a farmer's wife, sort of..... and other sewing projects

Finally, I have got back to some sewing. As I am determined to get quite a lot done this year with my quilting, I am trying to 'start as I mean to go on' - to make the time and just do it!

This year's sewing journey has begun by revisiting my French Braid quilt. I had four braids completed, and another two partly done. Turns out I had cut enough pieces to do almost 9 braids, so I got stuck in, cut a few extra, and finished all nine of them.


These will get temporarily put aside now, as I am in a quandary as to what I am going to use for the sashing. I think I'll need to take it to the quilt shop and try a few things out.

I also started a gift for a friend. So far I have this -


These blocks are from a fabric panel from the 'Full Circle' range by Kathy Schmitz. It was quite difficult trying to get it to square up as the printing of each square was quite uneven. Anyway, it's on the list to finish in the next week.

Although the plan for this year is to work on my "12 in '12" list i.e. not start anything new that isn't already ON the list, I have for quite a while wanted to do the Farmer's Wife quilt which has of course been so popular in the blogosphere, so in January I started the blocks for that - although I am sort of doing my own version of it. So, a farmer's wife, sort of. For quick and easy cutting, I have matched up many of the blocks in 'A Farmer's Wife' to blocks in '501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks' by Judy Hopkins. For those that are not an exact match, I have found blocks that are very similar, often almost the same.

My progress so far -


Most of the fabrics are 'Maison de Garance' by French General, with a couple of other coordinating fabrics added in. I must admit I am really loving how the blocks are turning out. I want it to be a quilt for the cold weather, and the warm reds and browns are perfect. I am thinking that I may sash it in dark brown, particularly so that the blocks really stand out, but I will see when the time comes.

Another quick project was these placemats for one of my family, made particularly to coordinate with some new furniture they have bought. The fabric is 'Metro Goes Au Naturale' by, I think, Benartex, and the brown colour is from the 'Morris Workshop' range from a couple of years ago. The colours matched perfectly, and they were much appreciated by the recipient. (The colour of the photo looks a bit odd, but was taken at night.)


This weekend I am planning to start a quilt for my niece's birthday in March. A bit of a challenge, as she has drawn me a rough sketch and it has lots of borders to try and fit.... It is going to be in red, white and blue and she described it to me as an 'American style quilt', so the obvious choice is stars and stripes. Hopefully there will be photos to come soon!

'made by me' monday {2}

So, I guess it's no secret to anyone that knows me. When it comes to crafts, I am really a jack of all trades, master of none. However, although I have tried many different things over the years, the learning and creative process has always been the best part. The fact that I may have something I love to show for it at the end is just kind of a bonus.

And, in any case, if you don't try lots of things, you'll never find out what it is you do love, right?

Today's 'made by me' piece is a silver ring that I made when I took a one day silversmithing workshop last year. During the day we designed something and then made it. As I love silver jewellery, this ring was the perfect project; something I really enjoyed making and could wear at the end of the class.



The ring is silver and the heart in the centre is a Japanese silver/copper alloy called (I think) shibuichi. I must admit I was pretty pleased with myself that (given it's size), I managed to cut the heart out of the copper sheet with tin snips and, once I had smoothed the edges, still had a cute little heart shape!

I really enjoyed this silversmithing workshop, and would love to do it again - maybe next time some cute little matching round silver earrings with a copper heart in the centre too, hmmmm?

more pottery.....

Just a few more photos of pottery I have made, to follow on from yesterday's post.....

'made by me' monday {1}

Hello! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. This weekend I worked at the shop on both Saturday and Sunday along with my friend the lovely Miss Amanda. We spent our working hours in raptures over the new 'Etchings' range by 3 Sisters for Moda which arrived in the shop on Friday. What stunningly gorgeous fabric! As fast as we were cutting it into kits and packs, people were buying them. It truly is a beautiful range, and in three days we have almost sold out of it.

I have always wanted to try dressmaking, or at least specifically to try my hand at making some skirts, and so I have put some of this fabric away for two skirts, one in the greys and another in the lovely aqua colour. Hopefully there will be a post on that soon!

Speaking of things I have made or am planning to make, I thought I would like to have a 'made by me' monday series of posts showing things I have made in the past, or current WIPs and UFOs that finally become FOs! Kind of a way of keeping some photos together in one place and documenting them for posterity!

One of the things I used to do is pottery. I actually took weekly one-on-one classes for five years with an amazing teacher and for that period of time I loved it, and my skills became pretty good. I LOVED working on the wheel; the feeling of moulding and shaping the clay and creating a form simply by the pressure of my hand, and the excitement as something grew and took shape - and the occasional disappointment of it collapsing in a heap! I now have a lovely collection of bowls and vases which I cherish, and my family have lots of different bits and pieces that I made over this period.

These are a few pieces that I have made:



After five years of classes, I decided to take a break for a month or two. In fact, it was 12 months before I felt ready to pick it up again, by which time my fantastic teacher had unfortunately moved away. Sadly, I have not felt the urge to take it up again since; nonetheless, I have found that I can now achieve the same creative satisfaction in other areas, particularly in my sewing, and although precious little of that has been happening lately, I hope to have something to show again soon.




Have a lovely week all, and Happy Halloween!