Opening Mail and A Sewing Tip

The mail has arrived with some delightful things that I have been waiting for; so I thought I would share them with your.

My latest "must have" book is once again from The Book Depository and is; 'The Cozies (2)' which is published by the Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd.

For the creation of this book, competitions were held by the UK 'Knitting Magazine' asking readers to design and make cozies especially for publication and this is their second book.

Wow...what talent exists out there..I am in love with these cozies and can see myself sitting by the fire during our upcoming winter with needles and yarn in hand;

Black and White......soooo classy!

A Garden one....and oh so magical;

Strawberries...yes please!

Cupcake will always be a favourite.

THEN.....there was my parcel from Winterwood.....oh my; I love this dreamy pure wool felt; I am building up my collection of colours in this gorgeous felt and am "itching" to create something with them.....got any suggestions????

NOW.....I was once again sewing my current 'leftover challenge' project for the publication in the Handmade magazine later in the year and I thought....wonder if you all know about this little trick I use when sewing close to buttons and beads......??? Probably not so here it is;

Place a thin piece of cardboard over the beads or buttons just before you approach them with the sewing foot on the machine. I just use whatever cardboard is at hand....this is a piece off my favourite coffee box, 'Nescafe Cafe Menu' Hazelnut Latte...yum;

Leave a gap big enough for the needle to sew through. Hold the cardboard firmly to allow the foot to climb onto it and continue sewing as normal:

The foot will slide along the cardboard like a skateboard sliding on concrete and the buttons or beads won't suffer any damage or jamm the foot;

There you are.....no stress!

Hope you are all having a nice Monday.....would love to hear what you are up to...opening interesting mail perhaps ???

Meeting a Legend !

Last Saturday I had the opportunity of meeting the delightful Bronwyn Hayes from Red Brolly. Bronwyn is one of the few Designers, who pioneered the combination of stitchery work and patchwork in Australia; creating her memorable quilts which we all know and love.

The softly spoken Bronwyn is as charming as her design work and it was such a joy to meet her.

The girls from 'A Quilters Hive' made this possible by inviting Bronwyn to be in attendance at their stand at the Newcastle Craft Expo; thank you girls.....

Candy also thrilled me with this gorgeous floral trim on this pretty cushion. Alas it was completly sold out by the time I got to the stand, but I'm assured that as soon as it comes in, it will be on the Quilters Hive Website for us to grab a few metres....can't wait!

this was another gorgeous trim that made my heart stand still........Candy sent me home with a piece to experiment with...thankyou sweetheart;

The girls also told me that they will be hosting a Quilters Retreat, commencing Friday 20th August, 2010 at the EcoPoint Myall Shores Resort, which is in the Great Lakes/Forster area
of NSW. The fabulous Libby Richardson will be the Guest Tutor, so if you have seen any of Libby's quilts i.e. 'Girls Day Out', Teddies Garden Treasurers' or 'Remember When', you will be drooling at the thought of a retreat with this wonderful Designer. Visit the Quilters Hive Website to make enquiries.....bookings are being taken now; so don't miss it;

The Craft Expo was an amazing event; isle after isle of stalls brimming with fabrics, papercrafts, beading, stamping etc, etc. Photographs are not encouraged so I am limited to the ones the girls from A Quilters Hive allowed me to take but.......one young girls was more than happy for me to take a pic of her cash register........isn't this gorgeous......talk about bling, every inch was covered with sparkling stickers!!!

Although I've been to Newcastle and back; I am still busy with my usual "secret sewing" for publication. So; when I was making a fabric frill this morning; I thought you might like to see how I make mine....here's a sneak peak of the project;

This is a single frill, so I have turned under both edges and stitched them down. Then; I placed a length of crochet cotton down the middle and sew a zig zag stitch, so that it steps over the crochet cotton all the way to the end.

This is how it looked when I finished sewing;

I secure one end of the crochet cotton then; pull the cotton and the frill gathers up;

It's an easy peasy way to make a frill....!

Romancing 'Rouenneries'

Have you seen it yet ??? The beautiful range of fabric called 'Rouenneires' by Moda! My friends from The Gum Tree Designers and I have........and.......we've not only been stroking and coooing over this wonderful bundle of fabrics; we've all been working on a special project with them as well.

Now you know how we love to tease you....well......I'm sorry but we are going to do it again !!! Here is a sneak peak of my work for the project;

got you wondering ?? That's good....lol ! All will be revealed very soon so keep visiting our blogs because you won't want to miss out on this exciting project.

Now....while I was stitching away on my part of the project, I got to thinking that you might like to know a couple of my stitching secrets.....well, not secrets really, but I don't think to tell anyone......so this time I have thought to share it with you.

A lot of people tell me that their embroidery threads knot and tangle all the time when they are stitching. Well......the problem is not with the thread itself...it is with the way we wrap them around our little bobbins to keep them nice and tidy. If you roll out thread from your bobbin, you will see kinks at every turn the thread made around the bobbin. The kinks are the problem!!!!

Your embroidery thread MUST BE smoothed out in one nice length before you commence splitting threads for stitching.......so......the answer is to IRON IT......yes; roll out the threads you are going to use on your ironing board and gently iron the kinks out....try it, I think you will be surprised at the difference it makes.

The other thing I would like to share with you; is how I start and stop my stitching, at the back of my work. This is when I am stitching with two threads on light fabric and I want to ensure that only the design line threads are visible.

Now; this is difficult for me as I am a knot it, knot it, knot it girl.......lol.....but; I do discipline myself to work like this when the stitching is for a special projects. It does use more thread and is slower...........and there are other methods that may work better in those areas; but I still like to know that my work is "blindly knotted" at the back....never to come undone.

This is how the back of my work looks;

The first step is to pull one thread from a length of thread that is twice the size of your arm up to the elbow (approx); and....as I have just said....the thread must be very straight...no kinks!

Step two is to thread the embroidery needle (I use Size 9) with the two ends of the thread together, thus creating a loop at the bottom;

Then; commence a stitch as normal...I am using a backstitch in the examples; so am bringing the needle up from the underneath side of the work but I do not pull the loop through to the front instead I catch it with my finger underneath and hold it;

then; I insert the needle from the front and come through to the underneath side. It will look like this;

now to complete the stitch; I put the needle through the loop and pull firmly to lock the threads together.

I always rock the stitch backwards then forwards to sit the stitch down nicely. Then continue stitching as normal;

At the end of your stitching line; I slip the needle through the previous stitch and create a loop;

then; I pass the needle through the loop and once again, rock back and forward to settle the knot into the stitching line;

finally......I run the needle and thread through the previous stitches; then cut the end off.

to continue stitching.....I separate the cut off thread then use one length at a time as before; to stitch smaller sections of the design.

Have I wet your appetite for stitching in red? Hope so; because we've got something beautiful for you to work on and it will be available very soon!

Extra Sewing Tips

Narelle said that "she would liked to have seen how the finish looked on the back of the binding" that I previously posted about.....well Narelle here it is;

This is a placemat that I worked on yesterday. The first photo shows how I turn the binding over to the back and pin in place ready for hand sewing. You will see that the corner is shaped to fold a mitre;

In this case, to work quickly, I did a slip stitch around the binding...you can see in the photo that the mitre has been sewn in by slip stitching up the fold and then bringing the needle back down to continue sewing. Note that my slip stitches are "just" below the seam allowance line. If I have time, I often to do a blind hemming stitch as the stitches are almost invisible.

This photo shows the finished corner and edges.

I thought you might also like to see how I quilted this place mat...here are the evenly spaced quilting lines;

To get this result I used 0.25in Quilters Removable Tape;

I used my Quilters Ruler to create a grid across the placemat and, as I went I stuck a piece of tape down alongside the rulers edge. Note how I have extended the tape beyond the edges;

then; I lifted the extended pieces of tape, turned them over to the back and stuck them down to hold the top, the wadding and the backing together......

I marked each tape with an arrow to indicate where I needed to sew to keep the even grid, then used my walking foot and sewed close to each tape edge from top to bottom....

You're finished....just peel all the tape off.....save it because you can use it a few more times. I wrap mine around a glass bottle.

Now isn't that an easy way to quilt a small item....no pins, no basting...just careful "sticking"!

Come Stitching With Me!

I am often asked "do I use a hoop"....well the answer is "no, I do not"........now that doesn't tell you much does it? No.......well I thought I would take you through the final stages of the project I finished to-day to tell you what I do. It's in the mail to Handmade for publication, so I can't show you everything, but I can give you a sneak peek of how I got my finishing result.

I used pretty glass beads for some embellishment....just love them!

Generally, when the design is drawn and I have ironed the wadding onto the back of the front, I use a stitchery backing on the back. This prevents the migration of wadding to the front of the work. I always baste my layers together like this;

and; I fold the surplus of the backing over the edges and baste them down too. This prevents the edges from fraying while you are working on the stitchery;

I roll the surplus part of the unit up to meet where I want to stitch then; using my fingers, I apply upward pressure from the back to minimise creases;

Once hand stitching is completed and the final backing is sandwhiched to the unit, I prepare the binding then create a pocket at the start. The pocket will accommodate the final end of the binding for a neat finish. I only pin the start, then I hold the binding in place all the way around with my fingers to keep it firm;

When I arrive at the first corner, I stop 0.25in inwards from the approaching edge. Then; I sew directly across the angle to the corner; to set up the mitre;

I fold the binding back on itself in line with the previous stitching to the corner.

Then; I fold the binding downwards along the next edge to be stitched. I start sewing again 0.25in from the edges;

I continue sewing until I return to the starting point. Then; I trim the end of the binding and slip it into the pocket;

Once the binding is settled into the pocket, I complete the seam;

This is how the finished corners look on the right side.

Well; this is what I finished making to-day.....what did you finish? I would love to hear.