This July...

Unlike last month, it’s been a relatively quiet and ‘normal’ month. No jet setting off anywhere, though I have been thinking about where we can go towards the end of the summer. In fact the closest we’ve got to exploring anywhere was the ‘Pour Le France’ wine tasting at our local Majestic store, and that was only very loosely themed. I actually thought their marketing people could have made more of this, and had some fun but that’s by the by, the wine was still good. And we had to go back the next day to collect what we’d bought, always the sign of a successful evening!

We’re wine tasting again tonight at our local independent wine shop and will no doubt be heading back in the next few days to collect our South African purchases.

That seems a great way to celebrate two years since we moved here. It’s the same old adage though - it seems like we’ve been here forever, but also for no time at all at the same time. We don’t regret moving out of London one single bit, which is good news, hey?!

A new sofa and two holes

We went shopping in Nottingham for a new sofa, this time actually making it to the shop we intended. The last time we tried we were distracted and bought some rather large artwork for our stairwell, this time was much more successful and not only did we agree on a sofa style and colour and not flinch too much at the price. After checking the colour and measurements at home, we even ordered it. But would you believe, this is the only photo I took during the whole sofa shopping trip!

WE’RE NOT HAVING GREEN THOUGH!

It’s booked to arrive in the middle of next month, and it’ll be good to replace the garden sofa we’re currently using in the kitchen. That garden sofa, will for the first time in its history finally move into the garden - we’ve had it since 2016, so it’s lived a pretty sheltered life so far.

We’ve ended the month with a hole in the wall too, well two holes in the wall. We had the electrician in to move some high level sockets (intended for a wall mounted TV) down to counter level. We don’t intend having a TV in the kitchen, so it makes sense to stop looking at the sockets. Now we just have to do the final repairs.

I’ll be covering the two holes temporarily with a high tech solution - a folded sheet of A4 paper. But even so it’s already looking better already, and the plant has lived there since our ‘get to know the neighbours’ party coming up for two years ago now.

I’d emptied the bookcases in case they needed to be moved, as it turned out they didn’t but it was no bad thing really as I managed to evict plenty of spider webs and random insects at the same time. And let’s face it, it’ll be a while before they get pulled out again.

While the electrician was here he added some more power sockets for our garage gym and an additional light switch so that we can have lights whichever way we go into the garage - all the mod cons us! It’s taken us a while, but we are finally making headway in sorting out the garage. We’re having a bit of a moving box amnesty with various batches heading off to people living locally who need boxes, as well as some put aside for the youngest niece. So much so that we can almost see the floor in the garage now - and yes, it’s dusty!

I’ve worked out the optimum racking solution for the garage and while sorting it out may still be a bit like one of those puzzles where you move things around for a while before they find their proper home, it is starting to come together.

Mostly sunny BBQs and rainy Saturdays

We’ve celebrated birthdays this month with barbecues starting with MOH’s at the start of the month, closely followed by a trip to Sunny Hunny (which wasn’t so sunny) to celebrate my dad’s 91st birthday, albeit a bit earlier than usual. Last year for dad’s 90th birthday I made him some bunting, this year it got an upgrade so look out for the post on that.

We arrived with everything needed for an impromptu family get together. That is apart from the jug for the Pimms, but we improvised, and improvised well…

It even had a lid!

There’s been a rainy Saturday or two as well this month, but that’s not been so bad as there’s been plenty of sport to keep us entertained; the British & Irish Lions, the Tour de France, the darts and so much more, that we haven’t really minded the wet -but still humid - weekends. And it won’t be long before the football season starts again though we’re currently unsure where, or if, we’ll be able to watch the Community Shield between each of our teams as that’s another fixture that’s fallen to TNT Sports.

A new craft

You’ll have seen that I’ve picked up a new hobby this month, and one that I think may actually lead MOH to despair. I already had a fair bit of what I’ll call ‘a waste stash’ by which I mean those bits you keep because they could be handy one day, and now I’m looking at everything with fresh eyes. As the days go by I’m finding more and more things in my craft room that could come in useful for this new ‘need’ - I just need to work out how to fit it in alongside everything else, and how not to make over-extensive plans. The usual really!

I’ve also been getting to know my new ‘take to’ sewing machine, which was a purchase at the start of the month. I’d planned to take my old Toyota sewing machine to my sewing group, instead of the hand sewing that I usually take, and thankfully had the idea to try it before I went. Sadly that didn’t go so well as the machine goes up and down, but not forward. It also sounds like a train - and not one of those quiet ones, so I took myself off to the sewing machine shop for a new one. Look out for a post in the coming weeks about my ‘take to’ workshops and sewing group machine, and my first makes using it.

And I’ll leave you with the current state of my ‘Essex Kisses’ quilt which featured in my June quilty update.

It’s so close to being almost there, that I’m hoping that once I’ve got my June charity quilt and Block of the month finished, I’ll be able to crack on with this. I’ve now got the perfect backing fabric for this, and have ideas about how I want to quilt it - but I’ll save that for the update when it’s done.

All I need is not to get too distracted by my visit to the Festival of Quilts this weekend - wish me luck!

If you want to read my previous monthly updates in my ‘This is’ series you’re very welcome.

Getting hooked on weaving with waste

Earlier in the year I tried to book on a workshop with Sarah Cooke, but unfortunately I’d discovered it too late and it didn’t go ahead as there weren’t the numbers for it to be viable, which was a shame. I hoped there might be another date at some point, but didn’t really think any more of it until one morning on our recent holiday when I saw it advertised in my sewing group’s facebook group. I couldn’t believe my luck and manically emailed the organiser to secure my place. What’s more, this newer date was much closer than the previous one, so it was a real bonus for me.

And so I turned up not quite sure what to expect, and not really sure I was going either - but that happens a lot as I’m continually discovering new places by attending workshops or exercise classes!

Sarah started the day by showing some of her makes, which you’d never guess what they’re made of. Clue - it’s all waste products, and for these two that I’m sharing here, they’re most likely food products we have in our freezers and in our store cupboards.

A striped weaving by Sarah Cooke made from Sensations crisp packets

A green and yellow striped bag by Sarah Cooke made from bags of frozen peas and frozen sweetcorn

So the two examples above use (clean) crisp packets and frozen vegetable bags, and you wouldn’t think to use them would you? But Sarah did and they are amazing, they’re also both really soft which I didn’t expect either. If you look at the pictures closely now you know what they’re made from you can see some of the text remains and almost gives it away.

Now you can see why I was so captivated, and inspired can’t you?

Sarah brought plenty of ‘waste’ for the group to use throughout the day, and there were things you’d expect like wool, ribbons, trimmings and material scraps, as well as things you’d probably not expect. For me the revelation were those plastic string bags that lemons, oranges and other fruit come in - they’re amazing to use, as well as old hi-vis jackets, plastic metallic streamers, oh and so much more.

We started by adding our warp to the frame - I opted for a cerise and a boucle red, and you’ll see these intermittently in my weaving. I should say that this is my first time weaving and while I’d love for my outputs to be as good as Sarah’s, I know I’ve a way to go and for me the day was about trying things out.

But it didn’t surprise me that when confronted by the tables of stuff I headed to my default colour scheme of pink, red, orange and yellow with a few variations.

From the bottom I’ve used: wool, plastic metallic streamer, more wool, a strip of orange hi-vis clothing, more wool, more plastic metallic streamers, more wool, a bobble trim with the bobbles poking out to the front, wool, plastic rope, wool, plastic twine (this isn’t as closely woven), wool, a material scrap, red mesh bags, wool, yellow mesh bags, wool, more hi-vis material, wool, orange mesh bags, wool, bobble trimming, orange mesh bag, wool, black and white plastic rope, a split row of the bobble trimming and a flat metallic plastic strip, black and white plastic rope and wool.

Mine grew pretty quickly on the day, and while wall hangings are nice they aren’t me. So my plan is heading more towards a placemat for our garden table. That said though I do like the effect of it on the frame against our white walls and MOH is going to put some hooks up in my craft room so I can enjoy it as transient art while it’s ‘in progress’.

It has grown a little since the workshop too, but there’s a little further for it to go yet.

Since the workshop I’ve added: wool, a velvet trim I’d kept from a t-shirt, wool, a velour strip, a red mesh bag and a ribbon from chocolates.

In the weft rows I’ve added since the workshop the velvet trimming and chocolate ribbon have come from my own stash - and I’ve plenty more that I could use. In fact I came home from the workshop so inspired I was immediately off to look out that velvet trimming which I’d kept for I didn’t know what until then. I’ve also found some plastic present wrapping ribbon which I’ve never used but fell in love with years ago at Ikea - these will feature in a future attempt.

I also have plenty of ribbons, and scraps of materials and edgings which I’ve known ‘will be useful one day’ and the great thing is their day is coming, well when I find the time. I didn’t really know I needed a new craft, but I’m happy I’ve found it!

I’m also commissioning MOH to make me a smaller sized frame, so that I can make smaller pieces and potentially use some of the crochet threads I’ve acquired over the years, but first on my list is to finish this one and to make complementary (and not necessarily matching) table mats to use.

Watch this space.

Pleated Tulips

I’ve updated the final section of this post now that the quilt is fully complete, after a final push to baste, quilt and bind it this weekend.

I’ve made another quilt as part of my quilting ‘stretch’ project this time using the block from Sherri at A Quilting Life’s mystery block a month. As I said then I don’t know if I’ll manage to make a quilt a month, but I won’t really know unless I try…

And as I said in my recent Quilty Update I’ve realised that this stretch project is dominating my sewing, so I need to work out how to change that so I stand a chance of achieving more of the quilts and other projects on my list. Small steps and all that, but as you’ll have seen I’ve finally made myself a dress, so there’s some hope!

I’m trying not to beat myself up too much for not finishing another quilt, even though I gave myself a bit longer to do this one since we returned from our trip. I’m looking at the positives, which are that given I started this one less than a week ago, it’s already at this stage with only the final steps to complete. And if you say the final steps of baste, quilt and bind quickly, then it really isn’t very much at all!

My seventh charity quilt

Last month I intended to include much more yellow in my Friendly Bee quilt, but when I pulled the materials from my stash it didn’t work out that way, so this month I was more determined. And more successful!

The materials I’ve used in this quilt are parts of four different fat quarters, along with some plain yellow strips from an old netball skirt for the flowers, and some white/gold material as the background and first border which was left over from the backing of last month’s quilt. The pleated yellow border is also from an old netball skirt, which also explains the name. The aztec patterned material is an old duvet cover, and the grey which I’ll explain later was also from an old duvet cover, which I used to back my first charity quilt with Flying Geese. Nothing goes to waste here!

Once I’d drawn lines and pinned the HSTs (half square triangles) in place, it started to make more sense - well perhaps to me at this stage anyway.

Quite quickly four flowers emerged.

I was mildly irritated with myself as I hadn’t managed to match very many of my seams - but as we know, these are test blocks for my Mystery Block of the Month quilt, so at least I knew where I should focus my attention when it came to making that.

I added borders merrily, enjoying getting back to using my machine. This time I used the same material for all of the borders, mostly because I was that intent on having a cheery yellow quilt I wanted nothing to set me off track.

It was only when I laid the blocks out that I saw the nearly matching of the zig zags, which wasn’t my intention. It was close enough that it would look like I’d tried to pattern match, and failed - and I knew it would be distracting to my eye at least. But I also knew I wasn’t going to unpick them and try to get them to match.

So my plan was to add plain sashing to help distract my eyes - and I think it works. Phew.

So there it is, my seventh finished charity quilt top waiting to be finished off which I’m hoping will be relatively soon. My plan is to use the grey, white and yellow aztec print on the back of the quilt and to use that as the binding too, but there’s a couple of steps before I get to the binding.

Finishing the quilt: Update

It is done, and I’m happy with how it turned out. Once again I’ve quilted using horizontal lines, and this is quickly becoming my favourite style. It’s something I saw and liked at the Newark Quilt Show, so I’m pleased it’s working out well for me too.

Unusually I decided against adding a scrappy border, as I’ve done with each of my charity quilts until now. For me this one needed more of the yellow and grey Aztec print, and that’s what it got.

The binding wasn’t without issue though. I opted to use a yellow thread, which my machine only liked in short lengths - thankfully I hadn’t thought to quilt the whole thing in yellow - although I can tell you if I had I’d have adopted a new plan pretty quickly! But lesson learned, and that thread is put away for predominantly non-sewing use (don’t ask, as I’m not sure myself what that is!)

You can see my other quilts which I’ve made to donate to Project Linus - a charity whose mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children, who are sick, disabled, disadvantaged or distressed through the donation of new, homemade, washable quilts and blankets, including those that are part of this ‘stretch’ project in earlier posts. I’m aiming to publish an update on my progress in the last week of each month for the remainder of 2025.