Sewing Accessories Case

Now my sewing club meets on the 2^nd Friday of every month and I have been sitting on this update because I prohibited myself from posting until our wedding blessing invitations were out. Mind you, this delay has been very useful. It has given me time to use my project and consider how I feel about it.

Now if I were to look over my piece of work with a critical eye, I would say that it really shows that this is the first ever time that I have attempted a bit of free motion quilting. However, in the overall scheme of things, I do not think that this matters because, I have come to realise that each time I see this project?

It makes me feel so happy!

Not only do I like what we made, I love the fabric that we made it in and I am finding it extremely useful. Before this month's project, I toted my sewing accessories around in these two, rather charming freezer bags:

As a result, I have often felt anxious about my sharp objects (scissors, snips, needles and rotary cutter), slicing their way out and damaging someone or something.

Now I feel a lot less worried because I can carry my sharp tools around - nice, safe and securely - in this stylish little number:

I am not quite sure what I love most about it:

• The flowery fabric
  
  
• The scissors fabric
  
  
• The fact that I made it

• The fact that it turned out alright
  
  
• The fact that it resembles the kind of pencil case that I used to have at school
  
  
• The fact that I have a new stylish sewing accessories case
  
  
• The fact that I can now leave the house trailing less plastic behind me!
  

Now I was lucky enough to receive another set of the materials for this project. So, unless you want to persuade me otherwise, I can quietly nurse a vision of having - not one but - two stylish accessory cases and reassign both of my freezer bags to other clutter containment duties!

However, I have not decided whether to make my next case:

• an exact replica of the first case, which might lead to confusion when reaching for tools; or



• switch the fabrics over so that I have the gorgeous scissors fabric on the outside and have a secret flower garden on the inside; and/or



• fold the fabric the opposite way in order to make a deeper but narrower case for different sized accessories.

What do you suggest?

In the meantime, I am going to sit here and daydream about future sewing club projects.

If they continue in the same vein as the past three projects then I think that I might have every chance of achieving a more organised sewing space by the end of this year - oooh, what can I tell you?

There is just nothing like a little bit of stylish organisation to make this person a very happy woman indeed - hurray, hurray, hurray!

Wedding Blessing Celebration Invitations

I am not sure whether it is quite safe for me to post yet. I am about halfway through our wedding blessing celebration invitations. Do not yell at me. This has not been a very easy process – how on earth is a person supposed to pick sensibly between the people that they know and love, just in terms of who to invite and who not to invite?

Our key criteria for our blessing were very straightforward. We thought it would be lovely to:

• celebrate somewhere that is meaningful to us both
  
• hold it on the first weekend in July (which is the third anniversary of when we met)
  
• receive our blessing in the same spot that we met
  
• have an event that is laid back and enjoyable – both for us and our guests.
  

Luckily, we have been able to make arrangements to make the first three bullets a reality. We are holding our wedding blessing in the same place that we met three years ago and our blessing is going to be performed by someone we both know and respect. We are still working on the final bullet.

The good news is that our venue has plenty of outside space and lots of room for children to play and people to camp. However, our venue has a limited seating capacity for the meal after the blessing. While this supports the idea of a having a relaxed event of a manageable size, it has also presented us with a problem. We do not have the capacity to invite everyone we know. My extended families are quite large. In fact, trying to work out how to solve this problem is the primary reason that our invitations are so late going out.

In the end, we decided to make our event a simple blend of our immediate families and the friends who know us both, have been an active part of our lives over the past 3 years and have been a part of our journey together (so far). It's not a perfect solution and I am sure that there will be some hiccups to iron out – we just have our fingers crossed in hope that there will not be too many.

~~~

PS, as I am sure that you are all wondering, I have no idea whether or not I am going to wear the plastic fantastic, white wedding dress. Far from losing weight since I last wore it - I seem to have gained more? So even if I could strap the horrible thing on, I suspect that setting free my bingo wings, even in my cream shrug, is a bad idea. I might turn suddenly and knock someone out? No, I have no idea what to wear instead – a bin liner, perhaps? A darker shade of cardigan over my dress, that goes somewhat with my shoes? I think that I might hold off and make a dash to Monsoon or something when I get back to the UK. Ho hum.

100 Lines...

Dear Fella, family & friends,

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.
I promise that I will not post again until our July Wedding Celebration invitations are sent out.

Sometimes...

...a weed is simply a flower in the wrong place:

Here, I think that they are the perfect flower in the perfect place - I love how that yellow sizzles against that blue!

Having snapped these dandelions zinging happily against that wall, I am not immune to the irony of coming home afterwards and using one of these devices to pluck them mechanically out of the lawn, one by one. So now, instead of being a happy sea of yellow and green, our lawn is now a sea of green and little brown potholes - it serves me right!

I have not written about gardening at all so far this year - I feel very conscious that this is my first season in an unknown garden, in a different country.

It feels a bit like being right back to where I was over 10 years ago when I first bought my house in London. I spent the first growing season, watching to see what might emerge from the mud and rubble left by my builders. I thought that I should build on and complement what was already there - as it turned out, nothing emerged at all and I was able to plant up my garden completely from scratch.

I feel that I need to take the same approach here this year: wait to see what is already planted and do my research on what might flourish in any gaps. (I am now well equipped with B.C. specific plant books as a result of a lovely gift from Dotty plus some advice on what other books to purchase!)

In the meantime, I will enjoy the nice surprises from the garden and do my best to battle back 12 years or so of gardening neglect i.e. tackle the weeds, prune the shrubs, nurse the lawns back to life (limed last weekend, now need fertiliser) and plant a few annuals to tide me over until next year.

On the other hand, of course - I could just relax and upset the neighbours (who have spotless, astro-turf looking lawns) by letting the dandelions return and take over...?!

Ps, I have not spotted any sheep in or around Vancouver so I have not seen any Spring lambs this year. So instead, here I present some hard Canadian evidence that Spring has finally reached Vancouver!

Mystery of the Missing Knitter & an Unattended WIP!

Unattended WIP, as spotted in a Vancouver alleyway, behind some shops at 14th & Granville.

I am stumped. I cannot think of a single crafter I know who would be separated willingly from their WIP. So is this a case of:

- Accidental loss? In which case, if you recognise this WIP and know the knitter, please can you get them to hurry on down to 14th and Granville as it might still be sitting there! The Fella would not let me bring it home in case its owner attempted to retrace their steps in order to find it - I sort of suspect that his relectance for me to remove it had more to do with the fact that it looked like it had been run over several times?!

- Foul Play? In which case, should I call the police to report a missing knitter?!

- WIP Cruelty and Abandonment? In which case, should I phone the World Society for the Protection of Knitting, then see if it is possible to track down the missing knitter in order to have them banned from the ownership of a WIP for the next 5 years?!

Oh what to do, what to do...?!

Sew, a needle pulling thread

A long time ago (back in the days before I took up knitting again), I used to head off to quilt shops, festivals and craft fairs with my mother (my family's true textile artist) and pick up the odd fat quarter (or ten) of fabric.

I had quite grand ideas about making myself a quilt for my bedroom and over time, I built up quite a bit of fabric. However, the flaw in my master plan was that I really had no idea how to sew, piece or quilt - at all.

So, other than toying with my fabric a bit, making a few quilt blocks (not all shown) and some Christmas presents, I did not manage to achieve very much:

When I came to Canada, I decided to pack my fabric stash as well as my yarn stash. Just on the basis that if there was ever going to be a time that I might get to grips with the 'whole fabric thing', then surely it would be while I was here?!

So in between study and DIY duties last autumn, I did my best to hunt down a reasonably priced sewing machine. I was stumped - the selection of machines, features and prices were so mind boggling that I stalled completely on the whole sewing idea - I simply could not afford or justify the purchase of the machine that I really wanted.

Then, as you know, the Fella and I got engaged! After a short discussion on the topic of engagement rings, I am delighted to say that mine arrived in the format of a large, heavy brown cardboard box containing a sewing machine! This might be considered a little unconventional but as someone who rarely wears jewellry (or remembers to put on her wedding band each morning), what on earth would I do with a diamond ring except lose it?!

Thus equipped, I joined the sewing club run by the people who sold us my sewing machine. Once a month we tackle a small project that takes us through a range of different sewing techniques. I have been going for three months now and this is our output so far:

Month 1 - Test Stitching

Month 2 - Travel Pincushion with Pockets

Month 3 - Thread Catcher

While extremely informative and fun, the focus of these workshops is firmly on how to use your machine effectively rather than on how to approach a bigger project from end to end. The fabrics are precut for us and the workshop time streaks past like someone running naked across the cricket pitch at Lords!

So, after speaking to the sewing club tutor (who has excellent patience and teaching skills), I signed up for her 'Flying Birds' beginner's quilt class. I have attended two classes so far (2 more are scheduled this month) and it's been brilliant!

In the first session, we learned how to cut our fabrics precisely. In the second, we learned how to put together our first quilt block. Here is our tutor showing us how to piece our blocks together (you can see the quilt top that we are aiming for in the background):

Here is the block that I produced (I need to produce another 8 of these before our next class, next week):

Here is one of my classmates holding up a half completed quilt block:

Now, please do not panic mum but, I am really hoping that I can convince this lady to let me adopt her 'in loco parentis' before end of this course! She happens to be one of the most kindly, lovely people that I have met here. If you flip through this slideshow of our second class (which seems to be running in reverse order)? You will see the really cute baby quilt that she has made for her grandchild and bought to class to show us all. Very cool.

So, in summary, although things have been a bit quiet on the knitting front of late (I am having trouble finding my stitching mojo), I am working away in the background on new skills: sewing, spinning, photography and Photoshop.

So far? It's all a very big but enjoyable learning curve!

Rockpool Candy - Dark Forest - Handspun

Last December my mother sent me an early Christmas treat in the post - a Dark Forest Rockpool Candy batt.

Naturally enough - being me and being terrified of ruining it - I squirrelled it away in my budding fibre stash with the intention that I would pull it back out when my spinning skills were good enough to tackle it.

Following a brief discussion on Ravelry with the Doyenne of UK Fibre Activists and Sculptresses herself, on how to dampen the libido of domestic mice and keep them from 'getting jiggy' with mice from the wrong side of the floorboards, I confessed that I had one of her batts tucked away.

When I let slip mentioned that I was keeping it until my skills were a bit better, I got just the encouragement that I needed to pluck it back out of my stash and have a go - so I did!

Here is my bobbin showing 50g of fibre spun as a single:

As the batt was made up of a mix of different fibre types with silk fabric 'sprinkles', it made it really interesting to work with - just in terms of how it felt and behaved while being spun. I tried to spin the yarn fairly thinly and as evenly as I could, going with the flow as slubs and fabric sprinkles popped up - I have no idea whether this was the right approach or not!

I am really pleased with the result and here is the final skein, washed and dried to set its twist:

I think that this colour is truer to the yarn than the colour on the bobbins above. It is a two ply yarn with nice, subtle variations in colour and texture. I think, but I am not sure, that the skein is approximately 65m of something akin to aran or a light chunky weight? As you can tell, I am not quite there on the whole precise science yardage and weight part of spinning quite yet!

PS, I finished the Autumn in Spring batch of handspun too and I think that I have about 340m (371 yards) of yarn across 3 skeins. Two of the three skeins seem quite close in weight, I think that they are about 38-39m per oz but the third is about 48m per oz. So I think that I need to split them across two different projects!

Thank You!

A little while ago I was very surprised that to learn that I had won this competition being run by Justine, of Miss Flip Knits podcast fame and guess what?  My prize arrived in the post this morning!  

Just look!  I feel like it's my birthday or something: three books (perfect timing), a Fratello kit and a fabulous Namaste buddy case containing a set of absolutely gorgeous stitch holders.

Now, okay, I should mention that Justine (Marama = Ravelry Link) contacted me with a chuckle when I won because it is well known that I am not the biggest fan of sock knitting.  Also, I have glanced at the knitting instructions and I paled in fear at the following words, 'toe-up', best knitted on 'circulars' and uses some kind of 'crochet cast on'.  

Gulp - I think that I have been delivered a extremely hefty learning curve.  However, the yarn is gorgeous and I think that it might be the perfect colour and pattern for the Fella?  

Um.  So.  If I approach anyone soon, hands overflowing awkwardly with pamphlet, circulars, a crochet hook and ball of handsome looking yarn.  Just trust me, unless you are very patient and enjoy working with adults who get very grouchy when they are all fingers and toes with new techniques, I suggest that you RUN! 

Autumn in Spring - Louet Northern Lights Wool Top

The fact that I am still spinning and plying the fibre that I started working on last November should give you some idea how far behind I am on absolutely everything right now.  

However, I am doing my best to catch up (the people to whom I owe return messages, emails and phone calls may not think so but I am trying, I promise) and I present this little bit of crafting progress as evidence:

 

Fibre:  Louet Northern Lights Wool Top

Colourway:  Toffee

Fondly Known As: Autumn in Spring

Skein 1:  2 ply, 3.0 oz, approx 117 m

WPI:  Not calculated yet but I think that it looks around a DK weight?  

Left to Spin:  1.65 oz

Left to Ply:  approx 1.6 and 1.9 oz of spun singles

Plan of Attack:  Ply singles (3 oz of plied yarn looks to fill a single bobbin).  

Split remaining fibre as evenly as possible over whatever remains on two bobbins.

Spin and ply last bit into a mini skein.   

Also, on the craft front, I have squeezed in a little bit of sewing - just in an attempt to learn how to do it and make a dent in my fabric stash.  In fact, I have signed up for a quilt class that starts this week and runs one evening a week, for the next 4 weeks.  Y'know, just because I didn't think that I had quite enough to do?  

Ngg, I know, it could be Autumn again by the time that I finish work on this fibre.  No, no - you are absolutely right, I still haven't managed to write or send invitations for our wedding celebration event in July.  Nor have I spoken to the venue since we booked in it January. Nor have I managed to write all of the thank you cards needed for the 1st March.  Nor have I managed to edit the video that we took of our wedding to send to my family.  Nor have I posted that cardigan to France yet.  Nor have I managed to return a number of messages, emails and phone calls.  Nor have I booked or been for a medical that I am supposed to have as a part of my residency application for Canada.

I would start to hyperventilate but it wouldn't be productive - so please excuse me while I nip off quietly to chalk a few key things off my 'To Do' list!

Photography: an evolving theme

Just to add a little more pressure to the period of time when I was coming to the end of my Masters Certificate studies and organising my wedding, I took a ten week Introduction to Digital Photography course.  

In fact, things got so busy here that I did not blog very much about it but I have used a fair number of the photographs I took in blog posts recently:

 

Um, if work is extremely slow today and you would like to view my Weekly Top 10s as a full set: please click here!

Actually, I enjoyed my course so much (both content and the people that I met) that I have signed up for two further courses this term: Intermediate Photography and Introduction to Photoshop - one course to develop my picture taking skills and the other to help me deal with any glitches in output!

This term looks more structured in terms of its learning objectives and I think that it is going to be a really good challenge. (Please feel free to remind me that I said this when I am still up at 3am trying to sort out images, the night before class at some point later this term!)  Also, I think that it will be a lot of fun - for example, this is last Monday's class in session:

See what I mean?!  Four of the 8 (or was it 9) people on my course, all took the same class last term.  We get on really well too which really took the sting out of 'firstdayawkwarditus' on Monday!  

Also, instead of a random 'Weekly 10' homework project - this term's homework is a single project of my own choosing.  I do have an idea but I am not confident that I have the skills yet to really do it justice - eeep!