Bags and books for Christmas . . .

 

 . . . perhaps I shouldn't be putting pics out in public till after they've been given! 

 

I found a pattern at the Festival of Quilts for these bags, made with strips, but went for the single fabric for these presents as it is a lot quicker and I started making them a bit late.  They are a sort of box substitute - put your bits and pieces for a particular job into one and carry it off with you to do it.

 Here's my original effort, on the right, using strips from my leftovers collection.  There is scope for a lot more interest with the strips, but the single fabrics I've used all come from Africa - the top two from Uganda and the others from Togo in West Africa -  and for me that gives them a special interst all their own.

 

And then books, of course.  These are made from pill packets, slit down one narrow side, all the flaps stuck down, and the whole covered with coloured paper, on both sides.  It could be collaged, but I'm not much good at that so tend to use a large enough piece of paper I've painted and printed myself. 

 Pages for the signatures have to be cut to fit, which can be a bit tricky when one's mathematical skills are weak, and a tendency to do things back to front is active, but once I start I get into the swing ok.  I've been trying out different styles of long stitches and arrangement of holes or slits.  Weaving across plain long stitches is fun, as is the linking across the stitches, by sliding the needle under the previous stitch as you come by on the next signature.

 

Some packets aren't very big, as the hand shows.  It's a mixture of pills, asthma inhalers, throat lozenges and, oh yes, the packets Tesco sardines are sold in!  Well, omega 7 is good for you.

The print block used for the one in the hand was made by incising the pattern with a biro onto stuff like the polystyrene backing pizzas sit on.  It's worth saving!

Has it really been so long . . .

. . . since I put anything on this blog?  I've been a bit preoccupied with too many other things, that's the trouble.  Anyway, this mixture of photos will maybe get me going again. 

Its going back a bit now, but here is a very brave little summer marigold, surviving in the December snow and ice.  (The eyes behind the glass are on a paper plane DH made - supposed to be the best flyer of all paper planes.  Didn't notice it when taking the pic.  It looks as surprised to see the flower as I am, considering how cold its been!)

 And this is Alvin, made and names by daughter and grandchildren.

 .. and a winter moon, nice and atmospheric . . .

 . . .  lovely frosty edges . . .

 . . .  and patterns of crystals . . .

 . . .  and a nice little snowman story, bonded appliqué, started at a Quilters' Guild workshop day in November and finished at home in time for Christmas.

 He came to the same end as Alvin, sad to say.

 And we also made this cute bag on that day, from the Omiyage book by Kumiko Sudo.

 And after some talk about couching on the CQ group list I had to have a go.  If only I'd made it bigger i could have used it for a book cover, but I just wanted to get stitching, not spend time thinking!  I never learn.  That's why there are so many bits of samples around that it is hard to find something to do with.

 This collection of hearts and hand-embroidered bags sat waiting to be posted to people for #christmas presents. 

Bags

Time for some more sewing - Japanese bag, from Kumiko Sudi's book Omiyage.  Various views, 36 strips had to be sewn together, gathered at the base, and lining and casings added. 

This is one bought as a kit at the Festival of Quilts, from a stand called the Gourmet Quilter - everything packaged in appetising looking ways!  This isn't the actual kit, I just used it as a pattern for my own fabrics.  It has proved very popular and 2 granddaughters have now made one each and their mum has made about 3 or 4 by now!  I've done a second one without the little tag things.

And I can't resist posting this, a fuchsia with giant flowers!

Mostly not my work. . .

. . . like a Bethlehem scene, drawn out for people to paint, who came to the Christmas Fun Day our church had this month, which included also crafts and a performance of Sheila Wilson's Hosanna Rock. And on my table, stencilling and nice choice of colours produced some tasteful bits of wrapping paper.

A similar exercise at a similar Day focussing on Africa had a village landscape to paint and . . .

. . . . some Mali mudcloth patterns to play with, not using fermented mud, but freezer paper masking and black and blue acrylic paint!

And going back a bit further still to the . . .

. . . Quilters' Guild 3 Corners Day in October, 3 workshops to circulate round, of which i did one (in the exalted company of Kate Dowty and Carol Dowsett!) In my workshop we made small purses, from 5 x 5" fabric squares. It is one of these random things that comes out with unexpected charm.

But this is all my own work, and not in a breadmaker either! Not sure why it comes out all craggy, but DH says it gives it a nice rustic look.

Fabric salvage now . . .

. . . bits and pieces not much use for anything else, sometimes rescued from other people's bins at workshops (how sad is that?).
This is one of the first set of postcards I ever made, discovered tucked away somewhere when having a workroom clearout recently.
I think it is the colour grouping that makes these interesting.

The compulsion to make these strip things seems to go on for ever, but at last I am moving on a bit . . .

. . . though not for long. Back to strips, but thinner, even more likely to be in the bin, and running stitch all over them . . .

These bags also use up all sorts of offcuts - strips, trimmings and tiny scraps any normal person would just throw away. Lay them out on a piece of fabric cut to the size required for what you want to make. Cover with organza (stripy bag) or net (blue/red bag), pin everywhere then machine stitch all over, handling carefully so bits don't escape. Of course you could use fusible web but I hate the stuff. This bag is done with straight stitch, to show that you don't have to be able to do free machining to use this method of creating fabric.

And this one used up a lot of tiny scraps and bits of thread, and has been free machined with scribbles and zigzaggy lines.

Banjara embroidery . .

. . . at West Country Embroiderers last month. All the horizontal stitches were done beforehand at home, then on the day we enjoyed playing with the interlacing, making pretty patterns. The tutor was Tig Rawling, see I'd rather be in India blog.

And yet another bag . .

. . . made by our 13 year old granddaughter at school in whatever it is they call the class these days in which they get to do a bit of sewing! It may be Technology, but my memory is so bad! She used an embroidery machine to do her name, and the suffolk puffs have beads on and something interesting tucked inside. The handles have black thread stitching down them and are stuffed with a thick yarn.

I don't think she found it all that easy, but she's done well! Its one cool bag!

Little kantha bags . . .

. . . made for the last Quilters' Guild meeting, Three Corners Workshops, in October. There were three workshops on offer and everyone circulated round the three, with about an hour and a quarter for each. I felt very honoured to be asked to teach one of them, alongside Carol Dowsett (my long ago C&G tutor) and Becca Balazs who runs an amazing shop in west Dorset. Something to get a good start on in that time frame is not easy to think of, and with Carol doing postcards I had to come up with something else!

Also we had to provide packs for everyone - about 50 people. So I dyed some fabric and found threads, and invented these small bags, supplying too the templates for the designs, and some beads etc.

It features 2 of the many types of kantha stitching; 1. the general background filling in, echoing the motif or in patches worked in varying directions, and 2. for the motifs, outlining them then filling in with the running stitch, again either following the shape, or just filling the space.

Becca did some lovely shadow quilted cards, using glitzy sheers as the overlay and some nice butterfly motifs under it.