Mystery Solved

Remember I purchased this large safety pin at the Newbridge Swap Meet on Sunday and had no idea what it would be used for.

It looks like a giant’s nappy pin.  It was suggested it is a kilt pin, but way too big, then it was suggested it was for keeping a cardigan/wrap closed, but once again too thick, as it would leave a gaping hole in any fabric.  Is it a stitch holder for knitting?  No, too short and once again too thick and difficult to open.

A google search using their image search revealed the truth.  It is a Risdon Key Tag, although this one is a different brand.

They were designed with the flat surface over the clip to enable a number or name to be stamped on it.  They had various uses, one being for sailors to close their laundry bags, another being to “lock out” machinery while it was being worked on, so that no one could accidentally start up the machine.

So, not at all textile related, but still an interesting talking point collectable.

A Busy But Fun Sunday

Our Sunday got off to an early start as we headed out to have a look around the Newbridge Swap Meet.  Our intention was to have a wander around, chat with people we know who are also wandering around and buy an egg and bacon roll and coffee for breakfast, and nothing else.  You can imagine how that went……

Of course we did buy and egg and bacon roll and coffee and chat to lots of people we knew, but there was a bit of other shopping as well.  

This is my little haul.  I know my sewing room walls are full, but I can always do a juggle to fit in another lovely old poker work doiley press.  I have Mum’s Dorcas pin tin, but it is scratched from use, so it was nice to find this one in great condition for next to nothing and how could I resist that safety pin.  No, it isn’t a nappy pin, although it looks like one.  It would have to be for a baby giant.  It was also suggested it is for a kilt, but would leave a huge hole in it, and I’m also sure it wouldn’t be a knitting stitch holder, as it isn’t long enough and it takes quite a bit of strength to open it.  

Mick bought an old oil can and a thingummy for a tow bar, which he was very happy about.

A few books also came home with us and this one was bought solely for the title.  I started to read it, then skimmed part of it and then read about the last third.  It was OK, but not really the sort of story I normally read, although it does get good reviews.  I have to stop buying books solely because they have a textile related title.  However, I will count this as having read a book this month.

That was the first part of the day.  After lunch we hopped in Rosie the Suzuki Sierra and went out to our mate’s place again to get more blackberries.  They were much more plentiful this time around.  Most of these have been frozen.

However, we did have some for breakfast this morning. Yummo!

Then, in the late afternoon and evening I went up to the church to assist with the Twilight Pioneer Cemetery Wander, as part of the Bicentenary celebrations.  This was to take place on both Saturday and Sunday evenings, but Saturday got washed out.  

We had a little rain at the start, but all went ahead last night. I think everyone found the stories of some of the area’s first settlers who are buried here to be really interesting.

The sunset we ended up experiencing, looking over town, was beautiful.

As we enjoyed supper in front of the church.

A lovely way to end the day.

Blue House Sampler Completed

This is a project that I have had a lot of fun with.

It all started with me very quickly tracing off a few stitcheries to take with me to the Isle of Man back in late May and early June.  I made a start while sitting in a church yard beside the race course.  I didn’t get a great deal stitched while over there and then gradually added a few stitches now and then once we returned home.

I finally completed the stitching earlier this month and initially planned to simply add a two inch border of blue fabric, as per the original pattern by Gail Pan.

However, for some reason I can’t remember, I decided that it would be a bit boring and started to wonder what else I could do with the stitchery.  Maybe a bag, or what about a more detailed mini quilt to hang in my sewing room?  That’s when I made a huge mess on the dining table, pulling out vintage trims, laces, various fabrics and had a general play.

At the end of that day I had this vague idea.

The size would be determined by the vintage coat hanger I wished to use as the hanger.  This has been waiting for the right project for many years.

Over the next few days I gradually added bits and pieces, just making it up as I went along. 

Let’s have a bit of a look to see what I used. Firstly, I added the fabric borders.  The floral fabric on the left is one I have had for many years, probably since the 90s, and I just use little bits every now and then.  Initially, I was going keep everything blue, except for the front door, but once I added this fabric it seemed to set the colour scheme for the project.  The stripe at the top is a scrap from my Blue Quilt.  It is actually joined from two pieces and I didn’t do the best stripe match, but decided to leave it.   The large blue piece of fabric is from and end of bolt I purchased for next to nothing at Spotlight shortly after I started quilting, so in the early 2000s.  It has been included in many of my projects over the years and has been so very versatile.

The linen that the sampler is worked on is an offcut from the Vintage Linens Quilt that I made a few years ago.  It even had a hand stitched hem at the bottom, which I left in place.  The pale green huckaback with the white crochet lace edging is the offcut from a hand towel, also used in that quilt.  The final offcut from the vintage linens quilt is the narrow crochet lace across the bottom of the sampler.  It only had about an eighth of an inch beyond the crochet, so I carefully hand stitched it to the linen hem and then did a stitch in the ditch by machine to secure it to the huckaback.  The ric rac is blue and white, which is rather unusual and was found in my stash of bits and pieces.

Decisions, decisions.  At this point I did add the two lace flowers to hide the ends of the narrow lace,  There were just the two flowers and a bit of a stem joining them, so they were perfect.  You can also see that I had added some decorative blanket stitch to the right of the flowers.

I had two pieces of this sweet lace edging and wanted to use one.  I thought it would go OK here, but that tape at the top didn’t look too good.

Maybe cover it with some little hexies?  Nah, it still doesn’t really cover it.

Then I remembered some trims made with a very fine silk ribbon.  There was a green one that may work.  It didn’t, the colour was too grassy green, but there was a very narrow trim with pink flowers.  That did work.  

I kept fiddling and decided that this would be my final layout. 

I thought I would attache the little fabric scraps at the top with decorative stitching, but it didn’t look very good at all, so was removed.  Simple running stitch was all that was required.

Once I had all the trims attached, other than the buttons, it was time to think about quilting it.  I knew I didn’t want a binding, as I wanted to have the lace edging on the bottom.  What to use for a backing?  I have a few vintage damask serviettes, so I selected one of those, opting for the one with the least distinct pattern and the thinnest fabric, as I was going to hand quilt it.  For the batting, I joined a couple of little off cuts.  Here it is, stitched on three sides, ready to trim and turn right side out.

Now it’s starting to take shape.  Thread basted and ready to turn under the bottom hem and then do the quilting and add the buttons.

This really has been a project of using whatever bits and pieces I had to hand, even down to some sewing cotton that has been hanging around for years to thread baste and using scraps of crochet cotton to do the quilting.  The blue was used around the stitchery and the cream for everything else.  The cream one came to me from one of my stitching friends when she was sorting out her mother’s craft supplies.  It’s nice to use it.

Not quite “Ta Da”, but nearly there.  That top right hand corner neeeded something, both to fill the space and to anchor it more for hanging.  But what?  Some boro quilting,  more buttons?  I needed to think on it for a day or so.  I thought about adding a small quote, but everything I came across was too long or I wasn’t fussed.  I didn’t want “Home sweet home” or “Home is where the heart is”.  

In the end I just stitched “Home” and a couple of hearts, taking elements from the sampler and added a border.  It is probably a bit larger than I would have liked, but I wasn’t going to redo it.  If I come up with something better, it won’t take much to remove it.  I also found a little pink bejewelled heart charm, so added that as well.

So, here it is.  Ta Da!

And the back.

Let’s have a little closer look at some of it.  You can kind of see the sweet little floral trim I added to the lace. The tiny hexies were made a year or so ago from scraps from my Splendid Sampler 2 quilt and have just been loose in a little baggie.  I still have a few more and plenty of more scraps.  The hexy flower was made at the same time.  The buttons are just ones I found in my button stash.  The two little blue buttons were just the right colour, so had to be included.

In addition to what I have already shown in the bottom section, the floral braid came from Mum’s stash.  She has some lovely laces and trims.  The buckle was in my bits and bobs.  I seem to collect old buckles.  The “JM” is French laundry tape.  A lady in France used to blog and she was selling it, so I treated myself.  

So, there you have it.  My little stitchery, traced off with no plan, just something to stitch, has ended up having a life of its own and giving me a lot of fun along the way. Added to that, it has even ended up being a sustainable sewing project.  

Fortunately, there was still one spot where I could hang it in my sewing room.  It suits the room rather well.

The First Week of August

 It is amazing how much more productive I can be when I stay home.  Who’d have thought?

The first sewing project I worked on was the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It didn’t take too long to piece my two split nine patch blocks.  These were actually completed on Saturday morning, before the big sewing room tidy up.

I cut out two hexy flowers at the same time and pieced them yesterday at my patchwork morning.   Rather glarey, aren’t they.  I channeled my inner frugalness, as the orange floral vintage sheet fabric was left over binding from my Crossroads quilt.  There was the join in the binding, so I decided to leave it in place.  You often see pieced small pieces in vintage quilted.

Just for fun, and to use up some of my tiny scraps, just now I have pieced another crumb block.

Here is my little collection so far.  They are quick and easy, and use up those scraps that most people would throw away. I really should do more.

I have decided to give the Fishy Business blocks a miss this month, as I want to use orange in next month’s fish.  I’ll catch up next month, by swapping colours.

This is how much is left in my orange scrap box.  The bright one at the bottom will be ideal for the fish next month.  Now, everyone has a different definition of a scrap.  Most would call mine crumbs, as I don’t add anything to these boxes less than a layer cake sized piece of fabric.  Most other colours are jamb packed, so some more crumb blocks will be a great way to use them up.

Of course, I finished off the little HST Baby Quilt.

Once that was done, it was time to turn my attention to the little blue sampler stitchery.  I couldn’t resist adding a red front door to the house.

This is what the finished article looks like in Gail Pan’s book.  I felt that it needed something else.

Time to make an almighty big mess on the dining table.  Yes, can you believe it, it was all tidied away before the afternoon was over.

This is kind of what I was thinking.

Then I remember that I have a box of Mum’s laces and trims and found this little cutie that might just work. 

Honestly, I could open an Etsy store with the amount of laces, trims and old linens that I have.  We won’t go there.

I’ve have this lovely vintage coathanger for years and would like to use it as the hanger.  That will dictate the size.

This is where I was up to yesterday.  The fabric that the stitchery is worked on is a linen offcut from my doyley quilt that I made a few years ago.  It already had a hand stitched hem on the bottom.  The two toned ric rac has been added to the bottom of the stitchery.   The narrow lace under the stitchery is also an offcut from my doyley quilt.  The green huckaback hand towel off cut with its lace edging, surprisingly, also comes from the quilt.  Fancy that!  It’s good to find a use for them.

I’m looking forward to having a play with the embellishments.  I think I will use a thin wadding and just do a facing type edge.  I don’t think I want a binding and would have to work something out at the bottom with the lace edge anyway.

I have done a tiny bit more today, but the light is too bad to take a photo. 

As you can gather, I managed to achieve my 15 minutes of stitching each day.

What else did we get up to?

Can you believe that I actually tried not one, but two new recipes?

The first was a recipe I came across on Instagram.  It was a one pot wonder chicken and rice dish.  It was cooked on the stovetop and ended up rather gluggy, hence no photo being shared.  However, it tasted great.  I reckon that I will use the ingredients/flavours and translate it to an oven baked risotto, using aboria riced.  That should be a success.

The second was a whole orange cake, also from a recipe I came across on Instagram.  Let’s call it a middling success.  It wasn’t a boiled orange cake, rather the orange was just chopped up in the food processor.  It rose rather unevenly and is a tad dry.  It was still very tasty and there is none left.  However, I think there are probably better recipes out there.  Actually, I have had one for years, that my old next door neighbour gave me, that I have never made.  I should give it a whirl.

That pretty much wraps up all I have to report for the week.  Now to see what next week brings.