rhubarb crumble

mmh... i just put the 1st rhubarb crumble of the year into the oven! we had to cut back our rhubarb plant allready, it started growing over the path (our garden is small so everything is small and narrow and close together). my mother in law's in longford has only just started sprouting, i didn't realise there was such a difference in climate! we're lucky though, our garden is south facing and quite sheltered.

we also did a little trip to woodies yesterday and bought a patio set: two chairs and a table. the table was put together quick enough despite the usual useless drawings and instructions, i mean, why do they have to label the pieces a1 and b2 and so on, why not just say outer left leg, inner right leg etc. it would save all the guessing and turning each piece every way to figure out whether it's a1 or b2! anyhow, for the 2 chairs we got 3 left arm rests and one right... so today i had to go back and swap one of them, it took the customer service girl, a boy, a manager and another boy, and some animated discussions amongst them, to get me the right piece, good job i brought the drawing with me, only after i showed that to one of them did they understand what i meant by 'i would like to exchange this left armrest for a right armrest'.


not many crafty news here, i have been extremely tired lately, i still haven't finished the cream wool clapotis scarf, or the mirasol sulka hat, but i've started a flannel blanket (just 2 pieces of flannel and a blanket stitch edging) and a granny square blanket, from a mixture of rialto, sublime cashmere merino and some other similar leftover yarn. i started 25 squares during our little easter getaway, i've used some pale grey and sage green so far, and a dark fuchsia. i will see how far i get. with what i have and then maybe buy some more in a matching colour to make borders for them all. i had initially thought i might make my usual 'giant granny square' but with every round in a different colour, but i thought if the different types of wool shrink differently in the wash it'll be nicer if each square has slight bumps than if the whole blanket's structure is uneven.



oh, and i cut up an unshapely cardigan in a lovely dusky pink soft loose knit, and made a thin scarf and a head band from the sleeves. i still have the body part, a strange round shape, to make something with! must take some pics. every time i dug this out of the wardrobe i though ' why am i not wearing this lovely soft cardi in that beautiful colour more often, only to realise after i've left the house in it, that it makes my arse look huge (it is quite big but not THAT BIG).


i would also like to make this blanket and this scarf, but with my current energy levels they will be projects for next winter.

baby gifts

some rather late presents for two friends who had baby girls!
i used some of these thrifted napkins(?) to appliquee babygrows and to make bibs (pattern from bend the rules sewing). I especially like the babygrows, the embroidery looks great, something elaborate looking that only took 10 minutes to make! i also like the way the white thin cotton weave looks on the cotton knit.

The bibs gave me some trouble with the snap buttons, they are from a set from LIDL and i destroyed twice as many as i finally attached to the bibs... i wonder if i can get matching better quality snap buttons for the pliers or if i should just go back to using the sew on ones... also, i only had cream flannel for the back so they look a bit darker

busted

This morning, as i sat in my pyjamas on the settee, happily going through boxes of fabrics and ignoring the mess in the kitchen, P's brother and sister in law with their children turned up at the door! they had texted me 10 minutes before, but my phone was upstairs in the bedroom where i couldn't hear it and P didn't wake up.

I had had some ambitions of appearing to be a tidy sort of person that keeps a lovely and clean house, especially concerning my future family in law, and so far the pretence has worked, as all P's relatives live 2 hours away! But I'm so busted... They had stayed in a hotel yesterday, for a weekend break, and I was vaguely aware of them maybe coming over in the afternoon, but I had expected a call and a half hour or so to tidy up and do the dishes...

Anyhow, after I got over the initial shock, got everybody a coffee and P stumbled out of bed as well, we had a nice day, booked their flights and car for our wedding, played the wii and later went to the seaside, for a walk on the beach, the playground and some nice grub.

This evening i got to take out those fabrics again and one of the things i made was a quick hooks and needles roll (the needles clattering onto the floor as i was trying to discreetly tidy away things, made me feel the need for one)

it's most of the back of a felted jumper and some cotton from ebay, the thing folds into thirds and then ties with the attached pink rick rack.

I'm not sure if i love or hate working with felt, i worry a lot about my sewing machine and it gets uneven so easily, and it can be very frustrating, but it's such a lovely material!

The other things i made are the little camera case below inspired by this all-buttoned-up post , also made from a felted jumper, and a little matching cotton bag for the cable and tripod. the case is really soft and thick, it should protect the camera quite well. how well the felt will survive in my messy handbag is a different story.


I think for the rest of the evening i will just work on my crochet scarve a little more, I might even finish it! The house is returned to an acceptable state, we're going to get some pizza and there are still a few beers in the fridge... isn't life lovely sometimes?

do you ever go into the garden just to have a look around

and end up with hands like this?

i find it very hard to stop once i'm out there pulling at this weed, deciding to move that little plant to a better spot... i ended up raking over all the bald patches in the lawn and spreading compost and organic fertiliser and grass seeds. then p raked it all in and watered the whole thing. it's lucky we have such a small garden!



cup of tea and some sunflower seed bread with mirabell jam, and the last bit of comte cheese



and this evening, while p was next door to play our neighbour's nephew's playstation 3 i made a glasses case for my workmate Ger, from a piece of her donated wooly jumper, that i felted a few weeks ago. the wool, a deep purpley navy, has orange specks, so i used orange stranded cotton to assemble the outer pieces and the lining (recycled T-shirt, nice and soft, won't scratch the glasses) with blanket stitch, then i added the orange
design on the front. i really should learn some basic embroidery stitches, this is just the normal sewing stitch.

smock bib for a little boy

I made that smock bib I was talking about the other day!



I used cotton fabric from a thrifted shirt, I made the bias tape for the neck and arm openings from the same fabric and handstitched it in at our stitch and bitch night.



At the moment there are just the ties at the back but I might add some snap fastenings, I'll have to see what my friend says after she tried it on the wriggly little boy!



I machine appliqueed the little mushrooms, the tight satin stitch really puckered the fabric, I still have to figure out how to do this properly (it's only the second time I've tried it).

Shoulder Bag / Hand Bag

I finished the felt bag today, and i'm quite proud of myself, i've made shopping bags and coin purses and some drawstring bags before, but not a proper little handbag! here it is!


I went very much with the shape of the jumper, 'work with what you have', the back of the neck opening was higher than the front and therefore ended up as the flap. To make room for the straps I made the pleats at the front, this also shaped the bag a little, as did the boxing out seams at the bottom (not really visible in the photos). I used the blanket stitch to flatten the seams, which were very bulky due to the thickness of the felt.


I finally decided on these yokes called yo-yos that i've seen on several other craft blogs, i covered the centres with appliqued black felt circles, and added some leaves around the 'blossoms'.


For fastenings i went for velcro strips. I placed them the way I did not by accident but on purpose, it's so that the velcro will catch whether the bag is empty or stuffed to the gills.



And another two pictures of the inside of the bag, i made this little zippered pocket, which i boxed out at the bottom. I went for a satin stitch to attach it, to do with being too lazy to find out which of the mysterious attachments is the zipper foot and therefore getting a wonky seam, covering this up with satin stitch and then discovering that it'll be much easier to continue on with that to attach the whole pocket like that which saves folding the edges under, it makes for a much flatter edge as well (...OK it was very late at night and I had to go to work early the next day...) There's a little strap with a hook for a set of keys, the very thing i tend to lose at the bottom of my bags...

Anyhow, I am very pleased with it overall, and hope that my workmate, who gave me the jumper, will like it too! I told her I'd make something of the jumper and if she'd like it it's hers. Maybe I'm secretly hoping she won't want it...

Charity shop finds

a gorgeous coffee pot, i'm not sure, is it fifties style? It goes wonderfully with the wall



blue jumpers (i took them apart and washed them hot so i have lovely soft felt like material now) i think these will become bags, or maybe flowers?



and these funky napkins? placemats? what will i make out of them, the green ones are gorgeous, the others are OK, the material is quite rough cotton or synthetic.

more recycling - felted jumper bag

i finally got round to starting a bag made from a felted (fulled) woolly jumper (sweater), it's lined with cotton (leftovers from making summer trousers (my 'baker' trousers) about 10 or 15 years ago... i had cut up the remainder of the fabric for a patchwork project i envisaged but never started, back then, before i knew anything about patchwork, like it's really important to cut strait lines, and that yoy should decide on the size of your finished blocks and what size of project I had to painstakingly piece the lining together from 4 inch and a bit approximate squares)

I don't know what i'll do for a closing mechanism, maybe ties, or a button? or something like a leather strap that you wind around a button? i have no idea yet.
i'd also like to embellish it a little more, if that wouldn't be too much in addition to the checked fabric and the blanket stitch... i like thr flowers on this, does anybody know how to make them?

recycling - some practice projects

i fancy trying some recycling projects, so here are my practice runs, a piece of transparent blue shower curtain went towards this little lined purse, but i'm not quite sure if i like it...




And this lined drawstring backpack was made from a former favourite jumper (sweater), I probably should have read up on making backpacks a bit more, beforehand, I think the straps might have been better attached lower... Ore maybe I should start using actual patterns...




And finally, not recycling related, but here my first attempt at machine appliquee (using satin stitch), good job it will be hidden away in the utility room - as expected it's not a perfect result! But I'll definitely try again - but i won't use the pinking shears, and i'll know where to leave the needle when i turn...