Last of the mug rugs ...

Quick post while listening to radio commentary on the Andy Murray Australian Open match  - so difficult to follow so I need to multi-task.

You'll be pleased to know, these are the last of the mug rugs with their nice edge finish.

The traditional way always rewards ... double binding 21/2" wide, machine sewn to the front and slip stitched on the back.

All from scraps as everything Ive made this month has been, but, big but here, my stash does look that much smaller!

That said, its surprisingly enjoyable being limited to choosing from scraps. It focuses my mind on what colour blends with what, and results in some surprisingly OK combinations.



Not easy to see in this photo but the quilting thread is shiny with a very organic quilting pattern - in other words I went where it looked easiest to go with the needle and tried to reflect the shapes of the patched fabric. Comments welcome ... this is a big learning curve for me.

I travel back to UK tomorrow where there's always less time for sewing. My stitching recovered books course starts next week and I'm looking forward to playing bridge with people rather than my iPad.

The match has nearly ended ... time to feed the hens. I may be a while.

All about edges

Its amazing how much gets done with 1-2 hours a day free to sew!  I'm back with some thoughts on edging for quilts ... not sure this applies to the raw edge of anything else but you never know.

The easiest and quickest way to finish a raw edge is not to have one in the first place. To make these three mug rugs

I upscaled from this tutorial which uses 5" squares from charm pack
http://fabricmill.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/holiday-mug-rug-tutorial.html,

I made 8" squares from scraps with the slash and insert technique from the Craftsy class I'm taking. As the tutorial shows you the raw edges are all hidden by the turning inside out manouvre -no binding needed.  And they are just  the right thickness to protect a table top from the heat.


Then I found this helpful website entry showing how to use backing as binding
 http://quiltingintherain.blogspot.fr/2010/06/quick-quilt-binding.html

and used that method for these.

Not so good when the backing is different from any of the top fabric... but I am using up my stash and had little choice as this needed two quite large 'scraps". I topstitched the front edge on in the same thread and the quilting and it blends in well. Verdict: I'd use it again but found it tricky to get mitred corners so need more practice at that.

And now for my mistakes. I tried to use single fold binding using up some two inch strips and that looked awful. The would-have-been a mug rug is now in the rag bag in our puppy nursery.

The puppies are expected next week  ... my mistake will make a great mopping up cloth and there'll be lots of that to do when Miss Ali goes into labour.

She has a very posh box for her delivery ... heated pads, overhead lamps, and lots of my trial and error quilting from when I first used the frame to free motion quilt.


I'm off now to hand finish some double binding used to edge four more placemats ... yes, it involved making lots of binding (mine was scrappy, no surprise there), machine stitching this to the quilt and carefully mitring the corners  but it always gives a good finish. There maybe photos tomorrow.

All about the finish ...

In my quest to use fabric in my stash I've been making tables runners, coasters and mug rugs from scraps, and leaning different ways of finishing the edges ... more on that when the pieces have been quilted.  

This activity fitted well with my 2015 word 'choice'  ...  that's what I'll have from now on when finishing a quilted project.


Here's the first piece, just enough space for a mug and a chocolate  ... yes, it's wonky. I like to think that's its charm!!!

Meanwhile, I made a small bag from a kit bought at The Knitting and Stitching Show. It has a top closing hinge and will hold all my sewing smalls. 

And at last I found a pillow to fit the felted cover made from two woollen sweaters that the moths decided to nibble at last winter.  The squares are held together with running, blanket and cross stitch using left over yarn. Joyous recycling.

Some good poetry news this week with acceptances from Clear Poetry, London Grip and The Camel Saloon.   The ever wonderful and continuing 52poems prompt which is now posted by Norman Hadley encouraged us to write about our interests. No surprise then that I've just posted a quilters poem for the group's feedback. 

Free motion quilting with L plates

Bonjour on this cold and occasionally sunny morning - someone said we might get some snow and it does feel cold enough! I'm ready with a very cuddly scarf that is, at last, off my needles.

I spent several hours this weekend learning to free motion quilt off my frame. For those of you who have no idea what this means the set up is a sewing machine with zero stitch length and no feed dogs to grip the fabric with control of stitch direction and length in my hands.


So, so difficult but I was warned by every expert on the internet that it would and it was just a matter of practice.



And practice I did, on these 3 small pieces

You may be thinking why I need this technique? So was I as I struggled with my foot, hand and eye co-ordination and the results looked, well, quite frankly, awful. But, with practice I improved, from very bad to not very good and managed two fill patterns that will be very useful to blend with other designs that I can do on the frame or with the walking foot.

Here's my very best 'Tree bark'

and a reasonable attempt at 'Pebbles'

and a very poor spiral!!!

So now I have a choice  - pebbles or tree bark - to try as fillers on my next set of placemats -these are just the right size to quilt off the frame and I'm able to use up more scraps --- oh joy.  I'll post pics when they are finished. 

Have a good day. mx

Beginning to reduce my stash

A good start to my year of not buying fabric (or yarn) and to working with that word 'choice'. First completed work is a table runner for our wonderful oak table ... scraps from other quilts, fabric bought from places long forgotten.

I really enjoyed learning the slash and insert technique from the first Craftsy class I've taken, and then moving the Juki machine off the big frame, fitting its walking foot and quilting with an even stitch and my own version of a waves design.

Next week there are more scraps to use and possibly a venture into free motion quilting. See you then.

Poems to read

 ... there they are, above this post, some new poems published here ... comments welcome

and in other news, four acceptances this week, and lots of work catching up in the poetry office after an autumn of administrative neglect.

Have a good weekend where you are.

Today in your 'poetry office'

... have a read of these two great pieces on publishing your poems ....

Roy Marshall on the editor's view of of publishing poetry at http://roymarshall.wordpress.com

and Jo Bell on getting your poems organised at  https://belljarblog.wordpress.com

Both are full of common sense and logic which is just what I need to help me on the day I spend in my poetry office. That, of course, is almost always the day I'd much rather be elsewhere.

Like today - its sunny, the frost is slowly disappearing and the mountains look fantastic ... so its going to be hard to be updating my poetry spreadsheet. But I'm now going there right now with Roy and Jo's words by my side, not forgetting a cup of the very best coffee.

and my word for 2015 is ...

In one of those moments, trying to keep a good balance in Warrior 1 ...  where they say look at a fixed point

- today mine was the top of this tree caught in the freezing fog -

then they say, keep the outer edge of your left foot grounded, pull your shoulders away from your ears and all you can think is how much longer, well, there and then my 2015 word arrived.









From all the words I could have chosen, from the three that percolated to the top yesterday - kindness, slow, surrender  - from all that choice, the very word, I thought, for this year is choice.

Choice is a privilege, can be a nuisance, teaches us much about how we are at any particular time.
It seemed a very good word to dwell on for 363 more days, especially with my choice today being not to venture far, to enjoy the effortless beauty of the weather and to share some of that here.

this is not a small stone ...

And why not, you may be wondering, that's if you have nothing better to do on New Year's Day!

Small stones were so very 2014, all 365 of them. Yes, there were 365 small moments of paying attention in each one of my days in 2104. Oh, I know it looks as if four are missing but that just highlights my inability to count when transferring a few of them. from paper to blog ...  hey ho, these things do not matter.

So what is going to be very 2015? Well, I'm not sure yet. The 52poems prompts are continuing until April with a very able Jo Bell replacement and we FB 52ers are all looking forward to the book. Yes, 52 will have a legacy, an editor's choice book with one poem for each week, and there's more.  With the stunning success of Jo's crowdfunding project, there will also be a poetry handbook with all her wonderful prompts ... things that good should be shared and now they will be.

If you're inclined, watch this space .... there may be a photo of a cushion cover from recycled and felted sweaters soon, so exciting! Maybe one of a desert scarf that's been on my knitting needles for far too long and would come in very useful out there in the cold if only I finished it.

and maybe some poetry ....

Peace, good health and happiness in 2015 to all ... or to the few who are here.

I'm off to choose this year's word, I need a replacement for 2014's  'attention'. Present contenders are kindness, slow, and  well, I just pulled 'surrender' out of my 'angel' card pile so now I'm very undecided.

Back soon ......