying low priced fabric and now I can see how little I like the outcome.

Top 5 of 2015: Knitting

#sewingtop5 from Crafting a Rainbow is such a simple yet brilliant thing to do. In her words, "I think it's so important to look back, reflect, and take time to be proud of ourselves." So I'll do just that.

When I looked back at my blog entries for 2015, the projects that jumped out at me were almost all knitting ones. Thus, I am extending the rules slightly to include my top 5 knitting/yarn projects and my top 5 sewing ones.

Knitting

Considering this was the year that I tried to spend less time knitting, 2015 might be an #epicfail as I have 11 finished knitting projects on Ravelry. The good news is that I haven't been suffering from RSI, as I did in 2014, so I have been kind to my hands and given them some time off.

1. Afmæli Pullover



My first FO for 2015, even though most of the work was done in 2014. This is my favourite make. Perhaps of all time... I wear this constantly and it made a splendid Christmas jumper in 2015.




2. Learning to Crochet

Here I am, bending the rules again. OK, so it is not knitting, but it is still working with yarn. One of my goals for 2015 was to learn to crochet so, in January, I signed up for a class. Crochet is the reason that my wrists have healed. I've even gone one better and bought one of those hooks with a rubber handle. My 14 crochet projects have mostly been small squares and scrappy things, but I've recently made some doll garments that I'm very pleased with.


3. Ruby Tuesday Cardigan

Like my Afmæli, this is a cardigan that I live in, only in the Summer. The solid navy colour and sport weight yarn are the perfect ingredients for a wardrobe staple. Since I posted this, I went back and crocheted a new button band so I could add buttons all the way through the front, making it even more wearable.




4. Child's Cardigan

The yarn is the winner in this story, it is so soft and scrummy, how could anything not turn out nicely. This is such a perfect wardrobe staple, and looks neat and tidy. It is her favourite cardigan too.





5. Shawl(ette)

My first, and only, lace shawl; made wearable by being a shawlette. I do wear this as a scarf and I have some new laceweight cashmere yarn to enable some serious lace knitting.